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

"Space...elevator?"

A rare moment of blankness appeared in Su Wanqing's eyes.

Even in science fiction, this term represents the ultimate fantasy of the "lifetime" series.

A single cable connects directly to a geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers away, completely removing the inefficient obstacle of chemical rockets and allowing humans to take an elevator to space for tourism.

The pie in the picture is a little too big.

"We'll talk about it later." Bai Che didn't explain further, turned around and walked to the control panel, casually tossing the graphene film that had the world's materials science community into the sample box. "You have to eat one bite at a time, and build one ladder at a time. First, get the unlimited energy sorted out, otherwise the elevator will just be an expensive clothesline."

No matter how grand the vision, in practice it all comes down to tightening screws.

However, the screws that Bai Che tightened were slightly more expensive.

Now that the most critical "bottleneck" problem of materials has been solved, the rest is simply a matter of—

Violent construction practices.

……

Kunlun Base, S1 Laboratory.

Deep within the reaction well, industrial sparks fly day and night, like festive fireworks.

Without the restrictions of palladium, and without the need for those special alloys that still depended on foreign countries, Bai Che's design blueprints could finally be put into full force.

"Hurry! Move faster!"

Wearing a safety helmet and waving blueprints, Qin Bing shouted, "Lift the hoist! Send this roll of 'black gold' down! Be careful, if you damage even a micrometer, I'll skin you alive!"

Just yesterday, the first batch of industrial-grade graphene coils rolled off the production line next door.

They are no longer fragile, microgram-sized laboratory samples, but are encapsulated in specially made rolls, like huge black silk, emitting a faint, dim light.

Bai Che was not standing on the command platform.

He was hanging on a 20-meter-high work platform, holding a welding torch in his hand. Behind his goggles were a pair of bloodshot but unusually bright eyes.

"Fuxi, adjust the error."

"The current error is 0.03 mm. We recommend a slight adjustment to the left of 0.5 degrees."

"No, that's too big." Bai Che frowned. "I need zero error."

He manually adjusted the robotic arm, and the welding torch emitted a blue-purple plasma flame, precisely placing solder joints on the core structure.

The weld was round and full, displaying a perfect fish-scale pattern, a textbook example of craftsmanship.

The veteran technicians who were assisting nearby were dumbfounded.

This is titanium alloy!

This material is extremely hard, making it incredibly difficult to weld; even seasoned craftsmen with decades of experience have to handle it with extreme care. This young man, however, handled it with the ease and grace of piping flowers on a cream cake.

"Bai Gong...why don't you take a break?" Qin Bing climbed up the ladder and looked at Bai Che's work clothes, which were soaked with sweat, with a little heartache. "You've been working for forty hours straight. Even an iron man couldn't take it."

"I'm not tired." Bai Che didn't even look up. "The assembly precision determines the magnetic field constraint after ignition. I don't trust others to handle it."

It's not that he distrusts the country's engineers.

Rather, these blueprints were ahead of their time.

Every interface and every pipeline route defies traditional engineering common sense, yet they also imply a higher-dimensional aesthetic.

Only he, or "Fuxi" who was fully instilled with knowledge by him, could understand this design.

……

If he didn't personally participate, Bai Che would probably be bored to death in the lounge right now.

But Su Wanqing was busier than him.

Inside the temporary command post outside the laboratory, the telephones rang incessantly, like a pot of porridge boiling over.

"Mr. Wang, I don't care which road is blocked, even if we have to carry it by hand, the high-purity helium-3 must be in place before six o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Tell the power company that we're conducting a final cold test tonight, and the load will surge to the city's grid peak levels instantly. Tell them to prepare for peak shaving. A power outage? Then cut off residential power, save this area!"

Su Wanqing had long since lost her aloof and cold school beauty demeanor.

She was dressed in a smart dark business suit, her hair casually pulled back, holding two cell phones in her hand, and three laptops in front of her.

She was like a sophisticated central processing unit, bringing order to the previously chaotic logistics, procurement, and security work.

After Yang Weiguo's downfall, although the previously stalled approval processes were cleared, new troubles followed one after another.

Countless eyes are watching this place.

Some people want to see the joke, some want to steal secrets, and most are just watching and observing.

What Su Wanqing needs to do is to build another invisible wall outside this huge iron shell.

Not even a fly can fly half a step into S1.

"President Su, here's the 'life-saving water' you requested." Wang Tao rushed in with dark circles under his eyes, placing a cup of extra-strong Americano on the table. "Also, those suppliers you wanted to investigate who were trying to raise prices on our raw materials—we've found out their backgrounds, and they all have foreign capital behind them."

"Block them." Without looking up, Su Wanqing typed a command on the keyboard, "Notify the purchasing department to activate the backup list immediately. Also, send them a lawyer's letter and treat it as a breach of contract."

"Alright!" Wang Tao grinned.

Working for a boss like that is simply wonderful.

After finishing her work, Su Wanqing subconsciously looked up at the monitor screen.

On the screen, the figure suspended on the high-altitude work platform is still working tirelessly.

He is building the sun.

Then she helped him keep the dark clouds out.

……

Late at night on the third day.

Deep inside the S1 laboratory.

When the last black graphene superconducting cable was precisely inserted into the slot, it made a crisp "click" sound.

The whole world fell silent.

Bai Che released the torque wrench from his hand and exhaled a long breath of stale air, the white mist swirling in the beam of the searchlight.

He pressed the communicator on his waist: "All personnel evacuate the core area and prepare for pressure testing."

Dozens of engineers and technicians were evacuated in an orderly manner to the outer perimeter of the circular corridor.

In the center of the enormous reaction well, only that creation remained.

This is a ring-shaped device with a diameter of three meters.

It doesn't resemble the typical bulky, heavy industrial equipment; rather, it's more like a work of art from the future.

The main structure is made of lightweight, high-strength carbon fiber composite material, with a deep matte black surface that can devour all light.

On the black body, countless silver-white cooling pipes are wrapped around it, like complex blood vessels, tightly enveloping the black heart.

The most crucial part is the layer upon layer of graphene magnetic confinement coils that are almost invisible to the naked eye.

They are arranged in an extremely complex geometric topology, and occasionally, under the refraction of light, they flash with an eerie rainbow-colored luster.

nice.

This is a pure beauty, belonging to reason and mathematics.

There are no superfluous decorations; every chamfer and every screw is designed for ultimate performance.

"This is...our ark?"

Qin Bing looked at the device through the thick explosion-proof glass.

"Not just the Ark."

Bai Che took off his greasy gloves, walked to the control panel, and casually picked up the towel Su Wanqing handed him to wipe his face. "This is the key."

A key to unlock the door to a first-level human civilization.

"Self-checks of all subsystems have been completed."

Beside him, the engineer in charge of monitoring the data spoke with a trembling voice, "Energy transmission network impedance... close to zero! Coolant circulation system pressure normal! Safety redundancy system... 100% online rate!"

"Is this the power of all-carbon-based materials...?"

Qin Bing muttered to herself, "Traditional reactors need several hours just to preheat, and this... it's ready already?"

Bai Che did not answer.

He placed his palm on the control panel, his gaze piercing through the glass as he stared at the sleeping behemoth below.

The system's mechanical voice did not sound in my mind.

But he could sense that the machine was alive.

It is waiting.

Waiting for that spark that can awaken it.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Su Wanqing walked to his side and said softly.

Her gaze also fell on the reactor, her eyes filled not only with shock but also with an indescribable sense of pride.

This was created by the boy who used to sleep in the library and seemed so lazy.

"It's not over yet."

Bai Che shook his head, a tired yet childlike smile appearing on his lips. "This is just a shell."

He turned around and faced dozens of pairs of eyes behind him, eyes filled with awe, expectation, and even a touch of fanaticism.

These are the nation's top minds, yet they await his verdict like elementary school students.

Bai Che stretched, his joints cracking.

"Go back to sleep."

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned.

"You've been working for three days straight. If you don't want to die suddenly, go to sleep now."

Bai Che waved his hand. "Everyone, assemble at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Let's go..."

He paused, then yawned.

"ignition."