Chapter 43 Head-to-Head

At nine in the morning, the conference room was packed.

Seven experts sat in a row along one side of the long table, with printed materials and stacks of data placed in front of them. Fang Lin sat at the head of the table, with a recorder beside her. Lin Mo stood in front of the projection screen, with a huge whiteboard behind him.

Li Xiao sat in the spectator seats in the corner, her palms sweating. Zhang Zhe sat next to her, expressionless, but his fingers were tapping lightly under the table. Academician and Su Qing squeezed into the doorway, craning their necks to look inside.

Zhao Gang stood at the door of the conference room, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally resting on Lin Mo.

"Distinguished experts," Fang Lin began, "welcome to Kunlun Base. Today, we have invited Dr. Lin to report to you on the latest progress of the tiangong project—Room-Temperature Superconductivity materials and their application results in Lithium-Sulfur Battery."

She looked at Lin Mo: "Dr. Lin, please begin."

Lin Mo nodded and pressed the remote control.

The first slide appeared on the projection screen: the basic performance curve of the Room-Temperature Superconductivity material.

"Hello, experts." His voice was calm and clear. "We discovered the Room-Temperature Superconductivity material three months ago. After Pilot-scale production verification and mass production, the material purity is currently stable at over 99.8%, and the critical temperature has reached 295K, which is 22 degrees Celsius."

He clicked to the next slide, and sets of data appeared on the screen: "These are the performance test results of different batches. Seventeen batches of samples, each tested independently three times. The data consistency is over 99.5%."

A low murmur of discussion broke out in the conference room. Several experts exchanged glances; some nodded, others frowned.

Lin Mo continued his presentation. The mechanism of Room-Temperature Superconductivity, the preparation process, stability tests... every step was supported by data, and every chart was clear and concise.

After finishing the Room-Temperature Superconductivity section, he switched to the Lithium-Sulfur Battery part.

"Based on the Room-Temperature Superconductivity material, we designed a 3D porous framework structure for use in the Lithium-Sulfur Battery electrode." He pulled up an electron microscope photo. "This is the microstructure of the framework. The porosity is 72%, the specific surface area is 850 square meters per gram, and the conductivity..."

He paused and pulled up the next slide: "This is the Lithium-Sulfur Battery sample we prepared. After testing, the energy density reached 1450 watt-hours per kilogram."

The conference room fell silent instantly.

That number flickered on the screen, clear and distinct in black on a white background.

1450.

After a few seconds of silence, the experts began to whisper to each other. Some flipped through materials, others pointed at the screen and discussed in low voices. An elderly man with white hair sitting in the middle took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, put them back on, and stared at that number for a long time.

Fang Lin tapped the table lightly: "Distinguished experts, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

As soon as she finished speaking, a voice rang out from the right side.

"I have a question."

Everyone's gaze turned in that direction.

Chen Xueming was sitting there, his eyes behind gold-rimmed glasses fixed on the screen, his face devoid of any expression. He raised his hand, but without waiting for Fang Lin to call on him, he spoke directly.

"Dr. Lin, your data is very impressive." His voice was not loud, but every word was clear. "So impressive that I find it unrealistic."

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense.

Lin Mo looked at him without speaking.

Chen Xueming stood up, walked to the projection screen, and pointed at the energy density curve.

"Look at this curve," he said. "The voltage plateau during the charge-discharge process is almost a straight line. No fluctuations, no decay. Do you know what that means?"

Lin Mo nodded: "It means the internal resistance is extremely low, which means the superconducting framework has perfectly solved the conductivity issue."

"Correct," Chen Xueming said. "But that is the problem—it is too perfect."

He turned around and looked at the other experts: "I have been researching Lithium-Sulfur Battery for eight years. In those eight years, I have seen countless curves, and not one was this perfect. Every charge and discharge involves fluctuations and decay. This is determined by the inherent properties of the material."

He stared at Lin Mo: "Your curve has no fluctuations. This is not normal."

The conference room was deathly silent.

Li Xiao clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms. Zhang Zhe's brows furrowed, but he did not move.

Lin Mo remained silent for two seconds, then said: "Professor Chen, your skepticism is justified."

He picked up the remote control and switched to the next slide.

A set of comparative charts appeared on the screen: on the left were the curves of their samples, and on the right were the curves from a paper published by Chen Xueming.

"You are correct, Lithium-Sulfur Battery usually have fluctuations and decay." Lin Mo pointed to the chart on the right. "This is the data you published three years ago; the energy density was 680, and it decayed by 15% after fifty cycles."

He then pointed to the chart on the left: "This is our data; after one hundred cycles, the decay is only 2%. I understand why you think this is abnormal. It is because the material we use is different from yours."

Chen Xueming raised an eyebrow: "Different?"

Lin Mo nodded and pulled up the next slide.

"This is a schematic diagram of our electrode structure." He pointed to the 3D model on the screen. "The core is a porous framework made of Room-Temperature Superconductivity material. You know the properties of superconducting materials better than I do—zero resistance means no loss in electron transport. The Meissner effect means the generated magnetic field can firmly pin polysulfides onto the electrode."

He looked at Chen Xueming: "So, our curve has no fluctuations; it is not because of fraud, but because of superconductivity."

Chen Xueming stared at the schematic diagram for a few seconds in silence.

Then he asked: "Where is your raw data?"

Lin Mo was well prepared. He nodded at Li Xiao in the corner.

Li Xiao stood up, her hands trembling slightly, but she still steadily carried a thick stack of laboratory notebooks to the podium. These were all the raw experimental records from the past three months, handwritten, with dates, signatures, experimental conditions, and raw data on every page.

Lin Mo opened one of them and projected it onto the screen.

"This is the raw record of the first batch of samples." He said. "March 12th, first experiment, failed. March 15th, second, failed. March 20th, third, still failed..."

He flipped through page after page. Every page was densely packed, with traces of erasures, annotations, and recalculations visible everywhere. It was only when he reached the end that successful data appeared.

"A total of forty-seven failures." Lin Mo said. "We went through forty-seven failures to obtain that one perfect curve."

The conference room fell silent once again.

Chen Xueming stared at the flipping pages, his expression changing.

He walked over, took the notebook, and flipped through it page by page. He looked at every page very slowly, sometimes pausing to carefully examine the places where corrections had been made.

After finishing one notebook, he picked up another.

After finishing three, he looked up at Lin Mo.

"These failed data," he said, "you recorded them too?"

Lin Mo nodded: "Recorded every single time. Whether successful or failed, there is a record."

Chen Xueming was silent for a long time.

Then, he suddenly smiled.

It was a strange smile—somewhat bitter, somewhat relieved, and with something else that Lin Mo could not decipher.

"Dr. Lin," he said, "I retract what I just said."

He placed the notebook back on the table and looked into Lin Mo's eyes: "Your data is real."

A slight commotion broke out in the conference room. Several experts breathed a sigh of relief, and some even began to applaud.

But Chen Xueming was not done yet.

He looked at Lin Mo and continued: "But I still have one question."

Lin Mo nodded: "Please go ahead."

Chen Xueming pointed to the electron microscope photo: "What process did you use for this 3D framework?"

"Freeze casting." Lin Mo said. "First, turn the superconducting material into a slurry, freeze it, let ice crystals grow to form directional pores, then freeze-dry, and finally sinter."

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up: "Is this the Japanese team's method?"

Lin Mo nodded: "Yes. We drew inspiration from their approach."

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds, then asked: "Have you ever considered that the porosity and pore size distribution of the framework created by this method can be controlled?"

Lin Mo was taken aback.

Chen Xueming walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and drew a sketch.

"Look," he pointed to the drawing. "The direction and size of ice crystal growth depend on the freezing speed. The faster the freezing, the smaller the ice crystals, and the smaller the pore size. Conversely, the slower the freezing, the larger the pore size."

He turned his head and looked at Lin Mo: "Have you tried adjusting the freezing speed?"

Lin Mo thought for a moment and shook his head: "Not yet. We have only tested one set of parameters."

Chen Xueming nodded and put down the marker.

"Then you still have a lot of room for optimization." He said. "If you can find the optimal freezing parameters, the energy density might be able to go even higher."

The conference room was quiet for a moment.

Then, Fang Lin took the lead in applauding.

The other experts joined in, and the applause grew more enthusiastic.

Chen Xueming stood where he was, his face expressionless, but for the first time, a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes—it was appreciation, and also recognition.

Lin Mo looked at him and suddenly said: "Professor Chen, thank you."

Chen Xueming was taken aback: "Thank you for what?"

Lin Mo smiled: "Thank you for pointing out our deficiencies."

Chen Xueming stared at him for a few seconds, then also smiled.

"Dr. Lin," he said, "your attitude is better than mine."

After the morning review meeting ended, the experts walked out of the conference room one after another.

Chen Xueming did not leave. He stood by the window, looking at the mountains outside, as if deep in thought.

Lin Mo walked over and stood beside him.

"Professor Chen," he said, "is something wrong?"

Chen Xueming turned his head and looked at him.

"Dr. Lin," he said, "I would like to ask you a personal question."

Lin Mo nodded.

Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds, then asked: "Are you still short of people here?"

Lin Mo was stunned.

Chen Xueming looked at him, his eyes holding something complex—it was longing, expectation, and the rare dropping of defenses by a proud man.

"I have been at Jianghuai University for three years, and I have done what I could." He said. "But here... this thing you are doing is what I have always wanted to do but could never achieve."

He looked at the distant mountains, his voice lowering: "I want to come."

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

At the door, Li Xiao poked her head in, saw this scene, and pulled it back.

But the smile on her face could not be hidden.