Chapter 584: Not Like a Fake

"This is absurd!" Doctor Sitan threw a stack of heavily edited manuscript pages onto the table. "The people of Long Country seem to have created their own Chinese terminology for every technical term; many simply cannot be directly mapped to English!"

"Furthermore, their sentence structure is completely different from ours," a Chinese graduate student added. "There are some paragraphs where we cannot even determine the accurate meaning."

"The most infuriating part," another nuclear physics graduate student said, "is that for the most critical technical details, the textual descriptions are vague and the charts lack detailed annotations. It's as if..."

"As if they did it on purpose." Doctor Sitan took over, his brow furrowed.

The office fell into Silence. The translation work had been going on for three days, but the results were frustrating. The draft was riddled with errors and failed to convey the intended meaning; many key concepts could only be represented by question marks or guesses.

But even so, some information was still clearly conveyed: Q-value 1.2, stable operation for 67 minutes, specific magnetic field topology, nanocomposite first-wall material...

Doctor Sitan picked up the photo of the blue-white plasma again, studying it carefully. Although the photo was crude, that unique plasma morphology, those special magnetic field confinement lines...

"This cannot be a fake," he muttered to himself. "We have predicted this type of plasma morphology in theoretical models, but we have never achieved it in experiments..."

Just then, his assistant walked into the office in a hurry: "Doctor Sitan, a call from Washington. Someone from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to speak with you."

Doctor Sitan nodded and waved for the others to leave. When he was the only one left in the office, he picked up the phone, his voice low: "Yes, we have completed the preliminary translation... No, it cannot be confirmed yet... but some details are worrying... Yes, that Q-value data... No, it cannot be entirely fabricated... The photo? It looks quite real..."

He paused for a moment, listening to the person on the other end of the line, his expression growing increasingly grave: "You mean... our satellites did indeed detect anomalous energy signals near Penglai Base? My God..."

After the call ended, Doctor Sitan sat dazed in his chair, his gaze falling on the chaotic draft. His hands trembled involuntarily, and he accidentally knocked over an expensive porcelain coffee cup on the table. The coffee cup crashed to the floor and shattered into dozens of pieces, but he seemed not to notice at all.

"If this is true..." he muttered to himself, "if the people of Long Country have really solved the problem of plasma instability... My God, the entire field of nuclear physics will be completely rewritten..."

Bali, Department of Physics, Sorbonne University.

Professor Pierre Dupont's office was packed with people. As an authority on European nuclear physics, he had just organized a small seminar to discuss the nuclear fusion paper in "Cangjie". Among those present were several top physicists and two translators proficient in Chinese.

"The translation work for this paper is exceptionally difficult," Professor Dupont said, getting straight to the point. "Not only because of the language barrier, but because the people of Long Country seem to have invented an entirely new system of nuclear physics terminology. But we have still managed to extract some key information."

He pointed to several points written on the blackboard:

Q-value 1.2, continuous stable operation for 67 minutes

Innovative magnetic field topology, solving plasma instability

First wall made of special nanocomposite materials, resistant to high temperature and high radiation

Unconventional ignition methods and control algorithms

"If these claims are true," Professor Dupont said gravely, "then the progress of the people of Long Country in the field of nuclear fusion is at least ten years ahead of us."

"But this is impossible!" a professor said excitedly. "Our Tokamak project has been researched for many years, and the highest we have reached is a Q-value of about 0.7. How could they suddenly bridge this chasm?"

"Perhaps they took a different technical route," another physicist mused. "Look at this photo; the device structure is indeed significantly different from a traditional Tokamak."

"I am more concerned about this so-called 'special magnetic field topology'," a magnetohydrodynamics expert said. "The translation is very vague, but from the limited description, they seem to have discovered a new way of configuring magnetic fields that can confine plasma more effectively."

"This is absurd!" an elderly professor said angrily. "The people of Long Country don't even have a decent nuclear physics academy; how could they possibly surpass us in this field? This must be political propaganda!"

Professor Dupont was silent for a moment, then said slowly: "Science does not recognize nationality, only facts. We cannot ignore evidence because of preconceived biases. I suggest we apply to the government to send a scientific delegation to Long Country to verify this 'Flame Dragon' device with our own eyes."

"Do you really believe this could be true?" someone asked in surprise.

Professor Dupont picked up the plasma photo: "I am not sure. But as scientists, our responsibility is to pursue the truth, no matter how unsettling it may be."

Rome, inside an ancient palace, a secret meeting was underway.

The attendees were all senior Intelligence Officers and scientific advisors from various European countries, and the atmosphere was terrifyingly heavy.

"According to our preliminary analysis," a scientist wearing glasses said, "the nuclear fusion paper published in 'Cangjie', despite the translation difficulties, contains a large amount of highly professional technical detail; this does not look like simple propaganda or a forgery."

"Satellite imagery also confirms," an Intelligence Officer added, "that there is indeed a large-scale energy facility at Penglai Base, which matches the 'Flame Dragon' project described in the paper."

"What is even more worrying," another scientist said, "is that paper about 'Longxin-III'. Our Computer experts believe that if the quantum tunneling Transistor Technology described therein is true, it would put Long Country at least ten years ahead of us in computing power."

The conference room was in Silence, with everyone digesting the shock brought by this information.

"What does this mean?" a senior official finally broke the Silence. "If Long Country really has mastered these technologies..."

"Then the global balance of power will be completely changed," the head of the intelligence department said heavily. "The country that masters nuclear fusion will control the energy of the future. The country that masters the super Computer will control the information of the future. The combination of these two means absolute technological superiority."

"We must confirm the authenticity of this information," an official said firmly, "no matter the cost."

"It is already underway," the intelligence chief nodded. "We are trying to reach the scientists and technical personnel of Long Country through various channels. But one thing is certain—this is no longer something we can openly mock."