173: Chapter 173: A New Era of Human Energy is About to Begin!

"You already have an idea?"

This lighthearted sentence completely changed the way everyone looked at Lin Yuan.

By now, everyone present knew very well that the weight of the young man standing before them could no longer be encompassed by the word "genius."

A genius is someone who possesses extraordinary talent within a specific, established field.

But what Lin Yuan had done could no longer be contained within the phrase "extraordinary talent."

Even if one were to compare him to those deified giants of physics in history, or those peerless prodigies who single-handedly shifted the trajectory of human civilization.

The Lin Yuan before them was absolutely qualified to stand toe-to-toe, or even faintly surpass, them.

After all, he was still too young!

He was only twenty years old, yet he already held in his hands world-shaking achievements capable of driving all of humanity wild.

So when the words "I already have an idea" came out of his mouth, in the vast experimental hall, not a single person dared to harbor the slightest bit of contempt.

He Mingde's lips trembled violently, and his Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly; he wanted to ask, but swallowed the words back down.

A year ago, if some greenhorn had said such a thing in such a serious setting, his first reaction would likely have been to angrily rebuke him with, "Young man, you don't know the immensity of heaven and earth."

But this person before him?

The one who proposed universal gravitation, the one who wrote the theory of relativity—at his age, they were only just beginning to show their potential.

And Lin Yuan had already smashed things like the Photolithography Machine, Fifth-generation Communication, Room-temperature Superconductivity, and Controlled Nuclear Fusion, one after another, right onto the forehead of all humanity.

With such a resume laid out before them, when he said he had an idea, who present would dare to follow up with a "Why don't you tell us about it first?"

Meeting the dozens of burning gazes around him, Lin Yuan smiled, but did not rush to elaborate.

The full set of technical knowledge for Controlled Nuclear Fusion had already been lying deep within his mind, complete and intact, four days ago.

But at that time, the device was still being assembled in a rush, the materials were still being forged, and all the researchers, from top to bottom, were pushing forward with all their might, determined to witness history.

Therefore, Lin Yuan did not choose to throw out the complete, perfect data immediately.

The reason was simple.

These old experts had worked their whole lives; having finally caught up to the greatest project in human history, he had to let them touch it, handle it, and participate in it deeply with their own hands.

If it relied entirely on him from start to finish, and these old experts were only responsible for following orders and inputting parameters, there would be no sense of participation or improvement in their technical capabilities.

So he chose another way.

Occasionally "guiding" them at critical nodes, giving a direction, tossing out a clue, letting He Mingde and the others deduce it themselves, verify it themselves, and reach the conclusions themselves.

It was precisely because of this well-timed guidance that the technical team was able to bring the confinement parameters and plasma density models to today's level within just a few short days.

The energy gain factor, the Q value, had for the first time crossed that life-and-death line that all of humanity had been waiting at for half a century!

Once this achievement was announced, it would be enough to trigger a devastating magnitude-ten earthquake in the global nuclear physics community.

But this was just the beginning.

For Lin Yuan, he only needed today's achievement as a stepping stone.

After all, since even the first ignition was a perfect success, wouldn't it be logical for him to draw some experience from this ignition to drive subsequent frantic optimization and acceleration?

Elder Zhang stood to the side, hearing Lin Yuan's confident words clearly.

The old man did not press for specific details, but just stared at him for a few moments before laughing heartily.

"Good."

He nodded, his smile filled with genuine delight.

"Then I will wait for your next answer sheet."

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, his gaze calm, without saying any more hypocritical pleasantries.

Subsequently, he turned around and glanced in the direction of the main control console.

"By the way, Dean He."

Lin Yuan suddenly raised his hand, pointed his fingertip toward the device, and turned to look at He Mingde.

"The device can be shut down now."

He Mingde was taken aback upon hearing this.

"...Shut down?"

"Yes."

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand and nodded.

"Keeping it running would only yield more steady-state data over time, which no longer has any substantive significance for our subsequent in-depth research."

"After all, the peaks and inflection points of the core parameters that needed to be obtained have already been fully captured."

He Mingde opened his mouth.

He subconsciously wanted to say something to refute this.

After all, steady-state operation time was the hard metric most valued by the international nuclear physics community!

For every extra second the device ran, the data would look that much better when announced to the public!

Burning for one more hour meant an extra hour of "New Human Steady-State Operation Record" when written into the press release for the Xia Country Daily in the future!

If they could grit their teeth and burn for one more day, that would be a world-shaking headline of "First Ignition Achieves Long-Period Continuous Operation," enough to slap the faces of those peers The Other Side of the Ocean until they swelled!

When it came to external propaganda and international maneuvering, this was a solid, ironclad bargaining chip for nuclear deterrence!

But the words surged to his throat, only to be swallowed back down by himself.

Because He Mingde had a change of thought and suddenly understood.

Lin Yuan said he "had an idea" for the next steps; according to his usual style, the next breakthrough would likely be much more intense than today's initial ignition.

Compared to the true "sea of stars" in the future, those few hours of so-called "world records" from burning a bit longer today were probably as laughable as children playing house in Lin Yuan's eyes.

Having figured this out, the look He Mingde gave Lin Yuan couldn't help but carry an inexplicable meaning.

"...Alright, we'll listen to Academician Lin!"

The corner of his mouth twitched, he gritted his teeth, waved his hand sharply toward the console, and shouted an order.

"Everyone, attention! Follow the standard shutdown procedure, shut it down!"

The group of operators behind the main console looked at each other; although there was endless reluctance in their eyes, their hands moved without hesitation, extremely efficiently.

Sets of instructions were issued one after another, the heating power began to drop step by step, and the massive magnetic confinement slowly unloaded.

On the large projection screen, those data curves that had been jumping for over half an hour returned to zero and faded away one by one.

Finally, the red value hanging in the center of the screen also slowly fell back, completely falling into silence.

The hall was silent for two seconds.

An indescribable sense of melancholy and loss, intertwined with the ultimate satisfaction of witnessing history, permeated the hearts of everyone.

Elder Zhang withdrew his gaze from the large screen, turned around, and solemnly nodded slightly toward Lin Yuan, He Mingde, and the others.

"Little Lin, comrades."

"Today's events, the immortal merit you have established for the country today, I will keep it all in my heart."

"The motherland and the people will never forget!"

After speaking, Elder Zhang did not disturb the team's internal rhythm any further, and accompanied by Zhou Ping and Chen Jingshan, turned and walked steadily toward the exit of the hall.

The three figures soon disappeared at the hall entrance, their footsteps gradually fading away.

Subsequently, Lin Yuan withdrew his gaze, turned around, and faced the dozens of old experts and technical personnel who were still standing in place, looking at him expectantly.

"Today's successful ignition counts as a phased milestone."

"But the road ahead is still long. Let's give everyone a holiday today to relax their tense nerves, properly organize the gains of these past few days, and get some rest."

"Tomorrow morning at eight, same time, we continue."

After speaking, he smiled and nodded to everyone, did not stay any longer, and took the lead in walking toward the door.

When he walked out of the experimental hall, the sunlight outside was just right.

He squinted his eyes, raised his hand to block the light, and was already calculating tomorrow's plans in his mind.

...

That morning, at 11:45 AM.

Across the country, hundreds of millions of mobile phone screens lit up again at the same second.

A news pop-up with the highest level of push permission, accompanied by a crisp notification sound, rudely squeezed into everyone's field of vision.

[Historical Breakthrough! Our country's Controlled Nuclear Fusion device has successfully ignited for the first time, achieving net energy output. A new era of human energy is about to begin!]