Building a Sci-Fi Empire: Starting with Cold Nuclear Fusion

evening.

Hotel, in a room.

Yu Xu stood by the window, making a phone call with a respectful expression, "Mr. Lu."

The elderly man's voice, the same one he had spoken to Zhang Shulin on the phone earlier, came from the other end: "Is Chen Yuan planning to work for you?"

Yu Xu said, "Yes, I just came back after signing the contract with him."

Mr. Lu asked slowly, "Has a confidentiality agreement been signed?"

"It's signed." Yu Xu explained in detail, "Chen Yuan has no objection to the confidentiality agreement, but the non-compete agreement..."

"I mean..." Mr. Lu interrupted, "Did you sign a confidentiality agreement?"

"Huh?" Yu Xu asked, puzzled. "Why would I sign a confidentiality agreement?"

Mr. Lu said, "No rush, someone will come to find you soon."

After saying that, the other end of the line hung up the phone with a "click".

Yu Xu was completely bewildered and didn't understand what was going on.

This question did not last long.

A dozen minutes later, the doorbell rang.

When Yu Xu opened the door, he saw two people who claimed to be staff members from national security-related departments, and they showed him their work IDs.

The two then presented Yu Xu with a confidentiality agreement and asked him to sign it.

After reading the agreement, Yu Xu roughly guessed the situation.

Unsurprisingly, since Chen Yuan published his paper yesterday, everyone who has had contact with him or the paper has been required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Yu Xu then realized that Chen Yuan had long been in the sights of the "Imperial Family".

After the agreement was signed, the two men left.

Less than a minute after I closed the door, the phone rang again.

"Mr. Lu."

"All signed?"

"It's all signed."

"Alright," Mr. Lu said calmly, "There are some things I can tell you."

Yu Xu said, "Please go ahead."

Mr. Lu said, "About half a month ago, Zhang Shulin from Huahe recommended Chen Yuan to me. After learning about his deeds, I knew that he was a rare talent, so I had someone secretly protect him. At the time, it was just to protect emerging talents. I never expected him to be so amazing that he could develop semi-controlled nuclear fusion technology all by himself in less than half a month."

What...what?!

Chen Yuan independently developed the Dyson sphere technology for the hydrogen bomb in just half a month.

Yu Xu was incredulous.

Mr. Lu continued, "He is an extraordinary person. We must protect such a top genius and let him show his full talent. He was originally very interested in the Southwest Institute of Physics of the Nuclear Industry and expressed his desire to work there. So Zhang Shulin has been handling the liaison work. Apart from Xiao Zhang, no one else knows much about him."

At this point, he sighed softly, "I didn't expect that an accident would happen, which led to him coming into contact with too many people. I had to ask each of you to sign a confidentiality agreement, including Chen Yuan's girlfriend. She was still attending a wedding when she was called out to sign a confidentiality agreement."

Yu Xu hummed in agreement, indicating that he was listening.

Mr. Lu then changed the subject, saying, "You understand why I've said so much, right?"

Yu Xu tentatively replied, "Will I handle Chen Yuan's liaison work from now on?"

"Yes." Mr. Lu said directly, "From now on, no matter what happens to him, you must report to me immediately. Even if he is just doing the most ordinary work every day, you must write a daily summary and send it to the designated email address. In addition, you can tell me if he has any requests. As long as they are not excessive, I can generally agree to them."

"Okay, Mr. Lu."

Yu Xu responded, then suddenly remembered something and added, "There's something I need to tell you."

Mr. Lu said, "Speak."

Yu Xu said, "The reason we were able to invite Chen Yuan is because we agreed to a series of conditions, one of which is related to the research and development funding for the semi-controlled nuclear fusion project. Originally, we wanted to apply or prepare through normal channels, which would take a lot of time and might affect the project's progress. Since you said today that we can make any requests we have, then the research and development funding we promised... could you please simplify the process and get it as soon as possible?"

Mr. Lu, unaware of the seriousness of the problem, casually said, "Large-scale research and development projects are usually divided into several phases. Research and development funding management follows the principle of hierarchical management and responsibility, and it is rare to release funds all at once. However, for a project like semi-controlled nuclear fusion that benefits the country and its people, we will definitely do our best to support it. Tell me how much research and development funding you promised, and I will give you a heads-up later. You can apply for it later, and it should arrive in your account soon."

"Thank you, Mr. Lu." Yu Xu expressed his gratitude and stated the figure: "Five hundred billion."

"How many!?"

For the first time, Mr. Lu, who was usually calm and collected, changed his tone on the other end of the phone.

He said speechlessly, "How much did you promise? Five hundred billion!?"

Yu Xu weakly explained, "Yes, 50 billion. Semi-controlled nuclear fusion is a large-scale research and development project. It can't be done without that much money."

Mr. Lu was increasingly speechless. "Do you know how much money we've invested in controlled nuclear fusion over the past three years? Six hundred billion! Six hundred billion in three years, and you dare to promise five hundred billion? I want to ask, how dare you?"

It's clear he thinks the research and development funding is too much.

Yu Xu said frankly, "Originally we didn't intend to apply for so much R&D funding, but Huahe asked for 40 billion. After a last-minute discussion with the dean, in order to invite Chen Yuan to join us, we had to increase the R&D funding to 50 billion."

Mr. Lu retorted, "If we don't approve it, how will you fulfill your promise?"

Yu Xu said directly, "I believe that once the news of the semi-controllable nuclear fusion project is released, many companies like Aoxing will be interested, and even some companies that are not engaged in nuclear research will be interested. This is a groundbreaking project, and it will not be difficult to raise several hundred billion."

He's not talking nonsense. The hydrogen bomb and Dyson sphere are major projects that could change the way humanity obtains energy. If they were to release information about it and put it up for bidding, they could easily raise hundreds of billions, even a hundred billion. However, there's a drawback to the bidding process: you have to show your technology patents, which means the project can't be kept secret.

Mr. Lu remained silent, not saying anything immediately, as if he was considering something.

Yu Xu did not urge them, but waited quietly for their response.

After about a minute, Mr. Lu finally spoke, "This project must be kept absolutely confidential. No information can be disclosed, not even the application guidelines or the project initiation stage. The same goes for Chen Yuan himself. Only those who are involved in his projects can know about them. Even people in your research institute are not allowed to know."

Yu Xu knew that Mr. Lu's statement was to protect Chen Yuan.

But the problem now is, how can we carry out the hydrogen bomb Dyson sphere project if we don't have the funds?

He asked, looking rather helpless, "So, does that mean we can't seek external financing through bidding?"

Mr. Lu confirmed, "Yes."

Yu Xu asked with concern, "How do we solve the problem of research and development funding?"

Mr. Lu promised, "I can apply to the higher-ups, but 50 billion at once is too much. Let's give several billion upfront to get the project off the ground. If it achieves some success, we'll provide the remaining funds step by step. Is that alright?"

Yu Xu said expectantly, "We promised him five hundred..."

Mr. Lu interrupted, saying, "Come collect the money after you've achieved results!"

Yu Xu didn't dare to say more, so he could only agree: "Okay, I'll discuss with the dean how to inform Chen Yuan of this news later."

……

noon the next day.

Back home in the countryside, Chen Yuan looked at the four dishes and soup on the table and blinked, saying, "Dad, Mom, didn't you say on the phone last night that you couldn't eat unless I got married? You two seem to be enjoying your meal!"

Dad and Mom were surprised to see their son suddenly return, and looked at him in astonishment.

Hearing this, Mom got up and walked towards the kitchen, saying irritably, "You come back just to see if your dad and I enjoy our meal?"

Chen Yuan sat down at the dining table, grinning, and said, "More than that, I originally wanted to come back last night to see if you guys could sleep."

Yeah, last night my parents said they couldn't sleep or eat if they didn't find a girlfriend and get married soon.

Dad rolled his eyes and said, "Isn't this just talk? Do you really want your mom and me to lose our appetite and sleep?"

At this point, he seemed to remember something and changed the subject, saying, "Hey, it's Monday today, why didn't you go to work?"

Chen Yuan honestly replied, "Oh, you mean Xinghe Company? I'm not going."

No sooner had I finished speaking than my mother came out from inside, carrying a bowl of rice, and frowned, saying, "Not going? You got fired from your company?"

My dad comforted me, saying, "So what if you open it? You and I can still manage, supporting him won't be a problem."

The mother placed the bowl and chopsticks in front of her son, nodded, and said, "That's true. Fine, if Xinghe Company doesn't want you, then so be it. Your father and I will support you."

Chen Yuan took the rice bowl and said speechlessly, "What are you two talking about? I resigned voluntarily, okay? Xinghe Company couldn't bear to part with me and even invited me to be a technical consultant, offering me an annual salary of 500,000."

"what?"

"Technical consultant, annual salary of 500,000?"

My parents were extremely surprised.

My mom exclaimed, "Oh dear! You make 500,000 a year even if you don't work for the company?"

Chen Yuan started eating. "Yes."

Mom was delighted and said, "That's great! You still have time to go on a blind date. Don't leave today. I'll go find Aunt Wang next door and ask her to introduce you to a pretty girl. You can meet her later."

In Suzhou dialect, "xiaoniangyu" refers to an unmarried woman, regardless of whether she is four or five years old or twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

Chen Yuan became flustered and hurriedly said, "Although I'm not going to Xinghe Company, it doesn't mean I haven't found other jobs. I came back this time to tell you that I'm going to Luzhou for work this afternoon, and I'll only be able to come back on Saturdays and Sundays from now on. Well, if I get busy, I might not be able to come back on Saturdays and Sundays either."

He didn't mention that he was dating Ah Yu.

We've just started talking about it, who knows what will happen in the future.

Chen Yuan wanted to settle down before telling his parents about his relationship with A Yu.

My mother asked curiously, "Luzhou? What kind of place is that?"

My dad was also very curious.

Chen Yuan said, "The Institute of Plasma Physics, which is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, offered me an associate professorship."

Because of the confidentiality agreement, he can only reveal this much; he can't say what projects he's working on.

Mom exclaimed excitedly, "Our son just graduated and he's already getting an associate professor position at the Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Oh my, that's wonderful!"

At this point, she suddenly stood up. "You all continue eating, I'm going out for a walk."

Chen Yuan looked completely bewildered and asked, "Why aren't you eating lunch?"

Dad scoffed, "What can she do? She just knows you're going to work at the Institute of Plasma Physics and goes off to brag about it!"

Chen Yuan: "..."

As Mom reached the door, she turned around and glared at Dad. "What do you know? Our son has made something of himself, of course I have to let others know, otherwise who will try to find him a wife?"

Chen Yuan: "…………"

Well, he was speechless at his mother's antics.

Despite this, Chen Yuan still enjoys this family atmosphere.

Chen Yuan was in a good mood. He was going to Luzhou in the afternoon and would soon be able to start developing controlled nuclear fusion.