Chapter 160 Contour Map

Of course, Zhao Chengming also recalled the time when Zhang Desen explained this kind of knowledge to them. Back then, Zhang Desen had also exerted a great deal of effort to make such knowledge clear to them.

However, when Zhang Desen explained it to them at that time, it was under circumstances where everything could be candidly disclosed. He had utilized various instruments, equipment, and materials from his spacecraft to provide continuous explanations until they finally understood how everything worked.

Yet now, facing General Feng Yucai and the others, there were still many considerations regarding what could and could not be told. At this moment, Zhao Chengming could not help but sigh, feeling that he had been truly hopelessly old-fashioned back then.

Meanwhile, General Feng Yucai and his companions were growing somewhat impatient. General Feng Yucai immediately spoke up:

"How about this? Perhaps even if you keep explaining like this for half a day, you still won't be able to make clear how all of this works. I would like to ask now, when is Lord Zhang returning? I want to speak with him directly."

Zhao Chengming replied:

"I cannot say for sure either. As for the place he went to now, I have only heard him describe what it is like. But I myself have never been there personally, so..."

However, before Zhao Chengming could continue, the radio communicator on his body suddenly rang. The voice inside was heard saying:

"Zhao Chengming, Zhao Chengming, this is Zhang Desen, please respond if you hear me. Zhao Chengming, Zhao Chengming, this is Zhang Desen, please respond if you hear me."

Zhao Chengming had not expected Zhang Desen to suddenly use an unencoded public communication channel. He immediately picked up the radio communicator, just about to say something, when he heard Zhang Desen continue:

"You didn't turn off your communicator just now. I heard the conversation between you and General Feng Yucai. Didn't I ask you to tell General Feng Yucai that I will definitely be back before dark?"

Before Zhao Chengming could utter a word, Feng Yucai, who was standing right opposite him, immediately shouted:

"Is that you, Lord Zhang? Are you still inside the mansion right now?"

Yet Zhang Desen immediately interrupted him, saying:

"General Feng, you are mistaken. What you are looking at right now is a radio communicator. I am not near Hezhou City yet; I will explain the specifics to you after I return. For now, I also intend to tell you some facts, so please wait for me a moment."

Feng Yucai immediately asked:

"Such magical things still exist in this world? Then where are you right now?"

Zhang Desen said:

"It is best that not too many people know about this matter."

And Feng Yucai immediately declared:

"Rest assured, there are only your trusted aides and mine all around. I will immediately have some people move further back. Oh, no, let it just be myself listening here alone."

Following that, General Feng Yucai had the people around him step back a distance. But Feng Ling'er immediately said with dissatisfaction:

"Zhang Desen. Is there anything you need to hide from me?"

Upon hearing that Feng Ling'er was also there, Zhang Desen could not help feeling a slight headache. However, considering Feng Ling'er's temperament, Zhang Desen figured she probably wouldn't talk nonsense, so he had no choice but to say:

"Then Miss Feng, please refrain from speaking of matters that should not be mentioned."

Feng Ling'er immediately said with an indignant huff:

"You can rest assured. Where are you right now? This young lady will personally come to receive you."

Zhang Desen smiled and said:

"Miss Feng, there is no way for you to receive me right now..."

Feng Ling'er felt even more unconvinced, but after thinking for a moment, she had no choice but to ask:

"Then where on earth are you right now?"

Zhang Desen had no alternative but to answer:

"I am currently flying above the Ulan Gom region, and have not yet entered the atmosphere. I have just orbited the Earth once, and I am about to enter Earth's atmosphere. Shortly, after adjusting my final flight attitude, I will enter Earth's atmosphere. I will be landing near Hezhou City very soon; please do not speak of this matter to others."

Although Zhao Chengming and the others naturally understood what Zhang Desen was specifically talking about, General Feng Yucai and his daughter were completely baffled. Feng Ling'er said with even greater exasperation:

"What riddles are you speaking in again???"

However, Zhang Desen immediately interrupted her, saying:

"Alright, do not disturb any further. Continuing to ask questions now will seriously mess things up..."

Then, changing his tone, Zhang Desen spoke to Zhao Chengming:

"Zhao Chengming, I am about to enter the atmosphere shortly. Immediately arrange the navigation and landing matters. For a moment while passing through the blackout zone, there will be no communication whatsoever. Remember what you need to do."

Zhao Chengming immediately replied:

"Understood!!!"

Subsequently, both sides ended the communication simultaneously. At this moment, Zhao Chengming immediately said to General Feng Yucai and his daughter standing before him:

"General Feng, Miss Feng. Indeed, there are certain matters that make it impossible for me to keep you company at this time. Let us discuss certain things later; if..."

General Feng Yucai immediately said:

"It's fine, it's fine. After Lord Zhang returns, please remember to let us know."

Zhao Chengming replied immediately:

"General Feng can rest assured. We have no wish to keep hiding things from the General any longer, especially since the team leader already made certain things so clear just now. Therefore, I shall add a little more to explain some matters to the General."

General Feng Yucai said with a touch of excitement:

"Good, that is precisely what I need. I have always held Lord Zhang in high admiration, so Lord Zhang's affairs are my affairs."

Zhao Chengming no longer wished to be polite and said directly:

"It is very simple. Just as the team leader said earlier, his spacecraft is about to enter the atmosphere. That means he will be returning to Hezhou City very soon, and the General only needs to wait a short moment."

General Feng Yucai said excitedly:

"Good. Since that is the case, I shall keep watch right here. Do not say any more words of refusal, otherwise it would mean looking down upon this Feng. Chief Zhao should go and attend to his own affairs immediately, say no more."

Hearing Feng Yucai put it this way, Zhao Chengming no longer declined and said directly:

"Very well!!!"

Following that, Zhao Chengming went off to attend to the matters he needed to handle.

...

After a period of flight attitude adjustment, Zhang Desen's spacecraft officially began entering Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, Zhao Chengming, who had already arrived at the main control room of the "Crater," asked the navigator:

"Are all navigation preparations complete now? Has the spacecraft entered Earth's atmosphere?"

That navigator replied:

"Comrade Squad Leader, the Team Leader's spacecraft has begun entering Earth's atmosphere. It will soon enter the blackout zone. According to all available data at present, the entire process is proceeding smoothly. It is expected that he will be able to return completely above Hezhou City shortly."

Zhao Chengming then said:

"Very good, continue monitoring. Are there any additional obstacles along the route?"

The navigator answered:

"Reporting to Comrade Squad Leader, no inexplicable obstacles have been observed at present. Everything is proceeding smoothly along the flight path, and no other unidentified flying objects have been detected in the path the Team Leader's spacecraft is about to fly through."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Chengming pondered for a moment and said:

"Good. Immediately project the contour map of the flight path onto the right-hand sub-screen for me to view."

The navigator immediately replied:

"Understood!!!"

To elaborate briefly, a contour map is a map that uses contour lines to represent the undulations and elevation conditions of the ground. On the same contour topographic map, the higher the ground, the greater the number of contour lines. Where the contour lines are dense, the ground slope is steep and precipitous. Wherever contour lines overlap, it must be a cliff.

When contour lines form smaller closed curves, that area is a peak, depression, or small island. The shapes of contour lines protruding outward gradually from the summit form a ridge, and the connection of ridges is called a watershed. The shapes of contour lines concaving inward toward the summit or saddle form a valley, and the connection of valley bottoms is called a drainage line. Places where the convex sides of two contour lines are symmetrical to each other are called the saddle of a mountain.

On a contour topographic map, the general condition of the landforms can be interpreted based on the different bending forms of the contour lines.

When contour lines appear in a closed shape with elevations lower on the outside and higher on the inside, it represents a convex terrain (such as mountain peaks, highlands, hilltops, etc.); when contour lines have elevations higher on the outside and lower on the inside, it represents a concave terrain (such as basins, depressions, etc.).

When contour lines are in a curved shape, the portions where contour lines bend toward higher elevations represent valleys; places where contour lines protrude toward lower elevations are ridges. When several contour lines of different elevations intersect at one place, that terrain feature is a steep cliff, and a cliff map symbol is drawn on the map. A terrain feature composed of a pair of contour lines representing a valley and a pair representing a ridge is a saddle.

Places where contour lines are dense indicate that the slope is steeper there; places where contour lines are sparse indicate that the slope is gentler there.

When representing landform features such as small mountain tops, small depressions, and small saddles, the dimensions of their solid and dashed parts can be shortened. In uniformly sloping terrain sections where contour lines are relatively dense, when the blank space between two index contours is less than 2, the intermediate contours may be omitted from representation.

When contour lines encounter symbols such as houses, cave dwellings, highways, rivers represented by double lines, gullies, cliffs, embankments, or cuttings, they should be represented up to the boundary lines of the symbols.

Looking at the screen, Zhao Chengming quickly saw the required contour map. However, it had to be said that Zhao Chengming soon found that viewing such a two-dimensional map made him feel a bit dizzy. He immediately spoke to the navigator again:

"Render it in three dimensions immediately, I want to see something more three-dimensional."

The navigator immediately replied:

"Understood!!!"

Soon, the navigator followed Zhao Chengming's instructions and completed the task. Then the navigator said to Zhao Chengming:

"Comrade Squad Leader, actually there is no need to worry so much. When the Team Leader is about to land on the ground, he will actually have reached a relatively flat area, so there is no need to worry about any extra obstacles appearing at all..."

Then, the navigator added with some excitement:

"Besides, the Team Leader's spacecraft was manufactured by the Huaxia Nation of his original universe, and its technological level is made using the most advanced technology available there. Even if it encounters a few small obstacles, it can certainly avoid them effortlessly. There is really no necessity for us to worry like this!"

Zhao Chengming stated:

"Being cautious is always for the best..."

Shortly after, Zhao Chengming suddenly spotted some abnormal flying targets on the screen, and immediately pointed at the screen, asking:

"What are those things?"

Everyone was instantly startled and stared fixedly at the screen.