73: Has anyone achieved room-temperature superconductivity?

In the live stream room of the small platform, the bullet comments instantly exploded.

Old Zhang, are you serious?!

If this is real, I'll wash my hair while standing on my head!

Star AI has made another contribution?

People from South Korea are crying themselves unconscious in the bathroom.

Again?

Old Zhang, are you also going to learn from the South Koreans?

First, test the Meissner effect!

...

"Brothers, don't rush, I'll demonstrate it now."

Old Zhang wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully placed the silver-gray metal piece into a specialized testing device.

Although his laboratory was simple, it was fully equipped with various professional instruments.

The testing device was connected to three monitors, displaying resistance, magnetic susceptibility, and heat capacity data, respectively.

Old Zhang took a deep breath and pressed the start button.

"First, we test the change in resistance with temperature..."

As liquid nitrogen was injected, the temperature rapidly dropped.

When the temperature reached minus 196 degrees Celsius, the resistance curve suddenly plummeted, which is characteristic of conventional superconductors.

"See, everything is normal up to this point."

Old Zhang's voice trembled slightly, "Now... we start to raise the temperature."

The numbers on the thermometer slowly jumped: -100℃...-50℃...0℃...

The bullet comments suddenly exploded:

Holy cow!

What about the resistance?!

It's 27 degrees, and the resistance is still zero?!

...

Old Zhang's finger trembled as he pointed at the screen: "23.7℃, at room temperature, the resistance is still zero!"

He suddenly turned around, took out the metal piece from the liquid nitrogen tank, and levitated it above a magnet in his other hand: "Look at this! Complete diamagnetism, the Meissner effect!"

The number of viewers in the live stream instantly exceeded a million, and the bullet comments were so dense they completely obscured the screen.

Old Zhang had to enable bullet comment filtering mode.

"Brothers, this story needs to be told from the beginning."

Old Zhang wiped the sweat from his forehead, adjusted the live stream camera, and showed the full view of his laboratory to the audience.

The bullet comments immediately boiled over:

Old Zhang, your lab is bigger than my living room!

How much do these devices cost?

You're missing the point! Talk about the superconductor!

Old Zhang grinned, dragging a metal box from under the workbench: "Three months ago, I took on a side job, optimizing the heat dissipation solution for an e-sports motherboard company."

He opened the box, revealing dozens of circuit boards of different materials neatly arranged inside.

"At that time, I tried various composite materials, but none of them worked well.

One night while working overtime, a sudden idea struck me..."

The camera switched to the computer screen, showing the Star AI's interaction interface.

Old Zhang's voice continued to explain: "I dumped all the material data I've collected over the years, including my failed recipes and semi-finished product test results, into Star AI and asked it to help optimize."

He brought up the operation record from that time.

The screen showed that after analyzing the data, Star AI popped up a prompt: "Potential superconducting phase transition path detected, proceed with deep calculation?"

"I didn't think much of it at the time, just clicked 'Yes', and then went to sleep."

Old Zhang swallowed, "The result was, when I woke up the next day... it gave me this formula."

The AI interface displayed: Analysis complete.

Suggested new composite material formula (click to view details).

Old Zhang's finger paused on the playback screen: "It was this formula."

He zoomed in on the file content, where complex chemical formulas were annotated with detailed preparation processes.

"To be honest, my first reaction at the time was that the AI was spouting nonsense."

Old Zhang smiled wryly and shook his head, "This formula looked too outlandish; copper-lead oxide doped with rare earth? It had nothing to do with the heat dissipation materials I was researching."

A wave of understanding swept through the bullet comments:

Star AI sometimes does go off track.

Last time I asked it to design a cat food formula, and it gave me a rocket fuel chemical formula.

Old Zhang, you didn't actually try it, did you?

"I wasn't going to try it originally."

Old Zhang walked to the experiment table, pointing to a pile of discarded crucibles in the corner, "But after the news about the South Koreans' room-temperature superconductor came out last week, the more I looked at it, the more familiar it seemed..."

He brought up the LK-99 formula published by the South Korean team and displayed it alongside the formula given by Star AI.

Although the specific proportions were different, the core elements were strikingly similar.

"I was shocked at that moment! I quickly made a small sample according to the AI's formula."

Old Zhang's voice started to tremble, "And guess what happened?"

The live stream screen switched to last night's lab surveillance footage.

Old Zhang placed the prepared metal piece into the testing device, and when the temperature rose to 25℃, the resistance meter's numbers began to drop sharply.

"Zero resistance! True zero resistance!"

Old Zhang excitedly slapped the table, "And the Meissner effect test also passed!"

"The most amazing thing is..."

Old Zhang lowered his voice, "Star AI even gave this material a name."

He brought up the AI's notes section:

Database match naming: StarCore-SC1 (StarCore - Superconductor 1)

Warning: This material requires the use of a stabilizer; the complete formula requires permission to unlock.

Old Zhang scratched his head in confusion: "I tried to apply for the complete formula, but the system prompted insufficient permissions.

So, this current version..."

Before he could finish, the lab lights suddenly flickered, and all electronic devices simultaneously emitted a piercing alarm.

"Holy cow! What's going on?"

Old Zhang looked around in panic.

The live stream footage shook violently, and the crackling sound of equipment overloading could be heard.

The surface of the metal piece suddenly glowed with an eerie blue light, then "bang"! It exploded into powder.

The entire laboratory instantly lost power, leaving only the red glow of the emergency lights.

The last frame of the live stream before the signal cut out was Old Zhang's stunned expression.

At the same time, at the Interstellar Peace Corporation headquarters.

Silver Wolf's goggles were frantically scrolling with data streams, and she suddenly slammed the table: "Bronya! Immediately lock down Old Zhang's live stream replay!"

Bronya's projection tilted her head: "Eh? Why? Isn't this a good thing?"

"Good my foot!"

Silver Wolf gritted her teeth, "This formula, although marked as only 'δ-class' technology in the company's database, has the highest confidentiality level, alright!"

Bronya blinked: "But Master said that if civilians discover it themselves, then no..."

Silver Wolf frantically ruffled her hair: "The problem is this formula is incomplete! It lacks a crucial stabilizer, and prolonged use will..."

Before she could finish, her terminal suddenly blared with a piercing alarm.

Warning: Abnormal energy fluctuations detected.

Coordinates: Mohudu Jiaotong University Materials Laboratory.

Silver Wolf's face changed: "Damn it! Someone has already replicated it?!"

In the Mohudu Jiaotong University laboratory, Professor Li's team stared dumbfounded at the metal piece on the experiment table.

Suddenly, an eerie blue light emanated from the material's surface.

"Professor... is this normal?" a student asked uneasily.

Professor Li had just reached out to adjust the instrument—

Boom!

A blinding blue light erupted, instantly paralyzing all electronic equipment in the entire laboratory.

The metal piece twisted and deformed, finally shattering into powder with a "crack."

In the emergency meeting room of Pierpoint, Chen Hao stared at the accident report on the holographic projection, his brows tightly furrowed.

Jade's tone was grave:

"Boss, four similar accidents have occurred globally.

That formula lacks a stabilizer; the superconducting state rapidly degrades if maintained for more than two hours."

Aventurine adjusted his watch: "In simpler terms?"

"It'll explode," Topaz said concisely.

Jade tapped the table: "What's more troublesome is that the formula has spread across the entire network.

Militaries in various countries are attempting to replicate it."

Chen Hao rubbed his temples: "Bronya, can you trace the source of the leak?"

Bronya looked aggrieved: "Master, this time it's really not my fault... That UP streamer just asked Star AI to 'optimize conductive materials,' and the AI combined this formula from the public database."

Silver Wolf rolled her eyes: "To put it bluntly, humans just stumbled upon a high-level civilization's toy box by messing around."

Suddenly, Kafka chuckled: "Actually... this might not be a bad thing."

Everyone looked at her, wondering what good idea this 'former Stellaron Hunter' had.

"Since it's a wonderful coincidence, then," she spread her hands elegantly, "why not take advantage of it?"

Chen Hao narrowed his eyes, suddenly inspired.

"Got it.

Notify Silver Wolf and Ada Wong."

Chen Hao waved to open the holographic device, his fingers rapidly moving in the air, "Let's make good use of this incident, according to this document."

...

In the emergency meeting room of the Eastern Federation Academy of Sciences in the Imperial Capital, lights were blazing.

More than a dozen white-haired academicians sat around a long table, and the last segment of Old Zhang's live stream was looping on the projection screen.

"Please look here, everyone."

Academician Academician Xu Qingshan, a doyen of materials science, paused the screen on the frame before the metal piece exploded, zooming in on the blue light patterns on the material's surface, "This energy release pattern is almost identical to the Cooper pair and Bose-Einstein condensate effects we observed a few years ago."

Academician Lin, a nuclear physics expert, pushed up his glasses: "Old Xu, do you mean... this formula is really feasible?"

"Not only feasible, but already quite perfect."

Academician Xu Qingshan brought up another set of data, "The problem is, it's missing a crucial stabilizer."

He pointed to Star AI's warning message on the screen, "The AI explicitly states that a 'complete formula' is needed."

A brief silence fell over the meeting room.

Suddenly, the young Academician Qian slammed the table: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go directly to Interstellar Peace Corporation and ask for it!"

"Little Qian..." Academician Xu Qingshan smiled wryly and shook his head, "You can't just act on impulse.

This is just a result given by Star AI, not an objective fact."

"Then let's find someone who can confirm it."

Academician Qian's eyes sparkled, "I heard... General Manager Ai of Interstellar Peace is currently in the Imperial Capital."

Imperial Capital Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, meeting room.

Ada Wong elegantly set down her teacup, looking at the several academicians across from her, spanning old, middle, and young age groups, a faint smile playing on her lips: "It's truly an honor for us to have you all 'block' us in person."

"General Manager Ai, let's get straight to the point."

Academician Xu Qingshan directly pushed a tablet computer across, displaying a screenshot of Old Zhang's live stream, "This 'StarCore-SC1', does your company already possess the complete technology?"

Ada Wong raised an eyebrow slightly, not answering immediately.

Her slender fingers slowly traced the rim of the teacup, seemingly pondering her words.

"Academician Xu," she finally spoke, her voice soft but with an undeniable firmness, "you should understand that some technologies are not unwilling to be shared, but rather cannot be easily shared."

Academician Qian couldn't help but interject: "Why? Just because of patents? Money is not an issue! The country can..."

"Little Qian!" Academician Xu Qingshan sharply cut him off, then regained his calm when turning to Ada Wong, "General Manager Ai, we understand the importance of trade secrets.

But the strategic significance of room-temperature superconductivity for the nation..."

Ada Wong suddenly stood up: "Please wait a moment, everyone."

She walked to the corner of the meeting room, pressed her communicator, "Silver Wolf, stop playing, come to the reception room.

Oh, and you have permission, pull up the 'SC-1' file."

Five minutes later, a silver-haired girl in a loose hoodie, chewing bubblegum, sauntered into the meeting room.

She casually tossed a data chip onto the table: "Here, it's all here."

Academician Xu Qingshan quickly inserted the chip.

A holographic projection unfolded, displaying a detailed technical document:

StarDust-SC1 Room Temperature Superconducting Material Complete Technical Manual

Confidentiality Level: δ

Research and Development Date: March 15, 2021

"Three... three years ago? You already developed it?"

Academician Qian's eyes widened.

Silver Wolf plopped down on the conference table, swinging her legs: "To be precise, it was 'dug out' from the 'database'.

However..." She made an explosion gesture, "The problem is, this thing costs too much money."

Ada Wong took over: "To prepare one ton of stable SC-1 requires the consumption of electricity equivalent to six hours of the Three Gorges Dam's output."

A collective gasp of cold air echoed in the meeting room.

"Of course.

If you don't want to use that much electricity," Silver Wolf jumped off the table and brought up the periodic table of elements, "then you need these elements as 'catalysts'."

She circled a dozen rare earth elements, "These, indeed, are all available domestically, but three of them, the total reserves on the entire Blue Star are less than ten thousand tons."

"So, it's a double bind."

Academician Lin suddenly stood up excitedly: "So this is the key! You're not unwilling to disclose it, but rather..."

"But it's useless even if disclosed."

Ada Wong sighed, "Given Blue Star's current energy structure and resource reserves, large-scale mass production is simply not realistic."

Academician Xu Qingshan mused: "So the formula given by Star AI..."

"It's just fragments of raw information from the database, that's all."

Silver Wolf pouted, "It's useless."

Silence fell over the meeting room.

Suddenly, Academician Xu Qingshan's phone rang.

He looked at the caller ID, his expression changing slightly: "It's the Premier's office."