Rebirth 07: Start adding points from elementary school students

Soon, the stable operation time of the device exceeded five minutes. Everyone was so excited that they didn’t know why. They wanted to celebrate but felt it was still too early.

The superconducting coils are stable, the plasma is controllable, the circulation system is feasible, the first wall is intact, and the circulation cooling system is working properly...

This is an unprecedented success!

For the nuclear fusion team, today's achievement can be said to be a step forward compared to the previous extreme ignition that took ten seconds.

Li Yan has also provided the drawings of magnetohydrodynamic power generation, but it was not included in this test reactor.

In theory, as long as the new restraining device can be stabilized, there will be no difficulty in the seamless connection of the magnetic fluid.

Doesn't this mean...

Controlled nuclear fusion power generation, which previously only existed in science fiction imagination, and humans have no substantial achievements in conquering it, and was even once considered by the mainstream scientific community to be "a wrong step on the technology tree", is it going to be realized? !
It was the first to be achieved in China, and it was a great feat accomplished by their group!

This excitement is obviously flowing in the hearts of all researchers.

Lei Kong was undoubtedly the most excited one, so he kept observing Li Yan.

However, Li Yan just kept staring at the incomprehensible things recorded on his computer with a blank expression on his face.

This made Lei Kong feel uneasy.

He didn't dare to ask. After all, it had only been running for more than ten minutes, which was still quite a distance from the sixty minutes that Li Yan had said. If he asked and Li Yan interpreted it as "you didn't believe me before", it would be troublesome.

So he began to convince himself.

After all, we also have to consider the access to the magnetic fluid, the efficiency of tritium recovery, whether it can generate electricity, how efficient it is, and how powerful it is...

There is still a long way to go before successful “control” can achieve successful “power generation”.

Ultimately, the worst case scenario is that after mastering the control, it is found that the power generation efficiency is not usable at all or the cost is too high. In that case, controlled nuclear fusion is not a top-level technology tree that can change human life, but only a preliminary preparation for more advanced technologies in the future.

The influence of the two is very different.

Many experts and scholars have previously expressed the view that "controlled nuclear fusion may not necessarily bring about earth-shaking changes" and "everyone underestimates the cost and maintenance difficulties"...

Just as he was thinking about this, Lei Kong suddenly saw Li Yan slowly revealing an expression of shock and surprise.

He had never seen this kind of expression in his acquaintance with Li Yan. He even felt that Li Yan was the happiest person present at this moment.

What happened? Reversal again?

Did Li Yan confirm some special data, confirming that controlled nuclear fusion can definitely be achieved?

Lei Kong couldn't help but ask, "Li Yan, did we succeed?"

Who knew that Li Yan's face changed instantly, and then returned to his expressionless state, saying, "It's still early. There is still a lot of work to be done after the magnetic fluid is connected, and even if controlled nuclear fusion is successful, it is currently only a more energy-saving and cost-saving way of generating electricity... It has not essentially reached the level of changing the human technology tree. We haven't encountered an energy crisis yet. If anything, shrinking this thing into a rocket engine is a good way. Unfortunately, it can't speed up interstellar travel. Relying solely on the current energy utilization efficiency, under the condition of light speed being locked, nuclear fusion will not bring any remarkable changes if other ways of space travel are not found."

Lei Kong was confused.

Brother, what are you talking about?

What are you doing for me?

Judging from Li Yan’s remarks, he actually doesn’t seem to be very optimistic about the controlled nuclear fusion project... and he doesn’t seem to be able to get much satisfaction from it.

So, what is he happy about?
Of course Lei Kong didn’t know.

Because that was the sound of "ding" in Li Yan's mind.

[Intelligence +1, Level 11 skill, total ]

The first improvement beyond 100%, the first improvement after breaking the upper limit, turned out to be the precious second-level skill, which was "Intelligence"!
Perhaps it is thanks to Li Yan's observation of the world that he has built his own knowledge system.

And it is obvious that the upper limit of this system is higher than the previous knowledge system of mankind.

There is no progress bar for skill improvement now.

From now on, Li Yan will be on a completely new path, a field that no human has ever set foot on.

The radiation effect directly strengthened all of Li Yan's abilities related to "intelligence". In just a moment, his perception of the world changed again.

A very wonderful, indescribable change.

He even had a strange sense of space in the laboratory he was in. Everything that he was used to seemed to be subtly disharmonic.

He soon realized that this was caused by the difference between the visual images initially processed by the eyes and brain and the real space.

Just like a wide angle photo and what you see with your naked eye.

However, he has seen it with his naked eyes, so how does he perceive that "objective real space"?

Or was it some powerful computing method in his brain that forcibly corrected his judgment of spatial distance?
While immersed in this exploration, Li Yan responded to Lei Kong's words.

Until the nuclear fusion device ended its forty-minute operation.

Although it would definitely last more than sixty minutes if it continued to run, there was no electricity generated now. Forty minutes was enough, and there was no point in continuing.

Excited cheers could be heard throughout the laboratory.

At the same time, they all cast admiring glances towards Li Yan.

There was an extremely excited young man named Li, who was probably too involved in the game and said loudly to his friends:
"I told you that praying to the gods is useful. The ancestor has appeared! Maybe Li Yan is my ancestor!"

The whole audience burst into laughter.

Lei Kong's mind was already full of how to report to his boss, but he saw Li Yan still staring at the data on the computer with a slightly furrowed brow.

This scared me so much that my soul flew away.

"What's wrong, Li Yan?"

"It's okay. The test was successful. I'll go back and give you further detailed drawings so that we can build a demonstration reactor. I won't be responsible for other coordination work. You can talk to the leader."

It was obvious that he was still thinking about something and seemed to be in no mood to respond.

Lei Kong only needed the statement that the experiment was successful, so he didn't bother Li Yan anymore.

The group was smiling the whole time, from the moment they walked out of the experimental base to the moment they sent Li Yan back to the airport.

And from the beginning, there were only Lei Kong and a few other leaders of the nuclear fusion team, as well as Jiangnan leaders and senior executives who rushed over after hearing the news, and finally formed a farewell team. They all watched Li Yan get on the high-speed train with their own eyes.

I almost helped him walk to his seat and sit down.

However, Li Yan didn't seem to be very serious throughout the whole process.

He was always feeling all kinds of subtle disharmony. Even the words spoken by others would be broken down into various syllables and eventually summarized into the universal language system he organized.

He could feel that he was always trying to capture something that seemed to be there and not there.

Just haven't caught it yet.

This inevitably affected his real life. Even when he returned to Huajiang No. 1 and Wei Yunzhi talked to him about the experimental results, Li Yan's attention would occasionally wander.

"It's time for you to rest."

"No," Li Yan was very excited, "There is no better time than now."

On the other hand, Lei Kong rushed to Beijing overnight to report to the top leader, and soon spread the joy throughout the leadership.

“This is the best fireworks of the year.”

It was rare for the senior leader to express his emotions in a literary way.

So the first New Year’s greeting call Li Yan received on New Year’s Eve was from her senior leader.

What’s even more interesting is that the question the two discussed was “what to name the new device”.

This was a piece of cake for Li Yan, but because it was so easy, he thought about it for a few seconds. He was dissatisfied with himself for spending time on this kind of thing, so he simply "let the naming rights be handed over to the people." He didn't expect that one sentence would make the Propaganda Department work overtime during the New Year's holiday - but they were all very happy.

The lighthouse was not happy...

They never expected that the fact that China's controlled nuclear fusion test reactor ignited for 40 minutes was actually learned from China's nationwide collection of device names...

Ever since China's anti-missile system showed its presence, even the Lighthouse intelligence system has become a lot more timid.

What China wants to keep secret, Lighthouse won’t know anything about.

But whether there is information or not... it doesn't matter. It was done the day before, and the next day we started soliciting names from all over the country. And it's New Year's Day, so we can't wait for everyone to know.

Lighthouse is really restless. It's bad enough that anti-missile technology has directly changed the world pattern, but now this advanced technology that affects all of humanity was also developed by you guys first?

Do you have to be so cruel? You're not leaving any chance for survival.

If things continue to develop in this way, in a few years, I’m afraid we won’t be able to understand China’s technology tree at all.

The frightened Lighthouse had no choice but to seek a "friendly meeting for scientific and technological exchange" under the pretext of celebrating the Chinese New Year.

But it was simply and rudely rejected because the Chinese New Year was more important.

After finally waiting for the time when China said "you can come over", Lighthouse's diplomatic team came over in a very friendly and humble manner, bringing with them a bunch of well-known technology companies from Lighthouse, with cooperation agreements in their hands, and almost having "mutual benefit and win-win" written on their faces.

Looking at the history of exchanges between the two sides, this was the most humble and sincere moment for them.

With so many gifts brought, the natural lighthouse also has its appeal.

In order to put forward this demand, they even went to a higher level, "Scientific crystallization should be the treasure of all mankind"...

After all, the purpose is only one, "I hope China can reach friendly exchanges and cooperation with Lighthouse in the development of controlled nuclear fusion."

To put it bluntly, we just hope that China will stop hiding it and give Lighthouse some technical support.

"You can make your own conditions." said the lighthouse boss.

After a long discussion, the two sides finally reached the conclusion: "It depends on whether Li Yan is willing or not."

"Because this is Li Yan's patent, we attach great importance to intellectual property protection."

This one sentence made the Lighthouse Diplomacy boss furious.

After two days of communication, the Lighthouse team left.

A reporter captured the scene in which the diplomatic boss of Lighthouse looked as pale as death. He even shed tears the moment he got into the car and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief taken out from his suit pocket.

Li Yan was not happy...it was this name again.

Li Yan developed the anti-missile system in a rage because of the assassination carried out by Dengta. The current situation is all thanks to him. Do you think he is willing to share?
They vaguely remembered that after the anti-missile system was developed, in order to win over Li Yan, Lighthouse also operated a Nobel Prize, hoping to make Li Yan the youngest winner.

As a result, Li Yan said lightly, "It's almost the same for others to get an award named after me."

If the right to launch missiles was in his hands, Lighthouse believed that Li Yan would first throw one at these politicians to vent his anger.

The diplomatic boss shed tears on the one hand because of the pressure he was under, and on the other hand because the hegemony of the lighthouse had come to an end.

Who knows what the future will be like?

In the end, the new nuclear fusion confinement device created by Li Yan was named, and the "Tai Chi Cage" was decided after voting and leadership deliberation, and the demonstration reactor was named "Zhurong".

...Li Yan doesn't like it very much, but since everyone can come up with a thousand reasons when analyzing this thing, it doesn't matter.

While Li Yan was constantly magnifying the "sense of disharmony" he felt and trying to establish new cognition based on it, the "Zhurong" demonstration reactor project was also being carried out in full swing.

More and more teams joined, but what brought them together was just Li Yan’s drawings.

Yes, Li Yan prepared all the drawings for the entire nuclear fusion project, and he also solved the most difficult material problem directly.

Although some people used to feel that working with Li Yan meant being assembly line workers, the feeling of working on the assembly line this time was particularly prominent.

However, no one complained.

If someone can lead them to make history, why not?
"Li Yan, the whole device may be completed in half a month. Currently, it has been connected to ten magnetohydrodynamic generator sets. When do you think we can arrange the test?" Lei Kong's attitude towards Li Yan has changed again, and his heart is full of respect.

"There's no need to test." Li Yan replied.

"what?"

"As long as you follow my drawings, there will be no problem. If it weren't for giving you some expectations, I could even tell you the various conversion rates right now." Li Yan smiled and said, "When you're done, leave some time for me and I'll check it myself."

"Ok."

Lei Kong didn't even dare to tell Li Yan the news that the magnetofluidic device test was successful... Anyway, in Li Yan's opinion, success was 100%.

In mid-September 2021, Li Yan was invited to go to a location along the coast of Jiangnan Province to conduct pre-ignition inspection of the "Zhurong No. 9" nuclear fusion demonstration reactor.

Being stuck at this point is the result of wasting countless manpower and material resources.

Everyone hopes to complete a successful ignition and power generation before National Day, so that Zhurong No. 1 can become the best birthday gift for the Republic.

But after all, no tests were conducted - and there was no time. Everyone was still unsure. Even though Li Yan had many successful experiences before, they still couldn't feel at ease in the face of such a huge project.

Li Yan's examination lasted the entire afternoon, relying only on the naked eye, but she still had a notebook filled with densely packed records.

"Just follow what I wrote in my notes, tighten and loosen the corresponding screws, and then adjust the startup parameters, and that's it."

Screws? ...Isn't this really some old story?
"How did you know this?"

"It may sound mysterious, but I can predict how the reactor will start up based on the state I observe. So far, there are no problems overall. It's just that some engineers haven't done a good enough job in implementing the details."

"For example, how many turns should a screw be tightened?" Lei Kong was stunned.

"You should know better than me what this means for precision instruments, right?"

"I'm curious how you knew that."

"observe."

Lei Kong didn't want to ask any more questions. If he asked a few more questions, he would doubt the meaning of his existence.

So, amid the excitement and anxiety of many people, the ignition day of the Zhurong No. 1 test reactor finally arrived.

Even the top leaders came in person.

Preparations were being made at the scene in an orderly manner. Lei Kong was originally going to let Li Yan press the start button, but was rejected by Li Yan. So, with his heart pounding, he stood between the leader and Li Yan, adjusting his breathing, waiting for the preliminary preparations to be completed.

"There's nothing to be nervous about. This isn't your first time." Li Yan patted him on the shoulder with a smile. "It's exactly the same as the previous test pile. At most, there's more data to be observed later."

Compared with everyone else present, Li Yan's ease seemed out of place.

Lei Kong couldn't even hear what was said. To him, the button under his finger seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. He even felt that once he pressed this button, the world in front of him would instantly split into many paths.

He didn't know which path the speeding reality would take.

"The fuel has been injected, Lei Yuan, please ignite it."

Lei Kong glanced at the leader, who nodded. He then glanced at Li Yan, who was in a trance.

What are you doing?
"Li Yan?"

"Hurry up and press it." Li Yan stared at the screen, "I have something to confirm."

Sure enough, pressure is the best catalyst.

Lei Kong no longer hesitated and pressed the button that changed the fate of many people.

"Ignite!" (End of this chapter)