novelraw Chapter 116: Arthur’s Remote Support
Chapter 116: Arthur’s Remote Support
They indeed possessed the theory and core material, but between theory and reality there always lies a chasm constructed from precise craftsmanship and professional knowledge.
Julian kept chewing over the modern-sounding, unfamiliar term "noise generator" in his mouth. He painfully scratched his already messy artist's curls and said, "My dear Lin, please don't misunderstand, I hold your wisdom and imagination in the highest esteem, but what we are facing now is a merciless engineering problem!"
Pointing at his own head, filled with all sorts of humanities knowledge, he said in a self-deprecating tone, "I am an ancient document scholar, a historian, and barely a half-baked mystical symbologist. My brain is stuffed full of the names of long-dead kings and the grammar of ancient texts."
"But regarding spiritual conduction, energy frequency calibration, alchemical rune matrices—these problems that require calipers and the periodic table to solve—my knowledge reserves are zero!"
His gaze turned to Lin Jie and he continued, "Although your brain can always come up with some genius ideas, you are also just a chief engineer stuck at the theoretical level."
"The two of us together might be able to write a perfect paper on how to make a deity sing off-key, but we don't even have the most basic spiritual engraving knife needed to cut the crystal!"
Julian finally made his conclusion in a tone of despair, "And we have less than twenty hours left!"
What he said was an ironclad fact. Within the entire I.A.R.C., even the whole of Europe, the master who could shoulder this responsibility and might still be willing to accompany them in this experiment was one and only one person.
Lin Jie's voice was exceptionally calm, "We need Arthur."
A spark of hope burst forth in Julian's eyes, "Arthur? Yes, that's right! Only that madman, that technical fanatic who views forging Grotesque Armaments as his sole faith, could possibly complete the creation in such a short time!"Ten minutes later, Julian skillfully preheated and activated the "Hermes Ether Communication Array," representing the pinnacle of I.A.R.C.'s communication technology.
Inside the massive crystal device, electrostatic interference signals surged like a blizzard, emitting a low, deep, rumbling hum.
And at that very moment, the rune matrix on the surface of the dormant Alchemical Beacon at the other end of the room suddenly lit up.
A soft silver-white light flashed from the center of the beacon, and then a palm-sized, thick lead-sealed box materialized out of thin air on the beacon's platform. The box was engraved with emergency and biohazard runes.
As the metal box appeared, the violent electrostatic blizzard on the communication crystal screen before them suddenly calmed, and a familiar face of a shrewd, composed British gentleman surfaced.
But this was not Arthur, whom they wanted to find.
It was one of the core Investigators of the I.A.R.C. London branch, Barton Chris.
Barton's voice, transmitted via ether signal, remained steady, betraying no emotion, "Good evening, Lin, Professor Julian. Your requested 'Messenger' service has been delivered. Sir Henderson's high-priority authorization order has also been received. But according to regulations, before transferring the communication to the Equipment R&
D Department, I need to confirm the requirements of this operation with you one last time."
"Are you certain that aside from utilizing this strategic UMA material, you have no other choice?"
"Yes, we are certain." Lin Jie and Julian exchanged a glance and then gave the affirmative answer in unison.
Barton nodded slowly. He didn't press for details, just gave Lin Jie a deep look, then said in an official tone, "Very well. Then good luck to you, gentlemen."
After speaking, his image vanished from the crystal, replaced by several seconds of crackling signal switching noise.
Finally, the face of a young technical madman, blurred due to the forced signal transfer and carrying an aura of impatience and mania, appeared on the crystal screen.
It was Arthur Conan!
The Armament Artisan was in his own workshop, full of grease and hazardous materials. He still had messy black hair and bloodshot brown eyes, and he hadn't even had time to take off his signature goggles from around his neck.
Arthur's roar was somewhat distorted by electrical signal interference, but the immense anger contained within was still clearly audible, "Who?! Which damn, blind fool dares to disturb me with this kind of emergency communication at the most critical juncture of my spiritual core overclocking load test?!"
"I swear, if you can't give me a reasonable reason that would make me abandon a great experiment that might change the history of Grotesque Armaments! I will personally design a brand new piece that can extract your soul and turn it into a wick..."
His threat cut off abruptly when he saw the East Asian face belonging to Lin Jie on the other end of the crystal ball.
The manic fury on Arthur's face immediately faded by more than half, replaced by a "it's you again" look of resignation.
His voice was still displeased, "Lin Jie? What are you doing in Dublin? And you even used the cross-border emergency communication array? Has that city full of drunks and traitors been completely swallowed whole by a Calamity-class Leviathan?"
A polite, apologetic expression appeared on Lin Jie's face, "I'm very sorry, Arthur, for disturbing your experiment. But I have indeed encountered a small engineering problem right now that only you, the greatest Armament Artisan in all of Europe, can solve."
"And I guarantee that the academic value and challenge of this problem itself far exceed that of the work you are about to complete."
He knew full well that the best way to deal with a tech geek like Arthur was to dangle an enticing technical puzzle to whet his appetite.
Sure enough, upon hearing the phrase "brand new technical problem," Arthur's bloodshot eyes lit up instantly.
Lin Jie wasted no words. He directly took the sealed box, aimed the core fragment from the Catacomb Nightingale inside at the communication array's image collector.
When that tiny but silver-glowing gray-black fragment clearly appeared on the crystal screen before Arthur, the Armament Artisan stood up from his chair, an interested look on his face.
Immediately after, Lin Jie laid out his script and the technical objective he needed Arthur to accomplish for him in the most concise and efficient language possible.
"I don't need it to be able to launch a powerful attack. I don't need it to last for a long time. I just need a disposable, simple, sound wave disruptor that the two of us amateurs can personally assemble."
"Its function is only one: that at a specific time tomorrow night, when that Silver-Stringed Harp, which also possesses the laws of sound, begins to play, our little gadget must also be activated synchronously, and be able to emit a sound wave whose frequency is completely opposite and contradictory to the main melody of that deathly lament."
Finally, Lin Jie used a tempting tone to speak to the other end of the crystal, "I need you to teach us how to use some of the most common, easiest-to-find ordinary materials in Dublin, like tuning forks, copper wire, clockwork from pocket watches, and a few small batteries, to personally compose a dissonant chord."
The other end of the crystal screen fell into a brief silence.
Arthur stared at the fragment and at Lin Jie's face.
His brain, filled with countless formulas and blueprints, was operating and burning.
"Which street is the best tuning fork shop in Dublin on? And I need at least thirty feet of oxygen-free copper wire with a purity above ninety percent!"
He grinned at Lin Jie, "Our concert begins now."