Chapter 52: Dreamscape: Level Four Civilization

Due to time constraints, Du Qiu did not continue to research the microscopic image of the crystal material but instead resumed the purification and synthesis program research he started earlier.

During this period, Du Qiu had documented up to hundreds of new materials, which also included the catalysts and molecular exchange agents needed in their production processes.

In practical experiments, 26 catalysts and 19 molecular exchange agents have been configured.

With these, as long as Du Qiu can replicate the primary and intermediate purification programs as well as the synthetic procedures of the super machine, some new materials could be produced using the technology from the dreamscape.

Du Qiu had considered using some traditional purification or synthesis methods on Blue Star, but after simulation and deduction, he found the cost to be prohibitively high.

This means that, no matter how good the new material is, it won’t really have a market prospect if it cannot be produced on a large scale.

For instance, graphene—a hot topic on Blue Star—is producible in laboratories, but large-scale production faces various problems.

Even carbon fiber, which has been produced on a large scale, has a very high production cost, limiting its use mainly to the aerospace market.

Many car manufacturers currently want to use carbon fiber; the key is to reduce its production cost to at least be comparable to the steel and aluminum materials used in cars.

Otherwise, expensive carbon fiber could only be used to produce luxury cars and supercars.

Similarly, if there were cost-effective, high-performance materials in the manufacturing industry of Tang Country, many problems such as being dependent on others for critical components would not exist.

The people of Tang Country have a much shorter history in developing modern technology compared to the West, although it has now become the only country in the world with the most complete range of industrial categories, its foundation is still weak.

Whether it is civilian industry engines, compressors, or military industry aviation engines, gas turbines, etc., Tang Country has only resolved the issue from nothing to something.

In terms of performance, products from Tang Country are much inferior to similar foreign products.

As an example, the domestically produced turbofan ten engines used in Tang Country’s main fighter jets have a service life several times shorter than their Western counterparts.

The fundamental reason is the gap in material performance used in manufacturing the engines, which often requires long-term research to bridge.

As the saying goes, a shaky foundation will trouble the building.

This is why the industry in Tang Country always seems to have a “heart condition.”

Another example is the recent computing chip manufacturing that is feeling the pinch; it is also due to the materials used for chips and the core equipment for chip manufacturing. Tang Country can only bow down.

Being a doctoral graduate in engineering, Du Qiu knows the key points, and that’s why he chose to record a large amount of material purification and synthetic production processes from the dreamscape alien civilization right from the start.

Du Qiu’s intuition told him that the purification and synthetic production processes of the super machine could definitely allow mass production of various materials, and the cost would be controllable.

Even if the equipment he replicated could only achieve half the production efficiency, it would still be far lower than the production cost of traditional methods on Blue Star.

In fact, he has already found the production processes for both carbon fiber and graphene materials, but Du Qiu can’t be certain if he can replicate the entire production process.

At least for now, in the production process he understands, the high-speed separator machine couldn’t necessarily be successfully replicated.

Because the core component of the high-speed separator machine, the rotor, needs special materials, and currently on Blue Star, only special titanium alloys can do the job.

However, the high-speed separator machine is a key device in new material production processes; if its core rotor uses special titanium alloy, then the cost will be prohibitively high.

The key is that manufacturers capable of producing and processing such titanium alloy parts are not easy to find, and even if found, it is uncertain whether they would take on the business.

After all, such manufacturers are currently fully engaged in national high-end projects, and it is questionable whether they have spare capacity to custom produce for Du Qiu.

Unfortunately, among the hundreds of new materials that Du Qiu has found and documented so far, suitable materials for this type of rotor have not been discovered yet.

Otherwise, there would still be problems like those with titanium alloys regarding processing difficulty.

Of course, if Du Qiu was very wealthy right now, this wouldn’t be too big an issue—after all, he could just purchase equipment capable of 3D printing titanium alloy parts.

With 3D printing, he could produce the rotor.

It really is a case of “when money is tight, regret is bitter.”

Du Qiu didn’t think too much and continued to study the production programs related to the high-speed separator machine.

After researching nearly a thousand material purification or synthetic programs, Du Qiu found that these programs always have some areas that lack detail.

Or rather, they just give a general call relationship.

The modules that are called often do not have detailed descriptions, which makes Du Qiu very uneasy—if the deviations in details prevent successful replication, it would be a pity.

Therefore, Du Qiu carefully studied each module in the program and listed all the modules that didn’t have detailed explanations.

He wanted to see if there was anything special about these modules.

With patient comparison by Du Qiu, he finally discovered an anomaly.

He found that in every single element purification separation program, some modules are calling on a certain underlying module.

He had previously skipped the underlying modules, planning to delve into them later on.

Now he is ready to have a good look at what this bottom-level module is actually used for.

As per Blue Star’s computing language conventions, calls to bottom-level modules or functions are mostly not understood by programmers in terms of their inner workings; it suffices to know the function or module’s purpose and how to use it.

At present, the bottom-level module in the separation and purification program only gives one word in its description: “collect.”

But Du Qiu also found that in the purification and separation program of a certain special magnetic material, this function module was not applied and instead, a prohibition shielding program was added to ensure this module was not used.

This caught Du Qiu’s attention and after careful study, he felt a bit relieved.

It turns out the full name of this module is “magnetic collection,” and when most programs call it, they simplify it to “collect.”

In fact, this module doesn’t just implement a collection function, but during the operation of the high-speed separator, it produces a complex, precise magnetic field.

When single-element substances go through over a dozen programs to form the final liquid or gaseous mixed substance, they are controlled by this precise magnetic field.

As they rotate at high speed, the magnetic forces acting on different atomic substances are different.

As a result, the atoms mixed together separate under the action of different magnetic forces combined with the external high centrifugal force.

Having researched this module, Du Qiu truly understood the function of the high-speed separator machine; it’s not merely using high-speed centrifugal force for separation and purification.

The real prowess of alien civilization is hidden in this seemingly common magnetic collection module of the bottom-level.

One should not think that this precise magnetic field control is commonplace; in Blue Star’s technology, applications using magnetic control are at the forefront.

The most well-known of these is the tokamak device used in nuclear fusion research, which is a toroidal container that uses magnetic confinement to achieve controlled nuclear fusion.

This magnetic confinement is universally implemented, but in the super machine of the alien civilization, all high-speed separators that apply magnetic collection can perform atomic-level precise constraints.

This might sound simple, but the underlying principle involves electromagnetism, strong interaction forces, weak interaction forces, and gravity—four of the fundamental forces.

Even in dreams, Du Qiu felt his heartbeat quicken. The unification of these four basic forces in this tiny functional module indicates that this alien civilization has completely mastered the Grand Unified Theory.

It surely signifies that their civilization level is definitely above level four!

Thank you “Glorious Sovereign” for the reward of 100 coins!