Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Accompanied by a series of complicated emotions such as excitement and anxiety, Leonard and Feren followed Lu Zhou’s footsteps to the experimental site outside Tiangong City.
There was a cylindrical building covering an area of about 1,000 square meters. After entering the building, they could see a tall tower-like device standing in the center of the space, with a diameter of about ten or twenty meters.
Heavy engineering equipment operated by engineers stood beside this tower-like structure. It added bits and pieces to this unique tower through its thick and long mechanical arms.
When Leonard looked up at this dashing tower, he gulped and spoke in admiration.
“Is this… the antimatter energy pile you were talking about?”
“Of course not.” Lu Zhou gave an unexpected answer, “This is just a second-generation controllable fusion reactor, equipped with a laser emitting array.”
“Second-generation controllable fusion reactor? Then the antimatter energy pile you were talking about is…”
“Is above our heads.” Lu Zhou smiled and pointed to the top of his head. He spoke in a relaxed tone, “Of course I would never build this reactor on the ground. It is neither environmentally friendly nor convenient.”
After listening to Lu Zhou’s words, Leonard and Feren both had confused expressions on their faces.
Although they were archaeologists, they were not oblivious to basic science. However, Lu Zhou’s explanation still made them feel confused.
Finally, Feren looked at Lu Zhou incomprehensibly and whispered the confusion in his heart, “Does the antimatter energy pile have anything to do with second-generation fusion reactors?”
“The antimatter is not produced out of thin air, and the fuel for second-generation controllable fusion is a substance that exists in nature. Therefore, the former is used as a high-density energy storage container, while the latter is what produces energy… Which is what you’re seeing right now.”
As he was talking, an intern wearing a white lab coat and holding a tablet in his hand walked over to Lu Zhou.
“Professor, according to your instructions, our engineers have checked the energy tower again and confirmed that there is nothing wrong.”
“Good.”
Lu Zhou smiled and nodded at the intern. He took the tablet from his hand, then entered a series of passwords on the tablet with his index finger.
After the input of the password, the signal lights on the surface of the tower-like structure in the center of the space began to light up, and the surrounding heavy engineering equipment began to evacuate as if they had received an order.
A huge magnetic field gradually enveloped the entire area. Leonard was surprised to find that the AR eyes he wore on the bridge of his nose seemed to be broken as it showed a distorted image.
“Don’t worry, the magnetic field overflowing from the reactor is definitely within the safety limit.” Lu Zhou smiled and looked at Professor Leonard and Feren, whose faces were full of anxiety. He continued, “Of course, if you want to leave and wait for the result outside, that’s also fine.”
They could hear the good intention from Lu Zhou’s words, but neither Feren nor Leonard responded.
Although the field of their research had nothing to do with antimatter, it was exciting to witness the birth of a great technology.
Seeing that the two hadn’t responded, Lu Zhou withdrew his gaze from them, looked at the staff standing next to him, and gave an order.
“Raise the limit of the energy gate output to 90% and turn on the laser emitting array!”
“Yes, sir!”
After the order was issued, the staff sitting at the workbench immediately became as busy as a beaver.
The energy rod located in the center of the space was also gradually increasing the generating electrical power, giving off an electric humming sound.
Leonard could feel that the nuclear energy pressurized in that tower was overflowing and gathering towards the top. Under the control of a huge force field, the temperature of the entire surroundings seemed to rise.
Lu Zhou looked up at the tower, the expression on his face gradually changed from excitement to fanaticism.
“Just like the calculation results…”
Leonard vaguely heard what Lu Zhou said. He opened his mouth and was about to ask, but before he could ask the question, he saw Lu Zhou suddenly raise his voice and shout loudly.
“Open the dome! Start laser calibration!”
The person who responded to Lu Zhou was a staff member sitting in front of the control console.
He spoke loudly in the same excited voice.
“The calibration is complete, the transmitter and receiver are focused successfully!”
Everything was ready.
Without any hesitation, Lu Zhou immediately issued the order.
“Ignite!”
Like a spear piercing through sky, the laser was released from the top of the tower in an instant, rushing into the vast empty space.
The huge amount of energy even ignited the thin air on the surface of Mars, forming blast waves.
At the same time, the moment fusion ignition was achieved, the laser spear that rushed into space also hit the receiver of the antimatter energy pile floating in orbit.
A green signal light on top of the antimatter energy pile was lit up. The huge amount of nuclear energy was converted into light energy, then the light energy was converted into pure heat energy. Finally, it was stored as various types of energy in the satellite energy pile.
The entire black satellite was faintly glowing by some unknown force.
The engineers standing at the East Asia Heavy Industries shipyard looked at the scene from a distance. They opened their eyes wide and cast their shocking glances at the shining satellite.
“F*ck me?! What is… that thing?”
“It seems to be Academician Lu’s antimatter energy pile…”
“When did he start researching antimatter?”
“Didn’t he start long ago… I remember it seems to be last month or the month before.”
The same scene was observed by the security forces located at the New Virginia spaceport.
The focus of their attention was not on the satellite but on the laser beam shooting from the ground to space.
As the laser passed through the thin atmosphere, it formed a thick and straight light beam.
They couldn’t imagine what a terrifying disaster it would be if this beam of light shined on their starship or spaceport…
“Apparently, the water in your body will evaporate in an instant if hit by this laser weapon…”
When Jeffries, the captain of the security force, heard the discussion next to him, he shuddered and cursed in a quiet voice.
“Shut up! The solar system has been unified, and we are now all a part of the Human Alliance! Let the space pirates worry about this weapon…”
While he was saying this, Jeffries secretly made up his mind to wait for an opportunity and disassociate himself from those slimy bastards.
The Federation of Human Alliance was an unstoppable force…
After the unification, the most important enemy was the space pirates active in the asteroid belt and in the Martian desert…
Just as people were talking about the shining satellite with all kinds of theories, an abnormal change happened.
Due to the interference from a huge magnetic energy, various instruments of the active spacecraft nearby were disrupted.
However, that only lasted for a second.
The laser shot from the ground to space suddenly disappeared. The satellite that was shining with a silver glow also returned to pitch black in an instant.
The engineers on the space station exchanged surprised glances with each other. Their faces were covered with puzzled expressions.
This is it?
Did the experiment succeed or fail?
They did not know, at least not for now.
Because they, who were in orbit, were far away from Academician Lu and his research team.
The moment the laser was turned off, the people at the laser transmitter station on the ground went into a sea of celebration…
Lu Zhou’s fists were clenched tightly as a wave of excitement echoed in his heart.
The antimatter energy pile was successfully ignited!
The antiproton confined in the magnetic field container was as gentle and stable as pure hydrogen.
As long as the magnetic confinement did not disappear, it would exist stably forever.
And in terms of energy density alone…
It was undoubtedly able to reach 1000MW/g, or perhaps even more…
