I built an armada.

The theoretical model for the dynamic stability of the resonant bandgap that he proposed back then, cough, was quite well-known internationally!

Old Hong almost blurted out his wild idea of ​​launching satellites back then, but fortunately he corrected himself in time.

"He's rigid and stubborn; once he gets into his own mess, he can't get out."

But the theoretical foundation and technical expertise you need are readily available at his research institute!

Li Mingde immediately took out a communication terminal, quickly wrote down a brief letter of introduction and access password, and then solemnly picked up a pen from the table—not an expensive fountain pen, but an ordinary pencil.

He hesitated for a moment, then quickly drew an extremely archaic symbol on the virtual screen of the communication terminal.

It resembles a deformed version of the ancient seal script character "鼎" (ding), with clumsy and heavy strokes, conveying a rough and weighty feeling.

He used special channels to encrypt and send the information.

"okay!"

Li Mingde handed the terminal to Su Dingping, which displayed a successful reception receipt.

"His research institute is hard to get into; 303 is well hidden and the rules are strict. He recognizes my signature and fingerprint."

Just say it was recommended by the two of us old folks!

This old guy has been focused on cultivating his dragon tendons all these years, so talk to him about that! By the way, a word of caution: this old guy is incredibly stubborn, so be prepared.

He showed no kindness to either incompetent officials or pretentious youngsters.

Su Dingping took the communication terminal displaying special encrypted information. Looking at the simple and unadorned symbols, he instantly understood the significance of the two elders.

This symbol represents power, a key.

Overwhelmed with joy and gratitude, he solemnly bowed deeply to Li Mingde and Hong Zhiqiang.

"Mr. Li! Mr. Hong! Thank you so much!"

"No need to thank me!"

Hong Zhiqiang smiled and waved his hand, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"Go quickly! Bring that same tenacity with you! Let's see if your sharp blade can truly ignite a spark on that old whetstone! Remember, time is precious! Zhulong can't wait, and neither can Longxia!"

Su Dingping did not hesitate at all.

He pulled out only a few of the most crucial notes from the mountain of documents, filled with his own thoughts and questions, as well as an old manual on the optimization of magnetic confinement systems, and locked them in an inconspicuous metal briefcase.

He didn't even have time to shave the stubble on his chin; he just quickly washed his face and put on his usual dark gray work jacket.

"Xueyun! Prepare the car!"

As he strode out of the office, he quickly dialed his assistant's number.

"Highest clearance, emergency passage! Target: Research Institute 303, a Class A restricted research area! Depart within three minutes!"

As dusk deepened and the thick night deepened, only the low growl of the special vehicle's powerful engine cut through the wind on the silent mountain road, while the towering peaks on both sides stood like silent giants, watching over this swiftly moving point of light.

Inside the carriage, Su Dingping leaned against the cold bulletproof glass, his fingers unconsciously pressing his temples. Although he was exhausted, the searching light in his eyes was more dazzling than the starlight outside the window.

His target was hidden deep within the core of a mountain, a place so remote that even satellite maps only showed a blank mark – the Class A forbidden research site, Institute 303.

The car eventually slid into a platform disguised as an abandoned hydroelectric power station, where several almost silent giant hydraulic doors opened and closed in succession, isolating the world inside the mountain.

The dim fluorescent lights outlined the cold, metallic contours of the empty corridor, and the air was filled with a dry, pungent smell, a mixture of precision machinery and special oils, making it even more imposing and enclosed than the "Dragon Heart" laboratory.

The person he was going to meet here was named Hua Ming.

Unlike Li Mingde and Hong Zhiqiang, who were highly respected and experienced, Hua Ming, in Su Dingping's impression after obtaining the information, was a man in his prime, with explosive power, and even somewhat "unconventional"—a man of action.

Rumor has it that he once smashed his boss's desk in order to secure an experimental cycle. It is precisely this pure, almost obsessive personality that has allowed him to dedicate himself to the difficult task of superconductivity for decades.

The heavy explosion-proof door slid open, and Su Dingping walked in. It was more like an enlarged workbench than an office. Equipment diagrams, printed copies of crystal structures, and experimental data reports filled most of the space like a whirlwind, and several half-open rolls of circuit diagrams were piled on top of an old-fashioned filing cabinet in the corner.

A figure was buried in a huge workbench in the middle, with a bright spotlight shining on his thick hair from above, and a few unruly white hairs sticking out stubbornly.

He was wearing faded dark blue overalls, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his muscular forearms. He was frowning as he stared at a highly detailed electromagnetic scan map, gripping an electronic pen and furrowing his brow as he marked something on it.

"Are you Su Dingping?"

The sound rang out, slightly hoarse like metal scraping, but not loud at all.

Hua Ming raised his head.

He was indeed much younger than Li and Hong, in his fifties, with a robust physique, though his cheeks were thin and his eyes were deep-set. His eyes, however, were surprisingly bright, shining like searchlights as he scrutinized Su Dingping without any pretense. There were no pleasantries, no small talk, and he didn't even leave his seat, but he looked Su Dingping up and down thoroughly.

"It's me, Director Hua."

Su Dingping nodded and handed over the electronic identification card sent by Li Mingde, which included an encrypted letter of recommendation and a personal highest-level access token.

Hua Ming took the card, and a precision terminal on his wrist, resembling armor, emitted a soft "beep," while encrypted data streams scrolled rapidly across the screen.

He stared at it for a few seconds, and the tense jawline finally relaxed slightly. A very shallow and short curve appeared at the corner of his mouth, almost imperceptible. The scrutinizing sharpness in his eyes subsided, replaced by a pure, inquisitive interest as he examined a fellow professional.

"Li Mingde, Hong Zhiqiang..."

He put down the terminal and tapped a quaint alloy nameplate on the corner of the messy desktop.

"These two old men have finally done something sensible!"

He stood up and reached out his hand to Su Dingping across the table piled with documents.

"Come in! This place is messy, don't be shy, we don't have time for all that formalities."

That hand was broad and strong, with thick calluses and several old burn marks on the palm.

This handshake allowed Su Dingping to feel the pragmatic, almost cold, scientific research temperament emanating from the other person.

Hua Ming's hand was very steady, and his knuckles were somewhat prominent. When he shook hands, one could clearly feel the focused strength contained within it, as if he were not holding the hand of a young researcher, but a piece of special material waiting for him to assess its properties.

"I heard you managed to get that Dragon Star thing working? Young man, you're something else!"

Hua Ming withdrew his hand and, without any further words, got straight to the point.

"To make these two old men willingly come all the way to my graveyard to recite your name..." He pointed to the top of his head and then vaguely gestured towards the thick rock layer.

"You want to mine gold in superconductivity?"

His words are always rough, but they get straight to the point.

"All I have here are stones and ideas that haven't yet turned into gold!"

"The gold is hidden deep."

Su Dingping met his unwavering gaze, his tone equally direct.

"Longxing is just the beginning. The power grid, weapons, the heart of ships... everywhere is stuck on the bottleneck of energy transmission."

High-temperature superconductivity, or even room-temperature superconductivity, isn't gold; it's air and water—our lifeline that we absolutely must obtain!

He didn't mention the encyclopedia, but his words carried enough weight.

He didn't put on airs at all; instead, he seemed to have found a handy pickaxe and was eager to dig.

Hua Ming's slightly gloomy eyes suddenly brightened, and he slammed his hand on the table, causing stacks of neatly arranged hard-covered document folders to fall over with a "thud".

He didn't care at all, his gaze fixed intently on Su Dingping.

"Good! That's the spirit we need! Air and water! Ha! Well said!"
"So how long are you planning to dig in this graveyard of 303? Your bunch of dragons outside are waiting for you to feed them their scales!"

His words showed no restraint or discomfort due to Su Dingping's status; they were simply the straightforwardness of colleagues and a hint of "Can you really settle down and do this?"

A test.

"Time is of the essence, and every second counts."

Su Dingping walked directly to the large table where Hua Ming had just been working, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed structural diagrams and scanned images on it.

"Dragon Scale's production line is already up and running, with its own team following up on optimization. The only thing I can muster right now is to pry open this stubborn rock of superconductivity with you!"

He pointed to an unusually complex area of ​​magnetic flux pinning structure on the graph.

"Is this the stress concentration point you envisioned for composite doping? The key to the surge in losses due to the instability of the flux lattice lies here."

Hua Ming's eyes instantly sharpened like knives, and his fingers moved with lightning speed to tap the tiny area on the map, his tone filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"That's right! Sharp eye, Xiao Su!"
For this godforsaken place to form a stable pinning center, the lattice distortion would have to be controlled within an extremely narrow energy window… an impossible task!

He immediately picked up the electronic notebook next to him, quickly clicked, and brought up another extremely detailed multi-target sputtering deposition parameter diagram, zooming in to enlarge it.

"Look at this! In the past month, we've tried surface ion implantation conditions for hundreds of material substrates... Damn it, we're all stuck at this damn window! Either the deformation is insufficient, allowing the magnetic flux to easily break through, or the thin film is completely ruined!"

Hua Ming's expression darkened.

"Going in the wrong direction will only lead to hitting a brick wall and getting badly hurt! Our main focus now is on graphene-based composite superconducting films! The data you just saw is from graphene!"

He spoke faster and faster, spitting as he spoke, his face completely replacing the coldness he had shown at first sight with the excitement of discovering a "colleague".

Graphene!

That thing has amazing crystal lattice properties! Its theoretical conductivity is incredible! We've figured out a bit of the trick! The key is to find a way to stabilize its inherent goodness before building a superconducting layer on top!

He vigorously rubbed his stubble-covered chin, his eyes gleaming with a fervent light of exploration.

"This is a road that leads to gold mines! But every step is teetering on the edge of a cliff! The proportions of the composite materials, the ratios of the doped elements, the energy threshold of the coating—damn, it's all a minefield!"

Su Dingping immediately moved closer, his gaze like a precision scanner, quickly capturing key information from the sea of ​​data provided by Hua Ming.

“Graphite’s intrinsic two-dimensional properties are a double-edged sword in terms of building thickness and maintaining structural rigidity…here.”

He pointed to the peak value of a coating pressure parameter with his finger.

Did the stress concentration suddenly spiral out of control at this pressure point?

"Yes! Yes! This is the time!"

Hua Ming felt as if he had found a kindred spirit and excitedly twisted a monitor next to him.

"Look at this in-situ synchrotron radiation data! The thin film was torn apart at that very moment, as if by an invisible hand! The perfect structure collapsed instantly! Damn it!"

His profanities spilled out as if those precious graphite films were his mortal enemies.

The two immediately engaged in an extremely intense technological clash. The core experimental area of ​​Research Institute 303 was a veritable storm of technological innovation.

Hua Ming personally led Su Dingping through one security door after another, secured by iris scans and physical keys, into a metal cavern filled with the roar of coolant pipes, the high-frequency discharge hum of the sputtering system, and the hissing of gas valves opening and closing precisely.

The enormous magnetron sputtering unit stands like a sleeping steel giant in the heart of the cleanroom. Inside the observation window of the vacuum chamber, a pale purple glow flickers, illuminating the surface of the material film that is forming.

The lab technicians, dressed in heavy protective suits, worked silently around the massive instruments as if they were operating on a space station. The air was filled with the unique low-temperature smell of the coolant and the ozone smell left behind by the ionized air after the metal was bombarded by high-energy particles.

"Xiao Zhao! Have you gotten the initial magnetic susceptibility measurements for the latest batch of the 1-15C series, the one with the graphene substrate doping ratio adjusted to the limit, for the sputtered third yttrium-based structural layer?!"

As soon as Hua Ming stepped in, his raspy voice immediately drowned out the noise of the equipment.

"The curve is out! The peak position is 0.05 Tesla better than groups 1-13, but... the steepness of the critical current decay under the magnetic field is still not suppressed, and the second half of the curve is like a plunge..."

A young researcher next to him immediately pointed to a rapidly scrolling dark blue line on the side screen of the control panel and said, his tone filled with anxiety and exhaustion.

"That initial transition to the superconducting state was beautiful! But it couldn't stay stable!"

Hua Ming's face immediately scrunched up as if he had eaten a bitter melon.

"It's happening again! A dog can't change its nature of eating shit!"

He strode over, almost pressed his face against the control panel screen, his eyes fixed on the deep blue curve that plummeted sharply after reaching the critical zone, almost vertically.

Su Dingping stood beside him, his gaze equally sharp.

He noticed a research notebook with a worn-out cover lying next to the terminal, filled with Hua Ming's extremely messy yet powerful notes and various extremely complex formulas and sketches.

Several pages were particularly worn, with curled edges, depicting structural diagrams of various copper crystals, but marked with large red crosses and hastily written annotations—"Dead end," "Unsolvable resistance bottleneck," "Lack of theoretical support for key phase transitions"... Clearly, copper-based conductors, as a mainstream conductor, had been cruelly declared a failure in the early superconducting explorations of the institute and had long been relegated to obscurity. (End of Chapter)