Three days later, Beijing had a cloudless, sunny day.

It was rare for this city to have such good weather.

Thousands of people gathered at the Beijing Conference Center.

Two security guards stood at the conference hall entrance with a formal smile on their faces.

Their faces became sore after a while. They spoke to each other in hopes of relaxing their facial muscles.

The guard with a buzz cut said, I realized that no matter what the conference is, if it has an international in its name, it becomes totally different.

The other slightly older guard asked, What do you mean?

The younger guard continued, Think about it, if they changed it to just the China Lunar Hadron Collider Conference, wouldnt it feel less important?

The older guard smiled and said, Why does it matter? The word international only means that were open to cooperation from other countries. What does this have to do with importance?

I guess youre right.

Okay, enough, stop messing around, be quiet.

On the other side of the conference center, a young PhD student with neatly combed hair looked at the foreign faces walking through the entrance.

Hey, if we can build this Hadron Collider ourselves, why are we letting the Americans participate? Cant we just do it ourselves?

The older man standing next to him was probably his supervisor.

After hearing his students words, the older man in a suit shook his head and spoke.

Thats not how it works. Were going through globalization; cooperating with other countries is a win-win situation. Were still the world-leaders in the aerospace industry, and the best way to maintain our advantage isnt to close our borders. Rather, we should join forces; even the Americans know this.

The younger scholar scratched his head.

So whats the advantage of joining forces?

The older man coughed and said, Actually, Im not sure, I heard this from someone at the hotel buffet yesterday.

Student:

The older man coughed and continued, All in all, your plan wont work. Hosting this international event strengthens our diplomatic relationships with other countries. Back in the day, we used to work for western laboratories, helping them do research. Now, these foreigners will work for us.

This meeting is very important. Dont sit there on your phone, try to network with people. The person sitting next to you could be a laboratory director or some big-name physicist.

The young student had a serious look on his face as he nodded and turned off his phone.

Understood!

The older man smirked at his student.

Not a bad student.

Even though the older man was a leader in physics among top Chinese universities, he was still humbled at a place like this.

Being able to network at an international physics event like this was beneficial for everyone, even him.

Speaking of which, he had to thank Academician Lu for creating this opportunity for the Chinese physics community to host an event like this.

If only he had this kind of opportunity when he was younger. Back in his day, not only did he not have foreigners coming to China for an academic conference, he could barely go to a conference himself

The old man couldnt help but look at his student with envy in his eyes.

Kid, you dont know how lucky you are.

Youre in the perfect era for physics

The first International Lunar Hadron Collider Conference was held in the Beijing Conference Center.

Professor Keriber stood at the entrance of the conference hall with a large trench coat over his shoulders as he welcomed Lu Zhou with his arms wide open.

Hi, my friend, long time no see!

Long time no see. Lu Zhou hugged the tall and thin German professor and smiled. He said, If I recall correctly, this is the Lunar Hadron Collider Conference, so what are you doing here?

Professor Keriber, director of the Wendelstein 7-X Stellarator Institute, was one of the main engineers working on controllable fusion research in Europe.

When China was leaving ITER, these two were competitors, but they had always maintained a good personal relationship. They even did some academic exchanges on behalf of their respective countries.

For example, the STAR Stellarator, predecessor of the Pangu fusion reactor, was modified from the Wega Stellarator bought from Germany.

Looking at it from the long term perspective, the deal certainly worked out for Germany. Without the success of the Pangu fusion reactor, Europe would have had to wait another fifty years to use clean and nearly unlimited energy. Now that the fusion negotiations had ended, it was likely for East Asia Energy to build fusion reactor plants in France or Germany sometime in the next year

You probably forgot that Im an engineer doing research on plasma physics, and Im one of the worlds leading experts on superconducting magnets. I take credit in CERNs underground superconducting magnets. Thats why I received an invite. Keriber patted Lu Zhous shoulder and said, You have another friend here as well.

Professor Klitzing? Lu Zhou looked at the old man nearby and smiled. I didnt expect to see you here.

How could I miss such an important event? You guys will be the deciding factor on whether there will be new physics discoveries in the next fifty years. Professor Klitzing smiled and shook Lu Zhous hand as he said, Congratulations on being able to host such an important meeting, this will be a highlight in your academic career But I guess you dont care about those kinds of things anymore.

Oh no, of course I care, but Im not the one hosting this conference; Im just one of the hosts Lu Zhou smiled and made an inviting gesture. Lets go inside.

Professor Keriber suddenly raised his right hand.

Wait a second, I forgot something.

Lu Zhou smiled and said, What thing? Dont tell me you left your invitation letter back at the hotel?

An old friend of mine from Princeton asked me to give you a letter. I knew that I would probably run into you, so I agreed. Keriber took out a letter from his briefcase and said, This is it.

Lu Zhou was about to take this letter, but Wang Peng stepped forward and grabbed it.

Sorry, can I take a look at it first?

Keriber shrugged and awkwardly looked at Wang Peng. Uh, sure, no problem, my job is just to deliver it. You can throw it in the trash for all I care But I did go through airport security with it, so it should be fine, right? Just dont blame me.

Yeah, were in a special time right now, and its kind of affecting my life Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng and said, Is it fine?

After checking the envelope with professional tools, Wang Peng cautiously nodded.

Its fine.

Wang Peng then walked to the side and opened the envelope.

There was a letter inside, as well as an invitation card.

Lu Zhou looked at Wang Peng and asked, Can you tell me who sent the letter? Im curious.

The sender is Krugman Thats what it says. Wang Peng noticed Lu Zhous face and asked, What?

Lu Zhou: Nothing.

F*ck sake!

Hes still not giving up!

Even asked his friend to send me the letter

Really cant get rid of him.