Chen Hao's fingers were still lightly tapping on the screen, the words "Officially Operational" quietly lit up. He didn't move or speak, just stared at it. It felt a bit like checking your name one last time before handing in your exam paper.

Susan returned with a glass of water, the hot water swirling inside. She walked back to the control panel, casually setting the glass aside, her gaze pausing as she scanned the surveillance map.

“The survey team’s signal was lost yesterday,” she said.

Chen Hao turned his head: "When?"

“Three minutes.” She pulled up the log. “It’s not a problem with the equipment, it’s just that the location is too remote. We entered a canyon, and the signal dropped to the very bottom.”

She tapped a few times, and the projection screen lit up. A topographic map was displayed, marked with several red dots.

“In the last five days, there have been seven interruptions,” she pointed out. “They were all eight kilometers away, near mountain folds or underground cave entrances. To put it bluntly, our current communication system is just an upgraded version of a walkie-talkie; the power is insufficient, and the interference resistance is poor.”

Karl looked up: "But nobody's going out right now, and the internal communication within the base is working fine."

“The problem is that we need to go out in the future,” Susan said. “We can’t stay here forever. Exploration, sampling, building peripheral stations—which of these doesn’t require real-time communication? Last time, if they hadn’t brought backup beacons, we wouldn’t have received the weather warning.”

Nana stood behind the terminal, her optical lens turning towards Chen Hao: "Communication stability is positively correlated with mission safety. The current system failure rate reaches 23% in complex terrain."

Chen Hao stroked his chin: "So, in other words, out of every ten outings, there's a two chance of losing contact?"

“Close to three times,” Nana said.

He stood up and walked to the whiteboard. The plan that originally read "Second Batch of Equipment Upgrades" was still there. He picked up the eraser and wiped away that line of text.

“The energy sector is already running smoothly on its own,” he said. “The construction team just needs to follow the procedures. But communications will continue to be neglected if no one takes charge.”

He wrote a new title on the whiteboard: **Communication System Upgrade Project Launched**.

“If the vital energy channels are open, the nerves must also be open,” he said. “Otherwise, if something happens outside one day, we won’t even have time to save them.”

Karl closed the sketch in his hand, his brow still furrowed: "But resources are limited. The energy storage tanks haven't even been expanded yet, and now you want to allocate manpower to work on communications?"

“I don’t discriminate,” Chen Hao said. “Just the few of us can each do this with one hand free. You continue thinking about your capacitor stack, I’ll keep an eye on the progress, Susan will focus on communications, and Nana will help with research.”

“I have no objection,” Susan said. “But I’m not a communications major, so I can only start with the existing equipment parameters and see where the problems lie.”

"That's enough," Chen Hao said. "Identifying the problem is the first step. We'll fill in the rest gradually."

Nana immediately responded, "Ready to receive instructions."

Susan sat back down at the control panel, opened the search interface, and entered the keywords: long-range wireless communication optimization, anti-interference antenna design, low-power signal relay.

The screen flashed, and the data began loading.

"Where do you plan to start?" Chen Hao asked, leaning against the table.

“Let’s look at the protocol first,” she said. “Our current communication uses old-style frequency band allocation, without dynamic frequency hopping or error correction coding. Simply put, it’s a one-way street; if it gets blocked, it’s over.”

"It sounds like someone walking without looking at traffic lights," Chen Hao said.

"Pretty much." She nodded. "And the power output is fixed. If it's too far away, it won't connect, and if it's too close, it's easy to overload. Yesterday's three-minute disconnection was because the signal kept trying to reconnect, which drained the terminal's battery."

Nana added: "Of the seven interruptions detected, five were accompanied by the terminal automatically shutting down. The reason was that the battery was over-discharged due to continuous signal search."

"So it's not that the road is broken, it's that the car ran out of gas?" Chen Hao said.

“Accurate,” Nana said.

Carl flipped through his notebook: "But even if we know the problem, we can't build a new radio. We don't have the parts, and the production line doesn't support it."

“We don’t necessarily need new equipment,” Susan said. “We can modify existing modules. For example, we can add a signal buffering mechanism so that if the signal is lost, we don’t need to re-handshake and can resume transmission directly. We can also adjust the transmission strategy so that we don’t send everything out at once.”

"Can you modify the driver?" Chen Hao asked.

“Give it a try,” she said. “The worst that can happen is that it gets even more stuck, but it won’t burn.”

“Then let’s give it a try,” he said. “We don’t have any other options right now anyway.”

Nana's optical lens flashed, and dozens of document thumbnails popped up on the screen.

“Thirty-seven relevant technical documents have been selected,” she said, “including summaries of nine feasible modification plans.”

Susan began quickly skimming through the document. She opened a paper on adaptive power regulation, swiping her finger across the screen to highlight several key points.

“This is useful,” she said. “It can dynamically adjust the output intensity based on distance, saving power and extending the coverage area.”

"It sounds like an air conditioner automatically adjusting the temperature," Chen Hao said.

“The principle is similar,” Susan said, “but it requires a feedback mechanism so that the receiver can tell the sender ‘how is my signal right now’.”

Do we have them now?

“Yes, but it’s not being used,” she said. “The protocol includes a field, but it’s disabled by default. Probably to save power.”

“Then turn it on,” Chen Hao said. “We’re not short of electricity right now.”

Nana updated the command in real time: "Generating preliminary test configuration file, expected to be completed in eight minutes."

"Wait a minute," Karl suddenly spoke up, "Have you considered the source of the interference?"

The two looked at him.

“I’m not against it,” he explained, “just a reminder. When we modified the energy system before, the first batch of equipment worked fine, but the second batch started having problems. We later discovered it was due to resonance. The communication system seems fine now, but what if it interferes with other equipment after the modification?”

Chen Hao paused for a few seconds: "That makes sense."

“We can’t just look at the communication itself,” Carl said. “We also have to look at its interaction with other systems. Especially the power module, where a change in output frequency can affect radio frequency performance.”

Susan nodded: "We can do an isolation test. First, run the new protocol on a separate channel and monitor for any abnormal fluctuations."

“Let’s do it this way,” Chen Hao said. “Try it on a small scale, and if there are no problems, then we’ll roll it out.”

Nana suggests: "It is recommended to prioritize non-critical lines for verification. We recommend using the backup channel in zone C, which is currently at zero load."

“Okay,” Chen Hao said. “Let’s start with that.”

Susan continued flipping through the documents. She opened another document about mesh networks, and her eyes lit up.

“We can try this,” she said. “If we turn each communication node into a repeater, the signal can be transmitted like a relay. Even if one or two points are interrupted in the middle, the overall network can still be maintained.”

"It sounds like a game of telephone," Chen Hao said.

“It’s more reliable than that,” she said. “Each node verifies the data, and if there’s a mistake, it’s resent. Plus, the more people online, the stronger the network.”

“Then we’ll need to install a few more terminals,” he said. “Tomorrow, have the construction team add a few fixed points along the corridor.”

“I can design a simple shell,” Susan said. “It can be made from recycled materials; there’s no need for special manufacturing.”

Nana has begun integrating the information. Her optical lens is constantly flashing, while multiple model simulations are being processed in parallel in the background.

“Based on the current conditions, three upgrade paths are possible,” she said. “First, protocol optimization; second, antenna gain improvement; third, building a local mesh network. Considering both cost and efficiency, we recommend prioritizing the first path.”

"That sounds the most reliable," Chen Hao said. "Modify the software first, then work on the hardware."

“I agree,” Susan said. “Let’s get the framework for the new agreement out tonight and test it tomorrow morning.”

Carl didn't object anymore. He opened his notebook and began taking notes.

“What kind of support do you need?” he asked Susan.

"I need to borrow your oscilloscope for one night," she said. "And the spectrum analysis module, I need to confirm the purity of the signal."

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll adjust the initial parameters for you.”

Chen Hao checked the time; it was almost 2 a.m.

"You two shouldn't push yourselves too hard," he said. "We still have work to do tomorrow."

“I know,” Susan said, “but this can’t be delayed. Who knows if the next person to go out will run into a storm.”

Nana's screen was still scrolling. New references kept popping up, which she automatically categorized, archived, and prioritized.

Chen Hao stood in front of the whiteboard, looking at the newly written title. He picked up a marker and added a line below it: **Objective: Increase coverage radius to 15 kilometers, reduce blind spots by 80%.**

“Don’t fill the numbers so much,” Susan looked up. “Be realistic.”

“You have to aim high,” he said, “otherwise you won’t have the motivation.”

She smiled and continued looking down at the screen.

Carl sat in front of the oscilloscope, adjusting the input channels. His legs were still a little sore, but he didn't say anything.

Nana's voice rang out again: "A potential compatibility risk has been detected. The heartbeat frequency in the new protocol may resonate with the dimming cycle of the lighting system."

"Resonance again?" Chen Hao frowned.

“The probability is low,” she said, “but it is recommended to turn off non-essential devices in adjacent areas during testing.”

“I’ve got it,” Susan said. “The test will be scheduled for five to six o’clock, when most systems will be in standby mode.”

"Okay," Chen Hao said, "it's settled then."

He walked to the control panel and glanced at the still-running log interface. The green line moved forward steadily.

“I used to think that electricity was the most important thing,” he said. “Now I realize that having electricity but not being able to speak is useless.”

Susan stopped what she was doing: "Next, I'll print out the revised agreement. Please check if anything is missing."

She pressed the print button.

The papers were ejected one by one and landed on the tray.

Nana's optical lens turned towards the document and began scanning the content synchronously.

Carl stood up, holding onto the edge of the table, and walked towards the printer.

Chen Hao reached for the top page.

His fingers had just touched the edge of the paper—

The paper suddenly shook.