Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 25 EAST
Su Xun was reborn on the seventh day, May 21, 2*30 years ago.

Countdown: 25 days.

A military airport in Luzhou.

Su Xun got off the plane and then got into a military vehicle next to him. Among his entourage were Wang Wei, Wang Junyou, Zhang Wei, Jiang Yi, and Zheng Yuan.

The other colleagues were replaced; they were all people who focused on nuclear fusion, including Academician Chen Jun from the Institute of Physics.

The scale of the Kuafu Project is expanding every day, with different departments responsible for following up on various aspects. If we go to check on the room-temperature superconductivity project tomorrow, there will be another team following up.

Su Xun didn't even know many people's names, but it didn't matter whether he knew them or not. He just needed to know which department to contact regarding the relevant issues.

In the current 2*30 years, the Spark Fusion Project has achieved the world's first fusion-fission hybrid power plant. Fusion power generation is no longer a product of science fiction, but a tangible reality.

The original plan was to have a fusion power plant that had truly crossed the threshold of commercialization completed in five years. Unfortunately, time waits for no one, and the Kuafu Project could not wait until it was completed.

After numerous studies, the office finalized a plan to modify the old experimental reactor with new materials. Although this was fraught with difficulties, it was at least a achievable challenge.

The Institute of Materials Science was not located deep in the mountains. Through the thick bulletproof glass, Su Xun could even see a farmers' market not far from the institute.

Humanity's most distant dreams and its most humble origins are closely intertwined, and the hope of reaching for the stars and the sea is born in the embrace of the countryside.

As the convoy entered the research institute, it attracted many onlookers. Su Xun got out of the car and headed straight for the Plasma Institute.

EAST—full name of the experimental superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion device, also known as the EAST superconducting tokamak or artificial sun.

At this point, it had been completely dismantled, mainly involving the removal of some cooling equipment.

The person in charge here is also an elderly professor with snow-white hair. He returned from overseas and devoted himself to the research and development of domestic nuclear fusion. At this moment, he is having a pleasant conversation with Academician Chen Jun.

"After the old low-temperature superconductors are completely replaced, we will no longer need such a large cooling system. The original cooling towers can be transformed into energy transducer systems."

"A power conversion system...it can't be built within a month, can it?"

"ITER has existing ones, and they even used our technical parameters. To be honest, it's just a steam turbine; if we really wanted to, we could build it ourselves."

"I heard that Sichuan is planning to build its own, but will ITER give it to us? If we can't reach an agreement, we shouldn't waste our time."

ITER is a global collaborative nuclear fusion experimental project. Its name translates to 'road,' implying a search for a way out in the energy field for all mankind.

Indeed, there is hope; the project has already built a real fusion reactor, but due to the repeated setbacks of several countries, the overall progress has been slow.

The head of the research institute said nonchalantly, "They don't need it anyway, so why not give it to us? We can really see the results here soon, so there's no reason not to take it."

"Once ASEAN makes up its mind to do something, nothing on Earth can stop it. The new AO stack in Bazhou needed the ignition device from Izumo, and those people gave it to us, didn't they? Don't worry."

Chen Jun nodded and sighed, "It's a pity I heard that it's still a bit lacking over there."

"We're just doing our best. Quite a few people from the Academy of Sciences have already gone there to support the work, so there's still hope."

The person in charge looked at the huge device, which was more than ten meters high, being dismantled, with countless pipes and sensors densely distributed on it, and was filled with emotion.

"I've poured so much effort into this over the years, and I've finally seen this day come. Old Chen, I feel like I can die without regrets now." "Don't talk so pessimistically. Live well, and you might live another two hundred years if you can't hold on."

The person in charge shook his head and didn't say anything more.

After touring the research institute, Su Xun jotted down some thoughts in his notebook and handed it to Chen Jun, an academician of the Institute of Physics, for discussion with the person in charge.

"Now we are just waiting for the superconducting material. As long as the material is sufficient, we will replace the first wall as soon as possible. At present, we can only do other preparatory work."

"Don't worry," Chen Jun said from the side. "Tomorrow we'll go check out the industrial production line for room-temperature superconductors. Once it's in operation, your plasma institute will have as many as you need."

"Do you really have as many as you want?"

"Uh, I was just saying, don't take it seriously."

While the two were discussing this, Merrick, on the other side of the world, received the latest news.

He frowned as he looked at the video in front of him. The angle from which the video was shot was not very good, and the picture was a bit crooked, but it was still possible to see that a number of people got out of several military vehicles in the distance.

After comparison and analysis, the department staff believed that one of them was very likely the deliveryman surnamed Su whom they had been focusing on.

Merrick had been keeping a close eye on the recent major developments in the Eastern nuclear fusion field. After casting a wide net, he recently discovered that a young physicist from the Eastern Academy of Sciences had also visited the soybean research institute after that deliveryman, and had not mentioned what happened inside after leaving.

He signed a confidentiality agreement.

This is Merrick's basic judgment as a veteran intelligence officer.

What could a place that studies soybeans have that would warrant a physicist signing a confidentiality agreement?

Either those people cultivated the spiritual roots of heaven and earth from Eastern fantasy, or the soybean research institute was a front, and there was something else going on inside.

Based on this idea, Merrick gradually formed a plan in his mind.

Perhaps that deliveryman surnamed Su discovered some new material on his own, enough to make a huge leap forward in the controlled nuclear fusion project.

So he went to a place that was ostensibly a soybean research institute, but was actually perhaps researching nuclear fusion, and presented this technology to ASEAN in order to make money in this field.

Although the idea was bizarre, it was the most reasonable explanation he could think of.

Perhaps the discoveries made by those astronauts on the moon are related to nuclear fusion? Although, based on the information currently available to North America, there is a huge amount of fusion fuel on the moon, but nothing else particularly special.

But who knows? North America hasn't been to the moon for so many years. Who knows if the other side used some new technology or discovered something new?

This major breakthrough in technology, which concerns the future of all mankind, seems to explain why ASEAN is now making a big fuss about it.

Has this meant they've mastered powerful technology and are ready to realize what they've been saying on the wall all this time?
Merrick wrote down his speculations in the intelligence report, completely disregarding how a deliveryman could know things he couldn't find out—such as whether the research institute was actually disguised.

Anyway, as long as the leader believes it, that's fine, isn't it?

(End of this chapter)