rpbooks Chapter 211 The Visit of the Stars
Chapter 211 The Visit of the Stars
When Zhao Wenbo entered, Zuo Cheng noticed that he hadn't brought a secretary, an assistant, or even a briefcase. He came alone, having flown two and a half hours from Beijing to Hangzhou at 4:30 in the morning. He was still wearing the same dark blue suit he'd worn during the day, with a slight ink stain on his right cuff and his tie loosened halfway, as if he'd just gotten off a plane and taken a taxi straight there.
Zuo Cheng poured him a glass of water. Zhao Wenbo took it but didn't drink it, placing it on the table. He looked at Zuo Cheng's expression, remained silent for a few seconds, and then spoke.
"You saw it."
It's not a question.
Zuo Cheng said, "I saw it. Three hours ago."
Zhao Wenbo nodded. Then he took out a small, dark gray metal box from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. It was smaller than a business card holder, with no markings on the surface, only a tiny interface using a proprietary encryption protocol developed by Star Technology, which no device on the market could read. He placed the box on the table and pushed it towards Zuo Cheng.
"This was left for you by Teacher Chen."
Zuo Cheng picked up the box; it was very light, as if it were empty. He put the box back on the table and looked at Zhao Wenbo. "He is your mentor."
Zhao Wenbo said, "More than that. He's my benefactor."
He picked up his water glass, took a sip, and began, "This happened thirteen years ago. I had just graduated with my PhD, working in neural engineering, and had published several papers in top journals. I thought I was pretty impressive. The day I received the interview invitation from Xingchen Technology, I wore my best suit. The interviewer was Professor Chen. He looked at my resume and asked me a question: 'Where do you think the limits of brain-computer interfaces are?'"
"I memorized a bunch of technical jargon, from channel count to sampling rate to signal-to-noise ratio. After listening, he said one thing: 'All of these things you're talking about will be solved within twenty years. The real question is whether humanity is prepared for a world where consciousness can be transferred.'"
Zhao Wenbo smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile; it was the kind of smile that comes to mind when someone is thinking about something from a long time ago.
"After the interview, he didn't let me leave but took me to his office. There were no bookshelves, no trophies, only a world map with seven points marked in red. I asked him what those points meant. He said, 'Seven locations, which humans cannot yet comprehend.' Later, when he retired, I learned that they were suspected relics he had spent ten years searching for one by one around the world."
"Six of them were proven to be naturally formed. Only one is real."
Zuo Cheng said, "That cave in the Taklamakan Desert."
Zhao Wenbo said, "It took him four years to determine that it wasn't formed naturally. The surrounding rock strata were discontinuous, the proportions of radioactive isotopes were abnormal, and the depth was right at the edge of the conventional human exploration range. It's as if someone deliberately calculated it and placed it in a location that wouldn't be easily discovered but wasn't completely impossible to find."
"He went in alone. When he came out, he was a completely different person. Not depressed or insane, but a very strange calm. Like someone finally knowing what they were meant to do with their life."
Zuo Cheng said, "Protect the seeds."
"He protected the seed. But the price was high; his body started having problems from then on. Not radiation—the radiation levels in the cave were normal. It was some kind of stress response; his immune system started attacking his own nervous system. It was gradual, and the doctors said there was nothing they could do; time was running out."
So he recorded that video.
Zhao Wenbo said, "On the day the video was recorded, he called me to his office. All the technical documents, research notes, cave coordinates, and isotope analysis data were all converted into encrypted data and stored in this small box. He said, 'This isn't for you; it's for the next person. All you have to do is hand it over at the appropriate time.'"
I asked, 'When is the right time?'"
He said, 'Wait for that person to come and ask you.'"
Zuo Cheng looked at Zhao Wenbo and said, "How did you know it was me?"
Zhao Wenbo didn't avoid his gaze. He said, "Two years ago, at the internal strategic analysis meeting of Xingchen Technology, I saw the 402 satellite communication solution for the first time. Fifth-generation adaptive modulation, Doppler frequency shift pre-compensation—all the optimal solutions were pre-set. That kind of technical thinking isn't conventional engineering thinking; it's not derived step by step from existing solutions. It's like someone is pushing backward from the finish line, knowing where every path will ultimately lead."
"I've only seen this style in one person: Professor Chen. After reviewing the 402 proposal, he remained silent for a long time before saying, 'He's here.'"
"When he founded StarCraft Technology, many people didn't understand. He resigned from the best research institute and poured all his wealth into a field that had no commercial prospects at the time. A reporter asked him why he chose brain-computer interfaces. He said, 'StarCraft Technology isn't creating the future; it's waiting for the future.' The reporter thought he was just using a metaphor, but only I knew he was telling the truth."
"He's not innovating; he's setting up an exam. He's turning fragments of knowledge from seeds into products, not to make money, but to test. To test if there's another person in the world who can see through the underlying concepts of these technologies. To test if that person even exists."
"You've arrived. He made up his mind the day he saw your plan. But he said the seed wasn't fully activated yet, not enough. We have to wait. Wait until the seventh branch grows, until you can see the light, until dimensional perception begins to operate. Then, I'll tell you everything."
Zuo Cheng picked up the small metal box on the table. It was very light, but it contained the entire truth that an old man had spent seventeen years compiling. Cave coordinates, rock strata analysis data, isotope detection reports, seed code samples, and Chen Xinghe's translation manuscript of the inscription were all inside.
He held the box and said, "What was his last message?"
Zhao Wenbo remained silent for a while.
He said, "The last sentence: 'Don't rush into the cave; prepare yourself first. When you feel ready, then open the box. Because there are things inside that, once you know, there's no going back.'"
Zuo Cheng put the box in the drawer and closed it. The sky outside the window had changed from deep blue to gray-white, and the distant city silhouette slowly emerged. Morning light reflected off the glass curtain wall of the office building, making the office lights seem superfluous. Zhao Wenbo stood up, straightened his tie, and then extended his hand.
Zuo Cheng grasped it.
Zhao Wenbo said, "Teacher Chen waited thirty years; I thank you on his behalf."
He finished speaking, turned, and walked out of the office. The door closed softly behind him. Zuo Cheng sat in his chair, looking at the two pages of paper on the table, seventeen notes, and the four words on the last line. Then his gaze moved to the drawer.
The box lay quietly inside, as if it had waited for many years. From a cave 300 meters underground in the Taklamakan Desert, to an office without bookshelves in Beijing, and then to this desk at 4:30 a.m. in Hangzhou, it traversed thirty years of a person's life.