Chapter 194 Chief Designer

One week later, Beijing.

Lin Mo walked into that solemn building once again. This time, it wasn't to receive an award, but for a meeting—a small-scale meeting with only ten people.

He had received the list of attendees a day in advance: several leaders from the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and the Ministry of Science and Technology, one Academician from each of the two academies, and an old man who never appeared in the news.

The old man sat in the very center of the long table; his hair was completely white, but his back was straight and his eyes were sharp. Lin Mo didn't know him, but the moment he entered, the old man glanced at him and gave a slight nod.

The meeting lasted for two hours.

The first half discussed technical details—specific parameters for the three power stations, the construction cycle, and the localization rate of equipment. Lin Mo answered them one by one, citing data with ease. He didn't even need any of the questions Chen Xueming had privately reminded him to "memorize thoroughly."

In the second half, the meeting entered its core agenda.

"Comrade Lin Mo," the leader from the National Development and Reform Commission began, "the construction of the three power stations requires a General Person in Charge. This person must understand technology, engineering, and management, and also be able to coordinate resources from all parties. We have considered this for a long time and believe that the most suitable candidate... is you."

Lin Mo was stunned.

He knew he would be involved in the construction of the power stations, but he hadn't expected to be the "General Person in Charge."

"I..." He weighed his words carefully, "I'm only thirty-two this year, my experience might—"

"Experience can be accumulated." The old man suddenly spoke; his voice wasn't loud, yet it silenced the entire room. "Ability is innate. Young Lin, I've seen your resume, I've read your papers, and I've also read those reports on how you handled crises. During the construction of tokamak-3, you handled that conflict with Director Zhang quite well."

Lin Mo was taken aback.

The old man continued, "In engineering, the hardest part isn't the technology, it's the people. You could win over a troublemaker like Chen Xueming, utilize a soldier like Zhao Gang effectively, and let a young person like Li Xiao grow rapidly—that's the skill a chief designer should have."

He paused, looking directly at Lin Mo:

"Young man, don't decline. You are worthy of this position."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, stood up, and bowed slightly:

"Thank you for the organization's trust. I accept."

The old man smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes bunching up. "That's more like it."

Walking out of the meeting room, Lin Mo stood in the hallway for a while.

In early autumn Beijing, the sky was high and the clouds were light. Sunlight spilled through the glass curtain wall, warming him.

But in his heart, there was an indescribable complexity.

chief designer.

He knew the weight of these words all too well.

From today on, he would no longer just be leading a team of a few hundred people to overcome technical difficulties; he would be coordinating the construction of three national-level power stations—each with an investment of tens of billions, a five-year construction cycle, involving tens of thousands of workers, engineers, and management personnel.

From the front lines of scientific research to engineering management.

From "Dr. Lin" to "Chief Designer Lin."

His phone vibrated.

It was a message from Chen Xueming: "Is the meeting over? How was it?"

Lin Mo replied: "It's over. We'll talk when I get back."

Chen Xueming replied instantly: "Alright, waiting for you. Li Xiao said she'll add some extra dishes tonight to celebrate your promotion."

Lin Mo looked at the word "promotion" and gave a bitter smile.

He put away his phone and stepped into the elevator.

Evening, Gobi Desert.

Lin Mo pushed open the dormitory door and found the three of them already waiting.

Chen Xueming was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, Li Xiao was setting the table, and Zhao Gang was standing by the window looking at the scenery. On the table were four dishes and a soup, steaming hot—clearly Master Liu's handiwork.

"Yo!" As soon as Chen Xueming saw him enter, he immediately stood up and gave an exaggerated bow. "Greetings, Chief Designer Lin! You've worked hard, Chief Designer Lin! Please take the seat of honor, Chief Designer Lin!"

Lin Mo glared at him. "Stop being so cheeky."

"I'm not being cheeky," Chen Xueming said with a grin. "I'm being sincere. Chief Designer Lin, I'll have to call you 'leader' from now on, so I need to practice in advance."

Li Xiao brought over the rice and joined in the fun. "Right, right, Chief Designer Lin, please sit, please sit!"

Zhao Gang unusually cooperated, handing over a pair of chopsticks with a straight face. "Chief Designer Lin, please enjoy your meal."

Lin Mo looked at the three of them, both annoyed and amused:

"Are you guys finished?"

"Not yet!" the three said in unison.

Lin Mo, helpless, took the chopsticks and sat down.

Li Xiao served him rice, Chen Xueming poured him water, and Zhao Gang moved the dishes closer to him—the three of them coordinated perfectly, as if they had rehearsed.

"Alright, alright," Lin Mo interrupted them. "If you keep acting, the food will get cold."

Only then did the three stop and sit down.

Chen Xueming raised his glass. "Come, a toast to Chief Designer Lin!"

Li Xiao and Zhao Gang also raised their glasses.

Lin Mo looked at them, silent for two seconds, then raised his glass and clinked it with theirs.

"Thank you," he said.

Halfway through the meal, Chen Xueming finally dropped his joking expression.

"Old Lin, seriously," he put down his chopsticks, "what do you think about this chief designer position?"

Lin Mo's hand, which was picking up food, paused.

"What do I think?" He chewed slowly. "The responsibility is huge, the pressure is immense, and there's a lot to do."

"Then why did you take it?"

Lin Mo glanced at him. "Why wouldn't I?"

Chen Xueming scratched his head. "I just thought... you'd prefer staying in the laboratory, right? Dealing with data and equipment instead of so many people."

Lin Mo was silent for a while.

"Xueming," he said, "do you know what was the most exhausting thing for me during the construction of tokamak-3?"

"What?"

"It wasn't staying up late to monitor data or solving technical problems; it was dealing with people like Director Zhang," Lin Mo said. "But I also know that someone has to do those things. If I don't do it and someone who doesn't understand technology takes the role, the technical staff below will be even more exhausted."

Chen Xueming was stunned.

Lin Mo continued, "The position of chief designer isn't for me to become an official; it's for me to shield the technical people. To stop the unnecessary pressure from reaching them, and to ensure that the necessary resources reach the front lines smoothly."

He paused:

"Someone has to do this. Me doing it is better for you guys than someone else doing it."

Chen Xueming opened his mouth but couldn't find the words.

Li Xiao's eyes grew red.

Zhao Gang raised his glass and took a silent gulp.

After a long time, Chen Xueming spoke, his voice a bit raspy:

"Old Lin, what you said... I'm sold."

Lin Mo smiled. "Don't just be sold; just work hard. Three power stations will keep you busy enough."

"Me?" Chen Xueming was taken aback. "What am I doing?"

Lin Mo looked at him and said seriously, "You'll be in charge of the one in Guangdong."

Chen Xueming's chopsticks almost fell to the floor.

"Me?!" His voice changed pitch. "Old Lin, you're not joking, are you? Letting me be in charge of a power station?"

"I'm not joking."

"But I—" Chen Xueming was incoherent. "I've led project groups of a few dozen people at most. A power station has thousands of people. How can I manage?"

Lin Mo looked at him with a calm gaze:

"Three years ago, you also thought you couldn't do it. What about now?"

Chen Xueming was stunned.

"Lithium Extraction from Seawater, you said you couldn't; Tritium Extraction, you said you couldn't; the Divertor, you said you couldn't—but you succeeded in all of them," Lin Mo said. "Xueming, it's not that you can't; it's that you don't believe in yourself."

Chen Xueming stood with his mouth open, not knowing what to say.

Li Xiao whispered from the side, "Engineer Chen, Senior Brother is right. You can do it."

Zhao Gang also nodded: "I've been watching from the side; you can do it."

Chen Xueming looked at Lin Mo, then at Li Xiao, then at Zhao Gang. His eyes slowly turned red.

"You guys..." He took a deep breath. "You're putting me on the hot seat here."

Lin Mo laughed. "Once you're roasted through, you'll be a master chef."

After dinner, Li Xiao cleared the dishes, Chen Xueming sat in his chair in a daze, and Zhao Gang stood by the window again.

Lin Mo walked to the window and stood beside him.

Outside, the night on the Gobi Desert deepened, and the silhouette of the tokamak-3 device was faintly visible under the moonlight.

"Dr. Lin," Zhao Gang suddenly spoke, "do you really intend to let Chen Xueming be in charge of the one in Guangdong?"

Lin Mo nodded.

"Can he do it?"

"What do you think?"

Zhao Gang was silent for a while. "This kid was a troublemaker three years ago, but now he's a real talent. But a whole power station..."

"Brother Zhao," Lin Mo interrupted him, "do you know why I chose him?"

"Why?"

"Because he's meticulous," Lin Mo said. "When he was stationed at the factory for the Divertor, he lost fifteen pounds keeping an eye on it. When there was an error in Plasma Control, he could message me in the middle of the night to admit his mistake. For a person like this, whatever you give him, he will do his absolute best to get it done."

Zhao Gang thought about it and nodded. "That's true."

"And," Lin Mo looked out the window, "he's not alone. You'll be there, Li Xiao will be there, and so will other core members from tokamak-3. A power station isn't one person's job; it's the work of a group."

Zhao Gang turned to look at him: "If we all leave, what about you?"

Lin Mo didn't answer.

Zhao Gang waited for a moment and asked again, "Are you staying in Beijing?"

Lin Mo nodded.

"Then the base here—"

"New people will come," Lin Mo said. "tokamak-3 has already succeeded. The next step is promotion, replication, and upgrading. My task is no longer to guard a single device, but to ensure that more devices are built across the country."

Zhao Gang was silent for a long time.

Then he patted Lin Mo on the shoulder:

"Dr. Lin, you've changed."

"Gotten older?"

"You've—" Zhao Gang thought for a moment, "grown."

Lin Mo smiled.

"Let's go," he said. "There's still a lot to do."

Late at night, Lin Mo sat alone at his desk.

Three documents were spread out on the desk—the preliminary plans for the three power stations in Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong. Each was several hundred pages long, and every page required his final signature for confirmation.

He picked up his pen, flipped to the last page of the first document, and signed his name in the "chief designer" column.

Lin Mo.

He wrote the two characters a bit more slowly than usual.

After signing all three, he put down his pen, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long breath.

Outside the window, the moonlight was like water.

He remembered his excitement when he first got the system blueprints three years ago, the simplicity of Kunlun Base when it was first built, the cheers when tokamak-3 successfully ignited, and Wang Zhenguo's "good" over the phone.

Three years. From one person to a group of people; from one laboratory to three power stations; from Room-Temperature Superconductivity to Nuclear Fusion.

Now, he was moving forward again.

From a scientific researcher to an engineering manager; from a person leading the charge to a person creating conditions for more people.

His phone vibrated.

Wang Zhenguo: "Finished signing?"

Lin Mo replied: "How did you know?"

"Just a guess. Three documents, over three hundred pages—that's enough signing for you."

Lin Mo smiled.

"Teacher," he typed, "I'm a bit nervous."

"What's there to be nervous about?"

"I'm afraid I won't do a good job. I'm afraid I'll fail this trust."

Wang Zhenguo took a long time to reply:

"Lin Mo, do you know how I felt the first time I was a project leader?"

"How did you feel?"

"My legs went weak."

Lin Mo was stunned.

Wang Zhenguo continued, "I was thirty-eight then, six years older than you. The night I got the appointment document, I sat in the office alone until dawn, my head full of 'what if I mess up'."

"And then?"

"Then I messed up twice," Wang Zhenguo said. "But the third time, it worked."

He paused:

"Lin Mo, no one can avoid messing up forever. But if you mess up, get back up and keep going—that's what a chief designer should do."

Lin Mo looked at the screen, silent for a long time.

Finally, he replied:

"Thank you, Teacher."

"Don't thank me. Get some sleep. Starting tomorrow, you'll be busy."

Lin Mo smiled and put down his phone.

He stood up and walked to the window again.

Outside, the Gobi Desert was submerged in the night, with only the silhouette of the tokamak-3 device standing quietly.

In a few more months, he would be leaving this place.

Leaving the base where he had stayed for three years, leaving the place that had turned him from an ordinary PhD into a national treasure scientist.

But he wouldn't be leaving these people.

Chen Xueming would be in Guangdong, Li Xiao would be in Jiangsu, Zhao Gang would follow the power stations, and the core members who came out of tokamak-3 would be distributed all over the country.

They would take the spirit of this place with them to light up more locations.

And he would be in Beijing, creating conditions for them and shielding them from the wind and rain.

This was the chief designer.

Not the person standing at the very front, but the person standing at the very back.

Lin Mo took one last look out the window and turned off the light.

In the darkness, he said softly:

"Goodnight, Tokamak."