Chapter 150 Final Debugging

At six o'clock in the morning on April 30th, the wind on the Gobi Desert stopped.

It was a rare day of good weather. The sky was cloudless, and the sun had just climbed over the horizon, casting a golden rim around the massive silhouette of the tokamak-3. The distant sand dunes lay quietly, like a group of sleeping giant beasts.

In the control room, everyone was already in position.

Lin Mo sat at the main control console, holding a printed debugging flow chart in his hand. It was densely marked with the sequence, parameters, and expected results for every test item. He had handwritten this last night, taking three full hours.

Chen Xueming walked over carrying two cups of coffee and handed him one. "Didn't sleep all night?"

Lin Mo took the coffee and shook his head. "I slept for two hours."

"Is that enough?"

"It's enough." Lin Mo took a sip of coffee; the bitter taste cleared his head a bit. "After today, there will be plenty of time to sleep."

Chen Xueming sat down beside him, looking at the icons of the subsystems waiting to be started on the screen. He suddenly asked, "Chief Lin, do you think we can pass it all in one go today?"

Lin Mo turned to look at him. "Teacher Chen, are you nervous?"

Chen Xueming froze for a moment, then smiled. "A little. To be honest, I wasn't even this nervous during my doctoral defense back then."

Lin Mo also smiled. "Me too."

The two looked at each other and didn't say anything more.

But in that moment, they both saw the same things in each other's eyes—anticipation, and a little bit of unease.

At 6:30, the debugging officially began.

"First item, Magnet System." Lin Mo's voice spread throughout the base via the broadcast. "Each post, report your status."

"Magnet Group 1, normal."

"Magnet Group 2, normal."

"Power supply system, normal."

"Cooling system, normal."

On the screen, the magnetic field strength rose slowly. 1 Tesla, 2 Tesla, 3 Tesla... By the 5th Tesla, the curve was as steady as a straight line.

"Magnet System stable," Li Xiao reported. "Fluctuation range ±0.01%."

Lin Mo nodded and checked it off on the flow chart.

At 7:15, the First Wall began preheating.

The temperature curve rose slowly: 500 degrees, 800 degrees, 1000 degrees, 1200 degrees, 1500 degrees.

Chen Xueming stared at the dense data on the screen, his fingers tapping lightly on the keyboard to bring up the real-time readings of every temperature sensor.

"Sensor No. 1, normal."

"No. 2, normal."

"No. 3, normal."

...

There were over a hundred sensors. He reported them one by one, his voice steady, though his hand gripping the mouse exerted a slight pressure.

When it reached 1800 degrees, he stopped and stared at one piece of data for three seconds.

"Chief Lin, the temperature of sensor No. 47 is 3 degrees higher than the average."

Lin Mo immediately pulled up the detailed data for that sensor. On the screen, the curve did indeed tilt slightly upward, but the magnitude was very small.

"Analyze the cause."

Li Xiao tapped the keyboard, pulling up the surrounding data for the location of sensor No. 47. A dozen curves scrolled across the screen, finally settling on one line:

"Local heat load is slightly high, still within the design range."

Chen Xueming frowned. "Should we shut down for an inspection?"

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head. "Continue. If it exceeds the range, then we'll stop."

The temperature continued to rise.

2000 degrees.

2200 degrees.

2500 degrees.

At 2500 degrees, the temperature curve of sensor No. 47 slowly dropped back and merged with the average.

Chen Xueming let out a long breath. "Thermal equilibrium reached."

Lin Mo checked off the second item on the flow chart.

At 9:20, the Divertor test.

This was Chen Xueming's domain. He personally walked to the Divertor monitoring station and pulled up the data for those thousands of cooling channels.

"Injecting circulating water."

On the screen, the flow data rose slowly. The flow rate of each channel was displayed in numerical form, densely filling the entire screen.

Chen Xueming's eyes were like a scanner, looking through line by line.

980, 981, 979, 982, 978...

Suddenly, his gaze stopped on a certain line.

"Channel 874: 932"

Nearly 5% lower than the average.

Chen Xueming's heart skipped a beat.

"Chief Lin," his voice was a bit tight, "the flow in channel 874 is low."

Lin Mo walked over and stared at that number for a long time.

"How much lower than the average?"

"4.8%."

"Is it still within range?"

Chen Xueming shook his head. "The design lower limit is 5%. 4.8% is only 0.2% away from the limit."

The control room fell silent.

Everyone looked at Lin Mo.

Lin Mo stared at the number, his mind racing.

Stop, or not?

If they stopped, troubleshooting would take at least half a day. Ignition would have to be postponed until tomorrow.

If they didn't stop, and if something went wrong with this channel during the ignition process...

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Then he opened his eyes. "Li Xiao, pull up the historical data for channel 874."

Li Xiao operated quickly. On the screen, the flow curve for that channel was displayed—for the past seven days, it had been steady around 980. This morning, it suddenly dropped to 932.

"Teacher Chen," Lin Mo asked, "what do you think the problem is?"

Chen Xueming thought for a moment. "It could be a slight jam in a valve, or perhaps some impurities passed through, temporarily affecting the flow rate."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then made a decision:

"Continue observing. If it drops below 930, shut down immediately."

Everyone held their breath, staring at that number.

932.

931.

932.

931.

930.

Chen Xueming's hand was already on the intercom.

929.

Then, the numbers began to rise slowly.

930, 935, 940, 950...

Ten minutes later, it returned to 978.

Chen Xueming suddenly slumped in his chair, his back soaked with sweat.

Lin Mo let out a long breath and checked off the third item on the flow chart.

At 2:00 PM, the Tritium Cycle system test.

This was the most dangerous part of the entire device. Tritium is a radioactive substance; once leaked, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Li Xiao was in charge of this section. She had calibrated all the detection equipment three times, three days in advance.

"Injecting tritium gas." Her voice trembled slightly.

On the screen, every valve, every pipe, and every interface of the Tritium Cycle system was under real-time monitoring. The pressure data rose slowly and then stabilized at the design value.

"Hold for thirty minutes," Lin Mo said.

Thirty minutes.

No one in the control room spoke; there was only the low hum of the equipment running.

At the ten-minute mark, everything was normal.

At the twenty-minute mark, everything was normal.

At the twenty-ninth minute—

An alarm suddenly blared.

Li Xiao nearly jumped. She looked closely and then let out a long breath. "It's a simulated alarm. The system self-check triggered it on purpose."

Lin Mo glared at her. "You scared the life out of me."

Li Xiao sheepishly stuck out her tongue.

The thirty-minute mark arrived.

"Tritium Cycle system normal, no leaks." Li Xiao's voice carried an irrepressible excitement.

Lin Mo checked off the fourth item on the flow chart.

At 6:00 PM, all subsystem tests were completed.

The final item was the Integrated linkage test.

Lin Mo looked at the green "Normal" indicators on the screen and was silent for a long time.

Then he pressed the start button.

Magnet System started.

First Wall heating.

Divertor running.

Tritium Cycle working.

Cooling system following suit.

All subsystems ran simultaneously according to the ignition sequence.

On the screen, the data stream poured down like a waterfall. No one dared to relax for a second, their eyes fixed on their respective sections.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

One hour.

Two hours.

The test time Lin Mo had set was two hours.

The moment the timer jumped to "02:00:00," he let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair.

"Integrated linkage test passed." His voice was a bit hoarse. "All subsystems normal."

A long-suppressed cheer erupted in the control room.

But Lin Mo didn't join in. He looked at the clock on the wall—exactly 8:00 PM.

Fourteen hours left.

In fourteen hours, it would be the real ignition.

At 9:00 PM, Zhao Gang pushed open the door and entered.

His face bore the traces of wind and sand, but his eyes were firm. He walked up to Lin Mo, stood at attention, and saluted.

"Chief Lin, all security points have been checked. A fifteen-kilometer outer perimeter, three lines of defense in the core area, all personnel entering and exiting have been verified. Everything is ready."

Lin Mo stood up and shook his hand. "Brother Zhao, thank you for your hard work."

Zhao Gang shook his head. "It's not hard. Guarding this thing, I'm happy to do it."

He looked at the people in the control room, then at the quietly suspended tokamak-3 on the screen, and suddenly grinned:

"Chief Lin, when the ignition happens tomorrow, can I come in and watch?"

Lin Mo was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "You can. Stand right next to me."

Zhao Gang smiled like a child. "Great!"

At 10:00 PM, Lin Mo told everyone to go back and rest.

"Assemble at five tomorrow morning," he said. "Now, everyone go to sleep."

Chen Xueming wouldn't leave. "I'll look at the data a bit longer."

Li Xiao wouldn't leave either. "I'll stay with Teacher Chen."

Zhao Gang wouldn't leave either. "I'll guard the door."

Lin Mo looked at them, suddenly not knowing what to say.

Finally, Fang Lin walked over and shooed them all away.

"Lin Mo is right, everyone go to sleep. Whoever isn't energetic tomorrow won't be allowed in the control room."

These words were more effective than anything.

Three minutes later, Lin Mo was the only one left in the control room.

He sat at the main control console, looking at the screens in quiet sleep mode.

Outside the window, the Gobi night was deep, and the sky was full of stars.

He thought of the day he first saw the System, the day Wang Zhenguo first told him about Nuclear Fusion, the day Chen Xueming first questioned him, and the day Li Xiao first solved a problem independently.

He thought of the countless days and nights, the countless failures, and the countless times they had stood back up.

Tomorrow.

It's tomorrow.

Lin Mo stood up and walked to the window.

He looked at the massive device in the distance, standing quietly in the moonlight.

Then he said softly:

"See you tomorrow."