Understanding what the lithium crystal before him truly was, Chen Xin lost interest in it.

Chen Xin was interested in genuine energy crystals, but when it came to matter-antimatter reactor catalysts, he had no desire to study them.

Not only does it require a vast amount of resources to potentially create a matter-antimatter reactor, but even if Chen Xin managed to build one, it wouldn’t be very practical.

This is not to say that the technology was poor, but rather, for Flame Country at present, this technology was akin to a dragon-slaying skill, entirely unnecessary.

Firstly, a matter-antimatter reactor releases the complete internal energy contained within matter by annihilating both matter and antimatter.

The energy released through this process is astonishingly immense. Taking coal as an example, the total thermal energy a ton of standard coal can release in its conventional state is only equivalent to the energy released by 0.028 milligrams of matter converted entirely from mass.

In other words, just a few grams of matter in a matter-antimatter reactor can produce the thermal energy equivalent to a few hundred tons of burning coal.

An operational matter-antimatter reactor can generate even more energy than the Three Gorges Hydropower Station.

Such a colossal amount of energy is excessively large to be harnessed by Flame Country, or even the entire Blue Star, at present.

As for using only a few milligrams of material for the reaction, that would merely be considered an experiment, not a legitimate use of energy.

Another problem is that humans on Blue Star have yet to find a stable and large-scale method to obtain antimatter. In particle colliders costing billions, physicists occasionally produce some antimatter, but due to its extreme scarcity and tendency to annihilate, the current cost to prepare one gram of antihydrogen atoms is as high as $62.5 trillion.

Therefore, even if Chen Xin created a matter-antimatter reactor, humanity on Blue Star doesn’t have enough antimatter to burn.

Given that Chen Xin has already produced a controlled nuclear fusion reactor, researching a matter-antimatter reactor now is premature.

However, Chen Xin didn’t mind the country’s interest in the lithium crystal, nor did he intervene. After all, this thing’s technological content is high, and the state is free to research it thoroughly. They might end up with some remarkable results.

Chen Xin himself, however, had little interest in it anymore. He only wanted to take one of the three land cruisers before him and convert it into a mobile base.

This idea was something he pondered long ago; he initially wanted to continuously upgrade his RV into a mobile base similar to Rhode Island.

Although this idea was always there, it wasn’t implemented much.

Partly because Chen Xin didn’t have much use for a mobile base; creating one wasn’t very practical. On the other hand, numerous other matters influenced him, leaving little time to pursue this research.

Yet, with a ready-made foundational platform now, Chen Xin considered it feasible to get himself a mobile base.

After all, the power sources of the three land cruisers capable of safe use as prototypes had been removed, while the two nuclear-powered ones were no longer operable due to radiation leaks, so why not upgrade one and drive a usable one back?

"You want to convert these land cruisers into mobile bases, Academician Chen?" The officer was taken aback by Chen Xin’s idea, although he too had thought about how to take the land cruisers back, he never had such an exaggerated notion.

He merely wanted to put the lithium crystal back, using spare parts found at the base to repair the prototype to a drivable condition, and then drive it back within Flame Country borders.

However, this idea was obviously less practical than Chen Xin’s plan to convert it into a mobile base. After all, traveling several thousand kilometers from Siberia to Flame Country—without supply points or navigation—was not an easy feat.

Opting for Chen Xin’s approach of converting the land cruiser into a mobile base would make it much easier to drive it back.

"Indeed, I previously considered designing a mobile base capable of traveling on land, only I couldn’t quite find the inspiration at the time. But now, seeing this land cruiser designed by the Suyians, I know how to design what I want," Chen Xin explained to the officer, pointing to the three land cruisers parked nearby: "Use one of them as parts for conversion. After disassembling it, the parts can be used to convert the other two. According to my plan, we should be able to convert two usable mobile bases out of them.

By then, not only will we be able to drive these two mobile bases back to the country to complete our mission, but in the current environment, these mobile bases can serve numerous purposes. For example, during the Southwest region earthquake, being able to drive a mobile base into the disaster area would be tremendously beneficial."

While saying this, Chen Xin was also contemplating whether he should produce the mobile base sooner.

Mobile bases and the Airbag Ark actually serve similar functions, except one flies in the sky and the other moves on the ground. Comparatively, the Airbag Ark has greater mobility, but the mobile base, although slightly less mobile, excels in carrying capacity and multifunctionality.

If Chen Xin had a mobile base designed as per his ideas during this earthquake, he could have performed substantially better in the disaster relief efforts.

The officer did not prevent Chen Xin from wanting to convert the land cruisers into mobile bases. After some consideration, he instead asked Chen Xin: "How do you plan to handle the nuclear radiation inside the two land cruisers? That radiation is lethal; it’s impossible to let anyone in, let alone dismantle them, risking radiation leakage."

"Handling that radiation is my business. What I can assure you is that after conversion, we will get two functional mobile bases with no nuclear radiation inside," Chen Xin spread his hands wide. With the system’s power, cleaning the nuclear radiation in the two land cruisers is a straightforward task, but explaining the exact method to the officer would be impossible.

The officer understood Chen Xin’s capabilities and did not press for an explanation of the process, merely advising him: "Academician Chen, make sure to prioritize safety in all aspects."