171: Chapter 171 Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Success!

As He Mingde's voice, slightly hoarse from extreme tension, echoed through the hall.

Behind the main control console, a dozen operators, their fingers already hovering over the buttons, pressed the bright red start keys in front of them without a moment's hesitation.

"Hum——"

A low, resonant hum that made one's chest vibrate suddenly rose from deep underground, and the floor of the entire experimental hall seemed to tremble slightly.

"Neutral beam injection system initialized!"

"Electron cyclotron heating system initialized! Microwave power output normal!"

Both external heating devices started up simultaneously, and vast amounts of energy, from completely different paths, transformed into high-energy particle streams invisible to the naked eye, pouring frantically into the core of that silver-white device.

On the projection screen, the curve representing heating power jumped sharply, shooting straight from the bottom toward the preset value.

The breathing of everyone in the hall collectively ceased at that moment.

Old Zhang stood three steps behind the control console, hands behind his back, his spine straight, staring unblinkingly at the large screen.

Zhou Ping and Chen Jingshan stood on either side of him, equally silent and equally tense.

"Deuterium-tritium fuel injection complete, plasma formation beginning!"

"Current electron temperature: 1.2 million degrees, continuing to climb!"

"Ion temperature following in sync, no anomalies!"

Reports echoed back and forth throughout the hall.

The data screens on the control console glowed blindingly, with dense parameters refreshing by the millisecond.

1.2 million degrees.

In daily life, this number was already a terrifyingly high temperature that exceeded the limits of human imagination.

But for Controlled Nuclear Fusion, this was merely an appetizer.

On the large projection screen, the real-time temperature curve suddenly lifted, soaring straight toward the upper right in a nearly savage manner.

"Electron temperature surpassed 5 million degrees!"

"10 million degrees!"

"Ion temperature following in sync, current reading 9.8 million degrees!"

The temperature curve climbed frantically on the projection screen, jumping to a new level every few seconds.

The trend of those broken lines was so steep it was nearly vertical, without the slightest hesitation or fluctuation.

He Mingde pressed his hands firmly against the edge of the main control console, his fingertips gripping the metal surface.

His back was soaked with cold sweat, but he was completely unaware, his eyes welded to the data screen.

Having worked in nuclear physics for decades, he had witnessed countless ignition experiments.

Every time, the temperature would begin to oscillate violently after climbing to a certain node, and then either the confinement would collapse and the plasma would leak, or the density limit would be triggered prematurely, causing the discharge to interrupt.

Never once had it been able to rise so steadily.

"Electron temperature surpassed 50 million degrees! Ion temperature 48 million degrees!"

"Magnetic confinement status stable! Plasma density continuing to climb, Greenwald limit not triggered!"

As these two reports landed, several old experts in the hall who had spent half their lives working on plasma physics took half a step forward in unison, necks stretched long.

No density limit triggered.

The content of this information made their hearts tremble even more than the temperature numbers themselves.

"100 million degrees! Electron temperature surpassed 100 million degrees!"

This report was practically roared out; the operator's voice even cracked, carrying a tearing fanaticism.

Immediately following, the second report caught up, its voice also filled with uncontrollable excitement.

"Ion temperature 97 million... 99 million... surpassed 100 million degrees! Dual temperatures reached the target simultaneously!"

Dual temperatures over 100 million.

The threshold of the fusion threshold was kicked open violently.

Old Zhang stood a little further away; he didn't speak, nor did he make any unnecessary movements, simply watching quietly.

Zhou Ping and Chen Jingshan stood side by side next to Old Zhang, both of them deliberately keeping their breathing very low, even slowing down the action of swallowing saliva by half a beat.

And Lin Yuan stood on the right side of the control console.

One hand in his pocket, his body leaning slightly against the edge of the console, his posture relaxed.

Among everyone present, he was probably the only one whose heart rate had not accelerated.

This was not feigned calmness, but the ultimate composure brought by absolute control.

The entire knowledge system of Controlled Nuclear Fusion was already in his mind.

From magnetic field configuration to plasma confinement, from heating strategy to density climbing path, he understood the underlying physical logic of every link thoroughly.

The data rapidly jumping on the projection screen before him, which others saw as suffocating suspense.

But to his eyes, it was nothing more than an exam question for which he had already seen the standard answer, with even the steps to solve it memorized by heart.

The temperature gradient distribution of the plasma, the margin of redundancy for magnetic confinement, the rising slope of the density curve...

All parameters were on the correct track.

This ignition had no suspense.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the old experts who were trembling with excitement, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Electron temperature 120 million degrees, ion temperature 110 million degrees! Dual temperatures continuing to climb!"

"Plasma density rising steadily! Confinement status excellent!"

The temperature continued to climb.

The two broken lines on the large screen representing electron temperature and ion temperature had already far crossed the red dashed line marked "Fusion Threshold," advancing toward higher regions.

Just then.

A set of data screens on the far right of the main control console suddenly displayed a brand-new reading.

The operator in charge of monitoring widened his eyes, staring at that line of data for a full two seconds, and then raised his voice to the limit.

"Neutron detector has a signal! Detected 14.1 MeV fast neutrons!"

The moment this sentence exploded into the hall, an electric current ran down everyone's spine simultaneously.

14.1 MeV fast neutrons.

This number was the most direct and unfalsifiable characteristic signal of the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction.

Its appearance meant one thing.

In the core of that silver-white device, within the high-temperature plasma exceeding 100 million degrees, deuterium nuclei and tritium nuclei were smashing together desperately in a way never before achieved by humanity under controlled conditions.

Smashing apart.

Recombining.

Releasing helium nuclei and high-energy neutrons.

The fusion reaction had begun.

"Neutron flux continuing to rise! Fusion reaction rate climbing steadily!"

"Energy output power curve beginning to rise!"

Reports popped out one after another, each one like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely against the hearts of everyone present.

Zhou Changming stood in the crowd, his old legs shaking so hard he couldn't stand steady; he grabbed the control console next to him, his lips trembling for a long time without uttering a word.

Chen Jingshan's hand had unknowingly rested on Zhou Ping's forearm, his five fingers exerting force, his knuckles tensed.

Zhou Ping did not pull away, nor did he even turn his head.

His entire attention was fixed on that large projection screen.

And Old Zhang remained motionless.

Hands behind his back, his spine straight.

Only the muscles in his jaw twitched almost imperceptibly.

The originally gentle rising slope suddenly became steep.

The operator in charge of energy monitoring stared fixedly at the set of data jumping in real-time on the screen and reported loudly.

"Alpha particle self-heating effect has appeared!"

"Plasma temperature is continuing to climb, external heating power has not increased! It is the fusion products themselves feeding back into the plasma!"

Alpha particle self-heating.

The alpha particles released by the fusion reaction were feeding back the energy they carried into the plasma, pushing the temperature to continue climbing.

A positive feedback loop had been established.

The reaction no longer relied entirely on external input to maintain itself.

It was burning on its own.

This was the true meaning of the word "Ignition."

However, alpha particle self-heating was only the first step.

What truly determined whether this ignition would completely overturn human history was that final number.

The next second, a huge, brand-new data window popped up in the center of the large projection screen.

[Q-value real-time reading]

The numbers were jumping rapidly, the speed of the climb so fast it was dazzling.

0.1... 0.3... 0.6...

In the hall, dozens of people stared in unison at that window.

No one spoke loudly.

No one breathed loudly.

In everyone's eyes, only that rapidly jumping number remained.

0.8... 0.90... 0.99...

Then, that red number broke through the iron threshold that had trapped human civilization for half a century without any hindrance!

[1.01!]

"It broke 1!!!"

It was unknown who let out the first hysterical roar, the sound filled with utter madness and tears of joy.

Immediately after, the entire experimental hall was completely overturned by the overwhelming wave of sound!

But the number was unaffected, continuing to rise, with no intention of stopping at all.

1.05... 1.11... 1.18...

Finally, under the gaze of the entire room, the number basically stabilized at a reading, constantly jumping up and down within a small range.

[Q = 1.25]