"Feed it!"
At Shen Le's command, the operators pulled the levers. The steel claws of the gantry crane slowly moved, letting out a dull creak.
The first piece of "Nine Provinces Metal"—the massive bolt screwed into China's first Yangtze River bridge during its original construction—hung above the Bronze Tripod under everyone's watchful eyes, then slowly descended.
"Drop it."
Shen Le gave the order softly. The button was pressed, the iron claws released their grip, and the heavy bolt fell half a foot into the tripod's belly.
Boom!
A thunderous sound rang out. Beneath the tripod's belly, the flames suddenly surged three feet high, their color shifting from deep red to blazing white.
Inside the tripod, the bolt quickly reddened and softened. Finally, it turned into a stream of molten gold-red liquid.
Rather than pooling on the bronze surface like ordinary molten steel, it began to change beneath the watch of professional infrared cameras and the worried gazes of the experts.
The liquid level gradually dropped. Inside the tripod's belly, the churning metal visibly diminished.
Meanwhile, a steel-white sheen lit up across the inner surface of the tripod, swiftly seeping into the golden bronze walls.
On the screen, the Bronze Tripod trembled slightly, and a faint halo spread across its surface.
Among the ancient mountain and river patterns on the tripod, the line representing the Yangtze River suddenly lit up. "It worked!"
The metallurgy expert who had kept saying, "I can't handle this," and "Don't come looking for me," yet had insisted on coming to watch, leaped up excitedly. "It fused! Steel and bronze really fused together! It isn't forming an alloy, but it's fusing—"
The people beside him hurriedly grabbed hold of him, preventing him from charging into the fire in his excitement.
Above the sinkhole, the feeding operation continued