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Chapter 2805 Element No. 113 (Third update, please subscribe)
Scientific research is often the most time-consuming and expensive.

Often, even if you invest a lot of money, you may not be able to achieve your expected results.

This is why, sometimes, in order to conduct cutting-edge research, research institutions have to carry out many seemingly hopeless studies.

Such cutting-edge research often struggles to secure funding from corporations. While corporations may fund some cutting-edge projects, they prioritize practical results.

Therefore, at this time, official intervention is needed to conduct cutting-edge research through official funding.

Besides SpaceX, the most well-known organization in SEA is the Defense Development Agency, a research institution directly under the Department of Defense, whose projects are mostly forward-looking.

After all, to some extent, it is a department specializing in cutting-edge technology research. It has been committed to exploring new concepts in defense technology, sensing the potential needs of the military in the future, and carrying out forward-looking high-tech key technology research and development and "dangerous and dangerous" scientific research tasks.

After all, when this organization was established, Li Yi'an envisioned it as a kind of "S.H.I.E.L.D."

Over the past few decades, from the initial missiles to drones, and later phased array radars, interceptor missiles and similar weapons, the initial conceptual research was all done by them.

In the Defense Development Agency, besides these projects involving the military field, there are many projects that seem hopeless, or even somewhat hopeless, but those projects have been steadily progressing.

Inside the laboratory, the massive toroidal reactor for fully superconducting controlled nuclear fusion stood silently, its pipelines tangled like a spider web, and the screens displayed a dense array of parameters. Every jump in the red numbers tugged at the nerves of everyone present, and the air was filled with the soft hum of the instruments in operation.

"Steady-state long pulse maintained, high-confinement plasma operating normally!"

When reporting, the monitor kept his eyes glued to the screen and his fingers hovered over the control keys, not daring to relax for a moment.

On the screen, all indicators remained within the optimal range. Time passed second by second, from 100 seconds to 200 seconds, from 300 seconds to 390 seconds. Every second felt like an ordeal, yet also like a rebirth.

"396 seconds!"

When the monitor announced the number, the parameters on the screen suddenly froze, and the toroidal reactor of the fully superconducting controlled nuclear fusion slowly stopped operating, with the hum gradually dissipating.

After a brief silence, thunderous applause erupted in the laboratory.

396 seconds!
They successfully achieved steady-state long-pulse high-confinement plasma operation, breaking the world record for controlled nuclear fusion toroidal reactors.

This is undoubtedly another breakthrough.

Since the world’s first fully superconducting controlled nuclear fusion toroidal reactor was created at the Defense Development Agency more than a decade ago, they have broken their own records time and time again over the past decade.

The same applies this time.

But the cheers and applause didn't last long.

The researchers, who had been beaming with smiles, gradually froze on their faces, the applause dwindled, and finally, silence fell.

The excitement and elation I felt just moments ago gradually faded.

Li Songjie slowly took off his glasses, and then his gaze fell on the number "396 seconds" on the screen:

"396 seconds is a new world record, a breakthrough for us, but... it is also meaningless."

This statement, though seemingly like a bucket of cold water, is, in fact, true to everyone.

The steady-state operation for 396 seconds is certainly a major technological breakthrough.

However, for the practical application of controlled nuclear fusion, these 396 seconds are insignificant.

It may even have no practical value whatsoever.

After all, the ultimate goal of controlled nuclear fusion is to achieve stable, continuous, and commercially viable energy output, bringing this almost limitless energy to every household and changing the energy landscape for humankind.

These 396 seconds are merely a brief period of steady-state operation, which cannot provide a continuous energy supply, much less be converted into actual electrical resources.

Ultimately, it was just a technical verification and had no real practical value.

Sensing the somewhat oppressive atmosphere, Li Songjie raised his head, his gaze slowly sweeping over everyone present, and said:
"However, it's not meaningless, just not meaningful enough. 396 seconds is a starting point, not an end point. Every step we take now is laying the foundation for the future, and that's the fundamental reason why I don't want to miss any experiment."

As the director of the Defense Development Bureau, Lee Song-jae never missed any of the experiments conducted in this laboratory, because he clearly understood the value of these experiments.

If successful, it will completely change the course of human civilization.

But how long is it to his success?

As Li Songjie left the laboratory, he was still pondering this question. Although SEA was not the country that invented the tokamak device, as the first country to successfully develop a fully superconducting tokamak device, their research in this field has always been at the forefront of the world.

From the initial tens of seconds to the current 396 seconds, every improvement has given them a glimmer of hope.

But what about the future?

It was a profound sense of despair.

Because compared to stable operation, 396 seconds is almost negligible.

"Even 396 hours is hardly practical."

In fact, if it can reach 396 hours, then it will have practical value.

Unfortunately, it's just wishful thinking. "Seriously, I wonder when I'll finally achieve a real breakthrough."

As he was talking to himself, Li Songjie's mobile phone suddenly rang. After answering the phone, he paused for a moment, then instructed his assistant:

"Prepare the plane for Science City."

……

Science City, a "city" built deep in the rainforest because of atomic technology.

It remains semi-secret to this day because American and Soviet reconnaissance satellites have photographed the city multiple times.

As a result, countries around the world became aware of its existence.

Nevertheless, the city remains closed to the outside world, and the military police continue to guard its land, sea, and air transportation. Only aircraft and ships with special permits are allowed to enter the science city.

Unlike its peak when nearly 20,000 people worked here, the Science City now employs only about 10,000 scientific and technical personnel, whose families live in the nearby town of Gustav Hertz—a town named in honor of Gustav Hertz, one of the founders of the Science City and also the founder of nuclear physics in Southeast Asia.

Five years ago, after Gustav Hertz passed away, a statue was erected in the center of the town, and there is also a statue at the Physics Department of Nanyang University.

This small rainforest town, with only tens of thousands of inhabitants, still plays an unparalleled role in the SEA scientific community, consistently engaging in some of the most cutting-edge scientific research.

Just like the initial research on "X Crystal" was conducted here, the reason for choosing this location was precisely because of its secrecy.

This is precisely the biggest characteristic of the "Science City"—secrecy.

This secrecy is achieved by cutting off all contact with the outside world; even its internet connection is a private network with a dedicated line.

Of course, it's not truly isolated from the world. In fact, many scientists from SEA have research projects being conducted in the science city. It boasts both world-class scholars and world-class equipment.

In the past few weeks, some people in the town have noticed that security seems to have tightened, which suggests that some organization may have made some new major breakthrough.

In what field could a new and significant breakthrough have been achieved?

No one knows.

As soon as the Gulfstream plane landed at the science airport, Li Songjie asked:
"sure?"

"The research center has conducted multiple experiments, and the results have been consistent."

Shi Yunlie, who came to greet him, is the director of the Materials Research Center and one of SEA's most renowned materials experts. At this moment, he was beaming with joy.

Even their tone of voice became smug and self-satisfied.

"Look, this is a photo."

Taking the photo and looking at the items in it, Li Songjie couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:

"If that's the case, this would truly be a groundbreaking discovery that will change human civilization!"

While speaking, Li Songjie didn't even notice that his voice was trembling slightly, and his palms were even sweating involuntarily as they drove to the materials.
It's a mix of nervousness and anticipation.

Materials Research Center.

Sunlight streamed into the laboratory through the windows, and the room was filled with the hum of an old-fashioned window air conditioner, a testament to the laboratory's history.

This is also the most distinctive feature of the Science City – many of its buildings were constructed in the late 1940s.

Wang Lifeng stood in front of the testing platform, his hands, clad in special gloves, steadily holding a dark silver metal sheet. Its surface shimmered with a strange iridescence, as if covered by an extremely thin film of oil, making it seem utterly different from any known metal.

This is a type of metallic material that has never been discovered before. It is a new type of metallic mineral that was accidentally discovered by the Outpost 1 base on the far side of the moon during exploration.

"Its weight is very light, between titanium and iron, heavier than titanium but lighter than iron, but its strength and hardness exceed that of ordinary steel..."

Inside the laboratory, Shi Yunlie explained the properties of this new type of metal to Li Songjie.

"Our discovery is not simply about adding a new element to the periodic table; like Lunaticon, it fundamentally changes our understanding of physics and even materials science."

Since uranium element 92, humanity has exhausted all technological means to synthesize 20 new elements, three of which were synthesized by SEA scientists.

However, the discovery of elements 101 and above is often based on observations of several or even a single atom and detailed decay chain analysis.

Therefore, it has little practical significance. The element 109, which was discovered by astronauts on the moon, is the one that truly has practical value and significance.

This is the "Lunaticon," whose discovery completely changed the course of human science, elevating the level of electronic technology several times over. It was precisely because of the adoption of this new type of crystal and the advancement of electronic technology that many impossibilities became possible.

Reusable rockets, Mars missions, and other seemingly unattainable dreams have become a reality.

These are all changes brought about by element number 109.

"Director Li, the discovery of element 113 will completely change everything!"

(End of this chapter)