46: Chapter 46 Ignition! The Light of the Artificial Sun!
Dawn in the Gobi; the sky was between darkness and light, a deathly gray-blue. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath, afraid to disturb a moment destined to go down in history.
Xihe Base, core control center.
Time seemed to have frozen. On the giant screen, the bright red countdown numbers struck like heavy hammers against everyone's hearts.
"...Ten, nine, eight..."
Chief Engineer Wang's finger hovered above the red button protected by a transparent cover. His fingertips trembled slightly—not out of fear, but because of the heavy burden of responsibility that carried so many expectations.
Elder Chen stood up unconsciously, gripping the edge of the console tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force. His cloudy eyes stared fixedly at the screen, as if trying to pour his own will into it.
Long Zhantian stood tall like a pine, but his slightly heaving chest betrayed the turmoil within. His gaze pierced through the explosion-proof glass, as if trying to pierce the darkness before dawn, vigilant against any possible external interference.
"...Seven, six, five..."
A thousand miles away, in a rented apartment, Lin Mo subconsciously straightened his body. The remote sensing data stream in front of him showed an extremely faint, abnormal gravitational fluctuation—a sign that the superconducting magnets were about to fire at full power. He took a deep breath and silently thought to himself, "Now!"
"...Four, three, two, one..."
"Ignite!!"
Chief Engineer Wang used all his strength to roar as he pressed that fate-deciding button!
"Hum————!!!"
A low rumble, seemingly from the depths of the earth, swept through the entire base instantly! The ground transmitted a subtle yet clear vibration! Inside the core chamber, the pre-injected trace amount of deuterium-tritium mixed fuel—at the very instant it was constrained and compressed to the limit by the powerful magnetic field and precisely bombarded by ultra-high energy pulses—
A miracle was born!
On the main screen of the control center, the previously stable energy output curve suddenly rose like a waking dragon, climbing crazily at a nearly vertical angle! It instantly broke through the critical point!
Meanwhile, the high-temperature, high-speed camera inside the core chamber transmitted images that made everyone's souls tremble—
A ball of deep blue light, indescribably brilliant and extreme, like a trapped miniature universe, suddenly lit up in the center of the toroidal chamber! It burned steadily, churning, emitting majestic energy and a heart-palpitating beauty!
That light was unlike any known artificial light source; it was purer, more violent, carrying a sense of power originating from the very essence of matter! It was the sun—released by human hands from the atomic nucleus!
"Success! We succeeded!" Someone shouted, their voice choked with tears.
In an instant, the control center became a boiling ocean! Everyone jumped from their seats, crazily hugging, shouting, and pounding each other! Tears gushed out uncontrollably—it was the release and catharsis of emotions that had been suppressed for far, far too long!
Chief Engineer Wang slumped into his chair, watching the steadily burning blue light ball on the screen and the energy curve still running stably at a high level. Tears of an old man streamed down his face, and he muttered repeatedly, "It worked... it really worked..."
Elder Chen tilted his head back, letting tears slide down his wrinkled cheeks. He opened his arms as if to embrace the light on the screen, his voice choked but filled with strength: "We... we have it! We have our own sun!"
Long Zhantian's clenched fists slowly relaxed, and a subtle smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth before he immediately returned to his cold, stern demeanor. He growled into the communicator: "Maximum alert! Maintain until stable operation is confirmed!"
Data poured in like reports of victory:
"Plasma temperature maintained at 150 million degrees Celsius!"
"Energy gain factor Q value... broke through 10! Still rising!"
"All systems operating stably! Repeat, all systems operating stably!"
This was not just success; it was a perfect success that far exceeded expectations!
Meanwhile, at CIA headquarters, almost at the same moment the "Golden Crow" ignited successfully, several monitoring stations simultaneously captured an abnormally powerful, sustained neutron flux and specific frequency electromagnetic wave signals from the northwest of the Dragon Kingdom! Alarms blared shrilly!
An analyst scrambled into Craig's office, face pale as paper: "Sir... Sir! The Dragon Kingdom's 'G-7' area detected... detected... suspected... suspected characteristic signals of a controlled nuclear fusion reaction! The intensity... the intensity is unprecedented!"
Craig, who was just about to enjoy his breakfast, dropped his coffee cup with a "crash," and brown liquid splattered all over him. He stood up abruptly, his eyes wide as copper bells, staring fixedly at the analyst, as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world.
"No... impossible! Absolutely impossible!" He roared, losing his composure, his voice filled with unbelievable shock. "That is an energy reserve depot! How could it be... fusion?!"
The clear, unmistakable, and continuous monitoring data on the screen hit him like a series of resounding slaps to the face, shattering all his arrogance and prejudice into pieces!
The light of the artificial sun had pierced through the dawn of the Gobi, and it would surely pierce through all the haze attempting to blockade it, illuminating a brand new era!
At this moment, accompanied by that deep blue light of miracle, it exploded with a roar! The whole world would turn its gaze to it, and tremble because of it!