Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 251 Preparing to Depart

Zuo Cheng received a reply within ten minutes after sending Yang Hong the message "I can't wait any longer".

What Yang Hong sent wasn't Sahara coordinates, but a list. Two desert off-road vehicles, four satellite phones, 1000 liters of drinking water, a complete first-aid kit, seven sets of sun protection gear, and two weeks' worth of emergency food. At the bottom of the list was a line: "The last time I went into the desert was seven years ago, accompanying Old Chen. This time it's your turn to talk to him."

Zuo Cheng convened a meeting of the core team. The meeting room was full of people: Han Lu, Shen Yiming, Yu Ying, Chen Hao, Liu Wei, Fang Ze, and Ma Hao. Each person had a different expression, but they all shared a sense of confusion.

Zuo Cheng made no preamble. He said he was going to go to the Sahara himself.

The meeting room was silent for at least ten seconds. Han Lu spoke first: "You're the CEO of 402, the founder of a company worth five hundred billion dollars. If you went to the Sahara Desert alone, the board and investors would go crazy."

"I'm not alone," Zuo Cheng said. "I'm bringing a small squad."

"Even if you take a hundred people, you're still going to the desert." Han Lu didn't back down. "A company valued at 50 billion, number one in market share across seven sectors, with operations in 47 countries worldwide, and having just crushed the joint quantum center of Microsoft and Google at the Quantum Summit. If you go to the desert at a time like this, how will the world's media interpret it?"

Zuo Cheng stood up, walked to the whiteboard, drew a circle, and wrote two words inside the circle: Price.

"The system prompted me that the final condition for activating the ninth branch is a physical location, which I must physically visit. If the cost of activating the ninth branch is that I have to go there myself, then this matter is more important than any board resolution. Some things only the CEO can do; it's not a decision, it's a risk."

No one objected anymore. Not because Zuo Cheng had convinced them, but because they saw something they'd never seen before in his eyes. Not confidence, not resolve, but a chillingly calm fear. He was afraid, but he was still going to do it. When someone is afraid but still chooses to act, no one can stop them.

Yu Ying was the first to speak up: "I'll go with you." She stood up and walked to Zuo Cheng's side without the slightest hesitation.

Zhao Wenbo was silent for three seconds when he received Zuo Cheng's call. "I brought Old Chen's field survey log from back then."

Yang Hong volunteered to serve as a guide.

The expedition team was ultimately comprised of six people: Zuo Cheng, Yu Ying, Yang Hong, and Zhao Wenbo, plus two professional security guards. The security guards were selected by Chen Hao through an international security company; one had practical experience in the Sahara Desert, and the other had experience accompanying personnel in high-risk areas of over thirty countries.

Shen Yiming prepared a portable quantum communication terminal. A device the size of a small suitcase, it integrated a Tianqiong satellite link and a quantum encryption module, maintaining a real-time connection with headquarters even in the heart of the desert. During the handover, he confided, "Brother Cheng, this was originally intended for communication support for frontline combat units. I never imagined you'd be the first user in actual combat."

Fang Ze prepared a portable brain-computer interface device with a customized NX-40 chip. It was half the weight of the standard version and added the function of detecting weak signals at long distances. When he handed the device to Zuo Cheng, he only said one sentence: "If there is really a consciousness signal in the ruins, it can hear it." It was rare for Fang Ze to say so much, and Zuo Cheng almost didn't react.

Chen Hao adjusted the orbits of two Tianqiong satellites to ensure maximum bandwidth coverage of the Sahara region around the clock during the expedition. When he submitted the adjustment plan to the International Telecommunication Union, he wrote six words in the reason for the application: Important humanitarian mission.

Ma Hao prepared two customized desert drones for all-weather perimeter surveillance and monitoring of supply lines around the ruins.

The night before departure, Yu Ying found Zuo Cheng in his office. The desk was covered with geological maps of the Sahara, Chen Xinghe's hand-drawn coordinates, and Yang Hong's equipment list. Zuo Cheng sat at the desk, holding a cup of cold coffee.

Yu Ying sat down opposite him.

"Aren't you afraid?" she asked. It wasn't a question, but more of a statement. "It's not that I'm afraid of the desert. It's that I'm afraid of what will happen after I see Chen Xinghe."

Zuo Cheng put down his coffee cup.

"What I'm afraid of isn't meeting him. What I'm afraid of is that after meeting him, I'll realize I underestimated the magnitude of this from the very beginning." He looked down at the map on the table. "From the moment the patch activated the system, I thought it was a story of a tech startup. Later, I discovered it was a relay race of interstellar civilizations. Now, I don't know what this story will be like when we return from the Sahara."

Yu Ying reached out and took his hand. Her hand was steady.

"No matter what happens, I'll always be there. Four years ago, you asked me in the library if I'd like to work on a project with you. I was a PhD student then, and you'd just moved from your dorm to your first office. Now that project has become a matter for all of humanity. I've never regretted it once."

Zuo Cheng looked at her, remaining silent for a long time. Finally, he uttered only two words.

"Thanks."

The chartered plane was scheduled to take off from Hangzhou the following morning.

Before setting off, Zuo Cheng handed a sealed document to Han Lu. It was a kraft paper envelope, sealed with wax, and Zuo Cheng's name and the date were written on the cover.

"If I don't return within a month, hand over the company to Yu Ying for me."

Han Lu's hands trembled as she took the document. She had known Zuo Cheng for almost ten years, from the incubator to now. This was the first time Zuo Cheng had left her a sealed document. The first time he had spoken to her starting with "if."

Zuo Cheng looked at her. "Don't shake. I'm just going to another office to sign in."

Han Lu didn't smile. She held the documents in her arms and watched Zuo Cheng walk towards the boarding gate.

The morning breeze on the airport runway ruffled Zuo Cheng's clothes. He was dressed in the simplest outdoor gear, his backpack containing Fang Ze's portable brain-computer interface, Shen Yiming's quantum terminal, and Chen Xinghe's hand-drawn map. The identity of the founder of a company worth five hundred billion dollars meant nothing in the desert. He was going to walk into that sea of ​​sand to meet someone he had waited four years for.

Yu Ying followed behind him; Yang Hong and Zhao Wenbo were already seated in the cabin. Zuo Cheng paused before stepping through the door, glancing back at the Hangzhou skyline. The 402 headquarters building glowed faintly in the morning light, and the signal lights of the Tianqiong satellite slowly streaked across the sky. Forty million people lived in this city, a significant portion of whom unknowingly spent their daily lives running on the 402 system.

Then he turned and walked into the plane. The cabin door slowly closed behind him, separating Hangzhou and the Sahara into two different worlds.

The plane began to taxi on the runway.

The engine roared to life.