Chapter 10 Secret Meeting

Three days later, in the afternoon, an inconspicuous black sedan parked downstairs at Lin Mo's dormitory.

When Lin Mo got into the car, he found Wang Zhenguo sitting in the back seat with a strange man beside him. The man was about fifty years old, with a square face, thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, and was wearing a dark jacket.

"Xiao Lin, this is Comrade Fang," Wang Zhenguo introduced him in a flat tone. "He will be driving us today."

Comrade Fang nodded toward Lin Mo without speaking. Lin Mo noticed that he sat very straight and his eyes habitually scanned the surroundings as if confirming something. Lin Mo had only seen this kind of demeanor on television.

The car drove out of the campus and merged into the traffic. Comrade Fang drove very steadily, neither fast nor slow, occasionally checking the rearview mirror. Lin Mo didn't know where they were going; Wang Zhenguo didn't say, and he didn't ask.

Forty minutes later, the car entered a seemingly ordinary industrial park. There was a guard post at the entrance, but the guards didn't stop them, merely glancing at the license plate before letting them through. The park was very quiet, with several gray buildings scattered around, and almost no people could be seen on the road.

The car stopped in front of a small three-story building. Comrade Fang turned his head: "We're here. You two go inside. I'll wait out here."

Wang Zhenguo nodded and led Lin Mo out of the car. The building's door was glass, but a metal door was faintly visible behind it. Wang Zhenguo rang the doorbell, and soon someone opened it—a middle-aged man in a white lab coat wearing thick glasses.

"Teacher Wang, Academician Zhang and Academician Liu have already arrived," the man in the white coat said. "Please follow me."

They walked through a corridor, turned twice, and finally stopped in front of a door. The man in the white coat knocked, then pushed the door open and stepped aside.

"Please come in."

Lin Mo took a deep breath and followed Wang Zhenguo inside.

It was a small conference room with a long table in the middle, on which several instruments were placed. Two elderly men were sitting on chairs against the wall, both around seventy years old. One had completely white hair, and the other wore round-framed glasses.

Seeing them enter, the two elderly men stood up.

"Old Wang, you're here." The white-haired one came forward and shook hands with Wang Zhenguo, then his gaze fell on Lin Mo. "Is this the student you mentioned on the phone?"

Wang Zhenguo nodded: "Lin Mo, the Ph.D. Student I'm advising."

"Academician Zhang," Wang Zhenguo introduced him to Lin Mo. "An expert in materials science and an old classmate of mine."

Lin Mo bowed slightly: "Hello, Academician Zhang."

Academician Zhang sized him up with a scrutinizing gaze but said nothing.

The one wearing round-framed glasses also walked over and extended his hand: "My surname is Liu, I work in physics. Old Wang said you had an important discovery, so we dropped what we were doing and rushed over."

Lin Mo shook his hand: "Hello, Academician Liu. Sorry to trouble you."

"It's no trouble," Academician Liu smiled. "Old Wang hasn't been this serious in years; I'd like to see what this is all about."

Wang Zhenguo walked to the table and took out the blue material and the stack of experimental records from his briefcase. He placed them on the table and said, "Old Zhang, Old Liu, take a look at this first."

The two Academicians leaned in. Academician Zhang picked up the piece of material and examined it carefully against the light. Academician Liu flipped through the experimental records, reading page by page.

The conference room fell silent.

Lin Mo stood to the side, watching the expressions of the two elderly men change. Academician Zhang's brow furrowed; he put the material down and picked up a nearby magnifying glass to look again. Academician Liu's page-turning slowed down more and more, finally stopping on a certain page, where he stared for a long time.

Ten minutes later, Academician Liu looked up and gazed at Wang Zhenguo.

"Old Wang, have you confirmed this?"

"I have. I measured it with that old four-probe tester at my house, and I did the magnetic levitation test too."

Academician Liu was silent for a moment before turning to Lin Mo: "Xiao Lin, did you make all of this?"

"Yes."

"How did you think of it?"

Lin Mo's heart tightened. He had to face this question again.

"It was just... by chance," he said. "I found it while testing different formulas."

Academician Liu looked at him with a deep gaze but did not press further. He turned to Academician Zhang: "Old Zhang, what do you think?"

Academician Zhang put down the magnifying glass and said, "From my initial look at the material itself, the structure is indeed very special. But to be certain, we must test it. Are the instruments ready?"

Wang Zhenguo nodded: "Everything is ready. Xiao Lin, you do the operation."

Lin Mo walked toward the lab bench. On the bench sat a high-temperature furnace, a four-probe tester, and some reagents and vessels. These were all prepared by him in advance and were identical to the ones he used in his own laboratory.

He took a deep breath and began the operation.

Weighing, mixing, grinding, loading the furnace. His movements were very skilled, following every step on the blueprints. The three Academicians stood to the side, watching in silence.

The high-temperature furnace began to heat up. Lin Mo glanced at the time: "It will take 24 hours. We won't have results until tonight."

Academician Zhang nodded: "Then we wait."

Wang Zhenguo said, "Old Zhang, Old Liu, you two go rest first. I'll stay here and keep watch."

"No need," Academician Liu waved his hand. "We've waited this long; a few more hours won't hurt."

Over the following hours, the four of them took turns resting in the next room, but someone was always on guard. Lin Mo hardly closed his eyes; he stared at the display screen of the high-temperature furnace, recording the temperature curve every so often.

At ten o'clock the next morning, the heat treatment finished.

Lin Mo put on heat-resistant gloves and took out the sample. Quenching, annealing, and finally, the doping step. When that last drop of blue liquid fell into the powder and the light shone again, Academician Zhang gasped.

"This is..."

That deep blue color shimmered under the lights. Academician Liu leaned in to look, the reflection of that blue light showing in his glasses.

"Old Zhang, have you ever seen anything like this?"

Academician Zhang shook his head: "No. Never."

Lin Mo picked up the newly synthesized piece of material and placed it on the four-probe tester. He began to lower the temperature, and everyone stared at the display screen.

20°C, 10°C, 0°C, -10°C...

-20°C.

Resistance dropped to zero.

The conference room was dead silent.

Academician Zhang walked over and personally operated the test once. The same result. He changed the test points and measured again; it was still 0.

Academician Liu took out a magnet he had brought and placed the material in liquid nitrogen. When that blue flake levitated in the magnetic field, his hands trembled slightly.

The three of them stood there, looking at the levitating blue flake, and no one spoke.

After a long time, Academician Zhang spoke, his voice somewhat raspy: "Old Wang, you've taught a fine student."

Wang Zhenguo did not answer. He looked at Lin Mo with an expression so complex it was hard to describe.

Academician Liu put down the magnet, took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on. He looked at Lin Mo and asked, "Xiao Lin, do you know what this means?"

Lin Mo nodded.

"No, you don't." Academician Liu shook his head, his voice very soft. "You don't know what this means. Room-Temperature Superconductivity at minus twenty degrees. This means that from today on, humanity's technology tree is going to be rewritten."

Academician Zhang added, "This thing cannot be made public. At least not for now. We have to think clearly about how to protect it, how to use it, and how..." He paused, "how to keep it from falling into the hands of those who shouldn't have it."

Wang Zhenguo nodded: "That is exactly why I called you two here."

Academician Liu looked at the blue material, was silent for a moment, and then said: "Old Wang, this matter must be reported up."

"I know."

"We need to find someone who can protect him."

"I know."

Academician Zhang turned to Lin Mo with a strange look in his eyes—there was admiration, worry, and something else that Lin Mo couldn't quite understand.

"Young man, do you realize that from today on, your life is going to be different?"

Lin Mo opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Wang Zhenguo walked over and placed a hand on Lin Mo's shoulder.

"Xiao Lin, you've done something huge. But after a great deed comes even greater responsibility." He looked into Lin Mo's eyes. "From now on, you are no longer alone."

Lin Mo stood there, looking at the three highly respected Academicians and the blue material that had changed everything, a feeling welling up in his heart that was difficult to put into words.

There was fear and uncertainty, but more than that, there was a sense of resolve he had never felt before.

"Teacher," he said, "I know."

Outside the window, the afternoon sunlight streamed in, casting a golden glow on the floor. Faint bird calls came from the distance, forming a strange contrast with the earth-shattering events occurring inside this small conference room.

Academician Zhang walked to the window, turned his back to them, and said one thing:

"Old Wang, contact Fang Lin."