My own war game

Chapter 232 The Legend of Red Mercury

"Have you heard of the term red mercury?" Professor Craig held He Chi's shoulder and asked him to continue sitting down, and glanced at the timer next to him that was still running.

"Red mercury?" He Chi thought for a moment. "In my country, mercury ore is called cinnabar. Is this what you are talking about?"

"No, no, no." The professor shook his index finger and continued, "We all know that mercury is bright red in its ore state and turns silvery white after purification. But during the Cold War more than 50 years ago, there was a legend that said there was a rare red mercury in the world that could be produced using special methods."

"What method?" He Chi had already guessed a possibility.

Sure enough, Professor Craig paused and uttered a word, "nuclear fission radiation."

The professor took out a manuscript from his notebook and read, "This legend was popular during the Cold War. It is said that American agents intercepted a piece of intelligence saying that the Soviets were making a super radioactive substance called red mercury."

"Legend has it that this red, highly radioactive material can be produced by irradiating pure mercury and antimony oxide in a large nuclear reactor for twenty days."

"Legend has it?" He Chi noticed the professor's choice of words.

"Well, it's a legend. There is no official document to prove that this substance really exists. Ordinary people don't have the conditions for large reactors, so this substance only exists in legends." The professor said with certainty.

"Then what can it do?" He Chi continued to ask.

"Oh, I have two versions here, which one do you want to listen to?" Professor Craig said and glanced at the timer next to him.

He Chi simply turned off the timer, took out a handful of banknotes from his pocket and put them on the table. "Tell me everything you know."

"OK! OK! You are my boss today." The professor happily raised his hands in a cooperative gesture.

"The first version is that red mercury can be produced in large quantities to replace the extremely difficult to obtain uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Although the radiation effect is not as good as those two, it can allow the mass production of nuclear weapons, or dirty bombs."

"So what about the second one?" He Chi continued to ask.

The professor put down one hand and said, "The second version is completely the opposite. Red mercury is actually very difficult to obtain, and it needs to undergo a very complicated process before entering the nuclear reactor."

"But because antimony-mercury oxide is used as the neutron source, the volume of the neutron source used in an atomic bomb is greatly reduced compared to a normal hydrogen bomb, and thermonuclear fusion has no critical mass limitation, making the entire nuclear bomb very small and light. It is the most ideal material for miniaturizing nuclear weapons. Some even say that it can be used to reduce the size of a nuclear weapon to the size of a baseball."

"Miniaturization of nuclear weapons..." He Chi murmured to himself. He remembered what the system had said to him before.

"Professor, do you have any other written materials about the legend of red mercury?"

"You're lucky. I bought a book about this at a flea market when I was traveling in the Far East five years ago, but I read it as entertainment at the time." The professor rummaged through a large box for a long time, then took out a manuscript that looked very old, with a page torn off on the back for unknown reasons.

He Chi took the manuscript and read it in the light. It was a bit surprising that the manuscript was written in Japanese and the notes were very hasty.

"Hey~ You don't really believe in this alchemy-like thing, do you? As my assistant, I don't want you to be interested in weird things."

He Chi did not answer the professor directly, but stared at the top line of the manuscript.
"Raw material preparation: prepare a large amount of purified mercury, perform centrifugal work for more than 20 days, and repeat for more than ten cycles..."

Centrifugal work? Does it count if it's placed on the bottom of the ship as ballast?
He Chi closed the manuscript and held it up. "Sir, how much is this? Can you sell it to me?" "No problem, one thousand dollars, just take it." Professor Craig quoted a sky-high price without any hesitation.

He Chi pointed out the money and handed it to the professor, and casually asked, "Why are the things you bought from Russia written in Japanese?"

"Who knows," the professor shrugged. "Hundreds of thousands of Japanese prisoners of war were taken to Siberia by the Soviets to dig potatoes. Maybe some unlucky guy left them behind."

He Chi nodded, and now the clues in his mind had connected together.

"Thank you for troubling you today, professor. I'm going to go home now." After paying the bill, He Chi stood up and prepared to leave.

"He, it's rare for you to come here, why don't you chat a little? Maybe there is something you are interested in." It would be more accurate to say that the professor was reluctant to leave He Chi rather than to leave the green Franklin.

"No, sir, I'll leave now." He Chi had already opened the door of the villa.

"Wait!" The professor called out to his assistant, who was paid $25 an hour, and then dragged a suitcase out of the house and handed it to He Chi.

"This is a parting gift. Remember to open it when you get home." The professor patted He Chi's hand and said.

He Chi looked at his nominal "boss" and casually opened the box on the table.

bang~~~
The fully packed boxes popped open, revealing the contents that were flying like snowflakes.

Those are the students’ papers that have not been marked yet…

Seeing the test papers scattered all over the floor, Professor Craig looked very embarrassed. He tried to explain, "He, you know, my invention has reached a critical point. The breakthrough of this micro-robot in AI interaction may be a milestone. I really don't have time..."

"Okay~" He Chi collected the papers on the ground and took out the sketch pen from his jacket pocket, "I can finish grading these papers."

After saying that, He Chi took a banknote from the professor's hand and put it back into his own arms.

"But please remember, even though the money is not much, I still need to pay my salary."

"Hey, He, come on, you were so generous just now..." The professor spread out his hands.

"There's a saying in my hometown, 'One thing is one thing.' There's no reason for me to give up the reward I deserve." He Chi took the test paper, turned on the grading machine in the corner of the room and started fiddling with the work that the professor had overdue.

These are the test papers of modern history students. Most of them can be graded mechanically. He Chi only needs to give grades from A to F based on each person's ranking, and then count the easy-to-make mistakes to complete the task. I really don't know why the professor would choose to procrastinate on such things.

However, the next test question that had the most wrong answers caught He Chi's attention.

"Please answer the question: In which battle did the U.S. Army truly defeat the Japanese Army for the first time during World War II?"

(End of this chapter)