Chapter 463 Blood-red Soil, “Soil” For Nuclear Fusion Growth!
Boom!
Boom!
Smack!
Groggily hearing sounds around him, Su Mo rubbed his eyes, his consciousness gradually recovering as he woke up.
Sunlight streamed in through the gap at the top of the curtain.
It landed on the books next to Su Mo’s small bed.
The clock hanging on the bedroom wall was still functioning well, making ticking noises.
The time displayed on the clock was 7.15 am.
Last night, after he returned to the wasteland, he did not stay in the re-entry capsule to rest. Instead, he went aboard Sun-chaser and studied until the middle of the night before he slept.
Leaving aside everything else, this determination and spirit alone was enough to supersede 99% of ordinary people in the wasteland.
Sitting up straight, he put the books back into his storage space properly.
After downing a glass of psychic energy water, Su Mo felt more energized. “OS, how much time do we have before we can arrive at Hope One’s location?”
(Captain Su Mo, from our current position, the remaining distance is 662 kilometers. Our estimated time of arrival is three o’clock in the afternoon.]
“Hm? I can be back by three o’clock!”
“Very good. Maintain this speed and don’t stop!”
Today was already Doomsday Calendar Month 3, Day 14.
It was the third day after Su Mo had left Hope One.
Hearing that he would be able to return on the same day, Su Mo was spirited. He put on his shoes immediately and pushed open the door.
Whoosh!
The situation outside was different from when he left, where thick clouds had lingered over the skies, bearing prospects of heavy rain and thunder.
Today’s wasteland weather was a rare welcome sight as miles and miles of cloudless skies could be seen over the horizon.
Under the bright sunlight, the entire surface of the ocean was like a glowing blue gemstone, exuding an enchanting light.
Traces of the warm, salty ocean breeze also brushed past him, washing away the coolness of the night.
Weather like this was good for sailing.
Of course, it was also good weather to return home!
Following the loud noises and passing through several small doors, Su Mo came to the stern of Sun-chaser.
Previously, this place had looked empty.
Now, however, there were three sturdy steel cables attached to the stern that were connected to the re-entry capsule at the rear.
As Sun-chaser was traveling at a speed of close to 70 kilometers per hour, the loud noises were from the re-entry capsule smacking against the surface of the water.
Looking into the glass porthole window, he saw the robot waving excitedly at him.
Su Mo waved his arm a little happily too, smiling as he went back inside.
He washed up, and then prepared breakfast.
Although Lu Kuan and the others-who inhabited the robot body-did not need direct energy replenishment, their brains in the glass box, which were parasitized by the Slimes, required sufficient sustenance to divide and regenerate to keep the brains alive.
After thinking about it, he tried it out.
In the Slimes’ breakfast, Su Mo was not stingy as he added 50ml of psychic energy water into the substance.
Instructing the OS to stop Sun-chaser, Su Mo opened the door of the re-entry capsule and jumped inside energetically while carrying the breakfast he made.
The intuitive changes from using the Oracle Experience Card were not just limited to the strengthening of his physical fitness during its active duration.
That strength gained at the neural level, as well as the degree of control over his body, did not completely disappear once the card’s effects ended.
At this moment, even though only 3% to 5% of that strength had been retained, compared to his previous self, Su Mo’s control over his body and power was still more than double! “Hello, good morning!” “Morning, morning, morning! Su Mo, hurry over here. There’s a big discovery!”
Just as Su Mo came in, Lu Kuan, who was in control of the robot, spoke excitedly as he took the breakfast held in Su Mo’s hands.
Behind him, there was a small device about half the height of a person. Inside it were the ocean water and soil specimens that Su Mo had brought back from the planet.
Since Su Mo had left yesterday, until now, Lu Kuan had been crouched in front of this device.
His current appearance clearly indicated that he had made a huge discovery!
“The radioactive soil and blood-red ocean water you brought back from the planet’s surface yesterday are not very different from those found in the Land of Death. Aside from recording slightly higher levels of radiation, and the microorganisms inside being full of activity, the other elements can also be found in the Land of Death’s soil. It’s not worth our continued research.”
“However, this blood-red soil from the bottom of the ocean, as well as the liquid elements from the flame eruptions, are good stuff!”
He walked over to the device.
As Lu Kuan squatted and fiddled with it for a while, the entire device began to shine, releasing energy through a thin transmission cable.
“Just 500g of the blood-red soil can provide us with close to a hundred kilowatts of electricity using this method!”
“These liquids from the flame eruptions are even more outrageous. The conversion efficiency is so high that just 200g will yield 75 kilowatts of electricity!” On the screen, as the blood-red soil and energy reacted, the equipment inside the entire capsule started charging at a stable and rapid pace.
Moreover, considering that this thing did not make any noise, its degree of usefulness surpassed the generator! Though surprised in his heart, Su Mo’s facial expression did not change much as he still slowly said, “Although this is good, it’s a shame we don’t have too much of it.”
“There isn’t even much left of the stuff I brought back from the Nation of the God of the Ocean Nation. Don’t look at how I managed to bring back a kilogram of both, they are actually very troublesome to collect!”
One catty of blood-red soil could be converted into 100 kilowatts of electricity.
One catty of the liquids could be converted into 190 kilowatts of electricity.
However, if one calculated how much blood-red soil and liquids from the flame eruptions that there were at the bottom of the entire ocean, it would not exceed 100 kilograms. They were scattered sparsely and were extremely difficult to collect.
There were even less liquids. The number of eruptions were limited, and would decrease as they were collected.
According to the rate of his collection efficiency at that time, even if he had stayed in the Nation of the God of the Ocean and spent a whole day collecting them, his harvest would not have exceeded ten catties, and the electricity generated would only be slightly more than one thousand kilowatts.
It was absolutely not as cost-effective as collecting oil to generate electricity.
“No, no, no. You don’t understand what I’m getting. Take a look at the reaction formula we detected here and the internal changes when converting energy!” Shaking his head vigorously, Lu Kuan’s robot appeared just as frantic.
With Su Mo in tow, the two of them went around and walked to the back of the device.
At the top, Su Mo saw a string of large words that read…
Micro-grade Active High-strength Reaction Furnace.
This was the only piece of scientific research equipment left over after discarding the other instruments. It was the only remaining instrument in the entire re-entry capsule. Below the words, there was an LCD panel measuring about 12 inches.
Along with the blood-red soil’s reaction, a variety of complex formulas were displayed one by one, as well as specific morphological manifestations.
With his head lowered, Lu Kuan did not speak, and Su Mo did not ask either.
The two of them stared at the screen quietly.
A moment later…
As the blood-red soil’s reaction reached its peak, just as it was about to finish burning up, the formulas and data on the display screen at the back of the machine were gradually completed!
“F*ck, no way!”
“Is that even possible?” From the initial calm before it started, to the guesses as the reaction took place, when it finally concluded, Su Mo was gobsmacked.
During those few minutes of waiting, the expression on Su Mo’s face started to become like Lu Kuan’s, constantly changing in utter amazement.
“It’s true. This time it’s true—we’ve made a huge discovery!”
“This is…”
“This will… push forward our human technology! A discovery that is a direct leap into the future!”
As the blood-red soil was fully burned up, Lu Kuan once again glanced at the formula displayed on the detection device from the reaction. He was so excited that he could not speak coherently! On the entire wasteland, there were few who would know better than Lu Kuan just what this represented. Nobody knew better than he did just how much potential this thing had.
Standing behind Lu Kuan, Su Mo’s head was also currently buzzing with excitement. It was as if he had been struck by lightning; his thoughts were frozen for a few minutes.
He was no stranger to the formula displayed on the screen.
Even most Earth junior high and high school students would be somewhat familiar with it.
H+2H–+4He+10n+1. 76x1017eV!
It was very simple. Very simple! The left side of the reaction equation was unremarkable.
The right side of the reaction equation did not have any novel elements either. However, behind this huge energy reaction, what it represented was…
Fully controllable nuclear fusion!
The super technology that humans would forever require another fifty years to research before they could use it!
“Amazing! The atoms with smaller mass in the blood-red soil—just by combusting and combining with this mysterious element, without the external force of ultra-high temperature or ultra-high pressure, the atomic nuclei polymerized with each other and produced such a huge amount of energy!”
“Nuclear fusion-no matter how many generations we spent researching it, we weren’t able to accomplish it. To think that nuclear fusion could be achieved with such a simple reaction!”
“As long as we can extract this stable catalytic element in the blood-red soil and study the preparation method, we will never lack any energy on this wasteland!”
Staring maniacally at the screen, even though it was a robot body, a joy that could be clearly seen and felt.
Nuclear fusion released much more energy than nuclear fission.
Moreover, it only required only the simplest elements of deuterium and tritium.
Deuterium was abundant in ocean water, which contained about one deuterium atom for every 6,500 hydrogen atoms.
Every 1 liter of ocean water contained 30 mg of deuterium, and the energy produced by the fusion of 30 mg of deuterium was equivalent to 300 liters of gasoline.
Furthermore, tritium could be made from lithium, which was even simpler!
“How much more blood-red soil do we have left for research?”
“We still have 513g remaining!”
“Don’t use it up. Wait a while and leave some for me!”
“Alright!”
Lu Kuan did not know why Su Mo wanted to leave some of the blood-red soil behind.
However, he could practically see the fire burning in Su Mo’s eyes. They were full of desire!
Pure, unadulterated desire! “Oh right, we have to keep this experiment secret. Don’t tell anyone aside from me.”
Lu Kuan nodded solemnly. “I know!”
“Good. A detailed experiment can be conducted once we arrive at the New World. At that time, I will reproduce the instrument as soon as possible and give you the best research and experiment conditions.”
Blood-red soil was the best catalyst to develop controlled nuclear fusion.
Su Mo never thought that his unintentional actions would bring such amazing benefits. As long as the elements could be extracted, a real controllable nuclear fusion laboratory could be established.
In that case, the disasters the game would send their way would be a complete joke. If they could achieve a scenario where they had an infinite supply of energy, humans would make the game realize why technology was the primary driving force behind human productivity and development!
As for whether this element could be extracted, as well as how to research its preparation method, glancing at the system panel that had accumulated rewards over three days and the remaining points balance of 3000 survival points, Su Mo nodded almost imperceptibly, fully at peace!
