176: Chapter 176 A Three-Pronged Scheme

Meanwhile, as the entire internet was completely shaken by the successful ignition of Controlled Nuclear Fusion...

Lin Yuan was staying quietly in his exclusive dormitory.

He leaned halfway against the headboard, holding his phone in one hand, the screen displaying the dialogue interface of an encrypted communication software.

A new message lay there silently.

Lin Yuan stared at that line of text for a few seconds, the corners of his lips slowly curling up.

He didn't reply, exited the dialogue directly, and instead issued a command to the Artificial Intelligence hidden in the background:

“Xiao Long, pull up the public opinion trends from core intelligence analysis agencies and top media outlets on the foreign internet for me.”

“Understood, sir. Summarizing them for you in real-time.”

Xiao Long's steady electronic voice rang out in the room.

The phone screen changed, and the information on the page was precisely divided into two columns: the left was domestic, and the right was international.

On the domestic side, the entire page was filled with bright red trending search terms and overwhelming screenshots of celebrations. The comment sections were a sea of exclamation marks, and the netizens' fanatical emotions practically overflowed through the screen, as if they wanted to smash through their keyboards.

On the international side, the style was completely different.

Lin Yuan idly swiped down on the screen with his thumb, his gaze scanning over several foreign media comment summaries that Xiao Long had specifically highlighted in bold red.

“Two consecutive century-level breakthroughs within less than two weeks, with neither providing any experimental data or third-party verification—this pattern itself warrants vigilance.”

“The authenticity of Room-temperature Superconductivity has yet to be independently confirmed, and the announcement of nuclear fusion followed immediately after. This is suspicious; it may be a public opinion war waged by Xia Country.”

“Multiple authoritative experts in nuclear physics stated that in the absence of public data, they cannot provide any academic recognition for Xia Country's announcement.”

Lin Yuan's thumb stopped.

He didn't continue scrolling, casually tossing the phone onto the bed and crossing his arms behind his head.

On the ceiling, the cold air from the air conditioner vent blew down silently.

Lin Yuan stared at the white ceiling. The smile on his face, far from fading due to those glaring doubts, grew even more pronounced.

Doubt.

Suspicion.

Skepticism.

The reactions of these people were exactly as he had deduced and predicted.

The last time Room-Temperature Superconducting Material was announced, it was also a news piece of less than a hundred words, and similarly, no experimental data or technical parameters were provided.

But the purpose that time was to indirectly boost the confidence in Controlled Nuclear Fusion.

After all, even the ultimate material that the whole world had chased for fifty years had been conveniently crafted by him like a spare part, so could Controlled Nuclear Fusion be far behind?

Once this logical chain was established in the public's perception, the system's confidence would skyrocket like it was on a rocket.

And that was indeed the case. Just a few hours after the news of Room-temperature Superconductivity was released, the progress bar for the Level 4 Lie was completely filled.

But there was an extremely important prerequisite for that easy success—

The Photolithography Machine had been built for real, Fifth-generation Communication had been implemented for real, and Artificial Intelligence was running for real.

Every promise had been fulfilled without a single failure.

It was this accumulated credibility that allowed Room-temperature Superconductivity to be believed by most people globally based solely on an official announcement, even without any supporting data.

And this time, the news of the Controlled Nuclear Fusion ignition also provided no data, consisting of only a few dozen dry words.

But the purpose was exactly the opposite.

The last time was to make people believe.

This time was to make people... doubt.

Lin Yuan pulled one hand from behind his head and carelessly traced a circle in mid-air with his index finger.

“Two century-level news pieces thrown out one after another, both without data, both without evidence.”

He talked to himself, his tone lazy and carrying a bystander's amusement.

“The first one hasn't even been digested yet, and the second one is already being shoved in their faces.”

“Any normal decision-maker would have a massive question mark in their mind.”

Regarding the Room-temperature Superconductivity news, although the people The Other Side of the Ocean were being stubborn, they were somewhat inclined to believe it.

After all, Lin Yuan's name was attached to it. He had too much of a track record—every time had been real—so who would dare bet that he was lying?

But immediately after, the ignition of Controlled Nuclear Fusion followed.

In an interval of less than two weeks.

Still no parameters.

Still no papers.

Still just an official announcement of less than a hundred words.

Before the authenticity of the former could be verified, the latter dropped like a nuclear bomb.

The frequency was too high, which instead tended to have the opposite effect.

Human psychology is just that wonderful.

Once with no data, you believe.

Twice with no data, and such a short interval, and you start to feel uneasy.

Is it going too smoothly?

Is this an act?

Could it be... that Xia Country is actually engaged in false propaganda, using their previous credibility as a foundation to intentionally release smoke bombs?

Once this thought emerges, the vines of suspicion begin to grow wildly.

And suspicion is something that, once it takes root, requires a vast amount of time and energy to repeatedly verify, repeatedly overturn, and repeatedly rebuild.

Lin Yuan chuckled lowly and hummed to himself.

“Go ahead and guess.”

“Take your time guessing.”

“By the time you guys figure it out, it'll be far too late.”

This was the real reason he deliberately arranged for two century-level news releases without providing any data.

Because the words 'uncertainty' can paralyze a massive decision-making system more effectively than any substantial military threat.

They would have to spend a vast amount of time, manpower, and resources to verify.

Some would say it's true, others would say it's fake; no one would be able to convince the other, and their energy would be wasted on meaningless bickering.

By the time this internal friction of suspicion ended, the technologies Xia Country needed to implement would have already been implemented, and the things that needed to be deployed would have already been deployed.

At that time, when the truth came to light, those The Other Side of the Ocean would look back—

Holy crap, Room-temperature Superconductivity was real, and Controlled Nuclear Fusion was real too!

With this experience, the next time they encountered an official announcement with no data support, would they still dare to bet that it was fake?

Once bitten, twice shy.

From today onwards, this invisible rope would be tightly wound around their necks.

“Three birds with one stone, perfect.”

Lin Yuan closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of having the whole world in the palm of his hand.

...

The next morning, Institute of Atomic Energy, Experimental Hall.

When Lin Yuan pushed the door open and walked in, the hall was already brightly lit.

A dozen or so white-haired old experts were gathered in front of the large projection screen, their heads almost touching, clutching printed data sheets tightly in their hands, arguing until they were red in the face.

“No! This magnetic field confinement margin can be squeezed by another three percent! Look at this set of curves!”

Someone was frantically writing dense formulas on a whiteboard, while others were leaning over the console, checking yesterday's parameters line by line. The entire hall was filled with a suffocating scientific research frenzy.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan walked into the area with steady steps.

“Everyone's here so early.”

He raised his hand and greeted the old experts present with a gentle smile.

“Oh, we just couldn't rest!”

Zhou Changming was the first to welcome him, the old man grinning widely.

“After that fire was lit yesterday, I was tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep, my mind full of data.”

“I just got up after five, and when I arrived here, boy, a dozen people had arrived even earlier than me!”

Lin Yuan chuckled at the words.

These old gentlemen had finally seen fusion ignition with their own eyes in their lifetime; that excitement would probably take several days to cool down.

As they were speaking, He Mingde also walked over quickly from the large screen.

“Academician Lin!”

He approached, his gaze quickly scanning Lin Yuan before fixing intently on the backpack on his shoulder.

Last time, Lin Yuan had also walked in like this, strolling leisurely with a bag.

The things pulled out of the bag that time had directly slammed a complete set of material preparation plans, including Room-Temperature Superconducting Material, into their faces, leaving them dizzy.

So this time...

He Mingde subconsciously swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

“Academician Lin, in your bag...”

Before he could finish, the ears of several old experts nearby who had noticed the commotion perked up in unison.

Seeing their state, Lin Yuan didn't keep them in suspense. He directly unzipped the bag, pulled out a black mobile hard drive, and handed it to He Mingde.

“Dean He, inside this is a small concept I put together based on the real-time data from the initial ignition.”

“It includes a deep optimization plan for confinement parameters, a breakthrough path for plasma density, and... a complete technical roadmap concept for pulling the Q-value from 1.25 to over 10.”

He Mingde took the hard drive with both hands, his fingers trembling slightly.

A small concept.

Pulling it directly from 1.25 to over 10?

This was no small concept.

This was clearly kicking Controlled Nuclear Fusion from the 'ignited a fire' stage straight into actual engineering implementation!

He opened his mouth, just about to ask for specific details inside, but Lin Yuan had already withdrawn his hand and stepped back half a pace.

“Since the hard drive materials have been delivered...”

“Then the subsequent promotion work for Controlled Nuclear Fusion will be hard on Dean He and all the seniors.”

Lin Yuan patted his bag strap, his posture appearing extremely casual.

“I have some other things to be busy with next, so I probably won't be staying here all the time.”

Holding the hard drive, He Mingde's face, full of fanaticism, suddenly turned into shock and confusion.

At this juncture, what could be more important than moving Controlled Nuclear Fusion from experiment to complete engineering implementation?!

This was the ultimate code for human energy!

Lin Yuan looked at his face, which was slightly dull from shock; the smile on his face remained unchanged as he softly uttered three words.

“south heaven gate.”