Chapter 96 Chen Xueming's New Mission
Lin Mo waited for an hour in the Prefabricated Building.
It wasn't that Chen Xueming was late; it was that he needed time to clear his own thoughts.
The whiteboard was covered with flowcharts—the Magnetic Field Separation device for Lithium Extraction from Seawater, a schematic of the principles of Tritium Extraction, the technical mapping between the two, and the key nodes that needed modification.
He stepped back two paces, looked at the lines and arrows, and took a deep breath.
The door was pushed open.
Chen Xueming walked in carrying a thermos, followed by Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe.
"Teacher Lin, you said you had something to announce?" Li Xiao asked, looking curious.
Lin Mo nodded and pointed to the whiteboard: "Take a look at this first."
The three of them gathered around.
Chen Xueming looked at it for a few seconds, his brows furrowing slightly. Li Xiao began to mutter the keywords on the board, while Zhang Zhe looked completely lost—he had never been very sensitive to theoretical principles.
"This is..." Chen Xueming turned to look at Lin Mo, "A preliminary research plan for Tritium Extraction?"
Lin Mo nodded.
"I spent the night organizing a framework for the idea we discussed yesterday." He pointed to the flowchart on the whiteboard, "The core concept is: to utilize the Magnetic Field Separation module of the existing Lithium Extraction from Seawater device, modify the separation chamber and collection system, and adapt it to the physical properties of tritium."
Chen Xueming leaned in closer to look.
The whiteboard read:
Advantages of the existing device:
Adjustable magnetic field strength (0.5 T-3 T)
Large separation chamber volume (suitable for batch processing)
High degree of automation (reduces risk of human exposure to radiation)
Modifications required:
Separation chamber material (resistant to tritium permeation)
Collection system (specialized for gaseous products)
Radiation shielding (tritium is radioactive)
Parameter optimization (mass difference vs lithium isotopes)
After reading it, Chen Xueming was silent for a few seconds.
Then he turned around and looked at Lin Mo, a strange light in his eyes.
"Lin Mo, are you saying... all that work we did before, that device that ran for two months in the Gobi Desert, that 35,000-cost Lithium Extraction from Seawater—"
He paused.
"Was paving the way for Nuclear Fusion?"
Lin Mo looked at him and nodded seriously.
"Yes."
Chen Xueming was stunned.
Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe were also stunned.
The Prefabricated Building was so quiet that the sound of the wind outside could be heard.
After several seconds, Chen Xueming finally spoke, his voice a bit hoarse.
"I always thought that Lithium Extraction from Seawater was just Lithium Extraction from Seawater. Breaking the resource blockade, ensuring the country is no longer held hostage—that was enough. That's enough for me to brag about for a lifetime."
He paused and looked at the lines on the whiteboard.
"Now you're telling me this thing can also be used for Nuclear Fusion?"
Lin Mo didn't speak, just looked at him.
Chen Xueming suddenly laughed.
His laugh was complicated, a bit sentimental, but more than that—it was excited.
"Lin Mo."
"Hmm?"
"Do you know what I wanted to work on most when I was young?"
Lin Mo shook his head.
Chen Xueming pointed to the words "Tritium Extraction" on the whiteboard.
"It was this," he said. "My doctoral thesis was on isotope separation. Later, I couldn't continue because it was too difficult, the equipment was too expensive, the cycle was too long, and I couldn't produce results. I changed directions."
He walked to the window and looked at the device running in the sunlight outside.
"Thirty years," he murmured. "I thought I would never touch this stuff again in my life."
Lin Mo walked to his side and stood next to him.
"Teacher Chen."
Chen Xueming turned his head to look at him.
"Do you dare to challenge it one more time?"
Chen Xueming looked at him, silent for a few seconds.
Then he smiled, his eyes crinkling up.
"I couldn't ask for anything better."
Four words, light as a feather, yet Lin Mo could hear the weight behind them.
That was thirty years of regret, thirty years of unwillingness to give up, thirty years of waiting.
Finally, the opportunity had arrived.
Li Xiao suddenly started clapping nearby.
Zhang Zhe was stunned for a moment, then joined in the applause.
Chen Xueming turned around, looked at the two young people, and felt a bit embarrassed: "What are you clapping for? We haven't even started yet."
Li Xiao smiled and said: "Teacher Chen, that expression you just had—it deserved applause."
Chen Xueming glared at her, but the corners of his mouth were still turned up.
Lin Mo walked back to the whiteboard and picked up a pen.
"Now, let's talk about exactly how we're going to do this."
The three of them gathered around.
"Step one: principle verification." Lin Mo drew a circle on the left side, "Use the existing pilot device and modify it into a simulation system for Tritium Extraction. First, run experiments using non-radioactive substitutes to verify the separation efficiency."
Chen Xueming nodded: "I'll handle this. Li Xiao will assist with the data modeling; I need to simulate the separation curves under different magnetic field strengths."
Li Xiao wrote it down in her notebook: "Understood."
"Step two: material selection." Lin Mo continued writing, "The separation chamber requires materials that are resistant to tritium permeation. Teacher Chen, do you have any knowledge in this area?"
Chen Xueming thought for a moment: "There are a few candidates. Vanadium alloys, molybdenum alloys, and special ceramics. I know a few experts who work on this, and I can consult them."
"Good." Lin Mo said, "Step three: safety plan. Tritium is radioactive, so the experiments must strictly adhere to radiation protection regulations. We need to report this to Director Fang and ask them to send experts for guidance."
Zhang Zhe raised his hand: "Should I contact them?"
Lin Mo nodded.
On the whiteboard, the three steps stood side-by-side, like three parallel tracks.
Chen Xueming looked at the words and suddenly asked: "Lin Mo, how long do you expect this preliminary research to take?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment.
"If it goes smoothly, six months. If not, a year or two."
Chen Xueming nodded and didn't speak.
Lin Mo looked at him.
"Teacher Chen, do you think that's too long?"
Chen Xueming shook his head.
"No," he said, "I think it's too short."
He turned around and looked out the window.
"Something I haven't touched in thirty years, and I can pick it back up in six months? I find it hard to believe."
Lin Mo walked to his side.
"Teacher Chen, you aren't just picking it back up. You are standing at a new starting point, moving forward."
Chen Xueming was stunned for a moment.
"Thirty years ago, you wanted to do isotope separation, but the conditions weren't enough. Now, we have Room-Temperature Superconductivity, we have the Lithium Extraction from Seawater device, we have Li Xiao's data model, and we have the country's support." Lin Mo said, "It's not going back to the past; it's moving forward."
Chen Xueming looked at him, his eyes turning slightly red.
"Lin Mo..."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
Lin Mo smiled.
"What are you thanking me for? You're the one walking the path."
Chen Xueming took a deep breath, turned around, and looked at the three lines of text on the whiteboard.
"Alright," he said, "then let's go."
Li Xiao asked softly from the side: "Teacher Chen, what should we call this project?"
Chen Xueming thought for a moment and looked at Lin Mo.
Lin Mo thought for a moment, walked to the whiteboard, and wrote a few words at the very top:
"tritium road"
"tritium road?" Zhang Zhe read it aloud, "What does that mean?"
Chen Xueming looked at those two words and said slowly:
"Tritium is the fuel for Nuclear Fusion. Road is the path we carve out."
He paused, his voice dropping lower.
"It is also the road of pathfinding."
Li Xiao nodded vigorously.
Zhang Zhe also nodded.
Lin Mo watched them, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.
Outside the window, the sun over the Gobi Desert had risen to mid-sky. Sunlight shone on the running device, and its metal shell reflected a dazzling light.
That light seemed to be shining from the future.