Chapter 1256: A Great Discovery?
A great discovery?
What counts as a great discovery?
Is the void theory not great enough? What about the discovery of the Z particle?
With a feeling of confusion in his heart, Lu Zhou left the system space.
He opened his eyes and thought about what kind of great physics discovery would be worthy of physics level 10. Suddenly, a warm sensation crawled along the back of his head and down his spine.
Lu Zhou felt drowsy. He immediately knew what was going on.
Before he could change to a comfortable sleeping position, he fell unconscious…
He slept for the entire night.
This slept was extraordinarily deep and satisfying.
Lu Zhou even had a dream. In the dream, he was in a maze. He walked and walked for a long time, but he couldn’t see the end of the maze.
Finally, after he turned a corner, a treasure chest appeared in front of him.
However, just when he put his hand on the treasure chest and was about to open it to see what was inside, the treasure chest turned into a crystal coffin.
And lying inside it…
Was his proudest student…
Lu Zhou vaguely heard someone calling his name from behind. He could hear the approaching footsteps stomping on the leaves. He turned around, then suddenly woke up.
“What a strange dream…”
Lu Zhou rubbed his nose and sat up on the bed. He immediately reached out and grabbed the phone on the bedside table. He unlocked the screen and looked at the calendar.
The date was October 6th, and the time was 8 o’clock in the morning.
When Lu Zhou saw that only one day had passed, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.
Nice, I didn’t sleep for too long this time.
It seemed like after he reached mathematics level 10, it really improved the “durability” of his brain. This kind of small turbulence didn’t put him in a coma anymore.
But even then, he slept from noon yesterday until now.
Lu Zhou jumped off the bed, walked to the window, and opened the curtains. He stretched and moved his sore limbs.
Lu Zhou felt the hunger in his stomach. He remembered that he fell asleep before lunch yesterday, so he took out his phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang twice and was quickly connected. A clear voice came from the other end.
“Yes?”
“I’m a bit hungry, can you bring me some breakfast?”
Wang Peng: “What do you want to eat?”
Lu Zhou thought about it and spoke.
“A bowl of beef noodles will do.”
Without waiting for long, a purple electric car parked downstairs. His entrance doorbell began to ring.
“Here’s the breakfast. I was afraid that it wouldn’t be enough, so I bought some soy milk and a bowl of soup dumplings.”
Lu Zhou took the breakfast from Wang Peng and spoke with a smile.
“Thanks, I’ll transfer you the money.”
“No need, the state covers this.”
“This is deductible?”
“Of course it is, actually both your food and medical expenses are… But you don’t really use the funds.”
This funding was allocated to Lu Zhou when he first returned to China. It was distributed annually along with five million yuan of relocation allowance and scientific research grants.
Theoretically, as long as he was in the country, basically, all of his expenses including buying a car and buying a house could be taken from this fund. This was equivalent to the state completely paying for his living expenses. Even Wang Peng’s salary was taken from this fund.
However, because Lu Zhou was too wealthy, he seldom took the initiative to spend this money.
Before, a little bit would be spent on gas money. However, ever since BYD gave him the Electric Purple car, he didn’t even need to buy gas anymore.
Lu Zhou put the breakfast on the coffee table. He sat in the living room and ate his noodles. He scrolled through his mobile phone, looking at his private messages on Weibo.
Just a few days ago, all of the discussions were focused on the National Day celebration show and military parade. These discussions had been completely replaced by the “lunar cannon”.
Lu Zhou was glad to see how excited his fans were.
He grinned as he read the comments praising him. As for the occasional toxic comments, he didn’t really care at all.
His fans would help defend him anyway.
While he was scrolling through his Weibo, he suddenly received a phone call.
Lu Zhou looked at Director Li’s name on his screen. He paused for a second and picked up the call. He put his phone to his ear and was about to say “hello”, but the other end of the phone spoke first.
“Hey, Academician Lu, are you at home?”
“Hey… Why?”
“I’m already back in Beijing, so don’t worry about driving me to the airport.”
“…?”
Lu Zhou was curious why this old man thought he would drive him to the airport.
Director Li smiled and asked, “So, I just wanted to ask how was your rest yesterday? Did you feel refreshed?”
“I’m doing good… What is the matter with you, just give it to me straight.”
“Haha, I’m not hiding anything from you. Well, here’s the thing.” Director Li scratched his head and said, “NASA Director Carson applied for a diplomatic visit. He’s coming to Beijing, probably tomorrow.”
“And?”
“And maybe you can come? On the phone, he seemed to be looking forward to meeting you.”
Lu Zhou: “I still have work to do. If he is interested, ask him to come to Jinling to find me.”
Even though showing off in front of opponents was satisfying, Lu Zhou still had other troublesome things to work on at the moment. He had no time to humblebrag to the NASA director.
Director Li thought for a bit and nodded.
“Okay then, I’ll tell him that.”
It didn’t make sense for Academician Lu to go all the way to Beijing just to meet the NASA director.
Not to mention that traveling was so convenient these days. If Director Carson really wanted to meet Lu Zhou, he could easily go to Jinling himself.
After a moment of silence, Lu Zhou asked, “Do you need anything else?”
“Actually, there’s one more thing. It’s about the Lunar Orbit Committee.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Director Li smiled and said, “The track from the moon to Earth has finished construction, right? The transportation cost per kilogram of material is only two thousand yuan. A few days ago, we had a meeting in Shanghai to study how to guide the private sector to develop lunar resources in an orderly manner. This will promote the development of the lunar industry.”
Lu Zhou tapped his finger on the coffee table. He wasn’t very interested in economics.
“So what?”
“So, we plan to set up a special administrative region on the lunar scientific research station. With mining, tourism, science, and education as the pillar industries, we will build public supporting facilities necessary for small scale immigration!”
“…”
Lu Zhou was stunned; he was speechless.
Director Li thought the call had dropped. He paused for a second before asking, “Hello? Can you hear me?”
“I can.”
Director Li: “You don’t sound surprised?”
Lu Zhou: “I’m so surprised I don’t know what to say.”
Planning to set up a special administrative region on the moon…
Even though he had this idea before, he didn’t expect to see it happen in his lifetime. Even for him, who didn’t care about politics, he knew that the political impact of this was going to be extraordinary.
This was not comparable to the aerospace resources policies issued a few years ago, which supported the development of the aerospace industry.
It seemed like Lu Zhou seemed to be reluctant to answer this question. Director Li coughed lightly and said, “In fact, there is no need to say anything… We just wanted to ask for your opinion.”
Seeing how polite the old man was, Lu Zhou sighed and spoke.
“No one has done something like this before, so… I can’t give any particularly good advice. The basis of scientific research is trial and error. If you feel that the risk is acceptable and the expectations are high, it’s fine to give it a try.”
Even though he felt like it was too early to do this, judging from the social cohesion and vitality reflected by the National Day celebration and a series of subsequent events, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The public’s enthusiasm for space exploration had never been higher.
The lunar mass driver was just completed, and this opened a new industry pathway.
Under these circumstances, the construction and development of tourism, mineral resources, and other supporting facilities would become easier than before.
It might be safer to wait a little longer, but maybe they should strike while the iron was hot.
After hearing Lu Zhou’s words, Director Li hesitated for a moment.
“So… you’re saying this is a good idea?”
Lu Zhou: “I think it’s fine.”
Director Li, who was holding his phone, suddenly looked ecstatic. He spoke quickly, as if he was afraid that Lu Zhou would change his mind.
“Then, I’ll hand in the report!”
“Report?”
“The higher-ups specifically asked me to ask for your opinion. If you think it can be done, then we will do it. If you think it’s too early, then we will wait. Since you think it’s okay, then we’ll go ahead with the plan!”
Lu Zhou felt like he had unintentionally agreed.
But…
Whatever.
He didn’t want to think of these troublesome issues for the time being.
He just wanted to do one thing.
Which was to think about how to achieve level 10 in physics…