Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Base 504, Computing Center.

The wall clock ticked away.

Every second felt like a hammer blow to people's hearts.

There were less than 24 hours left until the final deadline for the assembly of the atomic bomb.

Now, what stands before Su Zheng is a huge obstacle – the critical mass error of 0.5%.

"Dean Su, is it absolutely necessary to change it?"

Old Zhao, the foreman of the final assembly workshop, was sweating profusely. "The current explosive loading plan is finalized, and the explosive lenses are all machined. If we need to change it, even by just one millimeter, all the molds and fixtures will have to be redone. There simply isn't enough time!"

Su was sitting in a wheelchair (he was forcibly held in the wheelchair because of his physical weakness), holding a thick data sheet in his hand.

"It must be changed."

Although his voice was weak, his tone left no room for doubt.

"Old Zhao, you need to understand. This 0.5% error is nothing in a regular bomb. But in an atomic bomb, it means the neutron multiplication coefficient could drop from 1.05 to 0.99."

Do you know what this means?

Su Zheng raised his head and looked at Lao Zhao.

"The concept is that it won't explode into a mushroom cloud; it will just 'poof' and turn all the expensive explosives you painstakingly transported into a pile of radioactive waste."

Old Zhao fell silent. He knew Su Zheng was right, but his heart ached.

"Then... how do we change it?" the old professor asked. "The current theoretical model is based on previous data. If we need to recalculate a set of implosion parameters adapted to the new critical mass, at the current speed of 'Red Star-1,' it will take at least a week."

A week.

The daylily buds have gone cold.

The direct order from above was: detonate within the "window of opportunity" three days from now. This was because the weather forecast indicated the only period of good weather in the next month.

If you miss it, you'll have to wait another month.

In today's rapidly changing international landscape, waiting another month adds another layer of uncertainty.

"It won't take a week."

Su Zheng's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of the wheelchair.

"We can use the 'alternation method'."

"Iteration?" The old professor was taken aback.

"That's right," Su Zheng explained. "We don't need to start from scratch. We use the existing model as an 'initial value' and input it into the computer. Then, we let the computer make inverse corrections based on that 0.5% error."

"Calculate once, and obtain a correction value."

"Substitute the correction value in again and calculate the second time."

"This cycle continues. As long as the algorithm converges, each iteration will bring the result closer to the truth."

A light gleamed in Su Zheng's eyes.

"Nine times."

"I estimate that we can get a perfect solution after nine iterations."

"But..." The old professor glanced at the still-humming "Red Star One," "This machine is already at full capacity. Running such a high-intensity iterative algorithm, I'm afraid it..."

"Afraid it will burn?"

Su Zheng smiled.

"If it burns out, repair it. If it breaks, replace it."

"As long as it has a breath left, it has to run."

"I like it, I'm ready to input the algorithm."

……

Ten minutes later.

The computing center has entered "Level 1 combat status".

All the cooling fans were turned on at their highest setting. Several large buckets of ice were moved into the server room and placed next to the server racks for physical cooling.

Su Zheng sat in front of the control panel and personally entered the iterative algorithm called "Nine Chapters".

That was an improvement he made based on the later "Newton-Raphson method," specifically designed for solving nonlinear equations when computing power is insufficient.

"The first iteration begins."

Press the Enter key.

"Buzz—"

"Red Star One" let out a deep, muffled roar.

The red LED lights instantly formed a curtain of light.

Current flows wildly between countless transistors, and logic gates open and close hundreds of thousands of times per second.

At this moment, silicon-based wisdom is igniting.

"Temperature! Core temperature is rising!"

"50 degrees... 55 degrees..."

The technician in charge of monitoring shouted.

"Add ice!" Su Zheng said without turning his head.

Splash!

A bucket of ice was poured into a specially designed ventilation duct. The cold air, carrying moisture, blew towards the scorching hot circuit boards.

Five minutes later.

"The results of the first round are in!"

Ye Xinyi looked at the slip of paper that the printer had printed out: "The error has been reduced by 20%!"

"Okay! Continue!"

"The second iteration begins!"

……

Time passed by, second by second.

Each iteration is like climbing a high mountain. The further you go, the greater the computational load and the slower the convergence speed.

The roar of the machine grew louder and louder, like an old ox panting under its own weight.

You can even smell a burnt smell of overheated insulating varnish.

"Fifth round... complete. Error convergence reduced by 60%."

"Sixth round... complete. Error convergence reduced by 80%."

Everyone was on tenterhooks.

General Zhang stood at the door, clutching the Browning pistol that symbolized command authority, his eyes wide and bulging.

He didn't understand technology, but he knew that this battle was even more dangerous than commanding thousands of troops on the battlefield.

"The seventh round..."

"Warning! Voltage instability in the third arithmetic unit!"

"The capacitor might have exploded!"

"Don't shut down!" Su Zheng roared. "Disconnect the third unit and use the fourth unit to take over! Run it despite the problem!"

"yes!"

The technician frantically unplugged one set of cables and plugged it into a spare port.

The machine trembled slightly, the red light flashed a few times, and then stubbornly lit up again.

It held on.

"The eighth round..."

It was already 3 a.m.

Everyone's eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night.

The outer shell of "Red Star No. 1" was so hot that it was impossible to touch. The smell of burning was getting stronger and stronger.

"It's the final round."

Su Zheng looked at the red button and took a deep breath.

"Round Nine"

"Once this round of calculations is complete, we will have the perfect parameters that only require a 0.1-millimeter adjustment."

"but……"

The old professor glanced at the voltmeter. "The voltage fluctuations are too great. This round of calculations is equivalent to the total of the previous eight rounds. I'm afraid... it will explode as soon as it starts."

Su Zheng fell silent.

He looked at the machine he had personally crafted.

It's like a veteran who has exhausted his life force and is on the verge of collapse.

"It won't explode."

Su Zheng spoke softly, as if talking to an old friend.

"It is 'Red Star'."

"It knows its mission."

Su Zheng reached out and pressed the button.

"Ninth round, full power, sprint!"

"boom--!!!"

For a moment, all the lights in the server room dimmed.

All the electricity was sucked away by that greedy machine.

The fan emitted a sharp whistling sound.

The red light flashed so fast it was dizzying, and eventually it turned into a strange, constant red light.

That's because the flickering frequency exceeds the visual persistence of the human eye.

"Hold on... Hold on..."

Old Zhao knelt on the ground, clasped his hands together, and muttered incantations.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Sudden.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

A plume of black smoke billowed from the server rack.

"Memory chip number two is burned out!"

"Ignore it! The data is still in the cache! Continue!" Su Zheng roared.

"Slap! Slap!"

Two more sounds.

"The auxiliary arithmetic unit is burned out!"

"Frequency dropped by 30%!"

This was nothing short of a brutal positional war.

Comrades fell one by one, but the bugle call to charge continued to sound.

at last.

When everyone is about to despair.

"Beep—"

A crisp buzzing sound.

That was heavenly music.

The red light goes out. The green light comes on.

The printer started spitting out paper like crazy.

"Sizzle sizzle—"

Su Zheng ripped off the long sheet of printing paper.

His hands were trembling.

My gaze swept over the last line of data.

"Convergence...99.99%".

"It's done."

Su Zheng's voice was very soft, but in the quiet server room, it sounded like a thunderclap.

"It's done!!!"

"We've figured it out!"

"boom--"

The cheers from the crowd were even louder than last time.

The old professor rushed over, hugged the still-smoking machine, and cried uncontrollably.

This ugly, rudimentary machine, cobbled together from scrap metal, completed its legendary feat at this moment.

It gave its life to obtain the final key to unlock the nuclear arsenal for the Chinese nation.

"quick!"

Su Zheng had no time to celebrate.

He handed the printout to Old Zhao.

"Based on this data, adjust the inner surface of the explosive lens."

"It only needs to be trimmed by 0.15 millimeters. Just scrape off a tiny bit of the innermost layer."

"This doesn't require remaking the mold, it just requires your skills!"

Old Zhao took the note, glanced at it, and then suddenly saluted.

"Mission accomplished!"

"This time, even if it means chopping off my hand, I'll pry that 0.15 millimeters out for you!"

……

Old Zhao and his men left in a great hurry.

The computer room fell silent.

Su Zheng looked at the "Red Star No. 1" that had been completely paralyzed.

Its indicator lights were all off. Like a warrior who had died from exhaustion, it lay quietly in the darkness.

"Su Zheng, can it... still be repaired?" Ye Xinyi walked over and touched the machine's casing with heartache.

"able."

Su Zheng nodded. "The core components are not damaged, only a few capacitors and resistors are burnt out."

"However, let it rest."

"Its mission is complete."

Su Zheng turned his wheelchair around and looked out the door.

The eastern sky was already turning a pale white.

A new day has begun.

This is also the last day.

"Let's go, Xinyi."

Su Zheng's voice became incredibly firm.

"Go to the final assembly workshop."

"The final battle has begun."