Chapter 165: Technological Feedback
Jubian went offline to go to work and found his superior had arrived even earlier than him, smiling as he waited by his workstation.
“Xiao Li, put aside your current work for today and come with me to a meeting.”
“A meeting? Is it important?”
“Very important! It's organized by the higher-ups, and you'll represent our institute as the main speaker. The venue is—”
Hearing the venue address, Jubian's heart skipped a beat.
He had previously followed the senior leader there a few times to report on major scientific research progress; the guard post had an entire squad.
Upon arriving at the venue, his first impression was that the room was exceptionally spacious but also very dim, with all windows covered by very thick, specially made curtains.
These curtains could prevent laser eavesdropping, meaning the meeting content must be top secret.
Attendees arrived one after another, and Jubian found his nameplate at the conference table, sitting in the back, his heart pounding.
He saw many industry experts and bigwigs who could only observe this meeting.
And in front of him, a microphone was already prepared.
A senior colonel spoke first, emphasizing confidentiality.
Subsequently, under the chairmanship of an attendee with two stars on his shoulder, the meeting officially began.
The content to be discussed today was clear.
Given the preliminary verification that a series of future technologies in the online game “Li Star” are feasible, the current aerospace technology development path is no longer applicable.
From a higher perspective, the significance of the aerospace industry to the entire society, nation, and even civilization has completely changed. Annual funding will increase hundreds or thousands of times, and its proportion of GDP will likely soon exceed military spending.
Human civilization is about to undergo a leap forward.
And the nation that first completes this technological revolution will hold absolute international discourse power.
“Of course, these are things to be discussed at higher-level meetings,” the meeting host said.
“Today, we will mainly talk about technical matters. Li Shen, Doctor, how much of the aerospace technology in the game do you think we can draw upon?”
Goodness, they're asking me right away.
As gazes converged, Jubian cleared his throat.
“Ahem, in terms of materials and craftsmanship, it's indeed very much worth learning from. Currently, we can only build cylindrical pressure cabins for spacecraft, which is very primitive. However, after applying the technology from ‘Li Star,’ stress problems are resolved, and cabin shapes can be designed freely. This is very beneficial for constructing large ships and space stations, as well as extraterrestrial settlements.”
Let's talk about something less important first, to gauge the situation.
“Hmm, speaking of extraterrestrial settlements, I see that your hydrogen-3 mine in the game has very complete technology. Do you think we have the conditions to directly replicate it?”
An old aerospace expert asked with a smile.
Jubian understood.
Indeed, these people were here for nuclear fusion technology!
He rephrased his words.
“I believe that the real-world aerospace technology roadmap cannot completely copy the Li Star from the game. I suggest focusing on conquering the more traditional xenon fuel reactors first, and then considering helium-3 reactors.”
“Why?”
“Because Li Star's hydrogen-3 mine was seized, it didn't need to be built from scratch. If we wanted to replicate one on the Moon, we would first need to launch at least 1,000 Long March 5 rockets there, then build a lunar worker village, and only then construct the mine and refinery. Not to mention the cost, just the time consumed by this task would be—”
1,000 rockets, you'd be launching them until the cows come home.
Hmm...
All the bigwigs in the room fell silent.
“So what's your suggestion?”
Jubian: “I suggest using our most familiar tokamak device as the core, and directly building nuclear-powered launch rockets on the ground.”
“For fuel, we can extract xenon from seawater, and then build xenon-producing reactors to artificially produce xenon.”
“Currently, we can't mine zero element on Earth, nor can we miniaturize the tokamak reactor. Therefore, the rocket's volume and thrust must be enormous. According to my estimate, it would be at least 40 meters in diameter and over 200 meters tall. Launching it would destroy the surface within at least a 1-kilometer radius, including the rocket launchpad beneath it.”
“The rocket's Earth-Moon round-trip capacity would be close to 4,000 tons, and its cost—close to 50 times that of an aircraft carrier.”
“That's still very expensive!” An expert was sensitive to money.
“But this is the most feasible way to deep space, and I even think it's cheap!”
The old aerospace expert who spoke earlier said.
“Doctor Li, assuming we now have this nuclear fusion spacecraft, what do you suggest we do next?”
This was not the first time 29-year-old Jubian had offered advice to the entire nation, and he spoke calmly.
“Afterward, building a lunar helium-3 mine will no longer be a fantasy; it will only take 5 round trips to transport all the construction materials and personnel.”
“With a stable source of hydrogen-3, we can attempt to reverse-engineer Li Star's small hydrogen-3 cold fusion reactor and, based on that, build smaller, more flexible nuclear fusion spacecraft.”
“The takeoffs and landings of these small spacecraft are not as restricted as those of large rockets, and they can take scientists to explore the major planets and moons in the solar system.”
Starting with a few scientific research ships is common sense.
But Jubian also knew that these scientific research activities would not immediately translate into profit.
“Additionally, we can build nuclear-powered space fighters.”
“We can first use large rockets to launch construction materials into orbit and then directly build military space stations there.”
“Such space stations would have radar arrays and optoelectronic equipment overlooking the ground, hangars for space fighters, and nuclear warhead depots.”
“Just one such space station could intercept all nuclear missiles launched by enemy nations from space! Four of them would be enough to cover the entire Northern Hemisphere!”
“And with the speed, maneuverability, and stealth of space fighters, penetrating the atmosphere to launch nuclear bombs would be impossible to intercept, capable of striking anywhere on the globe within 15 minutes.”
This is the qualitative change in power brought by space civilization.
The meeting host's eyes lit up.
Putting aside the large residential space stations and extraterrestrial colonies from science fiction, the benefits that space battleships bring to national defense are obvious.
The primary functions of military space stations are radar early warning and resupply. They are conspicuous and lack rapid orbit change capabilities.
They might be very noticeable and vulnerable to ground fire.
But a stealth space fighter squadron that uses nuclear power, can cruise for long periods, maneuver quickly, and carries nuclear warheads, is enough to instantly silence all those who like to point fingers; it's truly terrifying.
Currently, even the most advanced anti-air missiles are helpless against maneuvering space targets. Just flying a few hundred kilometers high would exhaust all their fuel, leaving no extra energy for tailing and tracking.
Low hitting high, impossible to hit.
Laser beams launched from the ground are susceptible to atmospheric effects, with generally poor effective range and accuracy, making it difficult to intercept targets outside the atmosphere.
However, nuclear-powered space fighters can easily catch up to and intercept intercontinental missiles, as well as the most advanced variable-trajectory hypersonic weapons, which is very frightening.
Attacking combat units within the atmosphere from low Earth orbit, vertically downwards, at dozens of Mach, is as simple as a chicken pecking rice.
Strike wherever it hurts.
No defense, absolutely no defense.
Just dropping something down would be enough to sink a warship; that scene is truly too beautiful.
“Good! I understand. First, focus on the relatively simpler nuclear fusion, concentrate resources, and spend a lot of money to build giant nuclear rockets.
Go to the Moon to mine hydrogen-3, and then, once the situation opens up, we can mass-produce space forces that are more aligned with our current financial and technological levels!”
Jubian gave a thumbs up.
“You summarized it very comprehensively!”
In fact, he had understood from the beginning that the military definitely wanted to acquire the cosmic battleships currently being designed and developed in the game.
But just like Li Star in the game, you have to eat one bite at a time.
“Now, experts from various institutes, please discuss the current difficulties in the field of controllable nuclear fusion! Speak actively!”
Don't talk about prospects, don't talk about reserves, just talk about difficulties.
The implicit meaning here, those who understand, understand. Jubian listened and took notes, realizing that most difficulties were concentrated in materials science and engineering design. The materials for the reactor chamber, various shielding liners, reflective layers, and most crucially, room-temperature superconducting materials, all needed “guidance.”
“The formulas and processes for these materials are all available on the industrial ship in the game, but there's a technological gap with Earth, so we'll need to overcome some challenges to master them,” Jubian said.
“You just bring the technology! We'll make a military pledge and complete the breakthrough within a deadline!”
Several academicians and bigwigs immediately made the decision.
“That—actually, taking data out of the game should be approached with some caution,” the meeting host said. “At least, we should notify the game GM in advance. We absolutely must not offend or provoke the other party.”
“Understood, you can rest assured.”
Jubian agreed.
“Additionally, please redouble your efforts and strive to acquire zero element exploration technology as soon as possible.”
“Alright—we'll try our best.”
Looks like you're quite concerned about the game's progress!
“Okay, that's it for today. Does anyone else have any questions for Doctor Li?”
“Is the game ‘Li Star’ real, or is it a highly realistic alien simulation game?”
Someone asked.
“I can't confirm that. Personally, I lean towards it being completely real, but the frequent appearance of key items out of thin air in the game makes me have to doubt it—”
“That doesn't prove anything,” said one of the Academy of Sciences bigwigs present. “Quantum tunneling and high-dimensional space projection, although they sound a bit fantastical, can theoretically explain teleportation phenomena.”
“Then if everything is real, how far is Li Star in the game from Earth? In what direction?”
“I really don't know,” Jubian shook his head. “At least so far, we haven't observed the sun and Earth.”
“I also have a question.” The Academy of Sciences bigwig from earlier stood up. “This game, regardless of who the GM behind it truly is, what is its purpose?”
Jubian was about to speak, but the meeting host spoke first; it seemed this topic was somewhat sensitive.
“Currently, the mainstream view is that it's for teaching.”
“Teaching? To teach humanity to enter space faster?”
“Yes.”
“But, for what purpose?”
The meeting host was silent for a few seconds.
“The answer to this question is for us to discover.”
Because the meeting was completely offline, and attendees were not allowed to use any electronic devices to discuss the topics afterward, nor even to keep electronic records, Lu Yuan knew nothing about the meeting's content.
In the living cabin of the space plane, he had just woken up and sneezed, feeling as if someone was talking about him behind his back.
Opening the cabin door, outside was the landing strip left by Apollo. All auxiliary buildings had been preserved, and with a little arrangement, it could be developed into Li Star's sub-base within Oasis City.
“Executive Officer!”
Cheng Lei walked over with light steps, handing him a few paper documents.
“This is today's public trial procedure. All the witnesses you requested have been found and are confirmed to be able to testify. Also, the screen in the courtroom has been set up as you requested!”
“Very good.”
“Executive Officer, do you really think Cole will plead guilty and accept punishment?”
“No, he won't. The law of Oasis City, to put it plainly, is actually the Cole family's private rules, so it naturally cannot punish the family heir.”
Lu Yuan answered without a trace of hesitation.
“Then—”
“So we need to change our approach. Let's go.”
In the square in front of the palace, there was a sea of people, more than on the night of their victory.
On that night, nearly half the people didn't dare to “get involved,” but today, no matter what Cole's outcome, all citizens came to see.
If he was executed on the spot, then regardless of whether the trial process was fair, Oasis City's future at least had hope.
If they merely used the law as a shield, putting on a show, not only failing to heavily punish Cole but also secretly signing a sordid cooperation agreement with him...
Then, it must be said, it would be very disappointing!
Just like the rumors that had recently spread through the streets and alleys, that they were merely invaders who used special medicine to win over people's hearts.
Therefore, for the citizens, this was not just a public trial.