NOVEL NEXT Chapter 389: Insight
So for the next seven days, Huangfu Yi lived and ate together with Liang Jiuding, cultivating together, progressing side by side, studying the entry-level section of the Taiyi Divine Calculation Skill.
There's no denying, Huangfu Yi's arithmetic talent is really not up to par. His strength lies in his focus. When it comes to single-minded dedication, building physical strength, lifting iron to train muscles, practicing breathing and Qi Refining, cultivating Inner Strength, that's his forte. But as everyone knows, learning arithmetic requires a bit of natural talent and comprehension, mere rote memorization is useless. You either know it or you don't. Therefore, with his mediocre natural talent, Huangfu Yi was stuck in the hardship of brushing up on problems as part of his cultivation as soon as he began the entry-level.
Luckily, Liang Jiuding is very patient and good at teaching. After all, among the group of martial siblings from Songshan Mountain, most of whom come with some skills for further education as adults, ninety-nine percent are math idiots, so they all rely on him for tutoring and guidance, and he has accumulated many years of teaching experience.
Thus, unlike some people who resort to scolding and hitting idiots and trash, Liang Jiuding sees that Huangfu Yi's natural talent is actually quite okay, at least able to pass exams among the Mystic Sect Inner Sect Disciples. And he's focused and careful enough, rarely making mistakes, just sometimes his mind isn't very nimble, gets hung up on things and goes off on a tangent.
Although he really can't compare to those born with natural knowledge, able to grasp everything easily, he's still considered a talent worth cultivating. There's no need to be discouraged; others grind out a hundred problems, you grind out a hundred scrolls. Over time, getting listed in the imperial examination is not a big problem. After all, the scores on the exam papers have an upper limit, it can't be too far off the mark...
Fortunately, there are not many in the Mystic Sect who truly expect to achieve Dao with arithmetic alone, nor do you need to solve the various conjectures of the Great Grandmasters at a young age. Just keeping up with the current mainstream topics in Mystic Sect arithmetic is sufficient.
Of course, even 'keeping up' is very difficult. After all, Huangfu Yi never had a foundation in arithmetic, so learning it is really strenuous for him. But luckily, even though his math skills are lacking, equivalent to a math idiot, he can still hang on.
"Damn, it's the first time I've ever seen someone cross to Outer Heaven, not grinding monsters but grinding problems here. Do you have to be this serious, exam student... Hey, your counting rods are placed wrong here."
At this moment, a Sergeant returning to the base for ammo passed by and, seeing what the rookie was doing squatting there all day, was momentarily stunned.
"Ah... have to start all over again..."
Now every day during the day he studies arithmetic with Liang Jiuding, and at night goes to Yangjingbang to review and consolidate his knowledge. Huangfu Yi is truly exhausted, lying flat on the ground staring at the sky. Looking up, he sees countless missiles trailing long plumes, streaking across the sky like a meteor shower, roaring and flashing, exploding in blinding fire, illuminating the entire wasteland.
The drone swarm rushes in like a black cloud, their buzzing is deafening, each one flashing red sensor eyes, laser beams shooting everywhere tearing hot air and smoke, the sound of explosions is constant, fragments rain down like rain, striking the ground and kicking up dust, countless broken buildings collapse in the firelight, rumbling loudly, dust filling the air, blocking out the sky and covering the earth, leaving one physically and mentally exhausted.
"This ruined place... when the hell will the fighting stop..."
The Sergeant gulped down three big bottles of electrolyte drinks, gnawing on a nutrition bar, casually fiddling with the counting rods on the ground to correct Huangfu Yi's calculations,
"It won't be much longer, they've already started deploying PCA, at the latest the frontline should disengage by this week."
"What? PCA?"
The Sergeant casually flicked his hand, sending over a holographic video, sharing footage of supersonic drone carpet bombing, along with his frontline-captured, collected weapon data analysis and identification report.
"Perma-Corrosive Aerosol, a persistent corrosive aerosol, a type of environmental chemical weapon, micron-sized artificial aerosol particles.
The core corrosive agent is probably chemicals like nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, chlorine, or hydrogen sulfide, used to counter drones. It rapidly oxidizes metals to form a rust layer, targets silicon-based circuit dissolving compounds, semiconductor chips, corrodes circuit boards, damages electronic systems, causing motors, sensors, and battery components to fail and become incapacitated.
These corrosion cores use synthetic perfluoroalkyl substances as carriers, highly stable compound structures that are non-biodegradable. Once aerosol particles adhere to equipment surfaces, penetrate electronic device crevices and heat dissipation vents, they continuously release core corrosive agents like semi-volatile pesticides. Swarm drones will be scrapped in just a few weeks, even if they don't retreat, they'll have to."
Huangfu Yi was curious,
"If there's such a great weapon against the swarm, why only use it now?"
The Sergeant chuckled,
"Didn't you hear me say these synthetic things are non-biodegradable? They're not products of nature, once released into the air, they'll hang there like smog, recycling in rain and atmosphere, able to persist in the environment for centuries. From then on, at least for decades, acid rain will fall, no one can survive where even drones can't stay. By then, not even a single blade of grass will grow on the ground.
They've been continuously airdropping, probably intending to fully cover six hundred square kilometers of the central battlefield. With this magnitude of spread, eventually, the entire coastal region will become uninhabitable. It won't take ten years before this super city, Yangjingbang, becomes a dead city where no smart machines can be used, turning into complete wasteland.
Of course, this way, they also can't use large-scale smart mechanized armies to land from Yangjingbang, so naturally, neither side will need to continue this tug-of-war here."