**Chapter 824: The Era of Global Ebullition (2)**

Facing the visiting delegation led by the President, the experts at Oak Ridge were extremely cautious in introducing the project's progress. They feared being too profound, making it incomprehensible to these non-science-background dignitaries, yet also feared being too superficial, causing them to underestimate the research.

But experts will be experts. Many points that were the simplest knowledge to them sounded very counter-intuitive to the American elite, who mostly had legal backgrounds. For example, the idea that matter could actually turn into energy was something those who hadn't studied physics truly couldn't imagine.

Fortunately, the American leadership came here to understand the power of the atomic bomb, not to nitpick. Professor Fermi, through a set of equations, derived that the power of a single nuclear bomb carried by a plane would be equivalent to the simultaneous explosion of 30,000 tons of TNT. The great figures of the American elite couldn't help but nod slightly in satisfaction, some even revealing smiles.

Congressman Carl Vinson, who had been displeased by the presence of black employees at the base, was now also shaken by the power of science and forgot about the racial issue. In his view, such a weapon could allow the United States to resolve the war easily. However, exactly how it would do so remained unclear to him.

As the briefing ended, Vinson asked, "What is the power of this weapon in naval combat?"

A fluid dynamics expert in the team immediately explained to the Congressman: while nuclear weapons could destroy several square kilometers of a city on land, naval fleets were distributed more widely, easily covering an area exceeding several square kilometers.

Vinson had initially assumed the scientists didn't understand warfare. As the legislator who had pushed through the most US Navy acts to date, Vinson's understanding of naval operations was quite profound. He had thought the experts wouldn't know about sea battles, only to find they had accurately anticipated the very problem he was worried about before he even raised it.

The expert continued to explain: given the power of a nuclear weapon, if it exploded after entering the water, it would trigger a miniature tsunami several or even a dozen meters high, dealing a direct blow to ships across a hundred square kilometers.

Hearing of a tsunami reaching several or even a dozen meters, Vinson felt this power was sufficiently formidable. While such a tsunami might not sink a capital ship, destroyers would likely go down.

Roosevelt's personal visit was intended to satisfy the "masters" of Congress who held the purse strings. The true power of nuclear weapons was presumed to be vast, but its exact scale wouldn't be clear until an actual test. Roosevelt didn't have to come at this moment, but he did so because he was truly being pushed to his limit. If nuclear weapons could be developed before the Pacific War ended, he could use them to deter China, or at least boost American morale.

If the Pacific War was lost, the Roosevelt administration would have to rationally choose to seek peace with China. Even if Roosevelt didn't believe China intended to invade the US mainland, seeking peace would mean white supremacy itself had become a joke. This would be an unimaginable blow to the confidence of America, which viewed itself as the "City upon a Hill."

The experts' introduction satisfied the congressional delegation, and Roosevelt accompanied them through various laboratories. It wasn't until evening that Roosevelt requested a private meeting with Fermi, the lead expert of the base. Facing Professor Fermi, Roosevelt asked bluntly, "Professor, how soon can an actual test of a nuclear weapon be conducted?"

Fermi reflected for a while before answering, "If progress goes smoothly, it could be completed by June 1943 at the earliest."

Roosevelt didn't even discuss it, but asked directly, "Can it be tested in January 1943?"

Such a tight timeframe made Fermi feel that Roosevelt was indeed a law graduate; people in the legal profession often believed everything could be resolved through negotiation. But science cannot be negotiated; even the most extraordinary scientist cannot negotiate with the laws of nature.

Looking at the silent Fermi, Roosevelt asked, "Professor, how much additional investment do you think is needed?"

As President, Roosevelt could have had other officials handle this. But he truly couldn't wait; the war situation was critical, and he wasn't sure if he could be re-elected if the US suffered a defeat. Based on his knowledge of American politicians, there was currently no one who could truly succeed him. With the traditional style of current American politics, if that bunch took power, they would be toyed to death by He Rui.

Professor Fermi couldn't understand what Roosevelt was considering. Additional funds could indeed speed up the research, but the help provided wouldn't be particularly obvious. Theoretical verification of nuclear weapons had been completed in the early 1930s; now, American research institutions had built graphite reactors and neutron accelerators, practically verifying the chain fission reaction.

Nuclear weapons had to be practical, which required their size and weight to be as small as possible; what was truly lacking now were the engineers to complete this part. Finally, Fermi answered, "Mr. President, if all progress is accelerated to the maximum speed, a test explosion might be completed in February 1943."

Even with the time advanced by four months, the test would still be nine months away, which Roosevelt still found hard to accept. But he knew that at this moment he could only trust these European scientists. America didn't lack engineers to turn theory into reality; it lacked the scientists to propose the theories and experimental methods. Without these European scientists who had fled to the US, America's own scientists wouldn't have been capable of developing a nuclear research path.

As a lawyer, Roosevelt was well-versed in the art of negotiation. He didn't push further but asked what kind of help was needed. Fermi raised several points, but the support required was so extensive that he soon said, "Mr. President, I will submit a report to you."

The meeting should have ended there. Roosevelt's mood had settled somewhat when he suddenly remembered an intuition that had been bothering him. "Professor, I believe that given China's capabilities in science and engineering, their progress in developing nuclear weapons shouldn't be as advanced as the Manhattan Project. I wonder if you agree with my view."

As the war progressed, the US indeed had a gap in scientific heritage compared to Europe, but its performance in advanced technology had surpassed Europe's. If it were a war between the US and Europe, American technical equipment would be superior and its production volume incomparable. The reality of the Pacific War, however, made Roosevelt feel something was wrong; China's strength in technology didn't seem inferior to America's at all.

For ten seconds, Fermi didn't speak. By fifteen seconds, a look of difficulty appeared on his face. When the silence stretched to twenty seconds, Roosevelt felt his heart sink for no reason. Having helped too many gangsters with lawsuits, he was quite familiar with such silence.

"Mr. President..." Fermi searched for the right words. "Have you read the articles *Space Phantasy* and *Solar System Hypothesis* written by Mr. He Rui?"

Roosevelt shook his head. He knew He Rui was a strategist, a politician, and an economist. Those abilities were already enough of a headache; as for whether He Rui was a scientist, Roosevelt hadn't bothered to care.

Seeing that Roosevelt was unaware of He Rui's scientific attainments, Fermi actually felt relieved. Explaining to someone who knows nothing is far easier than explaining to someone who knows a little. He introduced: "Mr. He Rui proposed two hypotheses. The first is the theory of discontinuous space, and the second is the hypothesis of the existence of neutron stars. Based on the proportion of heavy atoms on Earth, he believes the solar system we live in might be a galaxy that appeared after the original solar system was destroyed multiple times."

As Fermi spoke of things Roosevelt couldn't understand at all, Roosevelt noticed emotions like excitement and admiration in Fermi's expression. These were emotions a professional usually has only when facing a superior master of the field. Although Roosevelt couldn't understand the content of Fermi's words, the professor's reaction made him feel that He Rui's papers proved he had an extraordinary level of cognition in the natural sciences.

"Professor, can you explain He Rui's papers using concepts from the nuclear field?" Roosevelt asked. He had, after all, read quite a bit of material on nuclear weapons and had some understanding of the basic theories.

Faced with his area of expertise, Fermi spoke much more fluently. "Discontinuous space is a hypothesis about quantum physics, and also a hypothesis about the composition of the world. This hypothesis must be built on a profound understanding of quantum mechanics."

Roosevelt's heart sank again. Quantum mechanics was the theoretical foundation for nuclear weapons development; a deep understanding of it meant potentially mastering the basis of nuclear research.

"The neutron star hypothesis, and the hypothesis about the generation of heavy elements, imply a profound understanding of high-energy particles and neutron collisions," Fermi continued. "*Solar System Hypothesis* was an entry in an encyclopedia in early 1935. We cannot determine the exact time this article was written; if it was completed by early 1934, it was a hypothesis proposed before the Joliot-Curies bombarded aluminum with alpha particles to produce the isotope Phosphorus-30..."

Though excited, Fermi noticed the blank look on Roosevelt's face and lowered the difficulty of his explanation. "Mr. President, do you know aluminum and phosphorus?"

Roosevelt nodded. He had seen many charlatans and knew they often used phosphorus for various tricks.

"Bombarding aluminum with a certain particle can turn a tiny amount of aluminum into phosphorus," Fermi explained.

"...Alchemist's gold?" Roosevelt asked after a moment's hesitation.

"You could say that," Fermi answered very directly.

"...Meaning, the Professor is saying that He Rui not only understands the principles of nuclear weapons but also their power?" As Roosevelt voiced these judgments, he felt his heart truly plummeting into an abyss.

With a scholar's confidence, Fermi replied bluntly, "If those articles were written by He Rui, your judgment is logically sound. If they weren't, then logically speaking, China has scientists who understand the principles of nuclear weapons."

Fifteen minutes later, Roosevelt ended his meeting with Fermi. He felt his head buzzing. Fermi's description of the *Solar System Hypothesis* sounded like a fantasy story: assuming the universe at its birth was in the simplest state of hydrogen atoms, which then gathered, underwent particle reactions, and produced many larger atoms. Then some "old sun" was destroyed, forming neutron stars and nebulae; the neutron stars ejected massive amounts of high-energy particles, which the nebulae absorbed to produce radioactive elements, which then decayed into stable elements. These elements then clustered to become another solar system.

To Roosevelt, this story felt somewhat similar to religious tales like Genesis. But it was a scientific Genesis, not a religious one. If it were religious, it would just be "God said, let there be light, and there was light," with no need to detail the process.

Rubbing his brow, Roosevelt's thoughts cleared. Since a scientist like Fermi believed He Rui understood nuclear physics, it was likely true. That is to say, Roosevelt's greatest fear might have really come true: China possessed nuclear R&D capabilities, or even worse, they might have already developed nuclear weapons.

Going outdoors in his wheelchair, Roosevelt saw the Oak Ridge base brilliantly lit, with massive construction underway through the night. For a moment, he questioned whether such effort had any rational meaning. If China already had nuclear weapons, the significance of the massive investment in the Oak Ridge project would be greatly diminished.

Looking up, the stars sparkled coldly in the clear sky. Suddenly, a streak of light flashed across—a shooting star. Roosevelt smiled bitterly to himself; there was a saying that if you make a wish on a shooting star, it will come true. But a shooting star lasted only an instant; where was the time to wish? And he didn't even know what to wish for. Could he wish that China had no nuclear R&D capability, and truly make it so?

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. If China had nuclear weapons, why hadn't they used them?

At this thought, Roosevelt felt much more at ease. If China really had them, even if they didn't use such devastating weapons against the US, they would at least use them to threaten America. To date, China hadn't raised anything related to nuclear weapons. This meant that even if China had truly started developing them, they weren't finished.

Roosevelt felt much better. But there had been several prior lessons—like the new radar and the new air night-fighting system—where research institutions had claimed their technology was world-leading with no competitors.

Twenty minutes later, Professor Fermi, who thought he could return to his research, received an order from the President: "Using the assumption that China possesses nuclear weapons as a target, propose a method to prove it."

Roosevelt expected his request would take a long time to answer, but when he woke the next morning, Fermi had already provided a reply. If China had nuclear weapons, they would surely have to test them. The impact of an explosion equivalent to tens of thousands of tons of TNT would directly create a shockwave similar to seismic waves, which could be measured by the equipment of the US Coast and Geodetic Survey.

While there are many earthquakes on Earth each year, their number within China's borders is limited. By checking the seismic data from China detected by US sensors—especially abnormal single quakes separated by a certain interval in a specific region—the US wouldn't need to send anyone to China; they could find suspicions just by checking the data.

"Mr. President, is something the matter?" Marshall asked, puzzled by Roosevelt's smile.

Roosevelt wiped the smile away and handed the report directly to Marshall. He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling admiration for the scientists. If he had thought of it himself, he could only have imagined spending massive sums to send numerous spies and taking a long time to find out. But the scientists had found such a clever and effective way in so short a time.

Before Marshall could finish reading, Roosevelt gave a few instructions to a cabinet member with ties to the geological authorities, who immediately replied, "I'll get on it right away, Mr. President."

The rest of the tour was formal; Roosevelt and the others didn't make a special appearance before the ordinary employees. This wasn't a lack of desire to be close to the people, but because the Manhattan Project was top secret. Of the 150,000 people working in the "Manhattan Engineer District," only 12 knew the full plan; few even knew they were working on an atomic bomb. The appearance of these high-ranking figures would only cause those who didn't know about the project to start thinking.

During this day of the tour, Roosevelt spent more time persuading the "masters" of Congress to approve more funds. Initially, they had been very excited after the introduction. It wasn't until Congressman Vinson raised the question of "why there are so many black people in such an important project" that they suddenly became alert and tense.

General Marshall, usually a man of few words, spoke up just as Roosevelt was finding the question tricky: "It is precisely because so many black people are involved in this project that no one will think it is a classified project."

Roosevelt was stunned, feeling Marshall's answer was worthy of a politician. Looking at the congressmen, he saw their expressions go from surprise to displeasure, from displeasure to contemplation, and finally to relief. Thereafter, they no longer mentioned this sensitive matter.

That evening, a tired Roosevelt went to bed. He dearly wished Lucy were beside him; her presence always made him feel at ease. But Lucy couldn't appear, and exhausted as he was, sleep soon overcame him.

Meanwhile, in the research institution, scientists like Fermi and Einstein sat around a pile of records, looking at one another with anxious expressions. At this moment, they were all thinking the same thing: "Should we report this immediately?"