Hao Ren received the news over breakfast the next morning—Zom had finally picked up another broadcast signal from the depths of space, and this time, with the help of the Resonance Crystal antenna, he had successfully pinpointed its source.
The news immediately energized everyone. Hao Ren set down his bowl on the spot and had the Data Terminal patch the communication through. Zom's interactive avatar—this time a Shiba Inu icon—appeared in the holographic projection. "That communication frequency has appeared again! It's twenty-two thousand light-years from us, and the location is extremely clear this time!"
"Send all the drone swarms into the Warp Jump Acceleration Track. Nolan, warm up the engines and prepare to depart," Hao Ren ordered at once. Then, somewhat curiously, he asked, "The Resonance Crystal antenna is working this time? Can it receive crystal signals from outer space?"
"Well... it still can't receive those," Zom replied, sounding confused as well. "All I've received are communications from some unknown source. As for crystal signals... aside from the ones sent from here, I haven't detected a single one."
"It still can't be used..." Hao Ren frowned. "That doesn't make sense. The antenna isn't malfunctioning, is it?"
"I've studied the system you built too, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with its principles," Zom said, sounding almost as bewildered as Hao Ren. "Besides, I'm using this antenna right now. Its receiving capabilities clearly have no problems at all."
Hao Ren smacked his lips as if he had a toothache. "The hardware is flawless, the principles are so simple they're practically a straight line, yet it can't receive a signal that should be crystal clear. This is turning into a damn occult problem..."
Lily was winding an entire bowl of noodles around her chopsticks and gnawing on it as hard