Chapter 164 Chen Xueming's Pressure

Thirteen days until the ignition countdown.

At two in the morning, the lights in the Plasma Control Laboratory were still on.

Chen Xueming sat in front of the computer, staring at the jarring set of data on the screen; he hadn't moved for six whole hours. His eyes were bloodshot, his face was covered in stubble, and the coffee cup in front of him had been emptied and refilled so many times he had lost count of how many cups he'd drunk.

A red warning line flashed on the screen:

"Plasma Position Prediction Error: +2.3 mm"

2.3 millimeters.

It seemed small, but for plasma at hundreds of millions of degrees, a 2.3 mm deviation meant it could crash into the First Wall.

Chen Xueming pulled up today's test records and reviewed them from beginning to end once more. The testing process was fine, the input parameters were fine, and the hardware equipment was fine. But every simulation yielded the same result—the actual position of the plasma was always 2.3 mm to the right of the predicted position.

He closed his eyes, his temples throbbing.

How many times had this been?

Since discovering the problem yesterday afternoon, he had been troubleshooting for fourteen consecutive hours. He had considered every possibility, checked every subsystem, and cross-referenced all the data.

There was no answer.

That 2.3 mm was like a thorn stuck in his brain.

At three in the morning, Lin Mo pushed the door open and entered.

He carried two cups of freshly made instant noodles and placed them in front of Chen Xueming. "Teacher Chen, eat something first."

Chen Xueming shook his head, his eyes never leaving the screen. "I can't eat."

Lin Mo sat down beside him and said nothing, quietly watching the data on the screen.

After a long while, Chen Xueming suddenly spoke:

"President Lin, do you think maybe I'm just getting old and my brain isn't working properly anymore?"

Lin Mo was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Chen Xueming pointed at the red warning. "I can't find the cause of this error no matter what. Magnets, heating, diagnostics, control algorithms—I've checked them all, and everything is fine. But the error is right there, 2.3 mm, not a fraction less."

His voice was somewhat raspy, carrying a level of exhaustion he had never shown before:

"I worked abroad for twenty years. What problem haven't I seen? What difficult task haven't I solved? But this... I really can't find it."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds before saying:

"Teacher Chen, do you know what my first impression of you was?"

Chen Xueming turned his head to look at him.

Lin Mo smiled. "When you first came to the base, you had a face full of defiance and looked down on everyone. I thought to myself, how can this guy be so arrogant?"

Chen Xueming gave a bitter smile.

Lin Mo continued, "Only later did I realize you weren't arrogant; you actually had the skills to back it up. Tritium Extraction at 99.3%, those two months stationed at the factory for the Divertor, and this cooling crisis—which of those wasn't overcome because you held the line?"

He looked at Chen Xueming and said seriously:

"So, when you say you 'can't find the cause' now, I don't believe it. You just haven't found it yet; it's not that it can't be found."

Chen Xueming stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed:

"President Lin, your mouth is getting better and better at comforting people."

Lin Mo also laughed. "I learned it from you."

He stood up and patted Chen Xueming on the shoulder:

"Eat the noodles first. After eating, we'll look for it together. Two people are always better than one."

At four in the morning, Li Xiao also arrived.

She pushed the door open carrying her laptop. Seeing Chen Xueming and Lin Mo staring at the screen, she said softly:

"Teacher Chen, I finished running a set of data on my end and found something. I'm not sure if it's useful."

Chen Xueming looked up. "What is it?"

Li Xiao placed the laptop on the table and pulled up a set of curves:

"These are all the response records for the Plasma Control System over the past week. I found that every time a control command is issued, the system's actual response time is 0.5 milliseconds slower than the design value."

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up. "0.5 milliseconds?"

Li Xiao nodded. "It's always been there, but the magnitude was too small for me to notice before. Combining it with the 2.3 mm error you mentioned, I did some calculations—a 0.5 ms delay multiplied by the plasma's velocity is exactly about 2.3 mm."

Chen Xueming stood up abruptly, staring at the curves for a long time.

Then he turned to Lin Mo, his voice trembling slightly:

"President Lin, the problem isn't in the control algorithm; it's in the hardware response. Someone tampered with the hardware level, just like with the cooling system."

Lin Mo's expression darkened.

"Can it be found?"

Chen Xueming grit his teeth. "Yes. But we need to take apart the controller and check the circuit boards."

"Then take it apart," Lin Mo said. "I give you authorization."

At five in the morning, Chen Xueming took two technicians and dismantled the Main Control Cabinet of the Plasma Control System.

Inside the massive cabinet, dozens of circuit boards were arranged in dense rows. Each one had to be removed and inspected with a magnifying glass for any abnormalities.

The three of them divided the labor, checking them one by one.

The first board, normal.

The second board, normal.

The third board, normal.

...

When they reached the seventeenth board, Chen Xueming's hand stopped.

In the corner of that circuit board was a tiny chip with no markings on its surface. It was exactly the same as the one in the cooling system.

He took a deep breath and gently tapped it with tweezers.

The solder joints were rough. It was hand-soldered.

Found it.

At six in the morning, Chen Xueming walked out of the equipment room.

Lin Mo was waiting at the door. Seeing him come out, he handed over a cup of hot coffee:

"Found it?"

Chen Xueming nodded and took a sip of the coffee. His hands were still shaking slightly, but the exhaustion on his face was replaced by a sense of relief.

"Just like the cooling system, it's a physically implanted chip. It was hidden in the response circuit to intentionally create a delay."

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds before asking:

"Can it be fixed?"

Chen Xueming smiled:

"Yes. Give me three days to swap in a new board and recalibrate. I guarantee it will be back to normal before ignition."

Lin Mo looked at him and suddenly said:

"Teacher Chen, I knew you could find it."

Chen Xueming was stunned for a moment, then he also laughed:

"Cut it out. You didn't say that when you were bringing me noodles just now."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Their laughter echoed across the Gobi Desert in the early morning, startling a few birds resting in the distance.

That morning, Chen Xueming slept the entire day.

Lin Mo personally stood guard at his dormitory door, forbidding anyone from disturbing him.

In the evening, when he woke up, he saw a note by his bedside with Lin Mo's handwriting on it:

"Teacher Chen:

I've already sent someone to replace the board. Get some good rest.

On the day of ignition, you'll be standing at the very front.

Lin Mo"

Chen Xueming looked at that note for a long time.

Then he folded the note carefully and placed it into his pocket.

Outside the window, the setting sun was sinking, dyeing the entire Gobi Desert golden-red.

He suddenly remembered thirty years ago, when he had just gone abroad. Back then, he also faced difficult problems alone, with no one to help him, no one to wait for him, and no one to leave him notes.

It was different now.

Now, someone was waiting for him.

He smiled, lay back on the bed, and closed his eyes.

This time, he slept exceptionally soundly.