Chapter 89

The wildfire in Yingcheng has been burning for five days, and the flames are growing larger, spreading to several hilltops. Countless people are watching this devastating fire closely, praying that it will be extinguished soon.

"If it keeps burning, it will spread to the city..."

"I could see flames shooting into the sky even from the center of the city. I was really scared."

"Many firefighters have been dispatched from various places to provide reinforcements, and we will definitely be able to put it out."

"I hope all the firefighters are safe!"

"Hehe, everything's fine, they've all been evacuated. (Video) Look at these fire trucks coming one after another, they're all coming down from Yingshan."

"This...it seems the wildfire isn't out yet?"

"Don't you understand? Your country has already given up; it's beyond saving."

"Impossible! There are over 30 million people here, how could we possibly give up!"

"They should be rotating shifts for rest and recuperation. Firefighters are human too; they need to rest as well!"

"(Video) Look, how many fire trucks have passed by? Are they all on rest? Those who can run should run as soon as possible."

"It's probably because Typhoon Baidi is about to pass through. Judging from its path, it's heading towards Yingshan. If the firefighters don't evacuate, they'll be swept away by the typhoon."

"Typhoon?! No wonder the wind was so strong. I've been so focused on the wildfires these past few days that I haven't had time to think about anything else. If only the typhoon had passed right through the fire, the fire would have been extinguished in no time."

"Judging from the path, it is indeed heading towards Yingshan, but it's hard to say. This typhoon Baidi has proven all forecasting agencies wrong this time, with a particularly strange trajectory."

"Yes! I've been watching it for a long time. It makes sharp turns every now and then, and it's hard to say whether it will change direction. The meteorological bureau no longer publishes the predicted trajectory, but we can still see the path-tracking satellite monitoring cloud images."

"Go, Baidi!"

On Mount Ying, wildfires raged. Within the borders of Ying City, a typhoon howled. Countless people stared at the satellite cloud images released by the meteorological bureau, secretly praying that the typhoon would indeed, as they wished, sweep away the fire on Mount Ying.

On satellite images, the typhoon, carrying countless clouds, swirls as it enters Yingcheng.

"Ah! The direction has changed!" Yi Yan slapped his thigh, full of regret. With this change in angle, at most, they could only get a little breeze from Ying Mountain!

Deng frowned, his heart clenching: "Don't go..." He hadn't thought too much about it when he passed through Guangling, but now that he'd come all the way to Yingcheng, to brush past the wildfire again would be infuriating for anyone!

"Look! We're back on the original path!" Lin Yujing exclaimed excitedly, standing up.

“Why do I feel like… Bai Di is intentionally avoiding that small town on the outskirts of Ying City?” Yi Yan said, pointing to the map. “Look! If Bai Di hadn’t changed his route, that town would have been run over head-on.”

"Isn't this typhoon a bit too...human?" Lin Yujing recalled Baidi's path after making landfall and felt increasingly suspicious.

The human-centered trend further confirmed Ji Zhixing's suspicions.

The research institute where Professor Wen Zhengyang worked left a very deep impression on him, especially the lightning and oceanographic workshops, which he fascinated. He remembered that during his visit, Professor Wen said that they could already create small typhoons on the sea.

Judging from the initial trajectory, Bai Di should still be a natural typhoon, but that sharp westward turn was definitely the result of human intervention!

Online discussions are also focused on Bai Di's humane trajectory. As Bai Di gets closer and closer to Ying Mountain, countless people stop what they are doing, hold their breath, and focus their attention on the magnificent vortex.

Fifteen minutes after all the firefighters on Yingshan Mountain had evacuated, the typhoon's cloud band had already touched the edge of the Yingshan mountain range and was moving along the foothills with undeniable force!

The hot air cyclone formed by the wildfire was swept up by the wind and instantly soared higher, like a huge barrier standing between heaven and earth, blocking the White Emperor's attack.

The next instant, a torrent of water vapor from the Pacific Ocean swirled and poured down!

"The fire is out!!"

"It's really destroyed! The sky over Yingshan is no longer red!"

"Long live!"

People spread the news and rejoiced that the wildfire had finally been extinguished. The people of Yingcheng, in particular, were suddenly relieved of their fear, and the entire city seemed to be cheering.

In a research institute deep in the desert, researchers were also cheering and high-fiving each other in celebration.

Wen Zhengyang took off his glasses and gently wiped the water off the lenses. Great! He finally succeeded!

In fact, they originally only planned to guide Bai Di to slowly disappear along the coast, but after hearing the news of the Yingcheng mountain fire, everyone had the same idea—to guide Bai Di to put out the fire!

This was a sudden attempt, but not a reckless one. Their technology for guiding typhoons was relatively mature; however, previous interventions had all been conducted at sea, and they lacked "clinical" experience with typhoons making landfall.

However, the situation in Yingcheng is already very dangerous. If effective measures are not taken in time, the fierce fire on Yingshan Mountain will spread to the small town with a population of 200,000 at the foot of Yingshan Mountain in another 18 hours, and then affect the more densely populated main city!

Firefighters from Yingcheng and other areas who came to reinforce the effort have been working continuously for 52 hours, with reports of injuries and fatalities occurring intermittently. Extinguishing fires is important, but firefighters' lives cannot be sacrificed.

After an emergency discussion, Wen Zhengyang made the decision and, after consulting with his superiors, decided to requisition Typhoon Baidi, which had reached the eastern coast!

This is not a drill. Even though they have already simulated driving typhoons to make landfall in various terrains in the workshop, simulation is simulation and real combat is real combat!

Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of all the researchers, they won the battle!

After venting their excitement, people online gradually started discussing the typhoon again.

"It's truly a blessing from heaven for China! At that time, it was an extremely urgent situation, and many people in our community had packed their bags and were ready to run at any moment. Who would have thought that such a timely rain would suddenly fall from the sky!"

"The White Emperor's spirit is truly extraordinary. The heavenly fire burned so fiercely, yet he was defeated in the first clash!"

"Alas, I watched helplessly as it took the route through Guangling, headed straight for Yingcheng, and plunged itself into the wildfire. The fire was extinguished, but it was gone."

"Don't make it sound so sad. This is a contest that belongs to nature, and humans are just bystanders."

No! Humans are not merely bystanders, but also participants.

Just as Ji Zhixing was thinking this, his phone rang. He took it out and saw that it was Professor Wen Zhengyang.

"Have you seen Baidi?" The voice on the other end of the phone was tinged with laughter.

Ji Zhixing smiled as well: "I saw it." There had been a breakthrough in the field of research, no wonder Professor Wen was so happy.

"Hehehe, you deserve one credit! No! Two credits!"

"I dare not accept such praise!" Ji Zhixing knew that Professor Wen was referring to the Navier-Stokes equations and photonic chips. "I have only provided some tools at most."

Professor Wen smiled and said, "Tools are so important. Isn't it precisely because humans can make tools and use them skillfully that they have been able to stand out from so many other animals?"

The Navier-Stokes equations are a powerful tool for studying meteorological activities, and the performance of photonic chips has enabled the research speed to increase exponentially! These two tools, one for analysis and one for output, help them understand typhoons and better grasp their activity patterns, while the other helps them tame typhoons and intervene in them more promptly.

It can be said that, through today's practical experience, they have filled the last remaining gap in typhoon research, and this project can be declared a success! Of course, there are many other meteorological phenomena worth studying besides typhoons, but they have finally achieved a stage victory and taken a big step towards the ultimate goal of resisting weather weapons!

Wen Zhengyang made this call specifically to share his joy with Ji Zhixing. Even after hanging up, a smile remained on Ji Zhixing's face; the slight worry that had been lurking in his heart since the visit to the research institute had finally vanished.

China's weapons technology has developed quite rapidly, with new products appearing almost every year, such as the Dongfeng-41 ballistic missile, the Type 003 domestically built aircraft carrier, the Type 096 ballistic missile nuclear submarine, the H-20 bomber, and the Type 055 destroyer.

But just as the Gulf War shattered the world's preconceived notions about warfare and weaponry 31 years ago, perhaps one day, all sorts of conventional and unconventional weapons may become utterly vulnerable in the face of new technologies. Weather weapons, in particular, are one of the most important new weapon technologies that countries around the world are secretly vying to research and pin their hopes on.

Now, they have finally made a breakthrough in this field!

For decades, scientists and researchers like Wen Zhengyang have devoted their youth to various laboratories, enabling them to create many groundbreaking achievements!

A surge of emotion filled Ji Zhixing's heart, and the slight frustration from the failed experiment vanished without a trace. He was certain that he could find the right tools to overcome this bottleneck!

Over the weekend, Ji Zhixing read through all the papers on nuclear reactions and torsion fields in top journals, becoming increasingly convinced that their experimental direction in the first phase was correct. However, they still couldn't find suitable tools to resolve the discrepancies and contradictions in the experimental results.

"Boss! I'm back!" Deng Zhi's energetic voice came from downstairs, its vitality clearly reaching Ji Zhixing's ears even across the floors. Bright emotions are most contagious, and Ji Zhixing couldn't help but smile, putting down his pen to take a break.

As soon as Deng Yi knocked on the door, he couldn't wait to share the latest news with Ji Zhixing: "Boss, did you know? Bai Di's movements were actually manipulated!"

"How do you know?" Ji Zhixing asked. He remembered that because of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries did not openly discuss their research on mega-climates.

"News! You really haven't rested these past two days, have you? You didn't even know it was causing such a stir outside!" Deng Yi opened his phone and scrolled through all the Weibo posts he had liked.

Ji Zhixing took a look and saw that the first thing he saw was a report from the central media, "Chinese scientists have successfully controlled a typhoon landing for the first time!" Then, major news outlets published video or text reports.

"Isn't this a good thing? Why is it so noisy?" Ji Zhixing asked.

"It's just those foreign politicians hyping up the 'China threat' theory, saying that China is researching weather weapons, which violates UN conventions, hinders human peace, and affects the natural environment, blah blah blah." Deng snorted. "The United States has done just that, but those politicians don't say a word about it."

In fact, Wen Zhengyang and other researchers originally did not intend to make this preliminary result public. However, the earlier news of the firefighters' early evacuation was seized upon by some people who accused the government of dereliction of duty, abandoning 30 million people in Yingcheng to the flames.

The firefighters withdrew in advance because they received a notification that Baidi City was about to arrive to extinguish the fire, so they cleared the battlefield. However, the general public was unaware of this, and some were incited to say offensive things online.

Those in the know felt it was unfair to let heroes shed blood and tears, and the leaders also felt that since they had achieved some initial success, it wouldn't hurt to flex their muscles a bit—China no longer needed to hide its strength and bide its time. As for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, that only restricts research into weather weapons, but their technology is entirely for civilian use.

Of course, everyone knows that this technology can be readily transferred from civilian to military use, but as long as there's this facade, it's enough to fool people.

Thus, we have this video interview report of Wen Zhengyang being interviewed by People's Daily.

"You know what, these past two days..."

Deng was still talking non-stop about his battles with trolls online these past few days, while Ji Zhixing was completely absorbed by the video interview.

In the report, Wen Zhengyang not only talked about the entire R&D process of the project, but also briefly mentioned some technical points.

"We analyze the instantaneous center movement trend of typhoons, changes around the instantaneous center line, and rotation speed to grasp their movement. All fluids and mixed particles in a typhoon vortex can form rotating rings and photoparticles, but they are all conserved flows with a constant number of photoparticles..."

These words sent a jolt through Ji Zhixing's mind, leaving him stunned.

A note from the author: