85: Chapter 85, to be honest, isn't too difficult.

These words drifted lightly from Lin Yuan's lips.

Falling into the center of the vast venue, they were like a silent bomb, stunning the entire audience into silence.

The expressions of the foreign reporters in the front row froze completely.

The wrists of several reporters holding recording pens hung in mid-air, trembling uncontrollably.

In the domestic entrepreneurs' section, several semiconductor company executives over the age of fifty stared fixedly at Lin Yuan on the stage, their Adam's apples bobbing incessantly beneath their ties.

"Solved?"

"The difficulty in preparing special materials, which has been a bottleneck for Xia Country for decades, was just solved so nonchalantly?"

"The breakthrough of the complete Photolithography Machine was already shocking enough."

"But now, even the supporting, foundational material supply chain has been opened up too?"

Everyone present was an industry giant; they knew all too well what this meant!

It meant that Xia Country's semiconductor industry—from raw ore extraction underground, to the purification of high-purity special materials, and finally to the etching process of top-tier extreme ultraviolet Photolithography Machines—

would form a completely seamless, perfect closed loop!

No single link could ever be manipulated by external forces again.

After a brief silence, the barrage in the live broadcast room erupted with such density that it crashed the server.

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! I can't take it! This press conference today is going to tear a hole in the sky!"

"Sanctions? Embargoes? This time it's become a real joke! We're playing on our own now; you guys go ahead and sanction the air!"

"I unilaterally declare that today is the inaugural year of Xia Country's technological takeoff! Who agrees? Who disagrees?!"

Meanwhile, The Other Side of the Ocean, in that luxuriously decorated top-floor office.

"Bang!"

The blond man stood up abruptly from his leather chair.

The force was so great that the chair slid back over half a meter, slamming into the storage cabinet behind him with a dull, thunderous thud.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

His chest heaved violently, his red-rimmed blue eyes fixed rigidly on the screen. He neurotically chewed over those words, his voice growing sharper and more shrill each time.

The preparation process for special materials—what was that?

That was a technical barrier built by the entire Western semiconductor industry over more than half a century, burning through hundreds of billions in capital, and achieved only through countless trials and errors!

The fact that Xia Country had built a Photolithography Machine in two months had already driven him nearly insane.

But at least he still held the final trump card: the "material embargo."

As long as Xia Country could not produce semiconductor-grade special materials, that silver-gray machine would forever be nothing more than a display piece, an expensive political symbol.

This was his last shred of dignity.

It was also the Western camp's final line of defense.

But now, Lin Yuan stood before the entire world, and with a single sentence—"it has already been researched"—he had uprooted that line of defense and cast it to the ground.

That wasn't all...

The blond man's temples throbbed wildly. A thought, far more terrifying than the technological breakthrough itself, sprang from the depths of his mind.

What were the base raw materials for special materials?

Rare earths!

Critical minerals!

They were those strategic resources buried deep beneath the vast lands of Xia Country, holding a globally dominant position in reserves!

If Xia Country not only possessed the mines but had also mastered the entire set of top-tier preparation technologies, from raw ore to special materials...

Then they would not only no longer need to import Western products at exorbitant prices.

They could even flip the table and directly cut off the export of raw ore!

And how many global special material manufacturers relied on Xia Country for their upstream raw materials?

Once Xia Country tightened the noose...

The blond man felt a bone-chilling cold rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head; his blood felt as if it were freezing.

This was no longer just a matter of the chip market.

This was the lifeblood of the entire semiconductor supply chain, slipping from their grasp, reversing course, and turning back to tighten around their own necks.

He whipped his head around, his bloodshot blue eyes boring into Harrison, who was standing nearby.

"You told me before that without materials, their Photolithography Machine would be nothing but a pile of scrap metal?!"

It was just one sentence, but every word was like a poisoned blade.

Harrison's aged face turned paper-white. His lips trembled violently, but he couldn't squeeze out a single syllable.

What could he say?

Back in this office, he had used the "material embargo" as his lifeline, telling the man before him that even if the people of Xia Country had the machines, it would be useless.

Now, that straw had snapped.

Harrison didn't dare meet the blond man's murderous gaze.

He could only turn his head slightly, staring in despair at the screen, where the young man stood on the podium, surrounded by the flashes of the entire audience, looking like a god.

...At the press conference.

As soon as Lin Yuan finished speaking, another hand shot up in the front row.

An Asian reporter stood up and spoke in fluent Xia language.

"Chief Engineer Lin! As far as we know, before your appearance, Xia Country had not made any substantial progress in the fields of Photolithography Machines or cutting-edge materials."

"Yet in just two short months, you successfully developed the Photolithography Machine, and now you have announced the conquest of material technology."

"Are these breakthroughs all related to you personally?"

"Also, may I ask, what is the current stage of progress in special material preparation?"

The noise in the venue died down instantly.

Countless intense gazes converged on the center of the stage.

Lin Yuan stood under the spotlight, holding the microphone casually in one hand, his posture upright.

He did not avoid the Asian reporter's gaze.

He simply nodded.

"That's correct."

"It does have something to do with me."

Lin Yuan tilted his chin up slightly, his tone relaxed.

"Previously, while researching the Photolithography Machine, I discovered the issues we faced regarding high-end purification processes."

"So, I compiled a set of technical documentation and handed it over to the relevant national departments."

"As for the specific progress,"

He swept his gaze across the audience, meeting eyes filled with curiosity, and chuckled.

"That falls under the purview of other departments."

"The star of today's press conference is the Photolithography Machine; delving too much into the details of the materials field would be a bit of a distraction."

A low chuckle, mixed with awe and goodwill, rippled through the audience.

"However, there is one thing I can guarantee everyone."

The smile on Lin Yuan's face faded slightly. His eyes grew deep and resolute, and he spoke with clear articulation.

"The final result will not disappoint you."

As he finished speaking, thunderous applause erupted throughout the venue.

The domestic entrepreneurs, in particular, clapped until their palms were red, their excitement evident on their faces.

Lin Yuan's guarantee was more reassuring than any dry experimental data could ever be.

Just then, a senior reporter sitting in the front row, wearing the press pass of an authoritative official Xia Country media outlet, raised his hand.

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, signaling for him to ask his question.

The reporter stood up, his expression excited. He gripped the microphone tightly, struggling to maintain professional composure.

"Chief Engineer Lin, hello."

"From the start of today's press conference until now, you have brought shock after shock to the world."

"In less than two months, you spearheaded the conquest of the three core technical barriers of the Photolithography Machine and produced the world's most advanced extreme ultraviolet Photolithography Machine."

"And just now, you even revealed that you have delved into next-generation communication technology and foundational intelligent systems."

"And now, you have unveiled the preparation process for special materials."

The reporter paused here for a moment.

The entire venue, along with the tens of millions of viewers in the live broadcast room, fell silent in unison.

Because any one of the achievements the reporter summarized would be enough to consume a top scientist's entire life's work, or even secure them a place in history.

And now, they were all concentrated in one twenty-year-old young man.

"So, I would like to ask a question on behalf of everyone."

The reporter's gaze was locked on Lin Yuan, his tone filled with intense curiosity.

"A person's energy and mental capacity are ultimately limited, and the barriers between different disciplines are even more rigid."

"You have spanned so many distinct, cutting-edge fields—from optics and precision machinery, to materials chemistry and communication engineering—and achieved world-class status in every single one."

"May I ask, how on earth did you do it?"

Once this question was asked, the vast press hall fell silent.

The focus of the entire audience and every camera lens was fixed on the young man standing in the center of the light, awaiting his answer.

Lin Yuan looked at the reporter, his face showing no surprise whatsoever.

He brought the microphone to his lips and remained silent for a few seconds.

Then, he tilted his head slightly, a perfect, sincere sense of confusion appearing in his deep eyes.

"How did I do it?"

He repeated the question softly, as if asking it back to them or speaking to himself.

Then, Lin Yuan faced the cameras of the entire world and gave his answer.

"Internationally, there are actually many relatively mature results already on display for research into these technologies."

"Take the special material preparation I just mentioned, for example. What I did was…"

He paused for half a second and spread his hands.

"…nothing more than reverse-engineering the process from the final result."

He paused, then added one final sentence.

"To be honest, it's not too difficult."