Chapter 783

December 4, Saturday.

Xu Qingzhou originally planned to go out for exercise with Song Yao, but he ended up staying in the lab until 5:30 p.m., working over five hours, and made some progress—drafting a framework with the researchers for mitigating high thermal load impacts.

Xu Qingzhou stepped out of the lab, pulled out his phone, first notified Song Yao, then prepared to meet Xu Zhengyang and the others: “Have you eaten?”

“I boiled noodles with leftover dishes.”

“Eating noodles for dinner? Watch out, you’ll get fat.”

“Pfft, you just got out of the institute after I went running this afternoon?”

“Yeah, I was just heading toward Changchun Garden.”

“Drink less.”

“Got it. Alright, talk later.”

Xu Qingzhou hung up and headed for the parking lot.

A cold wind from the northwest howled, thick with winter’s chill; snow from a few days prior still clung to bare branches, and sunlight cast swaying shadows.

Walking alone along the institute’s path, he sometimes still felt a sense of unreality.

Compared to two years ago, the roadside trees had grown thicker, giving the place the feel of a veteran research institute.

“All work on the Longwan demonstration reactor is now on track; by this time next year, we should be able to conduct the first ignition experiment.”

“Besides the demonstration reactor, miniaturizing the tokamak is another direction.”

Future needs in aerospace, distributed energy, and other fields exist—take aerospace, for example: the Qiankun tokamak weighs 25,000 tons, but spacecraft propulsion systems require masses under 450 kilograms.

“Once energy is solved, the focus of competition will inevitably shift to space.”

Xu Qingzhou pondered, turned a corner, and headed toward the parking lot.

The U.S. has already announced a series of plans; NASA’s MARVL project, for instance, aims to use fusion reactors to generate electricity, ionize propellants for thrust, and reduce Mars transit time to under two years.

“Tokamak technology suits spacecraft, but base energy supply still requires stellarators.”

“Progress on the CFQS stellarator remains slow, lagging behind Germany and the U.S., even falling slightly behind Japan; China’s foundation in stellarator construction is still too weak.”

When the CFQS stellarator was first launched, it had Japanese technical support; a cooperation agreement was signed, but relations have strained over recent years, leaving China to proceed alone.

Fortunately, through prior exchanges, Xu Qingzhou obtained Germany’s W7-X plasma confinement optimization and diagnostic and heating technologies; otherwise, CFQS’s construction would have been far more difficult.

“If the chance arises, we still need to acquire more tech from them.”

Xu Qingzhou was thinking of Kling and the others’ stellarator tech when he arrived at the parking lot.

“Professor.” Liu Bin was already waiting by the car.

“To Changchun Garden neighborhood.”

Xu Qingzhou shook off his thoughts and told Liu Bin.

“Got it.”

Twenty minutes later,

Xu Qingzhou arrived at the old gathering spot: Lao Jingdu Hot Pot Restaurant.

Xu Qingzhou entered the private room and found only Xu Zhengyang there; he asked: “Has Lao Zhai and Lao Kong not arrived yet?”

Just earlier in the group chat, both had said they were already on their way.

“They said they’re coming any minute,” Xu Zhengyang smiled.

Xu Qingzhou sat down, sipped hot tea to dispel the winter chill: “Let’s order then—come to think of it, I really miss this taste.”

He’d been brainstorming all afternoon; he was genuinely hungry now.

He looked at Xu Zhengyang, who had shaved his head into a crew cut: “Why the buzz cut?”

This guy had once declared in undergrad he didn’t want to keep studying, yet now he was already in his first year of doctoral studies.

“Shorter looks sharper.”

“Anyone who doesn’t know would think you just got out of jail.”

“Pfft, I’m this handsome—I don’t need to commit crimes; I could just find a rich woman and live off her.”

Xu Zhengyang flirtatiously ran his fingers through his hair.

“I recorded that. I’ll send it to Chen Shiqi right away.”

“Cough~ No, I was joking—if she hears this, I’ll be sleeping on the sofa tonight,” Xu Zhengyang groaned.

“Your household status...”