I built an armada.

The report grew softer and softer, until it was barely audible, like a mosquito's hum. A deathly silence fell over the command platform.

The air was oppressive and suffocating.

"Extreme load test!"

Wilkins' voice was so cold it felt like ice crystals.

Buzz... Sizzle!
As the final test command was issued, the massive "Guardian" prototype suddenly emitted a piercing, high-pitched electrical shriek, like a cassette tape from a cheap radio! Immediately afterward, a thick plume of black smoke, reeking of burning, erupted from its main body! Several critical indicator lights went out instantly!

One of the outer metal plates was even deformed and expanded by the heat surging from inside.

It fell to the sand with a "thud"!
The test site was deathly silent.

Wilkins slowly removed his sunglasses, revealing a pair of tired eyes that burned with intense rage.

He ignored the pile of still-smoking "scrap metal" and instead picked up the secure microphone, the kind reserved for White House roundtable meetings, and started a global encrypted broadcast.

His voice was low, slow, yet carried a tone powerful enough to freeze the temperature of the entire planet. It was clear through the microphone, penetrating layers of encrypted networks, and reaching all top-tier terminals capable of receiving it.

"The Indian King..."

The brief pause was like Death sharpening his scythe.

"—You're a complete idiot who deserves to be sent back to the Stone Age, your brain filled with Ganges silt!!!"

This curse, transcending geographical boundaries, is not born of personal grudges, but represents the ultimate anger and contempt of the Eagle Tribe's top strategic decision-making level! There is not a single official diplomatic statement, only the most naked and blatant contemptuous conclusion from the depths of the Pentagon, representing one of the highest sources of fighting spirit in the entire Eagle Nest!

This move caused a huge stir! Less than half an hour after Brigadier General Wilkins' global broadcast greeting, the Eagle Tribe's Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an emergency press conference, officially announcing the freezing of all cooperation projects with Indian tribes and the withdrawal of all related technical and military personnel!

Immediately afterward, the Eastern Wilderness Tribe, which had long harbored a bellyful of grievances, had invested billions only to be wasted, and had been ridiculed by the whole world, practically jumped up and down to follow suit!
"Immediately! Completely suspend all technological cooperation with Indian tribes!"

"Immediately recover all outstanding payments!"

"Indian tribes! They've betrayed their faith! Their national dignity is utterly lost!!"

Two resounding slaps from his former "investment partner" landed hard on the face of the Indian king, a face etched with "innocence" and "divine favor."

Faced with these two cold and harsh announcements that almost severed ties, and the global wave of ridicule, the Indian king, sitting on his throne in the Presidential Palace in New Delhi, licking his thick yogurt, simply lazily put down his exquisite ceramic bowl.

He wiped the cream-stained mustache from the corner of his mouth with a napkin and gave the camera an incredibly "pure" and "compassionate" smile.

"It's understandable that the Eagle Tribe's general was out of his mind."

"The neighbor of the Eastern Wilderness has probably been incited by some evil alien forces to be pessimistic about the economy again."

"Ugh……"

He sighed deeply, his tone filled with regret yet carrying an unwavering composure and confidence in the "truth."

"They don't understand the greatness of our Shiva's land, and that's not their fault. The mistake lies in... the prototype operators they sent there... their skills were too crude! Without the bloodline blessed by the great god Shiva, one cannot drive the true guardian! Our Indian prototype is the future!"

He even shrugged at the camera, as if tolerating a group of unreasonable children.

Eagle Tribe White House.

"Fk his mother's future!!"

After receiving the transcript of the Indian King's latest response, the Great Chief slammed the presidential pen, symbolizing the highest power in North America, onto the table! The nib broke off, and ink splattered across the Indian subcontinent on the globe!
"Withdraw the ambassador! Now! Immediately! Downgrade the embassy to... Chargé d'affaires level!!"

Eastern Wilderness, Tokyo.

Noda Taro stared blankly at the Indian king's smile on the screen, his body trembling as if having an epileptic seizure.

He suddenly grabbed the red-headed document on the table, which bore the chrysanthemum emblem and represented the directive from the highest cabinet decision-making level of the Eastern Wilderness. Trembling, he signed his name—officially signing the order to withdraw the three ambassadors from the Eastern Wilderness to Afghanistan!
He didn't want to see that face again, not even for a second!
At the Longxin Base across the ocean, Su Dingping looked at the latest international news briefing, took a sip of hot tea, and gazed out the window at the dawn breaking in the east.

Eagle Tribe, Eastern Wilderness Tribe, and A-San Tribe.

The diplomatic relations between the three countries were like being forcibly sealed in a deep well of liquid nitrogen at minus 196 degrees Celsius, instantly plummeting to freezing point!
The embassy's flag, a symbol of a nation's respectable diplomatic channels, was lowered, carrying an indescribable sense of embarrassment and chilling rage!

Inside the massive experimental hall, the "Dragon Star" stellarator, gleaming with a cold metallic luster, stood majestically like a mountain. The ultra-precise components, meticulously crafted day and night by the precision CNC machine tools personally modified by Su Dingping, were now nested layer upon layer like the skeleton of a giant dragon.

The air was thick with the scent of engine oil, special coolant, and a palpable tension.

All the core members of Longxin Laboratory were present, along with the two distinguished senior experts, Li Kaimin and Hong Changlong, who were specially invited. Everyone held their breath and focused their attention on the slender yet seemingly capable figure on the central control console—Su Dingping.

"The vacuum pumping system has been confirmed to have no leaks!"

"Liquid helium superconducting magnet cooling cycle, pressure and temperature stabilize within the threshold!"

"High-energy particle injection pre-start array, all self-tests are green!"

……

A series of clear reports rang out in front of the control panel, and each "confirmed passed" made the atmosphere in the laboratory room feel a little less tense.

Su Dingping stood in front of the main control panel, his gaze sweeping across the hundreds of monitoring screens like a hawk's, finally landing on the glaring red of the main control button.

"start up."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a resounding clang like metal clashing, penetrating everyone's eardrums.

A tremendous buzzing sound suddenly rose from the ground, like a sleeping dragon awakening, emitting a deep roar from its throat.

Inside the device, which stands tens of meters tall, invisible magnetic fields began to intertwine and twist wildly, forming a "magnetic cage" that confined the plasma. On the core monitoring screen, the pale blue energy flow curve, symbolizing plasma generation, began to climb laboriously upwards. Everyone clenched their fists, their hearts pounding as if they would leap out of their chests.

However, this blue curve, symbolizing hope, climbed for less than twenty seconds before it seemed to be choked by an invisible giant hand, throbbing and trembling violently, and finally plummeted like a cliff amid a series of sharp warning red lights!

The buzzing sound seemed to be cut off, and the lights in the laboratory hall flickered a few times, accompanied by a dull tremor as some kind of energy inside the equipment instantly dissipated.

Dead silence! Utter dead silence!

One second their hearts were brimming with excitement, the next they were frozen by the cold reality. The expectant light on everyone's faces instantly froze, faded, and finally turned into a blinding blankness and disbelief.

"Failed...?"

A young researcher's voice, tinged with barely perceptible sobs, rang out, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, eliciting no response whatsoever.

The pressure, like heavy lead, suddenly weighed on everyone's hearts.

Countless days and nights of sweat, countless restarts, and at the critical juncture within reach, were they kicked back to square one by this first kick? Li Kaimin and Hong Changlong exchanged a glance, both seeing deep resentment and worry in each other's eyes, but neither spoke immediately.

They have experienced too many failures on their scientific research journey, but this time, it is of extraordinary significance.

Su Dingping's expression appeared remarkably calm under the changing light of the monitoring screen.

Unlike the others, he didn't panic. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly, and the sharp light in his eyes intensified.

"Troubleshooting, proceed immediately."

He grabbed the communicator, his voice as calm as a river flowing beneath ice, instantly breaking the suffocating silence.

"Control team, check all energy injection port signals; Materials team, take the equipment and follow me to the perimeter of the vacuum chamber!"

At that moment, he was no longer the young project leader, but a commander on the battlefield, his orders brief, powerful, and carrying unquestionable authority. The researchers, as if injected with a shot of adrenaline, immediately snapped out of the chaos and began to work methodically.

Su Dingping personally led a team to open the heavy isolation door leading to the core vacuum chamber.

Inside the enormous cavity, the temperature had long been cooled to near absolute zero by liquid helium, and wisps of white, cold air flowed slowly under the bright lights.

Su Dingping donned a specially designed cryogenic protective suit, carried sophisticated laser scanning and detection equipment, and crawled inside without hesitation. The frigid air made it hard to breathe, but his gaze swept over the cold, silvery-gray interior walls with a chilling calm.

The laser grid of the detector probe meticulously swept across the smooth, mirror-like inner surface. Suddenly, the scanning terminal screen magnified the signal in a certain area, and an extremely faint, almost imperceptible discontinuity appeared in the previously perfectly continuous feedback ripples!
It was a scratch that was no longer than the knuckle of my little finger and thinner than the cross-section of a hair!

"found it!"

A materials expert who followed behind exclaimed in frustration.

"Damn it! It must be some step in the handling or ultra-clean cleaning process where a tiny hard object scratched us!"

This level of mirror finish cannot tolerate even the slightest flaw!

These almost negligible scratches are insignificant under normal temperature and atmospheric pressure, but in the extreme high temperature and high pressure plasma environment that simulates the core of nuclear fusion, they are enough to become the perfect pressure relief valve for the collapse of the energy field!

It was the culprit that killed the first test!

Su Dingping's fingertips lightly traced the virtual mark on the cold scanning screen, his lips pressed into a sharp line. No one knew better than him the price the team had paid to create a perfect vacuum chamber that far exceeded current international standards.

This unexpected turn of events felt like a cruel irony from heaven.

But he did not hesitate at all.

"Backup vacuum chamber, prepare to change procedures immediately."

His resolute voice came through the built-in communicator in his protective suit.

When the backup vacuum chamber—a colossal structure with a deep blue glow and even more technologically advanced than the previous one—was carefully hoisted into place by heavy lifting machinery, a spark of renewed fervor reignited the sluggish morale in the laboratory.

Everyone was like a finely wound-up machine, throwing themselves into a second, almost desperate sprint.

Two days and three nights of continuous hard work, replacing, testing, sealing, pre-cooling... the whole process was precise to the second.

The second activation command came from Su Dingping's lips, carrying a resolute determination to burn one's bridges.

All eyes were once again focused on that dark blue energy flow curve.

This time, the curve climbed smoothly and steadily, quickly breaking through the previous threshold and continuing its upward momentum! The "magnetic cage" shape representing plasma stability confinement on the monitoring screen was clear and beautiful!
A tremendous, indescribable excitement welled up in everyone's hearts.

"Stay calm! Stay calm—"

"Temperature! The temperature of the central plasma is soaring!"

"Magnetic field feedback strength, perfect match! Constraint...we've really restrained it!"

Excited whispers and suppressed cheers spread through the corners of the laboratory.

However, it only lasted for 121 seconds!
The blue curve, symbolizing the hope for controlled nuclear fusion, reached a peak that made one's heart almost leap out of their chest, before suddenly erupting with an even sharper, more piercing, chain-reaction-like alarm!
Buzz—Boom!
A deafening roar, far more muffled than the first attempt, as if some powerful force were tearing and shattering within the device, resounded from within. A flash of bright light followed, and instantly, most of the control panel screen was covered by a glaring red malfunction indicator!

Meanwhile, the high-precision temperature sensors covering the surface of the device showed alarmingly high readings at several points in the central area!
"Warning! External coil zones three and seven are overloaded and unstable!"

"Warning! A crack has appeared in the core magnetic surface! Reaction forcibly aborted!"

"Warning! Constraint field collapse! Cooling system emergency intervention!"

A cold, synthesized electronic voice ruthlessly broadcasts the devastating fault.

This failure was more devastating and the blow more severe than the first. The laboratory fell into a chilling, deathly silence, as if even the souls of the inhabitants had frozen.

Only the superconducting magnet cooling system was running frantically, emitting a rapid hum, like a desperate wail.

Several researchers with weaker mental fortitude even bent over, covered their mouths, and their shoulders trembled violently.

A huge sense of frustration and bewilderment overwhelmed everything—the most difficult core vacuum chamber of the stellarator had been solved, but the problem was actually in the external coil support area?
Mr. Hong Changlong's face turned deathly pale instantly. He stood up abruptly, his voice hoarse and trembling.

"Impossible...impossible! Our coil installation parameters have been checked hundreds of times! The magnetic surface is cracked? Could it be due to the material's high-temperature resistance..."

Li Kaimin also stood up, but he remained relatively composed. He simply held onto the edge of the control panel, his knuckles turning white from the effort, and his gaze towards Su Dingping was filled with worry.

All eyes—despairing, resentful, and clinging to a last glimmer of hope—fell on Su Dingping. In this absolute trough of defeat, he was the only beacon of hope that had not yet given up. (End of Chapter)