Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 280 Flourishing

The activation of the ninth node of the Web was not publicly announced. Zuo Cheng kept this news locked in the core team's top-secret files. To the outside world, 402 had accomplished a series of astonishing feats in the past two years: its valuation soared from 50 billion to 80 billion, it achieved successful self-sustaining nuclear fusion combustion, and both the Mars and Titan probes transmitted scientific data. International media began using a term previously reserved for superpowers to refer to 402: technological sovereignty. But only the core team knew what lay hidden beneath these apparent achievements. The Web had awakened. Control of the solar system was in Zuo Cheng's hands. From this moment on, humanity's fate was in its own hands.

The first full-scale prototype module of the Pioneer manned deep spacecraft has been assembled in low Earth orbit. It is not yet a complete spacecraft; it consists of only a test module containing a closed-loop life support system and a plasma engine, less than one-fifth the length of the final design. However, it proves the feasibility of orbital assembly.

The first batch of six astronaut candidates was finalized on the same day. The last name on the list was Shen Yiming. Zuo Cheng paused for a moment when he saw the name, looking up from the screen. Shen Yiming was standing at the door of his office, his anti-static sling still on his shoulder from the lab.

"The Web Weaver is my child," Shen Yiming said. "I wrote its first line of instructions, I debugged every version of its neural network, and I watched it transform from code into a machine scraping ice on the surface of Titan. I can't let it go any further on its own. Its next version will go to Triton, to the Kuiper Belt, to leave the solar system. I'll be there."

Zuo Cheng stared at him for a long time. It had been so many years since they first met in the Huaxia University of Technology lab. He had never seen Shen Yiming speak in this tone before. It wasn't about discussing technical solutions; it was about stating a fact.

"Okay," Zuo Cheng said. It was the same answer he gave every time someone told him something impossible.

The full-scale prototype of Pioneer is expected to be assembled in low Earth orbit within three years. At that time, it will carry a six-person crew on its first manned deep space flight. Its target is Triton, the outermost node in the solar system's web. Before that, the Web Weavers have proven that physical probes can travel 1.4 billion kilometers, and consciousness probes can penetrate 4 billion kilometers to the edge of the solar system. Pioneer's mission is to carry a human heartbeat there.

Han Lu's board meeting was held in the same month. She stood in front of the large screen, which projected not financial statements, but an organizational chart. The chart had two branches extending from the same root.

402 Tech continues to operate all its commercial businesses. Its areas of expertise include space constellations, quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, space photovoltaics, autonomous driving, and nuclear fusion energy. Valued at $80 billion, its seven business lines generate annual revenue exceeding $50 billion. It has over 20,000 employees worldwide, holds over 100,000 technology patents, and generates over $10 billion in annual patent licensing revenue.

402 Deep Space is an independent, non-profit organization. It specializes in exploring solar system nodes, establishing a network of operational systems, and developing interstellar travel research. It has no valuation, no revenue targets, and no plans to go public. It has only one mission: to leave the solar system.

Zuo Cheng simultaneously serves as chairman of the board of directors for two entities. Yu Ying serves as the chief scientist for the 402 Deep Space Mission. When accepting this appointment, she said almost the same thing as Shen Yiming—not a discussion, but an announcement: "My research on web weaving has reached a point where there's no turning back. It's no longer just a research subject; it's something I need to be responsible for."

Yu Ying spent the next month browsing through the first layer of the Creators' Legacy Package's index. She made a summary and read it aloud at a top-secret meeting of the core team.

The founding civilization reached Type 11 civilization billions of years ago. They unlocked most of the physical laws of the universe. They connected all the nascent civilizations on planets in the Milky Way using a system called the Web. They didn't interfere with the indigenous civilization's progress on any of these planets, but left a technology tree on each one. The technology tree was both a gift and a test. The civilization that passed all twelve branches would gain full access to the Web and become the next Web-managing civilization. They waited billions of years. The first six attempts at knowledge transfer all failed, none breaking through to the fifth branch. The seventh was on Blue Star. It was on Zuocheng. They began to believe that perhaps the universe didn't need another Type 11 civilization. Perhaps it only needed a civilization that inherited their will, a path they hadn't trod.

"They said something," Yu Ying projected the last page onto the big screen. "We didn't complete level twelve. But perhaps you don't need to reach our heights. Perhaps you just need to keep moving forward from where we stopped."

A long silence followed in the meeting room. Han Lu was the first to speak: "Then let's continue."

On the last day of Volume Four, Zuo Cheng wrote the final paragraph in his work log. He wrote slowly, each word lingering on the keyboard for several breaths.

When I was reborn, I thought all I needed to do was be a company CEO. Then I discovered I was destined to be an empire builder. Then I realized I was destined to be a successor to a civilization. Now I know. From the moment the technology tree was planted within me, these things were destined to happen. I didn't choose them. They chose me across four billion years.

After he finished writing, he saved the log and opened the system panel.

A summary of all achievements for Volume Four popped up on the panel. Volume Four, Flourishing Period Completed. Ten branches out of twelve activated. 1267 points. Technology boost of 1.8. All nine nodes of the Solar System activated; control of the Web Weaving system has been obtained. Civilization level increased from level eight to level nine, officially reaching the Web Weaving entry threshold. Twelve-tenths of the main quest "Searching for the Origin" is complete; stage two is finished; stage three is ninety-five percent complete. The Web Weaving Master quest is complete.

The countdown in the corner of the panel was still ticking. One hundred and twelve days remained in the Europa buffer period. No button needed to be pressed before then. Because Option C wasn't a button. Option C was every spacecraft he would build, every deep-space signal he would activate, every astronaut he would train, and every deep-space mission approval he would sign. Option C wasn't the answer to a multiple-choice question; it was something unfinished. This thing was called Pioneer. Three years later, the first manned flight, destination Triton, the seventh node of the web.

He closed the panel and picked up a new document from the table. The cover bore two logos: the hexagonal logo of 402 Technologies and the spiral star logo of Web. Below was the title: Volume Five: Project Plans, Pioneer's First Flight and Web Expansion.

He turned to the first page. Satellites streaked across the sky outside the window, as bright as they were on that first night ten years ago, as bright as every night before. The ten-branched canopy of the tree slowly rotated deep within his consciousness, the nine nodes of the woven web glowing faintly in their nine positions within the solar system. The wall of time glowed quietly in the corridor. The first entry read: Survive. The last blank card read: The Universe.

The first page of the document contains only a date and a coordinate.

Pioneer's maiden manned flight. Three years later. Destination coordinates: Triton-1. Web node seven.

Below was a line of handwritten words. Zuo Cheng recognized Yu Ying's handwriting. She probably sneaked into his office in the evening and wrote it there quietly.

"The origin is the soil, the spread is the seed, and the flourishing is the forest. But the forest is not the end. The end is when the seed falls to the ground and grows into another forest. Volume Four is not the end. It is the seed."

He closed the file. It was completely dark outside. But not dark. The constellations shone quietly above, and the nine nodes of the web awaited further out. Four billion years ago, someone placed a tree on this planet before its oceans had grown. Now its canopy had pierced the atmosphere and was beginning to touch the stars.

He picked up a pen and signed his name on the cover of the proposal. Then he turned to the second page.

The second page is empty.