To be honest.

Spending the night on a high mountain in winter is quite a challenging feat.

Not to mention that the environment of Qingcheng Mountain is colder than ordinary mountain forests, with nighttime temperatures dropping several degrees below zero.

Lin Ziming and Wei Fan didn't have much trouble; as practitioners, they could ward off the cold with even a slight circulation of Spiritual Energy within their bodies.

But for accompanying personnel like Zhao Zhiming, it wasn't as easy.

However, since they were specially selected personnel, their awareness of challenging conditions was much higher than those young fresh faces. In addition, with the help of simple heating devices, they managed to get through a winter night outdoors.

Fortunately, no one caught a cold.

A little after four in the morning.

The sound of a helicopter engine suddenly came from near the mountain gate.

At the same time, the night watch personnel brought news:

The personnel and supplies dispatched by the organization had arrived.

About half an hour later, the sound of a walking and talking team came from the path on the cliff.

However, due to the late dawn in winter, Lin Ziming could only see their faces clearly by the light near the cliff when the 'reinforcements' approached.

The leader of the group was a little elderly man around sixty, whose age looked similar to Lin Li's, but his hair was much fuller than Lin Li's.

This person had a high nose bridge, a square face, and a tuft of beard on his chin, exuding an air of righteousness.

It was quite evident that this was another scientific research heavyweight.

Lin Ziming quickly walked up and was about to introduce himself when he caught sight of someone behind the elderly man out of the corner of his eye, and he exclaimed softly:

"Oh, Xiao Wang? How come you're here?"

The person waved at him:

"Colonel Lin, good morning!"

That's right.

Following behind the elderly man was none other than Lin Li's direct disciple, Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang was seen carrying an instrument with one hand, following closely behind the elderly man, looking as if she had defected from her master.

However, after the initial surprise, Lin Ziming quickly realized:

Indeed, Wang Qiang's team had developed the L17 cultivation system, so it was normal for her to be sent here.

Regarding the current local understanding of Spiritual Energy, she could at least rank in the top three.

When they came forward.

Wang Qiang put down the instrument and introduced the elderly man to Lin Ziming with great familiarity:

"Colonel Lin, let me introduce you.

This is Academician Li Bai'an, a leading figure in the field of thermo-condenser physics. He even oversaw my elective defense back then."

Upon learning that Li Bai'an was another top national talent, Lin Ziming immediately showed great respect:

"Hello, Academician Li, my name is Lin Ziming."

Li Bai'an cordially shook hands with him, and with Wang Qiang, who was well-acquainted with both sides, facilitating the introduction, the meeting felt much more relaxed:

"Colonel Lin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, though I have heard a lot about you."

Seeing Lin Ziming's surprised look, Li Bai'an gestured with his hand:

"Xiaofang from the Modu blood drawing center is my son. After I was granted access to the Stargate Project recently, he mentioned you to me and praised you as a passionate young man."

Hearing this, Lin Ziming chuckled:

"Oh, so it's him...."

Then Wang Qiang introduced the other staff members one by one:

"This is Guo Fang from the Institute of Geology, this is Yue Xianmin, and this is...."

After a simple introduction round, Lin Ziming looked at his watch:

"It's now four thirty-two in the morning, there's plenty of time. Academician Li, would you like to rest for a while to recharge?"

Li Bai'an waved his hand, looking serious:

"No need for rest, time waits for no one. Colonel Lin, let's start the testing now."

In the local area, there might be people who are pretentious or of insufficient competence with a high stance.

But such impostors would never be allowed access to this kind of project, and top scientific researchers like Li Bai'an were all known for their hard-working spirit.

For example, Elder Liu, who won the National Science Progress Award with Li Bai'an, once moved countless people to tears by revising his manuscript in a high-speed rail second-class seat.

Lin Ziming preferred working with pragmatic people like this and immediately developed a better impression of Li Bai'an:

"Thank you for your hard work, Academician Li."

The group then moved to the edge of the cliff to start preparing the instruments.

Fifteen minutes later.

A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer was ready and began sampling.

Ten more minutes passed.

A detection report came out.

Li Bai'an took the report handed over by his assistant and glanced at it, his brows furrowing instantly.

Wang Qiang, standing beside him, curiously asked:

"Academician Li, is there something wrong with the analysis results?"

Li Bai'an nodded and handed the report to her:

"Xiao Wang, take a look for yourself."

Wang Qiang took the report, glanced at it, and exclaimed softly:

"Unknown gas 0.3‰, characteristics match those of Spiritual Energy, over three hundred times less than in the Damo Realm, but it's still present..... Oh my, why is the total nitrogen deposition so low?"

On the report in Wang Qiang's hand, one column showed that while the nitrogen content per unit volume of air remained the same, the total nitrogen deposition in the air was alarmingly low!

As is well known.

Nitrogen is a fundamental element in proteins, genetic material, chlorophyll, and other key organic molecules, essential for all living organisms.

Nearly 80% of the Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, taking up a significant proportion.

The biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen and phosphorus can cause the so-called decoupling phenomenon, previously believed to be predominantly atmospheric in origin.

But recent research has found that approximately one-quarter of nitrogen comes from weathering.

Because of this.

Many areas with large amounts of exposed rock on one side often have abundant trees on the other side, creating various spectacular and wonderful natural vistas — for example, Guilin's scenery, or Huang Mountain, and also....

This cliff at Father-in-law Peak.

A cliff refers to the steep side of a mountain, a scene that even those who haven't seen it in person can imagine.

In cliff areas, exposed rock bodies are almost everywhere.

Additionally, as Huang Daoist mentioned earlier, this area is swept by valley winds, absolutely not lacking in weathering conditions.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, the total nitrogen deposition in the air here should not be so low.

However, the detection report in Wang Qiang's hand showed that the air's total nitrogen deposition was only 4.7 kilograms per hectare!

Li Bai'an pondered for a while and said to his assistant:

"Xiaozhou, organize some people to investigate if there are suitable areas for large concentrations of cyanobacteria or Frankia bacteria."

Xiaozhou, a rather introverted young man, pushed his glasses up and said:

"Understood, I'll go take care of it now."

Students who have studied chemistry should know.

Nitrogen resources are abundant in nature, but only a few prokaryotes, such as bacteria and cyanobacteria, can fix atmospheric nitrogen.

These prokaryotes, either independently or symbiotically with plants, convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into nitrogen that plants can absorb and use, known as biological nitrogen fixation.

A well-known example is the root nodule bacteria, which belong to the Frankia group.

So, Li Bai'an's first reaction upon seeing the report was the possible presence of a self-sustaining bacterial community nearby.

Self-sustaining nitrogen fixation is inefficient and produces low nitrogen fixation amounts.

To completely digest the nitrogen in an area, the number of such bacterial communities would not be insignificant and could even be unimaginably large.

An hour later, the sky was slightly brightening.

Xiaozhou came back panting:

"Li Yuan, we've checked the surroundings and found no suitable bacterial communities."

Upon hearing this, Academician Li appeared even more perplexed:

"Strange, without nitrogen-fixing bacteria, where did the nitrogen go? Most plants can't absorb nitrogen."

Wang Qiang, equally troubled, gazed blankly into the distance.

Where on earth did the missing nitrogen go?

Seeing that the "external reinforcements" sent by the command seemed to have no solution either, Lin Ziming brought two cups of water over to them and said:

"The weather is a bit cold, everyone should have a sip of water first, don't catch a cold.

After about an hour, it should be completely light, and we can then ask Clan Leader Wei to see if Daoist Huang's statement is accurate.

If the morning's Spiritual Energy is indeed denser than at other times, we might be able to explore from that angle."

Wang Qiang thanked him, reached out to take the water cup, and then a sudden flash of inspiration passed through her mind.

She swiftly ran to the place where the equipment was set, picked up an instrument, and conducted a test on the collected air sample.

After about five or six minutes, the instrument's test results came out.

Wang Qiang quickly took the document from the equipment, her gaze immediately locking onto a line.

A moment later, an exclamation rang out:

"This..... this isn't possible, how can this be happening?!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.