Chapter 98: Defying Conventional Wisdom

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In the north hall at the Sentinel Department.

Fu Jiangshui was engaged in a very special experiment.

As a materials scientist, his work was usually monotonous and dry. In today’s world, it wasn’t enough to just mix a few elements together and expect to write multiple papers from the results. Even in the simplest area of steel alloys, the certified numbers had already reached nearly a hundred thousand. To achieve anything here, aside from slightly altering the steel composition and conducting endless tests, all you could do was leave it up to luck.

And Fu Jiangshui’s situation was no exception.

He had his own laboratory and even his own team; many experiments could be handed off to his assistants. Most of his time was spent reading reports. With just a glance, he could often tell that another pointless experiment had been carried out—the material was indeed new, but either its performance was abysmal or it had critical flaws. In short, it was useless, and thus couldn’t be considered valid research.

Until he accepted a secret assignment and was transferred to the north hall for new work.

His routine days were about to change.

Only after arriving here did Fu Jiangshui learn he’d been tasked with studying an entirely new substance. As for what specific aspects to investigate, the higher-ups provided no guidance, only emphasizing the importance of being as comprehensive as possible.

Such vague instructions were entirely new to him.

At first, Fu Jiangshui didn’t think much of the project. After all, creating useful new materials was difficult, but analyzing something that already exists should be easy, right? And as for why this project was classified as top-secret, that wasn’t hard to figure out either—either the material came from space or was newly harvested from the Moon.

If he had all the necessary equipment, he could probably wrap things up within half a month and submit his report.

But when Fu Jiangshui saw the substance’s spectral analysis chart and composition report, he suddenly realized things might not be so simple.

He’d heard these reports were what caught the higher-ups’ attention in the first place.

Later, he finally got to see a sample for himself: a cube about one inch on each side. It was obvious this wasn’t the substance’s original form, but he understood the logic behind it. He knew he wasn’t the only researcher invited to study the material, there must be quite a few others working on it right now. Numerous colleagues were likely studying it simultaneously, necessitating careful allocation given the limited quantity available.

In the days that followed, Fu Jiangshui threw himself wholeheartedly into his experiments, making a new discovery almost every day! The shock of these findings was mixed with waves of sheer joy. For a researcher, what could be more thrilling than uncovering something new? Even writing papers became a joyful task.

He privately named this substance “Yao,” after the I Ching’s concept of constant change.

Of course, due to confidentiality agreements, he couldn’t publish his papers. But what did that matter? Top secrets information eventually become classified information, and classified information gradually declassified. When the time came to make it public, his papers would bring him the recognition they deserved.

Right now, he was conducting an electrical discharge test.

Fu Jiangshui placed a sample slice into the testing cabinet. He then instructed his assistant to turn on the power and record the data. This experiment was designed to test the material’s conductivity, resistance, and other electromagnetic properties. Considering its composition was partly similar to silicon dioxide or silica—essentially, rock—he started with a very high voltage.

But the assistant’s report caught him off guard. “Dr. Fu, the voltmeter shows no reading, but the ammeter is registering current!”

Is the meter broken? That was Fu Jiangshui’s first thought.

If the test subject were any other alloy, he would have immediately halted the experiment and called the equipment supplier for service. But Yao was entirely new, so he decided to observe it a bit longer. “Try reducing the voltage by 500 volts.”

The result was still essentially the same.

There was no voltage reading, but the ammeter’s number had dropped slightly.

Now this was surprising!

It meant that the sample slice wasn’t conducting electricity, hence there could be no voltage detected at the other end. But current was still flowing, indicating that the discharge device was constantly doing work.

So where was the energy going then?

This was downright strange—because when the circuit wasn’t complete, the whole system should have been disconnected, and both voltage and current should be absent!

“Good heavens…” Fu Jiangshui muttered. “It’s Yao! Yao is absorbing this electricity! What about the temperature reading? Is there any change?”

“No… The temperature of the test material is still normal,” his assistant replied quickly.

It is Absorbing electrical power but not increasing its internal energy?

Just these two points were enough to leave all the world’s experts in fundamental physics completely speechless!

“Dr. Fu… What should we do?” his assistant asked, realizing that this discovery could overturn everyone’s understanding. His voice sounded a bit hoarse.

“Keep charging it and record the amount of electricity going in. If it exceeds 100 kilowatt-hours, stop.”

“Why is 100 degrees our limit?”

“If we assume it acts like a battery, 100 kilowatt-hours equate to the energy stored in an electric vehicle. In the worst-case scenario, if there’s an explosion, it would likely only destroy this laboratory,” Fu Jiangshui explained matter-of-factly. “We can’t risk disrupting others’ experiments after all, can we?”

The assistant couldn’t help but shiver.

But the moment of the Yao’s explosion never came.

When the input reached 27 degrees, the entire circuit was completed. A beeping sound filled the test cabinet, and the voltage meter finally showed something.

Fu Jiangshui rushed over eagerly.

The voltage read 1,000 volts, and the current was 5 amps—the same power output set by the test cabinet.

His heart suddenly started pounding!

“Hey, come here!” he called out to the assistant. “There’s something in the cabinet, isn’t there?”

“Uh… are you talking about the test sample?”

“Yes, it should still be in there, right?”

The assistant didn’t know how to answer. If you can see with your eyes, you’d know the sample is still in the test cabinet. Nevertheless, adhering to the spirit of factual accuracy, he confirmed, “Yes, it is there.”

Fu Jiangshui could naturally see the sample too, but he felt as if he were caught in a dream, fearing that what his eyes beheld might not be real.

The input and output signals were identical, meaning the sample didn’t affect the circuit at all. In other words, it conducted electricity without any resistance.

The testing cabinet, though capable of cooling and pressurizing, hadn’t been adjusted for either function.

The term room-temperature superconductor popped into Fu Jiangshui’s mind.

In its normal state, Yao can’t be considered an insulator because it keeps absorbing energy from the circuit. When this energy reaches a certain level, it starts showing superconducting properties… and it doesn’t need any special cold or high-pressure conditions to do this!

This means if you use it as a current carrier, any device made with it won’t lose power or heat up. Regardless of whether it possesses other unique properties, just this characteristic alone is enough to revolutionize its applications!

“Dr. Fu, I don’t get it…” The assistant shook his head, looking at the sample in the cabinet as if it were a demon. “Superconductivity requires electrons to form Cooper pairs. We can detect if a material has lots of these pairs at low temperatures, which is how we find superconductors! We’ve already tested this before. Whether we use an electron spectrometer or a neutron magnetometer, there’s no sign of any large number of Cooper pairs in this stuff!”

“It’s perfectly fine not to understand it,” Fu Jiangshui chuckled. “The universe is vast. Do you think we can grasp everything? In truth, even in a single field like superconductivity, practical experience trumps theoretical research. If you’re stuck, just treat it as an inherent property of the thing.”

What did he mean by ‘inherent property’? It simply implied that it was naturally so, beyond one’s control or explanation. There was no need to question it further.

The assistant, initially speechless, quickly regained composure with a look of acceptance.

After all, what cannot be understood is worth exploring further.

“Snap out of it! We’ve got more work to do!” Fu Jiangshui picked up the lab phone as he continued, “We need to test if the superconductivity weakens over time and measure the ratio of its size to the amount of electricity it absorbs…” He paused, then added with confidence, “I bet this discovery will blow their minds away. And it could also get us some extra samples to work with.”