"What method?" Lin Xian asked curiously.
"The last resort is violent destruction," explained the employee from the safe company. "We had a client in a similar situation before. Their finance manager had an accident, and the company urgently needed the company seal from the safe. So, they took the entire safe to the scrapyard and cut it open with an oxy-acetylene cutting torch."
"This safe is made of solid steel, so regular cutting machines or pry bars won't work, and even explosives won't open it. Only an oxy-acetylene cutting torch, which can produce a flame with a temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius, can cut it open. It's really a last resort."
"Hmm?" Lin Xian's interest was piqued. "What did you say the tool was?"
"It's an oxy-acetylene cutting torch, a tool that burns high-pressure acetylene. It can generate a jet flame with a temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius, allowing it to melt steel and cut through it. It's commonly used in industrial settings."
After explaining, the two employees handed Lin Xian some paperwork, had him sign, left some instructions, and contact numbers, then departed.
"Oxy-acetylene cutting torch..." Lin Xian made a mental note of the name.
The safe in his dream, with his name on it, had many parts rusted and chipped away, undoubtedly made of steel.
In the face of a torch with a temperature of 3000 degrees Celsius...
It would likely be as fragile as tofu!
...
Lin Xian thought he would soon enter the dream to open the safe with his name on it.
However, things didn't go as planned.
These past few days had been too busy.
He was working late into the night almost every day, returning home past midnight. He hadn't had the opportunity to dream for several days.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone in the company was working tirelessly, with all departments working overtime and even pulling all-nighters to meet deadlines. Even the usually refined Zhao Yingjun couldn't avoid developing slight dark circles under her eyes.
One afternoon...
Lin Xian had just finished a task.
Ring... Ring... Ring... Ring...
His phone rang.
Lin Xian glanced at the caller ID...
"Professor Xu Yun?"
They hadn't been in contact for several days. Could there be any new developments?
Lin Xian picked up the phone.
"Lin Xian! Do you have time right now?"
On the other end of the line, Professor Xu Yun's voice was unusually excited and enthusiastic. "I want to invite you to witness a historic moment!"
Witness a historic moment?
Could it be...
Professor Xu Yun had successfully overcome the obstacles with the cryosleep chamber filling liquid?
Lin Xian checked the time, it was almost two in the afternoon.
To be honest, he was genuinely happy for Professor Xu Yun, but he wasn't particularly interested in witnessing scientific achievements. However, he didn't want to dampen Professor Xu Yun's enthusiasm.
"Sure, Professor Xu. Just wait for me a moment, I'll come to East Sea University to find you."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Xian assigned tasks to his subordinates and then left to take a taxi to East Sea University.
...
Arriving at Professor Xu Yun's laboratory.
He was enthusiastically pulled by Professor Xu Yun to a sealed chamber:
"Take a look, this little mouse inside has been stable at -60 degrees Celsius for 40 hours."
"During these 40 hours, the mouse has been in a deep sleep state. Despite not moving, eating, or excreting, its life signs are completely normal! Very stable!"
Lin Xian approached the sealed chamber.
The chamber walls were extremely cold, emitting a chilly air. Lin Xian intentionally stood back a bit and leaned forward.
He saw that the chamber was filled with pale blue liquid, and in the middle of the liquid, there was a small white mouse curled up, covered in various monitoring electrodes and tubes.
The little white mouse was unusually quiet... almost as if it were dead.
But after observing for a few seconds, Lin Xian noticed a very faint movement in its abdomen.
It hadn't died yet.
Professor Xu Yun pointed to the monitor screen beside them, explaining the numbers displayed:
"The normal heartbeat of a mouse is usually around 500-700 beats per minute. This is also why their lifespans are short, only about three to four years."
"In the natural animal kingdom, the slower the heartbeat, the longer the lifespan. Conversely, the normal breathing rate of a mouse is about 150 breaths per minute."
"But look now."
Professor Xu Yun pointed to the two numbers on the monitor:
Heart rate: 21 beats per minute
Respiratory rate: 7 breaths per minute
"Do you see it, Lin Xian? Both the heart rate and the respiratory rate have slowed down by about twenty or thirty times! The efficiency of its life activities has decreased by twenty or thirty times. You can simply think of it as..."
"In this low-temperature sealed chamber, the aging process of the mouse has been delayed by twenty or thirty times."
Lin Xian nodded.
He understood this concept.
In science fiction movies, cryosleep involves sleeping for hundreds or thousands of years in a cryo chamber and waking up as if nothing had happened.
But science fiction is just fiction.
True scientific research is a step-by-step process.
The sealed chamber Professor Xu Yun had created was probably a rudimentary version of a "cryosleep chamber prototype, youth edition," far from the concept of true cryosleep. It could only reduce the efficiency of life activities by twenty or thirty times.
If this equipment could run stably.
Then, even after thirty years had passed outside, the actual lifespan of the mouse might only have increased by one year.
This allowed a mouse that would normally live for only three to four years to successfully "travel" to the future world several decades later.
Of course, this was just an experiment with mice.
To apply it to humans for a long time? To what extent could life activities be reduced? These were still unknowns.
"The real challenge of cryosleep technology lies not in freezing, but in thawing and awakening," Professor Xu Yun patiently explained.
"Next, is the truly historic moment I invite you to witness."
"We are going to wake up this mouse, which has been in cryosleep at minus 60 degrees for 40 hours."
Lin Xian didn't quite understand, so he just stood and watched Professor Xu Yun operate.
Gradually...
The temperature in the sealed chamber slowly rose, taking about half an hour to increase to around ten degrees.
Then Professor Xu Yun performed a series of complicated operations.
"Squeak... Squeak..."
"Squeak, squeak, squeak!!"
The mouse inside the sealed chamber began to become restless, rolling frantically in the pale blue liquid-filled chamber, its nails constantly scraping against the walls!
"Don't worry, this liquid has a very high oxygen content. After entering the lungs, normal oxygen exchange can occur. Of course... there will definitely be strong discomfort," Professor Xu Yun said, holding his chest and looking at Lin Xian.
"It will be very uncomfortable, but it can ensure breathing without the risk of suffocation. However, I haven't tried it yet; it's just speculation."
Then...
Professor Xu Yun emptied the liquid from the sealed chamber and took out the struggling little white mouse, tearing off all the electrodes attached to its body.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak!! Squeak, squeak, squeak!! Squeak, squeak, squeak!!"
The mouse thrashed around, shaking off the liquid on its fur. Then, it leaped from Professor Xu Yun's hand, jumping around the laboratory like crazy.
"It's full of energy," Lin Xian exclaimed. "It's hard to imagine that it was 'dead' for 40 hours and was in a low-temperature of minus 60 degrees..."
Technology is truly miraculous.
If a person were put in minus 60 degrees, they would probably die soon, frozen solid.
Professor Xu Yun smiled slightly.
"Although there are still many problems to solve later, the successful cryosleep and awakening of this mouse represent that this liquid, this cryosleep chamber filling liquid, is perfect. The related cryosleep theory is absolutely correct."
It was clear that Professor Xu was genuinely happy; there was finally hope for his daughter, who had been in a vegetative state.
Lin Xian looked at the mouse leaping around and asked curiously:
"Professor Xu, how many years do you estimate it will take for the successful research of true cryosleep chambers?"