Charlie wade had also considered whether to have Ito Nanako help by directly reporting the issue to Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
However, after careful thought, he decided that if this was to be done, it must leave no trace whatsoever. Otherwise, any information trail could be traced back.
He was also unwilling to expose Ito Nanako to any risk.
After pondering for a long time, he said to Lin Waner and the other two women, “I have decided to work through the Japanese researchers themselves and let them expose their own flaws to the authorities in Japan.”
Lin Waner asked, “Does the young master have a specific plan?”
Charlie wade replied, “These Japanese researchers have all been implanted with psychological suggestions preventing them from revealing the true situation to their supervising authorities or families back home. If they were to disclose information directly, no matter the method, it would appear too deliberate in that elder’s eyes. Therefore, I want their equipment to convey the message for us.”
“Equipment?”
Lin Waner asked, “Do you mean the vehicles or the helicopters?”
Charlie wade said, “The icebreaker.”
He continued to explain, “The icebreaker is the only piece of equipment they have not tampered with in terms of data upload systems. The data upload devices on the other vehicles and helicopters have all been removed from the original machines and left in fixed positions to create the illusion for the ministry that they have never moved.”
“But the icebreaker, since they never intended to move it and it is far too large a target, was simply left frozen in place. The Japanese side can continuously see its position data.”
At this point, Charlie wade analysed, “I am thinking that with their intensive searches these past days, consuming so much diesel, the icebreaker’s fuel level must be dropping rapidly. If the fuel quantity data is synchronised in real time to the ministry, they would certainly notice the anomaly. So it is highly likely that the engine room crew tampered with the fuel detection. Whatever tampering they did, if I find a way to restore it to normal, the ministry will see the fuel level suddenly drop by over a thousand tonnes and immediately realise something is wrong.”
Lin Waner nodded. “Fuel quantity is their biggest vulnerability. So many vehicles appear completely stationary to the ministry, and the ship is also immobile. Once they receive the true consumption figures, they will inevitably realise that those highly fuel-intensive snow vehicles must have been moving behind their backs. Unauthorised mobilisation of equipment is already serious, but deliberately sabotaging equipment data is even worse. They will certainly find a way to investigate thoroughly.”
Charlie wade said, “I will call Matsumoto Heikichi on the research vessel.”
At that moment, Matsumoto Heikichi was resting in the captain’s quarters. With the entire ship iced in, he essentially had no real work and spent his days idly waiting.
When Charlie wade’s call came, the psychological suggestion took immediate effect. He snapped to full attention and answered, “Hello, sir!”
Charlie wade acknowledged with a hum and asked, “Does the data you report daily to the ministry include your remaining fuel quantity?”
“Of course,” Matsumoto Heikichi said. “There are electronic level sensors and physical float gauges in the fuel tanks. They calculate data every minute and automatically upload it to the cloud, where the ministry can view it at any time.”
Charlie wade asked further, “Have you tampered with the fuel quantity information?”
“Yes,” Matsumoto Heikichi replied. “At that time, the True Man instructed that the homeland must not detect any anomalies, so I arranged for several engine room workers to remove the electronic level sensors and the related error-reporting modules. The physical float was also rigged. By manually controlling its height, we could create the false impression of very slow fuel consumption.”
Charlie wade thought this was exactly as expected and asked, “What method did you use?”
Matsumoto Heikichi explained, “We installed a small micro-controlled motor suspended by strong magnets at the top of the fuel tank. A single-chip microcontroller controls it. The motor drives a reel that slowly lowers the float, thereby fabricating false fuel level data.”
Charlie wade asked, “If the micro-controlled motor malfunctions, causing the float to rapidly return to the actual liquid level, what would happen?”
Matsumoto Heikichi said, “That would be alarming. The system would conclude that we had consumed over a thousand tonnes of fuel in the seconds or tens of seconds between two data readings. This far exceeds our icebreaker’s normal consumption rate, so the system would immediately classify it as a fuel leak, and a high-speed leak at that. It would trigger a level-one emergency alert.”
