novelsite Chapter 12 Perception
Chapter 12 Perception
Six o'clock in the morning, in a Berlin apartment.
Wang Zhengyang opened his eyes in the darkness. He had only slept for four hours after returning to his apartment last night, but the continuous optimization of the gene engine meant that this level of sleep deprivation had almost no impact. On the contrary, the deep sleep following the overexertion seemed to trigger some kind of repair mechanism—he clearly felt that the activation level had increased from 0.38% to 0.41%.
A 0.03 percentage point increase may seem insignificant, but the resulting changes are quite significant. The most intuitive feeling is the improvement in the "resolution" of perception: previously, he needed to concentrate to distinguish defects on the metal surface at the level of 0.1 millimeters, but now this distinction has become an almost instinctive background perception, just like a normal person can see the objects in front of him without deliberately focusing.
He walked barefoot to the center of the living room without turning on the lights. His mechanically intuitive senses silently unfolded, maintaining a radius of about 3 meters, but the "density" of his perception had noticeably increased. Previously, metallic objects within this range resembled outlines in a black-and-white photograph; now they were high-resolution color scans—he could not only "see" the cast iron material of the heating pipes, but also distinguish the approximately 0.8-millimeter-thick layer of calcium-magnesium compounds formed on the inner wall of the pipes due to long-term scale buildup; he could not only "feel" the arrangement of the pins inside the door lock, but also sense the grain orientation of the copper alloy in the lock cylinder, and even deduce the torque and angle at which a wrench would most easily cause fatigue cracks inside the lock cylinder.
This improvement is not linear, but exponential. An activation rate of 0.41% seems to be a small threshold for a qualitative change.
Today he is testing another ability: the ability to perceive the internal energy state of metals.
He took three things out of the tool cabinet: a brand new AA alkaline battery, a scrapped electric vehicle motor stator (made of stacked silicon steel sheets), and a damaged filter inductor (ferrite core, copper wire winding) that he had previously removed from an old computer power supply.
He placed the three items on the table, half a meter apart, and then closed his eyes.
The sensor first identifies the battery.
Under normal circumstances, the potential difference generated by the chemical reaction inside the battery is 1.5 volts, and the internal resistance is about 0.15 ohms. But Wang Zhengyang's perception attempted to penetrate the plastic shell and metal electrodes to directly "touch" the microscopic process of converting chemical energy into electrical energy.
Initially, it was all chaos. Chemical energy is not mechanical energy, and it doesn't fall within the traditional perception of mechanical affinity. But the humming frequency of the gene engine began to adjust, shifting from the basic mechanical resonance band to a higher, more complex spectrum. Wang Zhengyang could sense that this adjustment was the engine actively adapting to his needs—this system was not a rigid tool, but a symbiotic entity capable of learning and evolving.
Three minutes later, a new "channel" was opened.
He still cannot directly "see" the chemical reaction, but he can "feel" the distribution of the potential field inside the battery: the potential gradient is strongest around the zinc shell of the positive electrode and gradually decreases towards the carbon rod of the negative electrode; the migration of ions in the electrolyte forms a weak but regular energy flow; he can even perceive that the battery has stored about 87% of its charge since it left the factory - this judgment is an estimate based on the strength and stability of the potential field and still needs to be verified.
Next is the motor stator.
Silicon steel sheets are designed to reduce eddy current losses and have a complex magnetic domain structure inside. When Wang Zhengyang's perception penetrated, he first "saw" the stacked structure of the silicon steel sheets—each sheet is 0.35 mm thick, with an insulating coating on the surface, and a stacking factor of 0.95. Next, he tried to sense the "magnetic memory" left by these materials when they were energized.
This is an even more difficult challenge. Theoretically, the residual magnetic induction intensity of a demagnetized silicon steel sheet is close to zero. But Wang Zhengyang doesn't think so—any process leaves a trace; the key is whether the precision of perception is sufficient to capture that almost vanished imprint.
He focused all his attention on a tiny area of the stator teeth, pushing the "magnification" of his perception to its limit. Sweat dripped from his temples, and his cerebral cortex felt an overloaded, burning sensation.
Seven minutes. Nine minutes. At the eleventh minute, feedback appeared.
That wasn't a clear image of a magnetic field, but rather a kind of... "tendency." The silicon steel lattice in that small area had an extremely weak alignment bias that tended towards a specific direction. This bias was so weak that it was difficult for any instrument to measure, but it did exist—like the footprints left on the ground after a group of soldiers had dispersed, almost blown away by the wind.
This is the "memory" left by the history of magnetization. If he can read this memory, in the future it may be possible to deduce the history of current, magnetic fields, and even mechanical stress that a metal has experienced by sensing its microscopic magnetic state. This is the ultimate ability to diagnose mechanical failures and predict the lifespan of materials.
Finally, there was the broken inductor.
The ferrite core was cracked, and the copper winding had a local short circuit. When Wang Zhengyang's perception penetrated, the first thing he noticed was the chaotic residual energy—the crack in the core created a discontinuity in the magnetic circuit, leading to abnormal local magnetic flux density; the short-circuited copper wire produced a tiny overheated area, where the insulating varnish had carbonized.
But more importantly, he "sensed" the cause of the inductor's failure: not due to overcurrent, but to mechanical vibration. The crack in the core started at a corner and exhibited fatigue propagation characteristics; the short circuit occurred precisely at the point where the winding rubbed against the sharp edge of the core during vibration. This is a typical case of electronic component failure caused by mechanical stress.
The entire test lasted forty minutes. By the end, Wang Zhengyang was almost exhausted and had to lean on the table to keep his balance. But his eyes gleamed with excitement—a new dimension of ability had been unlocked. Although it was still very rudimentary, only able to perceive the most obvious energy states, this meant that mechanical affinity was no longer limited to structure and was beginning to extend into the realms of "state" and "history."
Thinking back to his past life, he had wasted too much time on the escape route, stumbling and struggling along the way. Now, he sighed. In this life, I am reborn, and I am determined to stand at the highest peak so that I will not have lived in vain.
He noted down the key findings: energy perception consumes a great deal of mental energy and can currently only be used on small, simple objects; magnetic memory reading requires extreme concentration and can only obtain extremely vague information; however, it has great potential for fault diagnosis and condition assessment.
I took a cold shower and changed into a clean dark gray work jacket and tactical trousers. I had two important meetings today: in the morning, I needed to discuss the design of the closed ecosystem with Lin Luo'er; in the afternoon, I was to meet with Zhang Yiqiang for our first tentative meeting. Tonight, I also had to make final preparations for the Potsdam trade.
Time is of the essence, and there is no room for error.