Yangtze River Delta city group.

The headquarters of the AIIB.

After listening to the report on the other end of the video call, President Zhou, who was sitting in an office chair, thought for a moment, and said with a strange expression.

"Second Generation Controllable Fusion ... Are you sure this is his exact word?"

"I'm very sure," Zhong Ziyu nodded in the holographic screen, and continued in a gentle voice. "Although Academician Lu is not the most suitable candidate for the chairman, his proposal on the second-generation controllable fusion has really moved me. In the past half century, except for the transformation of East Asia Power from being strong to being bloated, there has been basically no substantial development. Although the second-generation controllable fusion sounds incredible, whether he can do it or not, I think it can at least be able to. Brings us something different. "

Forefinger touched gently on the table, Governor Zhou asked in a deep voice.

"What about risk?"

Zhong Ziyu continued: "The only risk is at the technical level, but even if the worst happens, it won't be too bad to be unacceptable."

There was a long silence in the office.

President Zhou, sitting at his desk, seemed to be lost in thought, and for a while did not speak a word.

After about five minutes, he finally raised his eyelids as if waking up, looked at Zhong Ziyu in the holographic window, and opened his mouth.

"You did a good job."

"Since the risks are acceptable, I will not hold you accountable."

"But you remember, keeping East Asia Power's shares independent is a prerequisite. If you find out that he intends to consolidate the shares of several companies he holds, and lobby other shareholders to complete the merger and reorganization ... you must stop him. "

Zhong Ziyu nodded slightly.

"I will do it."

The video call is over.

Zhou Hangchang, who hung up the phone, slightly loosened his shoulders and leaned back on the office chair.

Academician Lu Airborne Chairman of East Asia Power ...

And thrown on the board a second-generation controllable fusion technology such a blockbuster.

Although the risks are indeed controllable, things have progressed to this stage, and each step has exceeded his expectations.

"It's hard to say if it's a blessing or a curse ..."

He raised his index finger with a headache and pressed his eyebrows. He looked at the ceiling and said to himself, suddenly sitting upright from the office chair, his index finger slightly tapped at the corner of the desk.

The light blue holographic panel reappeared, and the videophone window opened again.

Looking at the smart assistant in the floating window, he said in a clear voice.

"Call the Pan-Asian Cooperation Headquarters."

"I have something important and I need to speak with Chairman Li."

...

For the pan-Asian people, this month is definitely the most ups and downs in the past two years.

First, flight n-177 was hijacked, the Tianzhou space station was written first, and then Academician Lu suddenly scammed. All members of the Pan-Asian Cooperation nationwide celebrated his return.

However, if there is anything that surprises the pan-Asian people more than Academician Lu's "resurrection", it is probably the second-generation controllable nuclear fusion project.

The old popsicle who woke up a century ago entered the forefront of academia as soon as he woke up, and the challenge was still the insurmountable nature of the second-generation controlled nuclear fusion ...

After hearing this news, many people reacted aggressively.

As for the second reaction, it was still aggressive ...

The gossip section of the lspm forum.

As the only academic exchange zone without a threshold, most of the discussions here are non-professional science enthusiasts, or students studying in first- and second-tier universities.

Because of the huge population of Pan-Asian cooperation, even if the forum itself is small, the daily traffic is not small.

As an academic exchange platform designed by Academician Lu at the time, this topic naturally cannot bypass the academic paradise on the Internet, lspm.

Almost immediately after the news was announced, the voice of the discussion occupied the whole gossip section. Some people talk about gossip and gossip, and others discuss academic issues.

But no matter what is being discussed, people's emotions are highly consistent ...

"Second Generation Controlled Nuclear Fusion? He's not kidding me?"

"Don't the chief engineer of East Asia Electric Power just say in a lecture at Jinling University some time ago? We are at least 50 years behind the realization of the second-generation controlled nuclear fusion!"

"Fifty years ... If you count back to the time when Academician Lu was dormant, it would be 150 years for him."

"It can't be counted like this ... After all, for the evil spirit like Academician Lu, it shouldn't be a big deal to make the 100-year-old technology transparent. After all, when Pangudui was on fire, he was the chief designer. No one knows the core design process better than him! "

"It's hard to say! It's been 100 years, and his design idea was out of date!"

"But the smart brain is not out of date, at least I am still looking forward to it!"

It's not just ordinary people who talk about this matter, but also scholars who are engaged in research in this field, or more straightforwardly.

As soon as East Asia Power announced the establishment of the second-generation controllable fusion project, and the news that Academician Lu personally acted as the project's principal was announced, a large number of "second-generation controllable fusion" appeared in the virtual discussion group of the lspm forum. , "Academician Lu as Chairman of East Asia Power" and other news related entries.

Especially with regard to the feasibility of the second-generation controllable fusion technology, people with different views argued that if it weren't for the fact that they were almost facing each other across the network cable, in the end, many people would even go to the game.

In view of the extensive discussion triggered by this incident, the Scientific Section of Pan-Asia Television immediately recorded a program following the current events and invited a heavyweight guest.

This guest was not Lu Zhou himself, but Academician Zhang Feiyue, the top expert in contemporary controllable fusion technology research field and director of the Institute of Nuclear Engineering of the Advanced Research Institute!

As far as the theory is concerned, even the chief engineer of East Asia Power is not as good as his understanding of controlled fusion technology.

"Hello Academician Zhang!"

Nodding to this polite greeting, Academician Zhang said with a smile.

"Hello host."

Moderator: "With regard to the recent proposal by Academician Lu to make the second-generation controllable fusion technology a key development direction of East Asia Power in the next five years, how do you think about this?"

"It's hard to say ..." After touching the scum on his chin, Academician Zhang thought for a moment, and responded to the host with a friendly smile, "I don't understand the economics, so let me know."

The host nodded and said earnestly.

"Please tell me!"

"The second-generation controllable nuclear fusion is not only one order of magnitude higher than the latter in the amount of energy compared to the first-generation controllable fusion, but the costs between the two are also drastically different."

Moderator: "Can you say more popular?"

Academician Zhang smiled and said.

"Let ’s say that, regardless of design differences, there are a total of 37 fusion reactors using first-generation controllable fusion technology, as well as dozens of deuterium and tritium refining stations and hundreds of hydrogen storage stations. . And the maintenance costs that East Asia Power pays for this each year exceed 7 billion credit points, accounting for 40% of the total operating costs. "

"And if the second-generation controllable fusion technology is used, not only one fusion reactor will be needed, but these 37 fusion reactors with first-generation technology will be replaced, and even there will be a lot of energy."

Hearing this intuitive metaphor, the expression on the host's face changed instantly.

Can the power generation of a second-generation fusion reactor be equal to 37 first-generation fusion reactors? !!

This is not just great!

It ’s so special! ?

Swallowing nervously, the host asked in a trembling tone.

"Really ... is there such an exaggeration?"

"It is not an exaggeration. The second-generation controllable fusion technology is the same as the first-generation controllable fusion technology with respect to nuclear fission power generation. The difference may be that there is no fusion between the two. That layer of window paper. "

Speaking of this, Academician Zhang's tone brought a touch of emotion.

"In fact, this is a trivial matter. The key is that the second-generation fusion technology can replace the relatively expensive plutonium with helium III, which is rich in the moon and not difficult to collect."

"If we want to go a little further and apply the second-generation fusion technology to the aerospace field, our starship will not only be more than twice as large as it is now, but also the fuel and range it can carry will increase by an order of magnitude."

"Even if it is conservatively estimated, our future will be dramatically changed by the birth of this technology!"

After listening to the amazing words in Academician Zhang's mouth, the host with shocked faces on his face forgot the words for a while.

He opened his mouth, and after a while, he swallowed.

"... What about the three generations of controlled fusion technology?"

"Three generations?" Academician Zhang stunned for a moment, then said with a smile, "It must be pure helium tri-fusion, two helium three atoms combine to form a helium atom and two protons ... and this is also in legend The perfect fusion formula. "

"However, it will be a long time after that thing is realized."

Because of Academician Zhang's speech, the discussion on the second-generation controllable fusion was pushed to a new peak.

Many papers have sprung up like mushrooms. From an academic perspective, they have begun to demonstrate the feasibility of technology and the expected cost of investment.

However, most of these papers are not optimistic.

From an emotional perspective, most people are willing to believe that Academician Lu, who once brought light to this land, will once again light up a larger torch.

But science is indifferent.

Sitting in his study, Lu Zhou took a sip of coffee from 2125, tapped the last punctuation mark on the holographic keyboard, and then instructed Xiao Ai to send the paper to the editorial department of Future.

Speaking of which, the last manuscript he submitted for "Future" is still a paper on the abc conjecture.

Every scene of discussing math problems with old friends, everything seems to have happened yesterday.

If you don't look at the calendar, Lu Zhou doesn't even feel at all. The last submission was 100 years ago ...

-

(People are in the epidemic area, the news is heavy, and the mood is depressed. I thought about two more chapters, but I drank too much fake wine for disinfection ... Hey, let me take a leave today and say sorry to my brothers and sisters. Can't live.)