Another Spring Festival passed in the blink of an eye, and scattered green buds appeared on the branches.
Early spring was supposed to be a season of renewal, yet a stagnant tension hung over the Nuclear Testing Laboratory at Primordial Base.
At three in the morning, the cold light from the dome was especially harsh. Ji Ting stood before the holographic simulation table, watching the plasma model flicker in the three-dimensional projection, his knuckles resting unconsciously against the metal console.
"Chief Engineer." Academician Wang drew a deep breath and looked up at him. "Why won't you let us try?"
Ji Ting did not look at him. His tone was decidedly cold. "Because your parameters still aren't optimized enough."
"I guarantee we can optimize this parameter by another 17.3%." The hem of Academician Cao Hengzhi's white coat brushed a floor sensor, and a spiral magnetohydrodynamic model bloomed across the holographic screen. "Look here-"
His age-spotted fingers swiped open the algorithm layer, and his words came faster. "If we use a dynamic topology, we can reduce the superconducting ring's charging time to seven minutes!"
Ji Ting stared at the fluctuating confinement-field values in the projection, almost seeing again the ring-shaped fireball that had erupted when he was twenty-five. Thirty seconds before that explosion, the same magnetic-field topology parameters had been flashing before his eyes.
He understood the two academicians' frustration and urgency. They had found a shortcut to nuclear fusion, but that path led straight to the same fatal misconception he had fallen into in his previous life.
"Absolutely not." The resolve in Ji Ting's eyes hardened. "The risk of instantaneous overload in the superconducting material exceeds 78%. Electromagnetic topological distortion will destroy..."
"But we've already found a buffering solution!" Wang Tianyi slammed his data glove onto the quantum terminal, and calculation