A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Chapter 773 can be put on hold for now; finding Gilgamesh is the priority!

The system completed a rapid recalibration with the new background values.

Jiang Xia was too lazy to bother with this sudden geomagnetic anomaly anymore. Mother Earth has too many secrets, and now is clearly not the best time to explore them in depth.

"Old Wang, didn't you say that Liu Shicai voluntarily moved to a bungalow? Come on! Let's go take a look around his house and find what we're looking for!"

"Alright! Shall we move out?" Old Wang perked up immediately upon hearing this, starting the car and chattering on, "At noon, Li Huaide was still nagging me, asking when we could close the net. If we wait any longer, the belly he finally managed to lose weight in will be eaten back up by all those endless banquets..."

“I’ll say it again,” Jiang Xia patted the control panel, “Leave the professional stuff to the professionals! I’ll find the target, but you guys are better at making arrests.”

Old Wang nodded in understanding, and was about to say something when a voice filled with deep confusion came from the corner of the carriage:

"Even professionals... probably can't explain this situation..."

The speaker was an elderly geologist. His brow was furrowed, his fingers unconsciously tapping the open geology notebook on his lap, his gaze somewhat unfocused as he stared at the vast wilderness rushing past the car window, his face bearing the typical bewilderment and persistence of a seasoned scholar encountering a phenomenon that overturns his understanding.

“Total geomagnetic field strength…” he murmured to himself, as if sorting out a fundamental problem, “In geology, especially within a relatively stable craton, the total background field value within a region should be a relatively fixed benchmark value over a short time scale… This is a rule universally accepted by the geological community…”

"but……"

The elderly geologist suddenly turned his head, his gaze fixed intently on Jiang Xia: "Comrade Jiang! Can you keep this machine running? Just keep recording the total geomagnetic field value at this point! I want to see how it changes. Will it continue to decrease, or will it rise again? Is there a pattern to this change?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia gave a wry smile and pointed to the several flashing indicator lights on the control panel and the cooling fan humming slightly beside it: "Old Li, it's not that I don't want to turn it on... it's just that this 'big guy' won't allow it!"

"This system consumes an astonishing amount of electricity, and it's all powered by the armored vehicle's own high-power generator. Running at full load for extended periods would be unbearable for the vehicle, and we probably wouldn't be able to stay inside either. The delicate vacuum tubes and advanced integrated circuits inside also can't withstand continuous high temperatures, so heat dissipation is a major problem."

Jiang Xia thought for a moment and proposed a compromise: "However, we can use the intermittent on/off measurement method. We turn on the machine every once in a while, such as every hour, or when passing by key points, and record the data. However... this will only give us some discrete data points, and we cannot capture the continuous and fine changes. The accuracy is not as good as before."

"It's alright! It's alright!" Old Li waved his hands repeatedly, his eyes brightening again. "As long as there are data points! With data, we can analyze trends! This must be written down; it's too strange..."

Suddenly, Old Li changed the subject, his bewilderment and contemplation quickly replaced by a gentle smile tinged with calculation. He coughed lightly, his gaze sweeping over the heavily modified armored vehicle before finally settling on Jiang Xia:

"Ahem... Xiao Jiang, what do you think about your... um... 'Patrol Dragon' tank after this mission? What are your plans for it?"

Before Jiang Xia could answer, he began to earnestly complain: "You don't know, we geological explorers live a life of hardship year-round, it's really like 'traveling the world with a hammer, crossing mountains and valleys to find mineral deposits'."

In many places where vehicles can't get in, people have to carry the equipment on foot, which is inefficient and exhausting... If we could have a machine like this, capable of off-road driving, generating electricity, and carrying precision instruments everywhere... that would be simply..."

The old man's intentions were almost written on his face.

Upon hearing this, Engineer Chen immediately nodded in agreement, his eyes filled with anticipation: "Old Li is right! Engineer Jiang, if this 'Patrol Dragon' can be applied to the field of geological exploration, it will be an absolute powerhouse! It can solve many long-standing problems in fieldwork!"

However, Old Wang, sitting in the driver's seat, couldn't stand it. He kept interrupting while driving, his voice rising eight octaves: "Hey, hey, hey! Old Li! This...this is probably not appropriate!"

"This car... Engineer Jiang promised me that once the mission is complete, he'll install the newly developed 'electric big biubiu' on it! I'll have to drive it to... to carry out... uh... an important mission!"

"Hey! What task could be more important than finding minerals! Old Li originally explored the Songliao Plain and the North China Plain to find oil! Without oil, even this oil guzzler can't run!" Engineer Chen interjected.

He clearly hopes that this equipment, which embodies so much effort, can play a greater and more practical role.

"Tsk..." Old Wang didn't turn around, but just turned his head to the side. "Jiang Xia, our mission isn't completely over yet. We have to plan for the safest outcome, right?"

These words were addressed not only to Old Li, but also to that sometimes impulsive and naive young man behind him. The subtext was: Be cautious! Safety first!

Old Li completely ignored Old Wang's "military fantasies," and just looked at Jiang Xia with a smile, his eyes seeming to say: Look, should we let them have fun, or should we let them do the serious work?

Jiang Xia was completely bewildered by the scene before him.

Before he could even plan the future of this prototype, the geologist's "talent war" and his violent henchmen's "demands for force" were simultaneously presented to him.

"Don't rush, let's find the gold first! Old Li, once we find the gold, I might have an even better idea!"