Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 42 The Confusion of the Cultivator Old Deng (Please continue reading)
International Space Station.

Wang Miao and other experts on space elevator design have already gone outdoors in their spacesuits. To prevent novices like Wang Miao from accidentally escaping the space station by activating the thrusters, most of them are tied with a rope.

It can be pulled back at a crucial moment.

The Space Force members were gathered together for routine space acclimatization training.

Luo Qing and Ding Yi strolled through the weightless cabin, discussing matters related to macro-fusion.

Luo Qing asked, "Since the power of macro fusion is so great that it can even destroy an entire continent, why didn't any Wallfacers propose using macro fusion to deal with the Trisolaran fleet? For example, Taylor preferred to use a weakened version of ball lightning rather than consider macro fusion."

Ding Yi's answer was: "The power of macro-fusion depends mainly on the type of macro atoms captured. Some macro atoms may only be a few meters long internally, and the explosion range after detonation will not be much larger than that of a hand grenade."

Destroying a continent would require macroatoms with internal diameters of thousands of kilometers, and such macroatoms are extremely difficult to obtain; only one has been captured throughout the entire operation. Furthermore, while an intercontinental-class attack might seem large, in reality, within the solar system, it's practically as small as a firecracker.

Luo Qing asked, "What about ball lightning?"

“In comparison, ball lightning only requires macro-electrons to be activated, and capturing macro-electrons is much easier than capturing macro-atoms.” Ding Yi said, his expression suddenly becoming more varied. “I really can’t comment on Wallfacer Taylor’s Wallfacer plan to use ball lightning to attack the human fleet.”

Ding Yi had an expression that said the plan was completely useless.

"Because he was worried that the Trisolaran fleet would destroy the human fleet, he preemptively used a ball lightning bolt to destroy his own fleet in order to pursue the elusive quantum fleet. This is truly..."

Ding Yi shook his head: "If I had known in advance that Taylor's plan was like this, I wouldn't have needed that wallbreaker named von Neumann to do anything; I would have just taken a geological hammer and swung it over his head twice myself."

Luo Qing asked, "Why? Is it impossible for the quantum fleet to appear?"

Ding Yi instantly recalled the magnificent quantum rose cloud and the name that had almost disappeared from her heart.

Lin Yun.

Ding Yi sighed, "It can appear, but the quantum realm has almost zero impact on macroscopic reality. Even if Taylor's plan is actually implemented, it can only create a group of ghosts floating in the sky above the solar system. The ghosts can do nothing but watch the scene of Earth's civilization being destroyed by the Trisolaran fleet."

Luo Qing: “…”

If Ding Yi's statement is true, then Taylor's quantum fleet is indeed not very useful.

"Moreover, even if the Trisolaran fleet does not retaliate against the ghost fleet, these quantum ghosts will be washed away by the quantum tides that surge down in the vacuum."

Upon hearing Ding Yi's words, Luo Qing suddenly became suspicious. He wondered if the plans of his two Wallfacer colleagues, besides Luo Ji, were also so useless.
Hopefully, those two won't pull off another move where they kill zero enemies but lose a hundred million of their own, or Luo Qing will be tempted to become a wall-breaker.

The topic has gone around in circles.

Luo Qing asked, "How many macroatoms did humanity capture before particle accelerators were blocked?"

Ding Yi calculated with his fingers.

"There were about three hundred, but now there are none left. From the moment the particle accelerator was locked, humanity lost the means to stimulate macro-fusion."

Ding Yi began to explain his discovery of 'macro-atoms'.

“‘Strings’ are the nuclei of macroatoms. The energy release of these ‘strings’ and macroelectrons is highly selective. They can target electronic components, metal buildings, and biological flesh and blood. Among the more than 300 ‘strings’ captured by humans, many of them target organic life. Once fusion occurs, their destructive power is unimaginable.”

"As for why it's gone..." Ding Yi sighed.

"Back in 05, humanity was unaware that sophons had arrived on Earth. Therefore, during that Pacific standoff crisis, comparable to the Cuban Missile Crisis, we established the macro-fusion deterrence. The macro-fusion deterrence lasted for about a year. Later, through negotiations and based on a responsible attitude towards human civilization, humanity voluntarily destroyed the vast majority of macro-atoms."

Ding Yi said, "The above is correct. Macro-fusion energy can destroy human civilization in a real way. The way to destroy those macro atoms is also very simple: just hit them with a particle accelerator."

"Won't it lead to a macro-fusion explosion?" Ding Yi shook his head: "The premise of a macro-fusion explosion is that two macro atoms collide with each other. Contact with ordinary micro particles will not lead to macro-fusion. Macro atoms will only be broken down into ordinary particles."

"I see."

Luo Qing's physics knowledge has increased a bit, and these theories about macro-fusion are things that Luo Qing's predecessor was not good at.

Ding Yi sighed, "It's a pity that we can't play with macro fusion now. At most, we can try to create some macro-electron-induced ball lightning."

Macro-electron collisions are something that sophons cannot block. For example, the electron-positron collider in the North can produce billions of electrons and positrons in a single collision, which is something that sophons cannot interfere with.

Seeing Ding Yi's dejected expression, Luo Qing had other thoughts.

It's a real shame that macro-fusion, as the most advanced weapon in humankind's arsenal, has been abandoned.

He wondered if he could squat in front of the particle collider and try to entrap the sophon that was interfering with its operation, hoping to retrieve at least a couple of macroatoms.

Luo Qing felt that his strength had improved a lot recently. He didn't have a specific quantitative standard for how much it had increased, but he could roughly guess.

He was likely already beyond the strength expected of a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, but whether he possessed the combat power of a Divine Transformation cultivator was uncertain.

After all, his cultivation level was genuinely at the Nascent Soul, Peak, and Great Perfection stages.

It is estimated that four hundred years from now, he will still be at the Nascent Soul stage, peak stage, or Great Perfection stage.

As for how he cultivated and became stronger? Leaving aside the external factor of the billions of spirit stones piled up in his storage space like the Himalayas, Luo Qing himself couldn't say for sure.

After all, it's a fact that one's strength increases even without using spirit stones for cultivation.

"Dr. Ding Yi, what are your thoughts on energy planning for the future of humanity?"

In response to Luo Qing's question, Ding Yi casually replied, "Controlled nuclear fusion, I guess. With the Sophon's blockade, that's probably the only thing they can do."

Ding Yi added, "The vacuum magnetic field confinement I tested yesterday felt pretty good. It has basically broken through the limitations of high-temperature resistant materials. Although it is impossible to manufacture materials that can withstand temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees, magnetic confinement can still limit the fireball of controlled nuclear fusion. Of the four breakthrough schemes for controlled nuclear fusion, my route is the most successful. It seems that it really won't take fifty years."

Luo Qing certainly knew about controlled nuclear fusion, but that wasn't what he wanted to ask; his real intention was elsewhere.

"Besides atomic energy, what are some further applications of energy?"

Ding Yi's gaze held a hint of scrutiny: "Professor Luo Qing, putting aside your identity as a cultivator, you yourself are a physicist. How could you not know those cutting-edge energy concepts in physics?"

Luo Qing tentatively asked, "For example, matter-antimatter annihilation?"

Ding Yi nodded: "There are even more ethereal theories, such as vacuum zero-point energy and gravitational wave energy, but compared to controlled nuclear fusion, these theories always give me a feeling of unreality."

“At least…” Ding Yi sighed, “If Einstein’s theory of relativity still has limitations, the law of conservation of energy should truly apply to the entire universe. I suspect that the energy of the sophon is very likely derived from zero-point energy drawn from the vacuum.”

"Oh." Luo Qing nodded and began to ponder what kind of cultivation he had been doing in the absence of spiritual energy.

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(End of this chapter)