Chapter 183 Wang Zhenguo's Tears
The celebration lasted for a full ten minutes.
Ribbons covered every corner of the control room, and champagne foam gathered into little streams on the floor.
Li Xiao had shouted until her voice was hoarse, Zhao Gang's clothes were sprayed with colorful stains, and Chen Xueming was hugging that bottle of champagne from who-knows-where, laughing like a child.
Lin Mo stood in the middle of the crowd, covered in ribbons himself.
He smiled as he watched the group, feeling a warm glow in his heart.
But just then, Fang Lin walked over and gently touched his arm:
"Lin Mo, it's a video call from Teacher Wang."
Lin Mo paused for a moment, then walked quickly toward the communication device in the corner.
On the screen, Wang Zhenguo's face appeared.
The old man was clearly crying too. He took off his glasses and wiped his tears with his sleeve, but they just kept coming. His cloudy eyes were filled with tears.
"Teacher," Lin Mo's voice trembled slightly.
Wang Zhenguo looked at him for a long time.
Then he spoke, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible:
"Good... good..."
Just two words, but Lin Mo heard a thousand meanings behind them.
"Teacher, did you see it? 1.28 times, 4.2 megawatts higher than the design value."
Wang Zhenguo nodded and wiped his tears again:
"I saw it, I saw it all."
His hands were shaking, his whole body was shaking.
Lin Mo felt a pang of soreness in his nose, and his eyes instantly turned red.
Wang Zhenguo took a deep breath, trying to steady his voice:
"Xiao Lin, do you know what I was thinking when the eastern star failed back then?"
Lin Mo shook his head.
Wang Zhenguo smiled bitterly:
"I was thinking that I might not live to see the Artificial Sun in this lifetime. I was only in my early fifties then, but I already felt that some things might truly be out of reach."
He paused and looked at Lin Mo:
"Later, when I met you and you told me you wanted to work on Nuclear Fusion, I didn't hold out much hope. It's good for young people to have dreams, but reality... is too cruel."
Lin Mo listened quietly.
"But you did it." Wang Zhenguo's voice began to tremble again, "Room-Temperature Superconductivity, Lithium Extraction from Seawater, Tritium Extraction, Divertor, plasma control... step by step, you achieved it all."
He took off his glasses and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand:
"Xiao Lin, my life has been worth it."
Lin Mo could no longer hold back his tears.
He stood there and bowed deeply to the old man on the screen.
"Teacher," his voice choked up, "it was you who taught me."
Wang Zhenguo shook his head:
"It wasn't me who taught you; you learned it yourself."
Lin Mo straightened up and looked at him:
"It wasn't the technology you taught me. It was perseverance, it was faith, it was... it was never giving up."
He remembered the first afternoon he met Wang Zhenguo. The old man was standing in front of a bookshelf, full of vigor, explaining the principles of Nuclear Fusion to him for three hours straight.
He remembered those late-night talks. The old man would listen to his progress reports, analyze problems for him, and accompany him through the hardest times.
He remembered that yellowed notebook. The old man had given him his life's work of forty years, saying, "On the day of ignition, I will come to see you."
"Teacher," Lin Mo's voice was soft but firm, "you must take care of yourself. You still have to watch the road ahead."
Wang Zhenguo smiled.
As he smiled, tears streamed down again:
"Okay, I will watch. I will watch you move forward."
Chen Xueming appeared at some point and stood behind Lin Mo.
He looked at Wang Zhenguo on the screen and suddenly bowed deeply:
"Teacher Wang, thank you."
Wang Zhenguo paused: "Xiao Chen, what are you thanking me for?"
Chen Xueming straightened up and said earnestly:
"Thank you for teaching a student like Lin Mo. Without him, there would be no me today."
Wang Zhenguo looked at him, his eyes turning red again:
"Xiao Chen, you are also exemplary. During those two months with the Divertor, I heard you lost a lot of weight."
Chen Xueming shook his head: "That was nothing."
Li Xiao also walked over and bowed to the screen:
"Teacher Wang, thank you."
Zhao Gang also came over and bowed clumsily:
"Teacher Wang, although I haven't met you, Mr. Lin talks about you every day. You are like a mountain in his heart."
Wang Zhenguo looked at the group on the screen, unable to stop his tears.
He raised his hand and waved at them:
"Good... good... you are all exemplary."
When the communication ended, Wang Zhenguo said one last sentence to the camera:
"Xiao Lin, you still have a long road ahead. But today, you won."
The moment the screen went dark, Lin Mo saw his teacher take off his glasses again.
He knew his teacher was wiping away tears again.
He stood there, staring at the dark screen for a very long time.
Chen Xueming walked over and gently patted his shoulder:
"Old Lin, Teacher Wang is right. Today, we won."
Lin Mo nodded, took a deep breath, and turned around.
In the control room, everyone was looking at him.
He looked at them and suddenly smiled:
"Everyone, there is one thing left to do."
Li Xiao paused: "What thing?"
Lin Mo pointed to the massive device outside the window:
"Roast whole lamb."
Zhao Gang was the first to react, laughing out loud:
"Right! Roast whole lamb! Mr. Lin, you promised!"
Li Xiao also jumped up: "I want to eat two!"
Chen Xueming rarely joined in the teasing: "I can't eat much, but I can drink something good."
Laughter rang out in the control room once again.
Lin Mo stood in the middle of the crowd, looking at the tokamak-3 outside the window.
Under the moonlight, it stood quietly, like a giant that had just completed its mission.
But Lin Mo knew this was just the beginning.
There was a longer road ahead.
But today, they would celebrate.
Celebrate this victory that belonged to everyone.