1950s: After transmigrating into a capitalist, I relied on military industry to achieve a comeback.

The third underground level of Institute 909 was originally an abandoned air-raid shelter, dark, damp, and perpetually shrouded in darkness.

But within just one month of the "Loongson-1" project being launched, this place underwent tremendous changes.

Countless trucks, loaded with cement, steel bars, cables, and various precision equipment whose names they couldn't recall, drove into Institute 909 day and night.

Hundreds of the best engineers and construction workers raced against time on the third underground level.

They transformed this massive air-raid shelter into a modern underground laboratory with independent power, water, and ventilation systems, as well as an almost supernaturally high-temperature, constant-humidity, and dust-free environment.

The air here undergoes three stages of filtration to ensure that there are no more than 100 dust particles per cubic meter of air.

The water here undergoes more than a dozen purification processes, making it even purer than medical injection water.

The ground here is suspended, with thick layers of springs and lead ingots underneath, enough to absorb even the slightest vibrations.

Director Zhang once placed a full glass of water on the ground, and a coal train rumbled past two hundred meters above, but the surface of the water in the glass didn't even ripple.

When this laboratory, named "Underground Palace," was completed, everyone involved in its construction was stunned by its futuristic appearance.

What shocked them even more was the steady stream of people who were "invited" from all over the country by a single transfer order, and who were about to work here.

The first person invited was Professor Qian.

This scientific giant, who enjoys a high reputation in the international physics community, came with only an old leather suitcase containing a few changes of clothes and two bodyguards.

When he saw the latest model electron microscope imported from Germany in the laboratory, he was as excited as a child. He immediately dropped his suitcase, rushed over to it, and kept muttering, "A treasure! It's a real treasure!"

If Professor Qian was simply looking for a target, then Mr. Hou Debang, who was half-coaxed and half-tricked into coming, was purely there to cause trouble.

"Zhang Laohu! You son of a bitch, you're full of nonsense!"

Mr. Hou is almost eighty years old this year, but his temper is as explosive as gunpowder. Standing in the chemistry group's area, he kicked over the wastepaper basket at his feet and pointed at Director Zhang's nose, cursing him with spittle flying everywhere.

"You told me you'd come up with a new fertilizer formula, and I rushed over from the factory overnight! And this is what you show me?" Old Hou grabbed the task sheet from the table, the paper rustling loudly. "Purify hydrofluoric acid to 99.999% purity within a month? You think this is some kind of bone broth?! The limits of what's possible are right here in the world; where am I supposed to get this deadly stuff for you?"

Director Zhang shrank back, not daring to utter a single word in response to the scolding.

No one in the room dared to utter a sound. Just as Old Hou was about to turn and leave, a fair hand reached out from the side and placed two sheets of paper on the table.

"Mr. Hou, the current limit does not represent the future limit."

Lin Jiaoyue's voice was soft and flat; she simply pushed the paper forward.

"This is a diagram of the secondary purification process using 'wet etching.' Please take a look."

Old Hou raised an eyelid, intending to scold the little girl as well, but when his gaze swept over the extremely unconventional molecular structure on the paper, his words caught in his throat.

He took his reading glasses from his chest and put them on the bridge of his nose. He slowly leaned down until his face was almost pressed against the blueprints.

The room suddenly fell silent. Only Old Hou's heavy breathing and the rustling sound of his fingers rubbing the edge of the paper could be heard.

After staring at the drawing for a full five minutes without looking up, Old Hou yelled at Director Zhang, "Get out! Close the door! Don't disturb me while I'm looking at the drawing!"

That night, the lights in the chemistry lab stayed on for most of the night. Chen Mo, who was on guard outside, heard from inside the lab the occasional heavy slamming of the table, the sound of pencils breaking, and a few indistinct phrases like "It can be done like this" and "I see."

The next day, with red eyes, he found Lin Jiaoyue and only said one sentence:

"Give me a laboratory, two assistants, and in three months, I'll give you 99.999% hydrofluoric acid."

Then, Academician Li Xun arrived, Director Wang Daheng arrived, and a whole bunch of "great gods" whose names were already well-known and whom Lin Jiaoyue had only seen in textbooks all came.

Before they arrived, each of them carried with them some doubts, dissatisfaction, or even resistance.

After all, they are all authorities in their respective fields. It's impossible for them not to have some thoughts when suddenly they are transferred to such a godforsaken underground cave to work on an unheard-of "Dragon Core".

But when they entered the "underground palace" and saw the world-class experimental equipment, and when they received the technical data that Lin Jiaoyue had personally compiled—data that was ahead of its time—all their dissatisfaction and doubts turned into immense shock and ecstasy.

They were like travelers trekking through the desert, on the verge of dying of thirst, who suddenly discovered an oasis.

It's like a seeker who has been trapped in darkness for a lifetime, groping for the truth, and suddenly sees a door leading to a new world.

So, these "hidden masters" who were usually arrogant and unwilling to submit to anyone all quietly stayed.

They set aside their identities and airs, and like ordinary researchers, put on white cleanroom suits, masks and gloves, and under the unified command of Lin Jiaoyue, the "chief designer" who was only in her early twenties, began the battle to develop "Loongson-1".

The entire "underground palace" was divided into several large areas.

Under Professor Qian's leadership, the physics team worked day and night to calculate the band structure and carrier transport model of silicon.

The chemistry team, amidst Mr. Hou's "roaring" voices, battled against all sorts of toxic and harmful chemicals, repeatedly pushing the limits of purity.

Under the guidance of Academician Li Xun, the materials team repeatedly adjusted the parameters of the single crystal furnace, attempting to pull out the first perfect single crystal silicon rod.

The most mysterious and core part is the photolithography area located at the deepest part of the "underground palace".

Here, Lin Jiaoyue is personally in charge, with Director Wang Daheng serving as her deputy.

Their task was to transform a state-of-the-art coordinate boring machine, which they had bought at great expense from Switzerland, into a usable "lithography machine".

This is absolutely an insane idea.

The lithography machine, hailed as the "flower of modern industry," is the most sophisticated machine ever created by humankind, bar none.

Its complexity far exceeds that of the atomic bomb.

In the future, a top-of-the-line lithography machine would cost hundreds of millions of US dollars, bringing together the most advanced technologies from dozens of countries around the world.

Now, Lin Jiaoyue will use a boring machine and a group of watchmakers and master craftsmen with an average age of over sixty to "mold" it out from scratch.

This is no less difficult than asking a primitive man to build a space shuttle.