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

Time: Winter, 2035.

Location: Headquarters of the "Chasing the Sun" Project, deep in the Taklamakan Desert.

Let's turn back the clock to that winter night 46 years ago.

In 1989, a Dongfeng-5B improved missile codenamed "Great Wall" skipped across the Pacific Ocean with an incredible "Sanger trajectory," shocking the world. That "Sword of Damocles" hanging overhead silenced ambitious individuals who sought to blockade and dismember this ancient nation for half a century.

Su Zheng, the young man who pointed at the screen at Base 001 and said "the sword technique should turn into magic," now has a full head of white hair.

He stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the silver-white ring-shaped building outside with a diameter of ten kilometers—the EAST-X superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental reactor, codenamed "Golden Crow".

If the "Sword of Damocles" of yesteryear was a shield forged for survival, then the "Golden Crow" before us is a torch lit for the future.

The entire experimental reactor complex resembles a giant silver lotus flower, blooming deep within this once desolate desert. The main reactor is located in the center, surrounded by twelve auxiliary buildings, each an independent research unit. This place brings together the nation's top nuclear physicists, materials scientists, plasma engineers, and research elites from over thirty countries worldwide.

In this largest scientific experimental facility in human history, every screw represents humanity's pursuit of the ultimate form of energy.

Su Zheng's gaze pierced through the glass curtain wall and the silvery-white outer shell, as if he could see the plasma fireball inside the reactor, confined by a strong magnetic field. It was a miniature sun, with a temperature of 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times hotter than the core of the sun.

This temperature is high enough to vaporize any known substance instantly. Only the powerful magnetic field generated by the superconducting magnet can suspend this "liquid flame" in the center of the vacuum chamber, preventing it from coming into contact with any physical matter.

"grandfather."

A crisp voice interrupted his thoughts.

Su Zheng turned around and saw a young girl in a white research uniform walking towards him. She had almond-shaped eyes exactly like Ye Xinyi's when she was young, and her name tag read: Su Chen, Chief Engineer of the "Chasing the Sun" Project.

Su Chen is Su Zheng's granddaughter and just turned thirty this year. She was admitted to Tsinghua University's Junior Class at the age of sixteen, obtained a doctorate in nuclear physics at the age of twenty-two, and led the design of the magnetic confinement system for the "Golden Crow" project at the age of twenty-five. She is hailed as the "leading figure of the third generation of nuclear fusion in China".

But in Su Zheng's eyes, she will always be that little girl who grew up listening to stories about the courtyard house while lying on his lap.

"All data has been debugged." Su Chen's voice trembled slightly. "The reactor core temperature has been preheated to 100 million degrees Celsius, and the magnetic confinement field strength has reached the critical value. That's the technological seed you brought back from Moscow years ago, and after three generations of nurturing, it's finally... about to blossom."

Su Zheng smiled slightly.

Moscow. That distant winter night, that thrilling technology theft operation, remains vivid in my memory.

On Christmas Eve 1991, under the very nose of the KGB, Su Zheng, carrying a black leather suitcase full of US dollars, copied thirty years of Soviet nuclear fusion technology from the underground laboratory of the Kurchatov Institute. The data and formulas written on the disks were a precious treasure trove of knowledge acquired by Soviet scientists through countless failures and sacrifices.

The Soviet Union at that time was teetering on the brink of collapse, and the entire country's scientific research system was on the verge of disintegration. Many top scientists had to sacrifice their life's work for bread and vodka in order to make a living. It was Su Zheng who, in that chaotic era, used money and promises to save the hope of humanity's future from those desperate geniuses.

"After that data returned to China, it took us a full ten years to fully absorb and digest it," Su Zheng said slowly. "And another twenty years to improve and innovate upon it. The current 'Golden Crow' has completely surpassed the original Soviet design."

He paused, then turned to his granddaughter: "Chenchen, do you know why this project was named 'Chasing the Sun'?"

Su Chen shook his head.

"Because our generation grew up under blockade and suppression." Su Zheng's eyes deepened. "Back then at Base 001, when we wanted to build the atomic bomb, the West blockaded us; when we wanted to build missiles, the West imposed an embargo; when we wanted to develop spaceflight, the West isolated us. Every step was like crossing a river by feeling for stones, and every step came at a bloody price."

"But we have never given up. Because we know that only by mastering the core technologies can we truly stand up. The 'Sword of Damocles' gave us the space to survive, while the 'Golden Crow' will give us the initiative in development."

Su Chen nodded thoughtfully.

Her generation grew up in a peaceful and prosperous era. Although she had heard about the hardships of those years, it was ultimately just stories from books and elders. Only by standing beside her grandfather today, listening to him recount that history, could she truly feel the weighty sense of mission behind it all.

"The countdown is about to begin." Su Chen glanced at his watch. "All observation equipment is in place, and the expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived. If this ignition is successful, we will achieve, for the first time in human history, controlled nuclear fusion will continue operating for more than a thousand seconds, with output power exceeding the input power by more than ten times."

"What does this mean?" Su Zheng asked knowingly.

"This means humanity will completely bid farewell to the fossil fuel era." Su Chen's eyes gleamed. "A nuclear fusion power plant only needs a few tons of deuterium and tritium to supply the electricity needs of a city of one million people for a year. And deuterium can be extracted from seawater; it's virtually inexhaustible."

"More importantly, nuclear fusion reactions do not produce long-lived radioactive waste, pose no risk of nuclear leakage, and cannot be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. It is a truly clean, safe, and sustainable ultimate energy source."

Su Zheng patted his granddaughter on the shoulder with satisfaction: "Go, go and make history."

Su Chen took a deep breath, turned around, and walked towards the central control room.

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Su Zheng saw the staff in the control room, each at their assigned positions. On the huge circular display screen, thousands of parameters were constantly changing. Each parameter represented the operating status of a specific subsystem of the reactor; any anomaly in any data could lead to the failure of the entire experiment.

"Sun Chasing Project Headquarters, this is the Golden Crow No. 1 Reactor." Su Chen's voice echoed throughout the base via loudspeaker, "All systems are ready, requesting to proceed with the ignition procedure."

"Headquarters received." A deep male voice rang out; it was the Minister of Energy. "Golden Crow One, you may begin. The future of humanity rests in your hands."

"Understood." Su Chen turned to the technical team beside him. "Start the countdown. Objective: Ignite the artificial sun."

"ten……"

"Nine……"

"eight……"

As the countdown progressed, the entire base fell silent.

Su Zheng closed his eyes, and images flashed through his mind.

He recalled the 1960s, when he had just left his traditional courtyard house and started as an apprentice at the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill. Back then, China was extremely poor; even a single nail had to be imported. And it was in that environment that, through the system and his own hard work, he gradually rose to become an eighth-grade fitter, representing the first generation of skilled workers in the new China.

He recalled the days at Base 001, the scientists and engineers who worked in anonymity for the sake of national security. They gave up comfortable living conditions and the opportunity to reunite with their families, dedicating the best years of their lives to the nuclear weapons research and development project deep in the desert.

He recalled that winter night in Moscow when he had narrowly escaped death from the KGB's guns and boarded a plane back home with those precious technical documents. He knew that the value of those documents far exceeded that of any gold or diamonds.

He also thought of Ye Xinyi. The woman who had been with him throughout his life, the lover who had always stood by his side during his most difficult times. She passed away ten years ago, holding his hand before she died and saying, "Engineer Su, I'm waiting for you, waiting for you on the stars."

"three……"

"two……"

"one……"

"ignition!"

Su Zheng opened his eyes.

In an instant, the entire "Golden Crow" reactor burst into a dazzling light. The light pierced through the thick shielding layer and illuminated the entire desert.

At that moment, a miniature sun was born on Earth.

A burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted in the control room.

"The core temperature has stabilized at 150 million degrees Celsius!"

"Magnetic confinement field strength is normal!"

"Plasma density has reached the design value!"

"Fusion reaction initiated successfully, energy output commencing!"

Su Chen stared intently at the data on the screen, his hands trembling slightly with excitement.

"One hundred seconds...two hundred seconds...five hundred seconds..." Her voice rose higher and higher, "We've broken five hundred seconds! This is the first time in human history!"

The cheers grew even louder.

But Su Chen did not stop.

"Keep going!" she commanded. "Maintain your reaction time; we need to break the one thousand second barrier!"

"Seven hundred seconds... eight hundred seconds... nine hundred seconds..."

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly.

Every second, hundreds of millions of deuterium and tritium nuclei fuse at ultra-high temperatures, releasing enormous amounts of energy. This energy is confined by a magnetic field and converted into electrical energy through a heat exchange system, which is then transmitted to the external power grid.

At that very moment, in a small town a hundred kilometers away from the experimental base, the light bulbs in tens of thousands of homes suddenly became brighter. Unbeknownst to them, the electricity illuminating their homes came from the first truly "artificial sun" in human history.

"A thousand seconds!"

Su Chen clenched his fist and shouted, "We did it!"

The entire control room erupted in excitement.

Scientists embraced each other, some were moved to tears, and some knelt on the ground and wept uncontrollably.

They had waited too long for this moment.

From the time Soviet scientists Tam and Sakharov proposed the concept of the tokamak in the 1950s to the final realization of the engineering application of controlled nuclear fusion today, humanity has come a long way in eighty years.

Over the past eighty years, countless scientists have dedicated their lives to this cause, countless countries have invested astronomical sums of money, and countless failures and setbacks have been experienced.

Today, deep in the deserts of China, in the "Golden Crow" reactor, built by Su Zheng with the painstaking efforts of three generations, humanity has finally ignited its own sun.

Su Zheng stood quietly by the window, looking at the silver-white building in the distance, his eyes moist.

He murmured to himself, "Xinyi, did you see that? We really did it."

At that moment, he seemed to see Ye Xinyi standing beside him, wearing the white lab coat she wore back then, a gentle smile on her face, saying to him, "Engineer Su, I knew you could do it."

Outside the window, the sun is slowly setting in the west.

Meanwhile, inside the "Golden Crow" reactor, another sun that never goes out is rising.

From the "Sword of Damocles" to the "Artificial Sun," from the struggle for survival to the hope for the future, the Chinese nation has taken half a century to complete the great leap from catching up to running alongside, and then to leading the way.

And all of this started with an eighth-level fitter who came from a traditional courtyard house, a master craftsman who dared to gamble within the rules and break through difficulties.

He proved with his life that technology can change destiny, knowledge can create the future, and a nation can only stand at the top of the world when it masters core technologies.

Night falls, and the stars shine brightly.

Su Zheng turned and left the observation deck, heading towards his lounge.

Tomorrow, even more work awaits him.

The successful ignition of "Golden Crow" is only the first step in the "Sun Chasing Project." Next, they plan to build ten, one hundred, and one thousand nuclear fusion power plants to illuminate every corner of the earth with clean energy.

But after that, an even grander plan awaited them.

South Heaven Gate.

That code name written in the nation's top secret archives, that super project that could propel human civilization into the interstellar age.

Su Zheng knew that his journey had only just begun.