Carl's finger was still on a certain temperature threshold on the waveform, and his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

Chen Hao looked at him.

“That capacitor,” Karl began, “was the one that exploded last time also from this batch?”

Susan looked up: "I checked, it's not."

“But the parameters are similar.” Carl pushed the paper forward. “The aging curves are somewhat similar.”

Nana's indicator light flashed slightly: "Historical data has been compared, and more than 70% of similar models show a similar degradation trend. It is recommended to prioritize checking this series when replacing products in the future."

"Okay." Chen Hao stood up and stretched his shoulders. "Let's get past this hurdle first."

He walked to the control panel. The progress bar on the screen was still slowly climbing; the second batch of component tests was nearing completion. The green area was wider than before, and the red markers had been cleared. He glanced at the time; less than twelve hours had passed since the last failed experiment.

"I'm ready to try again," he said.

No one objected.

Nana's robotic arm retracted from the host port and connected to the signal modulation module. She pulled up the new parameter configuration table and checked each item: "Antenna gain adjusted to +3.2dB, modulation mode switched to qpSK adaptive mode, power supply load distribution strategy updated."

"Confirmed." Susan entered the command on the secondary control panel. "New algorithm loaded."

Carl inspected the physical connections of the antenna array and tightened two loose screws. "Angle fine-tuning complete, azimuth deviation less than 0.5 degrees."

"Okay." Chen Hao pressed the start button for the countdown. "It will begin in thirty seconds."

The laboratory fell silent.

As the number jumped from 30 to 1, none of the four people spoke.

0.

The system operation indicator light comes on, and the signal transmitter starts working.

On the main control screen, the waveform rose steadily without an immediate jump in the bit error rate. After the first second, the voltage stabilized and the current was normal. In the fifth second, the transmission rate reached its peak, and the decoder successfully synchronized.

“There’s a response.” Susan stared at the receiver’s status bar. “Signal locked, retransmission mechanism not triggered.”

Ten seconds later, Nana brought up a 3D heat map: "Coverage is expanding, current radius 4.1 kilometers, signal strength +68dBm."

“It’s better than last time.” Karl leaned closer to look. “It’s at least doubled.”

Chen Hao didn't reply, his fingers resting on the edge of the table, his eyes fixed on the time displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. He knew the real problem wasn't at the beginning, but later.

Twenty seconds.

The main control screen suddenly flickered.

The bit error rate curve suddenly spiked, jumping from 0.01% to 0.3% in less than a second.

"They're here," Susan said, raising her voice.

Chen Hao didn't move.

Nana has retrieved the underlying logs: "External electromagnetic disturbance, frequency 915MHz, lasting 0.7 seconds, source is arc discharge from high-voltage line in the northwest."

"Shielding compensation protocol activated." Her robotic arm operated quickly, "Activate backup filter channel, power drawback 15%."

Susan compared the three test records simultaneously: "The fluctuation range is lower than the safety threshold, and the system recovery time is 0.4 seconds, which is ten times faster than the last time."

"Keep running," Chen Hao said.

No one suggested interrupting.

At the 25th second, a slight voltage drop reappeared, but the rate of decline slowed significantly. The increase in battery internal resistance was detected in advance, and Nana's system automatically lowered the power supply priority of non-critical modules to prevent load accumulation.

The thirtieth second.

The time has come.

On the screen, the waveform remained stable, without collapse or disconnection.

"We held on," Carl said in a low voice.

“Not only that.” Susan pointed to the data stream. “The signal strength is still climbing. It’s currently at +72 dBm, with a coverage radius of 5.8 kilometers.”

"Add more tests," Chen Hao said. "Extend the running time to sixty seconds."

"Aren't you afraid of another problem?" Susan asked.

"I was scared." Chen Hao smiled. "But now we know where it will catch its breath and where it can hold on. How will we know how far it can go if we don't try?"

Nana adjusted the backend strategy: "Dynamic load balancing is enabled, and the status of each module is reassessed every five seconds."

At the fortieth second, the signal coverage exceeded seven kilometers.

The receiver feedback showed that the image transmission was clear and the voice packet integrity rate was 99.6%.

“This has already exceeded the design goals.” Carl flipped through the report in his hand. “The original plan was to triple the improvement, but now…”

"Don't calculate too quickly," Chen Hao interrupted him. "It's not over yet."

At the fiftieth second, the system enters long-term operation mode. A continuous green light illuminates on the instrument panel, indicating continuous operation without faults.

"Sixty seconds have passed." Susan read out the final data: "Signal strength increased by 47%, coverage radius reached 8.3 kilometers, and the bit error rate remained stable below 0.02%."

No one applauded.

Chen Hao stood in front of the control panel, his lips twitched, but in the end he just exhaled.

"Did it work?" Carl asked.

"It's a preliminary success," Chen Hao corrected him. "The equipment didn't break down, and the data meets the standards, but this is only the first stable output. We still need to see if it can be repeated."

“It can be repeated,” Nana said. “All parameters have been archived, and the process can be reproduced.”

Susan began exporting the dataset: "I need to break down the signal change nodes of each frame to check for any hidden jitter."

“Let’s be more meticulous,” Chen Hao said. “This success might be luck, or it might be that we really made the right changes. We need to figure out exactly which link in the chain played a role.”

Carl looked down at the printed waveform comparison chart: "The matching between the antenna and the modulation module has improved significantly, but the change in power management strategy cannot be ignored."

“Then list them all out.” Chen Hao picked up a marker and walked to the whiteboard. “Which ones have changed, which ones haven’t, and which ones might have been mistakenly judged as valid but are actually irrelevant. Let’s eliminate them one by one.”

He wrote down the first item: **Component Risk Classification**.

The second item: **Modulation algorithm update**.

Third item: **Antenna gain adjustment**.

Fourth item: **Dynamic allocation of power supply load**.

“Four variables,” he said. “In the next experiment, we’ll only change one and lock the rest.”

“It’s a lot of work,” Carl said.

“It’s better than blindly stumbling around.” Chen Hao turned to look at him. “Before, replacing a part was like rolling dice, but now at least we know how many sides the dice have.”

Susan closed her notebook: "I'll write a script to automatically record the changes in key metrics after each change."

“Add the version number,” Chen Hao added. “V1.0 failed, V2.0 was initially successful, and the next one will be V2.1, which will only adjust the antenna angle.”

Nana has already started organizing the background logs: "I can generate an independent report for each experiment, including environmental parameters, component status, and the entire system response process."

“It sounds like an exam paper,” Carl laughed.

"It's like answering a test," Chen Hao said. "Before, we would hand in blank papers, but now at least we can fill them up."

He turned to look at the screen; the waveform was still jumping, the green lines straight and firm.

"What's next?" Susan asked.

"Keep measuring," Chen Hao said. "This time it's eighty-three seconds."

"Didn't we agree on sixty seconds?"

"Since sixty seconds is fine," Chen Hao grinned, "let's see if eighty-three seconds will cause any problems."

"Why eighty-three?" Karl frowned.

“Randomly selected.” Chen Hao shrugged. “There has to be a number, but it can’t be too exact, so it doesn’t look like we really understand the rules.”

Susan laughed out loud: "You're using metaphysics to fight against science."

“No.” Chen Hao shook his head. “I’m using practice to counter wild guesses.”

Nana received a new test task: "Set runtime to 83 seconds, lock current configuration parameters, start immediately?"

"Wait a minute," Chen Hao said.

He walked to the tool cabinet in the corner, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out an old circuit board. It was labeled: **Fragment of an early communication array**.

He took it back and put it on the table.

“Just let it watch,” he said. “If it works this time, I’ll hang it on the wall.”

"As a memento?" Susan asked.

“It serves as a warning,” Chen Hao said, “reminding us not to forget where we fell from.”

Nana starts the countdown.

30, 29, 28...

The numbers jump down.

Chen Hao stared at the screen, his hand resting on the edge of the table.

Susan's hands hovered above the keyboard.

Carl adjusted his glasses.

Nana's optical lens is focused on the main control screen.

10, 9, 8...

At the seventh second, the signal strength at the receiving end suddenly dropped by 0.5dB.

No one spoke.

At the fifth second, the voltage curve showed slight sawtooth-like fluctuations.

In the third second, the bit error rate rose to 0.08%.

The first second.

The countdown has reached zero.

The system indicator light comes on.

On the main control screen, the waveform graph briefly oscillated before returning to stability.

“They’re inside,” Susan said softly.

“But there are fluctuations,” Carl pointed out.

"It's within a controllable range." Nana pulled up the log. "The impact of external interference has weakened, and the internal adjustment response has been timely."

"It's not perfect," Chen Hao said.

"But it can be considered a success."

He picked up the old circuit board, looked at it, and didn't touch it.

"Put it on the table first," he said.

Then I returned to the console and stared at the green curve on the screen that continued to extend forward.

"Prepare for the third experiment," he said. "This time we'll only adjust the antenna angle, keeping everything else unchanged."

Susan began entering the commands.

Carl checks the physical connections.

Nana updates the task list in real time.

Chen Hao watched as the progress bar reloaded.

The numbers start jumping from 30.

30, 29, 28...

His fingers tapped the table unconsciously.

This time, he didn't wait twenty seconds before speaking.

“If it works again this time,” he said, “then we’ll have to admit that it really is a matching problem between the antenna and the modulation module.”

No one responded.

The countdown continues.

15, 14, 13...

Susan's finger hovered over the Enter key.

Karl looked up.

Nana's robotic arm remained suspended in mid-air.

Chen Hao stared at the time displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen.

10, 9, 8...

His breathing slowed down.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Press the Enter key.