46: Chapter 46 This is the future!

Lin Yuan's words spread across the globe in an instant through countless microphones and cameras.

"Impossible!"

The Other Side of the Ocean, in that luxurious top-floor office.

Dr. Harrison was struck as if by an invisible electric current, springing up from the sofa.

For the first time, a clear crack appeared on that perpetually rigid and stern face.

"Continuous... stable..."

His lips trembled as he chewed on these two words repeatedly in his mouth.

With every repetition, his complexion grew a shade uglier.

Continuous stable output.

These six words were precisely the core argument he had used in that assessment report to pass a death sentence on Synchrotron Radiation.

He had even laughed and said, "Surely, the people of Xia Nation couldn't possibly solve the problem of continuous stable output."

Now, these words were backfiring in the sharpest way possible, stabbing into his brow, word by word.

The blonde man also stood up abruptly, his azure eyes fixed intently on that young face on the screen.

In his heart, a highly ominous premonition began to well up.

However, Lin Yuan on the podium did not give anyone room to catch their breath.

He did not continue to describe it with words, but simply raised his hand and made a simple gesture.

The giant LED screen behind him suddenly lit up the next second.

A short video began to play.

The scene in the video was clearly inside a high-specification laboratory, with the camera aimed at a section of vacuum pipeline isolated by thick leaded glass.

The next second.

A dim blue beam of light suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of the pipeline without warning.

In the live stream comments, countless question marks flooded the screen.

"???"

"That's it? A beam of light?"

"What is this? I totally don't get it. Is there a class representative here to explain?"

Laymen watched for the spectacle, feeling the scene was unremarkable.

It's just a beam of light, how rare can it be?

But at the press conference.

In front of countless screens around the world.

Every physicist and engineer in the know, in the second they saw the set of real-time monitoring data on the right side of the screen.

Their breath collectively hitched.

The video screen split into two.

On the left was that eerily stable dim blue beam.

On the right was a series of real-time data graphs.

At the very top, the curve representing "power output" shot up from zero to its peak.

And then—

It stretched into a nearly perfect horizontal line.

No jitter.

No decay.

One second.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

The curve remained motionless, so stable it made one's scalp tingle.

The Other Side of the Ocean, Dr. Harrison froze in place.

It wasn't that he didn't understand.

On the contrary, he understood everything too thoroughly.

It was precisely because he understood it too thoroughly that he couldn't accept it.

The stability of that power curve had completely surpassed the theoretical limit of traditional Synchrotron Radiation!

No, this was not Synchrotron Radiation at all.

This was completely, utterly not the same thing he had discussed in his assessment report!

"Harrison!"

The blonde man's voice came from behind, carrying a hint of irrepressible anxiety and suppression.

"Tell me, is that video... real?"

Harrison did not turn around.

He just stared fixedly at that perfect line on the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

He wanted to say "No."

He wanted to say it was falsified data, a scam directed and acted by the people of Xia Nation.

But he couldn't say it.

Harrison's silence made the blonde man's face grow increasingly grim.

Meanwhile.

In Xia Nation, at the press conference.

The video finished playing, and the big screen froze on that perfect horizontal power line.

Lin Yuan withdrew his gesture and picked up the microphone again.

"What you just saw is the complete record of our Light Source Task Force achieving continuous, stable, high-energy beam output in the laboratory."

"I suspect many friends have a question: why did we choose to use an accelerator as the Light Source for a Photolithography Machine?"

"The mainstream solution on the market is a plasma Light Source. Using high-power lasers to bombard tin targets to excite extreme ultraviolet light."

"This path has been walked for over twenty years abroad; the technology is mature, and the industrial chain is complete."

He held up a finger and shook it gently.

"But mature doesn't mean there is no ceiling."

"The physical mechanism of plasma Light Sources dictates that its room for power improvement is already approaching its limit."

"To get a stronger light, you need higher-power drive lasers, greater tin target consumption, and more complex debris protection systems..."

"The input-output ratio is deteriorating at a speed visible to the naked eye."

He spoke extremely concisely, without piling up any obscure jargon, using the most straightforward logic to outline a clear thread.

"And our Steady-state Micro-focused Light Source takes a different path."

"Its core principle is to precisely control the microstructure of the electron beam, allowing electrons to achieve a 'micro-bunching' effect at specific positions, thereby emitting highly coherent and highly stable light."

Lin Yuan emphasized the four words "highly coherent" slightly.

"What does 'highly coherent' mean?"

"It means that every photon in this beam of light is dancing to the same beat. Consistent direction, consistent frequency, consistent phase."

"Every spot of light hitting the wafer is clean and crisp, with no excess stray light."

He paused slightly.

"And the most critical point—"

"Its power limit, theoretically, has no ceiling."

This statement landed, and the press conference hall went completely silent.

Those tech reporters who understood it opened their eyes wide.

Those who didn't fully understand it also sensed a weight from the five words "no ceiling" that was enough to rewrite history.

The live stream comments, after a brief blank space, went completely crazy.

"Holy crap! No ceiling?!"

"Although I don't understand the technology, I understood the five words 'no ceiling'!"

"Plasma has a limit, ours doesn't? Isn't this a dimensional strike?!"

"Brothers, I have goosebumps from my scalp to my heels!"

"Those who previously said we were picking up garbage technology, come out and walk a few steps? Is your face still there?!"

Countless comments stacked together, a white blur, making it impossible to see individual content.

But that overwhelming excitement and ecstasy spilling out from the screen could burn people even through the internet cable.

...

The Other Side of the Ocean.

The blonde man was no longer looking at the screen.

He turned around and stared fixedly at Harrison.

"Speak."

Two words, squeezed out from between his teeth.

Harrison's throat bobbed violently twice; he opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"...Judging from the data and principles he demonstrated."

His voice was as dry as if it had been sanded with sandpaper.

"This technical route... has great theoretical feasibility."

The blonde man's fists slowly clenched at his sides.

"But!"

Harrison suddenly raised his volume; he had to grasp onto something.

Otherwise, the authority and confidence he had built up his entire life would completely collapse in this office today.

"From laboratory principle verification to engineering implementation, there is a world of difference!"

"The beam is stable, so what? How to solve miniaturization? How to control energy consumption? How to integrate and match it with the optical system?"

"Every one of these problems is enough to stall a project for who knows how many years!"

After finishing, his chest heaved violently, and his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

The blonde man looked at him for a long time, then slowly sat back in his chair.

Was Harrison right or wrong?

Right.

Every point was right.

But for some reason, he just felt so... insecure.

At the press conference.

Lin Yuan took in all the faces off the stage, some shocked, some excited, some still digesting the information.

Then, he looked straight into the camera.

"Finally, I would like to summarize in one sentence."

The whole venue held its breath.

In the live stream room, the comments suddenly stalled.

Lin Yuan's voice was not loud, but it was clear enough to pierce through every wall, every ocean.

"Plasma Light Sources represent the present of Photolithography Machines."

He paused for just the right beat, a calm arc curling at the corners of his lips.

"And the Steady-state Micro-focused Light Source represents the..."

"Future!"