243: Chapter 243 The grid connection was successful, and the entire city was instantly lit up!

Streets. Skyscrapers. Industrial zones. Transportation networks. The lights, like a tidal wave, surged from the edge of the city toward its depths.

They didn't go out. Instead, they were truly powering an entire city.

At this moment, the hall fell silent for an instant. It was as if everyone was confirming whether what they were seeing before their eyes was real.

Immediately after, a deafening roar of cheers erupted.

"It's a success!!!"

"Grid connection successful!!!"

"The Dragon Kingdom's first Nuclear Fusion Power Plant is officially in operation!!!"

"I'm from Zhenzhou City. I was wondering why the power suddenly went out today; so it was for the Nuclear Fusion Power Plant grid connection!!"

"Too awesome! We are the 'Infrastructure Maniacs' after all. It's foreseeable that soon, the whole country might have Nuclear Fusion Power Plants!!"

The livestream chat also completely lost control.

"It's done!!!"

"A whole city has really been lit up!!"

"Holy sh*t, holy sh*t, holy sh*t, this is the energy revolution truly landing!"

"Brothers, my hands are shaking right now!"

"Where are those people on the foreign internet? Keep laughing!"

If the previous "ignition success" was only a shock that professionals could understand, then at this moment, the city lights being directly illuminated was a fact that everyone could understand.

The foreign comment sections went completely silent for a few seconds. Then, it was chaos.

"This is impossible..."

"Are they really connecting to the grid and supplying power?!"

"The livestream has been going on for so long, why is there no issue at all?"

"Wasn't it said that the Nuclear Fusion Power Plant was just a concept?!"

"How many steps did the Dragon Kingdom skip?!"

What was even more ruthless was that the host threw out another piece of news next.

"At the same time, nationwide, a total of forty-two Nuclear Fusion Power Plants have also simultaneously entered the construction phase!"

This sentence pushed the entire internet, which had just exploded, up another level.

"Forty-two?!!"

"Damn, this is the true 'Infrastructure Maniac', right?!"

"It's not just one; they've already started rolling it out nationwide?!"

"One powers one city; what is the concept of forty-two?!"

"Brothers, this isn't just opening a station; this is directly opening a new era!"

Very quickly, the focus of netizens' discussions was no longer just on the fact that it was "built," but was crazily extending toward "electricity freedom."

"The scariest thing isn't Nuclear Fusion itself; it's that from today on, electricity is no longer a high-cost resource."

"Many things couldn't be done before not because they were impossible, but because electricity was too expensive. Now, that's not the case."

"Water heaters, heating, air conditioning—can we really just leave them on whenever we want now?"

"I can charge my electric car whenever I want; I won't even feel bad leaving it plugged in at midnight."

"Seawater desalination used to be a high-energy-consumption project; is it going to take off now? The price of fresh water will have to come down, right?"

"Cold chains, storage, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, trams, subways, airports... everything has to be recalculated."

"This isn't just a power plant; this is slashing the underlying costs of the entire society."

"Brothers, the era of true electricity freedom has arrived."

This time, the domestic population was truly going completely crazy.

"The Dragon Kingdom has already reached the top spot on Earth, right?"

"They used to talk about overtaking on a bend; now I feel like we've just switched tracks entirely."

"Other countries are still calculating energy bills, while we've already started igniting fusion. How are they supposed to compete?!"

What was even more exaggerated was that the international reaction followed almost simultaneously. Many small countries sent congratulatory messages immediately.

Some offered congratulations. Some showed goodwill. Others didn't even bother hiding it anymore and directly started arranging visits to China, study tours, energy cooperation, and inspection schedules.

Anyone could see that now was the time to choose sides.

The technological progress on the Dragon Kingdom's side was no longer just a breakthrough in a single point; it was pushing the entire line forward.

In contrast, while the West and Europe did have substantial foundations, they increasingly looked like they were living off past glory.

Even if they brought out Virtual Helmets and Robots, it couldn't suppress the world-class impact brought about by this Nuclear Fusion development.

That evening, the domestic front was still in a state of jubilation. But on foreign social media platforms, the sentiment had slowly changed from the initial mockery into something else.

Envy. Anxiety. There was even some irrepressible pessimism.

However, this limelight didn't last too long. Because two days later, the United States threw out a new card.

The news of the Dragon Kingdom's Nuclear Fusion Power Plant grid connection continued to ferment globally for two whole days.

During these two days, the domestic popularity was ridiculously high. But abroad, especially among the people in Europe and the United States, the sentiment seemed to spiral lower and lower.

Because what they felt most intuitively was not some "great power competition." It was—that their own lives might truly be about to be completely crushed by the other side.

On a certain social media platform in the United States, a highly upvoted comment was being frantically shared:

"Why have they already lit up a city, while we are still arguing over electricity bills?"

The comment section was instantly flooded with replies.

"If they really drive electricity prices down, how can our manufacturing industry compete?"

"Will the Dragon Kingdom be able to just leave air conditioners, heaters, and water heaters on whenever they want from now on?"

"This isn't an energy issue; this is the cost of living and industrial costs being rewritten."

There was also an exceptionally emotional comment that even went straight to the trending list:

"They only need to extract tritium from seawater to generate electricity endlessly. Meanwhile, we might freeze to death in winter because the gas company's heating isn't working well!"

As soon as this sentence came out, the replies were almost entirely in resonance. Some cursed energy companies, some cursed government efficiency, and some began asking sarcastically, "Have we fallen behind by another whole era?"

Meanwhile, international capital also began to waver significantly. Some institutions that were originally waiting and watching began to re-evaluate the Dragon Kingdom market.

Many small countries and neutral nations began to lean toward the Dragon Kingdom more obviously. The United States could not fail to see these changes.

And precisely because of this, two days later, a high-tech military company that almost no one had heard of before suddenly issued an official announcement.

The company name was extremely unfamiliar. The public information was pitifully thin. Its background was also suspiciously clean, as if it had suddenly popped out from a crack in a rock.

But the style of its official website was cold enough to make people feel a bit creeped out. A black background. No extra introductions. No founder stories. No sentimental propaganda.

In the center of the homepage, there was only one very short slogan—[Redefining individual firepower.]