Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

Dr. Mi Nan hurried across the workstation, grabbed her coat, and turned off the brain implant automatically. She didn't even want to look at a single pending email.

The implant has completed communication with the gate and triggered the radiation exposure monitoring (REM) procedure. The radiation monitor flashed green, indicating that she had not been exposed to significant radiation tonight, which was undoubtedly good news.

She selected the "Leave" app with her mind, completed the identity verification, and the door automatically opened, leading her to the lobby. She then opened the elevator app and waited anxiously.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she whispered "bottom floor," and the elevator car immediately took her down from the sixth floor, plummeting into the underground shuttle train station at the bottom of the nuclear facility.

As soon as she stepped onto the platform, she discovered that the 10 o'clock train was three minutes late. She hurriedly squeezed onto the train, slumped into her seat like a deflated balloon, and let out a long sigh.

It's a 20-minute drive from the city center, and there's not much scenery to see along the way except for the monotonous suburban houses. She drank too much coffee to stay awake, and it's already past her normal working hours. Logically speaking, a senior star nuclear power engineer like her shouldn't need to work overtime at all.

She smiled bitterly to herself. If only she could stop working overtime. With her current crazy, non-stop work pace, and considering the two to three times the overtime hours, she could retire in another five years.

But who could have imagined? She gradually became fascinated with the job, even finding enjoyment in the suffocating tension it brought.

Two minutes before arrival, Mi Nan was already so tired that her eyes were blurry. She stared blankly at her ghostly reflection in the train window. Suddenly, the connecting door between the two carriages was pushed open, and a young man walked over and sat down diagonally opposite her across the aisle.

Judging from his demeanor, she guessed he was probably a doctor, perhaps even a surgeon. The man glanced at her casually, and Mi Nan immediately looked away as if she had been electrocuted, silently praying that he hadn't noticed she had been spying on him.

People often come up to her to chat, but it's not all the usual flirting or dating tricks. To a large extent, it's because she seems approachable. This is partly due to her highly recognizable mixed-race face, plus her round, delicate, fair, and translucent face that looks like a peeled egg.

Sometimes she would even despairingly think that her face was so "cute" it looked like a doll won in a ring toss game at an amusement park, and on top of that, she was petite and her figure was... somewhat... ...

This combination of looks walking down the street is practically like having a built-in megaphone: "I'm sweet, harmless, and utterly threatening. Don't take me too seriously. After all, who would care about a chubby, cute girl?"

But deep down, Mi Nan strongly resisted being looked down upon and couldn't stand being treated as a dispensable pretty face. She went through countless hardships to climb to where she is today. During her doctoral studies at MIT, she was known as a "workaholic".

Today, she is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding and intelligent high-density electrical engineers in history.

The young man was still sitting diagonally opposite her, a friendly smile on his lips. Mi Nan took a deep breath, thinking, "That's enough. Stop overthinking. Let's think about something positive."

The work is progressing quite smoothly overall. Although the overtime hours are ridiculously long, the intellectual challenges that push the brain to its limits are simply irresistible.

Designing an energy flow with a power density ten times greater in the core of a reactor that is only a quarter the size of existing commercial nuclear facilities is an incredibly exciting process.

What she is working on is a groundbreaking and remarkable research project, and what's even more remarkable is that this innovation is perfectly nested within an extremely conservative engineering field.

It's important to understand that power companies are all about "conservatism." Their primary responsibility is to ensure the power grid operates 24/7, 365 days a year without interruption, rather than risking a grid outage to pursue some Nobel Prize for innovation.

Strictly speaking, her fluid dynamics design itself did not break out of the traditional framework. The real stroke of genius lies in her seamless integration of multiple cutting-edge technologies.

She uses a giant heat pipe with built-in fractal fluid channels to perfectly convert the terrifying energy generated by nuclear fuel fission into boiling superheated fluid, thereby driving the generator turbine.

Meanwhile, the thermomagnetic fluid, magnetic pump, and transformer work together like precise gears to squeeze out all the waste heat. Finally, the miniature evaporative heat exchanger directs the remaining heat into the convection radiator, perfectly achieving air cooling.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the effort she has put into overcoming the heat dissipation problem. Faced with the terrifying heat energy of gigawatts, in such a confined space, any single technical means, or even the combination of two or three technologies, would seem pale and powerless.

The slightest mistake could cause the reactor core to melt down in just a few minutes. To integrate such a complex system, debug it perfectly, and make it work together seamlessly is an engineering challenge no less than transforming a rough instrumental solo into a grand and meticulously crafted symphony.

The train roared through the ruins of the old airport, which has long since been replaced by a dense cluster of capsule apartment buildings. After a brief stop at a station, the train sped off to the other side, heading towards the skyscrapers of the city center.

Watching the light and shadows flash by outside the window, Mi Nan's mood gradually brightened.

That doctor, who might be a male nurse or a technician, was still sitting diagonally opposite her, glancing at her every now and then.

Mi Nan thought to herself that this guy would probably wait until after she got off the train to come and chat with her, but at the moment she was in a great mood, and the observation deck at the terminal station was always crowded with people, so it was definitely safe.

She thought the other person seemed quite friendly. Although the young man was indeed very handsome, if one were to nitpick, his neck was a bit too thick. However, it was not a big deal, and it was still worth looking forward to.

Want to grab a coffee together tomorrow morning? But... she has to get off at 6 a.m. for work...

Perhaps she really should find something to look forward to in life outside of her endless work? Maybe it's time to have a coffee with a handsome surgeon?

Twenty minutes and twenty seconds later, the train slowly pulled into the tree-lined observation station underground in the city center. Mi Nan got up and walked towards the door. That guy who claimed to be a surgeon, humph, what a liar, dragged his feet and followed closely behind her.

She stood on the platform, slightly turned to the side, thinking he would definitely come closer. Sure enough, the man smiled and showed her his ID card holder.

"I'm from the National Security Bureau. We don't want to alert anyone or attract attention, but there are a few people who need to talk to you."

Mi Nan stared at the document with her mouth slightly open, blinking. A green light flashed at the edge of her vision, indicating that the document was genuine.

"How many people?"

He gestured with his chin towards the other side of the platform, where two men and a woman were walking towards them in an inverted triangle formation. The woman was at the front; she was robust and... It has absolutely nothing to do with "cute" or "adorable".

The way the three of them moved around resembled a group of sharks on patrol. Only when the woman got closer did Mi Nan notice that her nasal bone had recently been broken.

"What did I do wrong?" Mi Nan blurted out, her mind a complete mess, her hands unconsciously gripping the handbag beside her tightly.

"As far as I know, you haven't done anything wrong," the man replied. "My superiors only instructed me to make sure you're safe and sound after get off work."

As he spoke, he winked at her.

"That's not what I meant..." Mi Nan murmured, her hand unconsciously reaching for his sleeve.

The next morning, Mi Nan was already 1,500 kilometers away from her residence. Last night, she was taken away by this group of people "politely but forcefully" and put directly into a helicopter. By the time she arrived at the airport after her connecting flight, it was already past 1 a.m.

She preferred to call her "accomplices" rather than "escort guards" or even "kidnappers." They were very friendly and considerate towards her, but they would remain silent and tight-lipped whenever it came to serious matters.

They quickly escorted her to a top-tier hotel and settled her into a luxurious suite. The suite was already prepared with brand-new clothes for her to change into, which not only fit her perfectly but also matched her taste in style. This thoughtful arrangement was practical, but it also gave people a chill down their spines.

Mi Nan was ushered into an oval-shaped office. Sun Liancheng was standing and talking with a slightly overweight man. When he saw her come in, Sun Liancheng smiled slightly, stepped across the carpet to greet her, and extended his hand.

"Mi Nan, Mi Nan, it's really kind of you to make this trip in such a rush."

"I'd be happy to," Mi Nan forced back the curse that was already on the tip of her tongue, gritting her teeth as she retorted, "After all, I don't have any other choice, do I?"

Sun Liancheng raised his hand to the slightly chubby man: "This is my scientific advisor. Let's get straight to the point. I went to great lengths to invite you here because I urgently need your expertise."

We need you to design a power management system for a 20 gigawatt thermal power reactor, and the deadline is extremely tight. Are you interested? Although we're in a real hurry to get you here, you have the right to refuse; we have backup options.

"But I still have projects with the power company..."

Sun Liancheng interrupted her: "We have already negotiated with your company. Considering the collective interest, they are very willing to grant you indefinite paid leave, which will not affect your position or qualifications."

"What kind of power plant is it?"

A science advisor chimed in: "For security reasons, we cannot disclose specific details. All I can tell you at this time is..."

"Wait a minute." Minan suddenly pointed at the science advisor, "It's definitely for the Mars mission! I bet you need a super-powerful reactor... Okay, I'll join, but I have one condition."

Sun Liancheng turned to the science advisor: "Why do these geniuses always like to make demands?"

The science advisor shrugged: "Probably because they are indeed indispensable and therefore qualified to make demands."

Sun Liancheng was amused. He turned to look at Mi Nan and said, "So, what are your conditions, Mi Nan?"

"If I can help you set up this power generation system, I want to get on the ship too."

Sun Liancheng nodded without hesitation: "Deal."

The science advisor, a bureaucratic man, said, "Before we reveal more details or respond to your speculations, we need your signature on some documents."

As he spoke, he handed over an electronic tablet.

Mi Nan took the tablet: "If it were just a nuclear safety permit, I would have gotten it long ago."

"We are well aware of this, but it involves a higher level of security review. In fact, you passed the background check last night," the science advisor replied.

Sun Liancheng walked around to the desk and sat down, his eyes fixed on the screen. He quickly typed a few words on the keyboard and said to Mi Nan, "Sit down first and take a close look at the agreement."

Mi Nan sat down as instructed and quickly scanned the terms. The core meaning of the document was very straightforward: if she dared to divulge even a single word, she would spend the rest of her life in prison.

She signed her name, pressed her thumb into the fingerprint sensor, and then tossed the tablet back to the science advisor.

Sun Liancheng forced a smile: "Then let us reveal a detail. You must remember the confidentiality agreement you just signed. We really are going to Mars."

"It really is Mars?" Mi Nan exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't just focus on Country A. Jupiter is much closer. What's on Mars?"

Sun Liancheng turned to the scientific advisor and said, "You're right, she really does think fast."

He then turned to Minan, "Coincidentally, our observatory has just observed a target, believed to be an alien spacecraft heading towards Mars, and we are certain that there is something else on Mars to meet it, most likely a space station."

"My God..."

"Indeed, I believe that with your intelligence, it is not difficult for you to deduce the profound implications behind this."

"But..." Mi Nan rubbed her forehead hard with her knuckles, pondered for a moment, and murmured, "With the current technology, it would take us several years to get there."

"With the power system you designed, it won't take that long," the science advisor replied meaningfully.

……

Mi Nan was furious with herself. She was about to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime space journey, the ultimate experience that every tech geek dreams of, but her mind just wouldn't stop, filled with nothing but heat flux integral calculations.

She knew all too well that this was her deep-seated obsessive-compulsive disorder acting up. At work, this obsessive trait had been her invincible weapon, but at this moment, it had become pure torture.

For example, right now, reason tells her that she should calm down and enjoy the entire launch process.

But that damn heat dissipation problem... was like a thorn stuck in her heart, making her feel like she had a fishbone in her throat.

The continuous work over this period had already exhausted her, and the authorities went to great lengths to provide her with convenience.

Her new residence at the base was arranged so meticulously, almost eerily so, which indirectly proves how accurately the security department can grasp a person's lifestyle and taste based solely on cold data in the database.