Chapter Summaries

Wang Ye discovered an authentic volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia at the John Museum while Luo Yao advanced plans for a Qinshan fusion demonstration reactor and pressed the materials institute to develop a new First Wall material. After Wei Sha’s testing destroyed a modified Tokamak device, Dean Fang contacted Mary to buy decommissioned foreign Tokamaks, leaving her shocked that Hua Nation was using secondhand equipment.

• Wang Ye identified the damaged book as an authentic volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia, and the Hua Nation experts began searching for more volumes while the John Museum director dismissed their find.
• Dan Xing gathered Luo Yao, Zheng Yang, Dean Fang, and other researchers in Qinshan and announced plans to build a Nuclear fusion demonstration reactor there.
• Luo Yao visited the materials institute, reviewed Wei Sha’s tungsten-alloy research, and ordered her to produce experimental results within a month, offering AI Medical Pods to support the intensive work.
• Wei Sha’s neutron-irradiation experiments overheated and destroyed the modified Tokamak device, and Luo Yao told Dean Fang to buy decommissioned foreign Tokamaks as consumables.
• Dean Fang contacted Mary at John’s JET Laboratory about buying the old Tokamaks, and Mary was shocked that Hua Nation had started using secondhand equipment.

Dean Fang bought a discarded Tokamak Device from Mary, while Luo Yao’s research into fusion materials exposed a problem with tungsten neutron damage. Luo Yao then secured approval to establish AI Materials Science, leaving him responsible for shaping the new discipline.

• Dean Fang bought John's discarded Tokamak Device from Mary, and the Southwest Institute of Physics began modifying it after checking it for surveillance equipment.
• Noah told the Ugly Nation’s officials that Hua Nation had bought old equipment, prompting them to invest in traditional energy and space technology.
• Alexander refused Bill’s request to build a new space station together, so Bill decided to approach the European Alliance instead.
• Wei Sha reported that neutron irradiation still caused many Frenkel Defects in tungsten despite the toughening agent, and Luo Yao told her to use Little Moss to simulate experiments.
• Luo Yao proposed creating AI Materials Science, and Dan Xing later told him that the education department had approved the new discipline, which Luo Yao would lead.

Luo Yao arranged for Little Moss to teach the new AI Materials Science course and oversaw a breakthrough in First Wall material research. Hua Nation then announced a sixty-two-minute magnetic confinement experiment, provoking global shock and an ITER Project accusation against Dan Xing, while Mark checked on human experiments at Neural Network Company.

• Luo Yao told the Education Department that Little Moss would teach AI Materials Science, and East University of Technology and Tsinghua University were selected for the pilot.
• Wei Sha and the researchers used Artificial Intelligence to determine an optimal First Wall material toughening-agent formula, but Luo Yao warned them that a paper about the breakthrough might not be publishable.
• Hua Nation announced that Luo Yao's team had completed a sixty-two-minute magnetic confinement experiment, prompting skepticism and alarm from researchers in Ugly Nation.
• Noah accused Dan Xing of concealing key experimental data, and the ITER Project publicly condemned Dan Xing; Hua Nation's public instead praised him and blamed Luo Yao for the fallout.
• Mark visited Neural Network Company's basement laboratory, where he was told Test Subject No. 1 was doing well, and asked about the meteorite.

Luo Yao reviewed the Qinshan fusion demonstration reactor’s safety and construction plans, then returned to the Southwest Institute of Physics to work on its liquid lithium neutron recovery system. When the Nobel Prize Committee demanded papers or experimental data to support a nomination, Luo Yao challenged their competence and answered Dean Fuhe’s condemnation by saying researchers did have borders.

• On the flight to Qinshan, Luo Yao learned from Zheng Yang that tests had found unusual, highly ordered structures in the meteorite, while the investigation into whether more such meteorites existed had made no progress.
• At the Qinshan No. 1 Nuclear Fusion Demonstration Reactor, Luo Yao identified design and safety problems in the construction plan and gave the engineers detailed improvements to implement.
• Professor Chen and the engineers accepted Luo Yao’s requirements, divided the work among themselves, and resolved to make their reactor a global benchmark.
• Dean Fuhe and other Nobel Prize officials debated whether to nominate Luo Yao, then decided they needed papers or verified experimental data before considering him.
• After the committee publicly asked Luo Yao to provide evidence, he questioned whether its members could understand his work and redirected attention to the Apollo Moon landing.
• Fuhe condemned Luo Yao for lacking scientific spirit, and Luo Yao replied that science knew no borders, but researchers did, and that the committee had no right to tell him what to do.

Public doubts about Ugly Nation’s Apollo Moon landing grew after Googol’s AI identified its lunar photographs as fake, while Hua Nation quietly advanced its nuclear fusion project. A year and a half later, Ugly Nation’s lunar probe tipped over during its livestreamed landing, just as news broke that Hua Nation’s fusion reactor was nearing completion.

• Bill refused to answer questions about the Apollo Moon landing and pressured Googol to retract its AI’s finding, but Googol stood by its result.
• At a restaurant near Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, Oleg and Viktor speculated about a secret nuclear fusion project, while Xiao Li refused to pry into it.
• Wei Sha and the Southwest Institute of Physics team completed their experimental reactor tests and solved the First Wall material problem, then sent their technical documents to the Qinshan No. 1 Nuclear fusion project team.
• A year and a half later, Luo Yao watched Ugly Nation’s lunar probe launch and then saw it topple over during its landing on the Moon.
• NASA failed to right the probe and scrambled to limit the damage as Hua Nation announced that construction of its nuclear fusion reactor had entered its final phase.

After Hua Nation announced its nuclear fusion demonstration reactor, global energy markets plunged while Luo Yao focused on developing a smaller Tokamak Device. The reactor passed inspection and received approval for an ignition test, prompting rival nations to demand access to Hua Nation's technology under the pretext of safety.

• Noah reassured reporters that the Ugly Nation might build its own demonstration reactor, then faced furious superiors who demanded to know why he had missed Hua Nation's lead in fusion technology.
• Global energy futures and stock markets collapsed after Hua Nation's announcement, while Luo Yao asked Zheng Yang to find an expert in Magnetic Reconnection to help with a compact Tokamak design.
• Noah told Mol National Laboratory to begin building a demonstration reactor within a year despite its unresolved experimental-reactor problems, and Oakes questioned whether the order meant faking progress.
• Old Zhou approved an ignition test after the Qinshan No. 1 demonstration reactor passed inspection, and the project team prepared to keep the test plans quiet.
• Barnett and representatives from other N7 projects agreed to demand an inspection of Luo Yao's technology, then issued an open letter that sparked public calls for disclosure and a defense of the Hua Nation project.

As N7 pressured Hua Nation to disclose its nuclear fusion technology, Luo Yao arranged a live broadcast of the Qinshan demonstration reactor’s New Year’s Eve ignition. He pressed the ignition button, and high-temperature plasma began circulating as the test started.

• Scientists and experts countered rumors about nuclear fusion, while the Qinshan team continued preparing for ignition despite mounting public pressure.
• Xu Shiwei stalled Yamashita and Barnett as they demanded access to Hua Nation’s technology, and he learned that ignition was scheduled for that night.
• Luo Yao asked Zheng Yang to broadcast the ignition during the Spring Festival Gala, and Old Zhou arranged the last-minute program change and called departments in to work overnight.
• Xu Shiwei invited Barnett and the N7 representatives to watch the Spring Festival Gala while the Qinshan team completed its pre-ignition checks.
• Luo Yao pressed the ignition button, and high-temperature plasma began coursing through the demonstration reactor’s ring-shaped pipes.

Luo Yao’s fusion reactor sustained a two-hundred-million-degree reaction, discharged electricity, and was declared to have a power gain factor above 10. In a televised interview, he outlined the reactor’s technical advantages and left foreign observers confronting Hua Nation’s lead in fusion technology.

• Fusion Reactor No. 1 reached two hundred million degrees, operated normally, and produced a discharge output of 6,000 watts before entering its cooling period.
• After viewers demanded more coverage, Luo Yao agreed to livestream the experiment, while Xu Shiwei promised a public explanation the following morning.
• Foreign officials questioned the experiment and speculated that its power gain factor would be too low for commercial use, while foreign media spread claims that it was fake or harmful.
• At the televised interview, Luo Yao said the reactor was at the world’s forefront and described its First Wall material, remote assembly system, rapid construction, and power gain factor above 10.
• Luo Yao projected that ten days of operation would generate more than 600,000 kilowatts of power.

After Hua Nation announced its successful nuclear fusion experiment, Luo Yao proposed using lunar helium-3 to expand fusion power and laid out plans for a lunar station and automated mining. The new Nuclear Fusion Association was announced three days later, and White Elephant immediately asked Dan Xing to get Academician Luo’s help with its failing reactor equipment.

• People across Hua Nation celebrated the fusion breakthrough and shared Qinshan No. 1’s radiation, air-quality, and water-quality reports.
• Barnett questioned Hua Nation’s reported figures, while the president of Ugly Nation blamed Noah for Hua Nation’s withdrawal from ITER and dismissed him as chairman.
• Zheng Yang took Luo Yao to the Military Research Institute to rest, but Luo Yao instead studied astronomy and attended a meeting with Old Zhou and the project experts.
• Luo Yao rejected a proposal to make him president of a Nuclear Fusion Technology Association and proposed a lunar helium-3 research team, a lunar space station, robotic mining, and improved spacecraft power sources.
• Three days after Hua Nation announced the association, White Elephant asked Dan Xing to have Academician Luo inspect its faulty Dewar vessel and thermal insulation.

Professor Galava traveled to Hua Nation to seek Luo Yao’s Controllable Nuclear Fusion Technology, but Luo Yao refused and offered only the choice of buying fusion electricity. As foreign energy producers reacted to the threat of falling fossil-fuel demand, environmental experts accused Luo Yao’s project of worsening global warming, leaving him to face a new wave of criticism.

• Professor Galava watched Luo Yao’s interview, concluded the White Elephant people’s Stellarator research was misguided, and traveled with his team to meet Luo Yao.
• Dan Xing arranged an online meeting between Galava and Luo Yao, who criticized the Stellarator’s unresolved confinement problem and refused to share his team’s technology.
• Luo Yao told Galava that the White Elephant people could buy fusion electricity, and Galava returned home to report the refusal.
• Valoja rejected an assassination proposal, considered expanding domestic fusion research, and gave the research team a year to show progress before cooperating with Hua Nation.
• The oil alliance froze production and nearby small countries established power-grid cooperation with Luo Yao’s department, prompting energy-producing nations to condemn his project over alleged climate impacts.
• Luo Yao listened calmly as environmental experts from Ugly Nation and other countries blamed his fusion project for global warming.

Luo Yao proposed creating Luo's Research Society to connect research with industry and put Qinshan No. 1 Demonstration Reactor Project personnel to work developing technologies such as a spherical Tokamak Device. After the society gained official approval and drew attention across academia, Academician Shu asked Luo Yao to lead the lunar space station project, but Luo Yao refused.

• Luo Yao defended controllable nuclear fusion against environmental experts' claims that it would cause thermal pollution.
• At the commendation meeting, Luo Yao proposed transferring Qinshan project personnel to overseas power-grid work and establishing an industry-research organization to develop and apply advanced technologies.
• The top leader approved Luo Yao's proposal, named the organization Luo's Research Society, and appointed Luo Yao to lead it with assistance.
• Ye Yan joined Luo Yao, revised personnel lists with help from Little Moss, and arranged Qinshan project members for overseas power-grid projects and the new society.
• Luo's Research Society became a subject of debate among professors and researchers, while its early members attracted envy and interest from potential recruits.
• Academician Shu told Luo Yao that the lunar space station project had been scheduled and asked him to lead its deep-space technical team, but Luo Yao refused.

Luo Yao attended a meeting at Capital Aerospace University where the government announced policies to open the aerospace industry to private companies and prepare for lunar mining. He discovered Academician Shu had used his reputation to build support for a crewed lunar landing within five years, and learned the project had received 1.5 trillion yuan in funding.

• Luo Yao arrived at Capital Aerospace University in the White Emperor fighter and joined a meeting attended by entrepreneurs and officials.
• The meeting announced that private enterprises could enter the aerospace industry, receive tax reductions for investing in Luo's Research Society projects, and apply to establish lunar mining companies.
• Academician Shu explained that the government wanted to secure lunar resources after the Nuclear fusion breakthrough, and the host promised a crewed lunar landing and the first lunar space station within five years.
• Luo Yao realized Academician Shu had used his name to promote the lunar landing plan, but Academician Shu said the project needed him as an engineer.
• Academician Shu rejected propellantless thrusters in favor of improving the Hall thruster and presented plans for a lunar space station.
• Luo Yao learned the lunar landing project had received 1.5 trillion yuan in funding, which Academician Shu attributed to his team's contributions.

Luo Yao designed a lunar mining robot while his household cleaning robot caused a panic at the research institute before everyone realized it was harmless. After Luo Yao visited the new controlled nuclear fusion miniaturization institute, overseas automakers feared his technology would make them obsolete, and Lone Star State residents began to react.

• Luo Yao considered the machines needed to mine the Moon and designed a corgi-shaped, all-terrain robot for transporting lunar resources.
• Luo Yao gave Yu Ji a household cleaning robot, which kept cleaning after Yu Ji left and frightened people in the dormitory until Yu Ji switched it off.
• Zheng Yang learned Luo Yao had given Yu Ji the robot, requested more for the institute, and Luo Yao sent another to his parents.
• Luo Yao visited the Controlled Nuclear Fusion Miniaturization Institute, prompting speculation about a new fusion project and panic among overseas automakers.
• Luo Yao heard that people had nicknamed him the Economic Killer and protested that the automakers' troubles were not his fault, while Lone Star State residents began to stir.

Fan Dedong brought Allen’s proposal for a nuclear fusion power project in Lone Star State to Luo Yao, who saw an opportunity to enter the Ugly Nation market. Luo Yao also redirected the miniaturized reactor team toward AI-assisted plasma control and hinted that he had a plan to sell flying cars in the Ugly Nation, leaving Wang Ye uncertain how he would do it.

• Allen asked Fan Dedong to cooperate on solving Lone Star State’s frequent power outages by building a miniaturized nuclear fusion reactor there, and Fan Dedong went to consult Luo Yao.
• Luo Yao recognized that the proposal could open the Ugly Nation market but said they should wait for progress on miniaturization before replying to Allen.
• At the research institute, Luo Yao told Director Guo to use Artificial Intelligence to learn plasma behavior and build a control model for Magnetic Reconnection experiments.
• Director Guo persuaded Old Mo to join the institute by telling him Luo Yao was leading research on a miniaturized nuclear fusion reactor, and Old Mo agreed to come.
• Wang Ye told Luo Yao that flying car sales had stalled at home and abroad, and Luo Yao said he planned to target the Ugly Nation market without lowering prices.

After Hua Nation’s fusion power transformed daily life and industry, the Nobel committee added Luo Yao to its preliminary Physics Prize list while Ugly Nation tried to block his cooperation with Lone Star State and rallied thirty countries for a lunar program. At the Compact Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research Institute, Luo Yao learned that faulty reactor-chamber machining had stalled experiments, and he asked Little Moss to find a supplier of advanced six-axis machine tools.

• Zhejiang Province began using fusion electricity, and the Nobel committee placed Luo Yao on its preliminary Physics Prize candidate list.
• Officials in Ugly Nation ordered efforts to stop Lone Star State from cooperating with Luo Yao and announced the thirty-country Artemis lunar program.
• Researchers at the Compact Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research Institute found that an uneven reactor-chamber wall was disrupting plasma movement after Little Moss analyzed the apparatus.
• Luo Yao visited the institute and learned that domestic six-axis machine tools lacked sufficient precision while foreign equipment was restricted.
• Luo Yao asked Little Moss to identify manufacturers of advanced six-axis machine tools and how to order from them.

Lawrence ordered heightened surveillance of high-end machine tools to obstruct Luo Yao’s fusion research, but Little Moss secretly acquired three machines and had them shipped to the capital. Luo Yao and Director Guo headed to customs to collect them, where someone was waiting to see Luo Yao.

• Lawrence ordered the CIA to place Hans, Gaul, Nihon, and the homeland under Level One alert and investigate machine-tool shipments.
• Little Moss, posing as Xiao Taixian, asked Somali pirate Roberts to hijack a cargo ship, then arranged for three six-axis machine tools through shell companies.
• CIA agents Dick and Green investigated a suspicious order tied to a fake factory in Kimchi Country, while the three machines arrived at Capital Customs aboard White Emperor fighters.
• Yang Li and Ding Xiangyong inspected the machines at customs and hoped to buy one, but neither company had ordered them.
• Little Moss told Luo Yao and Director Guo that she had ordered the machines and erased the online traces; customs asked Luo Yao to complete the paperwork and said someone was looking for him.
• Luo Yao and Director Guo set off for Capital Customs.

Luo Yao refused to sell a six-axis high-precision machine tool, then proposed a supported trial with a machine tool company after learning why the industry lacked high-end equipment. Little Moss proved she could operate the imported machines by producing a flawless S test piece, and Luo Yao left the prospective partners questioning whether he would truly help them.

• Ding Xiangyong and Yang Li asked Luo Yao to sell them a six-axis high-precision machine tool, but he refused and challenged their account of why their company lacked official support.
• Luo Yao called Dan Xing, who explained that machine tool companies prioritized profits over high-end research, and Luo Yao proposed selecting one company for a supported trial.
• Ding Xiangyong and Yang Li volunteered their companies for the trial, so Luo Yao asked them to send their best engineers to operate his three machine tools.
• After the engineers discovered the machines lacked CNC systems, Little Moss remotely controlled one and produced an S test piece that the Qin Machine engineer judged exceptionally precise.
• Yang Li asked Luo Yao to explain how Little Moss operated the machines, and Luo Yao replied, “Why do you think I'd step in if I worked with you?”

Luo Yao brought Qin Machine and Sheng Machine into a machine-tool project, planned a national quantum-computing center with safeguards for Little Moss, and learned that the small nuclear-fusion device had succeeded. When Yu Xuechao called to discuss the still-incomplete Hall thruster, Luo Yao revealed that his team had already finished the miniaturized fusion device.

• Luo Yao agreed to let Little Moss assist Qin Machine and Sheng Machine and included both companies in a Luo's Research Society project.
• Luo Yao proposed a nationwide quantum-computing center, and the Refined Man and Old Zhou decided to supervise Little Moss; Luo Yao said he had already designed a supervisory interface.
• Luo Yao explained that high-precision machine tools were essential for manufacturing lunar-project equipment, while Dick learned that the machine tools shipped to Hua Nation lacked the required CNC software.
• Director Guo told Luo Yao that the small nuclear-fusion device had met its design requirements and produced stable plasma.
• At Institute 801, Yu Xuechao learned from Luo Yao that the miniaturized nuclear-fusion device was already complete, while his team had yet to build a Hall thruster prototype.

Luo Yao urged Institute 801 to finish its Hall thruster improvements while refusing to lend his research team to an aircraft-carrier project, offering technical exchanges instead. To conceal the institute’s fusion breakthrough, he announced a false failure; after receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics Special Honor, he declined to attend the dinner in person and proposed joining by holographic projection.

• Yu Xuechao promised Luo Yao that Institute 801 would complete its Hall thruster improvement plan within three months and ordered full-staff overtime.
• General Manager Jiang asked Luo Yao to second researchers for an aircraft-carrier power project, but Luo Yao offered technical exchanges and collaborative research instead.
• Old Zhou warned General Manager Jiang to keep the fusion miniaturization breakthrough secret and approved the naval team’s cooperation with Luo Yao’s institute.
• Luo Yao and Director Guo agreed to announce that the miniaturized controlled Nuclear fusion research had failed, and Old Zhou approved their plan.
• Luo Yao ignored concerned messages after the false failure report spread and had Little Moss reply to them.
• A Nobel Prize representative told Luo Yao he had received the Physics Special Honor; Luo Yao refused to attend in person and proposed appearing through a holographic projection.

Luo Yao refused to attend the Nobel Prize banquet in person, so the committee agreed to let him appear as a hologram. At the ceremony, he accepted the Physics Prize and bluntly urged older scientists to keep working, leaving the hall and online viewers debating his remarks as the banquet began.

• Luo Yao rejected the hotel, ceremony, and banquet arrangements, agreeing to attend only by holographic projection using his own equipment.
• Dan Xing sent Yu Ji and twelve security guards to Stockholm with the holographic equipment, which Yu Ji connected to the Quantum Satellites network.
• Dean Fuhe praised Luo Yao’s achievements in controllable nuclear fusion before announcing him as the Physics Prize winner.
• Yu Ji activated the projection, and Luo Yao appeared onstage to receive his award from the King of Sweden.
• Luo Yao told the scientists he hoped they would catch up to him and challenged them not to retire, prompting awkward reactions and heated online debate.
• The King steered the audience into applause, and the guests went to City Hall for the banquet.