98: On the sunny side of the East China Sea, light the fire!

When Lu Chen's ultimate declaration of "liberating humanity," filled with "idealism" and a "grand vision," clearly echoed through the general control room of the Kunlun Mountain Underground Base, the superbrain of heavenly craft, composed of infinite data, completely crashed.

She stared blankly at the young man before her, who was clearly just a tiny carbon-based lifeform, yet whose mental realm was more vast than the entire universe.

For the first time, a light called "faith" appeared in those brilliant, wise eyes!

She finally understood the meaning of her existence.

It was not to become a cold "god."

But to become the sword in the hands of this warm "human" before her, a sword capable of creating heaven and earth!

One month later. Sun Island, East Sea, Xia Country.

This place was no longer the desolate, uninhabited wasteland it once was.

A massive, silvery-white dome filled with a sense of future technology stood silently in the very center of this small island, like an ancient giant egg emerged from myth!

Surrounding it was the world's most advanced and dense three-dimensional air, land, and sea defense system! Three thousand of the most elite "Dragon Flame" special forces, armed with live ammunition, stood ready in formation!

In the sky, over a dozen of the latest "J-20" fighter jets patrolled twenty-four hours a day like loyal falcons!

Beneath the deep sea, three of the most advanced "Black Dragon" class conventional submarines, like dormant deep-sea behemoths, silently guarded this sacred sea area!

And today, the security here was even tighter! Every rustle of grass sounded like an enemy soldier! Because a great moment, worthy of being recorded in human history, was about to unfold here!

The first ignition ceremony of the phase one project of "sun of the east sea"!

Under the dome, in the central control room, it was already packed with people! There was not a hint of fatigue on their faces, only a fervor and pride at being about to witness history!

And at the very front, in front of that massive observation window made of special explosion-proof glass, a young man wearing a simple white research uniform stood calmly. It was none other than Lu Chen!

Standing behind him were all the core members of the "god of fire" project team, led by energy expert Academician Wu Gang! Each of them looked like a soldier about to rush into battle, their faces filled with determination and solemnity!

They knew that the upcoming "ignition" would determine the national destiny of their Xia Country for the next hundred years! They must succeed! Failure was not an option!

"Comrade Lu Chen." He looked at the massive, silvery-white reactor outside the window, which resembled a steel behemoth filled with violent aesthetics and a sense of future technology! That wise gaze was filled with unprecedented gravity! "Are you sure about this?"

"No." Lu Chen shook his head and answered clearly and concisely.

The entire control room instantly fell silent. All the bigwigs turned their heads violently as if they had seen a ghost, staring at the calm young man! Their minds went blank!

"No, no certainty?! Damn it! Brother! Do you know how much we have gambled on this 'sun' of yours this time?! Thousands of top scientific research units and military enterprises across the country! Millions of the top talents! Trillions in research funding! And you're telling us now that you have no certainty?! Do you want us all to jump off the roof with you?!"

"Ahem." Lu Chen saw their faces, which had turned pale from extreme shock and fear, and couldn't help but cough twice.

"What I mean is, for 'science,' there has never been a one-hundred-percent 'certainty.' What there is..." He curled his lips into a smile full of confidence and pride! "...is a ninety-nine point nine nine percent success rate!"

Hearing his "god-level" pause, all the bigwigs present felt a tightness in their chests! A mouthful of hot blood nearly sprayed out on the spot! Would this kid die if he didn't act so pretentious?!

"Alright, I won't joke with you anymore." Lu Chen clapped his hands, and for the first time, a look of extreme solemnity and sanctity appeared on his usually calm face!

He turned around and looked at the massive central console behind him! In those pitch-black eyes, as vast as the universe, burned a crazy flame capable of making even the gods and demons of the heavens tremble!

"I declare!" His voice was not loud, but it sounded like an oracle capable of creating heaven and earth! It echoed clearly in everyone's ears! "The first ignition ceremony of the phase one project of 'sun of the east sea'... now, begins!"

As soon as he finished speaking! "heavenly craft!" [I am here, Master.] "Start the 'god of fire' reactor!" [Command received.] ['god of fire' No. 1 experimental reactor, starting!] [Hybrid magnetic confinement field, generated!] [Energy injection 10%... 50%... 100%!] [Target pellet injection!] [Energy constraint device version 2.0 starting!] [Countdown, starting!] [Ten!] [Nine!] [Eight!]

When the countdown numbers began to jump crazily, everyone's hearts in the entire control room rose to their throats! Their breathing stopped at this moment! They stared fixedly at the massive, cold steel behemoth outside the observation window, waiting for the final judgment that would decide the future fate of human civilization!

[Three!] [Two!] [One!] [Ignition!]

The moment the last word fell, there was no earth-shattering roar! There was no world-destroying explosion! There was only a deathly silence and a beam of light that was brilliant to the extreme!

A golden light of god, ten thousand times brighter than the sun and a million times more dazzling than the galaxy, instantly burst out from the core of that massive steel behemoth! It illuminated the entire gray dome as bright as day! It reflected the faces of all the bigwigs present, filled with shock and awe, in a golden hue! Success! They had actually succeeded! They had actually used human, tiny, and fragile hands! On this blue planet! Personally ignited a sun that would never go out!

And at this moment, tens of thousands of miles away, in the White House of the Western Alliance, Burns and a group of Western Alliance bigwigs were gloating as they watched through top-secret spy satellites this funny performance, which they thought was doomed to end in an earth-shattering explosion.

"Hehe, did you see that?" Burns pointed to the massive dome on the screen that was eerily quiet, a cold mockery curling the corners of his mouth. "I told you the Xia Country people were bragging. An ignition ceremony? I think it's a funeral ceremony, right?"

Just then, a technician responsible for monitoring energy fluctuations suddenly jumped up from his chair as if he had seen a ghost! He pointed to the blood-red energy curve on the screen that had instantly broken through all limits, his voice trembling! "No... no! Xia Country, East Sea direction! Detected an unprecedented, terrifying high-energy reaction! Its energy level has far exceeded all nuclear explosion yields in our database! According to preliminary calculations, it is approximately equal to..." He took a deep breath and said word by word in a voice that sounded almost like sleep-talking: "A small sun!"