A live stream of someone hand-making a giant white robot attracted the attention of the government,

Kunlun Base, S1 Top Secret Materials Laboratory.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone and metallic coolant.

The "quiet room" that Li Jianguo mentioned has now been transformed by Bai Che into a somewhat rudimentary, even shabby, experimental platform.

A device used to test the ultra-high frequency pulse discharge of flexible batteries has been violently modified, with countless thick superconducting cables connecting its positive and negative terminals like pythons.

At the end of the cable was a quartz glass vacuum reaction chamber, containing only a high-purity carbon rod about the thickness of a pencil lead.

Qin Bing and several leading experts in materials science, who had been urgently dispatched from across the country, were separated by a bulletproof glass, their expressions indescribable.

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!" An elderly academician with graying temples broke down. "This is a top-of-the-line pulse power supply, a national treasure! And he actually used it to...play with pen refills? Isn't that a waste of money?!"

In Bai Che's eyes, there was no outside noise, only the waterfall of data refreshing on the screen.

"Ambient vacuum level, 99.997%".

"The target carbon source has a stable structure."

"Pulse current peak setting: 1.2 megaamperes, duration: 10 nanoseconds."

Bai Che took a deep breath and pressed the red start button.

Om-!

The lights in the laboratory dimmed for a moment, and everyone felt a slight ringing in their ears.

That was a powerful electromagnetic pulse generated when a terrifying current instantly passed through the cable.

However, the miracle did not happen.

With a soft "poof," the precious carbon rod with a purity of 6.99% inside the reaction chamber vaporized instantly, leaving a thin layer of black ash on the inner wall of the quartz chamber, not even lasting for 0.01 seconds.

"..."

The observation room was deathly silent.

Failed.

"I knew it..." the old academician was about to speak.

"Parameter error, energy density overload, instantaneous phase transition causing structural collapse." Bai Che's voice rang out. "Prepare carbon rod number two, reduce peak current to 980 kA, increase pulse frequency to 2.2 nanoseconds."

It was as if that million-dollar failure just now was merely to verify a wrong option.

This kid... his good mentality is creepy.

The second experiment began soon.

This time, the carbon rod did not vaporize.

However, with the injection of pulsed current, the data on the screens of all the high-precision sensors in the reaction chamber instantly turned bright red, and then, with a soft "pop," they all burned out.

"The current intensity is still too high, and the electromagnetic storm has destroyed the sensing matrix." Bai Che frowned. "It seems that we can't just reduce the intensity; we have to change the pulse waveform."

the third time.

the fourth time.

……

The 1364th time.

Half a month has passed.

The S1 lab has become a veritable money-shredding machine.

Burnt sensors and vaporized special carbon rods filled two entire recycling bins.

The renowned figures who came with Qin Bing back then have long since left in disappointment, leaving only Qin Bing stubbornly staying here.

In the laboratory, Bai Che looked noticeably thinner, with sunken eyes and bluish stubble on his chin. His white dust suit was stained with oil and coolant.

He hasn't slept for three days.

The intense mental concentration and the frustration from repeated failures weighed on him like two mountains, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

The system's theory is perfect, like giving you a map from God's perspective, telling you that the destination is right there.

But from your feet to the finish line, there are swamps, cliffs, and thorns everywhere.

This is the distance between theory and reality.

"Bai Gong, take a break." Qin Bing finally couldn't resist and came in, handing him a cup of hot coffee. "The supercomputer has run 170,000 simulations, and not a single one has succeeded. This direction may really be a dead end."

"The simulation," Bai Che said, taking the coffee, his voice hoarse, "is based on existing physical models. But they've overlooked one variable."

"What variable?"

Bai Che didn't answer, but stared at the red failure curve on the screen and fell silent.

late at night.

Su Wanqing pushed open the laboratory door.

A strong aroma of coffee and instant noodles wafted over.

The laboratory was a mess, with draft papers covered in formulas scattered on the floor.

The once spirited young man, who had stood confidently before the world, was now slumped over the control panel, fast asleep. One hand was still resting on the keyboard, his brow furrowed, as if he were still performing arduous calculations even in his dreams.

Next to it was a bowl of instant noodles that had long since gone cold; I only took one bite.

Su Wanqing walked very lightly.

Looking at his tired profile, stained with oil, she felt as if something had stabbed her in the heart.

pain.

She took off her coat and gently draped it over Bai Che's shoulders.

After doing all this, she didn't leave, but silently began to tidy up the scattered draft papers in the laboratory.

She carefully arranged the papers one by one according to their dates and numbers, and put them into the file bag.

She didn't understand those cryptic formulas, but she knew they were proof of his hard work.

Just then, Bai Che's phone vibrated on the table.

Afraid of waking him, Su Wanqing subconsciously picked up the phone to turn it off, but then saw a message pop up on the screen.

The sender was Li Jianguo.

The content consists of only one sentence.

"The deadline given by the higher-ups is only seven days away. If there is no breakthrough progress, in order to control losses, the 'all-carbon-based' project... must be suspended."

Su Wanqing's pupils suddenly contracted.

She covered her mouth tightly to keep from screaming.

She looked at the cold text message, then at Bai Che, who was sleeping soundly on the table, and a wave of unprecedented panic and anger surged into her heart.

How dare they?

How could they hang a cold countdown clock over his head while he was working tirelessly for the country?

Su Wanqing's eyes instantly reddened, but she forced back her tears.

She knew that now was not the time to be weak.

She quietly deleted the text message and put her phone back in its place. Then, she walked to a corner of the lab and dialed Wang Tao's number.

"Wang Tao," she said in a low voice, "use all our channels. I need to know who is putting pressure on Minister Li."

……

Bai Che was awakened by a faint aroma of food.

He opened his eyes and found himself wearing a coat with a faint fragrance.

The laboratory was spotless, and on the control panel sat a bowl of steaming millet porridge and several delicate side dishes.

Su Wanqing was sitting not far away, quietly looking at a document.

"Awake?" She looked up. "Eat it while it's hot."

Bai Che rubbed his aching temples, picked up the bowl of porridge, took a sip, and felt the warmth flow down his esophagus and throughout his body.

"Why are you here?"

"Let's see if our chief scientist has starved to death in the lab," Su Wanqing said calmly.

Bai Che smiled, said nothing more, and quietly ate his food.

After finishing the last bite, he put down the bowl and sat back down at the control panel.

"Still haven't found that variable?" Su Wanqing asked.

"Found it," Bai Che's eyes sharpened again after resting. "I always thought it was because the 'quality' of energy output wasn't enough, but I was wrong... it's because the 'quantity' isn't enough."

He suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction of the reaction chamber, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light.

"A single carbon rod cannot carry and convert enough energy to tear atomic bonds within a nanosecond."

"So..." Su Wanqing's heart jumped into her throat.

"So, I'm going to add a 'power bank' to it."

Bai Che pulled up a new design drawing and added countless arrays of finer carbon nanotubes next to the original single carbon rod structure.

"Using a carbon nanotube array, we first absorb 99% of the pulse energy to form an ultra-high density energy field, and then focus this energy field onto the central carbon rod within a fraction of a second."

His voice wasn't loud, but it sent a jolt through Qin Bing, who was standing next to him!

"This...this is cascaded amplification? You...you're insane! This will create energy resonance; forget graphene, the entire lab will be blown to smithereens!"

"No," Bai Che shook his head, his finger tracing a perfect energy conduction curve on the screen, "as long as the angle and timing are just right, resonance won't occur."

"It will be like a perfect storm, peeling away... the first piece of skin in human history, the skin of God!"