Chapter 149 Time is of the essence
On the early morning following Fang Lin's report, Lin Mo called an emergency meeting.
There weren't many people in the conference room, but they were all core members—Chen Xueming, Li Xiao, and Zhao Gang. Fang Lin sat in a corner, holding a tablet, ready to provide additional intelligence at any moment.
Lin Mo stood in front of a whiteboard with two dates written on it:
Ignition Day: May 1st
Today: April 22nd
"The time we have left," he drew an arrow between the two dates with a red pen, "is only nine days."
The conference room was silent. Outside the window, the wind and sand beat against the glass, making a soft rustling sound.
Lin Mo turned around and looked at them:
"You all know the situation Director Fang reported yesterday. The International Science and Technology Alliance is meeting, and Smith has proposed 'taking joint action if necessary.' What does that mean? It means someone is waiting to see us fail, someone wants us to fail, and someone might refuse to acknowledge our success even after we succeed."
Chen Xueming sneered, "Whether they acknowledge it or not, what does that have to do with us?"
Lin Mo shook his head, "Teacher Chen, you don't understand politics. If the international community unites to deny our ignition results, we will be isolated in the field of international Nuclear Fusion. Technology blockades, patent lawsuits, cooperation barriers—every single one of those can make it impossible for us to move forward."
Li Xiao raised her hand, "President Lin, what should we do then?"
Lin Mo looked at her, then at everyone present, and said word by word:
"Let the facts speak for themselves."
He pointed at the red circle on the whiteboard:
"In nine days, we will ignite the fire. Let the whole world see it, so that no one can deny it. Whether they acknowledge it or not is their business. But the fact will be right there—the Chinese were the first to light up the Artificial Sun."
Zhao Gang slapped the table, "I like the sound of that! Let them have their meetings; we'll do the ignition!"
Chen Xueming also nodded, "President Lin is right. With real skill in our hands, what is there to fear?"
Lin Mo looked toward Fang Lin.
Fang Lin stood up, her tone calm but firm, "I will continue to keep an eye on the intelligence. I'll report any new developments immediately. You just focus on the ignition; I'll handle the outside matters."
Lin Mo nodded and then looked at Li Xiao, "As for the Digital Twin System, it needs to be monitored 24/7 for these last nine days. Any abnormal data, even a fluctuation at the third decimal place, must be reported immediately."
Li Xiao straightened her back, "Understood!"
Finally, he looked at Chen Xueming and Zhao Gang:
"Teacher Chen, the final inspection of the Divertor and the First Wall is in your hands. Brother Zhao, the perimeter security will be raised to the highest level starting now. Anyone entering or leaving the base must go through three levels of approval."
Chen Xueming nodded, "No problem."
Zhao Gang stood at attention, "Mission guaranteed!"
Looking at them, a warm current surged in Lin Mo's heart.
This group of people had followed him all the way from three years ago. Room-Temperature Superconductivity, Lithium-Sulfur Battery, Lithium Extraction from Seawater, Tritium Extraction, Nuclear Fusion—every step had been difficult, but they had made it through every single one.
Now, only nine days were left.
"Everyone," his voice was a bit raspy, "I know everyone is tired. But for these last nine days, we must grit our teeth and persevere. After the ignition is successful, I'll treat everyone to roasted whole lamb, until you're stuffed."
Zhao Gang grinned, "You said it!"
Li Xiao also laughed, "I want to eat two!"
Chen Xueming made a rare joke, "I can't eat that much, but I can drink something good."
The atmosphere in the conference room lightened up instantly.
But Lin Mo knew this was only on the surface.
The real pressure was only just beginning.
After the meeting ended, everyone went their separate ways.
Chen Xueming went straight to the Divertor workshop. He took three technicians and checked every cooling channel of the Divertor again. They inserted an endoscope and looked inch by inch to ensure no foreign objects remained.
"Teacher Chen," a technician asked softly, "you've already checked it three times. Isn't that enough?"
Chen Xueming didn't even look up, "It's not enough. We ignite in nine days, and this thing will be working in an environment of hundreds of millions of degrees. Checking it one more time now means one less risk during ignition."
The technician stopped talking and continued to stare at the screen.
Li Xiao locked herself in the computer room.
The Digital Twin System was running the final full-process simulation. On the screen, every subsystem of the tokamak-3 was operating at a visible speed. Her eyes were fixed on every curve, her finger ready to hit the pause key at any moment.
"Engineer Li," an assistant brought a cup of coffee, "you've been watching for six hours. Take a break."
Li Xiao shook her head, "No break. In these last nine days, there can't be any mistakes."
She took the coffee, took a sip, and never once looked away from the screen.
Zhao Gang was patrolling the perimeter of the base.
He led a team and expanded the security perimeter to fifteen kilometers. Every place where someone could hide and every vulnerability that could be breached was carefully inspected.
"Captain Zhao," Captain Zhou ran over, "we found a few geological surveyors five kilometers to the east. They say they're here for sampling. Should we drive them away?"
Zhao Gang thought for a moment, "Check their IDs, take photos, and register them. If there's no problem, let them go, but keep an eye on them and see where they head."
Captain Zhou gave an affirmative response and left with his men.
Zhao Gang stood on a sand dune, looking at the distant horizon.
He knew that they weren't the only ones watching this place.
But he also knew that no matter who came, they wouldn't be able to set foot in the base.
At night, Lin Mo was alone in the control room.
On the screen, the final simulation of the ignition sequence was running. He stared at the flickering data, but his mind was on other things.
Fang Lin's intelligence was like a thorn stuck in his heart.
"Taking joint action if necessary."
What action? When? Against what?
He didn't know.
But he knew the only way to respond was to ignite as soon as possible.
The faster, the better.
The simulation ended, and a green "Pass" popped up on the screen.
Lin Mo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Nine days.
Only nine days left.
Early the next morning, Lin Mo gathered the team for another short meeting.
There was no new intelligence and no new problems. But the expressions on everyone's faces were even more serious.
The closer the time got, the greater the pressure.
"President Lin," Chen Xueming spoke up, "I thought about it all night. Should we prepare a backup plan?"
Lin Mo looked at him, "What backup plan?"
"Just in case..." Chen Xueming paused, "what if the first ignition isn't successful?"
The conference room fell silent.
This was a question no one dared to think about.
Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Teacher Chen, do you know what I fear most?"
Chen Xueming shook his head.
"What I fear most isn't the first time being unsuccessful," Lin Mo said. "What I fear most is that we won't dare to ignite because we're afraid of failure."
He looked at everyone present:
"We've prepared for two years. Every subsystem has been verified, every hidden danger has been eliminated, and every emergency plan has been rehearsed. If we still can't light it after all that, then it's heaven's will. But if we don't try to light it, then that's our own problem."
He stood up, his tone calm but firm:
"So, there is no backup plan. There is only one path—ignition."
Chen Xueming looked at him and suddenly smiled.
"Fine. We'll do it your way."
Li Xiao also nodded, "President Lin is right. We've already done our best."
Zhao Gang slapped his thigh, "Then let's do it!"
Lin Mo looked at them, and the weight in his heart suddenly felt a bit lighter.
Four days later, April 26th.
All preparation work was completed ahead of schedule.
Lin Mo stood before the tokamak-3, looking up at the massive device. It had been two years, from blueprints to the physical object, from theory to practice, and from one person to a whole team.
It was finally standing here.
Chen Xueming walked over and stood beside him.
"President Lin, five more days."
Lin Mo nodded, "Five days."
Chen Xueming suddenly said, "You know, sometimes I dream about the moment of ignition."
Lin Mo turned to look at him, "What do you dream about?"
Chen Xueming smiled, "I dream that it lights up. It's incredibly bright, brighter than the sun."
Lin Mo also smiled.
The two of them stood side by side, looking at the device that was about to light up humanity's dream of energy.
In the distance, the wind from the Gobi Desert blew in, swirling up fine sand.
But this time, they didn't feel cold.
Because in their hearts, a fire had already begun to burn.