84: Section 84

"If, after this month passes, the public gets used to using electricity without restraint, it might cause a certain degree of chaos once things return to normal."

"We must carefully consider whether it is truly worth investing so much effort and cost into this experiment!"

"Old Yun, haven't you always been committed to making progress while maintaining stability?"

"How is it that the proposals you've put forward recently don't sound like something you would say at all?"

"Furthermore, this proposal is different from the previous ones. Those were matters for the government and the research institute, but this time, too much is involved, and we must take public sentiment into account."

It had to be said that the suggestion Chief Yun put forward this time was truly too bold.

In the past, Chief Yun's personality and actions had always prioritized stability.

However, recently, others noticed that Chief Yun's personality seemed to have changed; the decisions he proposed repeatedly were so bold, not at all like things he would do.

Yet, facing everyone's questioning and interrogation, Chief Yun had no intention of backing down.

He was indeed influenced by Lin Bai.

But, anyone who discovered that Lin Bai's abilities were so miraculous, and that every single time they brought about extremely positive feedback, would become bolder!

Chief Yun was the same; all he could think of was the convenience Lin Bai's abilities brought them.

If they couldn't make better use of it, wouldn't that be a total waste of such an opportunity!

That would also be disrespectful to Lin Bai's abilities!

Therefore, this time, just like before, Chief Yun did not intend to retreat. Instead, he passed the document in his hand down for everyone to review.

"What is this?"

"This is... the experimental results for controlled Nuclear Fusion?"

"The power generation for one hour can actually satisfy a city's daily electricity consumption?"

"How is this possible?"

"Even the most efficient nuclear fission power plants currently in existence are far from reaching this level!"

"Let alone our nuclear fission power plants, even the ones in Lighthouse Country couldn't possibly reach this level!"

"Old Yun, you aren't joking, are you?"

Most of the people present had some understanding of the ongoing Nuclear Fusion project.

However, they did not know the extent to which the actual situation had progressed.

Now, to be suddenly told that not only had it succeeded, but it was a huge success!

So much so that, because the gains were too great, they couldn't currently bear the weight of these results!

That was why Chief Yun had made such a bold decision.

This proposal, to use an old saying, was: as bold as the people are, so great is the yield of the land.

If they didn't connect Nuclear Fusion power to the grid, they couldn't test the upper limits of its efficiency, nor could they obtain more data feedback.

Naturally, they wouldn't be able to test the detailed capabilities of the equipment.

If the project continued only in the laboratory, their progress would be delayed indefinitely!

And since Lighthouse Country had already made breakthroughs in nuclear fission, they would definitely use this breakthrough to interfere with China's development later on.

That was why Chief Yun said they must complete the experiment as soon as possible, even if it meant letting a city's power grid bear the consequences.

"However, this data only comes from a single laboratory test session; there isn't more test data. Can you guarantee that nothing will go wrong?"

The minister responsible for managing public livelihood pressed for an answer, and the others also looked at Chief Yun with concern.

Chief Yun said calmly: "It won't."

"Because this is a controlled Nuclear Fusion device that has been enhanced by Lin Bai's abilities!"

Lin Bai was his greatest source of confidence!

Likewise, the name Lin Bai was also a reassurance for many present.

Now, upon hearing the name Lin Bai, for some reason, they felt inexplicably more at ease.

Chief Yun continued: "Most importantly, after this test, it will bring immense benefits to our China."

Although Chief Yun did not continue, many people already had some guesses in their hearts.

But how it would ultimately turn out still had to be determined through testing.

After all, they couldn't let an immature technology enter the civil sector.

Everything in the civil sector didn't need to be high-end, but it had to be stable; stability was the most important thing!

Following this, after discussing more details, the proposal was passed by ninety percent of those present.

The remaining ten percent reserved their opinions, merely worried about the consequences in the unlikely event of failure.

Seeing his proposal accepted and starting to be scheduled and arranged, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, the content of this proposal was indeed too bold; he hadn't been completely confident in it himself.

But it was still Lin Bai who gave him confidence.

And it was also what gave everyone present confidence.

That was what facilitated the passing of this proposal.

...

That day, a temporary government decree was issued.

All of Yanjing would have free electricity for exactly thirty days.

The reason given was to conduct tests on special circuits, which might cause instability in the power grid, and the free electricity was out of compensation for the people of Yanjing.

That day, the whole nation was in an uproar!

This kind of extremely special decree could be said to be incredibly rare—no, it should be said that it had never appeared before; it was truly unprecedented!

Free electricity for a month—there wasn't a single country in the whole world that would do such a thing!

Everyone couldn't possibly be unaware of the consequences of this!

Chaos in electricity usage and instability in public sentiment—these were considered mild.

In the event of excessive electricity usage, it could even cause the power plants to become overloaded, thereby leading to even more serious consequences!

This policy had just been released for less than an hour.

It immediately triggered extremely high discussion heat on major social forums.

On Weibo, it undoubtedly landed directly at the number one spot in terms of popularity, being heatedly discussed by everyone.

"Holy crap, what's going on?"

"Free electricity?"

"Holy crap, is Yanjing really that awesome?"

"I'm officially jealous!"

"Why? Why can only one city get free electricity? We want free electricity too!"

"This isn't fair!"

"What the hell is the country doing? How could such a decree come out?"

"Hahaha, who cares, I'm in Yanjing, I've already prepared to run the air conditioner 24/7, it's free electricity anyway!"

"Damn! The person above is so lucky! It's so hot in the middle of summer right now, I don't even dare to run the air conditioner too much, the electricity bill is too expensive!"

"Holy crap, so awesome, if I weren't so far away, I'd want to move there for a month immediately."

"Wait, they said it's for an experiment, some kind of electricity test?"

"Is there any expert who can tell me what's going on?"

"Wasn't there some work on Nuclear Fusion a while ago? I remember the research institute's official website released many announcements about completing technical breakthroughs one after another!"

"Could it be that our Nuclear Fusion is done?"

"Very likely! I heard that Nuclear Fusion can generate a lot of energy easily; if used for power generation, the efficiency must be fierce!"

"Does that mean we are enjoying the benefits brought by Nuclear Fusion!?"

"Hahahaha, that's awesome, China is too strong!"

"Whatever the situation is, anyway, electricity is free, I'm just going to start using it!"

"..."

Once the policy of free electricity was released, everyone couldn't help but express their opinions on the internet.

Among them, the residents of Yanjing were pleasantly surprised and very satisfied with this decree.

After all, even if it was canceled later, at least they saved a month's electricity bill, which was a help for some low-income families.

However, many of the people outside of Yanjing felt dissatisfied.

But it was divided into two parts.

Besides those who wouldn't listen to reason and kept complaining about it being unfair, another group of people viewed this temporary decree with expectant eyes.

Because they all knew about the announcements of consecutive breakthroughs in the Nuclear Fusion project not long ago.

So they were all very expectant that this temporary electricity usage was related to Nuclear Fusion and that it would ultimately lead to the completion of this project.

In that case, maybe they could enjoy such a policy in the future, and they were full of anticipation for it.

However.

Since the Nuclear Fusion experiment hadn't been announced at all, there was no evidence to prove that this experiment was related to that project.

But some relatively sensitive people, or those with ulterior motives, saw a hint of a different connection between the two events—

"Wait, has everyone noticed something!"