Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 244 African Market

Three days after Microsoft and Google announced the establishment of a $50 billion joint quantum research center, the World Bank officially disbursed its first loan for digital infrastructure in Africa. The $10 billion loan will be disbursed over five years. The signing ceremony was held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Yang Hong sat in the first row of the World Bank delegation.

Zuo Cheng did not attend the signing ceremony. He had Han Lu sign on behalf of 402. This was not because he didn't value Africa, but because he didn't want the spotlight to distract from the project itself. What Africa needed was not a grand signing ceremony, but solid construction and training.

The first phase was launched almost simultaneously in five countries.

Ethiopia's Sky Dome satellite ground station was the first to be completed. Located on a plateau outside Addis Ababa at an altitude of over 2,000 meters, it is the highest-altitude satellite communication facility on the African continent. On the day of its launch, communication blackout areas in rural Ethiopia were covered for the first time. At the launch ceremony, an Ethiopian Minister of Communications spoke a sentence in the local language, which translated to only eight words.

"Before, we waited for rain; now we wait for a signal."

Waiting for rain and waiting for a signal are two sides of the story of survival in rural Africa. Rain means a harvest, and a signal means information. Neither of these things used to be under human control. Now, at least one thing has changed.

The brain-computer interface (BCI) training center in Kenya, located within the University of Nairobi Medical School, is the first clinical application base for BCIs in Africa. The first group of twenty neurosurgeons from five East African countries began their six-month training. The instructors were two senior clinical experts from Hangzhou, dispatched by the 402 Hospital. The training included not only the operation and maintenance of the interstellar neural device but also how to calibrate the decoding model to account for differences in neural signals among different ethnic groups. The basic neural signal atlases of African patients differ from those of Asian patients, requiring localized training for each region's model.

Nigeria's quantum computing node has been established in Lagos, becoming the first quantum computing center on the African continent. Although this quantum computer is a miniaturized version of the Tianyan-3 quantum satellite with fewer than two hundred qubits, it means that for the first time, African researchers and engineers can run quantum computing tasks locally, without relying on remote computing power from Europe, America, or Asia. At the unveiling ceremony, Nigeria's Minister of Science and Technology said: "We don't want Africa to forever be a recipient of technology imports. This quantum computer is a first step towards technological self-reliance in Africa."

The projects in Ghana and Tanzania were launched simultaneously. Ghana's focus is on smart agriculture, while Tanzania's focus is on Sky Dome broadband coverage of remote villages in the East African Rift Valley region.

Zuocheng adheres to the same principle in every country: not selling equipment, but building capabilities. Each Sky Dome ground station is operated and maintained by local engineers, with 402 providing training and technical support. Each brain-computer interface center is equipped with a local medical training system. Each quantum node is open to local universities and research institutes for free use.

Three months after the project's launch, the World Bank conducted a mid-term evaluation and concluded that the 402's "self-sustaining" overseas expansion model was at least three times more sustainable than the traditional "turnkey projects" of European and American companies. Turnkey projects involve completing construction and leaving, with subsequent operation and maintenance entirely dependent on the foreign party. The 402 model, on the other hand, involves completing construction and staying until the local team can operate independently.

The night after the signing ceremony, Yang Hong asked Zuo Cheng out for coffee alone.

The nights in Addis Ababa are cool, probably due to the high altitude. Yang Hong ordered a cup of locally produced coffee and got straight to the point.

"Mr. Zuo, what Mr. Chen left you wasn't just a positioning algorithm. He conducted seven years of field geological surveys in Africa, leaving behind three reports."

Zuo Cheng put down his cup.

"All three reports point to the same conclusion," Yang Hong said. "There may be a second ancient site beneath the Sahara Desert."

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"Because as Elder Chen said, the location of the second relic can only be told to you if you can calculate the coordinates of the first relic yourself. Knowing the location is useless if your derivation ability isn't sufficient."

Zuo Cheng fell silent. He had never been able to fathom Chen Xinghe's logic, but every time it proved to be correct in hindsight. Learn to walk first, then we'll give you the direction to run.

Yang Hong took a folder from his briefcase containing three geological survey reports. The reports, dated between seven and four years ago, covered three sampling areas in the eastern Sahara Desert. One report included a hand-drawn geological profile in its appendix, marking an anomaly. Approximately 300 meters below the sand layer, a hollow structure with an unusual density was observed.

Zuo Cheng flipped through the three reports from beginning to end. He recognized Chen Xinghe's handwriting; it was the same handwriting as the notes in the Taklamakan caves.

Upon returning to Hangzhou, the first thing Zuo Cheng did was open the system panel.

He ran the first round of spatiotemporal localization calculations using the three-branch fusion algorithm obtained from Chapter 240, with the coordinates of the Taklamakan Desert caves as input. The results showed a 99.9% match. The algorithm itself has been verified as successful.

He input the coordinates of the Sahara anomaly into the algorithm. A faint point of light appeared on the civilization perception interface of the system panel in North Africa.

It wasn't the color of the light pillars on Blue Star. It was a color he had never seen before. It was somewhere between gold and white, with a faint bluish glow at the edges. This color wasn't defined in the color index table of the civilization perception interface. The system displayed a label next to the light spot:

"Origin Two. Unknown Energy Characteristics."

Zuo Cheng stared at the point of light for a long time. Each color in the color index corresponds to a type of technology or energy. Quantum technology is purple, brain-computer interfaces are blue, space photovoltaics are gold, and commercial spaceflight is silver. But the color of the point of light below the Sahara doesn't belong to any known category.

Another number on the system panel has also changed.

The progress bar for the ninth branch jumped from 7% to 19%. This 12-percentage-point jump is larger than any previous increase. Moreover, the timing of this jump perfectly coincides with the successful verification of the spatiotemporal positioning algorithm.

He realized a problem.

There is a connection between the ninth branch and the Origin Relics. Not an indirect connection, but a direct one. Every time his understanding of the Origin Relics advances, the progress bar of the ninth branch jumps accordingly. From three percent in the Taklamakan, to seven percent unlocked by the algorithm, to nineteen percent verified by the Sahara coordinates. This branch doesn't grow through technological accumulation, but through his increasing proximity to the truth.

Zuo Cheng saved a screenshot of the Sahara glowing spot. He added a note below: Next destination.