117: Chapter 117 Activating the Energy Furnace

Two hours had passed since Cao Xiao left. Seeing that Cao Xiao had been gone for so long and his phone was out of the service area, Duan Hong and the others grew anxious and were searching in the direction where he had disappeared.

Returning to the surface, Cao Xiao changed his clothes and dealt with the traces left by the tunnel. From a distance, he spotted Duan Hong and the others searching and shouting for him in the woods, and he hurriedly responded.

"Mr. Cao, you were gone for too long and your phone wouldn't connect. We were worried you ran into the mine guards here, so we came to check," Duan Hong explained, panting as he ran quickly to Cao Xiao.

Cao Xiao knew they were worried he'd encounter the armed guards of nearby mining areas; it was hard to guarantee that others wouldn't harbor ill intentions seeing a Huaxia person alone in the wilderness. However, since he had told them he was going to meet an expert, they hadn't dared to come over earlier for fear of disturbing him.

"I'm fine. It's getting late, let's head to the nearby town to refuel the helicopter first, then head straight back." The gold mining company owners in the Rand Basin were all wealthy and used helicopters for transportation, so specialized fuel could be bought in the nearby towns.

Sitting in the helicopter, Cao Xiao closed his eyes to rest and take stock of his gains. All the gold had been processed into international standard delivery bars, each weighing 12.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces. Neatly stacked in his personal space were a total of 54,480 bars, which amounted to 681 tons. This meant the gold-uranium ore reserves he found were around 6.2 million tons; of course, this was calculated based on the ore after primary selection. Besides the gold and uranium enriched in the cement, the ore layers contained 70% gravel. Otherwise, five layers, each at least several square kilometers in area and three meters thick, wouldn't have only 6.2 million tons in reserves. The volume of 681 tons of gold was only 35 cubic meters, equivalent to a cubic room with sides of 3.3 meters. Compared to the 35,000 tons of gold worth 315.8 billion us dollars already mined in the Rand Basin, his few hundred tons were nothing. But this was already rare; the average gold content in the Rand Basin was only 10 grams per ton. Even with only five ore layers, the gold content reached 110 grams per ton, making it more productive than mining areas with a dozen or twenty layers.

Combined with the gold obtained the previous two times, the amount of gold Cao Xiao now owned broke the thousand-ton mark in one fell swoop, reaching 1,108 tons, not including a large number of gold antiques, ornaments, and gold coins. Based on the current market price of 280 million huaxia currency per ton, this gold was worth 310 billion huaxia currency, or 47.7 billion us dollars. Starting a jewelry company wouldn't require much gold—about a hundred tons would be enough. If he could sell a small portion, he wouldn't have to worry about funds for a while. However, this was just a thought; if he were to hold a blatant fire sale, someone would surely come knocking on his door for a talk.

The uranium he cared about most looked pitifully small in comparison. Uranium is very dense, similar to gold, so it only occupied a volume of 1.56 cubic meters, weighing just over 31 tons. Uranium is a metal with a silvery-white luster, slightly softer than copper, and has excellent ductility; pure uranium can be drawn into fine wires 0.35 mm in diameter or rolled into thin foils 0.1 mm thick. In natural ore, three isotopes of uranium coexist: Uranium-234, Uranium-235, and Uranium-238. Among them, Uranium-234 does not undergo nuclear fission, and Uranium-238 usually doesn't either. The isotope Uranium-235 can easily undergo nuclear fission; in other words, Uranium-235 is what actually serves as nuclear fuel. However, in the natural uranium mined from the earth, the content of Uranium-235 is very low, accounting for only 0.66%, while the vast majority is Uranium-238 at 99.2%. In nuclear fuel, the content of Uranium-235 must reach over 3% to burn. Only by separating the other isotopes and continuously increasing the enrichment of Uranium-235 can it be used to manufacture nuclear weapons and fuel for nuclear power plants. Obtaining 1 kg of weapons-grade Uranium-235 requires 200 tons of uranium ore.

Uranium-235 with an enrichment of 3% to 10% is low-enriched uranium used for power generation in nuclear plants. Uranium with an enrichment greater than 80% is highly enriched uranium, and that with an enrichment greater than 90% is called weapons-grade highly enriched uranium, primarily used for manufacturing nuclear weapons. Obtaining uranium is a complex series of processes, involving prospecting, mining, ore dressing, leaching, smelting, and refining, with enrichment and separation being the final stages requiring high technological levels. Only by separating other isotopes and increasing the enrichment of Uranium-235 can it be used for nuclear weapons and power plant fuel.

But for Cao Xiao, these problems didn't exist. The atomic energy reactor could use Uranium-235 as fuel, and it could also reach the 1.1 MeV condition required to cause Uranium-238 to undergo nuclear fission. Therefore, he only needed to separate the three isotopes. Uranium-238, which accounted for 99.2% of the weight, still amounted to 31 tons, and the energy released by its nuclear fission reaction was much higher than using Uranium-235. The structure and principle of the atomic energy reactor were different from modern nuclear reactors; it didn't need heavy water or graphite assistance. Through a special particle stream, it could trigger a nuclear fission reaction in metallic uranium no weaker than a nuclear weapon, and the energy collection and conversion efficiency was almost 100%.

The energy produced by the complete decay of one kilogram of Uranium-235 is roughly equivalent to the heat released by the complete combustion of 2,500 tons of high-quality coal or 2,000 tons of oil. It provides about 850 kilojoules of heat, equivalent to 24 million kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to run one million 1000-watt air conditioners for an entire day. The largest nuclear power base in the country, with its total installed capacity, has an annual power generation of about 50 billion kWh and only consumes twenty tons of low-enrichment Uranium-235 per year. These 31 tons of Uranium-238, plus over two hundred kilograms of Uranium-235, should be enough to last for a very long time.

On the international black market, a single kilogram of low-enrichment nuclear fuel Uranium-235 could sell for millions of us dollars; over two hundred kilograms of Uranium-235 were worth more than a billion us dollars. Now, with the heavy crackdown on terrorists, uranium on the black market had almost vanished. This was just calculating by fuel uranium; if it were enriched weapons-grade uranium with over 95% enrichment, the trading partners would be nations. Not to mention nuclear powers, if sold to countries without nuclear weapons, the price could be anything—ten billion or a hundred billion us dollars was possible.

Uranium-238 is also called depleted uranium. Besides being radioactive, depleted uranium has physical properties like high density, high hardness, and high toughness. It can be used as counterweights for aircraft, or as shielding for radiation therapy and industrial radiography equipment, and containers for radioactive materials. In the military, it is often used for depleted uranium rounds or armor plating because it significantly increases armor-piercing strength or armor resistance, and depleted uranium rounds have a high-temperature incendiary effect of 3,000 degrees Celsius upon impact. Cao Xiao didn't know the price of depleted uranium, but it was definitely several times more expensive than gold; the value of 31 tons of depleted uranium was immeasurable. However, whether it was Uranium-235 or the other two isotopes, they were all strategic materials prohibited for private ownership and trade. Selling them for money would be no different from seeking death. Cao Xiao didn't intend to let these strategic materials appear in the real world, nor did he dare let anyone know about them.

Since the fuel was ready, he could start the atomic energy reactor. He placed over two hundred kilograms of full-enrichment Uranium-235 into one of the spheres according to the startup requirements. As soon as he issued the startup command, he saw the energy value decreasing rapidly. The energy value, which was originally full, had dropped to 60% after recent use and ore refining. In less than a minute just now, it had consumed 40%. Fortunately, the startup only took dozens of seconds; if it had required several minutes, he would have had to wait for a thunderstorm to start it.

After the atomic energy reactor started, there were no visible anomalies on the surface, but the energy value began to increase rapidly, rising by an average of 10% per second. In a few seconds, the energy was completely replenished. Moreover, the energy reactor was only running at low power, less than 1% of its maximum capacity. If Cao Xiao didn't consume energy in large quantities, the atomic energy reactor would automatically adjust to run at minimum power, consuming only a trace amount of fuel to maintain its operation and keeping the energy value full at all times. Running at this minimum power, it would only consume about ten kilograms of fuel a year. Cao Xiao tried letting the brain perform full calculations while simultaneously starting the Synthesis and Decomposition Furnace and the equipment in the processing space at maximum power; the energy value remained constant at full. It was estimated that one hour would consume 1.8 kilograms of fuel. Calculated this way, using all functions of the industrial mother machine at maximum power would consume about 16 tons of Uranium-235 a year. If switched to Uranium-238, it would consume at most ten tons a year. The 31 tons of fuel could let him mess around for several years. But normally, he wouldn't need all the functions, and the energy consumed wouldn't be much; he wouldn't have to worry about running out of energy for eight or ten years.

Once the energy reactor was started, Cao Xiao couldn't wait to check his personal attribute panel to see if he met the upgrade conditions.

Administrator: Cao Xiao (Carbon-based intelligent lifeform, Human)

Current Authority: Level 2 (Total 9 levels; can be upgraded by consuming one million times the full energy value)

Personal Combat Power: 11 (Stamina 8, Strength 9, Agility 7; the comprehensive average of these three plus Combat Skill 3.)

personal space: 10*10*10 = 1000 cubic meters (Cannot place living organisms; upgradable)

Scientific Knowledge: Primary High-tier Technological Civilization

Operating System: 49th Generation Intelligence

Seeing the upgrade prompt next to Authority, Cao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. As for the million times full energy value, he simply ignored it—it was just a consumption of a few dozen kilograms of fuel and letting the energy reactor run at maximum power for a day. As long as he was sure he could upgrade the authority, he was willing to wait for months, and he wouldn't feel distressed even if all dozens of tons of fuel were consumed. Without hesitation, he issued the authority upgrade command. The energy reactor began running at full power, and the energy bar flickered continuously. He didn't need to worry about the rest; he just had to wait patiently.

However, the change in his personal combat power brought him unexpected joy. Since he got the industrial mother machine, his personal combat power hadn't changed at all, and he hadn't paid much attention to it. Today was the first time he saw a change. A personal combat power of eleven was only slightly better than a healthy adult's level, but for Cao Xiao, the meaning was completely different. This change must have been caused by his martial arts practice; otherwise, it wouldn't have been so stagnant before. He had felt his body changing over the past few days of practice, but it wasn't as intuitive as a data comparison. Stamina, Strength, and Agility had each risen by one point, while Combat Skill had risen by two points.

He had never used the Detection Function to check other people's physical attributes and didn't know what level others were at. He wouldn't have cared before he started practicing martial arts, but now that he knew National Martial Arts and extraordinary people existed, he had to understand them. He needed a basic understanding of the combat power assessment rules so he could know himself and his enemies in future confrontations.

With a thought, he opened his eyes and immediately performed a designated combat power scan on Duan Hong and the others in the cabin. He carefully observed their facial expressions. Just as he scanned them, their bodies all involuntarily shuddered at the same time, and their eyes went blank for a few seconds. Seeing this, Cao Xiao felt as if his heart had been squeezed. He hadn't expected that scanning combat power would have physical and mental effects on people. The Detection Function used a type of particle energy to probe matter; he had used it to scan human bodies before, but it had never caused a reaction. Was scanning combat power different from a normal scan?

Ten seconds later, their combat power information appeared in the panel display window.

Li Quanshuo: 31 (Stamina 17, Strength 15, Agility 19, Combat Skill 14.)

Cheng Xiaodao: 28 (Stamina 17, Strength 16, Agility 15, Combat Skill 12.)

Duan Hong: 28 (Stamina 19, Strength 18, Agility 14, Combat Skill 11.)

Niu Zhen: 34 (Stamina 21, Strength 21, Agility 15, Combat Skill 15.)

Hu En Glays: 19 (Stamina 12, Strength 10, Agility 14, Combat Skill 7.) (Helicopter Pilot)

When he saw their combat power attributes, Cao Xiao's expression turned sour. He had been secretly pleased with his own attribute increase, thinking that having learned the rare National Martial Arts made him much stronger than ordinary people. But even the weakest among them, the pilot Hu En, was much higher than him, and Niu Zhen's attributes were more than three times his. How could he face this!

But thinking about it, it was normal. Although they hadn't practiced martial arts, they hadn't spent their time in the military for nothing. After years of physical and combat training, and improvements during missions, they wouldn't be called elite special forces if they were only slightly stronger than ordinary people.

He had only started practicing for a few days and already had such obvious progress. In time, he could surpass them, and it wouldn't take too long. Once he reached the Obvious Power realm, his physical attributes would definitely be comparable to a special forces king.