88: Chapter 88 A Bet on the Nation's Fate! The Chief Engineer's Authority, Forged with Miracles!
The "Kaitian" project, seventy-second hour.
In the northwestern suburbs of the capital, at the "Kaitian" base.
Late at night, Su Che finished a day of simulations, walked out of the room filled with calculation formulas, and rubbed his throbbing temples.
He walked to a window in a corner of the base where signal interference was relatively weak and dialed Lin Waner's number.
"Waner, not asleep yet?" The call connected quickly, and his voice softened unconsciously.
"I was waiting for your call," Lin Waner's voice carried a hint of worry. "Is it... very dangerous over there? The news says..."
"Don't believe the news," Su Che interrupted her, leaning against the cold wall and looking at the sparse stars in the night sky outside the window. "It's not danger, it's trouble. A large research project that might keep me busy for a long time."
"The threat from 'Tian Zhao' has been neutralized, but the base is under total lockdown, so I can't leave for now. Focus on your classes at school, take care of yourself, and I'll come pick you up when I'm done."
"Okay," Lin Waner replied obediently. "You also need to take care of your health, don't overwork yourself."
Hanging up the phone, the warmth in Su Che's eyes faded, replaced once again by calmness and determination.
He turned and walked toward the brightly lit laboratory of the Optical Materials Research Group.
Academician Qian Zhenhua placed a two-hundred-page, beautifully bound "Feasibility Report on Diffraction-Limited Aspheric Lens Grinding Process V1.0" on the center of the conference table with a loud "clack."
"Chief Engineer Su."
He pushed up his reading glasses, his tone as serious as if he were reading a verdict.
"My team of fifteen comrades and I have spent two days and two nights formulating the most optimal plan within our current capabilities."
"By adopting the composite process of 'Ion Beam Polishing + Magnetorheological Finishing,' theoretically, we can produce the first qualified sample within six months."
Academician Qian Zhenhua paused, his gaze sweeping over all the experts in the field of optics present.
"Of course, the success rate is less than five percent."
He finally looked at Su Che, his eyes filled with scrutiny.
"This is science; it requires taking one step at a time, there are no shortcuts."
"Now, please, Chief Engineer Su, present your 'growth' plan so that us old folks can learn a thing or two."
In the conference room, everyone's gaze was focused on Su Che.
For the past two days, the entire base had been divided into three major research groups.
Academician Wu Mengda, leading a group of materials and structural mechanics experts, had gone to the workshop next door to study that crude Anti-gravity device, which buzzed day and night, though no one knew what they were up to.
Another group, led by President Liu Qianghua, was responsible for tackling precision equipment like servo motors.
Only their optics group, because of Su Che's mention of "growth," had completely split into two factions, neither able to convince the other.
Su Che yawned, looking as if he hadn't woken up yet.
He took a stack of crumpled A4 paper out of his backpack and tossed it onto the table.
It was three pages in total.
The first page contained the environmental parameters of the growth chamber: temperature, pressure, electric field strength... a series of data precise to six decimal places.
The second page was a short segment of initial quantum algorithm code.
The third page was... a doodle-like sketch of the growth chamber structure, with crooked lines and extremely casual annotations.
"This is the plan."
Su Che said concisely.
"Pfft—"
A younger researcher couldn't hold it in and laughed out loud, but upon seeing Academician Qian Zhenhua's murderous glare, he quickly covered his mouth.
The atmosphere in the conference room exploded.
"Nonsense! This is simply nonsense!"
"A plan? This isn't even as good as a college student's course project!"
"Chief Engineer Su, we respect your achievements, but please, respect science as well!"
Academician Qian Zhenhua was trembling with rage; he pointed at the three pages of paper, his hand shaking.
"Su Che! Let me ask you, how is the seed crystal for crystal growth selected? How is the stress released during the atomic stacking process? Where is the error-correction mechanism for the quantum algorithm?"
"There's nothing about any of this here!"
"I thought you were a genius, but I didn't expect you to be a madman!"
Su Che dug at his ear, feeling that these old men were a bit noisy.
He stood up, walked over to Academician Qian Zhenhua, picked up the two-hundred-page report, and without even flipping through it, threw it back at him.
"Academician Qian Zhenhua, forgive me for being blunt, but your plan is a dead end."
Su Che's voice was calm, yet it caused an uproar in the conference room.
"Six months? A five percent success rate?"
"By the time you finish grinding the lens, the American aircraft carriers will have already arrived at our doorstep."
He looked around at the faces, some angry, some bewildered.
"I don't have time to argue with you."
"How about this."
Su Che held up three fingers.
"Give me an independent laboratory, a growth chamber, and enough high-purity quartz raw material."
"Seventy-two hours."
"If I cannot produce a qualified lens, I will step down as the Chief Engineer of the 'Kaitian' project and get out of this base forever."
"If I succeed..."
Su Che grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"From then on at the 'Kaitian' base, every word I say will be the highest directive. All you need to do is execute, not question."
He's crazy! This young man has completely lost his mind!
Using the nation's vital equipment as a bet?
Academician Qian Zhenhua's lips turned purple with anger, and he was just about to rebuke him.
The alloy door of the laboratory was suddenly pushed open.
Lieutenant General Peng and President Liu Qianghua walked in with ashen faces.
"Everyone, we just received news."
Lieutenant General Peng's voice was hoarse and heavy.
"Germany's Carl Zeiss company has just announced that, in compliance with the American 'maximum pressure' executive order, they are terminating all cooperation with our country in the optical field."
"The last batch we ordered from them, which is also the highest purity quartz sand raw material in the world, has been indefinitely detained."
This news was like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's heads.
It's over. Even the last raw materials are gone.
One cannot make a meal without rice.
Academician Qian Zhenhua's report with a five percent success rate instantly became a piece of scrap paper.
Everyone fell into silence, a silence bordering on despair.
"General."
Su Che's voice rang out at this moment, exceptionally clear.
"How much longer will our inventory last?"
Lieutenant General Peng looked at him and slowly held up one hand.
"Only enough to support one experiment."
"One?" Su Che smiled. "That's enough."
He looked at Academician Qian Zhenhua again; in his eyes, the earlier playfulness was gone, replaced only by an unquestionable decisiveness.
"Academician Qian Zhenhua, do you still think we have six months to waste now?"
"We can no longer afford to gamble."
"The country can't afford to gamble either."
Academician Qian Zhenhua looked at Su Che, his lips moving, but he couldn't say a word.
Yes. The road is blocked.
The only hope is this young man in front of him and his "growth" plan, which seems like a fantasy.
Lieutenant General Peng took a deep breath, stepped forward, and patted Su Che heavily on the shoulder.
"Kid."
"The nation's resources have all been mobilized for you."
"Now, the fate of the entire country rests on this gamble of yours."
He turned around and issued an order to all the experts.
"Pass on my order!"
"The 'Kaitian' project Optical Materials Research Group, effective immediately, pause all conventional grinding plans!"
"Everyone, assist Su Che in building the 'Atomic-Level Crystal Growth Chamber'!"
"At all costs, meet all his requirements!"
...Twenty-four hours later.
In a specially modified ultra-clean laboratory.
A piece of equipment with an extremely strange shape had been assembled.
It looked like a giant pressure cooker, wrapped in dense superconducting coils and sensors, connected to an independent server powered by the "Dragon Chip."
This was the "growth chamber" from Su Che's blueprints.
The others were outside the observation window, watching Su Che perform the final adjustments alone inside.
He carefully placed the only batch of high-purity quartz raw material, which was more precious than gold, into the chamber.
Then, he closed the heavy hatch.
He walked out of the laboratory and came to the main control console.
Academician Qian Zhenhua, President Liu Qianghua, Lieutenant General Peng, and dozens of national treasure-level academicians—everyone's gaze was focused on him.
Su Che did not look at anyone.
His fingers typed that short initial code onto the keyboard.
Then, he pressed the execute key.
"Hum—"
The growth chamber emitted a low roar and began to operate.
A countdown appeared on the main screen.
[72:00:00]
On the other side of the laboratory, the top-tier precision grinding machine tool imported from Germany, the best in the Dragon Kingdom, sat silently, like a cold tombstone.
Everyone present knew that from this moment on, that old path they had been walking for decades had been completely abandoned.
And whether this brand-new path before them, leading to a miracle, could be traversed?
No one knew the answer.
Su Che pulled up a chair, sat down, propped his feet on the control console, and closed his eyes.
As if everything that followed had nothing to do with him.
Only the red countdown jumping on the screen reminded everyone present.
The nation's destiny rests on this one move.