Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

The night air in Tennessee carries a faint smell of coal smoke and engine oil, a distinctive odor of heavy industry.

Shen Jinghong crawled out from under the chassis of a military truck transporting chemical reagents, dusted himself off, and moved as lightly as a cat that had just stolen some fish.

In his haste, he didn't even buy a ticket, instead hanging himself like cargo under the military vehicle heading to Oak Ridge. The bumpy ride made his stomach churn, and his internal organs felt like they were about to shift.

But looking at this colossal creature hidden deep within the Clynch Valley, Shen Jinghong felt it would be worth it even if he had to vomit his bile.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The most mysterious place on this planet, the gas diffusion plant codenamed "K-25," is located here. What lies hidden inside is the ultimate truth that makes all major powers tremble—enriched uranium.

"That's truly spectacular..."

Shen Jinghong lay on the grass halfway up the mountain, looking at the huge factory that stretched for a mile in the valley, brightly lit as day.

Even in the dead of night, this place still operates like a tireless monster. Countless pipes coil around the building's surface like blood vessels, and huge cooling towers spew out white steam, their deep rumbling sending shivers down your spine.

This is the heart of the Manhattan Project.

"System, wake up. Whether you can collect that pile of scrap metal depends on your teeth."

[Beep! High-concentration radioactive purification equipment cluster detected. Hazard level: Extremely high. Value level: Incalculable.]

[System notification: The host's current mental strength has been enhanced. You may attempt to forcibly absorb it, but this will be accompanied by a severe headache.]

"A headache is nothing."

Shen Jinghong spat, his eyes filled with a frightening fervor. "As long as I can get this thing back, I'd be willing to accept anything, even a ten-year reduction in my lifespan, let alone a headache."

He knew all too well what this thing meant.

In their past lives, to create that "giant firecracker," the ancestors of China used abacuses to calculate the data and large iron ladles to stir uranium ore in poisonous pots! They risked their lives to fill that hole!

Now, the equipment is right in front of us. If we can move it back, that mushroom cloud blooming in Lop Nur can take off at least five years earlier!

"That's not a centrifuge, that's a dowry for the rabbit."

Shen Jinghong muttered to himself, and taking advantage of the gap in the searchlight's sweep, he slid down the hillside like a ghost.

Security at the K-25 factory is even more stringent than at the Federal Reserve. There are guards every three steps, sentries every five steps, and even military police with wolfhounds patrolling.

But Shen Jinghong had no intention of using the door.

He touched the sewage outlet on the side of the factory building, where the iron fence was as thick as a wrist.

"receive!"

The fence vanished instantly, without even a bubble appearing.

Shen Jinghong crawled into the passage filled with a pungent smell and followed the pipes for ten minutes before finally arriving at the interior of a huge workshop.

When he poked his head out of the vent, even though he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by what he saw and his scalp tingled.

Thousands upon thousands of gas diffusion units were densely packed together, stretching as far as the eye could see. Their silver-white fuselages gleamed coldly under the lights, and the pipes connecting them formed a complex maze.

This isn't a factory; it's practically a temple made of metal!

"If we tried to build this ourselves, it would take forever..."

Shen Jinghong jumped down from the ventilation duct and landed next to a centrifuge. His hand trembled as he touched the cold casing, as if he were caressing the skin of a lover.

"You used to bully people, but from now on, you'll be our sticks for beating dogs."

[Beep! Contact with gas diffusion centrifuge (K-25 model).]

[Drawing reverse engineering function initiated...Analyzing...]

[Congratulations, host! You have obtained the "Complete Set of Process Drawings for Gas Diffusion Separation and Uranium Enrichment (Chinese Version)" and the "Centrifuge Core Bearing Manufacturing Process (Chinese Version)"!]

That notification sound was simply heavenly.

Shen Jinghong's eyes welled up with tears, and she almost couldn't help but shout.

With this set of blueprints, the scientists in China who were still worried about the withdrawal of Soviet experts no longer had to depend on others!

"Move it! Move it all out! Don't leave Oppenheimer even a single electrical wire!"

He took a deep breath, unleashed his full mental power, and placed his hands on the massive base.

Om-!

This time, the commotion is bigger than ever before.

Shen Jinghong felt as if his head had been hit hard by a sledgehammer; his vision went black for a moment, and blood gushed from his nose again.

But he gritted his teeth and refused to let go.

Under that terrifying mental force, hundreds of centrifuges in the entire A area, along with the underground power cables and the control instruments on the walls, evaporated into thin air in an instant!

The once noisy and bustling workshop instantly became much quieter.

It was like a lively symphony suddenly having its sound system cut off.

"Huff... huff..."

Shen Jinghong staggered, grabbing a nearby pillar to keep from falling. He wiped the blood from his face, looked at the bare concrete floor, and grinned like a madman.

"That feels great! That's fucking great!"

He didn't dare to rest, enduring the excruciating pain in his head, and rushed to the next area.

Section B, acquired!

Section C, acquired!

The entire factory seemed to have been swallowed up by an invisible force. Those machines, representing the pinnacle of human industrial technology, disappeared in large swathes, as if sucked into a black hole.

As Shen Jinghong ran, she stuffed chocolates she had swiped from the system space into her mouth to replenish her energy, muttering to herself:

"This one is for Mr. Qian, this one is for Mr. Deng, and this one... this one is for me to keep for myself!"

Ten minutes later.

The K-25 core plant, which was originally crowded and noisy, has been completely transformed into a huge indoor ice rink.

Only a few lonely load-bearing columns remain standing there, making it look particularly desolate.

Shen Jinghong put the last canister of enriched uranium material into his spatial storage. He felt completely drained and didn't even want to move a finger.

Just then, hurried footsteps and voices came from outside the door.

"...Robert, are you sure the data tonight is okay? The monitoring room just said the voltage here is fluctuating a lot."

A rough male voice rang out, carrying the unique authority of a soldier.

Immediately following was a slightly tired but magnetic voice:

"General Groves, scientific experiments are always full of surprises. Perhaps it's just that one of the machines overheated. You have to trust our technology."

Shen Jinghong's heart clenched.

Oppenheimer!

And there was General Groves, the chief executive of the Manhattan Project!

Why did these two experts come here in the middle of the night?

He was less than ten meters behind the gate, surrounded by empty space with no cover whatsoever. The moment the gate opened, he and the vast, empty workshop would be completely exposed to them.

Run? It's too late.

Hide? Where to hide?

Shen Jinghong's gaze swept over the only cleaning tool room next door, where there was a half-closed small door.

The footsteps outside the door had stopped at the entrance.

The sound of turning the handle was particularly jarring in the deathly silence.

"Click".

General Groves's voice came through the door, tinged with impatience: "Robert, open the door. I need to personally verify the purity of this batch of enriched uranium. Washington is pressing us hard; it's rations for our 'Little Boy'."

"Yes, General. But I must warn you, the radiation levels here are a bit high."

Shen Jinghong held her breath, slipped into the cleaning room, and stared intently through the crack in the door at the heavy door that was slowly opening.

He clutched a large-caliber revolver he'd smuggled from the Federal Reserve tightly in his hand. He might not have the chance to fire it, but it was better than sitting and waiting to die.

The door creaked heavily as it slowly opened.

A blinding beam of corridor light shone in, casting two long shadows on the empty concrete floor.

Then came a suffocating silence.

Dead silence.

Shen Jinghong could clearly hear the sound of the two people outside the door suddenly stopping their breathing.

A full five seconds passed before Oppenheimer's voice, trembling with doubt and shock, finally broke through:

"General...am I hallucinating because I've been working too hard these past few days?"

"Why... has my lab turned into... a parking lot?"