Chapter 21: Security Network

This was a replica crystal pillow that had arrived yesterday. The moment it was unpacked, Du Qiu’s eyes were glued to it.

Tang Country’s capability to produce knock-offs, duly acclaimed as the best in the world, was indeed not an ordinary feat—the resemblance to the real thing based just on a photograph was uncanny.

There were still some minute differences, which were noticeable to Du Qiu only because he had handled the genuine article numerous times.

As for others, it would certainly be difficult to spot any signs at first glance without a way to determine its age, making it tough to prove it wasn’t a heritage item from the Mayans.

Just like the case of the crystal skulls, which for a very long time couldn’t be definitively attributed to the Mayan civilization.

This counterfeit should be enough to mislead many people.

Last night, Du Qiu sent Ning Shuangshuang a photo of this crystal pillow, claiming he found it while organizing his stuff.

Ning Shuangshuang’s reaction, however, was not as enthusiastic; she merely urged Du Qiu to safeguard the item.

Seeing that she did not express further interest in taking the crystal pillow, Du Qiu was happy to end the conversation there.

Now that the dreamworld was inaccessible and might be forever out of reach, the genuine article indeed held no more significance than the fake.

Nevertheless, Du Qiu still planned to hide the real one carefully without verifying its authenticity over a considerably long period.

Du Qiu returned to his bedroom, wrapped the genuine pillow in a layer of plastic film, and once again hid it in the large flowerpot on the back balcony.

At this moment, the flowerpot was already filled with some green plants, disguising any trace of interference.

Online shopping truly was convenient—having such plants delivered to your doorstep was no surprise, given that even the flower markets were declining.

Du Qiu casually made a bowl of instant noodles for breakfast and returned to his studio to continue working on the documentation for dream technology.

Suddenly, he saw a cardboard box next to his desk, which reminded him that yesterday afternoon, Bald Li Qiang brought over parts to assemble a security network.

He was busy at the time, so he had just set it aside.

Du Qiu walked over to the living room window, looked down from there, and noticed that the vehicle used by the security personnel for surveillance was gone.

These past few days, after noticing security personnel under his apartment, Du Qiu had asked Ning Shuangshuang about them, to which she replied they were there to protect him.

Du Qiu didn’t mind and merely made it a habit to check their location each day.

Now, it seemed the security personnel might have shifted their position.

Considering it was still early, he decided to go downstairs for a run and, sure enough, discovered the new location of the security personnel.

After his run, Du Qiu went home to freshen up.

Sitting at his work desk, he opened the cardboard box, took out the parts piece by piece, and prepared various tools.

Just as he was about to begin assembly, it occurred to him to think of the perception system of the super machine in the dream.

It was a complete set of perception systems, very complex, with no less than a dozen subsystems—each corresponding to a distinct sense.

Each subsystem could operate independently or combine with others to provide precise information to aid the corresponding functional modules of the super machine.

One could say that this perception system was like the eyes, ears, and nose of the super machine…

More like super sight and super hearing—demonstrating how powerful the perception system of the super machine was.

One particular subsystem for super magnetic induction imaging had once left Du Qiu in awe; its principles were unknown, almost akin to some sort of psychic imaging technology.

With such a perception system, each module of the super machine could perform various operations and functions with absolute precision.

This is something that’s almost impossible to achieve in reality.

Du Qiu could not ascertain how many generations ahead the alien civilization represented by the super machine in the dream was beyond Blue Star’s technology, but it was worth his lifetime of study.

Du Qiu quickly sifted through his mind, selecting perception methods that existed in reality and retrieving information about perception component parts.

He realized that the information he had glanced over originally did not include details, only rough descriptions.

Fortunately, he only needed these rough ideas to inspire some design thoughts for his makeshift components.

Du Qiu was skilled with DIY on electronic components.

With the use of tools, he completed the perceptual node components, the information relay components, and the central information reception components.

Du Qiu used the alarm network around his home to cover a few hundred meters around his house and extended it to the entrance of the community.

The number of perceptual nodes wasn’t large—Du Qiu pulled up a map of his community on his phone and zoomed in.

Then he took out an A4 sheet and began sketching.

Since he had carefully observed the surroundings during his run, combining that with the community map, he completed the design of the security network.

All components, whether nodes or information relays, were encased to ensure waterproof integrity.

Du Qiu’s perceptual nodes were normally in a standby state and would activate upon receiving a specific electronic signal through a micro-sensor.

The entire component employed solar charging, similar to ETC equipment, but with more effective options chosen by Du Qiu.

He planned to install the components on trees within the community. The casings came with mounting rings, so they just had to be fixed on trees with nuts, making the whole setup process straightforward.

Of course, Du Qiu intended to do this at night to prevent people from discovering it.

Afterwards, he rewrote the early warning information processing software and also developed a matching APP for monitoring the security network on a mobile phone.

“Ah, it seems like programming really has divine assistance now!”

Just as Du Qiu was reflecting on his surprisingly fast coding speed, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Through the intercom, he saw it was Bald Li Qiang.

He let Li Qiang in, “What brings you here today?”

Li Qiang chuckled, “Did you put together those parts from yesterday?”

Without elaboration, Du Qiu led him to the studio and pointed to the components that were placed back in the cardboard box.

Li Qiang immediately pounced forward like he had found a treasure, pulling out a perception component.

Inspecting the sealed box, he couldn’t help asking, “Xiao Qiu, may I open this to take a look?”

“Strong brother, you didn’t come all this way just to look at this gadget, did you?”

Du Qiu handed Li Qiang a screwdriver, “Help me put it back together after looking.”

“Hehe…” Li Qiang grinned sheepishly, “You, the Doctor, have come up with something new. I have to learn a bit about it.”

While speaking, his hands moved swiftly to open the casing.

“Oh, it’s a composite monitoring terminal head. This signal amplifier, it can directly amplify the composite signal… Wait, that’s not right…”

Looking at the components on the inner circuit board, Li Qiang’s voice trailed off into a murmur.

Seeing Li Qiang lost in thought, frowning, Du Qiu couldn’t help but laugh, “Bald Qiang, there’s actually something in electronics you don’t understand?”

“Alright, Doctor, your level is getting increasingly profound and inscrutable. I’m thoroughly outclassed. Come on, enlighten me.”

Du Qiu explained: “What you’re holding is a perception node component. There’s also the information relay component, which has integrated a COFDM graphic transmission receiver, and finally, the central information receiver component.

These three parts together form a security network. Perceptual nodes capture information through video, audio, and infrared signals.

After modulation and amplification, the information relay component receives and transmits it, and then the central information reception part receives it, storing it wirelessly on a designated server.

Users can view the corresponding information graphic interface on a computer or smartphone, set early warning conditions, and thus achieve warnings for conditions that match.

The key is that the entire network is wireless, and the nodes can be increased or decreased depending on the area that needs securing. Basically, each node can cover about 50 meters around.”

Listening to this, Li Qiang couldn’t help but smirk, saying, “After all that, you’ve just made this. Why not just set up an audio-enabled camera surveillance network? Why make it so complicated?”

“If someone sets up a bugging device within the range of your camera network, would your video network know? If someone follows within 200 meters of your car, could you still monitor that?”