Chapter 221 Li Xiao's Simulation

Gobi Desert, Data Center.

Li Xiao stared at the dense stream of data on the screen, her fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard. This was the seventy-third simulation she had run today—from eight in the morning until now, she had barely left this chair, except for a few bites of lunch.

On the screen, a thin, long line represented the space elevator's cable, with a flickering dot at the top—the geostationary space station. At this moment, the simulation was testing an extreme scenario: the elevator cabin suddenly jamming at an altitude of 10,000 kilometers.

"Parameter input complete," Li Xiao muttered to herself. "Starting simulation."

The image on the screen began to change. The elevator cabin stopped moving, but the cable was still bearing the tension from both the top and bottom. Stress waves propagated down the cable like an invisible ripple.

Three seconds later, an alarm sounded.

"Warning: Cable stress exceeds safety threshold."

Li Xiao quickly recorded the data: "Jam at 10,000 kilometers, stress peak appears 800 kilometers below the jam point, exceeding design value by 23%. Duration... 4.7 seconds."

She paused the simulation and pulled up the stress distribution map. On the map, there was a red area representing the danger zone. That area was just a short distance below the jam point.

"If there happens to be a tiny material defect here..." Li Xiao muttered to herself, "the consequences would be unimaginable."

She saved this result and began the next round of simulation.

Three days ago, Lin Mo had given her a task:

"Xiaoer, the safety of the space elevator requires a comprehensive failure simulation system. From cable snapping to elevator cabin jamming, from space station drift to solar storm impacts, every failure mode we can think of must be simulated."

Li Xiao asked: "To what extent should I simulate?"

Lin Mo looked at her: "Find the most dangerous failure modes. The ones that, if they occur, will cause catastrophic consequences."

Li Xiao nodded: "Understood."

After Lin Mo left, she sat in front of the computer and thought for a long time.

The space elevator was the grandest engineering project in human history and also the most complex system. A 36,000-kilometer-long cable, a multi-hundred-ton elevator cabin, a thousand-ton space station, plus the ground anchoring platform, energy systems, control systems... If any part went wrong, it could cause a disaster.

How many types of failures did she need to simulate?

One hundred? One thousand? Or ten thousand?

She didn't know.

But she knew she had to simulate as many as possible.

Over the next three days, Li Xiao practically lived in the data center.

She first built a digital twin model of the entire space elevator—the mechanical properties of the cable, the dynamics of the elevator cabin, the orbital dynamics of the space station, the stability of the ground platform, all described with mathematical equations.

This took her an entire day and night.

Then, she started making a list of failures.

Cable type: single fiber breakage, multiple fiber breakage, local wear, micrometeorite impact, fatigue fracture...

Elevator cabin type: power failure, control system failure, cabin jamming, emergency brake failure...

Space station type: loss of attitude control, orbital drift, docking failure, energy interruption...

Environment type: solar storms, geomagnetic storms, space debris, micrometeorite showers...

The list grew longer and longer, finally reaching 372 items.

"372 types of failures," she looked at that list, "each needs to be simulated with different parameters, different locations, and different intensities. If each is run 100 times, that's 37,200 times."

She gasped.

37,200 simulations. Each simulation takes an average of three minutes. That is...

"111,600 minutes," she calculated, "1,860 hours. 75 days."

She was silent for a few seconds, then started writing scripts—automated batch simulation scripts.

On the first day, she finished 123 failure modes, totaling 3,700 simulations.

On the second day, she finished 156, totaling 4,600 simulations.

On the third day, which was today, she planned to finish the remaining 93, as well as repeat verifications for all high-risk modes.

At 8:00 AM, she started running them. By 12:00 PM, she had already run over 40 types.

At noon, Zhao Gang came in carrying a lunch box.

"Xiaoer, eat."

Li Xiao didn't even turn her head: "Leave it there."

Zhao Gang put the lunch box beside her hand and took a look at the screen: "What is this?"

"Failure simulation," Li Xiao said, "Testing the various ways the space elevator can die."

Zhao Gang was stunned for a moment: "Ways to die?"

"It's about how it breaks," Li Xiao explained, "What happens if the cable snaps, what happens if the elevator gets stuck, what happens if the space station tilts. Everything needs to be simulated."

Zhao Gang looked at her bloodshot eyes and frowned:

"How long have you been running this?"

"Three days."

"Have you slept?"

Li Xiao was silent for two seconds: "I slept."

Zhao Gang stared at her: "Really?"

Li Xiao didn't speak.

Zhao Gang sighed: "Xiaoer, you can't do this. If you don't sleep for three days, you'll go crazy."

Li Xiao finally turned her head and looked at him:

"Brother Zhao, I know you mean well. But this simulation must be finished as soon as possible. The sooner we find the most dangerous failure, the sooner we can find a way to prevent it. In case something really goes wrong one day—"

She paused, her voice lowering:

"I don't want to regret it."

Zhao Gang looked at her, silent for a long time.

Then he nodded:

"Alright. But at least eat this meal."

Li Xiao smiled: "Okay."

At 3:00 PM, Li Xiao discovered a dangerous failure mode.

It was the 782nd simulation—testing the cable suffering a micrometeorite impact at 15,000 kilometers. In the simulation, the impact caused seven fibers to snap simultaneously, but according to the design, this should not have affected overall safety.

But the result was unexpected.

After those seven fibers snapped, the stress redistributed, causing a tiny defect nearby to be magnified. The defect expanded, triggering more fiber breakages. A chain reaction, falling like dominoes.

Finally, 30% of the cable snapped within ten seconds.

"Warning: Cable strength loss exceeds 30%. It is recommended to stop operation immediately."

Li Xiao stared at the screen, her palms sweating.

Seven fibers snapping was originally a negligible injury. But combined with that tiny defect, it became a catastrophic chain reaction.

"If the defect were slightly larger..." she muttered to herself, "If the impact location were slightly worse..."

She didn't continue the thought.

She marked this failure mode as "High Risk - 07" and wrote in the notes:

"Minor damage + material defect = chain fracture risk. Suggestion: Strengthen non-destructive testing to ensure no initial defects in the cable; design redundant paths to prevent stress concentration."

At 5:00 PM, Chen Xueming called.

"Xiaoer, I heard you're working on failure simulations?"

Li Xiao said: "Yes."

Chen Xueming asked: "Any discoveries?"

Li Xiao said: "Yes. I discovered a chain fracture mode. Seven fibers snapping, plus one tiny defect, can trigger a big problem."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds, then said:

"Can it be avoided?"

Li Xiao said: "Yes. But it requires strengthening detection. Ensure that every fiber has no initial defects."

Chen Xueming said: "That testing cost will be very high."

Li Xiao said: "I know. But compared to the cable snapping, this cost is nothing."

Chen Xueming smiled: "Xiaoer, you've grown up."

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment, then also smiled:

"Engineer Chen, you have too."

At 10:00 PM, Li Xiao finally finished all simulations.

On the screen, a list was neatly arranged—372 failure modes, each with detailed analysis results and response suggestions.

Among them, the most dangerous ones, which she marked as "High Risk", totaled 23 types.

7 cable types, 6 elevator cabin types, 5 space station types, 5 environment types.

She listed these 23 types separately, wrote a detailed report, and sent it to Lin Mo.

Three minutes later, Lin Mo's call came in:

"Xiaoer, I've read the report."

Li Xiao asked: "Senior brother, what do you think?"

Lin Mo was silent for a few seconds, then said:

"Very good. Very good indeed."

Li Xiao smiled.

Lin Mo continued: "These 23 high-risk failures must each have a corresponding contingency plan. Next, you will lead a special task force to create these plans."

Li Xiao said: "Okay."

Lin Mo paused, then said:

"Xiaoer, you've worked hard."

Li Xiao's eyes suddenly felt a bit warm:

"Senior brother, it's not hard at all."

Late at night, Li Xiao walked out of the data center.

The night sky over the Gobi Desert was as clear as washed, filled with bright stars. She stood at the entrance, looking up at those stars, and suddenly felt they were very close to her.

36,000 kilometers away, there was a place waiting for humanity to build a sky ladder.

And she had just found 23 possible ways for that sky ladder to die.

It sounded a bit depressing, but she didn't feel that way.

Knowing how it can die is the only way to know how to keep it alive.

She took a deep breath and walked toward the dormitory.

Tomorrow, there were more things to do.