Chapter 658 - 642: Melting Iron

"This...please let our technical expert introduce it."

Lin Ju hurriedly soothed the leader, then gestured for Zhao Xiaowen, who had been incognito for a long time, to step forward.

The latter’s hair was disheveled, his face dotted with several slightly purplish acne blemishes, and his bloodshot eyes were barely visible beneath heavy eyelids.

Everyone knew at first glance: this was a young scientist who had poured their heart and soul into their work, experienced countless failures, and had finally made a difficult breakthrough.

Of course, this was all intentional. Not to mention that the Laser Laboratory itself made extensive use of the System and had extremely comprehensive technical data, Lin Ju would never allow his people to work so desperately. Even if there were a biological laboratory, there were several drugs that could help.

After being hinted at by Zhong Cheng, Lin had taken a shot of 314 the previous day to avoid giving himself away, vigoroursly getting through the entire morning, and after sleeping for a day, he was full of energy again.

Zhao Xiaowen had turned into his current state by forcing himself to invert day and night for three days, compulsively playing games, beating several AAA titles, and maxing out achievements—his severely irregular routine and stimulating diet were what had crafted his look of extreme exhaustion.

Even the dozen or so anxious specialist leaders had to mentally give him a thumbs-up upon seeing him, sighing to themselves admiringly at just how driven he was.

"...The Solar Flare is the first generation of laser smelting satellites we have designed and also serves as a technology validation satellite.

What you see is just a part of it, containing the main emitting head. The complete assembly needs a 3.2-megawatt reactor and other devices, with a maximum diameter of 5.5 meters, a length of over 27 meters, and a total weight of more than 50 tons, whereas this part weighs only 18 tons."

The audience, listening attentively, all showed surprised expressions upon hearing these figures.

Even as "just a part", it was already larger than the Tiangong No.2 space station, and placed on the ground, it would be a colossal object. Fully assembled, it would be comparable to the Sky Patrol telescope.

"However, please rest assured, this is only because many new technologies are still immature in the early stage, and we did not have prior experience, so we had to allow for plenty of redundancy.

Just like the first hydrogen bomb, which weighed over eighty tons, the mass-produced satellites will maintain their mass while increasing the power of the light source by at least tenfold, showcasing the technological advantages only then."

Zhao Xiaowen explained, as if concerned that they wouldn’t be reassured, but all five of the relevant technical specialists in attendance nodded in agreement, fully endorsing his statement.

A prototype is always a hodgepodge of components, with design choices full of compromises everywhere. It’s not surprising to waste structural weight in such a setup—very common in scientific research.

"Chief engineer Zhao, can this prototype be tested with an ignition test now?"

"Of course, we’ve already tested it. Otherwise, how could we dare proclaim success?"

Zhao Xiaowen spoke a few words to an assistant, who immediately ran over to a switch on the wall and pressed it, triggering a "clack clack" sound of metal hinges rubbing.

The "wall" facing the Solar Flare rose slowly, revealing that it was actually a thick metal barrier.

On the other side was a slightly larger room with bare concrete structures visible. At the far end, a steel frame held a heavy steel block, and the wall behind it was black, made of an unknown material.

"This is the test chamber. It can be cooled by spraying water and creating a heavy mist to reduce the scattering of heat, thus limiting power leakage. This darkroom alone cost quite a bit...

Although our light source is only 80 kilowatts, maintaining the plasma mirror also takes a lot of energy; the startup power peaks at 7 megawatts. Steady operation requires at least 2800 kilowatts of power.

In space, it needs hundreds of square meters of cooling panels for heat dissipation, but on the ground, we have it much easier. It can withstand both liquid and air cooling. If you need, we can perform the test in 30 minutes, but please leave this area, as the wall’s scattered laser could cause temporary blindness."

Everyone immediately turned to look at Lin Ju.

"Since everyone is eager to have a look, let’s move over there first,"

Lin Ju led the way, with the others following one by one; the five technical experts all stayed at the back to observe everything closely.

One of them rubbed his foot on the ground vigorously and then touched the wall before quietly "hmm"-ing.

Seeing this, a colleague immediately asked, but the person turned to inspect the interior of the room housing the "Blazing Sun", circling it before slowly starting to walk out while explaining in a low voice:

"Aside from that metal barrier we saw, both rooms are largely made of non-metallic materials. Look, even the walls are layered with something. It feels different when tapped, indicating the use of composite materials."

"Hmm... This suggests a leakage of high-intensity microwaves, or electromagnetic waves, to the extent that they could affect such a large area of metal!"

"Exactly. Plasma can only be constrained by a strong magnetic field. Although I don’t know what compound they’re using, they’re able to firmly keep the plasma in place... I suppose most of the electricity is going into maintaining a strong magnetic field.

How strong would the constraining force be if the plasma lens, which won’t be too large, concentrated nearly three megawatts of power in such a small space?!"

"Damn, this could even be used for nuclear fusion!"

Both technicians were startled by this discovery, showing looks of disbelief to each other.

Before their arrival, they had re-read Ye Changsi’s papers, and were convinced that this technology should still be in its infancy at the time of publication. Just eight months later, and there has been a significant breakthrough?

Is controlling plasma that simple?

The pair were questioning the very reality of their field, spreading this skepticism to the other three, allowing for a clearer understanding of the technological level of the "Solar Flare".

The seven or eight leaders remained silent, waiting for the experiment to begin, whereas the five technical experts kept whispering among themselves. If not for professional ethics, they would have been itching to go up to the busy operators preparing the experiment and ask them directly.

After a while, a voice came through the control room’s loudspeaker, requesting everyone to put their personal electronic devices in a special shielding box, further confirming the experts’ conjecture.

Zhong Cheng and a few military officers focused all their attention on the monitor screens in the darkroom, knowing that the test object was a homogeneous steel block one meter thick—a measure akin to the armor-piercing defense capabilities of the front of a mainstream third-generation tank.

The monitor was very dark, with the brightness reduced by nearly 90% through the lenses, so that one could barely make out the outline of the steel.

As Zhao Xiaowen announced "Ready," the massive cooling system gradually started up to full power. The external industrial exhaust fans roared like jet engines, humming through the pipes laid underground, causing the entire room to resonate.

After receiving a nod from Lin Ju, the engineers began powering up the Solar Flare.

In the unseen interior of the "Blazing Sun" test unit, the plasma reflective mirror, smaller than a thumbprint, started to heat the surface selenide.

In an extremely brief time, it turned into plasma and was then tightly bound by an overpowering electromagnetic force just tens of micrometers above the solid surface.

The plasma, which should have been drifting chaotically like flames, was neatly arranged in rows, forming thousands of reflective surfaces within a tiny space. They shone an extremely bright incandescent white, with the space around them slightly warped, appearing like the serene surfaces of tiny lakes.

On the deliberately dimmed monitors in the control room, the formerly dark scene was instantly filled with a slightly blueish white light that didn’t feel blinding, even on the adjusted displays. It simply flashed pure white for about a second before returning to normal.

The monitor abruptly resumed its regular display as the deep black filter was removed. People turned to look at the original location of the block of steel:

The perfectly square block of steel had transformed into an irregular "concave" shape, with a bright red molten hole in the center. Its upper part drooped down like melting cream, dripping onto the floor where it instantly ignited into a burst of flame upon contact with impurities, then quickly returned to a dark red color.