Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

Inside the Shenzhou Bureau's underground core laboratory, there was a deathly silence.

Shen Jinghong stared intently at the spectral analysis chart that had just been transmitted back from 380,000 kilometers away on the big screen. His usually steady hands were now trembling slightly.

"Found it... really found it!"

He slammed his hand on the control panel, his voice hoarse with extreme excitement.

Lin Qinghan stood beside him, her usually cool eyes now filled with turbulent emotions. She pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, pointed at the unusually prominent peak on the screen, and even her breath caught in her throat.

"Helium-3! The abundance is a staggering 20%!"

Lin Qinghan turned to look at Shen Jinghong, his tone filled with a chilling shock: "Jinghong, the data sent back by Guoqiang and the others shows that the entire shallow lunar soil of the Aitken Basin is full of this stuff! The reserves are at least a million tons!"

One million tons!

When this number was announced, Chen Weiguo, who was standing next to him, didn't understand what Helium-3 was, but he knew that it was definitely a huge treasure that could cause a major upheaval.

"Director, what exactly is this Helium-3? Is it more valuable than the oil in Daqing?" Chen Weiguo scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.

"Oil? Oil isn't even worthy of carrying its shoes!"

Shen Jinghong turned around, her eyes burning with a fervent light that could ignite the entire universe.

"This is the ultimate fuel for achieving perfectly controlled nuclear fusion! No neutron radiation, clean, and highly efficient! Just one hundred tons would be enough for all of humanity to squander for a whole year!"

He grabbed Chen Weiguo's shoulder with astonishing strength: "With this, it's like we've put the sun into our own generator! Middle Eastern oil, Australian coal—they're all just industrial waste!"

"Qinghan, immediately import the plasma turbulence data transmitted back from the moon into our 'Tokamak' control model!"

Shen Jinghong didn't want to wait a second longer and strode towards the adjacent nuclear fusion ignition hall.

"Today, I will personally light up an artificial sun on this earth!"

The massive toroidal tokamak device, like a sleeping steel behemoth, lies quietly behind a thick, blast-proof glass wall.

Countless superconducting coils, like the blood vessels of a giant beast, connect the vast power grid of the entire Shenzhou Bureau.

"Magnetic confinement field parameters have been updated! Plasma density has reached the critical value!"

Lin Qinghan sat in front of the control panel, her fingers flying across the keyboard. Her clear, cold voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying a sense of sacred ritual.

"Jinghong, you can light the fire now."

Shen Jinghong stood in front of the control panel, looking at the red ignition button.

He took a deep breath, and images flashed through his mind of how, over the past few decades, China had been held hostage by others and suffered endless humiliation because of its energy needs.

"ignition!"

Without hesitation, he threw a punch.

"Buzz—!!!"

The entire underground base trembled violently, as if an ancient dragon had roared from the abyss.

Behind the explosion-proof glass, a burst of absolute light, brighter than ten thousand suns, erupted from the center of the tokamak device!

"Temperature surpasses 100 million degrees!"

"The plasma is operating stably! No collapse has occurred!"

"Ten seconds...fifty seconds...one hundred seconds!"

The monitor's voice, initially tense, escalated into a hysterical roar: "Director! Energy output exceeds input! Q value has been achieved! The reactor has achieved self-sustaining combustion!"

Become!

Controlled nuclear fusion, the ultimate energy dream that has plagued humanity for more than half a century, has now been turned into reality by China!

A roar of cheers erupted in the hall, shaking the roof off the building. The veteran experts wept openly, while the young researchers excitedly tossed their documents into the air.

Shen Jinghong looked at the dark blue "sun" that was tightly bound in the magnetic field, and a haughty sneer appeared on his lips.

"The shackles of the energy crisis have been completely shattered today."

The following morning, a global press conference was broadcast live to the world without warning via the "Skynet" system.

Shen Min'an stood on the podium, dressed in a smart business suit, his expression aloof yet domineering.

"On behalf of the Chinese government, I hereby officially announce that my country has successfully achieved the commercial ignition of controlled nuclear fusion and will begin large-scale mining of helium-3 at the lunar 'Guanghan Palace' base."

She adjusted her glasses, looked at the stunned Western reporters below, and delivered her final, decisive blow:

"From today onwards, humanity officially enters the era of unlimited clean energy. Fossil fuels will become history."

boom!

This statement was like a nuclear bomb with a capacity of tens of millions of tons, which exploded directly in the international financial market!

Wall Street in New York instantly transformed into a living hell.

"It's crashed! Crude oil futures have plummeted! They've broken through the bottom line and turned negative!"

"Sell! Sell all oil and coal company stocks now! They're not even worth as much as toilet paper!"

The red-vested traders screamed in despair as they watched the green candlesticks plummeting vertically on the big screen. Countless financial tycoons suffered heart attacks on the spot and were carried onto ambulances.

In the deserts of the Middle East.

Those oil tycoons who were waving their checkbooks and acting all high and mighty yesterday are now looking at the cup of dark crude oil in their hands, their faces ashen.

"It's ruined... completely ruined..."

The Saudi prince slumped in a solid gold chair, trembling violently. "Our oil has become a pile of unwanted, stinking water!"

Australian coal bosses lined up on rooftops, looked at the mountains of ore, and closed their eyes in despair.

The last cornerstone of the dollar's hegemony—the petrodollar—vanished instantly under the devastating impact of unlimited energy.

Late at night, Beijing Shenzhou Bureau.

Shen Jinghong leaned back in the large leather seat, comfortably sipping the Da Hong Pao tea that Lin Qinghan had just brewed.

"Chief, things are completely chaotic on the American side."

Chen Weiguo grinned from ear to ear, “I heard that the White House is surrounded by protesting unemployed workers, and the president doesn’t even dare to leave the building.”

"Ring ring—!!!"

The red secure hotline on the table suddenly started ringing frantically, like a death knell.

Shen Jinghong glanced at the caller ID, his wicked smile growing wider.

"Look, the beggars are here."

He pressed the speakerphone button, and immediately the hoarse voice of the US president, which sounded worse than crying, came from the other end of the line.

Gone is the arrogance of the past, gone is the majesty of a superpower.

At this moment, the US president is as humble as a stray dog ​​wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

"Director Shen... good evening."

The US president swallowed hard, his voice filled with pleading: "Regarding controlled nuclear fusion technology and the right to use a lunar base... we, the United States of America, hope to engage in the deepest cooperation with your country."

"Name your price, we'll agree to anything! Please, spare our lives!"

Shen Jinghong picked up the teacup and slowly blew away the foam.

He stared at the fluctuating global energy collapse data on the screen, his eyes radiating an extreme arrogance that seemed to regard the entire Western world as beneath his feet.

"cooperate?"

Shen Jinghong sneered, her tone as casual as if she were dismissing a beggar:

"Mr. President, you may get into one of our Chinese cars."

"However, there are too many people who want to cooperate now, so the threshold is a bit high."

He turned his head, looked at Lin Qinghan beside him, and said into the microphone, word by word:

"Go to the back of the line and get a number."

"As for when it will be your turn, that depends on my mood today."