Recaps

Xiao Yi linked aperture acceleration to X particles and shared his uncertain derivation with Liu Xiaodong, who chose to publish their paper in Science. The paper’s release stunned the physics community, while Xiao Yi continued developing a framework for carbon structures used in fusion reactor first walls.

• Xiao Yi connected aperture acceleration to X particles and considered possible applications in colliders and spacecraft, though he could not explain the mechanism fully.
• Xiao Yi showed Liu Xiaodong his derivation and let him decide whether to continue researching or publish; Liu Xiaodong chose to publish and became a first author alongside Xiao Yi.
• Xiao Yi resumed researching carbon while Liu Xiaodong prepared the paper, then submitted it to Science with Xiao Yi as corresponding author.
• Science editor Jia Wen read the paper, replicated the reported electron speed increase in his laboratory, and arranged for the paper to appear on the journal’s cover.
• Jia Wen and Edward Witten described the discovery in interviews as a major breakthrough, discussing its potential energy applications and the challenges of reproducing it and detecting X particles.

Xiao Yi and Liu Xiaodong’s aperture acceleration discovery drew worldwide attention, and Liu gave a successful interview on CCTV. Half a month later, Xiao Yi completed a model of carbon that could predict new properties and structures, naming it the Carbon Deconstruction Diagram.

• CERN agreed to Xiao Yi’s free, research-only license for his carbon nanoporous material patent and promised to share synthesis methods and assign related patents to him.
• Yang Zhenning praised the aperture acceleration discovery as Nobel Prize-worthy and potentially evidence of a new fundamental force, while media attention made Science Island Laboratory internationally renowned.
• Xiao Yi declined most interview requests and assigned Liu Xiaodong to represent the laboratory on CCTV.
• Science Island researchers watched Liu explain the discovery on Xinwen Lianbo, and Xiao Yi praised his clear, professional interview.
• After another half month, Xiao Yi completed a framework model for predicting carbon’s undiscovered properties, including structures able to withstand high-energy neutrons and hot plasma, and named it the Carbon Deconstruction Diagram.

Xiao Yi completed and uploaded his Carbon Deconstruction Diagram paper, then used it to design carbon structures for a fusion reactor’s first wall. The paper sparked a race among physics, chemistry, and materials science researchers to develop analysis diagrams for other elements, while Xiao Yi continued pursuing his own goal.

• Xiao Yi finished his Carbon Deconstruction Diagram paper and uploaded it to his personal website.
• Xiao Yi began designing carbon structures for first-wall materials, using computer simulations and Material Mastery to test and synthesize them.
• Konstantin Novoselov sent the paper to Andre Geim, who praised its approach and agreed to discuss applying it to graphene.
• Researchers across physics, chemistry, and materials science sought collaborators to create analysis diagrams for other elements, including a Berkeley professor assembling a team for silicon.
• Xiao Yi continued working on his material design and gradually approached his goal.

Xiao Yi designed Twisted Carbon as a promising Tokamak first-wall material but struggled to synthesize it, producing three valuable carbon-based byproducts instead. In June, researchers from Institute 603 and the Army Research Institute arrived at the Science Island Laboratory to discuss MHT-1 and MHT-2.

• Xiao Yi completed the design of Twisted Carbon, calculating that a ten-centimeter layer could withstand neutron damage in EAST for at least twenty years, and began searching for a way to synthesize it.
• Xiao Yi developed MHT-1, an amorphous carbon additive with strong electromagnetic-wave absorption, and sent its experimental report to military researchers through Wang Li.
• Xiao Yi produced MHT-2, a high-strength, energy-absorbing carbon fiber suitable for armored vehicles, and also forwarded its report to the military.
• Xiao Yi created MHT-3, a high-mobility, three-layer carbon material with potential for carbon-based chips, but postponed pursuing it.
• Chen Weidong of Institute 603 visited Xiao Yi to ask about MHT-1, and Wang Hao announced that representatives from the Army Research Institute had arrived to discuss MHT-2.

Xiao Yi introduced MHT-1, MHT-2, and MHT-3 to military researchers, who arranged to pursue their uses in military equipment and carbon-based chips. At the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, Xiao Yi attended with Science Island Laboratory as the host announced first prizes for both the Yang-Mills mass gap problem and the Navier–Stokes equations.

• Liu Zhen and Chen Weidong mistook each other for rivals seeking the same material and grappled until Xiao Yi explained that MHT-1 and MHT-2 were different materials.
• Liu Zhen requested MHT-1 for the Army Research Institute, while Chen Weidong requested MHT-2 for Institute 603, and they agreed to negotiate cooperation with Xiao Yi.
• Xiao Yi revealed that MHT-3 had high carrier mobility, so Liu Zhen took its information to carbon-based chip expert Xu Zhi, who later examined it and left with the research materials.
• Xiao Yi attended the National Science and Technology Awards Conference with Science Island Laboratory researchers and greeted Pang Cheng, director of the Physics Research Institute.
• The conference awarded the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award to Xue Kun and Li Ren, then announced first prizes for both the Yang-Mills mass gap problem and the Navier–Stokes equations.

Xiao Yi won two Natural Science Award first prizes and a Technology Invention Award first prize at the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, while his colleagues celebrated their shared battery award. After the ceremony, news of his three first prizes spread widely, leaving the public speculating about his future honors.

• Xiao Yi received two Natural Science Award first prizes for his work on the Millennium Prize Problems, and an elderly leader asked about Science Island Laboratory and its nuclear fusion research.
• Pang Cheng received a Natural Science Award first prize for Computational Prediction of Topological Electronic Materials, a project Xiao Yi had previously helped advance.
• Xiao Yi and four colleagues from Science Island Laboratory received a Technology Invention Award first prize for lithium-sulfur solid-state batteries and related new materials technologies.
• Liu Xiaodong shared a photo of the team’s award with Zhou He, who regretted not joining Science Island Laboratory.
• News coverage highlighted Xiao Yi’s three first prizes, prompting online discussion about his chances of becoming an academician and winning the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award.

Xiao Yi developed MHT-7, a material whose neutron-irradiation resistance nearly matched the theoretical Twisted Carbon target, bringing controllable nuclear fusion closer. He began optimizing the material and later met his new graduate students as USTC's school year got underway.

• Xiao Yi used a magnetic levitation furnace to stir and cool molten graphite, then tested the resulting material.
• Xiao Yi found that the seventh sample, MHT-7, nearly reached Twisted Carbon's theoretical neutron-irradiation resistance and met the needs of long-term fusion reactor first walls.
• Xiao Yi named the material MHT-7 and began further experiments to understand and improve it.
• USTC students learned that Xiao Yi would teach number theory, prompting the School of Mathematics to move his class to a large lecture hall open to interested students.
• On September 3, Xiao Yi went to USTC and met several of his new graduate students.

Xiao Yi welcomed his first three graduate students at USTC and set their research goals while continuing to improve MHT-7. After reviewing its test results with Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou, he announced plans to launch a fusion demonstration reactor project.

• Xiao Yi met Chen Muhua, Liang Qiushi, and Sun Yuan, then outlined their graduation requirements, reading assignments, and goals for graduate school.
• Xiao Yi resumed his MHT-7 research and occasionally monitored his students’ progress.
• Xiao Yi visited the Plasma Institute and asked Zhao Zhanyou to arrange a secure meeting with Li Jiangan.
• Xiao Yi showed Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou test results for a highly radiation-resistant material, and they reacted with disbelief.
• Xiao Yi proposed applying for a project under the cover of building a new experimental facility and said he would contact the higher-ups about launching a fusion demonstration reactor.

Xiao Yi explained how MHT-7 enabled a new fusion-device project, which Director Liu agreed to report to the higher-ups under the secret name “Sun-Making.” Xiao Yi then arrived at his first university lecture to find an overflowing crowd, cleared out extra listeners, and began teaching.

• Xiao Yi told Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou that the old leader already knew about their fusion-device plan and urged them to submit a confidential project proposal.
• Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou held a meeting at the Plasma Institute and submitted a proposal for a new fusion experimental device larger than EAST.
• Xiao Yi showed Director Liu MHT-7’s radiation-resistance data and confirmed that he alone knew how to synthesize it and that his confidence in achieving controlled fusion had reached twenty percent.
• Director Liu decided to report the research to Shangjing and approved “Sun-Making” as the plan’s secret name, while the group continued debating its public name.
• Xiao Yi found his first lecture hall packed with hundreds of people, asked those attending only because of his reputation to leave, and told them recorded lessons would be available later.
• Xiao Yi entered the lecture hall, addressed the remaining students, and began his first class.

Xiao Yi taught an engaging number theory class on prime numbers and sieve methods, drawing on his proofs of the Twin Prime and Goldbach Conjectures. After his teaching sparked a university-wide dispute over who could attend his classes, the EAST-S project was approved and its construction site was chosen near a power plant.

• Xiao Yi introduced prime numbers, explained Euclid’s proof that infinitely many primes exist, and began teaching sieve methods to the students.
• Xiao Yi used his work on the Twin Prime and Goldbach Conjectures to hold the students’ interest, and the class ended with two sieve exercises.
• Students praised Xiao Yi’s lecture, recordings spread online, and the university began planning to restrict his classes to mathematics majors while other schools requested lectures.
• Xiao Yi agreed to give several public lectures, then learned that the EAST-S project had been approved under that name.
• Xiao Yi’s covert Sun-Making Plan, officially named Mortal Sun Creation, launched at a site in Luyang District near a power plant.

Xiao Yi was appointed Chief Designer of China’s EAST-S fusion project, while public debate and cautious attention from the White House followed its launch. After setting ambitious targets for the broader Sun-Making Plan, Xiao Yi tested MHT-7 first-wall materials in an EAST ignition and learned that both samples remained unchanged.

• Director Liu announced Xiao Yi as Chief Designer of EAST-S, with Li Jiangan as Administrative Commander and Deputy Chief Designer and Zhao Zhanyou as Chief Quality Officer.
• Xiao Yi, Li Jiangan, Zhao Zhanyou, and the other project members pledged to complete the fusion mission as EAST-S officially launched.
• Netizens argued over whether Xiao Yi could achieve fusion, while the White House judged the odds low and chose to keep watching casually.
• Xiao Yi set design goals for the Sun-Making Plan, including long-lasting first-wall materials and a 50-to-60-percent energy conversion efficiency target.
• Xiao Yi and Zhao Zhanyou prepared MHT-7 samples A-7 and B-10 for an EAST ignition that held temperatures above 100 million degrees for 200 seconds.
• After the reactor cooled, tests showed that A-7 and B-10 had no property changes, unlike the other materials, and Xiao Yi was pleased with the result.

Xiao Yi confirmed that MHT-7 could withstand fusion conditions and proposed replacing the Tokamak with a new UO fusion structure designed to make better use of MHD generation. As 2025 arrived, he continued refining the design while expanding the Science Island Laboratory and balancing work across three institutions.

• Xiao Yi, Zhao Zhanyou, and Li Jiangan witnessed MHT-7 pass verification, with testing indicating it could last about fifteen years under fusion conditions.
• Xiao Yi discussed mass-producing MHT-7 and keeping its synthesis process confidential, then explained that Tokamak geometry was poorly suited to MHD generation.
• Xiao Yi revealed that he was designing a new UO fusion structure, and Zhao Zhanyou and Li Jiangan agreed to trust his plans despite their doubts about leaving the Tokamak design.
• Xiao Yi returned to the Science Island Laboratory, where he refined the UO structure and prepared to recruit 150 people as the laboratory expansion neared completion.
• Xiao Yi continued working at the Science Island Laboratory and Plasma Institute and teaching at USTC as recruitment drew thousands of applications and 2024 gave way to 2025.

Xiao Yi finished the semester’s number theory course, learned that he had been promoted to Level One Professor, and agreed to teach real analysis next semester. He used Perfect Engineering to complete the UO fusion design and planned to begin construction after the New Year.

• Xiao Yi warned his students that he would set a difficult final exam and encouraged them to enter the Shing-Tung Yau Math Olympiad.
• Tang Fucheng told Xiao Yi that his Level One Professor promotion had been approved and asked him to teach real analysis to the sophomore Hua Loo-Keng Class next semester.
• Xiao Yi agreed to teach real analysis but refused Tang Fucheng’s request to take on another course.
• Xiao Yi simulated the UO fusion device with Perfect Engineering and confirmed that its lithium system could breed tritium and sustain fusion.
• Xiao Yi perfected the UO structure, simulated electricity generation at 62% conversion efficiency, and decided to begin construction after the New Year.

During the Spring Festival, Xiao Yi reunited with Luo Mingya, his former university colleague, and they made a bet about who would finish their research first. The chapter ended with Xiao Yi returning home to find his parents already curious about the women he had spoken with.

• Xiao Yi celebrated New Year's Eve with his parents and explained his controlled nuclear fusion research to them.
• Xiao Yi avoided distant relatives who sought favors and spent the holiday at home.
• On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Xiao Yi discovered that Sun Lina's family lived next door and met Luo Mingya again.
• Xiao Yi and Luo Mingya discussed their research and bet that the loser would fulfill one request from the winner.
• Luo Mingya said she would leave for work the next day, while Xiao Yi hoped she would become a full Researcher before he won.
• Xiao Yi returned home and found his parents asking about Sun Lina and Luo Mingya.

After returning to the EAST-S Plan, Xiao Yi announced that he had replaced its planned Tokamak with a new UO Device, prompting doubts from researchers and opposition from Academician Chu Lansheng. The project agreed to build a smaller verification device, with officials promising to provide the necessary funding.

• Xiao Yi returned to Science Island Laboratory, arranged its new facilities, and welcomed ninety-five new researchers after the Lantern Festival.
• At the first EAST-S Plan meeting of 2025, Xiao Yi revealed his completed UO Device design and said simulations suggested it could raise energy conversion to sixty percent.
• Xiao Yi told Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou that he would take responsibility for the UO Device and proposed building a smaller version if Chu Lansheng objected.
• As the UO Device plan spread among researchers, Chu Lansheng wrote to leaders opposing the replacement of the Tokamak with an unverified design.
• After Director Liu Cong raised the pressure from the controversy, Xiao Yi agreed to build a smaller UO verification device, and Liu promised the project would receive the funding it needed.

Xiao Yi proposed and oversaw construction of the smaller UOmini device to test whether the UO fusion structure was feasible, while his teaching made him a nationwide student sensation. Nearly five months later, UOmini was ready for its first ignition, with Chu Lansheng arriving to witness the verification as Xiao Yi ordered the final inspections.

• Xiao Yi showed Li Jiangan and Zhao Zhanyou his completed plans for a smaller UO verification device, and the team named it UOmini and began construction.
• Xiao Yi taught Real Analysis to the sophomore Hua Loo-Keng Class, and students across the country credited his lectures and image with helping them study and pass exams.
• Xiao Yi advised his three graduate students on possible research topics as they prepared for their second year.
• After nearly five months, Xiao Yi received reports that UOmini's components, heating equipment, superconducting coils, fuel injection pipeline, and MHD generator had passed inspection.
• Zhao Zhanyou told Xiao Yi that Chu Lansheng and researchers from the Southwest Institute of Physics had arrived to see UOmini, and Xiao Yi welcomed them.
• Chu Lansheng questioned whether the UO structure could help fusion progress, and Xiao Yi ordered one final inspection before the device's first ignition.

Xiao Yi ignited the UOmini fusion device and raised its plasma to 150 million degrees, where it sustained the reaction with exceptionally low impurity levels. He stopped external heating before the 300-second target was reached, and Chu Lansheng recognized that the fusion had achieved the Lawson Criterion.

• Xiao Yi confirmed that every system was ready, evacuated personnel, and started the UOmini ignition countdown.
• The UO chamber reached 100 million degrees with heating efficiency equivalent to 130% of EAST's, and Xiao Yi ordered it raised to 150 million degrees for 300 seconds.
• Cao Xu warned that the high temperature could damage the device, while Chu Lansheng urged him to watch and revealed that he knew about the wall material.
• The plasma held at 150 million degrees for over 200 seconds without any increase in impurity concentration.
• With 60 seconds left on the timer, Xiao Yi ordered the Heating Group to stop heating, but the temperature remained stable.
• Chu Lansheng announced that the reaction had reached the Lawson Criterion, and the researchers celebrated as Cao Xu struggled to understand the result.

Xiao Yi’s UO fusion device completed a successful ignition test, reaching the Lawson Criterion and generating 30 MW through an MHD generator. After Chu Lansheng asked to inspect the new material and agreed to follow Xiao Yi’s instructions, news of the device’s achievements spread through the physics community and society.

• Xiao Yi declined to extend the test to 1,000 seconds and ordered the team to verify power generation using the MHD generator.
• The team switched to Mode B, and the MHD generator produced up to 30 MW as the plasma entered the U-shaped tube.
• Xiao Yi ended the test after 370 seconds of operation and announced that the device had reached the Lawson Criterion; he gave the team three days off.
• Chu Lansheng questioned how the MHD generator channel would withstand plasma exposure, then pleaded with Xiao Yi to let him inspect the new material.
• Chu Lansheng announced that fusion researchers should follow Xiao Yi’s instructions, and news of the device’s results spread across China and the world.

China’s UOmini fusion device achieved a major experimental breakthrough, prompting excitement and skepticism among the public and scientific community. As the news reached the White House, the president ordered efforts to obtain more information, declaring that the breakthrough must not be allowed to happen.

• Chinese media reported that the UOmini Device sustained 150 million degrees for 370 seconds, reached the Lawson Criterion, and generated 30 MW of power for 50 seconds.
• Netizens celebrated the breakthrough and debated whether fusion could provide abundant energy and freshwater, while skeptics argued that materials problems still made practical fusion distant.
• Researchers at the Physics Research Institute discussed how the device could have endured the experiment, while Luo Mingya wondered whether Xiao Yi had made progress on the material technology connected to their bet.
• The news spread overseas and reached the White House, where the secretary of state briefed the president on China’s possible progress toward controlled nuclear fusion.
• The president ordered the secretary of state to seek information through ITER after the CIA failed to uncover details, then said they could not let the breakthrough happen.

Xiao Yi planned the enormous Sun-Making Reactor while Liu Cong reported that the Americans and ITER were pressing China to share fusion data, a request China refused. After UOmini’s success cleared research and political obstacles, construction began, prompting foreign intelligence agencies to investigate the project.

• Xiao Yi showed Liu Cong his liquid lithium piping layout for the Sun-Making Reactor and explained that UOmini could someday become a museum exhibit.
• Liu Cong told Xiao Yi that ITER had requested data on the first-wall material and that China had refused to share it.
• Xiao Yi calculated that the 40 GW Sun-Making Reactor could supply Fei City and nearby cities, with enough capacity for rising electricity demand.
• Foreign scientists argued over how UOmini had operated for 370 seconds, while Xiao Yi’s ambiguous result kept them uncertain about China’s progress.
• After UOmini’s success, the institute and Chu Lansheng backed Xiao Yi’s plans, and construction of the Sun-Making Reactor began with a projected fifteen-month schedule.
• Foreign intelligence agencies investigated the huge construction site, trying to determine what China was building.

At an ITER meeting, Japan and several other members accused China of concealing nuclear fusion research, but Zong Chengping dismissed their claims as speculation. Months later, Xiao Yi’s Sun-Making Reactor site was ready for assembly, and construction began openly as China’s foreign observers continued to doubt it could achieve controlled fusion.

• At ITER’s weekly meeting, Yamamoto Shigeru accused China of hiding UOmini research and demanded it share its findings, while representatives from the United States and South Korea supported him.
• Zong Chengping rejected the accusations as unsupported speculation, explained that the large construction site would house a research institute, and criticized South Korea’s unpaid fees and limited technology sharing.
• The meeting ended with the South Korean director backing away from the expulsion proposal and Yamamoto Shigeru apologizing; afterward, foreign media and internet users speculated about China’s fusion project as lithium-sulfur batteries gained a large market share.
• More than half a year later, Xiao Yi and the Sun-Making Plan’s senior members inspected the completed research institute and prepared to begin assembling the reactor.
• Xiao Yi ordered the factories to transport the reactor’s major components, and construction of the Sun-Making Reactor’s main structure officially began the next day.

Xiao Yi resolved a mix-up involving four unidentified cooling pipes at the fusion reactor site and rallied the workers by emphasizing safety and the project’s national importance. The pipes were installed correctly, and the installation work continued with renewed confidence and efficiency.

• Zhao Zhanyou told Xiao Yi that the labels identifying several cooling pipes had gone missing, so the workers could not determine where to install them.
• Xiao Yi reassured the workers that mistakes could be corrected, stressed that safety came first, and encouraged them to complete the nationally significant project together.
• Xiao Yi inspected four nearly identical pipes and identified them as vacuum chamber cooling pipes B13-37 through B13-40.
• The workers installed the pipes in Zone B13, confirming Xiao Yi’s identification, and continued the installation with greater confidence.

As China completed the Sun-Making Reactor, foreign ITER members accused it of secretly achieving fusion power, while Zong Chengping remained unsure what the project involved. Xiao Yi ordered final inspections and scheduled an ignition test, and the Sun-Making Plan’s ignition day arrived on January 31, 2027.

• At an ITER Council meeting, Yamamoto Shigeru and other representatives accused China of concealing fusion progress and called for its expulsion, while Zong Chengping denied that the equipment proved anything.
• After returning to China, Zong Chengping asked officials whether fusion power had been achieved but received the same evasive answer as before.
• Xiao Yi showed Li Jiangan and others the completed Sun-Making Reactor, its underground UO Device, and its extensive generator facilities.
• Xiao Yi ordered a month of final inspections and scheduled the ignition test for the end of the following month.
• On January 30, 2027, the EAST-S Plan was publicly renamed the Sun-Making Plan, and the ignition day arrived on January 31.

Xiao Yi led the Sun-Making Reactor through its first successful sustained deuterium-tritium fusion burn, achieving self-sufficient tritium production and generating up to 15 GW of power. The team began connecting the reactor to the grid after confirming the breakthrough.

• Researchers completed their final inspections, and the teams trusted Xiao Yi to lead the ignition attempt.
• Liu Cong relayed the senior leader’s call, and Xiao Yi said he was ninety percent certain the reactor would succeed.
• Xiao Yi confirmed that the site was evacuated and that vacuum, superconducting coils, and cooling systems were ready.
• Xiao Yi ordered fuel injection and ignition; the plasma exceeded 100 million degrees Celsius, reached the Lawson Criterion, and entered steady-state burn.
• The team injected liquid lithium and raised the tritium self-sufficiency rate to 1.0, then began generating electricity with the MHD generator and turbines.
• The reactor’s output rose to 15 GW, and Xiao Yi ordered the team to connect it to the grid.

Xiao Yi and the research team achieved stable 15 GW controllable nuclear fusion with the Sun-Making Reactor, and Xiao Yi’s study ability advanced to lv7. The announcement was planned for the evening before Lunar New Year's Eve as the team prepared to transmit the reactor’s full output to the power grid.

• The researchers celebrated the reactor’s success as Xiao Yi confirmed that it had sustained plasma above 100 million degrees for over 1,000 seconds without damage to the first-wall material.
• Xiao Yi’s Ruthless Continuous Study effect advanced to lv7, boosting his learning efficiency and allowing Material Mastery and Perfect Engineering to be used together.
• Xiao Yi told the old leader that the team had lit the sun and recommended waiting several days to verify stable operation before announcing the breakthrough.
• The old leader agreed to announce the news on the evening before Lunar New Year's Eve, while Xiao Yi and the power grid engineers planned how to transmit the reactor’s 15 GW output.
• The Sun-Making Reactor continued operating at 15 GW while the team worked on the grid connection, as the public and foreign intelligence agencies remained unaware of the breakthrough.