Chapter 118

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Chapter 118: The Path Forward

Just as everyone were whispering excitedly among themselves, the third expert, Professor Shi, stepped up to the podium.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen. My research focus is on superconductive energy storage. It has promising applications in new energy sources, as well as the Tokamak device(1).”

Unlike the previous two speakers, he didn’t launch a PowerPoint presentation. Instead, he had his assistant bring a square box onto the stage.

“I am deeply grateful to Professor Fu for his new discovery. When I learned that a room‑temperature superconductor material truly exists, my research suddenly transformed—from a narrow search for light through a slit into a broad, promising avenue. In just these few days, we’ve made more progress than in the past twenty years combined.”

A burst of good‑natured laughter filled the hall as Professor Shi continued to speak.

“I’m not exaggerating; this very model in front of me is the proof.” As he spoke, Professor Shi pulled away the black cloth covering the model.

The audience gasped in unison.

At first glance, the model itself didn’t seem particularly special. It consisted of a square metal frame within which an elliptical sphere was fixed. The sphere, too, was encased in a metal shell, with black glass windows embedded on all four sides. Through these windows, the audience could see a bright, shimmering light emanated from within the sphere!

It was a ring formed by a flow of light, rapidly rotating at high speed around the central axis of the sphere. Though it was clearly light, it appeared so substantial that it seemed almost tangible! The pitch‑black glass of the window seemed designed to block the brilliance of the light flow, but even so, it remained quite dazzling and staring at it for a long time would cause a stinging sensation.

Fu Jiangshui immediately realized that this effect could never have been achieved with LED light strips, because although the flow of light moved in a consistent direction, its trajectory was anything but regular.

“Is the outer layer of glass a polarizing filter?” someone asked, raising their hand.

“Yes, and it’s a specially made polarizing glass. This is precisely so that observers can clearly see the electricity flowing through the superconducting coil with the naked eye.”

“But can electricity really be seen?” Gao Wei asked Professor Fu, puzzled. “I always thought it had no physical form.”

“Under normal circumstances, no, but if something else is filled inside the sphere, such as an inert gas, we can observe the fluorescence emitted when it becomes ionized.” After finishing his explanation, Fu Jiangshui raised his hand.

“Professor Fu, please go ahead,” the other person replied politely with a nod.

“How much electrical energy can this model store?”

He had a premonition that the answer would be utterly astonishing.

However, the response he received still greatly exceeded his expectations.

“At present, it stores only 3000 kilowatt‑hours of energy, because charging it also takes time. But based on my experimental results, this value could be increased by as much as ten thousand times.”

“Ten thousand times?” Fu Jiangshui gasped, pausing for what felt like an eternity before nodding and replying, “I understand… Thank you.”

“Professor Fu, can’t other superconducting materials achieve this?” Gao Wei hurriedly asked for advice.

“Is that even worth asking? Not to mention achieving this, other materials can’t even come close to touch the tail lights…” Mid-sentence, he suddenly remembered that his conversation partner wasn’t a researcher, and he hastily rephrased, “You know about what an MRI(3) is, right? Their core component is also a superconducting energy storage device, typically made of niobium–titanium alloy and it’s cooled with liquid helium. When fully charged, it holds only about 50 kilowatt‑hours of energy. This is an inherent property of the material that cannot be enhanced by technology.”

As an expert in materials science, he was all too aware of how astonishing Professor Shi’s conclusion was. Since superconductors(2) have zero resistance, current can flow through superconducting coils without any loss, yet there is an upper limit to the amount of current that can be injected. This limit is known as the superconductor’s critical current(4).

In fact, conventional superconductors are influenced not only by low temperatures and pressure but also by current and magnetic field strength. Once any of these factors exceed their critical thresholds, the superconductor loses its superconductivity. Therefore, even if a room‑temperature superconductor were discovered but with a very low critical current, it would have little practical value.

Seeing that Director Gao still appeared somewhat puzzled, Fu Jiangshui continued, “3000 kilowatt‑hours multiplied by ten thousand equals 30 million kilowatt‑hours, and the Three Gorges Dam generates over 200 million kilowatt‑hours of electricity per day. That means ten of these devices could store the entire daily output of the Three Gorges Dam!Similarly, a single sphere could power a modern city. This is absolutely something that defies common sense!”

“Carrying around that much energy?” Gao Wei was equally astounded. “Doesn’t that essentially equate to a small nuclear bomb?”

“Carrying it around would probably be problematic; I can’t even imagine how strong the generated magnetic field might become.” Fu Jiangshui shook his head. “The square metal frame surrounding the elliptical sphere is likely designed to disrupt the magnetic field, preventing it from turning into a portable MRI device as that would lead to it attracting all nearby Iron-based objects. But a superconducting energy storage device capable of holding 30 million kilowatt‑hours? I doubt that a few simple shielding devices could still be effective.”

“If my proposal is approved, my team will start by developing a large superconducting energy storage device to supply a magnetic core component for the new Tokamak device, one whose performance far surpasses that of previous models.”

Professor Shi’s view was clearly in line with Fu Jiangshui’s: “If it’s used solely as a transportable energy source, it would undoubtedly waste the potential of Yao stone. Compared to past superconducting coils, the new ones require no cooling medium, which lead to a dramatically higher critical current, and can generate magnetic fields several times stronger. This represents a tremendous advancement for controlled nuclear fusion projects.”

He concluded, “Today, we are facing a severe energy challenge. Whether it’s petroleum or natural gas, we depend on imported supplies and long-distance transportation. If a breakthrough in nuclear fusion is achieved, we will usher in a truly boundless era of energy!”

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Fu Jiangshui thought to himself.

The energy revolution has always been an eternal theme throughout every industrial revolution. Moreover, the project proposed by Professor Shi perfectly suits the application environment for Yao stone. Nuclear power plants can only be national projects, and their high confidentiality ensures there’s no risk of superconducting material leakage. If his project is successful, the economic benefits would be immeasurable.

In terms of feasibility, the project also shows great promise. Domestic research in magnetic confinement nuclear fusion has consistently been at the forefront internationally—with at least one Tokamak experimental reactor already built. In the future, replacing its superconducting components with Yao stone superconductor would be like upgrading from a slingshot to a cannon. There’s every reason to expect outstanding results. Moreover, the amount of Yao stone required for such projects is not large, and even if an experiment fails, it won’t waste the superconducting coils. It can be said that in every aspect, this approach surpasses the other two proposals.

The space elevator, unrestrained by transport limitations, is equally enticing. After all, humanity’s dream of strolling through space will always be romantic, but beyond this dream, Fu Jiangshui also agreed with a domestic academician’s view—there are still so many uninhabitable regions on Earth that remain undeveloped, so focusing solely on space exploration seems to be putting the cart before the horse.

The voting process proceeded swiftly. The ballots were named and allowed multiple selections. Those inclined could even write down personal reasons and suggestions.

In less than thirty minutes, the host tallied the results—the three proposals received 15, 9, and 31 votes, respectively.

The superconducting energy storage research secured an overwhelming victory.

This meant that from today on, the researchers gathered at the Sentinel Control Center now had a fresh, unified objective.

Tokamak device is a machine shaped like a donut that uses powerful magnets to try and create energy like the Sun here on Earth by heating up and controlling super-hot plasma. so it need incredibly strong magnets to control the super-hot stuff used for fusion.
(2) Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance—meaning no energy is lost as heat.Traditionally, superconductors work only at extremely low temperatures. But the Yao Stone in this book offers room-temperature superconductivity.
(3) MRI is a fancy medical scanner used in hospitals to take detailed pictures inside your body without surgery or X-rays in many cases (though sometimes X-rays or CT scans are still better for certain things). It uses really strong magnets and radio waves to create these images.
(4) Even superconductors have limits! “Critical current” is like a maximum capacity. There’s a limit to how much electricity you can push through a superconducting wire before it stops being a superconductor and starts acting like a normal wire again. The higher the critical current, the better the superconductor for powerful applications.