chsdbacks Chapter 20 Crystal Analysis
Chapter 20 Crystal Analysis
Deep within the armory, a hastily cleared area had been converted into a makeshift laboratory. On the central metal workbench, the deep purple crystal rested on an insulated tray, surrounded by various testing tools Tony had cobbled together from materials in the armory—several probes connected to bare wires, a modified oscilloscope, and even a spectral analysis module salvaged from a precision instrument.
Tony Stark paced around the workbench, his eyes burning with excitement, like a child who had discovered a new toy, or a scientist facing an unknown mystery, brimming with a thirst for exploration. Chen Haotian stood relatively calmly to the side, but his sharp eyes were also fixed on the crystal. His academic instincts allowed him to rapidly construct an analytical model in his mind, while simultaneously diverting some of his attention to sense the subtle changes in the runes within his body.
"First, the standard physical properties." Tony picked up a high-precision vernier caliper—the kind you could find in the armory's tool room. "Dimensions... 7.8 mm at its longest, 5.2 mm at its widest, and about 1.3 mm on average. Mass..." He switched to a delicate electronic scale, "0.85 grams. Estimated density... far lower than common metals, even lighter than some polymers." This first data point was somewhat unexpected.
He tried gently stroking the crystal surface with the tip of the hardness tester. "Mohs hardness...cannot be measured accurately, but it is extremely high. The tip did not leave any scratches, and the crystal itself was not damaged at all." Tony tried several tools made of different materials, but the result was the same.
"Next, let's look at electrical and thermal conductivity." Tony used two probes to touch the two ends of the crystal, connecting them to his modified multimeter. "Resistance...infinite? No, that's not right..." He adjusted the sensitivity, his brow furrowed. "The reading is fluctuating, not a stable infinity, but rather oscillating irregularly within an extremely high range, as if...it's 'insulating' to some extent, but not completely so."
He then brought a miniature heat source close to the crystal while monitoring its surface temperature with an infrared thermometer. "The thermal conductivity... is almost zero. The temperature at the point where the heat source is located hardly changes; the heat seems to be completely 'isolated,' or... absorbed?" This phenomenon puzzled Tony even more.
Chen Haotian spoke up at the opportune moment, offering his own conjecture: "If it truly contains 'void energy,' and 'void' conceptually represents 'nothingness' or 'the other side of order,' then it's not impossible for it to exhibit 'isolation' or 'devouring' characteristics against conventional physical interactions."
Tony nodded. While the hypothesis was bold, it was the most plausible explanation at the moment. He then activated the cobbled-together spectral analysis module, and a beam of light of a specific wavelength shone onto the crystal.
"Spectral analysis... damn it!" Tony cursed under his breath, staring at the chaotic, constantly distorting spectrum on the screen. "This thing doesn't reflect or absorb any known spectrum at all! Its optical properties are... chaotic, or rather, it's constantly 'changing' its response to light?"
Conventional physical testing seemed to have hit a bottleneck, yielding mostly abnormal and incomprehensible data. Tony took a deep breath and turned his attention to the energy level. This was his most interesting area, and also where the crystal was most likely to hide its secrets.
He carefully constructed a simple closed circuit, attempting to connect the crystal as some kind of "energy source." However, after the circuit was connected, the pointers of the voltmeter and ammeter remained motionless, and the crystal showed no sign of outputting any energy.
"It doesn't release conventional electrical energy." Tony wasn't discouraged; instead, his eyes shone even brighter. "Then the energy it contains exists in another form."
He recalled the unique energy reading he had detected earlier. He reconnected the homemade detector, capable of capturing a wider range of energy fluctuations, and aimed the probe at the crystal once more.
On the oscilloscope screen, an extremely weak but stable waveform appeared. The waveform was not a standard sine wave or square wave, but a complex pattern that kept folding and twisting itself, as if trying to depict a high-dimensional structure on a two-dimensional plane. The frequency was also unusually low, almost at the limit of detection.
"It's this kind of fluctuation..." Tony murmured, adjusting the magnification, "Very low intensity, but its essence...I've never seen anything like it before. It's not like electromagnetic waves, not like radiation, more like...background noise in space? Or perhaps a slight 'vibration' of some kind of rule itself?"
Just then, the dormant runes within Chen Haotian's body pulsated once more. This time, it wasn't a faint pull, but a more pronounced "resonance." He could feel that the runes seemed to be in extremely subtle synchronization with the peculiar fluctuations emanating from the crystal.
"Tony, try stimulating it with a weak current, the frequency... try to match the harmonics of its own fluctuations," Chen Haotian suddenly said, suggesting a direction based on the rune's feedback.
Tony glanced at him, asked no further questions, and immediately began adjusting the signal generator. He generated an extremely weak alternating current signal with a constantly adjusting frequency, which he applied to the crystal through a probe.
At first, nothing changed. But when Tony tuned the frequency to a specific range, something strange happened!
Suddenly, a faint, almost imperceptible purple halo appeared on the surface of the deep purple crystal, flickering like a breath. Simultaneously, in the space above the workbench, near the crystal, the light underwent an extremely subtle distortion, like looking through shimmering water, creating a momentary aberration. The previously weak, peculiar waveform on the oscilloscope surged several orders of magnitude in intensity before quickly returning to its original state.
"My God..." Tony held his breath, his eyes fixed on the spot where the space had just warped, even though the phenomenon lasted less than half a second. "Spatial disturbance! It really can affect the structure of space!"
Chen Haotian also clearly felt it; in that instant, the activity of the runes within his body significantly increased, as if injected with some kind of catalyst. He became even more certain of his judgment: "It seems I was right. This energy is closer in nature to 'void' or 'space' itself. It doesn't follow the familiar laws of conservation and transformation of energy; it's more like a fragment of 'rules,' or a manifestation of the 'density' of 'space.'"
Tony rubbed his hands together excitedly, gazing at the now-calm crystal as if it were an endless treasure. "Fragments of rules… the density of space… if we could stably extract and control this energy…" His thoughts had already leaped to the application level, "Could it be used as a completely new energy source? Could it be used in space technology? Even… could it be used to enhance your 'rune'?"
Chen Haotian nodded slightly: "Anything is possible. But the risks are unknown. This kind of energy is fundamentally different from the physical rules of our universe. Using it rashly may lead to unpredictable consequences. For example, problems with the stability of spatial structures, or unknown effects on living organisms."
"Risk and reward go hand in hand, my dear brother." Tony picked up the crystal, weighing it in his hand despite its near-insignificant weight. "We're stuck in this godforsaken place now, and anything that might enhance our strength is worth investigating. At least, we've now identified what it is—a special substance originating from the collision of world rules, containing void energy that we haven't yet understood."
Preliminary analysis yielded a crucial conclusion: the crystal contains void energy, possibly originating from the collision of world rules. This discovery not only provided them with a potential new energy source and research direction but also gave Chen Haotian a deeper understanding of the interaction between his own runes and the rules of different worlds. This small crystal, like a window, allowed them to glimpse a glimpse into the mysteries of the underlying rules of the multiverse. Further research, and how to safely utilize this power, will be key to their survival and exploration in this apocalyptic world.