A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Inside the dark carriage, a pressure cooker hissed and steamed.

The enticing aroma whetted Jiang Xia's appetite. "Where is Brother Wang?"

Wang Kui shrugged: "I don't know. I've gone in circles and I'm totally confused. Are you hungry? Come and get something good to eat."

When the pressure cooker was opened, large chunks of luncheon meat and noodles swirled around in the thick broth.

"Hey, Uncle Yang, why are you being so generous this time? You're giving us meat?"

Jiang Xia picked up the can and looked at it. Hey, this time it's not in English, it's from Russia? No wonder it tastes a bit strange.

They broke off a few straws to use as chopsticks, and the two poured the broth into a can and started slurping.

Just as we were enjoying our meal, there was a sudden loud bang.

Jiang Xia was startled, and the canned food fell to the floor.

Wang Kui reached for his bag, then lunged forward to shield Jiang Xia with his body, quickly cocking his Type 56 assault rifle after releasing the safety.

After looking around, he gestured for Jiang Xia to climb behind the flour sack, while he himself walked a few steps close to the carriage, came to the carriage opening, and looked out sideways.

It was dark outside, but under the starry sky, a group of children could still be seen standing on the earthen slope, cheering.

Wang Kui withdrew his gaze and looked at the fist-sized stone embedded in the iron railing at the opening.

"Damn, a kid's throwing stones!"

Jiangxia climbed out of the flour sack, picked up the canned food, and continued working.

"Tsk, little brat, hey, have you run into this before?"

Wang Kui sighed, "Of course I've encountered that before. A comrade of mine was escorting supplies when a child threw a stone that smashed the car window, completely breaking his nose and leaving a bunch of broken glass stuck in his face. He passed out on the spot!"

"So, when we're escorting goods now, we sit sideways."

"Hey, did you catch him?"

"Yes, the railway police searched several villages before finding him. He was a 'junior labor camp inmate' who was thrown into the forests of Northeast China."

Tsk, they really don't tolerate this.

Unfortunately, this system seems to have been discontinued in later generations, which is a real shame.

After dinner, Jiang Xia sat by the coal stove, seemingly doing some pointless writing and drawing, but he was actually working on a text compiler for a transistor computer.

Yesterday, he connected the two devices he had acquired to the brain of the transistor computer. Using the ITA2 code that came with the teletype machine, he wrote part of the BIOS system into the DRAM.

Although incomplete, the initial code was enough to get the "Beijing" license plate to start displaying characters on the screen.

With the BIOS in place, the next key step is naturally the text editor, which will ultimately be used to implement the cyclic monitoring of the assembly compiler.

In this way, the transistor computer can be put to good use.

I estimate that by the time this busy period is over, the BIOS input should also be complete.

Yes, someone is continuing to input relevant characters into the east wing of Jiangxia Courtyard.

After all, DRAM is dynamic; it's wiped clean when the power is off or there's no electricity.

Jiang Xia's departure was still uncertain, so in the spirit of not wasting electricity, he directly handed over the second half of the input to Jiang Qiu, the talented young lady of the Jiang family.

Jiang Qiu, who hasn't appeared in a long time, is practicing his two-finger typing on that teletype machine.

On average, it takes five keystrokes to display an "a" on the screen, which is a bit frustrating for our little prodigy. But the fact that the corresponding character appears on the screen with each keystroke still amazes her.

"This energy-wasting thing is really interesting! My brother's tinkering is really amazing!"

It was late at night, and the clattering of the mechanical keyboard carried quite far in Beijing, a city where even the sound of dogs barking was rare. Meanwhile, the transistor's built-in signal amplification function also caused nearby radios to pick up strange signals.

"Team leader, the listening device is receiving a strange signal, it sounds like it's transmitting a message!"

"Immediately monitor and locate the source!"

"I only wanted to catch some low-level rats, but I didn't expect to find such a big fish!"

The "big guy," stepping on a man, said smugly, "How about it? Why don't you just confess? You've followed me all the way from Jinan to Beijing, what's your purpose?"

The man's eyes darted around: "I'm innocent, sir! I'm here on a business trip from the Quancheng Automobile Factory!"

"Sir? Tsk, is the bald guy out of talent? Sending only idiots like this. You could call him a teacher and I'd believe you!"

"Big guy! Signal lost!"

"Have you determined the location yet?"

"No, it's perfectly timed, the experience is too much. It's definitely a black fish!"

"It's alright, take your time, hunters are always very patient..."

"Hey, the signal is back~~ but it seems a little different."

"Uh, it's gone again!"

"Here we go again, but nothing happens again~~"

After repeating this several times, the person listening in ripped off the earpiece and kicked the man.

"Damn, it's quite fat, it's playing us for fools!"

The man yelped in pain after being kicked, but secretly thought, "No wonder he's someone who's infiltrated Beijing, he's incredibly bold! Should I hold on a little longer? Maybe I can still be rescued?"

At the same time, Grandma Jiang grabbed Jiang Qiu's little ear: "Why aren't you asleep so late! You have to be like your brother, don't you!"

"Hey Grandma~, there are only a few more keys to type, this is the homework my brother left me!"

As they were talking, Jiang Qiu ran over to the typewriter and fiddled with it for a bit.

After finishing typing, Jiang Qiu closed the notebook with satisfaction, shut the door, and quietly walked out.

The power indicator light remained flashing in the pitch-black room.

Today's work went smoothly; I even typed out a whole line of symbols. Jiang Qiu rubbed her sore fingers, feeling quite pleased with herself.

It's really not easy. It takes five keystrokes to display an "a", not to mention that some symbols require the use of combination keys. It must have been really tough on the young girl.

The "snap" sound coming from the monitoring headphones again no longer attracted the attention of "Big Guy".

"Let you be smug now, I'll catch you next time!"

Inside the train carriage.

Wang Kui was adjusting the walkie-talkie according to the communication code handed to him by his old squad leader.

The piercing crackling sound from the microphone interrupted Jiang Xia's thoughts.

"Brother Wang, what are you doing?"

"Contact the relevant people to report the situation. This is an escort mission, and we need to notify them of any issues! We should have sent a telegram, but luckily we brought a walkie-talkie."

"If we don't report it, the incident of the stone hitting the train will be attributed to us, the escorts. If we report it, the responsibility will fall on the railway police. Do you understand?"

After fiddling with it for a while, the walkie-talkie finally connected.

"Hello, this is the escort personnel for this mission. I'm here to report an incident where a stone struck the train."

"serial number!"

Wang Kui glanced at the note: "The west wind releases a thousand trees of flowers at night."

Upon hearing Wang Kui reveal the password, the person on the other end visibly breathed a sigh of relief: "I was wondering why an unfamiliar frequency was coming in. You're Old Wang, right?"

"Old Wang, can you please omit the 'bar' at the end?"

"Okay, Lao Wang, no problem, Lao Wang. The stone-throwing train, right? The escort vehicle has recorded it, and this matter will be reported to the higher authorities via telegram at the next station."

"Is he or she injured?"

"No, the personnel are in good condition."

"The escort vehicle understands."

Before we end the call, could you please answer one of my questions?

"Say!"

"Jiang Gong is next to you, right? The Ministry of Railways prepared a carriage for him. I don't know why you put him in the tank car. Is there some special circumstance?"

Wang Kui swallowed hard and looked at Jiang Xia, who was pretending to be indifferent.

Dude, your ahoge (cowlick) is standing up!