Chapter 563: Where Is My Phone?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After the incident spread across the country, there was an uproar.
It had been three days since the fusion ignition of the demonstration reactor.
However, they only knew now that Chief Designer Lu of the STAR-2 demonstration reactor had collapsed.
Actually, because there was no celebration party at the demonstration reactor site, nor was there any commendation conference, a lot of people had started to connect the dots.
However, most of them were just speculating on whether or not the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was really successful or not. They didn’t think that it was about Lu Zhou’s health.
And now that this news broke out, everyone was muddled.
Actually, the higher-ups didn’t plan on keeping Lu Zhou’s condition a secret forever. They even prepared a press release speech.
It was just that no one expected him to be in a coma for this long. It had been days, and there was no sign of him waking up.
Since the public opinion was s.h.i.+fting anyway, there wasn’t any point keeping this a secret.
China finally confirmed this news.
Everyone Daily was the first to report on this.
That press release speech was modified and was presented on the front page of the newspaper.
[Professor Lu, chief designer of China’s controllable nuclear fusion project, n.o.bel Prize laureate, and Fields medalist. After the successful fusion ignition of the demonstration reactor, due to his work overload and fatigue, has collapsed on the worksite…
[According to his colleagues, during his most difficult periods of research, he stayed at the office for weeks at a time. He often even skipped lunch.
[He is the torch of the younger generation. He illuminated the path toward a great nation. He is a candle, burning for the cause of scientific research…
[We pray for his recovery.]
The picture in the newspaper was a candle.
It was very rare for Everyone Daily to highlight an individual’s safety.
The editors and readers were all in tears.
The controllable fusion ignition was successful.
This was originally supposed to be a moment worthy of celebration.
In this celebration-worthy day, Lu Zhou was supposed to be sitting with his family, sharing the joy of his success. However, he was burned out.
Maybe he couldn’t handle it anymore.
However, he still stood there, persisting until the end, until the moment fusion ignition was achieved…
Surprisingly, there weren’t any haters regarding this incident.
Even when the STAR-2 demonstration reactor was successful, there were a lot of people that were using conspiracy theories to hate on their success.
But at this moment, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knew not to hate on a sensitive topic like this.
Official Weibo account of Everyone Daily…
Comment section.
There were hundreds of thousands of candle emojis…
[(candle) (candle)…]
[I wish him a speedy recovery! (candle)]
[I hope he wakes up as soon as possible. (candle)]
[…]
…
At the same time, the international community was also debating.
American representative: “Professor Lu Zhou is mankind’s a.s.set. His health isn’t only China’s responsibility. If China does not have the ability to cure him, I suggest to send him to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. He will receive the best treatment there.”
The French representative said, “The Saint-Joseph Hospital has world-leading experts in neurosurgery. We are willing to pay for all of Professor Lu’s medical expenses, and we will ensure he will receive the best treatment!”
The British representative interrupted the French representative and said, “Saint-Joseph Hospital? Where is that? Are you joking? The Royal London Hospital is a million times better than that.”
The conference table was having a furious discussion.
Finally, the Chinese representative stood up and interrupted the discussion.
“Due to our concern for Professor Lu’s safety, unless he personally agrees to such a proposal, we will not agree.”
The American representative said, “I hope you guys are doing a good job taking care of Lu Zhou.”
Chinese representative: “We would be doing a bad job if we were to send him to you.”
American representative: “What do you mean?”
Chinese representative: “You heard me.”
It wasn’t just the various governments, even the World Health Organization expressed their willingness to send a medical team to Beijing for free and provide medical help for this outstanding scholar.
Finally, China decided to take a step back on this issue.
After all, out of all of the countries, China was probably the one who wanted him to wake up the most.
Since the domestic experts couldn’t solve this problem, it was a good idea to consult the foreign experts.
The World Health Organization team of experts was undoubtedly a better choice than a team of experts from a single country.
Even though the possibility of espionage couldn’t be ruled out, it was still relatively easy to control.
Just like that, a team of medical experts set off from Geneva and traveled to China.
However, surprisingly, the international experts weren’t able to come up with a better conclusion. Even the most respected neurosurgeons couldn’t diagnose Lu Zhou’s condition.
Academician Castin from the UK expressed his opinion.
“I personally think this is a very interesting medical phenomenon. It can even be used as a future textbook example.”
Academician Zhao Zhongji said, “Oh yeah?”
Academician Castin nodded with excitement. “Yeah, his body is normal. It’s like he’s just fallen asleep, but he can’t wake up. If we can figure out how he fell asleep, this might be a discovery worthy of the n.o.bel Prize.”
Before he came to China, he only regarded this mission as a political task to earn some goodwill from China. After all, the England Royal Society promised him a considerable amount of research funding.
However, he was now completely fascinated and intrigued by this situation.
Academician Zhao Zhongji was also curious about what this n.o.bel Prize-level discovery could be. But he was more concerned about Lu Zhou’s health.
Even ten n.o.bel Prizes couldn’t compare to the life of a scholar.
“If you dare to do any kind of experiment on him, I swear to G.o.d you’ll never do an experiment again.”
Academician Castin smiled awkwardly and tried to diffuse the tension.
“Don’t get angry… I was just kidding.”
However, Castin didn’t look like he was kidding.
…
The multi-national medical expert team didn’t have any good ideas. China didn’t really trust them, and Lu Zhou’s treatment had become more and more complicated.
Fortunately, his “condition” did not worsen.
But many people were still worried about him.
The only person that wasn’t worried was Lu Zhou himself.
January 20th, snow was blowing outside the window, leaving a crystal white layer on the windows.
Chinese New Year’s Eve was in four days.
Lu Zhou was still lying on a hospital bed with a medical ventilator. He looked as calm as ever, and one could even hear him breathing.
Yan Yan was sitting next to the bed, and her eyes were full of tears. She thought back to a few days ago when she faced her angry father, who slammed the door in her face.
And what her father said to her.
“F*ck off!
“You’re not my daughter!”
His father was in the army. He was old when he had her and was now retired.
For a man who had devoted his entire life to his country, there was nothing more important to him than the interests of the country.
Not even his own daughter.
She knew why her father was this furious, it’s just that she hasn’t been treated like this before.
Yan Yan took a deep breath and began to tear up.
After all, she was only in her twenties.
She originally thought she was mature, but now, it seemed like that wasn’t the case.
Maybe because her life was too perfect or her military achievements made her too arrogant… She always had an illusion that she could handle anything life threw her way…
When she accepted this mission, she never even thought about the possibility of failure.
Her arms rested on her thighs, and she buried her face into her hands.
However, while she was in a pool of self-pity and blame, she heard a cough.
After that, a rea.s.suring voice could be heard.
“Where… Where is my phone?”