177: Chapter 177 Southern Heavenly Gate: Strategic Deterrence!

"south heaven gate?" He Mingde held the portable hard drive, standing there completely frozen.

The surrounding senior experts, who were still immersed in the afterglow of the fusion ignition, were also stunned upon hearing this term, exchanging glances with one another.

They were all too familiar with the three words "south heaven gate."

Back at the Photolithography Machine achievement press conference, Lin Yuan had casually tossed out these three words in front of hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, then cleanly cut off the topic, leaving behind a screen full of question marks and overwhelming speculation.

Since then, the codename "south heaven gate" had been dug into thoroughly online, with all sorts of interpretations flying around, but not a single person guessed its true content.

Because Lin Yuan had not revealed a single extra word about it.

And now, on the day after the first successful ignition of Controlled Nuclear Fusion, when everyone naturally assumed he would press his advantage and accelerate the full implementation of the fusion project, he had unexpectedly, without any warning, dropped these three words in front of them.

He Mingde cradled the portable hard drive, his Adam's apple bobbing twice, his face a mix of confusion and shock.

"south heaven gate project?" He repeated it, as if confirming he hadn't misheard. "Academician Lin, is this the... other matter you mentioned just now?"

Lin Yuan stood where he was; he did not rush to explain, simply nodding slightly.

He Mingde hesitated for a moment, his fingers tightening around the edge of the hard drive, then cautiously added, "Then... what exactly is this south heaven gate?"

As soon as he asked, he seemed to think of something, quickly waving his hand and turning solemn. "Of course, if this involves any high-level secrets that you can't disclose, then just pretend this old man never asked! I know the rules!"

The few senior experts nearby, who had been pricking up their ears, also wore expressions of "wanting to know but afraid to ask," looking at Lin Yuan with yearning eyes.

Lin Yuan took in their expressions and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile. "It's not that dramatic; it's not something I can't talk about."

He paused for a beat, his tone as casual as if he were chatting about daily life. "Moreover, south heaven gate has a bit of a connection to the Controlled Nuclear Fusion everyone is currently working on."

As soon as these words were spoken, the people around him were collectively stunned. A connection to Controlled Nuclear Fusion?

He Mingde subconsciously clutched the hard drive closer to his chest, his graying eyebrows knitting together. "What kind of connection?"

Lin Yuan did not answer directly. He turned his head and glanced at the silver-white device in the center of the hall that had just completed humanity's first fusion ignition. "Dean He, let me ask you a few questions."

Lin Yuan's voice was not loud, but in the spacious and quiet testing hall, it carried a penetrating power that struck straight to the soul.

"For an Aerospace Carrier weighing one hundred thousand tons, what level of power would it take to allow it to ignore gravity and fly steadily into the sky?"

When this statement landed, He Mingde's brain buzzed as if struck hard by a heavy hammer. One hundred thousand tons? An Aerospace Carrier?

His pupils dilated sharply, his lips trembling violently. Before he could organize any words, Lin Yuan's second question followed relentlessly.

"For an aerospace fighter capable of freely shuttling in and out of the atmosphere and executing dimensional-reduction strikes on ground targets directly from low Earth orbit, where would it get its energy reserves for sustained, high-intensity combat?"

"Hiss—" Several senior experts nearby couldn't help but gasp, their scalps tingling.

The third question followed closely behind. "And laser weapons." "Not the kind of toys that can only burn cardboard in a laboratory, but true directed-energy weapons that can be deployed on combat platforms—how much energy supply would they require?"

Three questions, each more sci-fi than the last, each more explosive than the last! After the initial extreme shock subsided, this group of scholars, representing the top brains of the Xia Kingdom, quickly reacted.

The ultimate answer to every question pointed accurately and unmistakably to the same thing—Controlled Nuclear Fusion! Only Controlled Nuclear Fusion, only this nearly infinite, ultimate clean energy, could feed those steel behemoths!

The hall fell so silent that a pin drop could be heard. Only the rapid and heavy breathing of the crowd rose and fell. Everyone could imagine that once the things Lin Yuan spoke of were implemented, it would likely be a complete, systematic strategic blueprint capable of tearing the existing global military landscape to shreds!

"You mean..." Zhou Changming stood nearby, his lips moving several times before he finally squeezed out a dry sentence. "The south heaven gate project... is a military project?"

Lin Yuan neither denied nor admitted it. He simply looked at the group of senior experts whose faces were filled with shock. "All of you seniors should be aware."

Lin Yuan's voice became calm again, yet it carried an insight that seemed to see through the ways of the world. "These past few months, the speed of technological breakthroughs in our Xia Kingdom has been simply too fast."

"Fast enough that some people can't even sleep soundly anymore."

"When the EUV Lithography Machine came out, The Other Side of the Ocean could still barely sit still and pretend not to care."

"When Fifth-generation Communication and Artificial Intelligence were implemented one after another, the other side could no longer sit still and started playing dirty tricks under the table."

"And now, just as the news of the Room-Temperature Superconducting Material and the Controlled Nuclear Fusion ignition was released... even if they are still desperately trying to find reasons to doubt it, or even if it hasn't been officially verified yet. But you can all see, what is the reaction from the other side now?"

No one replied. But everyone knew clearly in their hearts. During this time, there was no need to look at any internal classified briefings; just from the shift in the style of the international situation on the news broadcast, one could smell the pungent scent of gunpowder.

A dog will jump over a wall when desperate, and a wolf will bite when hungry. This jungle law of survival of the fittest has never changed.

Lin Yuan looked at the crowd, his voice suddenly rising a notch. "The faster technology runs, the tighter we must clench our fists!"

"Truth is always within the range of cannons!"

"Without the protection of a military force capable of crushing everything, no matter how fast we run or how much wealth we create, we are merely fat sheep raised for others, an ATM for people to exploit!"

Lin Yuan's words were blunt, but the logic was absolutely sound. Every word struck home in everyone's heart.

Upon hearing this, He Mingde nodded. He focused mainly on scientific research, but that didn't mean he didn't understand those tricks of smiling to one's face while sabotaging behind one's back. "You are right."

"When technology leads, if there are no corresponding strategic deterrence measures, it is indeed easy to attract the attention of those bandits." "We have learned such bloody lessons from history not just once or twice."

Zhou Changming also nodded heavily, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists. "That's right! Back then, our predecessors, eating sand in the Gobi Desert, risked their lives to develop the 'Two Bombs, One Satellite,' wasn't it so that the people on this land could stand tall and not live their lives with someone's hands around their necks!"

As soon as these words were spoken, several of the gray-haired elders present fell silent. That history of both humiliation and resistance was not far from their generation. The stifling feeling of having their necks held by others with superior ships and cannons, of being looked down upon, was a pain carved into their bones.

Lin Yuan took in the reactions of these elders one by one; he did not continue to be sentimental at this moment. "Therefore, the reason I want to pursue the south heaven gate project is simple; to put it bluntly, it's just four words."

He held up four fingers. "Strategic Deterrence!"