After 10 PM, Bai Yang connected with BG4MSR.

The three greasy old men crowded over to eavesdrop, winking and making faces that said “Not bad, kid.”

Bai Yang was greatly annoyed and kicked these three old rascals out.

“This is Little Yang’s signal. Strange… why is it so weak?” Wang Ning pointed at the peak on the spectrum analyzer’s display, looking up at the ceiling. “We’re under the antenna, right? Old Bai, what antenna are you using now?”

“DP antenna,” Bai Zhen said. “The same old one.”

Wang Ning clicked his tongue in amazement. “As expected of Old Bai, I admire this about you – being able to set up such a big antenna in the residential complex. No complaints? No old folks coming to your door saying the radiation causes cancer?”

“Yeah, they went to property management, who came to me,” Bai Zhen said.

“What did you say?”

“I said I had all the proper permits, it was legally installed, and if they had the guts they should go find Wang Ning at the Radio Commission, 37 Longpan Middle Road, Xuanwu District – just look for the guy with the least hair.”

“F*ck,” Wang Ning said.

The peak on the analyzer’s display rose and fell – rising when Bai Yang was speaking, falling when he was listening. The Icom 725 worked in half-duplex mode, meaning it couldn’t transmit and receive simultaneously. To laypeople, using it was more like a walkie-talkie than a phone. When Bai Yang pressed the transmit button on the hand mic, he couldn’t hear what the other person was saying. Only when he released the button could he receive their signal.

This was why radio operators usually added “OVER” or “end transmission” at the end of sentences – to let the other party know they were done speaking and could respond.

Wang Ning’s approach was simple – they listened to Bai Yang’s voice from the room while watching the waveform on the analyzer’s display.

“…That’s right, we’re experimenting. Do you know what a spectrum analyzer is? It’s an instrument that can receive and analyze radio waves. It’s sitting in my living room right now,” Bai Yang’s voice came from the room. “The three of them are detecting signals, hoping to find the reason for all this, though it’s still preliminary work, OVER.”

As Bai Yang spoke, the analyzer’s peak fluctuated. SSB mode used narrow bandwidth, so it showed as a steep, narrow peak like a mortar shell trajectory.

Bai Zhen, Wang Ning, and Zhao Bowen all heard Bai Yang’s “OVER.”

Good, now Bai Yang was done speaking. Next should be BG4MSR’s turn. If the analyzer could receive that girl’s signal, there should be a peak at 14 megahertz…

All three men widened their eyes.

“Where’s the peak?” Zhao Bowen asked.

The analyzer’s display showed only sawtooth background noise lines.

No peak appeared.

“Little Yang!” Wang Ning shouted. “Is she speaking?”

After a few seconds, Bai Yang replied from the room: “Yes!”

“Why isn’t there a signal when she’s speaking? This is truly bizarre,” Bai Zhen muttered. Even with his extensive HAM experience, he’d never encountered such a situation.

“Little Yang! Give us the RS signal report!” Wang Ning shouted again.

“59+!” Bai Yang answered.

“Impossible. A 59+ signal that the analyzer can’t even detect?” Zhao Bowen frowned.

“Don’t rush, let me try myself.” Wang Ning stood up and entered Bai Yang’s room. “Little Yang! Let me take a look!”

As the saying goes, a thousand old frogs will give a thousand 59+ reports. Unscrupulous frogs like Old Bai would give any signal a 59+, and who knew if Little Bai hadn’t inherited his father’s habit?

A few minutes later, Wang Ning returned. Under his gleaming bald head, Zhao Bowen and Bai Zhen saw a face that could shake the ancient and illuminate the present.

Just how shocked must one be for Wang Ning’s old face to show such astonishment?

“Close your mouth, split-head baldy,” Bai Zhen said. “What’s the situation?”

“Old Zhao, if you win the Nobel Prize in Physics, can you put my name on it?” Wang Ning asked.

“Sure, no problem. When I get the Nobel Prize, I’ll burn a paper copy for you,” Zhao Bowen nodded. “Tell us, what’s going on?”

“59+ signal, completely clear and distinct, no problem,” Wang Ning sat down in the chair. “I can’t explain it. Old Bai, you haven’t pulled any tricks, have you? Encrypted the signal?”

“I don’t have that ability,” Bai Zhen said. “The IC-725 doesn’t either.”

An eerie silence fell over the living room. Mom came out from her room and, seeing the three men sitting wordlessly on the sofa and chairs, became curious:

“What’s wrong?”

“Could Yang Yang’s story be true?” Zhao Bowen asked quietly. “Is there a signal crossing time? Is BG4MSR living twenty years in the future?”

“You’re the professor, you’re asking us?” Bai Zhen said. “Were those extra ten years of education wasted?”

“Associate,” Zhao Bowen said.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, let’s think of another way,” Wang Ning said as he pulled out his phone and started dialing:

“Hey! Little Zhu, ah yes it’s me. Where are you now? Home yet… Ah, perfect! Perfect! Little Zhu, could you help Big Brother with another favor? Are you free? Just go back to the office and bring me another spectrum analyzer, the HP one, yes yes, the white one… Sorry to trouble you again, I’ll treat you to dinner tomorrow.”

Half an hour later.

The panting young man appeared at the door again, carrying a white old HP spectrum analyzer.

Old Wang again suggested he stay for a drink of water.

Little Zhu waved his hand saying no need and disappeared in a flash.

“What kind of leader are you? The young man running errands for you late at night, and you just offer him a drink of water?” Bai Zhen fumed.

“Whose water?” Zhao Bowen asked.

“You two jerks won’t be satisfied until I’m dead, huh?” Wang Ning put the second analyzer on the table and plugged it in. “Come on, let’s see this one!”

If the first analyzer couldn’t receive BG4MSR’s signal, maybe it was the analyzer’s problem.

So they’d try another one.

The three men stared at the analyzer’s display. The old HP’s oscilloscope emitted a sickly green light. This thing might be as old as the three old fellows present, but old as it was, it was still going strong – in Wang Ning’s words, “It’s as vigorous as me, working healthily for the motherland for fifty years.”

But this time, even the trusty old warrior met its Waterloo. The second analyzer could only capture Bai Yang’s signal and couldn’t display BG4MSR’s. Finally, Wang Ning even moved the analyzer right into Bai Yang’s room, just one meter from the Icom 725 radio, working simultaneously – even at this point, BG4MSR’s signal ignored the analyzer, with only Bai Yang’s old radio able to receive it.

This was inconceivable.

“I knew it,” Bai Zhen slapped his thigh. “Old Wang said this thing’s condition was like himself, so isn’t it finished? It’s got senile dementia.”

Among the three present – Bai Zhen, Wang Ning, and Zhao Bowen – all were experienced amateur radio experts, but none could explain this phenomenon.

Why would BG4MSR’s signal be selectively received by Bai Yang’s Icom 725?

Had these radio waves gained consciousness?