Chapter 216: They Made It
Just as Isabella resigned herself to another failed experiment, the puddle of accidentally mixed liquid underwent a violent reaction before solidifying into a crystalline transparent solid.
Isabella gently poked at it, astonished to discover the substance was incredibly lightweight—holding it in her palm, she could barely feel its weight.
This was peculiar. Isabella had taken materials science electives in college and encountered many similar substances, some natural, some synthetic. But something that appeared solid yet weighed almost nothing? That was exceptionally rare.
Emily had only turned away to distribute coffee to colleagues. When she looked back, the specimen dish in front of Isabella had completely transformed.
"What is that? We shouldn't need anything like that for the battery project, should we?"
His exclamation drew the other lab members over, all crowding around to examine this unexpected creation with curiosity.
Honestly, Isabella had no idea what chemical or physical properties this thing possessed. The only certainty was its remarkable stability—it had sat in the reaction vessel for hours without any change.
Emily's imagination suddenly ran wild. "Isabella, since we've already tried every known approach, why not run a storage test with this? What if we've stumbled onto a completely new material?"
Their ultimate goal in developing the new battery was to support future flying cars. Every battery currently on the market suffered from insufficient storage capacity. For cars to take to the skies meant consuming enormous amounts of electrical energy.
Isabella had foreseen exactly this—the government was gradually planning aerial transportation infrastructure, yet battery technology lagged hopelessly behind urban development needs—which was why she'd chosen to join Infinity Ventures Corporation. Only with backing from such a major company could new energy projects continue. Otherwise, few investors were willing to pour money into ventures both expensive and uncertain.
"Each experiment costs a fortune," another researcher objected. "We can't waste money on baseless speculation. Didn't the new material from our last test already achieve 150% of traditional battery efficiency? If we can just compress the volume, we might solve the problem."
Staring at the crystalline mass of unknown composition, everyone fell into contemplation. If they were still students, unconcerned with cost and time, they would dive into exploration without hesitation. But now, their every move was scrutinized by the board of directors.
Eventually, all eyes turned to Isabella. In this lab, she held final decision-making authority.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Isabella placed the new material into the testing equipment.
"Testing it won't break the bank," she explained. "During the trial-and-error phase, our most important task is eliminating all possibilities."
The moment she finished preparations, a powerful wave of exhaustion hit her again. Isabella felt she could close her eyes and pass out on the spot. Her legs buckled, nearly sending her to the floor. Fortunately, Emily reacted quickly, catching her from behind.
"You need to rest—now, immediately!" Emily and another female colleague practically carried Isabella back to her office. "You can't keep working without taking care of yourself. We'll handle things here."
Isabella reluctantly complied, collapsing onto her office couch and falling into deep sleep instantly.
She slept uncommonly well. When she woke, dusk had fallen outside, the sky draped in twilight with only a faint afterglow of sunset remaining.
Isabella rubbed her eyes and exhaled deeply, feeling considerably refreshed. She left her office to find the R&D area completely deserted.
Had everyone gone home already?
Puzzled, she headed toward the lab. The moment she pushed open the door, she heard barely suppressed, extremely animated discussion inside.
"This is incredible! Our experiment finally had a breakthrough!"
"This is the most perfect material I've ever seen! I can't believe we got this lucky!"
Just from her colleagues' excited chatter, Isabella immediately understood what had happened.
The lightweight crystalline object she'd accidentally created had storage capacity five times that of traditional materials!
This meant flying cars were no longer an impossible fantasy. They'd finally touched the technological bottleneck and found a way to break through.
Isabella rushed to the control panel, meticulously recording every detail of the experiment's data.
Then came a more important question: naming this new material.
Everyone in the lab exchanged glances, momentarily stumped.
"How about 'Crystaphene'?" Emily raised his hand tentatively. "Sounds sophisticated and fitting—people would immediately get what it is."
The others had no objections, all turning their attention to Isabella.
Isabella considered thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded her approval. She immediately reported the breakthrough in material development to Richard via internal email.
The next morning, as soon as Isabella arrived at the company, she received a meeting notice from Richard's assistant, Nina.
In the conference room, company executives and shareholders gathered, the atmosphere serious. Even Richard had stepped aside, yielding the head of the table.
"I hear the materials research has made progress?" a senior director spoke first, his tone scrutinizing. They'd never imagined that Infinity Ventures Corporation, having fallen behind technologically, could actually be first to develop revolutionary new materials.
Another shareholder was even blunter. "This isn't some story your lab concocted to secure more research funding, is it? Something that feels like air when you touch it—its conductivity and storage performance are really as good as you claim?"
Never mind their skepticism—even Isabella had found it hard to believe when she first saw the data. Such a tiny amount of material not only outperformed every new energy material on the market but was incredibly lightweight. She could hardly imagine what electric vehicles would look like thirty years from now.
Facing their doubts, Isabella offered no lengthy explanations. She and her colleagues simply brought in the experimental equipment and replicated the test right there in front of all the executives.
The experimental process was lengthy, but for everyone in that conference room, every second of waiting held critical importance.
After the long wait, fresh data finally emerged.
Storage capacity: five times. Not a fraction off.
The Infinity Ventures Corporation conference room erupted completely, everyone swept up in overwhelming joy.