Chapter 882
How far are humans from room temperature superconductivity? Just one step away?
That evening, after Wang Donglai finished his work, Wa immediately reported on the situation regarding public opinion.
"Lin Xiaoyu's videos have garnered over 3.7 million views across the internet, with a total of over 240 million comments."
"Positive reviews accounted for 62%, neutral reviews for 28%, and negative reviews for 10%."
"Negative reviews mainly focus on the 'personal responsibility theory' and the 'Galaxy Technology marketing theory'."
Wang Donglai remained calm and asked, "What about the victims' families?"
"There were over 17 related messages. Among them, 13% provided specific information about the missing person, 21% expressed a desire for help, and the rest were emotional venting or experience sharing."
"According to semantic analysis, about 3400 messages describing missing persons match the characteristics of those lured into the telecom fraud park. This information has been recorded and will be integrated and transferred to relevant departments later."
Wang Donglai nodded and said, "We need to distinguish whether they were tricked into going in, or whether they knowingly went in because of greed despite knowing it was illegal."
"The former deserves pity, while the latter is just reaping what he sowed."
"It is crucial to distinguish this point clearly: those who go to the park with the intention of making a quick buck are also accomplices."
In my past life, this point was deliberately ignored online.
Everyone who went to the Shan State Industrial Park said they were scammed.
In reality, some people were indeed tricked into going, but most were driven by the desire to make money, knowing it was illegal but still going anyway.
It's important to know that very few people in those parks have proper exit records.
If someone doesn't leave the country legally, they can generally be identified as a gambler.
They weren't scammed; they were gamblers who actively pursued their get-rich-quick dreams.
Of course, this is also because most of these people come from rural areas and small cities in China, generally have low levels of education, cannot find stable jobs in China, face great pressure in life, and harbor fantasies of getting rich overnight.
Because of their lack of skills, they are often unwilling to accept low-paying manual labor jobs in China. Therefore, the so-called "high-paying" jobs offered by telecom fraud companies become the trigger for their risky behavior.
Wang Donglai was very familiar with this group of people.
Because he was like that in his previous life.
Born in the countryside, not even a top student in a small town, just a regular working-class person.
If you're unlucky, you might also be tricked into a 'high-paying' job in Shan State.
These thoughts crossed his mind, and Wang Donglai changed the subject, asking, "What's the reaction from the Shan State Industrial Park?"
"We detected a surge in communications related to the telecom fraud zone and intercepted 15 internal instructions involving 'Galaxy Technology.' All of these instructions required employees and their families associated with Galaxy Technology to avoid contact with them. Similar notices appeared in Wild Tiger Mountain Villa, KK Park, Diamond Park, and other similar locations."
Upon hearing this news, Wang Donglai immediately burst out laughing.
"I didn't expect them to be afraid?"
“From a semantic analysis perspective, it is ‘cautious avoidance’ rather than ‘proactive confrontation’.”
"Among them, the communication records of Liu, the person in charge of Jinlong Park, show that he believed that Galaxy Technology was 'not to be trifled with'."
Nuwa's voice remained calm as she reported her analysis.
"If we can't afford to offend them... then we won't."
"It seems there are still some smart ones among them; that rescue operation must have surprised them."
"How's Guo Xing doing?"
"The Ruili location is 70% complete, and the Chiang Mai location is 50% complete. Filming is expected to officially begin in mid-next month. The consultant team has recruited 7 survivors, 3 of whom have agreed to play themselves."
At the same time, specific information was also displayed on the computer screen in front of Wang Donglai.
Those scene descriptions, those excerpts of lines, those character settings... every single word was extracted from real cases.
"boss"
Wa suddenly said, "Lin Xiaoyu sent a message."
"read."
She said, "Mr. Wang, more than 30 family members of victims contacted me today, asking me how to report to the police, how to find clues, and how not to give up hope. I replied to each of them. Although I can't help them much, at least they know that someone has come back alive. Thank you for letting me stand up."
Wang Donglai thought for a moment and then said, "Reply to her: You helped her more than you think."
"Sent!"
Outside the window, the night was deepening.
In the distance, the construction site of the Tang Imperial City was still brightly lit, with the long arms of the tower cranes slowly turning, like giant pointers pointing to the future of the city.
"Wa, meet with Baili Xiu tomorrow. I need to discuss the Phase III data for the hepatitis B treatment with him in person."
"Recorded".
"Also, have Yang Anchao come over next week. He said it would take three months for the initial draft of the parallel configuration of the rocket engine, but I'll give him two weeks."
"Recorded".
……
Yinhe Technology Materials Research Institute, located in the eastern suburbs of Tangdu City.
At 11:47 p.m., on the third basement floor of Laboratory Building M-09, the numbers on the temperature display board remained motionless, as if nailed to a wall.
-
23.4 ℃
Error range: ±0.1℃
This number has remained stable for six hours.
Li Zhenhua stood in front of the main control panel, his hands braced on the edge of the console, his knuckles turning white from the force.
A thin layer of fog covered his glasses, but he didn't bother to wipe it off. His eyes were fixed on the silver-gray material floating in the cryogenic chamber, not blinking.
It was a palm-sized, thin slice, less than a millimeter thick, with a faint metallic sheen on its surface.
At this moment, it is suspended in the magnetic field, without any support or power, as if defying the laws of physics.
But it does not violate the laws of physics.
It simply proved another physical law—superconductivity.
Room temperature superconductivity.
No, it's not room temperature yet.
It is minus 23.4 degrees Celsius.
But this temperature is already eight degrees higher than it was a while ago.
Eight degrees means that Xirang's working environment has changed from "Antarctic research station" to "Harbin winter".
This means it's only one step away from true room temperature.
"Academician Li."
Someone called him softly from behind. It was Lao Zhou, the deputy director of the laboratory: "The data has been retested thirty-seven times and all of them passed. Would you like to take a break?"
Li Zhenhua did not answer.
He continued to stare at the document, his lips trembling slightly.
Forty-seven years have passed.
He started researching superconductivity at the age of 27 and is 74 years old this year.
Over the course of forty-seven years, he experienced countless hopes and disappointments, and witnessed countless breakthroughs and disproven claims.
When Bernolds and Müller discovered high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides in 1986, he was a visiting scholar at Princeton and witnessed that exciting moment firsthand.
But that was just "high temperature"—the temperature of liquid nitrogen, minus 196 degrees Celsius.
Later, he witnessed the formation of mercury barium copper oxide, thallium barium calcium copper oxide, mercury barium calcium copper oxide...
The critical temperature gradually increases, from liquid nitrogen to dry ice, and from dry ice to a mixture of ice and water.
But it was always more than 100 degrees below room temperature.
He thought he would never see room temperature superconductivity in his lifetime.
Even though he accepted Galaxy Technology's invitation to develop room temperature superconductivity, it was not only because of Galaxy Technology's respect for scientific research, but also because of Wang Donglai's extraordinary mathematical talent, and he came with the hope of a one-in-a-lifetime possibility.
When the results came in, it turned out that Wang Donglai hadn't participated in the initial research at all.
They relied entirely on their own experiments, and although Galaxy Technology provided generous R&D funding, the results were almost nonexistent, similar to those of the outside world.
With that spirit, their team persevered for a while.
Finally, when Wang Donglai came to inspect, he couldn't hold back any longer.
This became a turning point.
Wang Donglai refuted the impossibility of room-temperature superconducting materials on the spot, but that's not the most important thing.
Most importantly, Wang Donglai provided clear technical guidance and R&D solutions.
The best leader is one who can solve problems, and Wang Donglai is undoubtedly one of them.
Thinking about this...
Li Zhenhua felt his face flush red.
When Wang Donglai presented "Some Conjectures on Unconventional Electronic Coupling and Layered Heterogeneous Structure Design," he glanced at it and almost burst out laughing.
He was a young man in his early twenties, a PhD in mathematics, and had indeed proven several world-class problems, but materials science was a different field altogether—an "empirical science" that required decades of accumulation. He still remembers how he explained this to Wang Dong.
"Mr. Wang, your conjecture is too radical. Unconventional electron coupling and layered heterostructures are concepts in themselves, but the structure you designed simply cannot be fabricated using existing processes."
What did Wang Donglai say at the time?
"Academician Li, please give it a try first!"
Just this one sentence.
He tried.
After fewer than a hundred failures, he succeeded.
The Xirang-1 material was thus born out of nowhere.
"Academician Li?" Old Zhou called out again.
Li Zhenhua finally came to his senses.
He slowly straightened up, turned around, and looked at the group of young faces behind him who had also stayed up for three days and three nights.
Their eyes were bloodshot, but everyone stared at him wide-eyed, like prisoners awaiting sentencing.
"It's done!"
Li Zhenhua's voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself.
Then he repeated it, this time louder: "It's done!"
The laboratory was initially deathly silent.
Then, someone screamed first, and the entire third basement level erupted in cheers, cries, and applause.
Some people jumped together in a hug, some collapsed on the ground laughing, and some squatted in the corner crying silently.
Old Zhou took off his glasses and vigorously rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, rubbing them again and again.
Li Zhenhua did not move.
He stood there, looking at the group of young people, looking at the Xirang-2 still suspended in the cryogenic chamber, and his eyes slowly reddened.
From the Xirang-1 to the Xirang-2, how much time has passed, yet the research and development progress is so rapid.
How far are we from true room-temperature superconductivity?
It's practically right in front of me!
……
At 1:20 a.m., Wang Donglai walked into M-09, his pace quickening slightly.
When the security guards at the entrance saw him, they instinctively straightened their backs, their eyes filled with awe.
Wang Donglai nodded to them and walked straight into the elevator.
On the third basement level, the cheers had subsided.
Everyone stood at their posts, guarding the still-operating instruments, but each person had an undisguised excitement on their face, like soldiers who had just won a battle, tired but exhilarated.
"Everyone, take a break immediately. You'll have three days to catch up on your sleep. Also, the finance department will give each of you a vacation allowance of 10,000 yuan to treat yourselves."
"Come back to work after you've all rested."
"I'll come and celebrate with you then!"
Instead of rushing to look at the Xirang-2 material, Wang Donglai walked up to the crowd and spoke in a firm tone.
"There's one more thing."
"Academician Li Zhenhua did not strictly abide by the company's rules and regulations during the research team's work, resulting in your working overtime hours being excessively long. Therefore, I hereby announce that Li Zhenhua's salary will be deducted for six months."
The crowd, who had been cheering because of Wang Donglai's words, immediately fell silent.
No one expected Wang Donglai to actually do that.
For a moment, everyone was eager to speak up and plead for Li Zhenhua.
"Of course, Professor Li Zhenhua, as the leader, deserves great credit for the project's breakthrough."
"I hereby announce that the group will distribute a key project R&D bonus of 100 million yuan, which will be divided equally among the R&D teams according to their contributions."
Upon hearing this, cheers erupted once again, and everyone's faces showed excitement and anticipation.
While everyone was still excited, Wang Donglai had already arrived at Li Zhenhua's side.
Li Zhenhua, on the other hand, remained calm, seemingly unaffected by Wang Donglai's deduction of half a year's salary and the equal distribution of the 100 million yuan bonus.
"Mr. Wang, when I first read your conjecture, I thought you were talking nonsense."
Wang Donglai chuckled softly. He knew that Li Zhenhua wasn't simply reminiscing when he brought this up, so he followed up by asking, "And then?"
"Later I realized that I was the one who was talking nonsense."
Li Zhenhua shook his head, saying with a hint of frustration, "I never thought of that layered structure you designed in my entire life, and I only understand half of the electronic coupling mechanism you mentioned now."
At this point, Li Zhenhua paused and asked seriously, "Mr. Wang, you're not a materials scientist, how did you come up with these ideas?"
Wang Donglai paused for a moment.
How did you come up with that idea?
He recalled those papers on room temperature superconductivity from his previous life, those breakthroughs that were both true and false, and the excitement of those that were ultimately proven false.
LK-99, lutetium nitrogen hydrogen, drives the world crazy every time, and always ends in defeat.
But those failures hold the real clues.
He knows which paths are blocked.
"Just a guess!"
Li Zhenhua was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"A guess? Mr. Wang, your guess has uncovered something that humanity hasn't been able to figure out in seventy years."
Wang Donglai did not respond.
He looked at the piece of "breathing soil" and asked a question: "Academician Li, how much do you think this material is worth?"
Li Zhenhua's laughter stopped abruptly.
He frowned and thought for a long time, then shook his head.
"Mr. Wang, this cannot be measured in money."
"This is room temperature superconductivity. Even if it is only 'preliminary' or 'incomplete,' as long as the critical temperature can be stabilized at minus 23 degrees Celsius, it is something that will change human civilization."
"Magnetic levitation trains consume zero energy, lossless power transmission to the grid becomes a reality, the difficulty of magnetic confinement of nuclear fusion devices has decreased by an order of magnitude, a new solution has been found for the decoherence problem of quantum computers, and the thermal barrier of spacecraft has been completely solved..."
He spoke faster and faster, and his eyes began to gleam.
"And then there's medicine! If we replace the MRI machine with the Xirang coil, its size can be reduced to one-tenth of its current size, the cost can be reduced to one-tenth, and the power can be doubled! The superconducting quantum interference device can be made portable, and high-end diagnostic technologies such as magnetoencephalography and magnetocardiography can be popularized in county-level hospitals!"
"And there's energy! The biggest bottleneck in controlled nuclear fusion tokamak devices is magnetic confinement. If we use soil as a superconducting magnet, the magnetic field strength can be increased by more than three times, which greatly eases the conditions for fusion ignition!"
"besides……"
He couldn't continue; his voice was trembling with emotion.
Wang Donglai listened quietly until the end.
Then he asked, "What if all these things were available to the whole world?"
Li Zhenhua was stunned.
"Can it be used worldwide?"
He repeated it to himself, saying matter-of-factly, "That...that's definitely a good thing."
"is it?"
Wang Donglai's voice was calm, but Li Zhenhua inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine.
He seemed to remember something, and his expression slowly changed.
"Mr. Wang, you mean..."
Wang Donglai did not answer directly.
He walked to the cryogenic chamber, reached out, and gently touched the suspended soil through the thick quartz glass.
“Academician Li, each of the applications you just mentioned can take human civilization a giant leap forward.”
"But we may not be the ones to take this step."
Li Zhenhua's breathing stopped for a moment.
"If the Bald Eagle Federation's aircraft carrier electromagnetic catapult system used the Breath of Earth coil, how much would its efficiency improve? If their sixth-generation fighter jet's superconducting motor used the Breath of Earth, how many times would its thrust-to-weight ratio increase? If their space-based weapon platforms used the Breath of Earth to solve their heat dissipation problem, how many more rounds could they fire?"
Wang Donglai's voice wasn't loud, but every word struck Li Zhenhua's heart like a hammer.
Have you thought about these things?
Li Zhenhua remained silent.
Of course he had thought about it.
As a veteran scientist who experienced the Cold War and witnessed the technological race, he understood better than anyone that any technology capable of changing human civilization would first be used to change warfare. (End of Chapter)