146: Chapter 146 Maybe... he really can do it?

Lin Yuan spoke lightly, but to the ears of everyone present, the meaning was entirely different.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion!

This term represented the ultimate energy source that humanity had been chasing for half a century, yet remained perpetually out of reach.

It was a century-old problem that major nations around the world had poured trillions into, investing the life's work of generations of scientists, yet even now, stable confinement had not been completely solved.

And now, this twenty-year-old young man, standing on the podium of the Great Hall, before the live broadcast cameras and in front of hundreds of academicians, said nonchalantly...

that he wanted to participate.

And that he would make it ignite and land in the Xia Kingdom in the shortest possible time?

In the vast Golden Hall, several of the white-haired veteran academicians in the front row had subconsciously tightened their grip on the armrests of their seats.

The backs of several veterans who had long been engaged in nuclear physics and plasma research, originally slightly hunched, straightened up in an instant.

The cloudy eyes behind their reading glasses burned like two raging fires, fixed intensely on the young figure on the stage.

It was an irrepressible shock.

It was even more of a trembling excitement, the feeling of suddenly seeing the dawn after trekking for too long on a road of despair.

Many of the people present had already spent most of their lives on the path of Controlled Nuclear Fusion.

From the theoretical verification of the Tokamak Device to the parameter optimization of magnetic confinement plasma, they had spent their lives working until their hair turned white, only to barely touch the doorknob of the gate.

They knew better than anyone else in the world how heavy and desperate that door was.

But now, the person who said he would push that door open was named Lin Yuan.

If anyone else in the world had stood there and said those words, they would only have listened to it as a joke.

But the name Lin Yuan alone...

They couldn't laugh; in fact, in the deepest part of their subconscious, an absurd thought was growing wildly.

Perhaps... could he really do it?

Meanwhile, in the live broadcast chat room.

The barrage, which had paused for a few seconds due to Lin Yuan's statement, exploded like boiling oil hit with cold water!

"Did I hear that right? Controlled Nuclear Fusion? God Lin wants to do Controlled Nuclear Fusion?!"

"I think I need to calm down and confirm three things first... Who am I? Where am I? What did I just hear?"

"Holy crap, this is something that dozens of countries around the world have been working on together for decades without success, and God Lin actually wants to ignite and land it in a short time?"

"And there's that 'in the shortest possible time'... just how short is that? Is it two years? One year? Or..."

"If Controlled Nuclear Fusion really lands, my god, wouldn't the future become just like in science fiction novels..."

Shock, skepticism, fanaticism, anticipation, worship...

All these emotions churned together, setting off a massive tidal wave across the entire cyberspace of the Xia Kingdom.

Meanwhile. The Other Side of the Ocean.

In the underground command room of a high-level intelligence analysis center, a dozen senior analysts sat around a curved console.

On the wall, a huge projection screen was broadcasting the live footage from the Great Hall in real-time.

When Lin Yuan's words, "Make Controlled Nuclear Fusion ignite and land in the Xia Kingdom," rolled across the translated subtitles.

In the entire command room, no one spoke; there was only the sound of heavy, ragged breathing rising and falling.

Smith stood in the front row, his hands pressing hard against the edge of the console, his knuckles trembling slightly from the force, and cold sweat was dripping from his temples onto the console surface.

Controlled Nuclear Fusion.

He closed his eyes in pain, his temples throbbing with a sharp ache.

Some time ago, on the second day after 5G was fully rolled out in the Xia Kingdom, he had already submitted a red-level risk alert to his superiors.

At the time, what he had written in his report was— "The possibility of the Xia Kingdom fully launching a pre-research project for Controlled Nuclear Fusion within the next one to two years cannot be ruled out."

One to two years. This was the boldest prediction he could give as a top intelligence officer.

And what was the result?! It was not one to two years at all!

It had only been a few days, and that demonic young man was standing so brazenly in front of the screen, publicly declaring that he was going to do it right now!

And he even said "in the shortest possible time"!

Smith gritted his back teeth, a complex emotion that was hard to define—whether it was anger or fear—surging in his chest.

The painful lesson of the Photolithography Machine being crushed was still vivid in his mind, and the despair of being subjected to dimensionality reduction attacks in communication technology had not yet dissipated.

Now, this Xia person had actually reached out directly for Controlled Nuclear Fusion, the ultimate energy source in human fantasy!

"A madman... this is simply a complete and utter madman..."

Smith muttered to himself, his voice trembling in a way he hadn't even noticed.

...Returning focus to the Golden Hall.

Lin Yuan stood tall and straight directly under the spotlight, one hand resting on the microphone stand, his gaze taking in the surging reactions and flushed faces below the stage.

This reaction was completely within his expectations. In fact, it could be said that it was exactly what he had carefully designed and desperately craved!

The academician award ceremony, broadcast across the entire internet, with hundreds of millions of viewers online simultaneously. This was an excellent amplifier for public opinion.

Throwing out the news of Controlled Nuclear Fusion at this juncture was meant to deliver this lie into the ears of as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.

The more people who heard it, the more people who discussed it, the more people who believed it... naturally, there would be more.

However, just "participating" and "igniting and landing" were not enough. There was still one critical anchor point missing. Time.

Lin Yuan didn't give everyone much time to react; he leaned forward slightly and proactively continued his own train of thought.

"I guess the seniors here, and the audience in front of the screens, must be very curious right now about what I mean by 'in the shortest possible time'."

His voice came through the microphone, neither too high nor too low, yet it precisely suppressed all the whispering below the stage.

The Golden Hall went quiet again. Hundreds of pairs of heavy-weight eyes stared at him in unison.

Even the overwhelming barrage in the live broadcast room suddenly thinned out in that second.

Everyone held their breath at the same moment, waiting for what he would say next.

Lin Yuan tilted his head and paused, feigning contemplation, as if deliberating his wording on the spot.

"According to the precedent of those few projects I led before..."

He drew out the tail of his sentence and stopped for a brief beat. This brief moment of silence made the hearts of countless people contract wildly and uncontrollably.

"Half a year, perhaps."

When Lin Yuan spat out these three words, there was even a touch of casualness to it.

"I plan to complete the engineering implementation and initial ignition of Controlled Nuclear Fusion within half a year."

Upon hearing this, the entire Golden Hall fell silent in an instant, so quiet that even the hum of the electric current in the light tubes was clearly audible.

Half a year. Controlled Nuclear Fusion. The impact generated by placing these two concepts in the same sentence far exceeded the cognitive limits of the vast majority of people.

The ultimate problem that dozens of countries around the world had been working on together for decades, he said, would take half a year.

That tone was as casual as a college student saying, "I'll hand in my final project report next month"!

Countless people were shaken to their core, their minds going blank. They felt it was absurd to the point of being unbelievable, yet in the deepest part of their hearts, they also held a vague, almost fanatical anticipation.

The next moment, in a place invisible to everyone, deep within Lin Yuan's consciousness. The pale blue system light screen, which only he could see, began to flash violently like crazy.

On the system panel, lines of data streams refreshed rapidly, and the confidence progress bar jumped frantically.

A live broadcast with hundreds of millions of viewers online simultaneously. The face-to-face witness of hundreds of top academicians. The credibility bonus of the Great Hall, the national palace.

Coupled with the authoritative halo of Lin Yuan himself, which was at its zenith—all the variables and all the foreshadowing took effect at this very second, producing a terrifying chemical reaction!

[ Current total confidence: 8.2% ... 11.6% ... 16.5% ... 21.8% ... ]