freenovelworld Chapter 812 Hey, neighbor? I have some good news to tell you!
Chapter 812 Hey, neighbor? I have some good news to tell you!
In the afternoon in Beijing, sunlight streamed through the wooden lattice windows of the office, slanting across the slightly worn paint on the desk.
A gentle old man sat quietly by the phone, a long ash accumulated on the cigarette between his fingers, which he had forgotten to flick off. He had weathered many storms in his life and would remain unmoved even in the face of a collapsing mountain, yet at this moment he revealed a rare, almost pious, expectation.
Yes, he, who rarely smokes, actually needs to rely on tobacco to stay awake.
The wall clock ticked away, each second hand striking like a blow to the old man's heart.
He glanced at the clock; the hour hand had just passed 15:01 PM, and the minute hand was right on the edge of the number "1," but the telephone on the table remained silent, without even a hint of ringing.
The old man's brows furrowed slightly, and for the first time, a visible unease appeared between his usually relaxed expression. He raised his hand to rub his temples, his fingertips tracing the fine lines on his forehead, then looked down at his palms, which were now damp with a thin layer of sweat.
"Why haven't we heard anything yet..." she muttered to herself, her voice softer than usual and trembling slightly.
These words didn't seem to be directed at anyone, but rather a challenge to himself. This old man, who had weathered countless wars and storms, had remained as steady as a mountain amidst gunfire and had calmly planned for reconstruction when everything was in ruins. Yet now, facing the waiting on the other side of the Gobi Desert, he had surprisingly lost his usual composure.
It's not entirely his fault. The "young lady's" affair was no ordinary experiment; it was a testament to the collective strength of the entire nation.
From the day the project was launched, countless master craftsmen moved their bedding into the workshop and didn't go home for several years. Using the most primitive manual calibration, they managed to rush out every precision component needed for the project.
The workers at the optical instrument factory stayed up countless nights by the furnace, grinding glass into high-speed camera lenses with a precision of 0.001 millimeters. The light slits on the lenses were so fine that a single hair could pass through them.
In the mines of Panzhihua, miners braved temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius to go down into the mines, using steel chisels and handcarts to transport truckloads of vanadium- and titanium-rich iron ore, which is the raw material for the core components of the reactor.
In addition, experts from research institutes in 26 provinces and cities across the country, specializing in mechanical engineering, electronics, chemistry, and even meteorology, put down their work, packed their bags, and headed to the Gobi Desert.
The resources saved by the people of the whole country through frugality and conservation are continuously channeled to the remote Gobi Desert like blood. They embody a nation's aspiration to stand tall among the nations of the world, and are the ultimate bargaining chip for breaking free from constraints and winning dignity.
So many people have had their hair turn white from working so hard, so many have missed the birth of their children, so many have made their homes in makeshift tents...
This is not just an experiment; it's millions of people pooling their efforts to create a "protective umbrella" for their motherland!
The second hand continued its relentless march forward, round and round. The waiting time seemed to stretch on endlessly; the air in the silent office was so heavy it felt almost palpable. A barely perceptible gloom crept into the old man's heart.
What if...it fails?
Once this thought arises, it hovers around like a ghost.
What if I fail?
What else can be done!
A flame suddenly burst forth in his deep eyes, as if to dispel all the gloom.
It's simply a matter of starting all over again!
The road ahead is long and arduous, but we will start anew! This road has never been smooth. We took the countless mountains and rivers we crossed, including snow-capped mountains and grasslands, as nothing. What are these setbacks now?
However, rational consideration followed. If they truly failed, the pressure from the outside world would surge like a tsunami, and the methods of blockade, ridicule, and suppression would likely intensify.
This immense burden, this predicament both internally and externally...
Can we withstand it?
"Boom!"
"We have to bear it even if we can't!" The old man clenched his right hand tightly and slammed it heavily on the table. The enamel teacup on the table shook, and a few drops of tea splashed out, landing on the blue tablecloth and spreading into small water stains.
He stared at the water stain, his eyes growing increasingly resolute: No matter how difficult it is, we cannot let our motherland bow down in the face of deterrence!
Just then, the phone on the table suddenly rang. The old man almost immediately grabbed the receiver, his fingers trembling slightly with excitement. When he put it to his ear, he could feel his heart beating rapidly.
The old man almost reflexively reached out and steadily picked up the receiver. A clear and forceful report came from the other end: "Sir! The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has completed the setup of the telephone conference room to the highest standards. Comrade Zhang will be giving a live report from here!"
"Phew..." The old man unconsciously took a deep breath, his heartbeat, which had just slowed slightly, began to race again. Fortunately, the familiar voice of the on-site commander came through the line the next second, concise and encouraging:
"It's very tall!"
"It's very tall!"
"It's very tall!"
The important thing is said three times, and it's clear that the commander-in-chief on the other side understands this well.
The old man was stunned for a moment, then the unease and gloom between his brows instantly disappeared, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up, and the fine lines at the corners of his eyes also smoothed out, like the surface of a lake touched by a spring breeze.
He held the receiver and said "Okay" three times in a row, his voice full of a satisfied smile: "Okay! Okay! Got it, thank you for your hard work, comrades!"
"Good, good, good..." The old man said "good" three times in a row, his tense shoulders instantly relaxed, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up, and the fine lines at the corners of his eyes relaxed.
Before he could catch his breath, the noise from the conference room flooded in. There were excited shouts, suppressed sobs, and someone yelling in a tearful voice, "We did it! We did it!" The fragmented sounds mingled together, like a warm current flowing through the receiver.
The old man smiled and waited for the noise to subside before lowering his voice to ask, "Have you figured out the situation? Has the type of explosion been determined?"
“Yes!” a familiar voice interjected, “Make sure to confirm again that it was a nuclear explosion, so that everyone outside can see it clearly!”
The gentle old man immediately recognized the voice of his old comrade-in-arms and couldn't help but smile knowingly.
"No problem!" the on-site commander's voice rang out again. "Data on light radiation, shock wave, and radioactivity have all been detected. Preliminary estimates indicate the yield is larger than we anticipated!"
The microphone paused briefly, then the commander-in-chief's voice rang out again: "The aerial sampling team has returned! The ground team is returning!"
"The Il-12 has landed, and the soldiers who conducted aerial sampling have just reported back that radioactive contamination has been detected! The data matches the theoretical deductions perfectly!"
Yes, the young lady's four martial arts are: fireball, overpressure shock, radiation penetration, and dust poison.
Yes, I have it all. She's a proper young lady!
"Good! Excellent!" the gentle old man added, "We must ensure the health of our sampling comrades!"
At the same time, another concerned voice came through the microphone: "The comrades who are sampling are working very hard. We must arrange medical checkups for them as soon as possible and protect their health! This is a great achievement, and these heroes deserve a good rest!"
"Please rest assured, sir! The medical team is already waiting at the airport. They will be sent to the hospital for examination as soon as the disinfection is completed! Meanwhile, the comrade who was sampling has already taken the Prussian blue reagent that a certain junior comrade was leading the research on before departure!"
"Alright, alright... Well then, old friend, let's discuss how to announce this news!"
The old man placed the microphone horizontally on the table, leaned back in his wicker chair, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Sunlight streamed through the window, falling warmly on his face. He raised his hand to touch his chest; his heart, which had been pounding wildly just moments before, had finally calmed down.
"Hehehe! Okay, I think the original plan should remain unchanged! We can announce it as originally planned!"
"Hahaha……"
"Hey hey hey..."
A burst of gritted-teeth laughter came through the microphone.
Because, in the original plan, the first country to be notified was neither the United States nor the United Kingdom, and even the United States and France were not on the list.
The first person to be notified was the neighbor across the sea.
This is what you call unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable.
Because the first person to be notified was the little notebook!
Don't call us petty; this is what it means to be a responsible major power!