Lu Binglin remembers that when he watched the live broadcast of the Beijing Asian Games a few years ago, he saw a huge electronic timer in the main stadium, which seemed to be sponsored by the Japanese Seiko Group, which was more than ten meters long and more than five meters high.

In Lu Binglin's vision, if he could get a timer bigger than this, then it was very likely that this timer could be observed from the mirage. Reading out the time displayed on the timer makes it possible to confirm the fact that the interferer is causing the time warp, and even conclude that the mirage itself is a time vortex.

But his ideal timer is extremely expensive, and the expensive Lu Binglin doesn't even have the heart to bargain with Japanese manufacturers. But with no end in sight, a friend put him in touch with a precision instrument factory in Shanghai that could produce a similar giant electronic timer, which could be larger and cheaper than the Japanese one. When the manufacturer learned the reason for Lu Binglin's equipment, he directly gave a factory price. Although the shipping cost of transporting the big guy to Xinjiang far exceeded the purchase price, at least Lu Binglin's plan was half successful.

After the timer arrived, Lu Binglin also encountered a problem, the timer is mainly used to display hours and minutes and seconds, although it can also display the year, month and day, but the digital display is very small, and it must not be seen in the image of the mirage.

In order to solve this problem, Lu Binglin had to devise a simple system, according to the different positions of the timer to hang a flag, with the flag position to represent the seven days from Monday to Sunday. In Lu Binglin's view, the year and month do not need to be specially labeled, and it is enough to be able to determine the time difference in a week.

But beyond Lu Binglin's imagination is the difficulty of raising funds for scientific expeditions. It took a full year for the Mirage to barely get enough money, and it was the spring of '97 when the large army returned to the experimental base in Taklamakan .

The initial experiment went very smoothly, Lu Binglin reinforced the flagpole and hoisted the timer onto the flagpole, and the timer worked normally. In order to ensure the power required for the test, they got several diesel engines, and for a time the experimental base roared. More field surgical resources were continuously transported, and everything was carried out in an orderly manner.

Lu Binglin's investigation convoy arrived at the observation point where the mirage was last discovered, but did not see the mirage appear again, which was within Lu Binglin's expectations, after all, the climatic conditions in different seasons are very different, and a little temperature difference will change the angle of refraction, and a change of one degree may represent an error of tens or hundreds of kilometers in the desert. However, this time, with the data recorded last time, after comparative calculations, Lu Binglin roughly determined the coordinates of the observation point with a relatively high probability, and spent another two months to observe and eliminate it on the spot, and finally in mid-July, he again observed the mirage image of the flagpole at 770 kilometers southwest of the experimental base.

To Lu Binglin's great surprise, as he had imagined before, a timer appeared in the mirage, and although it was a little vague, Lu Binglin could still distinguish the numbers on it. The observation time was 11:24 a.m., but the timer showed 8:03 a.m. If the time is out of sync, then it is likely that time has been distorted by an unknown interference source. There is also the possibility that the timer image at 8:03 was stored in the atmosphere and was not observed until 11:24.

However, the timer image displayed in the mirage was too small, and there seemed to be an ethereal mist evaporating around it, so Lu Binglin could not see the flag hanging on the timer for a while, let alone judge the number of weeks represented by the position of the flag. He didn't dwell too much on the issue, and it was enough to be able to prove that time was distorted. Lu Binglin handed over the work of the position of the flag on the observation timer to his subordinates, and he returned to the car, and immediately began to collect the surrounding meteorological observation data, substitute the formula, and reverse the actual position coordinates of the timer.

As with the previous result, there were four or five possible coordinate points, but none of them were the coordinates of the experimental base. Compared with the coordinate points deduced last time, Lu Binglin was surprised to find that although the coordinates of the observation points have changed greatly and the weather data is completely different, the coordinates of the two deduced mirage occurrence points are surprisingly approximate, and they are all within a radius of 200 kilometers in diameter near Devil City.

It seems that his mathematical model is not wrong, there must be a strange interference source in the area of Devil's City, and the light reflected from the flagpole and timer has been distorted when it passes through the interference source, and it is projected to the current observation point. But Lu Binglin really couldn't imagine what kind of interference source it was, what kind of energy it was, which distorted the light, and even delayed time for several hours.

While he was lost in thought, the Mirage Chaser, who was in charge of observation, entered the car. This time the mirage appeared for a long time, almost thirty-five minutes, and the Mirage Chaser recorded the whole process. In the car, the mirage chaser turned on the camera, perhaps the content recorded in the camera was too unbelievable, the mirage's hand kept shaking, Lu Binglin had to take the camera and reverse the video tape himself.

The mirage chaser took a sip of water and calmed down before telling Lu Binglin about his discovery in the mirage. At first, because of the fog floating on the mirage, the whole image was a little blurry, and the numbers on the timer could be vaguely distinguished, but after observing for a while, the mirage chaser found that the numbers on the timer were constantly changing, which can prove that the image reflected by the mirage is not a static picture, but should be like a live camera, recording the status of the experimental base simultaneously, but there is a delay of more than three hours in time.

But soon the Mirage Chaser noticed something strange, the second unit display on the timer was almost stationary, or beating too fast to tell the difference. And the display of the unit jumps extremely fast, at least five or six times faster than normal, then this is not a synchronized or slightly delayed image at all, but a real time vortex.

After listening to the narration of the mirage and watching the video materials, Lu Binglin calmed down. It seems that all the observational data will be the answer to the mystery of the Devil's City, and only by entering the land of death can we find out the real cause of the time warp, and if there is first-hand data there, the mirage refraction imaging model built by myself can be truly perfected.

Lu Binglin handed the camera back to the mirage chaser, and was busy marking it on the map. Another reconnaissance team was fifteen kilometers north of him, and when he set off, he should be able to reach a coordinate point deduced by a formula to the south of Devil City before dark, and his own team set off immediately, and it is estimated that it will be able to join them at most an hour late. It is estimated that it will take two days to collect all the data by staying there overnight.

Lu Binglin didn't hesitate any longer, picked up the satellite phone, and gave the order to enter the Devil's City to the other team. This side also immediately took action, loaded all kinds of instruments and equipment, counted supplies, and prepared to set off.

This time, Lu Binglin was accompanied by a communications squad of the Xinjiang Construction Corps, eight communications corps and engineering troops, led by a deputy platoon commander named Zhao Zhenguo, whose main task was to cooperate with the expedition team to set up temporary communication lines, and this was the support that Lu Binglin spent great efforts to win in Beijing.

Despite the desert being uninhabited, the Corps has played an important role in oil exploration in the 50s, two bombs and one satellite in the 60s, and a series of large-scale scientific expeditions in the 70s. After more than 40 years of hard work, there are already hundreds of permanent supply points and equipment warehouses of the Construction Corps in the desert.

Since the departure of Lu Binglin's scientific expedition team, logistics and communications have been in charge of platoon commander Zhao. Platoon Commander Zhao has been stationed in this desert for five years, I'm afraid no one knows this place better than him, relying on the equipment warehouse in the desert, from the design of the travel route to even the schedule of each day, basically Lu Binglin handed it over to Platoon Commander Zhao. Of course, Platoon Commander Zhao did not disappoint him, everything was in order, perfect and efficient.

But when Platoon Commander Zhao heard Lu Binglin's order to enter the Devil's City, he uncharacteristically hesitated. Platoon Commander Zhao has two main opinions: First, there are more than 100 kilometers near the Devil's City, and there is no supply point for the construction corps, although the food and water of the scientific expedition team are sufficient, but the communication cables are limited after all, and the contact with the experimental base can still be guaranteed, but the contact with the other expedition team will become very difficult.

The second is that the climate near Devil's Town is complicated, and there are often sudden abnormal weather conditions, and it is very dangerous to camp there at night without adequate preparation.

Platoon Commander Zhao's reasons are still very sufficient, but Lu Binglin still caught some abnormalities from his words. Although the contact time is not long, but for the platoon commander Zhao, Lu Binglin thinks that he still knows a lot, he is a standard soldier, has an almost stubborn obedience to orders, and he is easy-going and rigorous, so since he set off, he has no resistance to the plan of action of the scientific expedition team, even if there is something inappropriate in the plan, he does his best to solve it, not to oppose it.

Regarding Platoon Commander Zhao's opinion, Lu Binglin had to be patient and give more explanations. After all, the appearance of the mirage is extremely accidental, and if you don't rush to the Devil's City as soon as possible, get the first-hand monitoring data, and re-test the imaging model, the previous search work is equivalent to the waste of previous efforts, and this trip can be said to be crucial to the success or failure of the entire plan.

(Scholars have the sincerity of never turning back, so that they can have endless use.) To establish a career and make meritorious contributions, everything must be done from the ground, if you do not admire the sound of the voice, it will become a false fruit; preaching and cultivating virtue, the mind must establish a foundation from the void, if you think about the effect, you will fall into the dust. --"Caigen Tan")