170: Chapter 170 Ignition!!

The south heaven gate project.

These five words kept swirling in Lin Yuan's mind.

From the moment he threw this term out in front of the whole world at the press conference for the first Photolithography Machine, the seed had already been sown.

Lin Yuan sat at his desk in the dormitory, his fingertips unconsciously twirling his pen, his mind repeatedly turning over this grand strategy.

The technology for Controlled Nuclear Fusion was already fully in his hands; ignition was just a matter of time.

But what would happen after a successful ignition?

Xia Country's technological breakthroughs were being unleashed one after another.

The Photolithography Machine, Fifth-generation Communication, Room-temperature Superconductivity, and now the soon-to-be-released Controlled Nuclear Fusion...

Every strike landed squarely on the vital point of those The Other Side of the Ocean.

The opposition would certainly not just sit by and watch.

In fact, ever since the news about Room-temperature Superconductivity was released, the direction of international public opinion had already begun to shift.

According to the confidential public opinion briefing just sent over by Qin Meng, those The Other Side of the Ocean were still ostensibly questioning the "authenticity" of it.

But in secret, various targeted sanction proposals, escalations in technical blockades, and even abnormal military movements in certain sensitive areas...

These reports, reeking of gunpowder, had been trickling back to the country through various special channels.

The pressure would only continue to mount.

Even a dog will jump over a wall if cornered.

"Universal Equality" was, of course, his strongest trump card, but that thing would not be brought to the table unless humanity was on the brink of a reset.

Therefore, what Xia Country truly needed was a card that could be played openly, one sufficient to make the other side completely lose the confidence to challenge them in conventional games.

And the south heaven gate was that card.

The pen stopped twirling in his fingertips.

Lin Yuan placed the pen back on the desk, interlaced his hands behind his head, and leaned back against the chair.

The core framework of the south heaven gate project had already been structured in his mind since the day of the Photolithography Machine press conference.

Right now, there were only four days left for the assembly of the fusion reactor.

Four days.

Lin Yuan withdrew his hands from behind his head, tapped his fingers lightly on the desk, then stood up from his chair and gazed at the night sky outside the window.

"The necessary preparations can be started now."

...

Four days later.

Institute of Atomic Energy, experimental hall.

A device, entirely silver-white, stood quietly in the center of the hall.

Its volume was about the size of a large shipping container; the outer shell was cast from a special alloy, and the surface had been mirror-polished, emitting a cold luster under the overhead lights.

Dense networks of pipes and interfaces extended from the bottom of the device, merging into the control consoles and power supply modules on both sides.

This was the world's first Tokamak fusion device based on Room-temperature Superconductivity magnets.

He Mingde stood in front of the device, head tilted back, hands behind his back, motionless.

He had spent his whole life in nuclear physics and had dreamed of Controlled Nuclear Fusion for many years.

Today, it was finally time for ignition.

His eyes were slightly red, and his Adam's apple bobbed several times, as he forced himself to hold back the surging emotions.

Just then, a steady and powerful sound of footsteps suddenly came from the direction of the hall entrance.

Soon, the figures of the arrivals appeared at the entrance.

Elder Zhang walked in front.

Wearing a dark Zhongshan suit, his expression was dignified, his gaze calm, and every step he took seemed to land on the rhythm of everyone's heartbeat.

Zhou Ping followed half a step to his right, while Chen Jingshan lagged one step behind; the group walked into the experimental hall one after another.

Seeing them, He Mingde instinctively straightened his back and hurried forward to meet them.

Lin Yuan also circled out from behind the console next to the device, walked quickly to the front, and bowed slightly.

"Elder Zhang, Director Zhou, Dean Chen."

Elder Zhang paused, turned his head to look at him, with a smile on his face.

"Little Lin, how are the preparations going?"

"Everything is ready; we can begin at any time."

Lin Yuan answered crisply and cleanly, paused for half a beat, and then added softly, his tone carrying a touch of casualness.

"But how did you find the time to come here in person today, Elder?"

Elder Zhang gave a soft "Hmm," his smile undiminished, though his gaze passed over Lin Yuan to look at the silver-white device.

"On the day of the Controlled Nuclear Fusion ignition, if I don't come, who will?"

Having said that, Elder Zhang didn't engage in any more small talk and walked toward the device.

Stopping at a distance of about three meters in front of the device, Elder Zhang halted.

With his hands behind his back, he looked up and examined the device for a few seconds, then turned his head to scan the pipeline interfaces on the side.

"Is this the Controlled Nuclear Fusion device?"

"Yes."

Lin Yuan followed him up and stood half a step behind him to his side.

"It is a new configuration Tokamak with Room-temperature Superconductivity magnets; it eliminates the cryogenic cooling system of traditional designs, compressing the overall volume to one-tenth of the original."

Elder Zhang nodded slowly without comment.

He withdrew his gaze, turned sideways, and looked at Lin Yuan.

"How confident are you?"

When this question was thrown out, everyone in the hall pricked up their ears.

He Mingde, Chen Jingshan, Zhou Ping, and the technicians scattered at various workstations held their breath.

Lin Yuan met that gaze without the slightest hesitation.

"Ninety percent, I suppose."

Elder Zhang stared at him for two seconds.

Then he smiled.

The smile was light, but genuine.

"Ninety percent. Good."

He withdrew his gaze, looked back at the device, and was silent for a few moments.

"I really didn't expect..."

Elder Zhang's voice was low, carrying a heavy sense of emotion.

"From the academician conferment ceremony until now, all in all, it's only been a little over two weeks."

"And yet, it's already time for ignition."

As these words fell in the hall, everyone's heart was gripped tightly, and simultaneously flared with heat.

Two weeks.

A dream that humanity had pursued for half a century had been pushed by this young man to the final step before the finish line in just two weeks.

Lin Yuan did not reply.

He just smiled slightly—a very shallow, faint smile that carried an indescribable certainty.

The hall was silent for a moment.

Elder Zhang set aside his emotions, straightened his back again, and scanned the surrounding staff and expert team.

"How are the ignition preparations coming along?"

He turned his head to look at He Mingde.

"Can we begin?"

He Mingde walked up quickly, stood still, his back straight as a board.

"Report, everything is ready!"

"Equipment assembly, system joint debugging, and safety protocols—all three rounds of checks have been passed, personnel at all stations are in position, and we can start the ignition sequence at any time!"

Elder Zhang nodded.

He was silent for a moment, his gaze lingering on the silver-gray device one last time.

"Then let's begin."

The second these words hit everyone's ears, the air in the entire experimental hall suddenly tightened.

He Mingde's body tensed up for a moment, then he turned around with large strides, facing the direction of the console, his voice suddenly raised.

"Attention, everyone!"

"All stations, enter pre-ignition countdown status!"

"Magnetic confinement system, power on!"

Behind the console, a dozen people in white coats moved at the sound, and a dozen pairs of hands landed in unison on the operation panels in front of them.

Instructions were transmitted rapidly between each workstation.

"Magnetic confinement system powered on, superconducting magnet current stable!"

"Plasma heating system preheated, neutral beam injection device on standby!"

"Divertor cooling circuit normal, first-wall temperature monitoring normal!"

"Tritium breeding blanket ready!"

"Safety interlock system all green, emergency shutdown protocol activated!"

Reports were transmitted one after another, and the tense atmosphere in the hall was ratcheted up layer by layer.

Lin Yuan stood to the side of the console, one hand in his pocket, scanning the dense rows of real-time data screens in front of him.

All parameters were completely normal.

He Mingde let out a long breath, braced his hands on the edge of the main console, and looked up to scan the room.

"Ignition countdown!"

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

...

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Ignition!!"