While the adjutant was walking into the office, Minister Marshall was pacing back and forth while thinking. He immediately stopped and looked up with hopeful eyes.
“Is the news accurate?”
“I’m afraid… it is. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has performed calculations on the results. So far, we have tested to 10^15 digits and have yet to find any mistakes.”
Marshall’s heart instantly sank.
This was the last thing he wanted to hear.
It took the Oak Ridge National Laboratory three days just to verify the results. If the Chinese attacked their network using the Star Voyage One, they would have no chance of survival.
“I need a risk assessment report. If the Chinese use their quantum computer to launch a cyberattack on us, we have to cut off the submarine optical cable. I want to know what kind of impact it will have, and how we can take military measures…” Marshall took a deep breath; his heart was throbbing. He said, “If we have to resort to military measures, I want to know how long will it take to end the threat.”
The adjutant had a bitter look on his face.
“Sir?”
Marshall spoke in a serious tone.
“What’s wrong, were my orders not clear enough?”
The adjutant lowered his head and spoke.
“If the situation advances to that point, we might not be able to contact our nuclear submarines deployed in the Atlantic. According to a report by the Institute of Information Engineering at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, their satellites can directly hijack all of our radio frequency bands. Any unit that is separated from a physical fiber optic cable will be disconnected from the grid.”
Not to mention that the Chinese had their Airborne Brigade team, which could appear anywhere on earth within an hour.
They could appear at the White House, the Pentagon, or America’s missile bases.
In any case, a direct military response was the worst choice.
“We should listen to the advice of Professor Griffin at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The quantum computer is more threatening than nuclear weapons.
“Rather than responding to the risks, it is better for us to think of ways to prevent this battle from happening in the first place.”
Marshall’s face went pale.
“Do as you’re told.”
The adjutant immediately stood at attention and spoke.
“Yes, sir!”
Marshall watched the adjutant walk out of the door. The tense expression on his face eased slightly.
His adjutant was an excellent war strategist.
Even though he was unwilling to accept the reality, his logical brain told him that there was at least an 80% chance of the adjutant being correct.
Marshall didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the phone on the desk and called the White House.
In order to prevent the worst situation from happening, he had to report this to the higher-ups.
He especially had to warn the president to not do anything impulsive…
Ever since the opening of the maglev train between Shanghai and Jinling, the two cities were connected together. It felt like the Shanghai Station and Jinling Station was just one subway stop away.
In the morning, Lu Zhou was working at the supercomputing center in the Shanghai eastern docks area. In the afternoon, he was already standing in a laboratory at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, showing his latest research results to an old man.
A holographic image of a tank floated above the silver disk. Although the projected tank was not to scale, it basically had the same composition and colors as a real tank.
If they could make the scale 1:1, it might even be difficult to distinguish the projected image from a real tank.
When Director Li reached out and poked the tank model floating in the air, his finger passed through the image as he spoke.
“This is quite interesting, what if…”
“What if we put on an aircraft carrier?” Lu Zhou said. He knew the old man too well. He reached out, grabbed the device on the table, and gently shook it.
The violent shaking was not passed on to the holographic image. Instead, it was transmitted in a more violent way. The tank floating above the silver circle was broken into colorful fragments. It was like a corrupted image, totally losing its form.
When Director Li saw this, he paused for a second and awkwardly scratched his head.
“I see… So, no movement, right?”
“Correct.” Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Vertical movement is fine, but if it swings side to side, it causes the picture to be distorted, like what you just saw. The entire model would have to be rebuilt.”
The corrupt holographic color pieces quickly reorganized itself in the air and restored the original tank appearance, as if nothing had happened.
Lu Zhou sighed in his heart.
Earth’s technology is very far behind.
The thing he got from the system lottery would definitely be able to withstand a little shaking.
But for now, this thing was only good enough to replace a billboard or to be used as a home television display.
“… Also, I don’t think that your first reaction to any new technology should be to implement it in the military field. We’re in a peaceful time, so we should do something more imaginative and truly realize its value.”
Lu Zhou reached out and lightly swept across on the edge of the silver ring with his index finger.
The image floating in the air quickly changed from a tank to a video window.
He looked at the floating window and said, “We’re researching how to improve the hologram image from a pure 3D screen into an interactive interface that supports touch operation. If we implement this technology, we’ll be able to make science fiction come to life.”
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket began to ring.
Lu Zhou looked at the shaking hologram image and coughed.
“We are also researching how to avoid interference from sound waves. This is not too difficult, it should be solved soon… Let me answer this call.”
Lu Zhou left Director Li alone in the laboratory and went outside.
Strangely, the call was from Luo Wenxuan.
Lu Zhou picked up the phone, put it next to his ear, and said, “Hello?”
“It’s me.”
“I know it’s you, what do you want?”
“Hey, I’m just here to call my friend.”
“If it’s not an emergency, I’m hanging up.”
“Wait! Wait a minute, I’m just kidding.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Luo Wenxuan coughed and said, “Here’s the thing. Yesterday, the Lunar Hadron Collider completed its last experiment of the month. Normally, this isn’t a big deal, but we found something very interesting in the experiment… It’s something unusual, but we don’t know what it means.”
He paused for a second and continued, “I can send the information to your email, but… I think it’s better for you to come here in person.”