Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

by Stayrr

After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. A Master’s degree? Easy. PhD? Not a problem. From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the wor

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Read Scholar's Advanced Technological System - Chapter 555 - Everything Is in Order online free - Novelfull

Chapter 555: Everything Is in Order

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

STAR-2 demonstration reactor construction base.

The construction site was raging with action.

It had been more than a month since Beijing approved fusion ignition. Autumn was gone and Winter had arrived. It was now the season to eat dumplings.

Even though the weather was getting colder, it didn't put out the fire in everyone's heart.

They had crossed countless obstacles and barriers to get to this moment.

Soon, they would find out if it was all worth it.

"Connection port is checked! Connection is normal!"

"Attention all units, start docking!"

The ion cyclotron resonance heating antenna, which was around ten meters long and around four meters wide, was hoisted by a steel cable and attached to a crane. It slowly moved toward the huge reactor.

At the same time, the China National Nuclear Corporation engineers were standing nearby. They were operating other professional equipment and installation work.

Academician Wang Zengguang, the chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation, was in charge of everything that was going on. He wore a helmet and had a proud smile on his old wrinkly face.

"I used to think that when China National Nuclear Corporation develops the fourth-generation nuclear fission technology, it'd be time for me to retire."

Academician Li Jiangang from the Fuyang Institute Construction Material Laboratory was standing next to Academician Wang. He smiled.

"What about now?"

Academician Wang stared at this metal behemoth and smirked.

"It looks like I'll have to wait a couple more years."

If we achieve fusion ignition…

There has to be someone to lead it.

Before fusion technology arrived on the right track, Academician Wang had to continue working.

Suddenly, a middle-aged engineer, who was wearing a safety helmet, came over to these two old men.

"The ion cyclotron resonance heating antenna has been installed!"

Academician Li said in a serious manner, "Is the connection port seal checked?"

The middle-aged engineer nodded and said in a serious manner, "It's been checked three times! There are no problems whatsoever."

Academician Li nodded with satisfaction and looked at his old friend next to him. He then jokingly said, "The Fuyang Institute Construction Material Laboratory successfully completed their task, it's up to you guys now. Old Wang, don't drop the ball at this crucial moment. If your ferrofluid electric energy generator doesn't produce electricity, then it'd be a shame."

Academician Wang smiled and replied, "Ah, you old man, worry about me now I see? Rest assured, if we end up dropping the ball, my name isn't Wang Zengguang!"

He looked at this middle-aged engineer and ordered, "Begin the ferrofluid electric energy generator installation!"

"Ok!"

The middle-aged engineer nodded and immediately ran toward the reactor base.

…

Whoosh!

Two fighter jets whizzed past the skyline, producing a deafening roar behind them.

Recently, this sound could often be heard around here.

Lu Zhou stood in his office with floor-to-ceiling windows. He looked away from the sea and stared at his watch.

In thirty minutes, there was another conference for him to host.

Ever since his research work was temporarily paused, he had been extremely busy.

It would be better to say that this month of demonstration reactor construction was the most exhausting month he had ever had.

More than one hundred research institutes participated in research projects of the STAR-2 machine, and dozens of institutions had participated directly or indirectly in the construction of the demonstration reactor components as well as the construction site infrastructure.

In order to coordinate these various departments, the most common thing he did this month was to host meetings. He had to host more than three meetings every day and had to oversee at least ten reports.

For a person that liked to stay in a laboratory and study interesting problems, this was excruciating.

But thankfully, these days were coming to an end.

The STAR-2 demonstration reactor components had all been completed.

If everything went well, in the upcoming meeting, the chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation, Academician Wang, would report to him about the installation of the ion cyclotron resonance heating antenna and the ferrofluid electric energy generator.

These were the last two puzzle pieces.

After these two components were installed and a final verification check of the components was completed, the fusion ignition experiment could basically begin.

Lu Zhou couldn't help but smirk when he thought about this.

This day finally came.

He heard knocking sounds at his door.

Lu Zhou looked away from the windows and looked at the door.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open. Yan Yan walked in. She was wearing a dark blue coat and holding a lunch box.

"You haven't eaten again, right?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I have no appetite during the day. I'm used to eating just breakfast and dinner."

Yan Yan sighed and placed the lunch box on the coffee table as she said, "I know you're busy, but you still have to eat three meals a day. I brought you some dumplings from the cafeteria."

The food was delivered directly to Lu Zhou's door, so he didn't want to persist. He gracefully thanked Yan Yan and sat down on the sofa. He then opened the lunch box.

The delicious scent wafted over as the crystal-clear dumplings enticed Lu Zhou.

When he drank some soup and felt his stomach warm up, his eyes shone brightly.

Oh, it's quite nice.

He couldn't help but pick up the chopsticks.

"Is the army food always this good?"

Yan Yan sat down on the sofa across him and said, "It depends which department it is."

"Oh yeah?"

Lu Zhou didn't continue carrying on the conversation. Instead, he concentrated on enjoying his delicious lunch.

A regular diet was definitely healthy, and he didn't need anyone to tell him that since he was well aware of this.

But even though he was aware, he lost his appetite whenever he was busy. Once he realized he was hungry, it was already past lunchtime, so he would just wait for dinner instead.

Lu Zhou was enjoying the dumplings in the lunch box when he suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, today is the winter solstice, right?"

Yan Yan was sitting on the sofa across from him. She paused for a second and nodded. "Yeah."

No wonder we're eating dumplings…

Lu Zhou smiled. If it weren't for this box of dumplings, he wouldn't have realized today was a special day.

It really is the winter solstice…

Time really flies…

He heard footsteps coming from the corridor, and soon, a familiar face appeared at the door.

"Since the door is already opened, I'm coming in. I'm not disturbing Professor Lu's meal, am I?"

"You're not disturbing me at all." Lu Zhou smiled and put down the chopsticks as he said, "I just finished eating."

He looked at Yan Yan.

"Thanks for the lunch."

Yan Yan shook her head and said, "No worries, you're welcome."

She got up from the sofa and took away the lunch box on the coffee table. She left the office and closed the door.

Regiment Commander Dai sat down across from Lu Zhou. He then cleared his throat and asked in a serious manner, "It's almost the end of December, is there an exact date for fusion ignition?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and replied, "The exact date isn't determined yet. I'll discuss this matter at the next meeting. But regardless of what day it is, it definitely won't be delayed until next year."

"Okay, I'll come back here in the evening," Regiment Commander Dai nodded and said, "but my suggestion is that, if you guys have determined a date for fusion ignition, try to tell us three days in advance. This is so that we can ask the city council to cooperate with us and sort out the safety and traffic issues in the area."

"No problem, thank you so much." Lu Zhou nodded. When he suddenly remembered something, he said, "Speaking of which, it's New Year's Day in a few days, right?"

Regiment Commander Dai nodded and said, "Yeah, why?"

"Perfect, let's pick an important day for fusion ignition then." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "We'll give the people of China a gift for the upcoming new year!"

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Chapter 556: Fusion ignition!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

December 31st.

New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories.

Several engineers in protective clothing were standing in a half-spherical device to overhaul the cooled down equipment.

This machine was called the Z-machine.

The capacitors that were densely packed inside the machine could discharge up to 1,000 times the power of lightning. Just by pressing the switch, a 20-million amps current would instantly surge into the cylinder, violently compressing the hydrogen atoms. This would then release the terrifying fusion energy.

Even though they were being pressured by the demonstration reactor across the Pacific Ocean, the controllable fusion laboratory in the United States had been having a good day.

Especially after they saw the disturbance that occurred in the energy futures market a while ago. Congress finally began to pay attention to the controllable nuclear fusion technology, and they started to generously give out research funding.

In addition to Congress, multiple giant energy companies had also increased their investments in the fusion technology. However, Sandia National Laboratories, a research institute under the Department of Energy, was mainly funded by the federal government.

Unlike the National Ignition Facility in California, the Z machine wasn't exactly considered inertial confinement fusion. The high power current and nuclear fuel formed a magnetic cage. This cage produced fast ignition in the microsecond time range. This basically combined inertial confinement fusion and magnetism together.

Even though this machine wasn't as popular as the National Ignition Facility, it previously set a world record for the highest recorded temperature of 3.5 billion degrees. Even the researchers that designed the machine themselves were surprised and confused by this temperature.

But honestly, there was no point achieving this high of a temperature for the deuterium-tritium fuel. After all, 100 million degrees was more than enough for a fusion reaction to take place. Even the second generation nuclear fusion fuel, He3, only needed a critical temperature of 600 million degrees.

The difficulty in controllable fusion research had never been the high-temperature part, but rather, it was on how to confine the high-temperature plasma.

But compared to other technical routes, the Z machine had at least produced some results in terms of electricity output.

Rick Perry, the secretary of the United States Department of Energy, looked at his watch.

When the watch handle landed on the hour, Sandia National Laboratories chief researcher Andy Rofan appeared at the door and walked toward him.

Perry waited for Rofan to sit across from him before he asked, "How is the result?"

Andy Rofan shook his head.

"It's still too early to ask this question. Can the material's anti-radiation problem be solved, are the elements inside the reactor self-sustaining? These are all basic problems of the controllable fusion…"

Perry took a deep breath and interrupted him, "Listen, I need a specific time frame. When can you produce real results?"

Rofan couldn't help but say, "You're giving me such a hard time! I can't give you a specific time unless the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory can tell us when they can figure out the D-Li neutron interaction."

Perry said, "So the source of the problem is the neutron?"

"Obviously not just that…" Rofan had a bitter smile on his face. He went silent for a bit before he continued, "But after the neutron source problem is solved, we can at least begin anti-radiation testing on materials."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from outside the lounge.

Perry looked at the man who was walking over, and he frowned.

"What's up?"

The man, who was wearing a suit, took a deep breath before saying hesitantly, "The White House called. The president wants you to go back immediately… There's an important conference tomorrow."

"What happened?"

"I just heard rumors…" The man in the suit sighed and quietly said, "Our allies have informed us that in twelve hours… the demonstration reactor in Haizhou, China, is about to begin fusion ignition."

Perry's eyes began to squint.

Rofan, who was sitting across from him, bounced off his chair and exclaimed, "This is impossible!"

…

Haizhou, STAR demonstration reactor base.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. The ocean waves were calmly crashing toward the rocks.

Inside the reactor base, all of the researchers and soldiers were stationed in their respective positions.

Since last night, the farthest checkpoint had been set to more than 20 kilometers away. With the help from armored vehicles, all roads leading toward this area had been blocked. All nearby tourists and pedestrians had been warned. Soldiers with live weapons were patrolling inside and outside the reactor base, to defend against any potential threats and safety hazards.

Three days ago, the regiment-level combat units stationed in this area prepared enough heavy firepower to defend against terrorists and enemy air units. They carried out various drills, including ground-to-air combat, anti-missile training, and anti-ship combat.

They had taken every possible scenario into account and made adequate preparations.

At the same time, the China National Nuclear Corporation engineers were inside the nuclear plant, doing final inspections on the reactor.

If the STAR-1 was a steel behemoth, then this fully assembled STAR-2 was a giant steel dragon.

The SG-1 superconducting magnet was its legs, the supercomputer was its brain, the plasma control scheme, developed by artificial intelligence, was its running instructions. The He3 atom probe was its eyes, while the PGC-1 composite material was its organs, and the liquid lithium was its blood…

There were countless other components in addition to these, all of these were the blood, sweat, and tears of countless researchers.

Thankfully, this project was finally completed.

The engineers finished all of the inspections and quickly left the building while accompanied by security personnel.

The control room was on the other side of the demonstration reactor; everything was being carried out in an orderly fashion.

They had completed a fusion ignition drill three days ago. Everyone here was familiar with the safety and operating instructions.

All they had to do now was to repeat what they did three days ago.

"Superconducting magnet inspection completed! Liquid helium is being injected…"

"Liquid helium injection completed. Temperature has reached critical value, turn on the electricity!"

"Electrical current reached critical value…"

"Magnetic field adjustment complete…"

"Inject the fuel!"

The last step finally came.

All they had to do now was to turn on the ion cyclotron resonance heating antenna. After that, all of the work would be done.

When Lu Zhou looked at the button in front of him, he suddenly started to get second thoughts.

He took a deep breath and looked at Academician Pan.

"How about you press it?"

"No, you do it." Academician Pan shook his head and smiled as he said, "Being able to witness this in my lifetime, I'm already satisfied!"

All of the researchers inside the control room were looking at Lu Zhou.

The CTV camera was facing him as well.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and reached out his right hand.

From the 863 plan to now, China had been mingling with controllable fusion for almost half a century, while the international community had been researching controllable fusion for more than 70 years.

The year would turn 2020 tomorrow.

Everyone had waited too long for this day.

And right now, they were at the edge of a new generation of technology.

There wasn't anyone else closer to the future than Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou gulped and looked at the dial on the dashboard. He then looked at the researchers around him.

"I am honored to witness this moment with all of you.

"We have completed all of the work necessary, we have done our best to make everything as perfect as possible.

"No matter what the outcome is, history will remember this day, we will all be remembered."

He pressed the button.

It was like the sun was rising.

That pitch-dark reaction chamber was illuminated by the hottest energy in the entire solar system…

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Chapter 557: Energy of the Star

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The temperature in the reaction chamber began to rise.

It was forming the most intense energy in this solar system, and the plasma that was trapped inside the magnetic field was like a thin aurora, flowing quietly inside the reaction chamber.

Once the temperature reached 100 million degrees, the plasma was instantly lit up.

The enormous energy was like a tidal wave that gushed out of the tiny nuclei.

Everyone in the control room was witnessing this moment, and they all looked excited.

However, no one was cheering.

Because all of this had just begun!

The reporter, who just took a photo, quickly retreated to the side. The researchers inside the control room were like gears inside a clock; they were busy working.

There was a fundamental difference between the demonstration reactor and the experimental reactor. One would only have to complete a few experiments for the latter to be considered successful, while the former was based on true success.

At this moment, the sleeping metal dragon was awakened by them, producing a deafening roar.

The ability to control the energy of a star depended on whether or not they could control this dragon!

"Fusion reaction detected! The neutron beam is in contact with the beryllium metal layer!"

"External field coil is being adjusted… the plasma control scheme is valid!"

"Magnetic field is stable! Plasma inside the reaction chamber is in good condition!"

"Recycling pump has detected tritium! The liquid lithium neutron recovery system is working!"

It was like the liquid lithium was circulating through the dragon's body. It was slowly injected with tritium. After that, it was pumped back into the reaction chamber for further ignition.

The staff reporting on the situation spoke with a slight tremble in his voice, "The tritium was successfully recycled!"

This was the second goal of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor, right after fusion ignition!

It wasn't just his voice; even his shoulders were shaking with excitement.

Also, it wasn't just him.

All of the researchers inside the control room were witnessing this exciting moment, and they clenched their fists.

Whether or not the recycled tritium could be used in the reactor again was the key to the commercialization of the fusion reactor.

Even though they would have to calculate the specific recovery efficiency after the experiment, judging from the current observations alone, they had achieved their expectations!

This meant that their hard work over the past year wasn't wasted…

On the other side of the demonstration reactor base, next to a facility that looked like a water pump…

An engineer was accompanied by security personnel as he checked the heat discharge pressure of the water valve. He looked at the dial and squinted.

"Oh, it looks like we're doing pretty good."

His PhD student, who was standing next to him, asked, "What's pretty good?"

The old engineer smiled and said, "Obviously it's the reactor."

The PhD student was a little surprised. He couldn't help but ask, "How can you tell?"

"Water pressure, use your brain. You're an engineering student. You can't just write theses all day." The old engineer tapped the water pipe next to him and happily said, "The water cooling system is pumping hot air, what does this mean? Tell me."

"The nuclear core is working…" The PhD student gulped and asked excitedly, "Does this mean… we've succeeded?"

The old engineer squinted and said, "It's too early to say this. Our success still depends on whether or not we can generate electricity and if the power output matches our expectations. This demonstration reactor aims to be the largest power generator in Jiangsu. Apparently, it can reach 100,000 megawatts. So, it's not that easy to achieve this goal."

"100,000 megawatts… Do you think this is possible?"

"It's not possible now. We've only installed four ferrofluid electric energy generators, so at most, we'll be able to output 4,000 megawatts." The old engineer smiled and said, "But if we install another hundred ferrofluid electric energy generators, we can do it!"

This was different than nuclear fission generators.

Not only was the ferrofluid electric energy generator on the STAR-2 demonstration reactor relatively small in terms of size, but it was also surprisingly difficult to install on the STAR-2 machine.

With just four generators, it was impossible to utilize the heat generated from the fusion reaction. Most of the heat generated from the fusion was being discharged into the sea. In his opinion, it was entirely feasible from an engineering perspective to add a hundred ferrofluid electric energy generators.

"One hundred generators…" The PhD student looked at the dial on the water pipe and said emotionally, "I wonder how much deuterium would be burned in a day."

The old engineer smiled.

"Around 50 kg or so."

The most expensive price of deuterium was 4,000 yuan per kg, so 50 kg was 200,000 yuan.

200,000 yuan of fuel could provide an entire day's worth of electricity to Jiangsu.

Even if the price was increased by tenfold, this investment would still be insanely profitable…

…

Of course, the demonstration reactor obviously didn't need to use that much deuterium.

The consumption of 50 kg of deuterium per day was the maximum load for the reactor.

The fusion ignition experiment happening now was measuring fuel in units of mg per second.

After all, only four ferrofluid electric energy generators had been installed. Most of the heat was discharged into the sea.

Inside the reaction chamber…

When the forty-minute fusion cycle came to an end, the heat accumulated inside the reactor was poured into the sea by the circulating water cooling system. After the fusion reaction stopped, the temperature of the gas molecules inside the nuclear core quickly dropped from 100 million degrees to less than 10 million degrees.

The reactor would be shut down for twenty minutes.

In the next twenty minutes, the outer field coil would adjust the shape of the magnetic field in order to prepare for the next fusion cycle.

Even though the fusion reactor was paused, the staff in the control room didn't relax at all; they were still in their respective work stations.

As Lu Zhou stared at the lines of data and graphs on the computer screen, he thought for a bit before he said, "Open the No. 1 electric generator."

According to the collected data, the previous round of experiments was near perfect.

Next up was to push the experiment to the next stage!

"Ok!"

After hearing this command, the staff member sitting in front of the computer immediately pressed the button to access the No1. generator.

Just like most nuclear fission power stations that were near the sea, when it was turned off, the excess heat in the reactor was directly discharged into the sea through the water cooling system. As for the special helium debris produced by the nuclear fusion, that was recovered by a special piece of equipment after the reactor was cooled down.

When they needed to generate power, the thermal energy output was directly connected to the corresponding electric generator.

If they needed a certain amount of energy output, they would burn a certain amount of fuel. All they needed was enough generators.

After the No.1 generator was connected to the reactor, the second round of the experiment began.

The energy of a star was being produced again. Not only was this steel behemoth boiling the seawater near the cooling pipe, but it also awakened the ferrofluid electric energy generator.

The high-temperature ionized plasma gases were ejected from the nozzles, cutting through the magnetic lines. This converted the thermal energy in the reactor into a constant stream of electrical energy.

The researchers were staring straight at the computer screens as they exclaimed excitedly, "The ferrofluid electric energy connection port is working properly!"

"No.1 generator power output is increasing!"

"No.1 generator reached max capacity of 1,000 megawatts!"

They couldn't contain the excitement in their hearts, and one of the researchers shouted out loud, "We did it!"

That's right, they did it!

The energy produced by the fusion reactions were converted into electrical energy.

The No 1. generator began to supply energy to the ion cyclotron resonance heating unit as the entire fusion reactor produced a cycle of continuous and stable electric energy output.

There wasn't another form of energy in the solar system that was purer than this.

The researcher's exclamation resonated in everyone's heart.

The control room exploded with sounds of cheer, and everyone was hugging and high-fiving each other.

Victory belonged to them.

Not only would history remember everyone here.

But it would also remember their victory.

Old Pan's face was red from the excitement as he clenched his fists. Even his dry lips were slightly trembling.

Academician Wang was also smiling with his mouth wide open. He patted Li Jiangang on the shoulder excitedly like he was a child.

"What did I say? Is my generator working or not?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, you're nutty!"

Academician Li raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.

Normally, he would throw a comeback or two.

But right now, he only felt excited; he couldn't even come up with a comeback.

Regiment Commander Dai stood at the entrance to the control room while looking at all of the researchers in the room. He took off his military hat, and without knowing it, his eyes began to water.

He didn't even know what the data on the computer meant.

He had no idea why the researches were cheering.

But he knew that from this moment onward, the light of controllable fusion could finally shine on the land of China.

The power of fusion energy was finally unlocked.

There was nothing that could stop them now.

They finally won this battle…

The sound of cheering echoed in Lu Zhou's ears. He had no idea how many hugs he just gave.

He stood in front of the control panel as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

He finally had a smile on his face.

"Yeah… We did it."

A translucent text bubble was floating in front of him.

[Congratulations, User, "Fusion Light" mission chain is completed!]

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Chapter 558: Fusion Light Completion!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The noise around Lu Zhou slowly disappeared.

He whispered, "System."

Soon, his consciousness was sucked into the system.

He stood in the pure white space and walked toward the translucent information screen.

There were prizes waiting for him there.

However, he wasn't so excited anymore.

In the beginning, he thought this mission would be impossible to complete. Now that he successfully achieved fusion ignition, he had gone through a lot, and he had also learned a lot.

Maybe he had already received the true rewards for this mission.

[

Congratulations, User, "Fusion Light" mission chain is completed!

Evaluation: The spark of controllable fusion has finally been ignited. The ignorant human civilization has finally learned how to warm up the solar system…

Experience rewards: 1.5 million free experience points. 500,000 physics experience points. 20,000 materials science experience points. 200,000 engineering experience points.

General points rewards: 2,000 points.

Other rewards:

Special mission card: Able to activate before accepting a normal mission. Activation begins a special mission chain, which replaces the normal mission. Special mission chains cannot be stopped unless the user fails the mission.

Reward mission card. (Can be used before accepting a normal mission. Replaces normal mission after activated.

One prize draw ticket.

]

The moment Lu Zhou saw the experience reward, he gasped.

1.5 million free experience points!

Before this, he thought that no matter what kind of rewards he received, it wouldn't be as shocking as achievable controllable fusion energy. But when he saw the 1.5 million figure, he couldn't help but look astonished.

The level 8 experience point requirement was only 1.2 million!

He already decided where to allocate these experience points.

Without hesitating, Lu Zhou took a deep breath and spoke.

"System, open my characteristic panel!"

A blue light swept across the screen, his characteristic panel quickly appeared in front of his eyes.

Lu Zhou reached out his hands and selected the 1.5 million free experience points. He then allocated all of them into mathematics.

Soon, his characteristic panel was updated.

[

A. Mathematics: Level 8 (444,000/3 million)

B. Physics: Level 6 (282,000/600,000)

C. Biochemistry: Level 4 (74,000/200,000)

D. Engineering: Level 5 (0/300,000)

E. Materials science: level 6 (13,000/600,000)

F. Energy science: Level 3 (0/100,000)

G. Information science: Level 2 (3,000/50,000)

General points: 3,475

]

Lu Zhou had been stuck on level 7 for so long. Now that he reached mathematics level 8, he felt his entire body relax. He couldn't even describe the joy he was feeling.

However, the next level experience points requirement made him sweat.

3 million…

This is ridiculous.

Lu Zhou's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch. He took a deep breath and looked away from his mathematics discipline.

Rather than worrying about this horrible experience points requirement, there were many other things to be happy about.

For example, physics and materials science were upgraded to level 6, while engineering was upgraded to level 5. His general points also recovered a bit from his last expenditure.

Lu Zhou felt a lot better as he closed the characteristic panel and looked at his reward inventory.

He looked at the special mission card and had a confused expression in his face.

It's not another mission chain, right?

However, he decided not to think about what was behind this special mission card.

Because just a few minutes ago, he completed one of his most amazing achievements to date.

Even though research was interesting, he needed a break…

This time, Lu Zhou learned his lesson. He didn't touch the mission card. Instead, he closed his inventory.

Since he wasn't in a hurry to accept another mission, he didn't even touch the lucky draw button. After he closed the system panel, he exited this pure white system space…

…

He gradually began to hear the cheers around him.

The parameters on the computer screen were as stable as ever.

His consciousness didn't stay in the system space for long.

As Lu Zhou looked at the researchers celebrating, he smiled and was about to say something. However, he suddenly felt a warm sensation crawling from his spine to the back of his head.

As always, whenever his discipline levels had an increase, the system would strengthen his brain.

However, this time, the warm sensation was getting hotter and hotter.

Lu Zhou was having an unusual feeling. He paused for a second and quickly realized what was happening.

From his previous experience, leveling up too fast would cause stress on his brain. If he leveled up multiple times, that stress would increase accordingly.

This time, he stepped into the world of level 8 mathematics.

Not just that, but he also leveled up in physics, materials science, and engineering…

Lu Zhou gradually felt dizzy, and he shook his head as he grabbed a chair next to him in order to support himself.

Yan Yan was the first to notice something was wrong.

Her doctor's intuition told her that Lu Zhou was acting weird.

After that, Wang Peng also noticed Lu Zhou's weird situation, and he quickly walked over to him.

Lu Zhou noticed Wang Peng was walking over.

"Hold me for a second."

He wanted to say that, but he didn't actually hear himself say anything.

Lu Zhou reached out his hands and tried to grab Wang Peng's arm, but his hands went straight through Wang Peng's arm.

Is this an illusion?

Lu Zhou had a bitter smile on his face.

Is this the downfall that comes after intense joy?

Whatever, it's still worth it.

At most, I'll just rest for two days.

Even though Lu Zhou felt disappointed that he couldn't attend the celebrations later in the evening, he knew that he hadn't had a break for a long time, and it was about time for him to take a rest…

He felt that his center of gravity was moving backward.

The noise around him began to increase.

Finally, more and more people began to take notice of him.

Lu Zhou vaguely heard footsteps and some people were shouting anxiously.

After that, he felt like he was put onto a stretcher or something, and he felt something soft at the back of his head.

Everything in his view turned into a blurry white image, and he suddenly felt fatigued and lethargic.

Lu Zhou used the tiny amount of lucidity left in him to sigh in his heart.

Looks like I'm going to be a burden to a lot of people.

I hope they don't worry too much about me.

His consciousness then fell into a pool of darkness…

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Chapter 559: Tomorrow Is a Better Day

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The early hours of December 31st.

The streets of Washington were still quiet.

Christmas was one of the ten important holidays in the United States, and this holiday lasted until the 5th of January next year.

However, not everyone was in the right mood to enjoy this holiday.

At least, a certain president with an orange haircut didn't.

Rather, him and the White House bureaucrats didn't sleep at all last night.

In a few hours, China would conduct a controllable fusion ignition test in Jiangsu, leaving them little time to spare.

After Trump gave a New Year's Eve speech and posted on Twitter last night, he immediately hosted an overnight meeting with the higher-ups. He also made an appointment to talk with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States of America.

Around five o'clock in the morning, a black limo parked at the northwestern part of Washington, near the Embassy of China in the United States.

Mr. Trump was accompanied by several of his people. When he entered the embassy, he was accompanied by the embassy reception staff.

"I'll get straight to the point." The president made a hand gesture and told Helms to close the door behind him. Trump stared at Ambassador Sun Wenkai and said seriously, "China will conduct a nuclear test in Haizhou in around five hours. Am I correct?"

It was like Ambassador Sun heard a joke; he had a smile on his face.

He didn't give him a direct answer. Instead, he put down the teacup in his hand.

"Who told you this?"

"That's not important." Trump, who thought he had guessed correctly, placed his hands on his kneecaps with a smug smile on his face. He looked at the ambassador aggressively and slowly said, "According to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, all nuclear testing is prohibited. However, according to my intelligence agency, China seems to be violating this international convention."

Trump was observing the ambassador. He was trying to find a trace of weakness.

Unfortunately, he didn't see any weakness at all.

He didn't see any trace of fear that he wanted to see…

Ambassador Sun took a sip of tea and slowly said, "Thinking controllable fusion research is nuclear testing is a very interesting way of interpreting this. If you don't understand the difference between the two, why not try asking some of the American nuclear experts?"

The president smiled coldly.

He obviously knew the difference between the two.

However, he could still pretend not to know the difference between the two.

"Who can guarantee that you're telling the truth? I don't care what kind of secret experiment you guys are scheming at District 900, but the international community needs an explanation. If you're not doing anything illegal, then why don't you disclose your experiment to the world?"

"District 900?" Sun Wenkai smiled at this invasive question. He asked, "Is that what you guys are calling it?"

The president said in a serious manner, "Don't divert the conversation, this is a serious matter."

Sun Wenkai stopped smiling. "I know you're curious about what we're doing there, but there's no need to drag the international community into this. The experiments that are being conducted there has never been a secret. However, it does involve confidential technology, and we cannot disclose the full information."

The president said with a blank face, "We have the right to be suspicious."

"Yes, of course, you have this right." Sun Wenkai suddenly looked at his watch and said, "Mr. President, it is 5:30 in the morning right now."

The president frowned and said, "Is there a problem?"

Ambassador Sun slowly said, "Before talking about the matter of District 900 with you, I want to borrow half an hour of your time."

The president's eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned back in his chair.

"Oh? Is there an interesting topic you want to discuss?"

"It might not be interesting to you." Ambassador Sun smiled warmly and reached for the remote control from the coffee table. He said, "But I want to invite you to watch a show together."

Show?

The president paused for a second.

"What show?"

"China central television news broadcast."

…

December 31st, 5:50 am North American time.

It was 18:50 in the Beijing time zone.

Right now, in the CTV studio, television host Guo Qiang was reading the program script in his hand. He was nervously doing the final preparations.

Even though there was a teleprompter that reminded him of what to say, as a host, he still had to have a comprehensive understanding of the whole situation.

Especially since it was a special day.

Not only was it the last day of 2019, but a few hours ago, an earth-shattering event happened in Haizhou, Jiangsu.

The STAR-2 demonstration reactor project, led by the famous Nobel Prize laureate Lu Zhou, had finally lived up to its expectations. By cooperating with hundreds of research institutes around the country, they successfully achieved fusion ignition!

Under the demands from the Communist Party of China, in order to ensure that the success of controllable fusion energy could be broadcasted to the whole country, the news-editorial department prepared four sets of plans to ensure this news could be broadcasted smoothly.

If everything went well, this news broadcast today would be recorded in history, along with the success of the controllable nuclear fusion demonstration reactor…

Guo Qiang was the news anchor that had to broadcast this information to the entire country, so he had a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

Guo Qiang, who was sitting in front of the cameras, took a deep breath. He took advantage of these last couple of seconds to try and calm down.

The director was sitting behind the cameras, and he made a gesture to Guo Qiang.

"Guo Qiang, you can start!"

"Okay." Guo Qiang nodded seriously and looked at the camera, showing a smile that he had practiced countless times in front of a mirror.

"Good evening, everyone. It's currently the 31st of December, 7 pm at night…"

Just like Guo Qiang's countless times of rehearsals, he stared at the teleprompter and read the contents of the press release in a clear voice.

Compared to other CTV news anchors who often had a more serious expression on their faces, he preferred to smile more.

In addition to giving off a more calm and welcoming vibe, he was more charismatic than others. This was precisely why the news network chose him as the news anchor for tonight.

According to the director, not only would the country be waiting for this news broadcast, but the whole world was also waiting.

Guo Qiang was one of the country's spokespersons, so the leadership team wanted him to convey the controllable fusion energy experiment news in a friendly and peaceful manner.

The peaceful rising of China would not be predicated on the sacrifice of other countries' sovereignty.

"… The STAR-2 demonstration reactor in the Tianwan area of Haizhou city has completed its final fusion ignition experiment, under the leadership of Chief Designer Lu Zhou."

The broadcast switched to a short clip of the fusion ignition laboratory.

There weren't any spectacular lights, no earth-shattering sounds. It was just a plain control room. There was a row of blurred screens and consoles, showing the person pressing the button, followed by cheering and celebration.

Even though it was through the TV screens, people could feel their excitement and pride.

Guo Qiang, who was sitting in the broadcast studio, continued to read the script in a clear and loud voice.

"… So far, the reactor operation is stable, and the output of the No.1 generator has reached the expected 1000MW limit.

"According to the plans, the reactor will gradually be connected to the electrical grid next year. The expected power output will gradually reach 50,000MW next year. The controllable demonstration reactor will meet most of the electricity needs of our Jiangsu province…"

The field of controllable fusion was ignited.

Perhaps it wouldn't take long before the streets were filled with electric cars.

Maybe it wouldn't take long for the deserts to become fertile oases.

Perhaps it wouldn't take long before those imaginations gradually became true…

The distant future had never felt so close.

Maybe there would be a day where oil would no longer be used as a fuel, and that it would only be used as a raw material for industrial production.

From the Strait of Hormuz to Malacca, from the Red Sea to the South China Sea, China would no longer be stuck on the energy front. Their road for future development would be as long as the Milky Way.

All of this was possible.

Guo Qiang proudly looked at the excited scholars in the video, and he couldn't help but tear up.

There was a trace of tremble and excitement in his voice as he tightly grabbed the television script in his hands.

He looked at the country through the camera lens and announced solemnly, "My fellow citizens, the wheel of history is moving forward, and we are ahead of the times.

"The light of controllable fusion is our hope and future.

"History will remember this hard-fought moment. It will remember those great scholars that dedicated their lives to scientific research!

"And all of us will be able to live in a better future!"

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Chapter 560: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Scientist Too

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Beijing.

Inside an ordinary apartment in the 3rd Ring Road region.

A family of four sat around the table while eating dinner in a lively atmosphere.

If this were previous years, there would be someone else sitting here.

But that person was in Haizhou, Jiangsu, and hadn't come back yet.

"Grandma, what about Grandpa? Is he not eating with us?"

The little girl with a ponytail tilted her head and spoke quietly.

Wu Haiyan had a head of white hair. She looked at her dear granddaughter and smiled.

"Darling, you miss Grandpa?"

"Yeah!" The little girl nodded and said, "Where is Grandpa?"

Wu Haiyan had a kind smile on her face as she touched her granddaughter's hair and spoke in a loving voice.

"Your grandpa is planting a sun."

The little girl blinked innocently and asked curiously, "Planting a sun? Does that exist?"

"Yes it does, darling." Wu Haiyan smiled and said, "Your grandpa is a scientist, there isn't anything he can't do."

Pan Gaoyang was sitting at the dinner table eating. He looked at his daughter and his mom. He then said, "Dad has already retired, why is he still so busy. It's New Year's Eve tomorrow."

Wu Haiyan knew what her son was thinking. She sighed and said, "After all, that's your father's dream."

Pan Gaoyang said, "I know, but he doesn't have to be this busy, does he?"

Even though he was questioning his father's actions, he actually understood why his father was doing this.

Just like his mom said, this was his father's dream, and his father had been fighting for this his entire life.

However, controllable fusion was still the science of the future. Any type of advanced research was difficult.

Even westerners were puzzled with this stuff. It wasn't an easy task to catch up and be at the forefront of the world.

The hands on the clock on the wall finally hit 7 o'clock. The television news broadcast played in the background.

Pan Gaoyang hadn't watched TV in a long time, so he didn't pay attention nor was he interested in the news.

However, he suddenly heard his daughter exclaim.

"Wow! It's Grandpa! Grandpa is on TV!"

Grandpa is on TV?

Pan Gaoyang was stunned, and he quickly looked at the television screen.

A short film of the demonstration reactor control room was being shown on TV.

Wait, that old man in the gray jacket with tears running down his face… Isn't that my dad?

Fusion ignition experiment?

Connected to the power grid within this year?

How come I've never heard Dad talk about this before?

Does this mean… they have succeeded?

Controllable fusion!

As Pan Gaoyang listened to the film narrator, he was completely shocked.

His daughter, who was sitting next to him, curiously watched the TV screen and spoke with a girly voice.

"That guy standing next to Grandpa, is that Professor Lu, the one Grandpa always talks about?"

"Guy?" Pan Gaoyang paused for a second. He looked at the young man through the TV screen and smiled. He said, "Yeah I think that's him. He looks quite young."

His wife, who was sitting next to him, jokingly said, "Look at him, winning the Nobel Prize in his twenties. What were you doing in your twenties?"

When Pan Gaoyang heard his wife's roast, he smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You don't remember? I was chasing after you."

Cui Xuefang looked into her husband's eyes. She then blushed and rolled her eyes.

"Stop flirting."

The little girl was still staring at the TV screen. She suddenly looked at her dad and said in a childish but serious voice, "Dad, I also want to become a scientist when I grow up."

Pan Gaoyang smiled and rubbed his daughter's head.

"Okay okay, I'll support whatever you want to do! But being a scientist is no piece of cake."

The little girl clenched her fists.

"I will try my best!"

Pan Gaoyang smiled and said, "Not bad, you're ambitious. Since you're so confident, how about you ace both of your next exams!"

…

While the news broadcast was happening, the STAR-2 demonstration reactor official Weibo account, which was created a few hours ago, sent out a post.

The post was unusually short for a celebratory post. It only contained five words.

[We Lived Up To Expectations!]

Within an hour of this post being sent out, several media outlets, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Everyone Daily, had re-posted the post and added their own captions for explanations.

This was just like the ignited fusion light.

It was almost like the news of the successful experiment grew a pair of wings as it flew at incredible speed all across the country.

Almost everyone who had seen this news was startled by it.

[F*ck me, controllable fusion!!! I can actually witness controllable nuclear fusion within my lifetime!!!]

[I just woke up and now I'm seeing news about a demonstration reactor fusion ignition. Shook. Can anyone tell me what year this is, and how long did I sleep for? Did I turn into Captain America?]

[Even though I have no idea what is going on, it seems impressive!]

[China has the best technology! (fist) (fist) (fist)]

[Thank you to all the scientists that are still working near the holidays! (touched) (touched) (touched)]

[Congratulations from Jin Ling University!]

[Congratulations from Jiangsu! I, for one, welcome the decrease in electricity prices. Take that, Zhejiang!]

[Congratulations from Zhejiang! Also, that person from Jiangsu, I'm sure our electricity prices will decrease as well.]

[Science is finally on trending!]

[How good is this?]

[…]

There were still opposing voices, questioning whether or not this was all worth it. They doubted whether the technology was really as good as was mentioned. They even doubted if the fusion ignition was successful at all…

However, these weren't the mainstream opinions, and they would never become mainstream.

This was just like how scientific research was pure.

There would always be respect toward the exploration of the future.

After all, most people looked forward to the future.

Everyone Daily and the Chinese Academy of Sciences weren't the only ones being flooded with comments.

After the world learned who the chief designer behind this demonstration reactor was, Lu Zhou's comment section was blown up.

[God Lu is nutty!]

[Nutty!]

[Please have some respect! Stop calling him God Lu! Call him Chief Designer Lu!]

[God Lu is planting a sun for us!]

[He's too good!!!]

[God Lu! God Lu, have you found a girlfriend yet? Have you thought about having a boyfriend?]

[? ? ?]

However, even though Professor Lu was usually passionate about sharing his joy with fans, he didn't interact with his fans at all this time.

Normally, if someone was calling him handsome in the comment section, he would secretly give the comment a like…

But today, no matter what kinds of witty compliments the fans gave to Lu Zhou… Lu Zhou was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe because he was too busy?

That was what most people were thinking.

After all, Lu Zhou wasn't an ordinary mathematics professor anymore. He was responsible for scientific research projects worth hundreds of billions. Especially after he became the chief designer for the controllable fusion project, he probably didn't have as much time to spend online.

However, surely Lu Zhou would look through the comments one day and smiled at them, right?

That's what most people thought.

However, no one knew that their hero was lying in the bed of 301 Hospital, unconscious…

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Chapter 561: I Am Very Disappointed

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Actually, Lu Zhou's worries were superfluous.

He was still asleep on the hospital bed, so there was no way anyone would hold a celebration party without him.

As for his wish about not giving other people trouble…

That was obviously not possible.

There were a lot of people that were concerned with his well-being.

The second he collapsed, Yan Yan, who noticed him acting weird, immediately rushed over and held him.

After that, the health squad from the army immediately rushed into the control room and put him on a stretcher. They then immediately sent him to Beijing.

While he was being placed on a stretcher, the news of him collapsing immediately traveled to Beijing, shocking the government higher-ups.

In addition to restricting this news from traveling to the outside world and notifying the relevant personnel, after Lu Zhou's short stay at the army provincial hospital, he was immediately transferred to the 301 Hospital. A team of medical experts led by an academician began to inspect his condition.

However, his medical results were quite surprising.

This team of medical experts were composed of neuroscience and virus professionals. However, they weren't able to make a diagnosis.

The only thing that was confirmed was that Lu Zhou had been extremely fatigued over the past few days.

However, they weren't sure if his blackout was related to this fatigue.

As for the other aspects…

Even with the equipment from 301 Hospital, they weren't able to detect any abnormalities.

Almost everyone was shocked at this result.

Even Academician Zhao Zhongji, who was leading the medical expert team, began to suspect that the instrument was broken.

In short, if they couldn't make a medical diagnosis, they obviously couldn't start any kind of medical treatment.

No one dared to make a conclusion, and no one dared to try a solution.

Even though it would be great if they could solve the problem, but if they made the situation even worse, they would be personally responsible for it.

In the end, all they could do was to watch him lay there and carefully observe.

After all, even though his heart rate and breathing were a little weak, it wasn't anything life-threatening.

If he really was just overworked, maybe he would feel better after he woke up?

On the other hand, the news broadcast announced the success of the controllable fusion experiment.

However, in the midst of the nation celebrating, most people at the demonstration reactor site didn't even know that Chief Designer Lu collapsed at the job site.

Most people were confused.

They finally won this hard-fought battle, but they didn't even hold a celebration party. They all just ate some dinner and were put on holiday. They all felt a little unsatisfied.

Academician Wang stood outside the west building of the 301 Hospital. He sighed and looked at the hospital building.

"We said we were going to hold a celebration party on the night of New Year's Eve and that everyone could go home and celebrate the new year. We finally won the fight, but our leader passed out."

"Yeah." Academician Li Jiangang sighed and said, "The young is dying before the old… F*ck, why are you kicking me?"

Wang Zengguang was furious.

"You old f*ck! Say it again and see what happens!"

The nurses looked at these old men arguing and walked out of the way.

Anyone that could stay in the west building of the 301 Hospital had to be an important figure.

Not only were the patients in this hospital of high status, but so were the visitors.

Especially those old men who looked like they had been around a lot, no one wanted to offend them.

However, they heard a light cough from the side.

"What are you guys doing?"

The two old men were stunned.

Academician Wang looked at the person and coughed. He then replied awkwardly, "We're just… screwing around."

…

Inside the hospital.

Yan Yan looked at Lu Zhou, who was lying on the bed, with a guilty look on her face.

Wang Peng looked at a notification on his phone and scratched his head. He then sighed.

"I'm so screwed, the higher-ups are going to kill me."

Captain Yang looked at him and didn't say anything. He only patted his shoulder in silence.

Wang Peng's work over this period was worthy of recognition.

However, he was a security guard, and he was personally responsible for Professor Lu's safety. Now that Professor Lu was on the hospital bed, there wasn't anything Wang Peng could do.

All he could do now was to take the blame.

"I'm fine, you don't have to comfort me." Wang Peng made a helpless expression and smile. He said, "Don't worry about me, you guys are probably in trouble as well."

As for why the higher-ups hadn't called them yet…

It was probably because they hadn't finished criticizing other people.

Once the higher-ups were finished, it would be their turn.

Wang Peng sighed and walked out of the room.

Yan Yan was stabbing herself with her nails. She had her head down and her eyes were filled with self-blame.

As a medical personnel, she clearly knew that Lu Zhou's lifestyle wasn't healthy. However, she didn't insist and stand her position. She should have forced him to eat more and sleep more…

If only…

She was more persistent.

She bit her lip and muttered in a raspy voice, "This is my responsibility… This is all my fault. I didn't do my job."

Yang Guangbiao said, "We are a team, there's no point discussing whose fault it is."

Right now, he didn't even care what the army would do to him.

As long as Professor Lu woke up, he would be happy to die. He would even be happy to shoot himself.

However, this couldn't solve anything.

Suddenly, the hospital room door was pushed open.

The president walked in while accompanied by someone in military uniform.

The two people in the hospital room saluted.

Yan Yan bit her lip and said, "There are no signs of consciousness yet."

The old man went silent for a bit before saying, "Professor Lu is a hero of our country. He's been fighting on the front line of scientific research. No matter what the cost is, we have to do our best to cure him!"

The head of 301 Hospital, who was standing next to him, nodded.

"Understood!"

The old man nodded.

"Also, inform me as soon as he wakes up."

The old man looked at the young man lying on the hospital bed and sighed. He turned around and left the room.

The head of the 301 Hospital also left, but the person in the military uniform stayed behind.

Yang Guangbiao knew he was about to be criticized. He took the initiative and began to admit his mistake.

"This is my fault, I am willing…"

Yan Yan: "No, this is my fault."

"Enough!" Ye Canmou stared at these two people and said, "What's the point of arguing about this? Is this going to wake Professor Lu up?"

The hospital room went quiet.

After staring at the two people for a while, Ye Canmou said, "I am very disappointed in you two."

Yang Guangbiao lowered his head and didn't say anything.

Yan Yan was the same; her heart was in pain.

"Especially you, you're a medical personnel. Look what you did? Where is your medical protection?" Ye Canmou stared at Yan Yan, who was the daughter of his veteran friend. Ye Canmou looked deeply disappointed.

"I am disappointed."

It was like he didn't want to say anything else. He merely shook his head. He then turned around and left.

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Chapter 562: Overjoyed President

Yan Yan wasn't the only one being criticized.

Across the Pacific Ocean, in the White House, the CIA director was also being yelled at.

"A bunch of idiots!

"Do we really need the Chinese to tell us themselves what they were doing?! How many times has this happened?! Tell me!"

The president hadn't slept for 24 hours already.

Even his foundation couldn't cover his thick eyebags.

However, since he was filled with rage, it made him feel more energetic.

A dozen or so hours ago, they were still in the White House, scheming on how to stop China's controllable fusion experiment… or at least let America join in on the experiment.

However, when he confidently sat in the embassy to talk about this matter, Ambassador Sun told him that the experiment was already over.

Also, that the experiment went smoothly.

This was horrible news for him.

It affected the return of manufacturing jobs for his campaign policy. Only by fulfilling his policy and making America great again could he have a chance at the 2020 election.

However, China was the first to ignite the light of controllable fusion.

Not only did this destroy his plan, but it put him in a terrible position.

If they couldn't catch up in this area within the next three years, controllable fusion reactors would be widespread across China. How could they compete by then?

Trade tariffs?

Or oil prices?

Would China even care about these threats by then?

There was a fundamental difference between a complete transformation of society's productivity and the improvement of market competitiveness. It was just like how an improved wheel could make the horse carriage run faster and more stable, but it would never catch up to a gas car.

Gina was standing next to the office desk, and she began to patiently explain, "I admit that this is our department's fault, but the blame isn't completely on our intelligence personnel… The entire city of Haizhou is armed with security. Any foreigner would be tracked. The news of fusion ignition was provided by our allies in Asia at great risk… However, no one expected that they would set the experiment on the day before New Year's Day, instead of on New Year's Day."

The most important thing was that this all happened too quickly.

Any type of intelligence network needed time to develop and build.

Especially when the other party was carrying out counter-intelligence precautions, it was very difficult to gain any kind of information.

The demonstration reactor project had been operating for less than a year.

No one thought that China would be progressing at such a fast speed.

Especially because ITER had been working on this project for more than 20 years. Not only did the White House think that China wouldn't be able to complete this project so quickly, but even several national laboratories and academicians from the Energy Bureau believed that this was impossible.

Ever since China left the ITER organization, most people thought they had lost their only opportunity.

However, the truth was the exact opposite.

They weren't the ones who were left behind in the fusion field.

They were leaving the entire world behind…

However, the president didn't want to hear this explanation. "Go f*ck yourself."

Gina's face turned white. She couldn't say anything.

Suddenly, there were footsteps coming from the office door.

Helms appeared at the door, as well as United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

Gina and the president both looked at them.

Gina squinted and stared at Helms.

It was almost like she was asking…

"You have the balls to show your face here?"

Helms subconsciously shuddered. He was prepared to start explaining, but Mike patted his shoulder.

Then, Mike looked at the president and smiled with his arms open.

"The situation is not as bad as we think. There are some good news."

The president snorted.

"Oh yeah? I can't imagine anything that could be considered good news."

"Of course there's good news." Mike smiled and looked at Helms. He then said, "Just a moment ago, Helms made up for his mistake. Helms, tell the president your good news."

Helms looked at Gina and spoke nervously.

"Two hours ago, according to our informants in China… Lu Zhou, the chief designer of the demonstration reactor project, is in a coma. He is currently at the 301 Hospital intensive care unit. Even though we don't know his specific symptoms and the cause of his coma, he might go into a persistent vegetative state…"

The president was stunned.

The CIA director Gina was also stunned.

Lu Zhou… passed out? In a coma?

He might be in a persistent vegetative state?

The president instantly stood up excitedly. He even slammed his fist on the table.

"Hahaha! Nicely done, it looks like God is still on our side!"

However, because the controllable nuclear fusion technology was already invented, Lu Zhou wasn't an important asset anymore.

But the president still couldn't help but feel excited.

This annoying guy is finally gone.

I hope Lu Zhou never wakes up!

Seeing that the president was in a good mood, Helms was relieved. He said, "I still think that we are neglecting China's most important person in the nuclear fusion field. We do not respect him enough.

"According to my research, Professor Lu is integral to the entire controllable nuclear fusion demonstration reactor project. He brought together dozens of research units not only because of the government's help, but it was also because of his personal academic aura. He has a crystal clear idea of how to implement controllable fusion technology.

"If his health becomes a problem, then China's controllable nuclear fusion industry will undoubtedly stagnate. According to the head of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, even though China has taken the lead on controllable nuclear fusion, they are not that far ahead of us. Besides that, our European allies still have a desire for nuclear fusion energy. They have been suppressed by the Russians for too long. As long as we are united, we have the chance to catch up."

All they needed was a little time.

Everyone looked happy when they heard this.

The United States Secretary of State smiled and said, "I knew there was a bright side to all this. I have a brilliant idea. Since the news of Lu Zhou's collapse is still confidential, we can first release this news in a small segment of a newspaper and test China's reaction."

The president said, "Then what?"

Mike smiled and said, "Then we can use his health as an excuse to put a little pressure on them, after that…"

There was no such thing as an impenetrable wall.

In the age of information technology, nothing could be kept secret forever.

Whether it was good things or bad things.

Sooner or later, everything would come out.

The next day, on the fourth page of The Washington Star, there was an unusual piece of article.

Which was that Lu Zhou, the former Princeton mathematics professor and Nobel Prize laureate, who was responsible for China's controllable fusion project, had collapsed due to overworking.

This piece of news didn't cause a huge commotion in America. In fact, most people didn't even notice it.

That was until this piece of news was passed around on Twitter and spread across the ocean.

The news of Lu Zhou's coma was finally released to the Chinese people in China…

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Chapter 563: Where Is My Phone?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After the incident spread across the country, there was an uproar.

It had been three days since the fusion ignition of the demonstration reactor.

However, they only knew now that Chief Designer Lu of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor had collapsed.

Actually, because there was no celebration party at the demonstration reactor site, nor was there any commendation conference, a lot of people had started to connect the dots.

However, most of them were just speculating on whether or not the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was really successful or not. They didn't think that it was about Lu Zhou's health.

And now that this news broke out, everyone was muddled.

Actually, the higher-ups didn't plan on keeping Lu Zhou's condition a secret forever. They even prepared a press release speech.

It was just that no one expected him to be in a coma for this long. It had been days, and there was no sign of him waking up.

Since the public opinion was shifting anyway, there wasn't any point keeping this a secret.

China finally confirmed this news.

Everyone Daily was the first to report on this.

That press release speech was modified and was presented on the front page of the newspaper.

[Professor Lu, chief designer of China's controllable nuclear fusion project, Nobel Prize laureate, and Fields medalist. After the successful fusion ignition of the demonstration reactor, due to his work overload and fatigue, has collapsed on the worksite…

[According to his colleagues, during his most difficult periods of research, he stayed at the office for weeks at a time. He often even skipped lunch.

[He is the torch of the younger generation. He illuminated the path toward a great nation. He is a candle, burning for the cause of scientific research…

[We pray for his recovery.]

The picture in the newspaper was a candle.

It was very rare for Everyone Daily to highlight an individual's safety.

The editors and readers were all in tears.

The controllable fusion ignition was successful.

This was originally supposed to be a moment worthy of celebration.

In this celebration-worthy day, Lu Zhou was supposed to be sitting with his family, sharing the joy of his success. However, he was burned out.

Maybe he couldn't handle it anymore.

However, he still stood there, persisting until the end, until the moment fusion ignition was achieved…

Surprisingly, there weren't any haters regarding this incident.

Even when the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was successful, there were a lot of people that were using conspiracy theories to hate on their success.

But at this moment, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knew not to hate on a sensitive topic like this.

Official Weibo account of Everyone Daily…

Comment section.

There were hundreds of thousands of candle emojis…

[(candle) (candle)…]

[I wish him a speedy recovery! (candle)]

[I hope he wakes up as soon as possible. (candle)]

[…]

…

At the same time, the international community was also debating.

American representative: "Professor Lu Zhou is mankind's asset. His health isn't only China's responsibility. If China does not have the ability to cure him, I suggest to send him to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. He will receive the best treatment there."

The French representative said, "The Saint-Joseph Hospital has world-leading experts in neurosurgery. We are willing to pay for all of Professor Lu's medical expenses, and we will ensure he will receive the best treatment!"

The British representative interrupted the French representative and said, "Saint-Joseph Hospital? Where is that? Are you joking? The Royal London Hospital is a million times better than that."

The conference table was having a furious discussion.

Finally, the Chinese representative stood up and interrupted the discussion.

"Due to our concern for Professor Lu's safety, unless he personally agrees to such a proposal, we will not agree."

The American representative said, "I hope you guys are doing a good job taking care of Lu Zhou."

Chinese representative: "We would be doing a bad job if we were to send him to you."

American representative: "What do you mean?"

Chinese representative: "You heard me."

It wasn't just the various governments, even the World Health Organization expressed their willingness to send a medical team to Beijing for free and provide medical help for this outstanding scholar.

Finally, China decided to take a step back on this issue.

After all, out of all of the countries, China was probably the one who wanted him to wake up the most.

Since the domestic experts couldn't solve this problem, it was a good idea to consult the foreign experts.

The World Health Organization team of experts was undoubtedly a better choice than a team of experts from a single country.

Even though the possibility of espionage couldn't be ruled out, it was still relatively easy to control.

Just like that, a team of medical experts set off from Geneva and traveled to China.

However, surprisingly, the international experts weren't able to come up with a better conclusion. Even the most respected neurosurgeons couldn't diagnose Lu Zhou's condition.

Academician Castin from the UK expressed his opinion.

"I personally think this is a very interesting medical phenomenon. It can even be used as a future textbook example."

Academician Zhao Zhongji said, "Oh yeah?"

Academician Castin nodded with excitement. "Yeah, his body is normal. It's like he's just fallen asleep, but he can't wake up. If we can figure out how he fell asleep, this might be a discovery worthy of the Nobel Prize."

Before he came to China, he only regarded this mission as a political task to earn some goodwill from China. After all, the England Royal Society promised him a considerable amount of research funding.

However, he was now completely fascinated and intrigued by this situation.

Academician Zhao Zhongji was also curious about what this Nobel Prize-level discovery could be. But he was more concerned about Lu Zhou's health.

Even ten Nobel Prizes couldn't compare to the life of a scholar.

"If you dare to do any kind of experiment on him, I swear to God you'll never do an experiment again."

Academician Castin smiled awkwardly and tried to diffuse the tension.

"Don't get angry… I was just kidding."

However, Castin didn't look like he was kidding.

…

The multi-national medical expert team didn't have any good ideas. China didn't really trust them, and Lu Zhou's treatment had become more and more complicated.

Fortunately, his "condition" did not worsen.

But many people were still worried about him.

The only person that wasn't worried was Lu Zhou himself.

January 20th, snow was blowing outside the window, leaving a crystal white layer on the windows.

Chinese New Year's Eve was in four days.

Lu Zhou was still lying on a hospital bed with a medical ventilator. He looked as calm as ever, and one could even hear him breathing.

Yan Yan was sitting next to the bed, and her eyes were full of tears. She thought back to a few days ago when she faced her angry father, who slammed the door in her face.

And what her father said to her.

"F*ck off!

"You're not my daughter!"

His father was in the army. He was old when he had her and was now retired.

For a man who had devoted his entire life to his country, there was nothing more important to him than the interests of the country.

Not even his own daughter.

She knew why her father was this furious, it's just that she hasn't been treated like this before.

Yan Yan took a deep breath and began to tear up.

After all, she was only in her twenties.

She originally thought she was mature, but now, it seemed like that wasn't the case.

Maybe because her life was too perfect or her military achievements made her too arrogant… She always had an illusion that she could handle anything life threw her way…

When she accepted this mission, she never even thought about the possibility of failure.

Her arms rested on her thighs, and she buried her face into her hands.

However, while she was in a pool of self-pity and blame, she heard a cough.

After that, a reassuring voice could be heard.

"Where… Where is my phone?"

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Chapter 564: Thank You!

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

"Why are you crying?"

Lu Zhou saw Yan Yan's red and swollen eyes. After some struggle, he managed to take off his respirator.

He then paused for a second.

He had just woken up and still felt a little discombobulated. He didn't remember offending her.

Lu Zhou didn't know if Yan Yan was excited or emotional, because her eyes became even redder.

Yan Yan used her arms to wipe away her tears. Her serious personality could no longer hold back her tears. Pea-sized teardrops soon came falling down the corner of her eyes.

"I thought… I thought you'd never wake up."

Over the past couple of weeks, she had been berated numerous times. It was torturous for her.

Even…

Even her own father didn't want to see her.

Lu Zhou: "…"

Even though Lu Zhou was touched by how much she cared about him, he felt that if someone were to suddenly come into the room, there would be a weird misunderstanding.

Lu Zhou wasn't sure if he should comfort her. He hesitated for a bit before deciding not to.

After all, she was an adult. She probably didn't need his comfort.

Therefore, he coughed and repeated his request, "Can you bring me my phone?"

"Phone, phone?"

"My phone, don't tell me it's out of battery." Lu Zhou tried to lift his arm, but he realized he was completely powerless.

It seemed like he actually had been sleeping for a long time; all of his muscles were exhausted.

Even though there were people that massaged him to prevent muscle atrophy, there was still a certain amount of tiredness left in his body.

However, with his body's metabolic capabilities, it would only take two to three days for a complete recovery.

It might not even take a day; a couple of hours would be enough.

Of course, he wanted to keep his body's capabilities low-key.

Lu Zhou was optimistic about his situation.

After all, the experiment was successfully completed, and the burden on his body was released. Staying at a high-end hospital like this wasn't a big deal since he could finally get some rest.

"I'll go get it right now."

After Yan Yan heard Lu Zhou's request, she immediately got up and walked toward the cabinet.

Lu Zhou's personal belongings were placed inside the cabinet, including his phone and his notebook, which were used to write down thoughts of inspiration. No one dared to touch his belongings.

While getting Lu Zhou's phone, Yan Yan used her phone to report to the higher-ups regarding Lu Zhou's condition. She then handed Lu Zhou his phone.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Without hesitating, Lu Zhou immediately unlocked his phone. When he saw he still had 21% battery left, he sighed in relief.

But when he looked at the date, his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

The f*ck?

I slept for nearly a month?!

Lu Zhou remembered that when he upgraded his phone, lithium-sulfur battery technology reached a new breakthrough. Half a month of standby time was no problem at all.

Because of his OCD, he would usually charge his phone every day. Therefore, he didn't feel the effects of the battery upgrade at all.

Lu Zhou looked at the date on his phone screen and felt a little relieved.

If I leveled up in one more discipline, I would have slept for a couple more days. If I slept past Chinese New Year, everyone would've thought I died. An obituary would have been written…

Actually, considering all of the various factors, the obituary of Lu Zhou staying in a persistent vegetative state was already written. However, whether he would wake up or not, he wouldn't be able to read it.

Suddenly, a bunch of Weibo notifications popped up on his phone.

Lu Zhou saw these messages and paused for a second. He then subconsciously tapped the notifications.

He froze.

[Everyone, let's give our thoughts and prayers.]

[God Lu! Don't leave us! (cry) (cry)]

[(candle) (candle) (candle)]

[God, please help us.]

Lu Zhou: ? ? ?

Even though he was touched by so many people caring about him, he was confused by the candle emojis.

Yan Yan was scared that Lu Zhou would pass out from this surprise, so she quickly explained the situation.

"Everyone is worried about you."

It was as if she realized her statement wasn't comforting enough, so she added another sentence.

"This is a type of way… to pray for you."

Lu Zhou: "Do you think this is my first time on the Internet?"

Yan Yan smiled and didn't say anything else.

…

In addition to his loving fans, there were a bunch of missed calls, texts, and unread emails.

Just like that little girl who was far away in Princeton.

[Professor, where are you?]

[You're sick?!]

[I'm in Beijing right now.]

[I can't find you, where are you?]

[My visa has expired, I have to return to Princeton… If you wake up, can you please tell me?]

When Lu Zhou saw this string of messages, he felt a mix of emotions.

He went silent for a while and wrote a reply.

[I'm fine. I'm better now. Don't worry about me.]

Lu Zhou hit "Send" and sighed. He threw his phone on the bedside table.

No one had ever confessed their love to him before.

Honestly, even though a lot of time had passed since then, he still didn't know how to deal with it.

If only…

Emotions are as simple as mathematics.

Yan Yan noticed Lu Zhou's mix of emotions, and she immediately thought that he wasn't feeling well.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Lu Zhou: "Doctor Yan, can I ask you a personal question?"

Yan Yan nodded and said, "Go ahead."

Lu Zhou said, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

The moment Yan Yan heard this question, her cheeks turned bright red.

Boy… boyfriend?

Why are you asking me this?

I don't have one…

Maybe he's suggesting something…

Yan Yan was at a loss, and she sneakily looked at Lu Zhou.

She had never thought about being with a researcher.

But now that she took a closer look at his face…

He actually looks decent…

No, actually, he's quite handsome.

Especially when he is concentrated on his research, it's strangely attractive…

Wait a second, how do I remember what he looks like when he's doing research?

Yan Yan looked at the snow dancing outside the window. Her cheeks felt burning hot, as if she were about to have a heat stroke.

She answered calmly and slowly, as if she were a robot.

"I. Do. Not."

"Oh yeah?"

Lu Zhou sighed and felt a little disappointed.

"Never mind then."

It'd be useless to ask her about my situation.

I should consult someone with more experience when it comes to relationships.

Who should I ask?

Brother Fei? Luo Wenxuan? I feel like they have some experiences, but they're in different situations than me.

This is so complicated…

Yan Yan: "? ? ?"

Wait a second, what do you mean by never mind?

What happens next?

Finish your question!

Just as she was about to ask Lu Zhou, the door was pushed open.

A kind-looking old man, who was accompanied by a man in military uniform, appeared at the door.

When Yan Yan saw these two, she immediately stood up and saluted.

The old man smiled and nodded toward her, indicating that she didn't have to be so serious. He even eased the atmosphere.

"Am I bothering you two?"

Yan Yan was still blushing, and she quickly said, "No… I mean, no."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Why did she just repeat "no" two times?

The old man smiled and shook his head.

"Miss, please excuse us, I have something to say to Professor Lu."

"Okay."

Yan Yan nodded and stiffly walked away.

The old man looked at Lu Zhou and paused for a second. He composed himself and looked solemn.

"Professor Lu, I am very happy to see you wake up.

"Right now, on behalf of the entire country, on behalf of 1.4 billion people, I would like to say… Thank you!

"Thank you for your contributions!"

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Chapter 565: Laying out the Future

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou looked at the old man's solemn expression. He paused for a second and smiled.

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing what a scholar is supposed to do."

For him, studying those difficult research problems were interesting in and of itself.

It was just like solving a mathematics question.

Whether it was the exploration of the unknown or the satisfaction from walking out of the maze, all of this made him feel happy.

He didn't care what other people thought, this was his opinion.

And it had never changed.

Therefore, even without the pressure from the system mission, he would still try his best to try and bring fusion energy to the world.

It was just that, without the pressure from the mission, it wouldn't happen as fast…

The old man said with emotion, "Our country is honored to have such a scholar!"

Lu Zhou replied humbly, "You're too kind. If other people didn't help and if the department didn't cooperate, it would be impossible to achieve this with just me alone."

The old man smiled and didn't say anything.

Even though the Manhattan Project was the result of the joint effects of thousands of people, everyone placed their attention on Oppenheimer.

He paused for a second before saying, "Regardless, you are our country's hero. If you have any requests, please let me know."

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and smiled. He said, "They're not requests, more like suggestions."

The old man said seriously, "Professor Lu, please continue."

Lu Zhou: "The breakthrough of controllable fusion technology will inevitably impact the traditional energy industry. If these impacts are not properly cared for, it might become obstacles to the increment of the productivity of our society."

The old man smiled and said, "Professor Lu, please rest assured. These problems don't exist for us."

China was different from western countries.

There was no such thing as a Chinese "energy giant".

Whether it was the oil companies or the State Grid Corporation of China, even though they are technically public companies, they were all owned by the state.

After all, the socialist market served more than just the private sector.

In the fact of the greater good, there were only two paths to choose from. Either one could follow the trend of history, or one could be left behind.

That included but not limited to the capital.

Lu Zhou nodded.

Since the old man already thought about this problem, he didn't have to say anything else.

How to balance the interests of the parties, how to properly manage the coal-power industry… These topics were in the field of sociology and economics. He didn't want to comment too much on them. He believed that the Institute of Social Sciences had many experts that knew more than him.

What he was interested in and responsible for was only research.

Therefore, the second problem was the real problem.

Lu Zhou paused for a second and said, "The second thing is about controllable fusion itself."

The old man said, "Professor Lu, go ahead."

Lu Zhou's head was lying on the pillow as he stared at the ceiling of the hospital room and organized his thoughts. He said, "Right now, controllable fusion is using tritium and deuterium as fuel. Controllable fusion technology is headed toward commercialization. However, no matter how efficient the self-sustaining fusion reaction is, there will be an inevitable loss in tritium.

"Therefore, there's an idea in the academic world. Which is to use deuterium and helium-2 as reactants to carry out the fusion reaction. The fusion of helium-3 produces electrons instead of neutrons. This reduces the impact on the reactor material and can release more energy."

The old man couldn't keep up with Lu Zhou's worlds. He frowned and said, "Helium-3?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "If you don't understand, you can think of deuterium-tritium as burning coal, while helium fusion would be like burning oil."

This was quite an abstract example.

It wasn't academically rigorous, but it could be understood by a layman.

Old man: "The helium-3 fusion you're talking about, it's not easy to do, right?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Definitely not."

The more charge the nucleus carried, the greater the Coulomb repulsion was, and the greater the kinetic energy required for the nucleus to merge.

According to the theoretical calculations, the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction section was several times that of the fusion reaction section of deuterium-helium-3. This meant that the Lawson criterion for achieving a fusion reaction might be billions of degrees higher for helium fusion.

Using the technology available right now, it wouldn't be possible to achieve helium-3 fusion.

Therefore, helium was widely regarded as an ideal fuel for the next generation of fusion reactors.

The old man went silent for a bit and said, "But the power cost of the deuterium-tritium fusion is already low enough, and it's inexhaustible for hundreds of years. Do we really have to develop this helium-3 technology now?"

Lu Zhou: "I think it's necessary."

Old man: "Really?"

Lu Zhou said succinctly, "The helium-3 fusion reaction does not produce neutrons, which makes it safer than the deuterium-tritium reaction. Looking at it from an engineering point of view, this is the only possible way to reduce the weight and size of the fusion reactor. Also, the controllable fusion reactor has already achieved fusion ignition. The next generation of controllable fusion ignition will be created by a country within the next 20 years."

It was not the industrial era anymore. There wasn't any technology that could be permanently kept confidential.

Even if other countries created worse control schemes and anti-radiation materials, they could achieve a similar result. It was just like the atomic bomb, the latecomer always walked a smoother road than the firstcomer.

The way to maintain an advantage had never been to lock the doors, but rather, it was to walk in front of others forever.

The old man looked serious, and he asked, "What is your suggestion?"

Lu Zhou said, "Restart the moon landing program."

Of course, landing on the moon wasn't enough.

It would be best to establish a permanent research station there and colonize space…

The old man couldn't keep up with Lu Zhou's thought process. He asked, "Why are we talking about space now?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Helium-3 is extremely rare on earth and aren't suitable as industrial fuels. However, the moon has a rich reserve of helium-3. If we want to lead the world forever, we have to be at the forefront, whether it's from the technology standpoint or from the raw materials standpoint."

The old man nodded thoughtfully.

Seeing that the old man understood Lu Zhou's ideas, Lu Zhou continued to speak, "The energy problem has been solved. We have a ten or even twenty-year window to the Space Age. We are closer to the future than anyone else. It'd be a pity not to use this advantage."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Our current interests are important, but we should also build a foundation for the future.

"The sky above us will one day become the new Persian Gulf of our century. It's not just energy, but also inexhaustible minerals. From the Earth to the Moon and to the more distant Milky Way. That is our path to the universe. Whoever has control of the stellar system, has control of the future!"

Compared to international politics and financial markets, as a scholar, Lu Zhou was much more concerned about the far future.

Even though the ideas in his mind might not be possible to achieve in the short term, he still had to do something about them.

He believed that one day, he would see his ideas come to life.

Even if he didn't, he was certain that someone in the future would see them.

The old man was touched, and he looked at Lu Zhou. "We will consider your proposal."

He looked at his watch and saw it was getting late, so he stood up from the chair.

The old man suddenly remembered something, and he spoke in a casual and relaxed voice.

"I came here to visit you. I didn't expect to talk about national affairs with a patient. Speaking of which, Professor Lu, are you not going to think about yourself?"

Lu Zhou: "Myself?"

Old man: "Yes."

At the beginning, the old man asked if Lu Zhou had any requests.

As long as it was within the old man's capabilities, he would try his best to satisfy Lu Zhou's needs.

However, Lu Zhou went beyond his expectations.

Lu Zhou looked at the ceiling and smiled as he said, "This is a difficult question. I really don't want anything… Actually, my life is not lacking in any particular area. The only thing I wish for outside of research is probably to see my research results being used properly."

The old man nodded solemnly. "I can promise you that."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Well then, I'm relieved to hear that."

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Chapter 566: Where To Broadcast?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Ten minutes after the old man left, the hospital room door was pushed open again. A group of people walked in.

"Brother!"

Xiao Tong burst into tears, and she wanted to rush over but was stopped by Yan Yan.

"His body is very weak right now."

Lu Zhou: "Actually, I'm fine…"

Yan Yan: "No, you're not."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Chen Yushan sat down on the side of the bed and looked at Lu Zhou with a worried expression on her face.

"You finally woke up."

Lu Zhou forced a smile on his face. "Yeah… I kind of overslept."

Chen Yushan's eyes were watering, but she finally smiled in relief.

"Don't say that. It's not funny."

Yan Yan was holding Xiao Tong. She kept staring at Lu Zhou and Chen Yushan. Suddenly, she had a surprised expression on her face.

Lu Zhou made a helpless expression and looked toward his parents.

Fang Mei looked at her son and said with teary eyes, "You finally woke up… You have no idea how worried your dad and I were."

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "Sorry for making you guys worried."

His family was worried about him the most.

Therefore, he felt the most apologetic toward them.

Old Lu looked at his son on the hospital bed, and he seemed to have a lot to say. However, in the end, he merely sighed and said, "Take care of your body, don't overwork yourself… Who cares about that fusion nuclear stuff, I want to see you healthy. Not sleeping for a week, what is wrong with you?"

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "This is just an accident."

Who said I didn't sleep for a week?

That's a ridiculous exaggeration.

"Sleeping for 20-something days is an accident?" Old Lu said, "Go do a body examination! Don't tell me you have radiation damage or something! I've seen that stuff in my friends' news feed, it affects your offspring as well!"

"Rest assured! Controllable fusion is safe, so don't be nervous." Lu Zhou guessed that his father probably saw some fake news in his friends' news feed, so he coughed and said, "I already did the body examination stuff."

There were countless medical machines and instruments that were used on or attached to his body when he was asleep.

Actually, he was quite curious since even the equipment from 301 Hospital couldn't find any abnormalities in his body. If it was possible, he wanted to take the medical data and examine it himself.

However, he also knew that nothing would come of it.

"Oh, you already did the examination." Old Lu looked at his son for a bit and said, "Then rest well and try to recover. Don't overwork yourself next time…"

Lu Zhou looked at his father as he muttered apologetically, "Yeah… Sorry about this."

Patient visiting time was limited to ten minutes.

Family members weren't exempted from this rule.

After the group of people left, Yan Yan pushed Lu Zhou, who was in a wheelchair, to the examination office next door for a check-up. She then made him do some less intense recovery exercises. After that, she sent him back into the hospital room to lie down again.

Lu Zhou was in a coma for a long time.

Even Superman wouldn't be able to recover immediately.

Even though his body was in good condition, it still took a while for his body to metabolize the toxins that were accumulated in his muscles.

Even though Lu Zhou felt like he had mostly recovered, other people obviously didn't think so.

Whether it was the doctors of 301 Hospital or the medical expert group responsible for his diagnosis, they all suggested him to stay in the hospital for at least another month. This was so that they could confirm there weren't any residual symptoms.

As a result, he wouldn't be able to go home to celebrate Chinese New Year.

However, Lu Zhou wasn't too sad.

His parents and Xiao Tong were nearby.

For him, home was wherever his family was.

The sky outside the window was getting darker.

Lu Zhou picked up his phone from the bedside table and was about to reply to those that cared about him.

However, when he opened his Weibo, he found out that his fans were being facetious.

[I'd be happy to trade God Lu being single for another ten years, for him to wake up right now.]

[If God Lu wakes up right now, I'll run naked in the streets.]

[Who cares about streaking, if God Lu wakes up, I'll eat a kilogram of sh*t!]

[I'll swim in the sewage!]

These people were getting more and more ridiculous. Lu Zhou couldn't stand it anymore.

Do these a*sholes even care about me?

He tapped his fingers on the screen and sent out a post.

[Where are you broadcasting your sewage swim?]

Within five minutes…

His entire Weibo page blew up…

…

Because of that Weibo post, the news of Lu Zhou waking up spread like wildfire. Some people were excited, some were disappointed. In any case, it didn't have much to do with him.

Also, since it was Chinese New Year soon, a lot of people had been visiting him.

In addition to the people he knew, there were also some strangers.

Among them were people he didn't know, and most were government officials.

Even though government officials wouldn't usually try to make connections with scholars, being a respected scholar was a completely different concept.

A scholar like him was on a completely different level.

In a way, Lu Zhou's opinion influenced the decisions of the higher-ranked government officials.

This alone gave people a reason to visit him.

However, this gave Lu Zhou a headache…

Academician Lu was sitting on a stool beside the bed. He happened to be attending a conference in Beijing and didn't leave yet. He came to visit Lu Zhou and even brought a bag of mandarin oranges.

Academician Lu was peeling the mandarins as he smiled and said, "The day before yesterday, my old classmate from the Ministry of Education was telling me that their last department meeting was discussing whether or not they should put your story in elementary school textbooks."

Lu Zhou said, "Please don't… That sounds embarrassing."

"Oh, you still feel embarrassed?" Academician Lu placed a peeled mandarin in Lu Zhou's hand and said, "Eat it, the doctor said that you woke up recently, and you're still in the recovery stage. The fruit is good for your health. I'm guessing you can't peel the mandarin yourself, so I'm peeling it for you before someone else eats it."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I can still peel mandarins."

Not to mention, even if he couldn't, there were many nurses that were willing to help him.

"You should stay in bed, and try to recover as soon as possible. After the holidays, there's still a commendation conference for you. I think you shouldn't go back home this year, just stay in Beijing."

Lu Zhou, who was eating the mandarin oranges, made a helpless expression.

"I want to go back, but the hospital won't let me."

Academician Lu smiled and said, "That's true, you're a treasure now. Experts from more than a dozen countries formed a medical team to diagnose you. This is my first time seeing this kind of treatment happen to anyone."

At the very least, normal politicians wouldn't be able to receive this kind of treatment.

Right now, a news broadcast was playing on the TV in the hospital room.

There were news about Lu Zhou's recovery and news about the movement in the international crude oil markets…

In order to stabilize the oil prices and market sentiment, OPEC made a rare promise to increase production in the next three months to stabilize oil prices. On the other hand, Russia had also tacitly stated that it would not increase oil production in the short term as they had decided to wait and see what the market would be like.

The rise and fall of oil prices had nothing to do with Lu Zhou since he had never invested in the futures market before.

However, what surprised Lu Zhou was that at the end of the news broadcast, he saw a piece of news about China's resumption of the moon landing program.

The year was 2020, and global politics seemed to have reached an inflection point.

They were all more or less related to the successful completion of the fusion reactor.

Even though everything that was happening in the news was far away from Lu Zhou, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of participation when he looked at the news anchor through the TV screen.

It was almost like he personally turned a page in the history book.

And this was just the beginning.

In the evening, after Lu Zhou ate dinner…

With the help from Yan Yan, Lu Zhou went for a walk in the courtyard of 301 Hospital.

Even though he felt like he could walk on his own, Yan Yan still insisted to accompany him.

It seemed like the unfortunate event gave her PTSD. Ever since he woke up, she didn't leave his side even for a second. She nearly followed him into the bathroom.

Since she kept insisting, Lu Zhou decided to let her be.

After all, his condition brought a lot of trouble to those that cared about him.

Coincidentally, while he was walking in the courtyard, he ran into the people from CTV.

Chang'an street was nearby from here.

An intense ministerial conference on the future of controllable nuclear fusion was happening…

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Chapter 567: Cross-Regional Power Grid

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Moscow.

An office in the Kremlin.

A powerful-looking man was sitting behind his wooden desk. After he heard his servant's report, he frowned.

"Woke up?"

The man who was in a leather jacket nodded.

"Yes… According to our intelligence personnel, Professor Lu Zhou has already woken up from his coma. According to the experts at the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that his coma was caused by external factors. It's likely that he was just fatigued."

Fatigue that resulted in a coma of more than 20 days.

Even though this sounded somewhat ridiculous, this seemed to be the most reliable explanation compared to the other outrageous speculations.

Mr. Vladimir walked to the window and looked at the Red Square outside the Kremlin. His facial expression made it difficult for people to guess what he was thinking.

Lu Zhou is alive.

This definitely isn't good news for Russia.

The Russian economy relies heavily on energy exports, and China is the second-largest buyer for Russian crude oil and natural gas. They accounted for 18% of total exports.

If the leverage caused by the fall of oil prices caused the US dollar to strengthen in the short term, then the Russian ruble would receive an unacceptable blow.

However, in order to win over Russia, China will not cut the import orders for Russian crude oil and natural gas in the short term. But this undoubtedly means that the Chinese will have more leverage in the negotiations of energy imports.

The global political situation was originally in an equilibrium state.

Now that controllable fusion was thrown into this mix, this balance was completely broken.

Suddenly, a terrible image emerged in Mr. Vladimir's mind.

What if one day, the Siberia factories have to rely on China's power grid?

This is quite scary…

If only that kid never woke up.

If he passes away, his story will undoubtedly become legendary. He will be remembered as the greatest scholar of this century. Not only will the Chinese people mourn him, but so will I. Even the President of the United States will manipulatively prepare a eulogy to mourn his death.

But the problem is that he is still alive…

"Mr. President."

Vladimir looked at his servant and said with a blank expression, "What?"

The man in the leather jacket lowered his voice and said, "What if we…"

"I know what you're thinking, but that is not possible." Vladimir looked away from the window and sat back down again. He said, "We can't risk the chance of offending the Chinese. Especially at such an important time. It would be asinine to do something like that."

In any case, assassination was a barbaric act. It would mean that their country was an uncivilized country.

Especially when it was the assassination of an internationally renowned scholar.

Not to mention, the other party had the ability to avenge themselves.

The man in the leather jacket stood there silently as he waited for the president's order.

After sitting at the desk for a long time, Vladimir said, "Continue to collect intelligence intel on controllable fusion energy. They are ahead of us, but we can't fall too behind."

He flipped through the document on the table. When his eyes came across a certain line, he squinted his eyes.

"He's single?"

Suddenly, the office door was pushed open.

"Latest news!"

The Russian Foreign Minister quickly walked to Vladimir's desk, and he said in a hurry, "China has started negotiations on cross-regional grid interconnection projects with Myanmar and Laos. Even though we don't know if an agreement will be reached, but according to our reliable sources, the Chinese side has provided the two countries with very attractive offers…"

It was too late to ask why they didn't knock on the door. The moment Vladimir heard this, his pupils dilated slightly.

As expected, his biggest worry came true.

Even though Russia didn't have any interest in Southeast Asia, this still wasn't a piece of good news.

It was Laos and Myanmar now. The question was, who would be next?

If they went south, they could expand their energy grid to Vietnam, Thailand, and maybe even Malaysia. They could control Malacca and pave their way for their power across the ocean.

Or they could go west, along the Silk Road. They could connect the five Central Asian countries and continue their power on land.

Perhaps only God knew the answer to this question.

…

Beijing.

301 Hospital.

Lu Zhou originally planned to just take a walk. He didn't expect to bump into anyone.

When he heard the middle-aged man yell his name and run toward him, Lu Zhou looked back at him.

"Who are you?"

The man looked at Lu Zhou and reached out his hand. He smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself. I'm the CTV station director, Luo Qidi."

CTV station director?

When did TV station directors have so much free time?

Not to mention he's the station director of CTV…

Even though Lu Zhou was surprised, he still smiled and reached out his right hand.

"Nice to meet you, Director Luo."

There were countless higher-ups that visited him over the past couple of days. Even though the CTV director was a pretty important figure, Lu Zhou wasn't fazed at all.

"Haha, nice to meet you, Professor Lu." Luo Qidi shook Lu Zhou's hand and smiled. He then immediately introduced the person next to him, "This is the host of our TV show 'Light of Science', He Ying."

He Ying smiled politely and said, "Nice to meet you, Professor Lu."

"Nice to meet you, Miss He." Lu Zhou nodded toward her. He then looked at Director Luo and joked, "Director Luo, did you come here to personally interview me?"

"Haha, I want to interview you, but I haven't worked in the field for a long time. I'll give this opportunity to my younger colleague." Director Luo smiled and turned to He Ying as he said, "He Ying, please explain the situation to Professor Lu."

"Okay, Director Luo."

He Ying looked at Lu Zhou and said, "Here's the situation, it's almost Chinese New Year. The entire country is concerned with your physical condition. If you have some time, we would like to invite you to participate in a popular science show."

Lu Zhou: "Is it about controllable nuclear fusion?"

He Ying nodded and said, "It's related to nuclear fusion, but it's mainly about you."

Lu Zhou thought for a bit before he replied, "I'm fine with anything, but you should talk to the relevant government departments about your show. After all, a lot of things are confidential and sensitive."

He Ying nodded and said, "Don't worry about this, the show will not involve confidential topics. We have already done our homework."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Okay then, when is the interview?"

Seeing that Lu Zhou agreed, He Ying sighed in relief. She then said happily, "Tomorrow at two o'clock, our show is going to be broadcast on the day before Chinese New Year."

Their production department planned a long time for Professor Lu to make a guest appearance on their show. This included obtaining licenses from other departments, collecting questions from the public through telephones and Weibo, screening questions, etc… A lot of the preparation began at the end of last year.

Not only did the production team spent a lot of time and effort, but she also spent a lot of effort on this herself.

After all, being able to interview Lu Zhou would be enormous for her entertainment career.

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. "Okay then, I'll be there."

Since the station director came in person, he felt obligated to accept this interview.

However, Lu Zhou felt like the real reason Director Luo was visiting him wasn't because of the TV show. It was probably the same reason as the other people that visited him over the past few days. Director Luo just wanted to use this opportunity to form connections with Lu Zhou.

However, Lu Zhou wasn't sure if their careers would benefit from being friends with himself.

Yan Yan saw Lu Zhou agree to the CTV interview and watched Director Luo and the female host walk away. She looked at Lu Zhou with a worried look on her face.

"Is your body fine?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I've basically recovered. It'd be better to go outside than to stay in this hospital. Please help me apply for the temporary discharge."

Due to safety reasons, Yan Yan didn't want to agree with his request. But in the end, she still sighed and agreed to it.

"Okay then… I'll go with you when the time comes."

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "Actually, it's fine if you don't want to go, I can go alone."

Yan Yan immediately said, "No way! If an accident happens again, I'll…"

However, she suddenly stopped talking.

Yan Yan looked at Lu Zhou and clenched her teeth. She took a deep breath before muttering, "Nothing, pretend like I didn't say anything."

It's not like I can tell him that my father nearly kicked me out of the family because of the last incident!

It'd be so embarrassing to tell him!

Lu Zhou: "…?"

What is this chick talking about?

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Chapter 568: Interview With Station C

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Beijing.

Chang'an street.

The CEO of China Petroleum, Wang Yongping, attended meetings for the entire morning. When he walked out of the conference room and looked at his notes, he had a complicated expression on his face.

Since the beginning of the month, the upper management team had made a series of energy development adjustments. During the meeting, they made detailed arrangements for the development plans of several state energy companies for the next five years.

As for the content of the meeting…

It wasn't good news for China's petroleum industry.

First of all, the upper limit of offshore investment was reduced by around US$130 billion. Secondly, the signed contracts had remained unchanged and the expansion of overseas oil and gas fields had to be stopped within three years.

Not only that, but there were also plans like "50,000 electric vehicle charging stations within two years" and "every gas station on the highway has to have four electric charging stations".

This all indicated that the state seemed to be eager to remove petroleum fuel from the hands of civilians.

In fact, he wasn't confused by the upper management's decision. After all, the amount that China spent on foreign energy imports each year was staggering.

However, even though he understood why the upper management was doing this, he was still aching.

Especially the offshore investment, which was the most profitable part.

Now that it had been reduced, he couldn't help but feel the pain.

But they didn't even receive the worst end of the stick.

They were still lucky compared to the coal companies that had been obliterated.

Just the reduction in coal production capacity alone gave headaches to countless people.

Especially for the laid-off workers and the local economy of several coal-producing provinces…

Wang Yongping had a headache just by thinking about these problems.

It wasn't just these energy mining companies; two major power grids and five major electric utility enterprises were also assigned their respective tasks.

In particular, they made adjustments plans for the residential electricity price while taking fusion power generation into account.

However, the electric companies had actually received a lot of benefits at this meeting.

In particular, the cross-regional transmission project to Laos and Myanmar.

If they could complete this project, it wouldn't matter if they could make a profit or not, it would be a huge success for China's future energy development…

If they could export energy to neighboring countries, that would mean that China would have a stronger influence in that particular country.

Wang Yongping couldn't help but admit he was jealous.

He was stuck in the same place.

But there was nothing he could do, he just got unlucky.

…

With this controllable fusion technology breakthrough, both domestic and foreign political stances would be restructured to account for this increase in productivity.

Of course, as usual, some people were happy and some people were worried.

However, the fate of each individual was often neglected in a time like this.

History was irreversible, nothing could stop it from moving forward.

The entire year of 2020 would probably be in chaos.

However, Lu Zhou, who personally kicked off this new era, was having a much better time.

He even had time to go on TV.

The day before Chinese New Year, the Light of Science live studio was filled with people.

Lu Zhou walked on stage in the midst of the applause. He smiled and waved at the audience. He then sat on the sofa.

After he sat on the sofa, he briefly looked at the audience members.

These people were relatively young, and most of them seemed to have come from local universities. Some of them might have come from high school or even middle school.

The audience all looked excited, and their applause was getting more and more energetic.

However, Lu Zhou wasn't sure if these people were actors who were hired by the program production team.

Emmmm…

I'll just pretend they're not actors.

He Ying was sitting beside Lu Zhou, and she looked at Lu Zhou and smiled.

"Professor Lu, are you feeling better?"

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. "I've basically recovered. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here with you today."

The audience chuckled.

The camera hanging above the studio gave the audience a few close-ups of Lu Zhou.

The production department hoped that they could use this opportunity to convey to the public and the international community that Lu Zhou's health was improving.

Even though Lu Zhou wasn't sure if this was the reasoning behind this interview, he still agreed to come here today.

After all, it was true that his body had mostly recovered.

He felt guilty, especially since he knew that a lot of people were worried about his health.

After some small talk to lighten up the atmosphere, He Ying smiled and said to Lu Zhou, "Before the show begins, I want to ask you a few questions that we took from our audience."

Lu Zhou rested his hands on his knees. He leaned back on the sofa and said, "Ask away, I'll answer to the best of my abilities."

"Don't worry, Professor Lu, these questions are very easy." He Ying looked at the cards in her hand and said, "The first question is from our netizen friend in Jiangsu.

"He expressed his concern about the thermal pollution impact of controllable fusion. What do you think about this concern?"

There's someone that knows about thermal pollution?

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows with interest. He didn't expect this.

It looks like these audience members are quite knowledgeable.

At least they didn't ask if fusion reactors are more explosive than fission reactors.

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "Global warming is a systematic topic. Let's not discuss the possibility of thermal pollution, but rather think about this from a scientific perspective."

He Ying: "Scientific perspective?"

Lu Zhou: "That's right, the frame of reference is a high school physics topic. Which is that, when one studies the motion of a moving object, one would have to choose a suitable reference frame, then study the relative motion of the object to the reference frame.

"An example is a runner. When we talk about his running speed, we don't talk about the frequency of his steps or the speed at which his arms swing. Instead, we look at him as a whole system and compare his speed to the ground. The ground is used as the reference system so that we can calculate his displacement and time relative to the starting point.

"For a large and complex system like the earth, we can't just isolate one aspect. We should discuss it as a whole, on both the spatial and time scales.

"Talking about the environmental impact that controllable fusion energy has on the earth is a non-scientific way of thinking about this.

"Whether it is thermal power or nuclear power, they're all just ways of generating electricity. The metric that determines the value of social production isn't electricity. They are needs and demands."

He Ying: "Needs?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "That's right."

Controllable fusion would accelerate the increase of productivity, but would productivity stop without controllable nuclear fusion? Obviously not.

As long as there was a need for development, as time went by, civilization would continue to develop. However, the speed of said development would be relatively slow, and there would be more obstacles on the way.

The audience didn't seem to understand what Lu Zhou was saying, so Lu Zhou put it in an easier to understand manner.

"On a short time scale, controllable fusion technology is able to slow down global warming. The energy conversion efficiency of traditional thermal power technology is about 35%, which means that in order to produce 1 unit of electricity, we have to release 2.85 units of heat by burning coal. This release of heat corresponds to carbon dioxide and other sulfur gases in our atmosphere.

"However, controllable fusion doesn't have this problem. Using the ferrofluid electric energy generator on the STAR-2 demonstration reactor, the energy conversion efficiency is 50%, and there is still room for improvement. Which means that for every 1 unit of electricity, we only need to produce 2 units of heat. Also, there are no greenhouse gas emissions.

"China is a huge energy consumer, we account for half of the world's total energy consumption. If we make a difference in our carbon emissions, the whole world will follow us."

As for looking at this from a longer time scale, then one would have to consider more than just human behavior. There were other long-term factors that were more impactful.

For example, the solar magnetic activity cycle.

The solar activity had a high probability of entering Maunder Minimum halfway through the 21st century. The heat that would reach Earth was 0.3% smaller than the maximum.

What did 0.3% mean?

In Mr. Zhu Kezhen's History of China's Meteorology, the four ice ages in history were just a special cycle of Chinese civilizations. And these were the four dynasties; the late Han Dynasty, the late Tang Dynasty, the late Ming Dynasty, and the early Qing Dynasty. Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. According to historical records, the Dongting Lake had a foot of ice on top of it. The Yangtze River was frozen and the moon was nowhere to be seen. This was all due to the powerful solar cycle.

The heat released by human activities was minuscule compared to solar activity.

At least for now, humans were a long way from competing against a star.

However, Lu Zhou couldn't go this in-depth during the show, as the TV program time was limited…

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Chapter 569: Creator of the World

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After that, He Ying asked Lu Zhou a lot of questions on behalf of the audience, and Lu Zhou responded to them one by one.

This included how controllable fusion technology would affect the lives of ordinary people.

And what kind of positive impacts the energy breakthrough would have on the nation's economy.

Also, Lu Zhou's own personal future plans…

Of course, Lu Zhou obviously didn't talk about any sensitive technology topics.

Once they were done with the interview, some people would edit the content of the program before the program would be officially broadcasted. They would edit out those sensitive topics.

Of course, since these things were handled by the professional production team, Lu Zhou didn't have to worry about it.

In the second half of the interview, during the audience interactive session, an 11-year-old girl walked on stage. She stood next to Lu Zhou while holding a large bouquet of clove pinks.

She stared at Lu Zhou with her big, bright eyes as she handed out the bouquet in her hand.

"My teacher told us that you should put the flowers in a vase, next to your bedside table. This will make you feel better. Grandpa said that you used knowledge to help a lot of people, he wants you to get better. Also, I want to become a scientist like you when I grow up…"

It wasn't easy for the little girl to say all this, especially while holding a large bunch of flowers.

The young girl took a deep breath. She looked absolutely adorable.

"Thank you for your clove pink!"

Lu Zhou smiled and took the flowers from her hand. Even though he knew this was probably arranged by the show production team, he still smiled and said gratuitously, "Smelling the flower is already making me feel a lot better. Remember to tell your teacher I said thank you!"

The little girl blushed and nodded. She then turned around and ran off stage.

The audience erupted in applause.

In the midst of the applause, the show also came to an end.

Lu Zhou left the studio and went into the green room.

After He Ying expressed her gratitude to Lu Zhou on behalf of the production team, she continued to speak, "Professor Lu, are you free later?"

Lu Zhou: "Why, what's up?"

He Ying smiled and said, "Nothing much, I just wanted to grab food with you or something."

"Let's get food another day. I'm afraid Doctor Yan won't let me eat anything before I leave the hospital," Lu Zhou said with a smile.

Yan Yan, who was standing behind him, didn't say anything. However, she obviously agreed.

Even though she didn't have the power to control Lu Zhou's actions, as his personal doctor, she was still responsible for all of his health concerns.

Even though He Ying was a little disappointed, she still smiled. "Okay then, another day it is."

After Lu Zhou left the TV studio, he went back into his car. He was surprised to find out that the 301 Hospital guards that followed him here were gone. Instead, in came Wang Peng, who he hadn't seen for three days.

Lu Zhou was sitting in the back seat. He looked at the familiar face through the rearview mirror and said, "I thought you went home for the holidays."

Wang Peng made a helpless expression.

"No holidays for me, I'll probably lose my end-of-year bonus as well."

Forget about the end-of-year bonus.

If it weren't for his previous excellent record, he would be in even more trouble right now.

He had been constantly berated by the higher-ups over the past few days.

"No end-of-year bonus? Why…" Lu Zhou suddenly realized something and awkwardly said, "It's not because of me, right?"

Wang Peng smiled and didn't say anything.

It was quite difficult for him to answer this question.

Of course, he didn't complain about the punishment. After all, it was his job to protect Lu Zhou. And now, it seemed like he had failed his job.

However, Lu Zhou, who knew the real reason of why he was sick, felt somewhat guilty. After all, he wasn't poisoned or malnourished into a coma or something. It was purely because he leveled up his discipline. His brain couldn't handle the information overload…

Lu Zhou decided he should do something to compensate for this.

"Oh, I see, I'll write a letter for you and explain the situation to the higher-ups."

Wang Peng was suddenly anxious, and he said, "Oh please don't, please don't do this."

Lu Zhou said, "No, this isn't your fault. It's mainly because I didn't take care of my body…"

Suddenly, Yan Yan interrupted him.

"His department has rules and regulations. If someone said that he made a mistake, then he made a mistake. There's no debate about that… If you really write a letter for him, not only will it not help him, but it will give him more trouble."

She was also punished in the same regard.

The reason why she wasn't fired from her current position was that 301 Hospital couldn't find any evidence of malnourishment.

This was also the reason why Wang Peng was able to get his job back. There was simply no evidence of sabotage.

Even though Yan Yan's father was a veteran, she didn't get any type of special treatment.

And she never expected Lu Zhou to get her out of this trouble.

Lu Zhou began to realize the situations they were in, so he decided not to write the letter.

Even though he still felt kind of guilty, it was what it was.

At most, he would just compensate them later…

Lu Zhou returned to 301 Hospital and was about to go upstairs for his daily medical checkup. However, when he walked into the main building, he saw Academician Wang waiting at the front entrance.

Academician Wang's eyes lit up when he saw Lu Zhou, and he smiled as he walked over.

"How are you? Do you feel better?"

"I feel a lot better." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "It's almost Chinese New Year. Are you not going back to your hometown?"

"I was born and raised in Beijing, where am I supposed to go? My hometown is one metro stop away." When Academician Wang saw that Lu Zhou could walk on his own, he nodded in relief. He said, "I'm relieved that your condition is getting better. You have no idea how many people were worried about you."

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "I feel really bad."

"Don't say that! We're the ones who should be feeling bad." Academician Wang sighed and said, "Controllable fusion isn't an easy thing to accomplish. Especially when it comes to coordinating various research departments. Most of the critical research projects were done by you alone. Honestly… I and the old guys at the Chinese Academy of Sciences feel quite guilty."

"I'm just doing my best, no big deal." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Plus, my health is getting a lot better now."

Academician Wang sighed and said, "I'm glad you think that way. Also, there's one thing I have to tell you. While you were in a coma, we tried to achieve fusion ignition a couple more times. The STAR-2 demonstration reactor is looking good. The higher-ups personally made demands to implement the grid connection and supply electricity to the 80 million residents in the Jiangsu province!"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "It's going to be connected? That's fantastic!"

Academician Wang smiled and said, "Yeah, it's really amazing. I didn't expect to live to see this day. But, there's another favor I have to ask you."

Lu Zhou frowned and said, "Is there a problem with the demonstration reactor?"

That's not possible!

Even the system recognized the success of the fusion ignition.

"It's not the demonstration reactor." Academician Wang quickly explained, "It's just that after it's connected to the grid, we can't keep calling it its code name, right? After all, this is the world's first demonstration reactor. The higher-ups asked us for a new name. I don't really care about these kinds of things, so I'm asking you, the chief designer."

Academician Wang smiled and said, "How about you think of a beautiful name for the reactor? If you really can't think of anything, you can use your own name. This is a good opportunity to leave your name in history."

"Let's not use my name. It sounds weird." Lu Zhou coughed and said, "I'll think about it."

Academician Wang said, "Okay then, you think about it. I have a couple of examples here."

Lu Zhou: "What examples do you have?"

"Oh, like Houyi, Jinwu, Daohuozhe, Suiren, etcetera. There's also the more westernized Prometheus. These were all decided through votes by the people in the army department. You can decide which one you like."

After thinking for a long time, Lu Zhou said, "Let's call it Pangu1."

Academician Wang: "Pangu?"

"Yeah." Lu Zhou nodded.

He had actually thought about this for a while.

Not only would the controllable fusion breakthrough revolutionize the energy industry, but it would change the entire world.

In some sense, the birth of this demonstration reactor was the second creation of the world.

"If you think that's a good name, then so be it." Academician Wang smiled and said, "Okay then, I'm not going to stay here for long. I'll submit this name to the higher-ups and you should get some rest. The people at the demonstration reactor site are still waiting for your return. We still haven't hosted a fusion ignition celebration party yet. We've been looking forward to this for the whole of last year."

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Ok, I promise we'll have the party soon."

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Chapter 570: The Third Debris

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Germany, Greifswald.

Wendelstein 7-X laboratory.

Professor Keriber was sitting at his desk. He was holding a mouse in his hand while staring at his computer screen. As his cursor repeatedly clicked through the video progress bar, he had a massive headache.

The video was Lu Zhou's Light of Science interview.

The show aired last night. Someone recorded it, added subtitles, and uploaded it to Youtube. It received millions of views.

Millions of views for a science interview was quite impressive, especially since the video quality wasn't the best. It was obvious that the controllable fusion field, which previously had nothing to do with the public, had received widespread attention.

After Keriber saw this video, he immediately downloaded the video.

He was different from other people.

He didn't really care about Lu Zhou's thoughts on controllable fusion energy, nor did he care about the "future technical problems" that came along with controllable fusion. He only cared about one thing.

Which was Lu Zhou's opinion on the controllable fusion reactor itself!

He just wanted a little bit of inspiration, a little guidance!

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he didn't find the thing he was looking for.

Suddenly, he heard his assistant's voice.

"Professor?"

While frowning, Professor Keriber looked away from the screen and stared at his assistant, who was sitting in his office.

"What now, Price?"

"You've been staring at that video for over an hour…" Price was shocked by how tired Professor Keriber looked. He originally wanted to remind Keriber that he had a new email, but instead, he asked, "Do you need any help?"

"No need… Wait, bring me a cup of coffee."

"Okay."

Price immediately stood up and walked out of the office.

Professor Keriber continued to stare at the young man in his computer screen. He had a complicated expression on his face.

Kicking China out of ITER was a mistake.

That was always his opinion.

However, those politicians who made the wrong judgment obviously wouldn't pay for their own actions or even admit their mistakes.

The only evidence of them admitting their mistakes was their redirected focus of research resources into the stellarator projects.

Now that China had proved this technical route was feasible, they could eliminate the other technical routes, like the reversed-field pinch, inertial confinement fusion, or the tokamak.

They could also couple this with the help of the westerners who had participated in previous stellarator research projects. Not to mention, it was very difficult for large-scale scientific research projects like this to be kept completely confidential. They could find a way to reveal the secrets.

Of course, even if the state decided to increase its investment and more research institutes were involved, they knew that it wouldn't be easy to achieve what China had done.

Professor Keriber estimated that even if the whole of Europe put their resources into the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory, it would take them at least a decade to complete the demonstration reactor project.

And that was if everything went well.

If something didn't go well…

It could take two decades…

In order to advance this project as soon as possible, Professor Keriber had been tirelessly collecting information about Lu Zhou. From looking at his theses to watching his interviews… Everything he did was to find an ounce of inspiration.

However, the worst thing was that this was all a waste of time.

Lu Zhou knew more about controllable fusion than anyone else on this planet.

If Lu Zhou didn't want to reveal the secrets of the controllable fusion energy, then there was no way for the world to know those secrets.

Perhaps the only way was to ask Lu Zhou for help.

But he knew that the probability of this working was slim…

"I have to go to China…" he muttered to himself. He stood up from his office chair and grabbed his coat from the coat hanger. He then walked out of the laboratory.

Two minutes passed by.

The office door opened.

Price walked in with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. When he saw the empty office, he paused for a second.

"Professor?"

Where is he?

He was here a second ago.

…

Night of Chinese New Year's Eve.

The 301 Hospital was almost deserted.

Even though there were a lot of nurses and patients who were still here, it was quieter than usual.

Lu Zhou lay in his medical room and stared at the ceiling. He was thinking about difficult math problems to kill time.

Xiao Tong was sitting on a stool next to him, and she was playing with her phone on a small table.

They already ate their family dinner during the afternoon. After that, Lu Zhou's parents went to the CTV station.

The tickets for the annual New Year's Gala live show were sent by Director Luo, and there were five tickets in total. In addition to Lu Zhou's family members, there was also a ticket for Yan Yan.

However, only two of these five tickets were used.

First of all, Lu Zhou wasn't particularly fond of crowded and loud places. Secondly, he wasn't interested in the New Year's Gala. Xiao Tong felt the same way, so she stayed in the hospital with him.

As for Yan Yan, apparently she had been to the New Year's Gala show when she was a kid, so she wasn't interested anymore. It wasn't uncommon for kids of higher-up state officials to attend the New Year's Gala.

Lu Zhou began to feel a little bored. He suddenly remembered that he still had a lucky draw ticket. Thus, he silently whispered, "System."

His consciousness went inside the pure white system space.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard from the corridor.

Chen Yushan gently knocked on the door and walked in.

"Hello!"

She didn't want to disturb Lu Zhou, so she spoke quietly. She waved at Xiao Tong.

Xiao Tong's eyes lit up when she saw Chen Yushan. She immediately put down her phone and jumped out of her chair.

"Sis? Why are you here?"

Chen Yushan carefully made a "shush" gesture to Xiao Tong and pointed at Lu Zhou. She pointed at the plastic bag she was holding and said, "I came to bring you guys food."

Xiao Tong's eyes lit up and said, "Oh, dumplings, did you make them yourself?"

Chen Yushan said awkwardly, "Uh… I did half the work? It was mainly my grandma helping me. I hope it's palatable for you guys."

"It's definitely palatable, my brother isn't a picky eater." Xiao Tong suddenly thought of something. She smiled mischievously and said, "Speaking of which, Doctor Yan is also making dumplings. It seems like my brother is quite popular this Chinese New Year."

Chen Yushan asked, "Doctor Yan?"

Xiao Tong nodded and said, "Yes! The lady that has been taking care of my brother. The hospital organized a dumpling making event and she went. She said she'd give us some dumplings later… She'll probably be back soon."

Chen Yushan nodded.

She heard about Doctor Yan from Lu Zhou before, and her father, who was in the government, had also talked about Doctor Yan with her.

She didn't know why, but she had a hunch in her stomach.

She felt like there was something going on between Doctor Yan and Lu Zhou.

However, compared to the insignificant relationship stuff, she cared more about Lu Zhou's health.

Chen Yushan placed the dumplings on the table and walked next to the bed. She sat on a stool and quietly looked at Lu Zhou's face.

Speaking of which, this was the first time she had seen Lu Zhou asleep.

Why do I feel like…

He looks quite different when he's sleeping.

It was almost like Lu Zhou could feel someone was staring at him.

His eyelashes gently moved, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan and gently coughed.

"Why are you staring at me?"

Chen Yushan blushed and stood up from the stool.

She took half a step back and cleared her throat.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I didn't do anything when you were asleep."

Xiao Tong smirked and raised her hand. "I can testify."

Lu Zhou looked at his energetic sister and sighed. "I know… I was just resting for a bit, I didn't fall asleep."

He was doing the system lucky draw.

According to his past experience, he could feel any real-world movements while inside the system space.

However, Chen Yushan made the situation even more awkward when she tried to clarify it.

After realizing that Lu Zhou wasn't asleep at all, Chen Yushan was even more embarrassed.

She blushed and quickly cleared her throat before diverting the conversation.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Better than ever before," Lu Zhou said, "I haven't been in the laboratory for a long time, so it feels like my brain is rusting."

Chen Yushan didn't know why, but looking at Lu Zhou in the hospital bed made her feel a little distressed.

Even though she wanted to say some words of comfort, she couldn't get the words out of her mouth.

"My grandpa asked me to give you these dumplings."

Lu Zhou: "Grandpa?"

"Yeah… He saw you in the news and praised how you are the pillar of our country. Then, when he found out that we know each other, he was shocked. He urged me to come over here and bring you some food. He also told me to thank you for your scientific research contributions to the nation…"

Chen Yushan playfully looked around and said, "Speaking of which, is there a kitchen here? You and Xiao Tong haven't eaten yet, right? Since you're going through such a tough time, I'll help you cook the dumplings."

Xiao Tong's eyes lit up, and she raised her hand.

"I'll show you where the kitchen is!"

She playfully grabbed Chen Yushan's arm and walked out of the room with her.

Lu Zhou smiled and shook his head.

His head was back on the soft pillow, and he continued to look at the ceiling. He began to think about the prize he just won.

Maybe it was because of the painstaking scientific research efforts that he made, he had been quite lucky.

He finally hit the jackpot on this lucky draw this time.

The third piece of debris was quietly lying in his inventory.

Just from the appearance of the debris alone, it looked like something spectacular.

At the same time, he felt like he was getting closer and closer to revealing the secrets of the system itself.

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Chapter 571: Who Cooks It Better?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou had only ever received two pieces of debris before.

The first debris was a battery, some kind of lithium battery. Lu Zhou used the scanner gun to verify that it was indeed a lithium battery.

The only thing he wasn't sure was exactly what the battery should be used for.

As for the second debris, it had the shape of a cube. However, Lu Zhou had no idea what it was.

Not just that, he wasn't even sure what was "broken" about the debris.

After all, that big cubed-like thing didn't look like it had anything missing. There wasn't any noticeable damage on the surface either.

As for this third debris, it actually looked like a real "debris".

The side of the meter-long cylindrical object looked like it was hit by something that left a big gap behind.

Under the broken surface, one could see a large number of messy and complex components. At the other end of the entire cylindrical body, there was a bowl-like structure that extended outward.

The whole thing looked like a white radish.

However, it was like someone had taken a bite out of the side of the radish…

The items in his inventory could be taken out of the system space and into the real world. It didn't seem to contain any mass in the real world, so Lu Zhou could orient it however he wanted.

However, before taking it out of the system space, Lu Zhou could only stare at it in his inventory. He couldn't change the appearance of the object, nor could he disassemble it and observe the internal components.

For the time being, Lu Zhou decided not to care about what it was. He stood next to the debris and began to inspect the damage.

He was more interested in the device that could cause such serious damage.

However, apart from the debris itself, there was no other useful information at all…

"Meteorite impact? Or is it some kind of… energy-based weapon?

"If only I can take it apart and inspect it."

Lu Zhou sighed and took two steps back. He rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

This was different than the battery debris. This thing wasn't easy to carry around in the real-world at all.

There was no way he could take it out in the hospital.

He would have to wait until he was back in Jinling.

"Speaking of which, is this an engine? But it doesn't have an exhaust pipe or a turbine…"

Actually, it kind of looks like an engine…

This thing is a bit too small for a rocket engine, but if this was some kind of high-tech plasma thruster, the size seems kind of reasonable?

Lu Zhou didn't know what a high-tech spaceship looked like, but he had seen a Hall-effect thruster before.

He thought back to when he was researching the He3 atom probe device in the Princeton PPPL. The NASA-funded AF-MPD[1.applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster] project team was doing research in this area.

However, Lu Zhou didn't inquire too much about the technical details.

First of all, it would be impolite to do so. Secondly, rocket thruster technology was a sensitive field. Knowing too much about rocket technology would put him on a list somewhere; it could even affect his travel rights.

He had always been aware of this.

Lu Zhou looked at the high-tech debris and rubbed his chin.

"What should I do?"

His intuition told him that Debris-3 was much more valuable than Debris-2.

Even if he couldn't completely figure out the underlying technology, just scraping some of the technology would have extraordinary value.

This was just like the modified PDMS film that he got from Debris-1. Even though he wasn't able to create the legendary lithium-air battery, he was able to solve the technical bottleneck of battery anode materials.

He had no idea what this high-tech thruster lookalike thing was capable of…

While Lu Zhou was thinking about this, he suddenly felt a sensation on his arm.

When he vaguely heard Xiao Tong yelling his name, he guessed that they had finished cooking the dumplings. So, he closed his inventory and left the system space.

"Brother… Brother! You better wake up, don't scare me like this."

Xiao Tong was shaking Lu Zhou's arm. Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't react at all, Xiao Tong was about to cry.

Suddenly, Lu Zhou's mouth twitched, and he smiled.

When Xiao Tong saw Lu Zhou smiling, she suddenly jumped up.

"Wow, you were trying to prank me!"

"Sorry, that expression on your face… I just couldn't help but try to scare you."

Xiao Tong said in a serious face, "Brother, did you hear the story about the kid who cried wolf?"

"Of course I have, didn't I tell you about it when I was younger?"

"Please don't mess with us like that anymore." Yan Yan sighed and removed her finger from the emergency medical button. She said, "You're giving me a hard time."

Lu Zhou: "Sorry."

He thought about it carefully and realized this joke wasn't too appropriate. After all, he was still lying in the hospital.

He admitted that he was being a little facetious, but this year's Chinese New Year's Eve was too boring, so he couldn't help but try to have some fun.

Chen Yushan was just as worried. She rolled her eyes at Lu Zhou but didn't scold him like the other two girls.

"The dumplings are ready, hurry up and eat them. It won't be as nice when they're cold."

"Ok, I'm coming."

With the help of Xiao Tong, Lu Zhou slowly sat up from his bed.

Normally, after being in a coma for more than 20 days, it would be very difficult to get out of bed. Even daily activities such as swallowing would be insanely difficult. However, Lu Zhou's recovery abilities were much stronger than the average person. He had been getting out of bed and going to the bathroom himself. Other than some minor inconveniences, he had basically fully recovered.

Maybe if everything went well, 301 Hospital would probably let him leave the hospital.

The table was moved to the middle of the hospital room. The group of four sat around the steaming dumplings.

This was Lu Zhou's first time eating dumplings in a hospital.

Interestingly enough, Lu Zhou found out that half of the dumplings were stuffed with leek while the other half was stuffed with cabbage. Eating two kinds of dumplings at once felt a little weird…

Xiao Tong seemed to have noticed this as well, and she turned around and asked, "Brother, do you think the leek dumplings are better or the cabbage dumplings are better?"

Lu Zhou was sipping on some soup, and he replied, "They're around the same. I'm not a picky eater."

Xiao Tong said in a serious manner, "No, no. Your taste is important, you have to choose one."

Lu Zhou: "…?"

While Xiao Tong was asking the question, Chen Yushan was waiting with a look of expectation on her face.

Yan Yan didn't seem to care, but she couldn't help but pay attention to Lu Zhou as well.

Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't answer, Xiao Tong began to urge him.

"Don't care about it too much, just tell me your first instinct."

"If you really want me to say which one tastes better…"

Lu Zhou looked at the dumplings and went silent for a while.

"I think the dumplings I make are better."

Xiao Tong: "…"

Yan Yan: "…"

Chen Yushan: "…"

The atmosphere suddenly became stiff. Lu Zhou hesitated for a bit.

Emm…

Did I say the wrong thing again?

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Chapter 572: Scientist's Nationality

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The only difference between this year's New Year's Eve and previous years was that Lu Zhou ate a lot more dumplings and wasn't able to visit as many relatives.

However, even though it wasn't as lively as in previous years, he didn't feel too lonely.

Lu Zhou's grandparents from his dad's side had already passed away, and he wasn't that close with his other relatives. His relationships with his other relatives were drinking and eating together once-a-year but no contact during the year kind.

Everyone had their own things to work on, so they didn't communicate a lot normally.

The only thing Lu Zhou helped them with, was for a cousin. Lu Zhou convinced the cousin, who was studying at Aurora, to switch majors.

Even though he had never been to Aurora University, he had been a reviewer for several well-known journals such as Annual Mathematics and Mathematics Chronicle. And he had communicated with several professors in the Department of Mathematics in Aurora. Not to mention, he also had the professors' contact information.

Helping someone switch majors was a piece of cake; all it took was a phone call.

On the second day of Chinese New Year, Lu Zhou received a lot of emails in his mailbox.

Some were from Princeton, while some were from Columbia University. They were mainly his friends in the academic community.

He had to admit that his relationships with the people in the academic community were wonderful.

Even though his research had caused headaches for numerous country leaders, the overseas academic communities didn't exclude him… At least, he would still occasionally receive manuscript review invitations from Annual Mathematics. However, since he was too busy with work, he would refuse to review any thesis that didn't interest him.

At the end of the day, controllable fusion wasn't some kind of monster. The STAR-2 demonstration reactor project was fundamentally different from the Manhattan Project. Even though it affected the global political landscape, it wasn't a killing machine. Not to mention, the original intention of the project wasn't for destruction.

Looking at it from the political and governance perspective, fusion energy would reduce global carbon emissions, create cleaner energy, and better the future of mankind… Maybe the United Nations would even grant him a "Protector of The Earth" prize?

Everyone's opinion of Lu Zhou wouldn't change. Other than the people affected by fusion energy, most people's opinions would stay the same. At least, this would be the case until Lu Zhou entered the weapon design industry.

On the third day of Chinese New Year…

Lu Zhou was lying inside a CT machine, performing his first physical examination after the new year.

Academician Castin from the Royal Society looked at the intracranial CT picture and rubbed his stubble as he said, "Your physical condition is normal, and the rehabilitation process is going very smoothly… Honestly speaking, with what happened to your body, this is unbelievable."

Lu Zhou: "Unbelievable?"

"Yes." Academician Castin said, "Letting your brain rest for more than 20 days by sleeping… You might not think this is interesting, but this is a magical thing in the medical community."

Lu Zhou: "I don't think it's interesting at all."

"Anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow." Academician Castin took out a business card from his pocket. He had a bright smile on his face as he handed the business card to Lu Zhou and said, "If you want to figure out the secrets of your brain, you can contact me at any time you wish. I am willing to bet that this is a Nobel Prize level discovery…"

Lu Zhou took the business card and said, "Oh, I already have one though."

"…"

Academician Castin smiled awkwardly and coughed.

"But you don't have a Nobel Prize in Medicine, right? We can co-sign the research on your brain…"

Lu Zhou said, "We'll do it another day. For now, my brain is still awake."

Castin: "…"

Even though Lu Zhou was also very curious as to what happened in his brain, with the current neuroscience technology, it would be impossible to understand the mystery behind his brain.

After Lu Zhou left the CT room, he threw Academician Castin's business card into the trash can.

After that, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

He unlocked the screen and saw Xiao Ai's text bubble pop up on the screen.

[Master, you have mail (*)]

Lu Zhou clicked on the link, which opened his email directly.

As he read this email, he paused for a second and had a weird expression on his face.

[Dear Professor Lu, this is Keriber. After I heard the news regarding your coma, I felt downhearted. I wish you a safe recovery…

[… Even though this might be a little abrupt, but I am currently in Beijing. I don't know if you're available right now.

[If you are, there are some things I would like to talk to you about, face to face.]

…

Professor Keriber was sitting in a cafe near the Wukesong Subway station. He looked outside the window at the crowd walking by and glanced at his watch from time to time.

Suddenly, he heard a crisp bell sound from the cafe door.

Professor Keriber looked over and saw two people walking toward him.

Lu Zhou sat across from Professor Keriber and smiled as he said, "It's nice to meet you, my dear friend."

"It's nice to meet you…" Keriber looked at Yan Yan, who was standing behind Lu Zhou. He then looked at Lu Zhou again.

Yan Yan noticed Keriber's actions and said to Lu Zhou, "Do you need me to leave?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "There's no need for that, just sit next to us."

Yan Yan hesitated for a bit and decided not to sit down. She continued to stand behind Lu Zhou.

Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't want Yan Yan to leave, Keriber hesitated for a bit and slowly said, "Honestly… we've reached a bottleneck for the stellarator research."

When Yan Yan heard the word "stellarator", she suddenly became nervous.

However, Lu Zhou's expression didn't really change. He just smiled and said, "Yeah?"

Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't take the initiative, Keriber went silent for a bit before saying, "I know this request might put you in a difficult position, but I can't think of another way other than to ask for your help… I won't let you provide us with any technical help, just a little bit of inspiration is enough. You know that fusion energy will benefit the entire mankind. I hope you can give me some research inspiration."

Seeing that this German professor was desperate, Lu Zhou went silent for a while.

Finally, he sighed.

"I'm sorry, my dear friend, if you want to talk about the plasma mathematical model of turbulence or any other mathematical problem, I would be happy to help. But I can't give you help regarding controllable fusion.

"As you said, this is a technology that will benefit mankind. Unfortunately, it was your arrogance and prejudice that led us to this situation. If the ITER conference didn't end in such a bad note, I would have had the opportunity to share this victory with everyone in the world."

Lu Zhou paused for a second and continued, "Not to mention, the STAR-2 demonstration reactor isn't my own project. It's the crystallized efforts of hundreds of research institutes. If I help you now, it would be disgraceful to those that have worked hard for me."

Professor Keriber looked at Lu Zhou with a confused expression.

"I thought you would agree that scientific knowledge shouldn't have borders…"

"Yes, I agree with that." Lu Zhou looked at him and said, "But scientists have nationalities."

The conversation fell silent.

Lu Zhou saw Professor Keriber went silent, so he continued to speak, "I understand what you're feeling, but this is all I can say. However, if you guys are really desperate for this technology, I can give you a hint."

Professor Keriber suddenly looked up.

"Tell me."

Lu Zhou said, "Ask the politicians of your country to help you. Don't ask them to find me, ask them to meet with Chinese politicians.

"Us scholars really have nothing to do with these things that are outside of research. You shouldn't be the one to ask for help on behalf of your motherland.

"China is an open country. Whether it's economy, cultural, or scientific, we have never avoided integrating with the international community. However, integration is based on the acceptance of both parties. One country shouldn't compromise for another.

"I believe that as long as you are willing to let go of your prejudice and show us enough sincerity, there is the possibility of cooperation between us."

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Lu Zhou was the one who paid for the two cups of coffee.

After thanking Lu Zhou, Professor Keriber left the cafe and took a flight back home.

Since Lu Zhou's body hadn't fully recovered, he didn't go to the airport with Keriber. However, he told Wang Peng to send Keriber to the airport.

Only time could tell what choices Keriber would make and what choices Europe, as a whole, would make.

Nine days after Chinese New Year's Eve, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, a commendation conference was held for the successful fusion ignition of the controllable demonstration reactor. The conference opened with a brilliant speech by the host and a round of applause.

At the commendation conference, the president personally awarded the twenty-six golden 585 commemorative medals and bright red certificates to the researchers who made outstanding contributions to the demonstration reactor project. The president also expressed his gratitude to these researchers who were fighting on the front line of scientific research.

In the spring of 1958, the Institute of Atomic Energy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences1 officially established a study on magnetic confinement fusion, which began the research of controlled fusion.

Up to now, there had been more than sixty years of controllable fusion research.

It took almost three generations to finally complete this project.

The commendation conference was also a perfect ending to this vigorous scientific research project.

Academician Li Jiangang was sitting at one of the tables with a golden medal rested against his chest. He wiped his eyes as he said quietly, "Professor, we did it…"

He still remembered the year of 1982, when he graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology as a nuclear power major. His original intention was to become an aircraft carrier designer. However, his mentor's influence completely changed his career, and since then, he had devoted himself to the field of controllable fusion research.

Forty years had passed since then. The nuclear power road used to be full of hope, but back then, he couldn't see an end to this road. He was regretful and sorrowful. However, he persisted without hesitation and gave up his position at the Culham Laboratory in Oxford when his motherland needed him most. He returned to China to continue his controllable fusion research.

However, his mentor wasn't able to see the glory of controllable nuclear fusion anymore.

But he believed that if his mentor's spirit were in heaven, he would definitely be proud of the choices he made today…

Academician Wang Zengguang was sitting next to him. He touched the medal on his chest and felt a burst of emotion.

"I've been in the nuclear power industry my entire life. I never would have imagined that instead of seeing the glory of the fourth generation fission power generator, I was able to witness the collapse of the third generation fission power generator."

Fission reactor was an expensive source of energy. The electricity price was much higher than that of thermal power. It was also much more difficult to deal with its nuclear waste.

After China commissioned the Pangu fusion reactor and connected the reactor to the power supply grid, there wouldn't be any new fission reactor construction plans in China.

"Speaking of which, Chief Designer Lu isn't an academician, right?"

Academician Li Jiangang hesitated for a bit and smiled as he said, "The year of 2019 was so busy for him, so he didn't have time to become an academician."

An academician had to go through two rounds of voting. The academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences would decide based on these two rounds, and this would take up a lot of time.

Since Lu Zhou was busy with the controllable fusion project for the entirety of 2019, he obviously didn't have time to be elected as an academician.

Academician Wang suddenly had a thought in his mind.

"I'll vote for him in next year's election."

"An academician in his twenties?" Academician Li hesitated and said, "Isn't it a bit too young…"

Since his old friend was staring at him, Academician Li added, "Don't look at me that way, I was just saying. When the election comes around, I'll definitely vote for him."

Academician Wang Zengguang smiled and said, "I guess there's still some kindness left in your heart then."

Academician Li wasn't happy with that remark. "What are you talking about, I always had kindness in my heart. But speaking of which, it's fine for me to vote for him since I'm in the mathematical physics department. You're in the engineering department, are you really going to vote for him?"

Academy of Engineering frowned and said, "Why does Lu Zhou have to be a mathematical physics academician? Can't he just join the Academy of Engineering?"

"Old man, you're being unreasonable." Li Jiangang smiled and said, "He's a Nobel Prize laureate and Fields Medal winner, why the hell would he be in the Academy of Engineering!"

"Oh, you're looking down on the Academy of Engineering? The controllable fusion project is way more impressive than the Fields Medal or the Nobel Prize!"

"They're not the same thing! You can't compare them like that."

Their argument seemed to have ended up in a strange place.

The two men nearly started a fight over whether Lu Zhou should join the Academy of Engineering or the Academy of Sciences.

On the other hand, Zhou Chengfu was sitting at the front of the Great Hall of the People. He looked at the medal on his chest and felt a little uncomfortable.

Even though he was one of the heroes for controllable fusion research, he always felt like an outsider. He didn't feel any joy from this honor. Instead, he felt he should be disdained.

It felt like he wasn't worthy of the thing hanging in front of his chest.

Academician Pan was sitting next to him. He smiled as he said, "What now? The president gave it to you himself. Do you want to take it off?"

Zhou Chengfu didn't say anything. He had a complicated expression on his face.

However, Pan Changhong knew his friend too well.

Pan Changhong sighed and looked at the stage.

"It doesn't matter what you did, it's been fifty years. You did the hard work and this honor should belong to you. No one makes perfect choices, you were just loyal to your research.

"Also, I'm not the only one who thinks like this. Even Professor Lu nominated you."

Zhou Chengfu looked emotional…

In addition to the 26 585 medals and the 120 individual awards as well as five team awards, there was also a special medal.

This medal was about 8 cm in diameter, cast from 99.9% pure gold, weighed 527 grams, and was equipped with red and black ribbons that could be hung on one's chest. The main body of the medal consisted of five stars, olive branches, and light rays.

Its name was "Ling Yun1".

It was a design that never came to life. No one had ever thought that the crazy idea of a stellarator would one day come to life in the hands of a new generation of scholars. That one day, it would produce the energy of stars.

Lu Zhou couldn't fully comprehend the significance of this medal.

After all, he wasn't from the '70s, and he didn't devote his life toward controllable fusion.

However, when his fingers rubbed against this medal and he felt the delicate textures, he could somewhat feel the historical significance that was contained in this medal…

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Chapter 574: You Decide

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The commendation conference finally came to an end. This celebration finally fulfilled the wish of all the scientific researchers who had shed their youth and blood for this project.

Compared to other people, in addition to the Ling Yun medal, Lu Zhou also received an hour of private meeting time.

The state needed to listen to his opinion on the future of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project.

After Lu Zhou heard the president's question, he thought for a bit before saying, "The STAR-2 demonstration reactor base has completed its mission. There's no point to continue running research at the base. My suggestion is to select some of the technical and core management staff and form a new institution. This new institution can be incorporated into an existing institution, to be responsible for the operation of the fusion reactor."

The STAR-2 demonstration reactor project was a huge scientific research project. In order to coordinate the research resources among various research institutions, it was necessary to have a large management organization.

However, now that the entire demonstration reactor project had been completed, there wasn't a need for scientific research resources, nor was there a need to coordinate various departments. Most of the management organization staff were redundant.

The president nodded.

"The people from the China National Nuclear Corporation also suggested this. Our conclusion from our meeting was that the demonstration reactor project team should be reorganized, and the important technical personnel and some management staff will form a new nuclear power company. This company will be called East Asia Energy. It will be responsible for the domestic fusion reactor project and the construction of supporting facilities for cross-regional electricity transmission projects in Southeast Asia and Central Asia."

East Asia Energy.

Seems like the state is quite ambitious.

Lu Zhou was surprised.

After all, only one fusion reactor had been built, and the southern and western China fusion reactors hadn't been established. However, the higher-ups were already talking about transmission projects to third-world countries.

However, doing this made sense.

Instead of being selfish and playing with the technology alone, it would be better to play with a group of neighboring countries. Increasing the market competitiveness of the East Asia region would increase China's influence on the market and the yuan value would rise…

However, these things had nothing to do with research, so Lu Zhou wasn't very interested.

The president said, "There is a demand for management staff at the domestic fusion reactor project. The newly established East Asia Energy isn't capable of handling it. The National Nuclear Cooperation said that some of the demonstration reactor management staff should return to their original jobs, and they can provide jobs if needed. But I feel like it's a pity to disband the demonstration reactor team. Do you think there's a more suitable arrangement?"

"It is quite a pity to disband like this…" Lu Zhou nodded in agreement as he spoke emotionally.

Not only did a huge scientific research project like that produce research talents, but it also cultivated countless management talents.

If these talents were broken up and sent back to their original research institutes, it would be a waste.

After all, the least sought after talents were management people. The management people were often only responsible to delegate work. This was why state-owned enterprises were so inefficient.

Also, these management staff had left their original work positions for so long, their vacant spots would have been filled a long time ago. They might not be able to get their old jobs back.

Lu Zhou thought for a bit. Suddenly, he had an idea.

An idea he thought of a long time ago suddenly emerged in his mind.

"Instead of letting these people return to their old positions, it would be better to let them stay, just in a different way."

The president asked, "A different way?"

"Yes." Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Can I explain what I mean?"

The president smiled and said, "Of course, I want to know your opinion."

Lu Zhou: "I did an exchange visit to Germany for a while. I think we have a lot to learn from their way of managing scientific research projects, especially their operation tactics for medium and long-term projects. Projects that affect society and industry."

The president asked, "Like what?"

Lu Zhou: "Like, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres POF funding model, like the Max Planck Institute's open network of RD institutions. In my opinion, these seem to help improve the conversion rate of research results from research resources. This conversion rate is exactly what we lack."

China's investment in scientific research definitely wasn't small. Even using OECD's purchasing power parity calculations, it was ranked second in the world, only behind the United States.

However, even with the huge capital investment, the scientific research results conversion rate of the Chinese research institutions was still unsatisfactory.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't happen.

After all, China was more inclined to throw money toward engineering projects rather than pure scientific projects.

The conversion rate of scientific research results was only one of the problems; there were many other problems.

If they wanted to maintain their advantage in fusion energy, they had to keep developing and researching.

The technological advantage was a dynamic process.

In addition to the controllable fusion energy, Lu Zhou hoped that the demonstration reactor project could leave behind something more than just the research results itself.

Just like how the Manhattan Project produced the atomic bomb, but it also produced the valuable Argonne, Brookhaven, and other national laboratories that were well versed in medium and long-term research projects.

Implementing this kind of research model would make Lu Zhou's life much easier.

"We don't have to totally implement the German's system, but we can learn from the good parts.

"For example, we can use the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres system as a reference and transform the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project organization into a window that connects enterprises and research institutions.

"Using the model of this research center, we can begin long-term research projects on fields like energy, aerospace, and information technology. We can also make sure the research funds land in the hands of 'useful projects'. At the same time, we can allow qualified foreign research units to participate."

After hearing Lu Zhou's suggestion, the old man thought for a long time.

"So, what you're saying is, use the rest of the management talents to build a Chinese Max Planck Society?"

The president's interpretation was right.

Lu Zhou already had this vision in his mind when he visited Germany.

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yes."

The president looked at Lu Zhou and smiled. "I guess you really learned a lot from your foreign experiences."

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and didn't say anything.

Academic knowledge isn't the only thing worth learning.

The president's finger tapped on the armrest. He thought for a bit before saying, "I think it makes sense. We can give it a shot."

After all, letting those talents return to their old work positions would be a waste.

Instead of just letting these talents be wasted, it would be better for them to play their part in this pilot project.

If this project succeeded, then it obviously would be great.

If it did not, then whatever.

Not to mention, due to the success of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, he trusted Lu Zhou's ability to handle this project.

After that, the old man stood up.

"Just like you said, establish… the Eastern Research Centers Association! With focuses on longer-term projects in the fields of aerospace, energy, and information technology.

"As for the specifics…

"You decide."

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Chapter 575: Retire After Success

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou just felt that it would be a waste to disband the STAR-2 demonstration reactor team. Therefore, he proposed to retain those talented people that had experience managing a large scientific research project. He would use the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres model to open a system that connected companies and research institutes.

However, he didn't expect that the government officials would let him manage this project himself.

Furthermore, the 2.7 billion yuan leftover research funding for the demonstration reactor was also left behind as a "start-up fund".

Normally speaking, leftover scientific research funding should be returned to the investor.

With this money, Lu Zhou wouldn't have to worry about financial matters, such as employees' salaries, where the new RD center, and other costs.

Two days after the commendation conference.

The people over at the Ministry of Science and Technology contacted Lu Zhou.

A man in his thirties wearing glasses personally came to visit him. The man looked like he was rather elegant and easy-going.

Lu Zhou learned that his name was Feng Shuqing, and he graduated from the Department of Life Science at Shuimu University. However, after he received his master's degree, he didn't look for work in his professional field. Rather, he took the national examination and entered the strategic planning department at the Ministry of Science and Technology.

He was quite a high-ranking official within the department.

According to the department, Secretary Feng was mainly responsible for two things. One was to complete the restructuring of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project team by coordinating with the necessary departments. The other was to serve as the secretary for the soon-to-be newly formed Eastern Research Centers Association.

"The higher-ups greatly value your opinion, and they told us to cooperate with you. Our department leadership team had a meeting and decided to send me here to help you." When Feng Shuqing noticed Lu Zhou's look of surprise, he smiled and asked, "Is there a problem, Director Lu?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "No problem, I just think that you look very young."

Feng Shuqing smiled gently and said, "Maybe the higher-ups think that we are similar in age, so there's less of an age-gap in terms of communication."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Thank you so much for helping me manage this restructuring. I might be a bit busy, so I might not be able to help much."

Feng Shuqing said, "Don't worry about it. The whole reason I'm here is to help you!"

Lu Zhou: "Okay, thanks… Oh yeah, one more thing."

Feng Shuqing: "What?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Just call me Professor Lu, I'm more used to it."

Feng Shuqing paused for a second and smiled. He then said, "Since Professor Lu is insisting, then from now on, I shall call you that."

…

After the Chinese New Year holiday ended, Lu Zhou's parents made sure that Lu Zhou's health was in good condition. After they repeatedly told him to take care of his body, they went back to Jiangling, while his sister went back to Jinling and began to apply to universities abroad.

As for Lu Zhou, because there were some matters he had to attend to in Beijing, he decided to stay here for a couple more days.

After he got out of the 301 Hospital, he had been staying in a luxury hotel near Yuanmingyuan Park. Even though he didn't have a house in Beijing, every time he came here, he didn't have to worry about finding a place to stay.

Three days after the commendation conference, Feng Shuqing went to Haizhou and began to work on restructuring the STAR-2 demonstration reactor team.

Lu Zhou's business in Beijing was almost finished, so he bought a train ticket to Jinling.

He was feeling a bit guilty. He had been a Jin Ling University professor for more than a year now, but he hadn't even interacted with the students at Jin Ling University yet. Now that the controllable fusion project was finally finished, he could finally spend some time on the things that interest him.

Dusk time, near the hotel man-made lake…

Chen Yushan was walking next to Lu Zhou when she asked, "Is your health better?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I'm already out of the hospital, what do you think?"

Chen Yushan sighed and said, "I know you like to stay in the laboratory, but don't overwork yourself."

Lu Zhou said, "Don't worry about it. Now that the controllable fusion project is done, I won't have to be that busy. Well, not for a while at least."

Chen Yushan: "What do you plan on doing next?"

Lu Zhou thought and said, "Probably return to Jin Ling University and teach."

Chen Yushan said, "You're a chief designer now, do you still have time to teach at the university?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I was a chief designer. Now that the controllable fusion energy project is finished, the rest of the work can be handed over to the professionals. There's nothing else left for me to design per se."

Even though he was somewhat involved with the Eastern Research Centers Association, Lu Zhou didn't want to spend too much energy on anything outside of research. Right now, he was just paving the way for his future research work.

If it turned out that Feng Shuqing was competent, then Lu Zhou would just give him a general direction and let him handle the rest.

It was quite interesting actually.

Lu Zhou found out that the road he was walking on was oddly similar to someone from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

After the Manhattan Project ended, Oppenheimer also returned to Princeton as a dean and was no longer engaged in atomic bomb research. However, unlike Lu Zhou, Oppenheimer had been driven away from research due to his inner guilt that was caused by the war. On the other hand, Lu Zhou simply wasn't interested in a management role. Therefore, he chose to retire.

It took twenty years for Oppenheimer to receive political rehabilitation. Compared to him, Lu Zhou was receiving a much better treatment.

Whether it was being called the father of controllable fusion or the honor of the Ling Yun medal…

With these two honors on his shoulders, he could walk into any industry or field he wanted.

And that honor and prestige were something that money couldn't buy.

Chen Yushan gently kicked a stone on the road and sighed. She looked at the man-made mountain near the lake and felt a little depressed.

"That's so nice, you know what you want to do, and you know how to achieve your goals. Unlike me…"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Aren't you the same? A University of Pennsylvania offer is no easy feat."

Chen Yushan didn't seem to be comforted.

"Well, is it harder than a Princeton offer? Mr. 'Nearly became the dean of the Princeton math department'."

Lu Zhou nearly choked on his spit. "When did I nearly become the dean of the mathematics department? I don't remember anything like that."

Chen Yushan: "Who cares, if you want to become the dean, you can."

Lu Zhou: "Let's not talk about me. I'm curious, what's troubling you?"

"Oh… Actually, it's not a trouble, it's more of a self-entanglement dilemma kind of thing." Chen Yushan twirled her hair with her fingers and hesitated for a bit. She said, "My father wants me to work in the government, but I don't really like working here. I'm studying finance and an MBA, and I want to work at a multinational company with a hundred-billion market value. Wouldn't it be weird to just sit around in some government office?"

What?

What do you mean just sit around?

That's kind of diminishing what government officials do.

Chen Yushan smiled at Lu Zhou's expression and said, "Whatever, thank you, Mr. Big Scientist, for spending so much time to listen to my non-existent problems… Well, since you're in good condition, I'm gonna leave now."

As Lu Zhou watched her walking away, he suddenly remembered something and called her.

"Oh yeah… Wait."

Chen Yushan stopped walking and looked back at him. "What's up?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "Remember that question I asked you last year? If I recall correctly, you promised me something…"

Chen Yushan: "…"

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, "If you don't have anything better to do, why don't you come work for me?

"Even though it's not a hundred-billion dollar company, it's still a billion-dollar company."

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Chapter 576: Unexpected Cake?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Chen Yushan agreed to Lu Zhou's invitation without any hesitation.

After she received the offer from Star Sky Technology, she immediately went to Shanghai.

The China office branch of Star Sky Technology was registered there. As Lu Zhou's work would gradually be migrated to China, Star Sky Technology's business center would also shift from Philadelphia to Shanghai.

Lu Zhou trusted Chen Yushan's abilities.

Especially after he found out that she was the one who was initially responsible for the patent management of Star Sky Technology. Therefore, he confidently handed these matters to her.

After Lu Zhou returned to Jinling, he greeted Principal Xu and moved his belongings into his mathematics department office.

His number theory class was going to start in April.

Other than that, he also planned on taking over a few master's and PhD students in mathematics and computational materials. On the one hand, this was to reduce his research load, and on the other hand, he would use this opportunity to help his alma mater train some outstanding talents.

While Lu Zhou's work was gradually shifting to Jin Ling University, the restructuring of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor project team in Haizhou was also proceeding in an orderly manner.

What surprised Lu Zhou was that, it wasn't just about the Eastern Research Centers Association, but the East Asia Energy company was also heavily involved.

Feng Shuqing was reporting to Lu Zhou through the phone.

"… In order to accelerate the cross-regional power grid projects in Southeast Asia, the state wants to introduce private capital to participate in the construction of East Asia Energy, under the premise that it will still be state-owned. According to the higher-ups' instructions, we plan on going to the four major banks, the three major oil companies, and the top five electric companies in China to issue 20 billion yuan worth of shares. We'll also publicly issue around 20 billion yuan worth of shares to raise capital."

Lu Zhou was twirling a pen in his hand when he frowned and asked, "Is it normal to introduce private capital into a state-owned enterprise?"

Feng Shuqing smiled and said, "It's totally normal. The stock market is our long-term goal. In addition to reducing the suspicion of other countries, the introduction of private capital can also bring social vitality.

"Not to mention, these shares do not hold management rights. How the company operates, the expansion of the company, etc, these things are still managed by the management department of the company."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Okay then, I understand."

Feng Shuqing: "Oh yeah, I had to notify you of this matter, but I hope you can keep it a secret for the time being."

Lu Zhou: "Are you guys not releasing the shares to the public?"

Feng Shuqing coughed and said, "We are… But we can't just let everyone buy them. If the news goes out now, it'll just increase our workload."

Everyone wanted to jump on the money-making train.

As soon as the news spread, this few dozen billion worth of market cap would be instantly bought out.

Even though Lu Zhou didn't ask about the specific progress of the restructuring, this still caught his attention.

After all, this was the controllable nuclear fusion.

The only company that could achieve fusion energy, at least for another ten years, was East Asia energy. What could be better than a complete monopoly?

Due to China's huge energy demands and the low costs of controllable fusion, it would be impossible to lose money on this investment.

Coincidentally, Lu Zhou didn't know where he should spend his money, so he'd rather just spend it on the construction of the national nuclear power industry.

After Lu Zhou hung up the call, he leaned back in his chair and thought for a bit. He then called Chen Yushan.

After the phone connected, he immediately asked.

"How much money do I have right now?"

Chen Yushan, who was in the Shanghai office, nearly choked, and she said, "You don't even know how much money you have?"

People like this actually exist?

What a show-off.

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "I haven't been managing the company recently, I was too busy last year… Aren't you in Shanghai? Please just look it up for me."

Chen Yushan looked at the piles of documents on her desk and sighed. She suddenly had a headache, but she still replied, "Okay, I'll send you a financial report."

Lu Zhou: "Okay, thank you."

He didn't have to wait for long.

On the morning of the next day, Chen Yushan sent the financial report into Lu Zhou's mailbox.

Lu Zhou opened the email and looked at the attachment.

He was astonished.

Last year, Star Sky Technology's intellectual property business made a net profit of US$470 million last year! An annual increase of 37.6%!

If this were listed on the Nasdaq, it would have a market cap of more than US$40 billion.

Lu Zhou looked at this financial report and felt emotional.

Adding to the profits from the previous years, there was US$1.2 billion in the company accounts.

Without knowing it, he became a billionaire.

This was a different type of feeling.

Of course, intellectual property was basically the only thing that Star Sky Technology was involved in.

Other than that, there was the cooperation with Baosheng Group, the China National Nuclear Corporation, SG-1 superconducting magnets, and the liquid lithium neutron recovery system. However, those profits were tiny, and they were a few orders of magnitude lower than the rest. They could basically be ignored.

Lu Zhou read the financial report from start to finish and thought for a bit. He then picked up the phone and called Chen Yushan.

The phone rang two times and connected.

Chen Yushan immediately asked, "Did you read the financial report?"

Lu Zhou: "Yeah, I did. Also, there's one more thing I need you to do."

Chen Yushan: "Well, what? Tell me."

Lu Zhou: "The STAR-2 project team is going through restructuring, and the talented management and technical personnel will be incorporated into East Asia Energy. The newly established East Asia Energy will be responsible for domestic and international controllable fusion inter-regional grid interconnection…"

Lu Zhou made a brief explanation of the East Asia Energy situation. He paused for a second and said, "It would be a pity if we missed out on this opportunity."

The shares of private companies could not be circulated in the stock market, but there was a high probability that East Asia Energy would eventually go public.

If that happened, the stock price would certainly jump up.

And when the time arrived, even the dividends would be worth a lot of money.

Even though Lu Zhou wasn't lacking in the financial department, there was no such thing as too much money.

Not to mention, he had so many expensive projects going on, he might not even have enough.

Chen Yushan: "How much do you plan on buying?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit.

"Just buy a billion yuan first."

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Chapter 577: Scientific Research Assistant

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After Lu Zhou handed over the equity acquisition to Chen Yushan, he didn't ask any more questions. He put his focus back onto his computer screen.

Even though Feng Shuqing was responsible for the restructuring of the STAR-2 project team, as the chief designer of the fusion reactor, his opinion was still very important.

Especially regarding his plans for the Eastern Research Centers Association.

The higher-ups suggested that the newly established research and development centers would focus on aerospace, energy, and information technology.

Lu Zhou planned to find one or two areas in these fields to focus on.

For example, for aerospace, he planned on developing a plasma thruster.

The reason for doing this wasn't totally because the use of Debris No.3 was still unknown. The main reason was that some of the controllable fusion technology could be applied to the research of plasma thrusters.

This was just like how the Apollo moon landing project indirectly promoted the development of gas-steam turbine combined cycle technology(GTCC). Plasma propulsion technology was inseparable from controllable fusion.

As for the energy side, Lu Zhou planned to continue to deepen his research on controllable fusion and develop the second generation of controllable fusion energy—fusion ignition with helium-3 and deuterium as fuel.

Even though this type of technology was difficult to achieve in the short term, it was always worthwhile to invest in the long-term.

As for information technology, this was slightly out of Lu Zhou's research area.

Even though he had read textbooks in this area due to the system's missions, but he was far from being a professional.

However, after some deep thinking, Lu Zhou finally made a decision. He chose carbon-based chips and quantum computers as the main areas of research focus.

The Eastern Research Centers Association was focused on medium and long term projects. As an academic leader, Lu Zhou didn't have to worry too much about achieving short term technology results.

Scientific research was unlike planting trees, investment did not necessarily mean success.

It was fine as long as the technical pathway was theoretically achievable in the long term.

Lu Zhou was halfway through writing the proposal plan when he looked at the long list of names on his screen and leaned against his chair.

"Is it ten o'clock already?"

The day had gone by without him knowing it.

Since he had to go to university tomorrow, he decided not to stay up late. He went to take a hot bath and then lay down on his bed.

Xiao Ai's drone picked up his phone from his study room and brought it inside the bedroom.

Lu Zhou lay in his bed while scrolling through Weibo. He pressed "like" on a couple of comments that called him handsome. He then yawned and gradually began to fall asleep…

…

The next morning.

Lu Zhou woke up early and did his bathroom routine. After that, he put on a trench coat and went out.

When he was walking out of the house, the black car with the national flag was already waiting in front of his mansion.

Lu Zhou sat shotgun and looked around the car. He then said, "I plan on changing the car."

Wang Peng: "Do you plan on buying a BMW or a Mercedes? I can drive anything."

Lu Zhou: "I haven't decided yet, maybe an electric one?"

The path from Purple Mountain to Jin University wasn't very far.

The two were chatting when they arrived at Jin Ling University International Conference Center.

The car drove inside the campus and stopped in front of the cafeteria. Lu Zhou took off his seatbelt and asked, "Have you eaten breakfast?"

"I ate before picking you up."

"Okay then, I won't spot you any food."

After that, Lu Zhou got off the car and closed the car door.

After he went to the cafeteria to buy some breakfast, he took the dumplings and soy milk into the mathematics building and went straight to his office.

He walked to the front of his office door and was about to take out his keys. However, he faintly heard someone talking inside the office.

Lu Zhou hesitated for a bit before knocking on the door.

He heard the sound of footsteps from behind the door.

After that, the office door was opened. A girl with bangs and round-rimmed glasses looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Oh, Professor, why are you here so early?"

Lu Zhou was more surprised than her, and he asked, "Who are you?"

The girl forcefully smiled and said, "I'm Zhao Huan, your assistant."

Assistant?

Lu Zhou had a weird expression on his face. When he looked inside the office, he saw two other desks.

He saw a girl in her twenties sitting behind one of the office desks. She was looking at him with a curious glance.

"What about them?"

Zhao Huan replied awkwardly, "They are…"

Lu Zhou: "…"

After some explanation, Lu Zhou finally had a general understanding of the three girls.

The one with bangs was called Zhao Huan, and she was mainly responsible for managing classes, conferences, and academic visits. The other more mature girl was called Kong Jie, and she was responsible for copywriting, PPT, and other miscellaneous stuff. As for the other person, she was mainly responsible for answering phone calls and running errands…

Why do I feel like she looks familiar?

Lin Yuxiang waved her hand and said, "Hello~".

Lu Zhou: "…"

Lin Yuxiang: "Don't be so quiet, we used to fight on the academic line side by side."

All you did was bring me food, why are you so confident?

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "Why are you here?"

"I'm about to graduate next year, and I plan on becoming a civil servant, so I applied to be an assistant in the school." Lin Yuxiang smirked and said, "I didn't expect the school to put me in your office, this must be fate."

Lu Zhou: "…"

I guess this chick hasn't changed one bit.

Lu Zhou looked around the office and said, "Since the school already arranged tasks for you guys, I won't repeat anything. Just make sure you do your work at hand and tell me if any special circumstances arise… Also, where are the application resumes of the graduate students? The academic affairs office said that they already sent it to you guys."

Zhao Huan immediately ran to her desk to pick up the resumes. She then handed the resumes to Lu Zhou.

"I already sorted them for you."

Lu Zhou nodded and flipped through the resumes.

"Ok, not bad."

After that, he didn't say anything else. He sat behind his office desk and began to flip through the resumes.

…

Since Lu Zhou's work was so busy, he understood why the school arranged three assistants for him. The only thing he didn't understand was why were they all women?

He didn't doubt the efficiency of these ladies. It was just that the job of a scientific research assistant wasn't a particularly good job.

It was considered a buffer position and one of the least attractive jobs in universities.

Compared to the post-doctoral positions that had more scientific research involvement, research assistants were mainly responsible for physical work. They received low wages and had a bleak future. The only way out was to transfer into administrative work. If they couldn't do that, then they would have to leave their jobs after a couple of years.

Honestly, Lu Zhou wasn't optimistic about these three ladies. He didn't think they had the tenacity required.

But regardless, this was already pre-arranged.

Even though he wasn't satisfied, he would have to at least wait for a while and see how they do.

Lu Zhou spent the entire morning flipping through the resumes that Zhao Huan had sorted for him. He chose a few candidates to interview in-person.

This time, Lu Zhou planned to recruit quite a large number of students.

Not just in the mathematics area, but also in the computational materials area as well as the theoretical physics area.

The reason was because of the reward mission he accepted a couple of days ago…

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Chapter 578: Isn't It Already One?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

The previous mission chain gave two mission cards; one was another mission chain, while the other one was a reward mission.

Lu Zhou thought about the time frame of the mission chain and how he could only accept one mission at a time. In the end, he decided to choose the reward mission first.

[

Reward mission: Able to give up at any time without consuming general points.

Description: The prosperity of a generation cannot be done by one alone. Stop focusing only on experiments, take on more students!

Requirements: 1. Select two courses, with a minimum of 12 contact hours each course. The final reward depends on the quality of the course. (S grade = 100,000 experience points, one lucky draw ticket).

Help instruct students to produce 5 or more theses. Rewards are calculated by the cumulative value of the impact factors. (1 impact factor = 1,000 experience points, 10 general points).

Reward: 0~??? experience points, 0~??? general points. 1-2 lucky draw tickets.

]

All in all, this mission was relatively simple.

He just had to lecture classes and take on a few students. It should take him one semester to do it. Especially for the theses part… It might not be easy for the average person to do this, but for him, guiding a few students to write a few theses was a piece of cake.

The rewards calculation metric wasn't based on the academic value of the theses. It was based on the impact factor of the journal. His students didn't have to tackle world-class mathematics problems. All that mattered was that his students' theses were accepted by a high impact factor journal.

Not to mention, he could utilize the computational materials science field.

As one of the pioneers of this field, he could go to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and find a few research projects for his students to work on. He could then sign the theses as a communication author, and the probability of these theses being accepted would be very high.

As for the mission rewards, it was decent.

If he was lucky, he could get two S-grade, which would result in two lucky draw tickets. If he was lucky again, he might be able to get a scanner gun?

That was probably what Lu Zhou wanted the most.

It would be quite difficult to reverse engineer the Debris No.3 with the current technology. After all, Lu Zhou had no idea what the technology behind the engine was. He wasn't even sure if it was an engine or not.

Of course, Lu Zhou had only ever gotten the scanner gun once in his life, so the probability of getting another one was very low.

Lu Zhou couldn't help but complain in his mind.

Maybe it's because I'm not a "beginner" anymore, that's why I don't even get to see the lucky draw probabilities…

Lu Zhou prepared the interview list and gave it to Lin Yuxiang, who was in charge of contacting the students. After that, he refused her invitation to eat at a restaurant and went to the cafeteria for lunch instead.

After Lu Zhou returned to the office, he began to think about his plans for the afternoon. However, Zhao Huan suddenly ran into the office.

She panted and lowered her head.

"Um… Professor, you have a number theory class in the afternoon."

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows and looked confused.

"Number theory class? I thought my class starts on week ten?"

Zhao Huan looked guilty as she said, "Sorry, I'm really sorry! Your computational materials class starts on week ten, but the number theory class starts this week…"

Starts this week?

Even though Lu Zhou was a little surprised, he didn't put any blame on her.

After all, she was new to this job and was inexperienced. It was fine as long as she didn't make the same mistake again.

"Keep your head high, it's just one class, not a big deal. Just watch out next time."

Even though Lu Zhou didn't really mind, Zhao Huan still felt apologetic.

"How about I contact the academic affairs office and change your class schedule?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "No need, I'll do it in the afternoon."

Zhao Huan was worried, and she said, "But… you haven't done any preparation, right?"

Lu Zhou pulled out his desk drawer and smiled.

"That's not a problem, all I need is a textbook."

…

Teaching building.

Inside the second-floor classroom at the end of the corridor.

Even though the class would not start for another half an hour, the lecture hall was already filled with people. Some students even sat on the aisle of the corridor.

The class was about to begin, and the students in the classroom were excited.

"Do you think God Lu will really teach us himself?"

"I don't know, that's what it says on the curriculum."

"It won't be a teaching assistant, right?"

"That might be possible! If I were a chief designer, I wouldn't have time for undergraduate classes! I won't even bother working on a project worth less than a billion."

"Keep dreaming, you!"

A tall and thin boy stood up in the middle of the classroom and looked around. He then sat back down.

"Jesus Christ, this is a full-sized lecture hall, how many people are in this number theory class?"

His roommate, who was sitting next to him and wore glasses, sighed and said, "This is Chief Designer Lu, Fields Medal and Nobel Prize winner. Forget about the master's students at our school, even the genius students from Jinshi University came here."

The students had to take the subway just to get here.

The tall guy said, "Why is Jinshi University here? Do they even have a mathematics department?"

"Who knows? But I think they should have one…"

Soon, the class bell rang.

As soon as the bell had finished ringing, Lu Zhou, who was wearing a gray trench coat, walked into the classroom while carrying a textbook.

His young and handsome face gave the students a different feeling from the other professors. When he stood on the podium, the commotion in the classroom became even noisier and more excited.

When a girl sitting in the front row began to take photos, Lu Zhou paused for a second and smiled.

"Student, the class hasn't begun yet, there's no need to take photos."

The girl taking the photos blushed and put her phone away.

Lu Zhou looked around at the crowded classroom and was surprised that there were so many people attending. He cleared his throat and said, "Everyone quiet down, let's start."

The moment he finished speaking, the classroom became quiet.

Lu Zhou could feel from everyone's gaze that they were looking forward to his lecture.

In order to live up to their expectations, he didn't make the students wait any longer.

Lu Zhou opened the first page of the textbook and cleared his throat.

"Number theory is an ancient field of study, its origin can be traced back to BC…

"You guys might ask what's the point of studying these outdated things, and I can tell you now that there is no meaning.

"Whether it's the twin prime conjecture, Goldbach's conjecture, or the '11' problem, it's all just a matter of solving the permutation of prime numbers. However, through repeated scrutiny of these interesting yet meaningless propositions, we can often receive unexpected treasures from it. What treasures, you might ask. Treasures like a new mathematical tool or even a new area of mathematics…

"Turn your books to the introduction section, I will try to control the pace and start from the beginning. There's no PowerPoint presentation, so you'll have to write notes… I hope you guys can keep up."

Lu Zhou turned around, facing the blackboard. He picked up a piece of chalk and began to write on the board.

The textbook he used was written by Professor Feng Keqin of Shuimu University. He was a close disciple of Hua Luogeng and one could say he personally witnessed the rise and fall of China's number theory field.

When Lu Zhou first won the Crafoord Prize for his Goldbach's conjecture proof, he received an invitation from his alma mater. It was to do a report regarding his Goldbach's conjecture proof and the Group Structure Method. All of the big names in the number theory field were present at this report.

After the report ended, Feng Keqin asked for Lu Zhou's opinion on incorporating the Group Structure Method into the textbook—Introduction To Number Theory.

After more than two years of repeated edits, this textbook was finally released last year.

Lu Zhou flipped through this book at the Jin Ling University library before and felt that the contents of this book were pretty good. It was suitable for a beginner to get their feet wet, but it also dove deep into some core number theory problems.

Even though Lu Zhou didn't think any of these students could solve some kind of world-class conjecture, but he believed that as long as he passed on some of his ideas to them, it would greatly benefit their future academic careers.

Professor Tang Zhiwei sat at the back of the classroom as he looked at Lu Zhou and muttered emotionally, "Time really flies."

Dean Lu Fangping, who was sitting next to him, smiled and said, "Yeah, you'll be seventy next year, when are you going to retire?"

Professor Tang: "I'll teach for a few more years, I'm not in a hurry."

Dean Lu said, "A few more years? If I had a disciple like Lu Zhou, I would have retired a long time ago."

Old Tang shook his head and said, "I didn't teach him anything. This kid was very assertive during his second year. My plans for him never caught up with his progress. Over the past few years, I have been thinking about how he was able to do it. But the only conclusion I had was that he was a genius who was more diligent than your average geniuses… Maybe, there's a higher-being teaching him."

Lu Fangping looked at the crowded classroom and the students taking notes in the aisle, and he asked, "Do you think that Jin Ling University will one day become the mathematics center of China?"

Old Tang smiled and looked at the young man standing on the podium.

"Isn't it already one?"

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Chapter 579: The Perks Of Being Handsome?

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After talking for around 80 minutes, Lu Zhou took two steps back and looked at the blackboard. He saw that there was no more space for him to write. Therefore, he looked back at the students in the classroom and put down the chalk in his hand.

"We'll end the class here."

When the students in the classroom saw Professor Lu put down the chalk, they finally sighed in relief.

Even though most professors lectured at the speed of rockets, they were nowhere as bad as Professor Lu, who went through seventy pages in just one lecture.

If this continued, this textbook would be finished in just a few lectures.

But they had to admit that…

Professor Lu's lecture ability was pretty good.

Actually, it wasn't pretty good, it was extremely good.

Most professors weren't interested in teaching undergraduate students, and their teaching abilities were almost inversely proportional to their academic research abilities.

However, Professor Lu gave them a different kind of feeling.

Even though they couldn't fully understand the ideas he used when solving problems, when he was explaining some of the more esoteric topics, they were learning things that couldn't be taught from textbooks.

Like mathematical methods.

And experience.

Those genius students sitting in the classroom were well aware that these things were more important!

A tall skinny guy who was sitting in the middle of the classroom looked at his notes and sighed. "If God Lu taught us real analysis last semester, it wouldn't have been so miserable."

For undergraduate students, number theory required a strong mathematical and logical background, and it was considered a difficult subject.

Especially for advanced algebraic number theory and analytic number theory fields, even PhD-level mathematicians wouldn't be able to understand some of the more profound problems.

The things they were learning were relatively basic, but there were many esoteric materials.

Surprisingly, after Professor Lu explained the difficult topics, they didn't seem so difficult anymore.

His roommate, who was wearing glasses, said, "After all, he was a Princeton professor, earning hundreds of thousands of USD per year. Why do you think so many people are coming to this class?"

The tall, skinny guy said, "Oh? Isn't it because he won the Fields Medal and Nobel Prize?"

"Fine, that too."

While the two were chatting, Lu Zhou began to speak.

"There's still a little time left. If there are any questions regarding the material I just went through, feel free to ask me.

"Of course, I will also answer questions outside of the teaching material. But I will not answer any personal questions."

There was a commotion in the classroom as the students began to whisper to each other.

This group of students, who didn't know mathematics at all, who only came because of God Lu, suddenly woke up and paid attention.

After a while, a genius student who was wearing black-rimmed glasses raised his hand and asked, "Professor, can you tell us how you solved the Goldbach's conjecture?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Of course I can, but not now. With your foundation now, I'm afraid you won't be able to get through the first page of the thesis. I suggest you guys set your foundation first before trying to understand the problem… Of course, if you guys are really interested, I can put this problem at the end of the course material."

The student sat down. Soon, a chubby guy in a puffer jacket raised his hand and asked curiously, "Professor, how did you move from mathematics research into controllable fusion?"

Controllable nuclear fusion?

This is a difficult question to answer.

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "My research isn't limited to pure mathematics. In my opinion, mathematics is a powerful theoretical tool, whether it's physics or chemistry or any other fields, it can help us find answers through effective calculations.

"The research on the Navier–Stokes equations gave me a chance to research plasma turbulence. Of course, I started this problem three years ago. I was in Berlin at that time, and the German Chemical Society invited me to accept the Hoffman Prize. I met Professor Klitzing there, and he invited me to the Wendelstein 7-X laboratory…"

"As for the specifics, I'm sure you guys aren't interested." Lu Zhou smirked and jokingly said, "Also, it's not good for you guys to know too much, I like to stay mysterious."

The classroom chuckled.

Coincidentally, the class was over.

While the bell was ringing, Lu Zhou picked up the book in his hand and quickly left the classroom before the students were able to surround him.

He was walking in the hallway and happened to bump into Principal Xu.

Principal Xu noticed Lu Zhou holding the textbook and smiled.

"How is it? How does teaching feel?"

"It feels alright." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "My biggest takeaway is that our students are much more enthusiastic than Princeton students."

When he was teaching in Princeton, even though those students also preferred young and knowledgeable professors, they were nowhere near as enthusiastic.

After all, there were too many geniuses and big names in Princeton. Anyone standing on the podium was a potential Nobel Prize or Fields Medal winner.

Also, compared to those experienced professors, there were many lecturing techniques Lu Zhou had to learn.

Of course, that was compared to Princeton's standards.

If it was Jin Ling University's standards, there wasn't a better mathematics lecturer than Lu Zhou…

Principal Xu smiled and said, "It seems like our students quite like you. My classrooms have never been so full."

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly.

Maybe…

This is the perks of being handsome?

Principal Xu paused for a second and said, "If you have any problems or suggestions regarding your lectures, tell me. The school will try our best to find a solution."

Lu Zhou: "I'm pretty happy, I don't have any problems… it's just that…"

Principal Xu: "Just what?"

"No, nothing."

Lu Zhou originally wanted to talk about how all of his assistants were females, but he suddenly changed his mind and felt like this wasn't appropriate.

Should I ask the school to give me male assistants?

Emm…

I feel like that will cause a misunderstanding.

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Chapter 580: Laboratory Three Stories Underground

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Since Lu Zhou's office was full of estrogen, he didn't really want to go there.

He called Zhao Huan and told her to arrange the interviews for the master's students. He then went to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

The Debris No.3 had been in the system space for a while now.

Every night before bed, he would go into the system space and look at it for a while. Unfortunately, he could only see the projection inside the system space, he couldn't see the internal structure at all.

Lu Zhou was eager to find out what this thing was, and he couldn't wait any longer.

He came to the main Institute for Advanced Study building and took the elevator to the sample warehouse, which was the second floor underground.

He walked to the end of the sample warehouse corridor and stood in front of a thick metal alloy door. He entered the password on the electronic lock and looked at the camera, passing retinal recognition.

The metal door slowly opened and gave him a passage to the second floor underground.

Ever since Lu Zhou received Debris No.1 from the system, he had taken into consideration what would happen if he received a larger piece of debris that was more difficult to handle.

Therefore, when he was constructing the Institute for Advanced Study, he specifically told the contractor to design a hidden private laboratory.

Of course, on paper, this was part of the sample warehouse. It was just located in a more secure place.

The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study conducted research in many sensitive areas, like the SG-1 superconducting magnets.

It wasn't abnormal to have secure sample warehouses like this.

Even if an intruder broke in, all of the cameras and security systems were linked up to Xiao Ai.

In the case of an intruder, Xiao Ai could cut off the elevator system and closed the metal doors. This would completely trap the intruder on the second floor.

If it was necessary, Lu Zhou could even turn off the air ventilation system on the second floor.

Of course, Lu Zhou felt like it probably wouldn't be necessary to do that.

After all, with Xiao Ai guarding the place, it would be impossible to enter the second floor underground without permission.

Lu Zhou walked through the third floor underground door.

When he was walking through the corridor outside the secret laboratory, two drones that were quietly laying at the door lit up with a green light and flew behind Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou stood in the middle of the spacious laboratory and took a deep breath. He entered into the system space and selected the Debris No.3.

Within a few seconds, Lu Zhou exited the system space and opened his eyes.

He saw that there was a black outline of the debris in front of him. It was filled with unknown material and the debris shell began to glow under the light…

No matter how many times he experienced the system project items turning into reality, he couldn't help but feel astonished.

This was breaking the laws of physics. Lu Zhou had no idea how the system was able to do it.

Teleportation? Or some kind of two-dimensional material expanding on the three-dimensional plane? Or some other special physical forces…

Due to safety reasons, Lu Zhou used an instrument to detect its gamma value before approaching the device.

He made sure that there were no radioactive or abnormal electromagnetic signals. He then put on some white plastic gloves and took out a flashlight and some electric wire clippers from his toolbox. He then carefully walked toward the debris.

When he found the location of the fracture, he used a flashlight to look inside the debris.

This time, he was finally able to see the internal structure.

This was different than he had imagined. He originally thought that this high-tech device was almost sci-fi like. However, he didn't expect that it was just a bunch of fragmented components and a million torn wires.

He used a high-resolution camera to take a few internal structure photos. After that, he began to start researching. Well, dissecting the equipment.

He chose a piece of broken wire and used the clippers to gently squeeze it. The wire casing quickly turned into powder, revealing a silver thin wire.

"Electric wire? Or fiber?"

Lu Zhou used the clippers to cut a section of the wire and placed it into a sample box labeled "Sample A". He wrote down the location of the wire and was going to do an analysis on the wire later.

After that, Lu Zhou put the flashlight in his mouth and walked inside the engine through the fracture point.

Lu Zhou followed the strings of wires and soon found what he wanted.

Those intricate wires were connected to a black board.

He gently reached out and pulled on the silver wires. They were easy to pull off.

He reached out and picked up the board that was broken into two pieces and slowly climbed out of the engine.

He used the light from the laboratory to carefully inspect the board.

With a frown, he muttered, "Is it a circuit board?"

There was a layer of black paint on this board.

Lu Zhou didn't know if it was because of the damage or other reasons, but the layer of black paint faded away because of a gentle touch.

Lu Zhou looked at the black stains on his plastic gloves and frowned. He pinched his fingers together and rubbed.

He felt the smooth and delicate texture and paused for a second.

"Graphite?"

Lu Zhou suddenly had a moment of realization, and he looked excited.

Carbon!

It's carbon!

There is no reason why an engineer from a higher civilization would connect wires to a graphite board.

The graphite must be made from other carbon-based materials when the device was subjected to severe impact or high temperatures!

Following this line of logic, the unknown board in his hand had to be an "integrated circuit board" for carbon-based chips or at least something similar!

If this was all correct, then it was likely that some higher-civilizations had achieved carbon-based electric components!

The only downside was that the carbon-based electric components had all been turned into graphite…

"I guess carbon-based materials are good at keeping secrets…"

Lu Zhou placed this board into a larger sample box and sighed.

However, this wasn't a total dead-end.

He now knew that this technical pathway was feasible, and this was an important piece of information.

After that, the Eastern Research Centers Association and the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study would begin to research and develop this technology.

When Lu Zhou looked at the debris, a flame of curiosity was ignited in his heart.

As expected, he was correct.

This thing is a treasure box!

If only he had an assistant to help him…

Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.

"Xiao Ai."

"Yeah?"

The drone hovering behind him said.

Lu Zhou: "Do you want to have a body?"

"Body? I do! Master, Master, can I really? You're not lying to me?" Xiao Ai said excitedly while hovering in the air.

"Yes…"

Lu Zhou took off the white plastic gloves and thought about it seriously for a while. He then said, "It's a bit difficult to do that right now… But I will try my best."

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Chapter 581: This Isn't The Body I Wanted!

After Lu Zhou left the underground laboratory, he went straight to the Institute of Computational Materials building and found Yang Xu, as well as his team, inside the battery testing laboratory.

When he arrived, Yang Xu had just finished a set of experiments and was recording the results of his experiment.

Lu Zhou didn't interrupt Yang Xu's team. He waited for them to finish and then called Yang Xu aside. He then gave him the sample box.

"Help me do a component analysis."

"Okay." Yang Xu didn't ask any more questions. He looked at the thumb-sized box and said, "Is it urgent?"

Lu Zhou: "Not urgent, just give it to me within three days."

"Okay then." Yang Xu placed the sample into his lab coat and said, "Do you have any requirements?"

Lu Zhou said, "Infrared spectral characteristic peak detection, as well as transmission electron microscopy… These two for the time being."

Yang Xu: "No problem, I can get it to you the day after tomorrow at the latest."

"Okay, thank you." Lu Zhou nodded and looked at the battery detector next to him. He then asked, "Oh yeah, what are you guys doing?"

Yang Xu said with a smile, "We're trying to improve the cathode material of lithium-sulfur batteries. We replaced the pore agent and tried to adjust the pore size of the HCS-2 material. The limited data seems to indicate that the HCS-2 can be further improved. The rate at which the polysulfide compounds diffuse into the electrolyte in the negative electrode material can increase battery life… We're still trying to verify this."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Looks like a promising project… Oh yeah, let me ask you something, do you know anything about robots?"

Yang Xu looked at Lu Zhou with a strange look. He didn't know why Lu Zhou was asking this.

"Robots? Why are you asking about this?"

Lu Zhou: "I need it for some experiments. I plan on buying a few to research. It's fine if you don't know about them, I'll ask someone else."

"Robots… I really don't know much about robots." Yang Xu rubbed his chin and said, "But I have a friend that is in this field."

Lu Zhou: "From MIT?"

"Not from MIT. He's a friend that I made during my undergraduate years. He also majored in materials, but then he transferred to automation. He followed his mentor and went onto the robotic field. I remember during our class reunion, he tried to sell me the robots that his factory was producing. He laughed and said that the Institute for Advanced Study isn't some kind of factory and that we don't need that kind of thing."

Yang Xu smiled and added, "His factory is in Jinling. If you need to, I can introduce him to you?"

Lu Zhou: "Just give me a business card."

Yang Xu: "Okay then, I think I have one in my office. I'll go grab it."

…

Yang Xu's friend was called Zhao Zhongshu.

Even though it was very rude to make fun of other people's names, Lu Zhou nearly laughed out loud when he saw this business card1.

However, even though the name was a bit silly, this person was also nutty.

According to Yang Xu, this guy was originally a materials major, but then after his undergrad, he had a career change. He jumped from the materials field and followed his supervisor to go into the robotics field.

Before the 2010s, the robotics field wasn't particularly popular. His supervisor's factory was mainly responsible for importing types of equipment and selling them to logistics and assembly plants in China.

Back then, he was in the so-called "real economy". It didn't make him rich, but it did not make him poor. He just cruised along in the factories and got his paycheck.

However, in 2015, there was a drastic change.

At that time, in order to catch up with the China 2025 manufacturing plan, one of the national strategies was to invest in the manufacturing industry. And the industrial robotic field was an important part of this. The robotics industry received hundreds of billions in subsidy funds. Just like the photovoltaic industry, money and state subsidies were swarming in.

At that time, he was still doing a postdoc, and he saw a money-making opportunity.

After some consideration, he gave up on his wish to stay in academics and started a company with some of his friends.

And the result went far beyond his expectations.

With his years of accumulated experience, within five years, he was able to grow his small company to a decent size.

Honestly, even Zhao Zhongshu was surprised by his own achievements.

After all, he only started the company with a few people…

Jinling suburbs.

Inside a bright and spacious factory.

Various types of robotic arms were displayed on both sides of the walkway. The large arms were almost three-people high. The small ones were about the same length as a human arm. There were also some other obscure equipment and a wide variety of machining tools, which were attached to the robotic arms.

Looking at the letters on the side of the machines, it didn't look like these robots were produced in this factory. At the very least, half of them were imported.

As Factory Director Zhao led Lu Zhou inside the factory, Lu Zhou looked around the factory and asked, "What kinds of models do you guys sell here?"

Zhao Zhongshu smiled and said, "We sell a lot of models. There are small multi-joint robots, and vertical multi-joint robots, which were around 5kg. There are also large ones that have a capacity of 1.35 tonnes. There are some pieces of equipment that were imported in, like ABB and YuMi intelligent robots, as well as KUKA's iiwa. However, these machines are not in stock, you'd have to order in advance."

Lu Zhou: "Do you have any good recommendations?"

Zhao Zhongshu: "It depends on what you need the robot for."

Lu Zhou: "To do experiments."

"Experiments?" Zhao Zhongshu froze. He thought he had misheard, so he asked, "Using robots to do experiments?"

Lu Zhou: "Is it not possible?"

Zhao Zhongshu smiled and said, "It's possible… But it depends on what kinds of experiments. If you're working with precise instruments and delicate tasks, I'm afraid the accuracy will be a problem."

Lu Zhou: "Can I take photos?"

Zhao Zhongshu said with a hearty smile, "Take them, it's no big deal. I was still hoping that Professor Lu can help introduce us to some big clients."

Honestly, he didn't expect Lu Zhou to buy a lot of stuff. After all, no matter how nutty a robot was, they could only do the physical tasks that wouldn't require a lot of brainpower. There was no way a robot could replace even a noob researcher.

However, the industry was often connected and linked with the academic world. This was why he was so eager to help Lu Zhou; he wanted Lu Zhou's industry connections.

Lu Zhou took out his phone and took a few pictures of the factory. He then opened his phone and sent the photos to Xiao Ai.

He didn't know a lot about robots. Instead of him choosing them himself, he'd rather let Xiao Ai choose.

After sending the pictures, he generously sent a line of text as well.

[Which one do you like?]

After a while, a text body popped up.

Xiao Ai: [This isn't the body that I wanted. o(_)o]

Lu Zhou: "…"

You didn't tell me what kind of body you wanted!

I didn't expect this guy to be so picky.

Lu Zhou sighed and replied.

[This is all we have.]

Earth's technology is primitive, my apologies.

Xiao Ai: [I don't want to talk to you.jpg]

Lu Zhou: ? ? ?

Seeing how Lu Zhou was staring at his cellphone, Zhao Zhongshu asked, "If you can't make up your mind, I can suggest some stuff."

Lu Zhou's mouth twitched as he continued to look at his phone screen.

"No need, give me a second."

Even though Zhao Zhongshu was confused, he still nodded.

"Okay then."

Footnotes:

Ch $581 Footnote $1

Zhao Zhongshu sounds like planting a tree in Chinese

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Chapter 582: Seen Him Before, He's from the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

After an inducement and some persuasion, Lu Zhou was able to appease Xiao Ai and persuaded it to pick a few favorites from the existing pieces of equipment.

Lu Zhou felt that the smarter Xiao Ai was, the more annoying it would become.

However, a program was still a program. Lu Zhou's order couldn't be rejected.

He finally received a photo from Xiao Ai. He looked at the robotic arms in the factory and said, "The YuMi intelligent robots from ABB, as well as the 5kg, 160kg, and 1.35t six-axis robots, I'll get two robots for each model."

Eight robots weren't a lot. Even though it was imported, it cost less than two million.

Since Lu Zhou was recommended by a friend, Zhao Zhongshu didn't even take a deposit from him.

However, even though Zhao Zhongshu didn't ask for a deposit, Lu Zhou still gave one according to the terms of the contract.

"When will it arrive?"

"It will definitely be here this month."

"Okay then. Can you help install it?"

Zhao Zhongshu patted his chest and said, "Don't worry about it. Our technicians in the factory will definitely help you install them."

Lu Zhou nodded and put away the contract. He didn't spend any more time in the factory.

Since he still had some stuff to do back at the university, he refused Factory Director Zhao's invitation to lunch. He sat in Wang Peng's car and headed toward Jin Ling University.

…

This year's Chinese New Year was early. Therefore, the exams for the graduate students also came earlier.

Lu Zhou was invited by Dean Qin to be an interviewer for the graduate student interviews in the afternoon.

Lu Zhou had a bowl of barbecued meat with rice in the cafeteria. He then quickly went to the interview site.

When he arrived at the interview site, there was ten minutes left before the interviews.

Other than him, everyone else had arrived.

Dean Qin greeted him and smiled.

Lu Zhou sat down and began to drink some tea. He chatted with some of the other academicians and professors. Soon, it was two o'clock.

When the hour hand on the clock reached two o'clock, a male student, who was wearing a black puffer jacket and glasses, walked in. He had a receding hairline.

Because he looked slightly order, if he didn't introduce himself, Lu Zhou would have thought he was an interviewer.

Obviously, Lu Zhou wasn't the only one who thought this.

Professor Yang Chunhua, who was in his forties, looked at the resume and couldn't believe his eyes.

"Born in 94? Doesn't look like it."

This guy was shameless. He even smiled and said, "Maybe because I have pale skin, I look more on the young side."

Lu Zhou nearly choked on his tea.

Yang Chunhua: "No, I mean you look old."

Student: "???"

Lu Zhou put down the teacup and gently coughed. He said, "Old is good, it looks more academic."

Isn't that what they say?

The older you look, the more likely you're from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

When Lu Zhou saw that receding hairline, he had a feeling in his heart.

He didn't know why, but he felt like his words of comfort didn't seem to work. The student looked even more depressed…

Soon, the first interview was over. The experts exchanged some opinions and gave him a fairly good score.

After that, the second student came in.

He did a customary self-introduction.

Professor Yang Chunhua was the first to speak.

"Kid, do you have a girlfriend?"

The guy smiled and said, "Not yet. If I get into the master's program, I hope my professors can introduce one to me."

Lu Zhou: "Who cares about that, don't think about dating all the time if you're in academia."

Student: "…"

Dean Qin: "…"

Interviewer: "…"

After the interview finished, the experts exchanged their opinions.

Lu Zhou was about to give his own opinion when he suddenly received a text from Yang Xu.

[The test results are out!!!]

Lu Zhou didn't know why he used three exclamation marks in one sentence, but he felt that the results had to be amazing. So he replied.

[I'm heading over right now.]

He turned off his phone and looked at the other interviewers.

"I have some urgent matters to attend to, I have to leave for a while."

Dean Qin smiled and said, "No worries, go ahead."

Lu Zhou nodded and said thanks. He then got up and left the classroom.

Outside the classroom.

Two postdocs were leaning against the corridor window. They were responsible for keeping the interviewees in order.

When they saw Lu Zhou walk out of the office, they immediately began to talk about him.

"That's Lu Zhou, right?"

"Looks like it."

"Why is he an interviewer?"

"Don't know, maybe because he takes on more students and that he doesn't trust others to interview his students, so he came along himself."

"I heard that he recruited four students at Princeton?"

"I heard it was six. Apparently, there were two PhD students."

"Amazing… So many students, how does he manage it?"

The postdoc had a look of jealousy on his face.

Noob researchers like them could never experience the feeling of others working for them…

They only experienced the pain of working for others.

The postdoc standing next to him shook his head and said, "God knows how he's able to do it."

Compared to teaching undergraduate students, taking on master's student was a little more beneficial. After all, even complex problems needed a certain amount of repetitive work.

Compared with normal employees, no matter how hard the students worked, they would never complain about wages and work hours… There wasn't another place with such a high-quality workforce. Therefore, professors usually were very willing to take on students.

However, even though they were willing, normally one professor would only be able to take on one master's student every year. Some nutty professors would take on four, but that was uncommon.

Lu Zhou took on four from the mathematics department and two from the chemistry department; that was six in total. This was extremely rare.

While the two postdocs were being jealous, right after Lu Zhou had left, a girl with a ponytail and a red-and-black scarf walked over.

Han Mengqi waited outside for a bit. When she heard her name being called out, she took a deep breath and gently fixed her collar before stepping into the office.

Her resume was quite perfect. Not only did she have an internship at the Institute of Computational Materials, but because of her undergraduate research experience, she had even published in SCI and received a special scholarship.

For cases like this, as long as she completed the interview without any major problems, it was almost guaranteed that she would pass.

At the teacher's request, she made a simple self-introduction.

After that, a female professor in her forties asked, "What is your future life plan?"

Han Mengqi smiled politely and said, "I plan on going to MIT to do my PhD. After two years of postdoc, I want to stay in academia."

This was a standard answer, and almost every interviewee would answer this way.

However, the professors were bored with this standard answer.

Once the planned questions were asked, it was time for some informal questions.

Seeing that this girl was quite attractive, Professor Yang Chunhua asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Han Mengqi didn't know why the interviewer would suddenly ask this. She was muddled, but she still replied, "Not yet."

It wasn't that there weren't any guys after her; it was just that she wasn't interested in those boring guys.

The female professor in her forties asked, "Do you have a plan on getting a boyfriend?"

Han Mengqi: "Not at the moment."

Yang Chunhua: "Who did you write down as your supervisor?"

Han Mengqi said, "Professor Lu…"

The two female professors immediately began to whisper to each other.

Even though they spoke quietly, Han Mengqi was still able to hear their conversation.

"She wants to become Professor Lu's student as well."

"Yeah, this makes sense."

"No plans on getting a boyfriend, that fits Professor Lu's requirements."

"Then should we pass her?"

"Let's pass her."

Han Mengqi: "…"

Even though passing the interview was supposed to be a happy thing, she had a weird feeling in her stomach.

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Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Institute of Computational Materials.

Yang Xu brought Lu Zhou to the laboratory. He sat in front of the computer with the experiment data and spoke emotionally.

"This is incredible…"

Lu Zhou didn't ask what was exactly incredible. Instead, he asked, "What material is this thing?"

"Silver." Yang Xu took a deep breath and said, "More specifically, silver and graphene!"

"Silver and graphene?" Lu Zhou looked at Yang Xu in disbelief and said, "This thing is silver and graphene?"

He remembered reading similar theses before.

However, because he didn't do a lot of research on metal materials, he couldn't remember where he read the theses.

Honestly, when he heard that there were only these two materials, he was a little disappointed. Even though he knew that an advanced civilization probably wouldn't build a wire with expensive materials, he still didn't expect the materials to be so ordinary.

However, Yang Xu was speechless.

"What do you mean just these two materials, this is already very nutty."

He tapped on the keyboard as if to prove his point.

Soon, a transmission electron microscope image appeared on the screen.

On the image, the black and gray sections were interlaced, and there was a neat and delicate texture interwoven in the two-dimensional space of the plane. This completely revealed the secret of the nano-scale silver wire.

Yang Xu pointed at a few key areas of the image and didn't explain a lot. He just said, "Look at these areas and you'll understand."

Lu Zhou leaned toward the computer screen and looked at the direction of Yang Xu's finger.

He saw that in the 1-5 nm particle size range, there was a single layer of graphene that had bonded together with the silver atoms.

Lu Zhou's eyebrows furrowed.

Even though he didn't do a lot of research on metal materials, he could still see the abnormality in this.

This wasn't something they could consider manufacturing.

It was a problem of whether or not they could even find the technology to manufacture this material…

Producing graphene alloys based on metal materials required bonding between metal nanoparticles and graphene.

This could only be achieved with powder metallurgy technology. However, even powder metallurgy technology couldn't bond graphene and silver nanoparticles to such a perfect degree.

It was not an exaggeration to say that this thin silver wire was a piece of art.

Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't speak, Yang Xu continued to speak emotionally, "Powder metallurgy is relatively new and unpopular, and I don't know a lot about it. However, using the current 3D printing technology as an example, the best metal powder is around 10,000 mesh, which is around 13 micrometers in diameter. The powder used in ceramic materials might be finer, but it's still on the micrometer scale.

"Even though some laboratories are able to achieve ultra-fine 20 nm powder… This is almost impossible to store under normal conditions, let alone bonding with graphene."

Not only was it difficult to prepare, it was difficult to filter the powder and even more difficult to store.

The higher the mesh measurement, the smaller the particle size, the easier it was to oxidize. Also, it was more likely to agglomerate.

The only two possible ideas that might seem to work were either to disperse it in a special way while smelting or to mix it directly with graphene crumbs while producing the powder.

Yang Xu leaned against his chair and sighed.

"As you can see, the difficult part isn't the technology itself, but rather the production process. Countless papers on composite materials like Ag/GF, AG/GO, AGFe/rGO, etc have appeared due to the rapid development of the electronic industry.

"For example, the indium tin oxide used for making mobile phone screens has fragile properties, and many scholars have proposed combining silver nanowires with graphene to develop a new generation of flexible phone screens. According to the current limited experimental data, the mechanical properties of this material are quite excellent, and the electrical resistivity is much lower than that of metals… When I was a postdoc at MIT, there was a laboratory that specialized in this research."

Lu Zhou looked up from the computer screen and asked, "Then what happened?"

Yang Xu shrugged and said, "I'm not sure, but I guess the project couldn't continue. Indium tin oxide isn't cheap, and silver is even more expensive. Even if the technology is made, most people wouldn't be able to use it."

Lu Zhou had a strange look on his face.

If using silver in mobile screens is considered expensive, then what's the point of using silver in electric wires?

However, Lu Zhou remembered that if an advanced civilization could achieve space travel, space mining would probably be a piece of cake.

For a civilization that had this kind of technology, the price of silver might only be slightly more expensive than copper.

Yang Xu looked at the data on the computer screen. His eyes were filled with curiosity.

After hesitating for a bit, he couldn't help but ask, "Where did you get this thing?"

He had the same feeling as Lu Zhou.

In his opinion, this thumb-sized silver wire was a work of art!

It was no exaggeration to say that its existence alone could change the industry's perception of metallurgical technology.

However, Lu Zhou didn't answer his question. He just said, "It's a national secret, just help me reverse engineer it. It's better if you don't know its origin."

Lu Zhou didn't explain too much because there was no need.

Even before winning the Ling Yun medal, he didn't have to explain anything to anyone.

Even if he did need to explain something, he only needed to explain it to one person—the president.

And that would only happen in a special circumstance.

Which was if something seriously jeopardized national security.

Other than that, it was not an exaggeration to say that even those responsible for his security, responsible for keeping secrets, had no right of knowing the "secret" itself.

When Lu Zhou saw Yang Xu's look of surprise, he was secretly glad.

Thankfully, he only cut a small piece of the wire.

If Yang Xu knew that he had a pile of this kind of stuff, Yang Xu would start having doubts about his life.

"Okay then…"

Yang Xu shrugged and reluctantly accepted this explanation.

If it was actually confidential, then it would be better if he didn't know.

Yang Xu paused for a second before he continued, "But it's not easy to reverse engineer this stuff. At least for now, I can't think of a way to produce this thing."

Lu Zhou: "What about producing nanometer-scale silver particles?"

Yang Xu hesitated for a bit and said, "It's still difficult, but if you are interested, we can try it. However…"

Lu Zhou: "However?"

"However, what's the point?" Yang Xu said, "Even though I admit that the resistivity of Ag/GF materials is excellent, due to the sheer price of silver, it almost has zero industrial application."

It would take a lot of effort to understand the mystery, and it would at most produce a "beautiful" thesis.

Even though this kind of thing might be of interest to normal researchers, for people like Yang Xu and Lu Zhou, there was no point.

After all, unlike mathematics and physics, materials science itself was an application-based discipline…

Lu Zhou thought for a long time.

Honestly, he was also hesitant on whether or not this technology had any value.

However, Lu Zhou made up his mind and said, "I can't answer this question, at least not right now.

"But my intuition is telling me that this is worth researching."

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Chapter 584: Teaching Arrangements

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Among the many materials available, only a very small subset of materials had the so-called "subversive genes", and graphene was one of them. As one of the most popular materials, it could be combined with almost any other material.

At least that was how it was in theory.

To a large extent, what restricted the development of modern materials technology wasn't the lack of innovative ideas. It was to find a way to realize the ideas.

With the current technology available, it would be almost impossible to achieve a composite of silver nanoparticles and graphene with a particle diameter of 1-5 nm.

Whether it was a laboratory preparation method or a developed industry technology, Lu Zhou and Yang Xu couldn't think of any good methods. After some discussion, the two eventually reached a research consensus.

Which was, to first bond the 10,000-mesh silver powder to the single-layer graphene crumb by powder metallurgy, and if it was successful, the particle size could be further reduced until it reached the nano-scale.

At the same time, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had also begun to carry out research on the method of bonding small-sized metal particles and graphene chips to form alloys.

Even though the short-term application prospects of this technology were bleak, Lu Zhou still decided to spend 120 million yuan on a series of projects that were related to Ag/GF composite materials.

In addition to this, they were also doing research on carbon-based computer chips.

However, that side of research wasn't only done by the Institute of Computational Materials. The Institute of Physics at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and the physics department at Jinling University were all involved in carbon-based computer chip research.

Regarding the computer chip technology research, Lu Zhou spent almost twice the amount of research funding compared to Ag/GF composite materials. He himself even participate in this project.

On the other hand, his research on the Debris No.3 was still going on. In addition to researching the treasures that had been retrieved, Lu Zhou still hoped to find more treasures on this piece of debris.

Of course, even though there were so many things to do, Lu Zhou didn't forget about the system mission.

Honestly, the description of this reward mission was quite interesting.

The theses required the students to have a certain degree of participation in the research project. However, the system didn't specify this requirement.

If only Lu Zhou knew about this participation requirement, it would make the mission a lot easier.

As of now, Lu Zhou could only make general speculation. If all he did was to make the students pour some tea, clean the equipment, and then write the students' names on the theses, the system probably wouldn't consider the mission to be completed.

Also, there were other researchers in the research institute that weren't his students.

Even though Lu Zhou took a lot of time to help them with their research projects, the system didn't consider them as his students.

Obviously, the system didn't give him any loophole opportunities. If he wanted to complete the mission, he still had to do it the old-fashioned way.

However, since this was only a reward mission, Lu Zhou felt more relaxed than usual.

He still had another mission card in his inventory.

That mission card should contain a large project.

By that time, he would be a lot busier.

…

Jin Ling University mathematics building.

The office at the end of the corridor.

Four guys and two girls stood in front of the office door; no one dared to knock on the door.

Other than Han Mengqi, most of the people here had only even seen Lu Zhou on television.

Seeing someone on a screen or on stage was a very different feeling than seeing them face-to-face, especially for these beginners.

As for Han Mengqi…

She didn't expect to feel nervous…

After some negotiation between the students, finally, a young man who seemed to have a little courage bravely knocked on the door.

The office door was opened.

Feng Jin, who knocked on the door, saw the lady and asked bravely, "Hello, is this Professor Lu's office?"

When Lin Yuxiang saw the students, she smiled and said, "You guys are Professor Lu's students, right? Come on in."

Assistant Lin brought the group of people into the office and gestured them to sit down on the sofa. She poured a cup of tea for each of them.

"It might be a while until Professor Lu comes back, just sit here and wait for a bit."

When Lin Yuxiang turned around and walked toward her desk, almost all of the male students couldn't help but look at her.

A guy said, "Professor Lu's assistants are so pretty."

The other guys said, "Yeah…"

Han Mengqi heard their whisper and couldn't help but look at her.

Where exactly is she pretty? I don't see it.

She continued to look at Lin Yuxiang for a while and went silent.

Fine.

She had to admit, that Lin Yuxiang was stronger than her in the fashion department.

However, that was only because she was normally introverted and didn't have time to dress up!

A man with thin hair walked into the office.

He saw the six students sitting on the office sofa and paused for a second.

"You guys are all… Professor Lu's students?"

"Yeah." Feng Jin stood up and politely said, "Are you Professor Lu's assistant?"

He Changwen paused for a second and shook his head. "Assistant? No, I'm Professor Lu's PhD student."

The other master's student said, "You're a student?"

He Changwen smiled and said, "I don't look like one?"

The six students looked at each other and nodded.

He Changwen touched his receding hairline and looked at these young students. He then smiled awkwardly.

"No worries, you'll understand sooner or later."

Graduate students: "…"

They sat for around ten minutes on the sofa before another PhD student came.

Compared to He Changwen, this student's hairline was a lot better.

All of the students had arrived, but Lu Zhou, who assembled all of them, was nowhere to be seen.

When the hour hand hit nine, Lu Zhou walked into the office.

When he saw the group of students in his office, he looked surprised.

"You guys are all here?"

They all looked at Professor Lu and nodded.

Han Mengqi originally wanted to greet him, but she thought that it wouldn't be good to show her relationship with Professor Lu. Therefore, she hesitated for a bit and decided to greet him later.

Lin Yuxiang, who was sitting at the desk near the door, smirked and said, "They've been waiting since half-past eight."

Lu Zhou gently coughed and said, "I told you guys to come after nine o'clock, I didn't say you have to come at nine o'clock…"

Originally, he wanted to meet the students one by one, he didn't expect all of them to come together.

After that, he looked at Assistant Kong and said, "Bring me the name list."

"Okay." Kong Jie nodded and pulled out a list from the drawer. She then stood up and walked over to Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou took the name list from her and cleared his throat.

"Since everyone is here, I'll do a name check. There are a lot of people, so just raise your hand when I call your name."

Among the eight students, there were only three he could name off the top of his head.

The thin-haired PhD student was called He Changwen; he was in the analytic number theory field.

The PhD student who was quite tall was called Wu Shuimu; he studied applied mathematics for his undergrad, just like Lu Zhou. His master's degree was in the area of functional analysis, and now, he switched to computational materials science.

As for the other six master's students, other than Han Mengqi, who he had most definitely met before, Lu Zhou had only read their resumes. He didn't even know what they looked like.

After Lu Zhou called out their names, he finally had a general idea of who everyone was.

He handed the name list to Zhao Huan and spoke to his eight students.

"From now on, you guys are my students. I will try my best to pass on my knowledge to you guys.

"However, I might be busy, so I won't have a lot of time to guide you guys. If you encounter academic problems, you can send it directly to my email address. Or you can ask the other researchers at the Institute for Advanced Study."

The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study opened an Institute of Physics and an Institute of Mathematics last year. Due to the high salary and a relaxed research environment, not to mention the glory of a Fields Medal and Nobel Prize, Lu Zhou was able to attract a group of outstanding talents.

Lu Zhou trusted that his researchers could help his students.

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, "Of course, even though I won't have a lot of time for you guys, I will definitely not allow you guys to mess around for the next three to five years. Starting tomorrow, I will arrange all of you into different project teams, and you guys can start learning from practice.

"I really hope you all take this job seriously. I don't have requirements for weekly theses reading. Just read the ones that interest you and benefit your research. Within half a year, I want to see a thesis written by yourselves."

Other than Han Mengqi and the two PhD students, all of the master's students took a deep breath.

Writing a thesis within half a year…

Most of them had just finished their undergraduate studies; they didn't even know the format of writing a thesis. The longest thing they wrote during their undergrad was probably the conclusion reports on the course design and their undergraduate theses.

However, that was far from being a formal thesis…

Lu Zhou explained some simple things for them to pay attention to. He then paused for a second before saying, "Also, I have some suggestions regarding your courses. However, the final choice is up to you. After you have selected your classes, send it to my email."

"Are there any other questions?"

The students shook their heads and answered, "Nope, no more questions."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Okay then, that's it for today. Remember to come here tomorrow."

"The rest can go, except for the master's and PhD students in the computational materials field."

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Chapter 585: Thank You For Saving Me

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

In addition to a PhD student, two other master's students stayed behind. The other four students left.

Honestly, the quality of this cohort was average, at least in Lu Zhou's opinion.

However, this was none other than his fault. After all, he spent the entirety of last year on the controllable fusion energy project. He didn't have time to cater to his university work, and he waited until the end of the year to post on the student admissions website.

As usual, the higher quality students were already taken by other professors during the summer.

Among the master's students group, except for Han Mengqi, who was in computational materials, and another mathematics genius called Feng Jin, most of them had no previous scientific research experience.

For example, Liu Siyuan, who was standing here, was another master's student in computational materials. Even though his fourth-year undergraduate scores from Zhi University were pretty good, his research experience was almost zero.

However, that didn't matter too much. After all, other than undergraduate experimental classes, unless someone had a special relationship with a teacher or were lucky enough to be selected into a talent training program, they wouldn't have any chance of participating in a research project.

"You used to be from Aurora?"

Wu Shuimu: "Yes."

Lu Zhou: "Who was your supervisor?"

Wu Shuimu said, "Professor Liu Xianglong. I was in the functions analysis field."

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and didn't recognize this name, so he changed the subject.

"Have you had any experience with materials science before?"

Wu Shuimu scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I have a bit of experience since our professors in the chemistry department did a project on the mechanical dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes. I helped them to collect data and did a mathematical model."

Lu Zhou raised his eyebrows with interest. "This is the reason why you chose computational materials science?"

"Kind of." Wu Shuimu smiled and said, "I feel like I have reached the ceiling of functions analysis. It's very difficult to create any new innovative theories. Therefore, my supervisor recommended me to switch from theory to application. Back then, I watched your Crafoord Prize award-winning speech. From then on, I made up my mind and decided to go into the computational materials science field!"

There was almost a sense of purpose in his voice.

Liu Siyuan looked at this guy with admiration while thinking about how invincible this guy was.

Han Mengqi's eyebrows twitched. She couldn't help but look away.

Lu Zhou smiled.

Is he kissing my a*s?

Who cares, it sounds nice.

Lu Zhou cleared his throat and spoke.

"Since you already have your own goals, then work toward them. Also, listening to what you said, you should have a fairly basic understanding of computational materials. Therefore, I will try to allocate some more appropriate tasks for you."

After that, he looked at Lin Yuxiang, whose desk was closest to him.

"Give me my marker."

"Let me try to find it…"

Lin Yuxiang went through the drawer and quickly found a black marker. She happily handed it to him.

"Here."

"Thank you."

Lu Zhou took the pen from her and walked next to the whiteboard in his office. He looked at the black whiteboard for a bit before he began to write.

[Ψ(r1,r2,…,rn)= Ψt(rt).]

[{pi2/2mV(ri)1/4πε0drfΨj(rj)2e2/ri-rj}Ψi(ri)=EiΨi(ri)]

[…]

Wu Shuimu looked at the formulas on the whiteboard and said, "This is…"

"The Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure." Lu Zhou wrote down the last line of the equation and smiled as he said, "You should know about it."

Wu Shuimu coughed and said, "Professor, you must be joking… Anyone in the field of computational chemistry knows about the Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure."

On one hand, there was the first principle calculation. On the other, there was the "Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure". These two were the pillars of modern computational materials science.

When he was studying in Aurora, his supervisor, Professor Liu Xianglong, highly praised the theoretical model. He said that this model was able to apply functional analysis to the extreme extent.

Even though with his current knowledge level, he didn't know what was so "extreme" about this model, but when he looked at Lu Zhou writing down the equations, he still felt quite emotional.

Even if he had written the thesis himself, he wouldn't be able to recite every word, at most he would remember the final conclusion.

Actually, he believed that there was no way Lu Zhou could recite his thesis either.

Therefore, it was likely that Lu Zhou was deriving these equations on the spot…

The two master's students looked at the PhD student and professor communicating, and they felt that they were out of their elements.

Even Han Mengqi, who worked part-time for two years at the Institute of Computational Materials, wasn't able to understand what they were discussing. Even though she had participated in several research projects, the researchers obviously didn't give an undergraduate student too much responsibility.

Stuff like the "Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure" was obviously a bit too advanced for her.

"Actually, this model is far from perfect. Actually, there is a lot of room for improvement. For example, the multi-body wave function can be configured to have different levels of correlation. The clustering method and the accuracy of the calculations can also be improved.

"What I need you to do is to improve on the Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure. Even though this might seem insignificant, like modifying a window on an already complete building, but this is still important. After all, with your current ability, you are not able to build a new floor on top of this building."

Wu Shuimu nodded seriously and said, "I understand, I will do as you say."

Lu Zhou nodded with satisfaction.

Not bad, this kid's quite obedient.

"Try your best, if you really dive deep into this field, you might be able to write two JACS theses before you graduate."

Two publications!

That's enough to get into the Thousand Talents Program!

When Wu Shuimu heard this, he smiled and said, "Okay, I will try my best!"

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded. He then looked at the two master's students.

"As for your mission, it is to understand the things I wrote on the whiteboard.

"Once you guys have understood these basic things, I will arrange more specific scientific research tasks for you guys. If you encounter something you don't understand, feel free to ask Wu Shuimu. If he can't explain it, then ask me."

How is this basic at all…

Even though Liu Siyuan and Han Mengqi wanted to complain, they still forced themselves to nod.

Liu Siyuan had it even worse.

He was only an average genius student. Even though his grades were pretty good, he had no additional talents outside of academic results.

Even though he had some mental preparation before this, he didn't expect to suddenly feel a sense of struggle.

As expected, it was not easy to study under a Nobel Prize winner.

Since he didn't have Lu Zhou's extraordinary talent, the only way to keep up was to start grinding…

…

After Lu Zhou handed out the tasks, he put down the marker and announced that they could leave.

When they were leaving, Han Mengqi purposely slowed down her footsteps and stayed at the end.

After everyone else left, she looked at the door before turning back to look at Lu Zhou. She quietly whispered, "Teacher."

Lu Zhou looked at her nervous face and smiled as he asked, "What's wrong?"

Han Mengqi twirled her fingers and looked down. She then said quietly, "Um… I did it."

Even though she had a lot of words to say, she didn't know why, but she froze.

Lu Zhou: "Yeah, congratulations!"

Han Mengqi stared at the floor and couldn't help but pout.

"Do you not have anything else to say?"

Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "Honestly, I'm quite surprised."

Han Mengqi: "Surprised?"

Lu Zhou said, "Yeah, remember what I told you before? If you can get into Jin Ling University, I promise to become your supervisor… I didn't expect you to actually be able to do it."

Seeing how Lu Zhou underestimated her, Han Mengqi said unhappily, "What do you mean? I used to be your student, of course I can do it."

"Getting into Jin Ling University is no easy feat." Lu Zhou coughed and said, "Of course, what surprised me wasn't you getting into Jin Ling University four years ago, it was that four years later, you are still standing here."

Han Mengqi was a little confused; she didn't know what he was saying.

Lu Zhou paused for a second before he continued, "I have always thought that time can change a person. Not just a person, but it can change everything, including the fundamental particles that make up the universe.

"Time can theoretically solve any problem… And you! You gave me another perspective."

Han Mengqi tilted her head and said, "Another perspective?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yeah, which is that there are some things that time can't change. Just like how you told me that you liked mathematics, I didn't take that seriously back then, I thought you were just joking around. I didn't expect you to persist until now and to become my master's student… Honestly, I am shocked."

Lu Zhou was filled with complex emotions.

If there are things that even time can't change…

Then the concept of allowing time to solve a problem is flawed.

"Actually, it's not only mathematics…" Han Mengqi scratched her cheeks awkwardly and looked at her shoes. She said, "I'm also interested in chemistry."

Lu Zhou had an unnatural smile on his face.

"Yeah, scientific research is also a very interesting thing, I hope you will continue to like it."

"I definitely will!" Han Mengqi looked up at Lu Zhou and nodded. She looked up at the ceiling and said, "Um, there's one more thing I want to tell you…"

Lu Zhou said, "What?"

Han Mengqi: "In August last year, my parents divorced…"

Han Mengqi looked at Lu Zhou's look of concern and smirked.

Even though she didn't want to talk about this sad topic, she still continued, "If this were before, I would probably cry my eyes out. I definitely wouldn't be able to leave my room, and I would miss out on a lot of interesting things…"

Her face burst into a cheerful smile.

"Even though this might be four years late… I still want to…

"I still want to say thank you!"

Thank you for saving me…

Han Mengqi turned around and quickly ran out of the office.

Lu Zhou looked at her leave and paused for a second. He shook his head, and he felt a lot better.

He didn't expect that helping others would be such a joyful feeling.

Honestly, when he was still tutoring her, he didn't think about this aspect at all…

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Chapter 586: Meeting on the Moon Project

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

Lu Zhou basically spent all of his time at Jin Ling University, the Institute for Advanced Study, and in his Zhongshan International mansion.

He taught two classes per week to Jin Ling University undergraduate mathematics students. The rest of his time was spent helping his graduate students in his office, keeping up with the latest physics r, mathematics, and materials research, as well as researching the debris in his underground laboratory.

He finally had some schedule in his life. It more or less gave him the feeling of when he was still working at Princeton.

Honestly, the more Lu Zhou came in contact with undergraduate work, the more he realized that Jin Ling University, and other universities in China for that matter, were still a step behind from internationally renowned universities.

Objectively speaking, the scientific research strength of domestic universities had risen quite a lot over the past decade. However, there was still a certain gap when compared to other universities around the world.

Lu Zhou couldn't figure out the exact reason why.

Other than the well-known factors, such as academic commodification, the industrialization of papers, the conversion rate of scientific research results, and the lack of attention for undergraduate teaching, there were still a lot of problems that he could vaguely sense… but he couldn't say exactly what it was.

The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study and the Eastern Research Centers Association were the country's attempts in creating suitable models for the development of domestic universities.

At the very least, it could make certain changes within a limited scope.

Jin Ling University hospital.

Yan Yan was wearing a white coat. She then handed a medical report to Lu Zhou.

"Your body is recovering well, but you should pay more attention in the future. You should avoid greasy and spicy food, and eat more vegetables and fruits to supplement your nutrition. As of now, 301 Hospital hasn't made a clear conclusion regarding your illness. No one can guarantee that a similar situation won't happen in the future."

Lu Zhou briefly looked through the medial report. He then folded it and stuffed it in his pocket.

Since the beginning of February, Doctor Yan had given him two physical examinations, and no obvious signs of abnormalities were found.

Honestly, even though Lu Zhou knew that their effort of trying to find a cause of his coma was useless, he still cooperated with their work.

After all, it was just a blood test and some urine tests, it wasn't a big deal.

"Okay okay, I understand." Lu Zhou tried to divert the conversation away from his health and said, "Speaking of which, when did you transfer to the university hospital?"

Yan Yan replied briefly, "The higher-ups arranged this. It will be more convenient if I work here. After all, I'm guessing you're not too happy with me following you all day."

She paused for a second before adding, "Of course, if you plan on traveling, I hope you can inform me beforehand, or at the very least, inform Wang Peng."

"Okay then, but I probably won't be traveling any time soon."

Suddenly, the hospital room door was pushed open. An old man, who was wearing a wool vest and looked like he was in his seventies, walked in.

Lu Zhou looked at the old man and felt that he looked familiar, but he wasn't able to recognize who the old man was.

He stared at him for a while and a name suddenly popped up in his mind.

"Academician Ren?" As Lu Zhou looked at this old man, he was surprised. "How come you're here?"

Academician Ren Changming!

Former Chinese designer of the lunar exploration project!

Lu Zhou hadn't seen this man in years. Compared to when he first saw him at the mathematical modeling competition, Lu Zhou could clearly tell that this academician had aged a lot.

Five years ago, he was still standing on the lecture hall podium talking with students, but he probably couldn't do that anymore.

Seeing how Lu Zhou still recognized him, Ren Changming smiled and said, "Chief Designer Lu Zhou, you still remember me?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I met you just a few years ago, of course I remember you."

At that time, this old man wanted to recruit him to Beijing for aerospace engineering.

"It's been six years, quite a long time." Ren Changming sighed and spoke emotionally, "Time really flies. It's only been six years and my old body can't even lecture anymore."

Lu Zhou smiled gracefully. Ren Changming paused for a second before he said, "But I'm very pleased to see you. The student that was ecstatic about winning the Higher Education Society Cup was able to win a Nobel Prize."

"Those medals are kind of meaningless." Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and changed the subject. He asked, "Speaking of which, what brings you to the university hospital?"

Ren Changming smiled and said, "I was strolling around the mathematics building and Old Tang said you were here, so I came over. I heard you were seriously ill a while ago, how is your recovery process?"

Lu Zhou said, "I wasn't exactly seriously ill, just in a coma for a few days. I'm feeling great now."

Yan Yan, who was sitting next to him, rolled her eyes.

Being in a coma isn't seriously ill?

Not only was the entire country worried about his health, but even the World Health Organization sent a team of experts to help him.

"Being in a coma for more than 20 days isn't seriously ill?" Ren Changming shook his head and said, "You're still young, but if you don't pay attention to your body, you'll regret it when you reach my age."

Some time ago, he was also sick and had to stay in a nursing home until now. If he weren't sick, he would have visited Lu Zhou when Lu Zhou was still in Beijing, as opposed to waiting until now.

Lu Zhou made a helpless expression.

"You didn't come to Jinling just to scold me, right?"

"I did come because of you, but not just to scold you." Ren Changming smiled and said, "I heard that we restarted the moon landing project, and your opinions are highly valued by the leadership team. As an ex-chief designed by the lunar project, I have to say thank you."

Even though the moon landing project had been constantly mentioned by the media, the actual launch mission wasn't on the timetable of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The associated plans also hadn't been approved by the government.

However, this time was different. Academician Ren could clearly sense that the relevant plans for the moon landing project were quickly being launched and its national strategic importance was rising…

Even though he wasn't clear about the specific situation, a lot of people in the industry were spreading rumors, that this all had to do with Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou said, "There's no need to thank me, I'm just a scholar, putting forward my own opinion."

"It's fine if you don't think I should thank you, but I still have to give my thanks." Ren Changming smiled and said, "However, you were the one who brought up the idea of the moon landing. The project, astronaut training, and everything else are all being arranged. Are you not going to manage the project?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I'm not in the aerospace industry, why would I manage the project? Whenever you need to build a nuclear fusion generator for the spacecraft, come find me."

Ren Changming: "But you can't just leave it alone, right? There's going to be a moon landing meeting in a few days. It's going to be held at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Not only will the academic community come, but so will the industry experts. Are you going to come?"

Lu Zhou: "What's the specific date?"

Ren Changming: "6th of March, if you want to come, I'll let the conference organizers send you an invitation letter."

Lu Zhou thought for a bit. He realized he probably wouldn't have any other plans, so he replied, "Okay then, I'll take some time out and attend the conference."

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