"It seems Director Yang doesn't quite understand the boss's temper!"
"Well, Director Yang is about to get a good scolding from the boss!"
Upon hearing Yang Yunhe's request, the executives in the conference room began to murmur amongst themselves. Their consensus was that Yang Yunhe was in for some trouble.
All the long-time employees knew for a fact that Boss Huang would absolutely never agree to such a request.
Who was Boss Huang?
He was the quintessential fervent nationalist, a zealous supporter of Greater China. His patriotism was so intense it almost overshadowed his business acumen. Furthermore, he was incredibly petty and held grudges, seeking revenge without fail unless absolutely impossible.
In summary, the Jiangnan Group had suffered greatly in Europe. Not only had they lost an exceptionally brilliant scientist, but they had also been subjected to endless annoyances by Europeans, forcing Boss Huang himself to take risks and use himself as bait to bring back the professor's remains.
To be fair, the grievances Boss Huang had endured over the past two to three months likely exceeded those of the previous two to three years. The root cause of all this was the European High Energy Physics Research Center and the high-energy particle collider they operated.
If it weren't for the scoundrels at the research center withholding Professor Zhao's lease extension, forcing Professor Zhao to work overtime without sleep to conduct experiments, leading to a fatal error and his death at the high-energy particle collider, none of this would have happened.
Therefore, in essence, the primary culprit was undoubtedly the European High Energy Physics Research Center – Boss Huang's sworn enemy. Now, for Yang Yunhe to propose continuing to send money to this research center and allowing the Earth to continue using the high-energy particle collider would surely ignite Boss Huang's fury.
As expected, Boss Huang's expression changed the moment the words were spoken. The smile that had previously graced his face was replaced by a hint of frost. He finally said coldly, "Director Yang, I've always admired you. I never expected you to be so utterly devoid of backbone."
"Seven days of usage for 50 million US dollars – an outrageously exorbitant price. Our group swallowed it whole. The result? Not only was the seven days reduced to three, but we also lost such an outstanding employee and put hundreds of our employees in danger, yourself included."
"And now you tell me you want to continue sending money to those scoundrels, to shamelessly beg them to let us use the high-energy particle collider, and that if there are any research results in the future, all data will be shared with them without compensation."
"I'd like to ask you, where is your backbone? Where is your dignity?" Boss Huang's words were quite cutting, and Yang Yunhe was clearly taken aback. However, he persisted, "Boss, I understand your meaning, and I know this is spineless. But this was Professor Zhao's dying wish. I feel obligated to convey it!"
"Director Yang!" Old Professor Zhao, standing nearby, looked at Yang Yunhe in shock. He was indeed aware of his son's dying wish. After all, over a dozen hospital staff members had heard it; it wasn't a secret.
But no one had dared to bring up this wish in front of Boss Huang. The fact that Yang Yunhe not only brought it up but even defied Boss Huang to some extent deeply touched Old Professor Zhao, causing his admiration for Yang Yunhe to skyrocket.
"Fine, you have the courage to speak it, and I'll tell you clearly. From now on, no institution under the Jiangnan Group will have any dealings with the European High Energy Physics Research Center, nor will we engage in any cooperation with them."
"However, we cannot disregard Professor Zhao's last wish. Professor Zhao's dying wish was simply to complete his unfinished experiments. It's not necessarily imperative to use the European high-energy particle collider. Are there other high-energy particle colliders worldwide that can fulfill these experiments?"
"Furthermore, I've heard that many other countries are planning to build new high-energy particle colliders. If we wait ten years, we're bound to get a new facility, right!" Huang He said, clearly displeased.
"..." The hall fell into silence. Most people didn't understand, so they remained quiet. Those who did understand had peculiar expressions on their faces. Finally, Old Professor Zhao spoke, "Mr. Huang, a significant portion of the experiments designed by Guorui originated from my hypotheses, so I am very familiar with these experiments."
"Currently, there are a total of six large-scale particle colliders worldwide: one in our country, one in Europe, one in Fusang, and three in the United States. However, the experiments I designed require even greater energy and are beyond the capabilities of ordinary large-scale particle colliders. At present, only Europe's Large Hadron Collider can meet the design requirements for the experiments; other facilities, including the three in the US, cannot."
"And for such large-scale colliders, from the initial design and feasibility studies to final construction completion, it takes at least ten years. Therefore, based on all publicly available information, only the United States and Fusang have plans for new, large-scale facilities."
"However, Fusang's plan is merely a proposal on paper; they have the intention, but the actual design hasn't even begun. While the Americans have started designing and even finalized the blueprints, the subsequent funding is astronomically high, projected to require hundreds of billions of dollars to complete. The congress has directly halted the budget, and it's likely to be shelved in the end."
"So, Boss Huang, within the next ten years at the earliest, there will be no alternative facility in the world!" Old Professor Zhao sighed. In reality, Boss Huang knew all this better than anyone.
Because in 2022, ten years later, Fusang's particle collider would still be on the drawing board, and the Americans' project would have been completely abandoned due to a final projected cost of 240 billion US dollars, which was nothing short of treating American taxpayers like fools. Ultimately, the congress definitively rejected the proposal.
"There's truly none?" Boss Huang asked incredulously.
"Truly none! Absolutely impossible within ten years!" Old Professor Zhao repeated helplessly.
"Damn it!" Boss Huang cursed, then heard someone below whispering, "Ten years isn't necessarily impossible!"
"Yang Yunhe, if you have any complaints, don't keep them to yourself. Speak them out in front of everyone!" Boss Huang glared fiercely at Yang Yunhe, who had just whispered privately.
"Ah... Boss, I was just talking nonsense, it doesn't count. It was just a wild thought!" Yang Yunhe quickly said.
"I don't think it was just nonsense!" Boss Huang snorted. "You said it's not impossible within ten years, so tell me, where does this possibility come from?"
"It's fine, just speak your mind. I'm not like the Qingzhang Sect, where speaking incorrectly costs you your life."
Well, since Boss Huang had said it to this extent, Yang Yunhe no longer held back and said frankly, "Boss, we don't need to wait ten years for others; we can build a high-energy particle collider ourselves! And it can be even better than the European one. We can directly use the world's most advanced technology to build a collider twenty years ahead of the Europeans, becoming the world's most powerful collider!"
"Heh heh," some people present couldn't help but laugh. This Yang Yunhe really dared to brag. He could even utter such nonsense as building a high-energy particle collider himself. Why didn't he say he was going to land on Mars by himself?
Even Old Professor Zhao couldn't help but shake his head upon hearing this, sighing at how daring young people were nowadays, much more so than he had been in his youth.
Then, just as everyone was waiting for Boss Huang to severely reprimand Yang Yunhe, Boss Huang suddenly asked very seriously, "You said twenty years ahead of the Europeans? Do you have a concept? Is there a possibility of success? Are there concrete operational plans? Have you estimated the construction costs?"
Boss Huang's five questions didn't fluster Yang Yunhe, but they did baffle the onlookers. What did this mean? They felt the situation was developing in a strange direction.
"I have a nascent idea!" Yang Yunhe stood up decisively and said, "The international community has long had design concepts for the next generation of large-scale particle colliders, broadly divided into two factions: the circular electron-positron collider and the superconducting linear collider."
"The former has higher acceleration energy, allowing for more intense collisions, thus generating more results. However, its design, manufacturing, and construction difficulties are relatively high."
"The latter is simpler in design, as it only requires linear acceleration. But the acceleration path is definitely not as long as that of a circular accelerator, resulting in lower collision energy. However, its advantage lies in the lower design and manufacturing complexity, with an estimated final construction cost of around 20 billion US dollars."
"Currently, the international community tends to favor building the latter because the relevant technology is already mature, and the investment is lower. As long as the funds are in place, construction can begin immediately."
"But I personally lean towards building the former, as the former can unleash higher energy, leading the world by a greater margin. However, the challenges lie in the construction technology and materials. But we possess two new materials, Black Gold and Tonghe Alloy, whose properties are both highly suitable for building a collider."
"Boss, as long as you give me the opportunity, funding, and ten years, I guarantee I can build a superconducting circular electron-positron collider for the Jiangnan Group!"
Yang Yunhe's words rendered the entire hall silent.
Weren't we here to attend a sympathy meeting? How did we suddenly transition to building a new superconducting circular electron-positron collider?