32: Chapter 32 Military Order!

"Comrade Lin Yuan."

A slightly deep voice broke the silence in the conference room.

Lin Yuan turned to look. It was a middle-aged man sitting near the back of the conference table. The ID badge pinned to his chest showed that he was from the "Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense."

"May I ask a question?"

The man placed the materials in his hand down on the table, resting his hands together on the paper as if afraid it might fly away.

"Are these so-called disruptive theories really researched by you alone?"

This question was as sharp as a blade.

He did not beat around the bush, nor did he use any polite embellishments.

Everyone present unconsciously pricked up their ears, holding their breath as they waited for Lin Yuan's answer.

To this, Lin Yuan felt not the slightest annoyance at being questioned; instead, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he smiled.

"If it weren't researched by me,"

"then I wouldn't be sitting in this seat today."

As he said this, one hand rested casually on the edge of the table, his posture indescribably relaxed and composed.

It was not an excuse.

It was not a self-justification.

He was simply stating a fact that no longer needed to be debated in this conference room.

As these light words fell, the conference room was silent for a beat.

Then, several old experts who had originally held reservations exchanged glances, a flash of realization crossing their eyes, and they nodded imperceptibly.

Indeed.

Thinking about it carefully, this statement really held no flaws.

What kind of place is the Xia Academy of Sciences?

And what kind of person is Chen Jingshan?

If Lin Yuan's technical level wasn't the real deal, Dean Chen would have to be crazy to stake his lifelong reputation to endorse some greenhorn!

It was even less likely that he would endure immense pressure to list him first on the special task force roster, and even make the decision on the spot to appoint him as Chief Technical Engineer!

The only explanation for how things reached this point was—

The thing in this young man's hands was so solid that the entire decision-making chain chose to trust it unconditionally to a terrifying degree.

As for how he did it?

How could someone so young have such accumulation?

Although everyone present was curious about these questions, no one was foolish enough to ask them to his face.

The scientific research world has never lacked gifted geniuses; what it lacks are geniuses who can convert talent into results.

And Lin Yuan clearly belonged to the latter.

After a brief silence, He Yicheng, the old director of the Institute of Precision Instruments, was the first to speak.

He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, pressing one hand on the stack of materials in front of him, speaking slowly.

"I have been working in precision optics for over thirty years."

"Back when I communicated with peers abroad, they had already reached the fourth iteration in aberration correction for refractive lens groups, while we were still spinning our wheels at the second generation."

"At that time, I thought, if we followed the traditional path to catch up, we might always be half a step behind them."

He picked up the document and shook it in the air.

"But this material is not about catching up."

"It is changing to a new track."

He Yicheng placed the materials back on the table and tapped the cover twice with two fingers.

"I have seen glimpses of the metalens concept in frontier journals."

"But the discussions in those papers were, at best, a conceptual prototype; they couldn't even build a complete theoretical framework."

"And the things in this document..."

He paused for a beat.

"Although it is currently only at the level of design ideas and key derivations for the overall plan, this alone is enough for me to see how far this path can go."

Coming from He Yicheng, this evaluation carried significant weight.

Several core members from the Institute of Precision Instruments exchanged glances, all wearing expressions that said, "If the old director says so, then it must be right."

Following closely, Yang Lin from the Automation Control Institute also put down the materials in his hand and leaned back in his chair.

"It's the same on my end."

"Our institute has been chewing on the six-degree-of-freedom decoupling control model for magnetic levitation planar motors for over five years, and we have always been stuck on high-frequency vibration suppression."

"I just did a rough scan of the processing method in this document. Although it didn't expand into details at the level of engineering parameters, the overall theoretical framework has already jumped out of our original framework."

Yang Lin closed the document and tapped his index finger twice on the table.

"The direction is viable."

He paused, then added another sentence.

"And it's not just viable. It's a higher level than all the technical paths we had previously envisioned."

These two men's statements stirred up a ripple in the conference room.

Everyone present knew the weight of He Yicheng and Yang Lin.

One was a flagship figure in Xia's precision optics, and the other was an authority in the field of automation control.

For these two to speak to this extent was already an extremely high evaluation.

Core members from several other research institutes also spoke up one after another. Although they had only received materials in their respective fields, the direction of their evaluations was surprisingly consistent—

"The molecular design route for the photoresist material part is completely different from the current mainstream solution, but it is logically superior."

"The phase-shift optimization algorithm for the photomask, a key step our team discussed for three years without cracking, is clearly written in here."

"With these theoretical frameworks, at least we won't have to walk in the dark for the subsequent research breakthroughs."

For a time, the communication in the conference room became lively.

The atmosphere in the conference room quickly transformed from the initial shock and scrutiny into a kind of ignited excitement.

Dozens of people were discussing the materials they had received, cross-verifying, and getting more excited the more they talked.

A long-lost feeling called "sense of direction" spread rapidly throughout the conference room.

Just as everyone was still immersed in the discussion and excitement over the theoretical materials, Lin Yuan suddenly spoke.

"Seniors."

"Everyone, please don't be happy too soon."

He rested one hand on the table, tapping his fingertips on the cover of the document in front of him.

"Theory is theory."

"Whether it can be implemented, whether it can turn from a blueprint into a machine that can truly run on a production line—standing in the middle are thousands upon thousands of engineering challenges."

"For every single one, we have to use people, time, and resources to grind through it."

As these words fell, the atmosphere in the conference room, which had been buzzing, suddenly dampened.

Several people's smiles froze on their faces, then slowly faded away.

Indeed.

No matter how beautiful the theory is, it is only the first step.

From a general layout drawing to a functional Photolithography Machine, everyone present knew better than anyone the engineering chasm in between.

What if the material processing precision cannot be achieved?

What if the supply chain is blocked?

What if problems arise during system integration?

The reason the country formed this special task force is precisely because—

The road ahead is a hundred times harder than the theoretical breakthrough itself.

The excitement in the conference room faded by more than half, replaced by a heavy sense of pragmatism.

Several old experts looked at each other and read the same meaning on each other's faces:

This kid chose the perfect time to pour cold water.

If they were carried away by that wave of enthusiasm and thought that getting the theory meant everything was fine, then the subsequent research efforts would sooner or later run into major problems.

He Yicheng pushed his glasses and spoke slowly.

"Chief Engineer Lin is right."

He was the first person in the room to use the title "Chief Engineer Lin."

"The road ahead is indeed still very long, but at least there is a road."

He paused, then added a sentence.

"It's better than before when we didn't even have a direction."

Yang Lin nodded as well.

"What is there to fear? Can it be harder than before?"

He rubbed his hands.

"Before, we were crossing the river by feeling for stones; now at least we have the blueprints for the bridge. The rest is just the hard work of building the bridge and paving the road, which we don't fear."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Guoping, the deputy director from the Third Research Institute, laughed.

"I, for one, am not worried at all."

He lifted his chin toward Lin Yuan.

"With Chief Engineer Lin's guidance, it won't be much of a problem."

This sentence was spoken easily and casually, but those present heard a different flavor in it.

The people from the Third Research Institute were the ones who had been in contact with Lin Yuan for the longest time.

Their trust in Lin Yuan was not blind.

It was fed by his solid technical ability.

What did it mean for Zhou Guoping to dare to say such things on this occasion?

It meant that this young man's technical level was far higher than they had imagined.

This realization crept silently into everyone's mind, causing them to unconsciously raise their assessment of Lin Yuan another notch.

The atmosphere in the conference room was subtly balanced—

Neither blindly optimistic nor shrinking from progress.

Everyone was waiting.

Waiting for a reassurance, or rather, waiting for that young man sitting next to the head of the table to provide a more specific direction.

Lin Yuan did not make them wait too long.

He put down the carbon pen in his hand, leaned forward slightly, and folded his fingers together on the table.

"If everyone trusts me,"

His gaze swept from left to right, passing over each face, unhurriedly.

"then I will also give everyone a promise here."

The breathing in the conference room became lighter.

Chen Jingshan's fingers, which were resting on the armrest, stopped.

The thermos cup that Wei Jiancheng had brought to his mouth hung in mid-air.

Behind He Yicheng's gold-rimmed glasses, a pair of old eyes stared fixedly at Lin Yuan.

Yang Lin's arms, which were folded on the table, tightened a fraction.

Everyone's attention was twisted to the limit at this moment.

Seeing this scene, Lin Yuan also moved his mind, and while activating the system functions, he slowly opened his mouth.

"Within six months, I will lead everyone..."

He held up one finger and paused in the air for two seconds.

"to build the Photolithography Machine."