"Screech..."
The sound of brakes interrupted Lu Hezheng's thoughts.
"Professor Lu, we're here!"
Du Zhen's voice came from the driver's seat.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Lu Hezheng looked out through the car window.
A cluster of hastily erected buildings stood before him on gravel-covered ground.
"This... this is the temporary research institute?"
Lu Hezheng's eyes widened slightly, disbelief written across his face.
Honestly, this was the most primitive laboratory he had ever seen, bar none!
In the driver's seat, Du Zhen scratched the back of his head and said with an awkward smile, "Professor Lu, we were pressed for time. This laboratory is already the best we could manage."
"Anyway, let me take you to see Professor Lü first!"
Lu Hezheng followed Du Zhen to the entrance of a makeshift sheet-metal building.
"Professor Lu, Professor Lü is inside. I won't be joining you."
After speaking to Lu Hezheng with a smile, Du Zhen turned and left.
Looking at the utterly rudimentary sheet-metal building, Lu Hezheng took a deep breath and stepped inside.
The moment he entered, Lu Hezheng saw a young man in his twenties sitting behind a desk with a serious expression, pen in hand, his head bent over whatever he was writing and sketching.
Although the young man's face looked somewhat youthful, Lu Hezheng sensed an air about him that seemed entirely at odds with his appearance.
He had only ever seen that air in the leading scientists hailed as pillars of the nation!
Although he had never met Lü Yongchang in person, at that moment, Lu Hezheng was absolutely certain that the young man before him was Professor Lü Yongchang, who had single-handedly advanced nuclear fusion!
Perhaps having heard something, Lü Yongchang slowly lifted his head from his work.
His eyes brightened slightly when he saw Lu Hezheng. He quickly set down his pen and stood to greet him. "Professor Lu, please, have a seat!"
Lu Hezheng froze for a moment. "Professor Lü... you know me?"
Lü Yongchang waved a hand with a cheerful smile. "Don't call me that. I haven't even graduated yet!"
Lu Hezheng: "..."
Seeing Lu Hezheng's expression, as though he had just swallowed something foul, Lü Yongchang's smile widened. "Just kidding."
"Professor Lu, I've read your file. At Capital City University of Science and Technology, you were responsible for temperature control in the Tokamak Device, correct?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Lu Hezheng's eyes.
He had never expected Lü Yongchang, the Chief Engineer of the nuclear Fusion Demonstration Reactor, to remember his details so clearly!
Meeting Lü Yongchang's gaze, Lu Hezheng hurriedly nodded. "That's right!"
"Then how about taking charge of research in that same area for the Demonstration Reactor?"
Hearing Lü Yongchang's proposal, Lu Hezheng looked hesitant. "Professor Lü, my previous research was on the Tokamak Device, after all. I haven't studied the Stellarator in much depth. Would that... really be all right?"
On his way here, Lu Hezheng had truly come to understand just how much importance Xia Country placed on the Fusion Demonstration Reactor.
Because of that, a trace of apprehension had crept into his heart.
If a mistake of his caused some serious problem with the Fusion Demonstration Reactor, the consequences for him...
Lü Yongchang shook his head with a smile, his tone softening further. "Professor Lu, I don't think you need to worry about that."
"The temperature control module for the Stellarator is definitely easier to design than the one for the Tokamak Device."
"Besides, apart from you, ninety-five percent of the researchers at the temporary institute originally worked on the Tokamak Device."
Lü Yongchang's words put Lu Hezheng much more at ease.
After all, they had all researched tokamaks, so there could hardly be much of a gap between them!
"Then it's settled. As for your salary... we can offer you the highest rate, but there's one condition!"
At that point, Lü Yongchang's expression turned much more serious.
Lu Hezheng looked at him anxiously and asked quietly, "What... what is the requirement? As long as it isn't too unreasonable, I can accept it!"
Facing the remarkable man who had single-handedly advanced nuclear fusion, Lu Hezheng kept his manner very humble.
Lü Yongchang paused, then waved a hand with a smile. "It's nothing unreasonable."
"You'll simply need to cut off all communication with the outside world during the research."
"Until the Demonstration Reactor is truly complete."
Lu Hezheng let out a small breath of relief.
So that was all.
Ever since seeing so many military patrols on the way here, he had mentally prepared himself for this!
He nodded repeatedly. "Of course, of course! Don't worry, Professor Lü. I'll absolutely cooperate on that."
Lü Yongchang nodded in satisfaction. "In that case, go get some rest. We'll begin our research work tomorrow."
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, three months quietly slipped past.
As public interest waned, the number of viewers in Xia Country News's official Douyin livestream dropped by ninety percent.
Just as everyone had forgotten about the matter, Xia Country News's Weibo account quietly posted a news update.
"Congratulations on the completion of Xia Country's Canghai Bay Fusion Demonstration Reactor project!"
Boom!
With the release of that news, all of Xia Country erupted!
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!?"
"I'd completely forgotten about this... can someone do the math and check whether it's been three months?"
"I just checked. Exactly ninety days. If you count the two months with thirty-one days... they actually finished construction two days early!"
"I find that hard to believe... could a project this huge really be completed in ninety days? Won't there be quality issues later?"
"What's the commenter above so bitter about? Xia Country News streamed the construction process around the clock on Douyin for the past three months, and you still don't believe it?"
That comment instantly reminded everyone following the drama on Weibo!
Within just a few minutes, hundreds of thousands of viewers flooded into Xia Country News's Douyin livestream!
On camera, four enormous hemispherical buildings gleamed silver-white in the sunlight!
After a brief silence, countless comments swept across the screen!
"Holy shit! That looks awesome!"
"What can we see from this far away? Can you move the camera closer?"
"??? I suggest a thorough investigation of the guy above. I suspect he's a foreign spy hiding among us, worth a five-hundred-thousand bounty!"
"Anyway, is this Fusion Reactor just going to be called the Canghai Bay Fusion Reactor? Shouldn't it have a name with some meaning?"
"Exactly! We demand an online naming contest for the Fusion Reactor!"
"Naming contest +1!"
"..."
In an instant, the livestream chat went completely off track.
Looking at the screen full of suggestions to hold a naming contest for the Fusion Demonstration Reactor, the person in charge of Xia Country News's official account sought approval from the higher-ups, then published a Weibo post.
"An online naming contest for Xia Country's Canghai Bay Fusion Demonstration Reactor!"
Perhaps because Weibo's staff had underestimated the enthusiasm of Xia Country's people, the site even suffered a brief outage within minutes!
Once Weibo's servers resumed normal operation, countless bizarre names appeared in the comments beneath the naming contest post.
Hou Yi, Phoenix...
Those names were relatively normal.
SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star...
To no one's surprise, those outlandish names received the most likes.
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