Chapter 257: Closed Loop

The blue glow of the nuclear submarine dry dock shimmered thirty meters underwater, Chen Yuxin’s fingerprint rippling across the airlock’s lock. Luo Fei met her gaze through his diving mask; in her eyes reflected the dense Russian warning labels on the bulkhead—this was no water purification storage, but a Cold War-era nuclear test site.

“The reactor’s on the lower deck,” Chen Yuxin’s comms crackled with German-accented curses, “They modified the cooling system using Dad’s formula...”

Gu Changzheng’s command came from the surface: “Remember, we want the reactor’s self-destruct protocol!” Six moving dots suddenly appeared on the sonar screen. Luo Fei shoved Chen Yuxin into the duct, then spun and fired three shots in the opposite direction. Bullets carved spiral bubbles through the high-pressure water; the enemy’s blood mist stained the sea red.

The reactor core chamber’s temperature display flickered crimson: 479℃. Chen Yuxin’s trembling fingers traced the control panel—chemical formulas her father taught her now fueled death. In the encrypted log, she found a video: Chen Guodong’s final appearance in the lab, pouring a test tube of liquid into the reactor vessel.

“When thorium-based catalyst meets excess calcium carbonate...” She suddenly snatched the manual—on its blank page, written in invisible ink: [Reverse Criticality Formula].

The footsteps of pursuers neared down the corridor. Luo Fei pressed a plastic explosive to the hatch: “How long?”

“Seven minutes!” Chen Yuxin tore open her sleeve; beneath the barcode, her skin revealed a micro-storage interface. She inserted her father’s wedding ring into the console—the holographic projection flared to life, and Chen Guodong’s virtual image began explaining the reverse reaction process.

The German representative’s face twisted in fury: “You think deleting data will stop...” His roar was cut off by an explosion—Gu Changzheng and his team breached the underwater passage. Lao Zheng raised a test tube in the makeshift lab: “Hurry! Mix the reactor coolant sample with this!”

Ye Lin’s pupils contracted as she read the label: “This is the EDTA chelate extracted from Longhu’s seabed!”

The instant the two liquids touched, the thorium-based catalyst in the petri dish began violently boiling. The monitor showed the reactor temperature counting down: 479℃ → 463℃ → 441℃...

“Go!” Gao Ye yanked Xiao Sun away from the password decryption. The blast door slammed shut behind them. Chen Yuxin’s keystrokes grew frantic; the holographic image of Chen Guodong demonstrated how to convert nuclear fission into electrolysis.

Zhou Shichang’s wheelchair slid from the shadows, his rotting right hand gripping the detonator: “I won’t live—but neither will you...” Before he finished, Luo Fei’s dagger pierced his wrist. As the detonator fell, Chen Yuxin lunged to catch it—her neck barcode scraped against the reactor’s outer shell.

Blinding blue light swallowed the entire chamber. The alarm blared a mechanical female voice: “Biometric signal detected. Self-destruct protocol terminated.”

Chen Yuxin stared blankly at the reactor’s identification zone—the tattoos mistaken for product codes were, in fact, invisible nano-ink self-destruct keys drawn by Chen Guodong. Long before he tattooed her, he had installed the final safety latch.

The submarine lurched violently—the German representative activated the undersea seismic device. Gu Changzheng gripped the swaying pipe: “He’s triggering a trench collapse!”

Chen Yuxin lunged for the central console, her fingers dancing across the keyboard like butterflies. Her father’s final tutorial video played: “...True purification is never destruction, but transformation...” She connected the reactor’s output to the electrolysis system—the radiation levels on the screen began a precipitous drop.

“They’re converting nuclear fission energy into seawater electrolysis!” Lao Zheng stared at the skyrocketing hydrogen output. “This will generate massive clean energy...”

The German representative’s bullet pierced the control panel; blood bloomed on Chen Yuxin’s shoulder. Luo Fei fired back in the 45-degree tilted chamber—his shots struck the hydrogen delivery pipe, engulfing the escape route in roaring flame.

Chen Yuxin crawled through smoke toward the reactor, her bloody fingerprints dragging a winding trail across the safety valve. Her father’s voice echoed across seven years: “Science should be like a dandelion—spreading life far and wide...”

She turned the final valve. Layers of the reactor shell peeled open, revealing the sealed glass test tube within the core chamber—the true fruit of Chen Guodong’s lifetime research: a deep-blue bacterial strain capable of decomposing radioactive material.

Seawater surged violently through the cracks. Chen Yuxin shoved the tube into Luo Fei’s hands: “Dad’s legacy... shouldn’t be buried...”

Her white coat vanished into the azure whirlpool; the barcode tattoo unfurled in the current into a dandelion pattern. The submarine shattered in a hydrogen explosion; the deep-blue strains spread with the shockwave, and radiation levels in nearby waters began miraculously falling.

Three months later, pale blue coral-like growths blanketed the shores of Longhu. Lao Zheng removed his protective mask: “The deep-blue strains converted thorium-232 into calcium carbonate.”

—————

Gu Changzheng buried Chen Guodong’s wedding ring beneath a newly planted ginkgo tree by the lake’s edge; beside the sapling stood a nameless stele. The case report’s newly encrypted file revealed that a major international environmental organization had recently received a massive anonymous donation—with the memo: “For the Dandelion Project.”

Luo Fei touched his chin scar, gazing toward the lake’s center—drones were dispersing the modified strains. The ionosphere above the storm’s aftermath pulsed with abnormal activity; auroras drifted like green silk across the 28th parallel—traces of vast hydrogen combustion in the upper atmosphere.

In the deep sea, unseen by humans, the submarine’s wreckage was gently consumed by bacterial patches—a tender kiss of reconciliation from nature to technological civilization.

(End of Volume)