178: Chapter 178 That's not necessarily a bad thing.

"Strategic deterrence, huh..."

He Mingde murmured these words, chewing over their weight, and a look of extreme complexity flashed in his eyes.

Immediately, he nodded slowly.

"That is true!"

"The emergence of the Two Bombs indeed allowed us to stand tall and develop steadily for all these years during that turbulent era."

"But..."

He paused, the wrinkles on his face deepening, and even the muscles in his cheeks tightened.

"Lacking the leg of conventional strategic deterrence, feeling stifled is ultimately unavoidable."

This was said bluntly, but no one present felt it was excessive.

Zhou Changming nodded heavily, crossed his arms over his chest, and muttered in a muffled voice.

"It's more than just being stifled."

"For so many years, being sanctioned, blockaded, and having our necks choked—which one of these haven't we endured for real?"

The several old experts around them also fell silent.

It wasn't just them.

In the entire Xia Kingdom for so many years, from top to bottom, who hasn't suffered the bitterness of sanctions?

Chips being blocked, materials being blocked, high-end machine tools being blocked, even basic industrial software licenses could be cut off at will, frequently facing the threat of supply interruptions.

On the surface, they wore suits and ties, smiling and talking about cooperation, but behind the scenes, they sharpened their knives quickly, stabbing one after another into your weak spots.

After all the grievances suffered over these years, what scientific researcher doesn't have a thick ledger of blood and tears in their heart?

Although we have the Two Bombs in hand, no one dares to truly put a knife to the Xia Kingdom's throat.

But the problem is that the Two Bombs and conventional weapons are completely different things.

The destructive power of that thing is too terrifying!

Once thrown, within a radius of hundreds to thousands of kilometers, not a blade of grass will grow, and radiation pollution will linger for decades.

It is mutual destruction in the true sense.

Precisely because of this, it can only be used as a final resort, the ultimate insurance that "the button will not be pressed unless it is a matter of life and death."

Those clever people The Other Side of the Ocean are crystal clear about this in their hearts.

They know exactly where this bottom line is.

As long as they don't touch that ultimate red line, as long as they don't truly force the Xia Kingdom into a desperate situation of life and death, that sword hanging over their heads will never fall.

That's why they have been so unscrupulous all these years, crazily testing the edge of the bottom line.

Today, they sanction a Xia Kingdom chip company, tomorrow they block a core technical chain of the Xia Kingdom, and the day after, they drag a bunch of lackeys along to engage in some joint embargo and containment.

Their methods are varied, their timing is precisely calculated, and every time they land just within the safe zone of not touching the red line.

Is the Xia Kingdom angry? Yes!

But what can be done?

Fight?

Throw the Two Bombs over a chip sanction?

The whole world would think the Xia Kingdom has gone crazy!

This is the price of having no conventional strategic deterrence.

Facing others brazenly pulling one's beard, although there is a trump card, it is too heavy to do anything but look at it, and one dare not use it lightly.

The result is that the heaviest hammer is held high, while the flies underneath buzz happily.

Because one wouldn't smash the whole table just to swat a fly.

He Mingde stood nearby, rubbed his large hands together, and took over the conversation.

"It's more than just sanctions."

"Do you remember a few years ago, when those people sailed their warships to our doorstep to loiter?"

"The battle group strutted around the edge of our territorial waters; you couldn't fight, and you couldn't drive them away, so our ships had to follow along and escort them from morning till night."

"Is that an escort?"

He Mingde snorted coldly.

"That's enduring humiliation!"

The several old experts around them pursed their lips in unison, and some of their cheeks were trembling violently.

Over these decades, from being pressured while having fingers pointed at them at diplomatic negotiation tables, to having their necks choked and supplies cut off in the field of scientific research...

Every single instance—wasn't it all because of the gap in conventional military power that we were held firmly in check by others?

Lin Yuan stood quietly in place, taking in every bit of the resentment and unwillingness suppressed for many years on the faces of these old men.

He was too familiar with this emotion.

As a transmigrator, he had experienced that stifling feeling in his previous life, and in this life, being in this position, he saw it even more clearly.

"Dean He is right."

Lin Yuan finally spoke, his voice not loud, but like a needle to calm the sea, firmly planted in the center of the hall.

"The Two Bombs are the heavy weapons of the nation, the ultimate insurance policy kept at the bottom of the box."

"But an insurance policy cannot be shown off every day."

"If someone throws a stone at you, you can't just pull out a nuclear bomb to retaliate."

"We need a knife that is sharp enough and can be drawn to slash people at any time!"

Although this was blunt, no one present felt it was wrong.

The facts are just so.

"Therefore, the significance of the south heaven gate project lies right here."

Lin Yuan stretched out his hand, spread his five fingers, and made a virtual grasping motion in mid-air, as if holding the entire world in his palm.

"Aerospace integrated strategic system."

"A complete, three-dimensional conventional strategic deterrence that covers both inside and outside the atmosphere."

"It is not an ultimate trump card like the Two Bombs, which cannot be played until the end of the world."

"It is something that can be openly placed on the table and can implement physical crushing on a global scale at the level of conventional games!"

"It can make those The Other Side of the Ocean, before making any decisions targeting our Xia Kingdom—"

He closed his five fingers and paused in mid-air, squeezing slightly.

"Think it over carefully."

Hearing this, He Mingde's blood felt a bit hot.

Aerospace integrated strategic system.

Just hearing these words, the textual images Lin Yuan had just described automatically appeared in his mind.

A 100,000-ton Aerospace Carrier.

Fighter jets that could freely shuttle inside and outside the atmosphere.

Directed-energy weapons.

If these things were really built, then those carrier battle groups on the opposite side in the Western Pacific, in front of the south heaven gate system, what difference would they have from paper ones?

Truth will always hang over their heads!

Thinking of this, a scalding anticipation rushed up from his chest, burning his entire face until it flushed slightly.

But immediately after, the rationality of having engaged in rigorous scientific research for a lifetime quickly suppressed that hot-bloodedness.

He Mingde took a deep breath, his eyebrows knitted tightly, and looked at Lin Yuan.

"Academician Lin, this south heaven gate project, just listening to your description, Aerospace Carrier, fighter jets, directed-energy weapons..."

"Any one of these, if taken out, is an unprecedented world-class super project, it's practically bringing science fiction movies into reality!"

"A project of this magnitude is definitely not something that can be achieved in a short time."

He reached out and pointed toward the fusion device in the center of the hall.

"But right now, our Controlled Nuclear Fusion has already entered the final stage of the breakthrough."

"Although I haven't had time to look closely at the technical roadmap on that hard drive of yours, according to what you said, the subsequent plans are already there."

"If you continue to stay here and supervise, I believe it certainly won't take too long for the fusion project to be completely finished and achieve real grid-connected power generation."

He Mingde rubbed his hands, his face full of indescribable entanglement.

"Can't you wait until this side is completely finished before starting the south heaven gate?"

"Must you start at this time?"

After speaking, he paused, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and there was a sense of absurdity in his tone.

"It couldn't be... that the south heaven gate will also take half a year, right?"

As soon as this was said, the atmosphere in the hall, which was originally tense and hot-blooded, suddenly changed.

Zhou Changming was holding his thermos cup, intending to take a sip of water to calm his nerves.

Hearing this, with a "pfft" sound, a mouthful of water sprayed out directly.

Immediately, he was the first one who couldn't hold it back, and he burst into laughter with a "pfft".

Immediately after, the several old experts around them also laughed along; some shook their heads, some waved their hands, and some poked each other with their elbows.

The experimental hall, which was originally filled with a solemn patriotic sentiment, was suddenly diluted quite a bit.

There was no way around it; the words "half a year" when applied to Lin Yuan were just too meme-worthy and too magical!

When he was working on the Photolithography Machine, he said half a year.

Later, when he worked on Fifth-generation Communication and Artificial Intelligence, he still said half a year.

Then later, when he initiated the Controlled Nuclear Fusion project, he still confidently said half a year.

After this was dug up by netizens, the nickname "Lin Half-Year" became popular all over the internet.

Some busybodies even specifically made a meme.

He cut out all the clips where Lin Yuan mentioned "half a year" in his previous public statements, stitched them together, and added a line of big text:

"Lin Half-Year: There is nothing that cannot be done within half a year!"

That picture went viral on major social platforms, and even official accounts liked it.

Although these old experts present didn't browse their phones much, they couldn't help it as this meme was just too widespread, and it was closely related to Lin Yuan.

After a while, who present didn't understand the story of "Lin Half-Year"?

So, as soon as He Mingde's sentence "It couldn't be that the south heaven gate will also take half a year" came out, it directly hit everyone's funny bone.

The laughter echoed in the hall for several seconds before it slowly died down.

Everyone looked at Lin Yuan with friendly teasing in their eyes.

Lin Yuan stood in the center of the crowd, watching this group of old experts laughing together, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.

He didn't rush to deny it, just tilted his head and glanced at He Mingde.

"Half a year?"

He elongated the tail of the sound, his tone wrapped in a bit of carelessness.

"That, too, is not impossible."