Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 41 Three-Line Parallelism

In mid-July, the results of the second milestone acceptance of the Sky Dome project were released.

Rating: 95. Two points higher than the first milestone.

The acceptance report specifically highlighted two key achievements: the channel estimation module met all prediction accuracy targets in seven extreme scenarios, and the beam management interface achieved millisecond-level response with zero frame loss on the embedded platform. The latter was Fang Ze's work; he further optimized the three-level memory architecture designed by Zuo Cheng, reducing peak memory usage from 350 MB to 290 MB, with the saved space entirely allocated to the real-time buffer for beam management.

After the inspection was completed, Han Zhe called Zuo Cheng.

"Zuo Cheng, the technical committee speaks very highly of your milestone. President Zhou's exact words were—'The delivery quality of 402 is on par with the frontline development teams within Blue Bay Communications.'"

Zuo Cheng, after listening, didn't get cocky and replied, "The third milestone is the real battle: full module integration and documentation delivery. We can't afford to relax."

"You have a good attitude," Han Zhe chuckled. "By the way, the second payment has already been processed by the finance department and should arrive within ten business days."

Another 196,000. Adding to the previous balance, 402's cash reserves are finally no longer tight.

In the same week, Fang Ze officially joined the company.

His master's thesis defense ended at the end of June, but he didn't complete the departure procedures until July—his supervisor was reluctant to let him go and kept him working on the lab's finishing touches for two more weeks. On his first day at the company, Fang Ze brought a cardboard box to the office, containing a mechanical keyboard, two reference books on embedded development, and a three-year-old mug.

"Welcome Mr. Fang to the team." Zhang Lei helped him clear the table.

"Don't call me 'General Manager Fang,' it sounds like I'm in real estate." Fang Ze placed the mechanical keyboard on the table, plugged it in, and typed a couple of keystrokes to test the feel. "Just call me Fang Ze."

402 now has five full-time staff members—Zuo Cheng, Chen Hao, Fang Ze, Zhang Lei, and Liu Wei. With Han Lu working on projects and Shen Yue providing occasional remote support, the core team is now complete.

In late July, the three new projects that Liu Wei had secured were launched one after another.

The traffic bureau's signal optimization project was led by Chen Hao. The technical difficulty was not high, but the client's process was cumbersome, with three rounds of requirements review meetings alone. Fang Ze was in charge of customizing the IoT communication module. He was very skilled at adapting this type of embedded hardware and produced a draft of the technical solution in just one week.

The sensor protocol development project for Ruilian Technology was the smallest order. Zuo Cheng originally assigned Zhang Lei to handle it, but changed his mind after reviewing the technical requirements document. This project involved the design of a communication protocol for low-power wide-area networks. Although the amount was only 50,000 yuan, the technical content was not low, and it was highly related to the technical accumulation in the field of Internet of Things.

"I'll oversee this order myself," Zuo Cheng said at the weekly meeting. "Zhang Lei will cooperate, but I'll write the technical proposal."

"Brother Cheng personally took part in a deal worth 50,000 yuan?" Liu Wei was a little surprised.

"It's not about the money, it's about the direction." Zuo Cheng drew a line on the whiteboard, connecting the Sky Dome project with the three new projects. "Sky Dome is satellite communication, the Transportation Bureau is terrestrial communication optimization, and the IoT module and sensor protocol are the underlying layer of the Internet of Things. These four projects may seem to be working independently, but their core technology is interconnected—they all address the reliability of signal transmission in different scenarios. 402 can't just do projects; it needs to extract its own technological system from them."

Fang Ze nodded after listening: "So you mean that after these projects are completed, 402 should have a reusable communication protocol stack and signal processing toolkit."

"Yes. That was the prototype of our first self-developed product."

The light screen flickered at the edge of Zuo Cheng's consciousness.

[Side quest generating—]

[Side Mission: Internet of Things: Deliver 3 commercial projects in the Internet of Things field and develop a reusable technical solution]

[Estimated Reward: 15 points, unlocking IoT-related blades]

[Time Limit: 180 days]

[Accept/Reject]

Zuo Cheng silently accepted the decision.

One hundred and eighty days. Six months. Plenty of time, but no small task—delivering three commercial projects plus a reusable solution means that it's not enough to just finish them; we also need to systematically accumulate the project experience.

That's exactly what he wanted to do.

On weekends, Zuo Cheng goes to Yu Ying's house for dinner. This has become a regular routine—he goes every weekend to help Aunt Liu Fang make dumplings or prepare vegetables, and chats with Yu Jianguo over tea. Yu Jianguo's attitude towards him has changed from initial caution to a subtle acceptance, and occasionally he will even take the initiative to talk about topics that overlap between physics and engineering.

On Sunday afternoon, Zuo Cheng took Yu Ying back to the company to retrieve a document he had forgotten in his office. When they opened the door, Zhang Lei and Liu Wei were working overtime inside.

Upon seeing Yu Ying, Zhang Lei blurted out, "Sister-in-law is here!"

Yu Ying paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Just call me Yu Ying."

"That won't do," Liu Wei exclaimed, "Hello, sister-in-law!"

Zuo Cheng glanced at the two of them: "Call them by their names."

"A sister-in-law is a sister-in-law," Zhang Lei said matter-of-factly. "What else should Brother Cheng call his girlfriend if not sister-in-law? Sister Yu? That's too formal."

Yu Ying was amused by his bluntness and stopped trying to correct him.

Zuo Cheng took the documents and prepared to leave when Zhang Lei called out from behind, "Brother Cheng, when is your wife coming to the company to be our academic advisor? I've read her top-journal paper!"

"Can you read it?" Zuo Cheng asked without turning his head.

"I can't understand it, but that doesn't stop me from admiring it!"

Yu Ying laughed out loud in the hallway and tugged at Zuo Cheng's sleeve.

"Your brothers are quite interesting."

"A bunch of clowns." Zuo Cheng said this, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

On the way back, Yu Ying suddenly said seriously, "Brother, I'm going to Blue Star University of Science and Technology next week to report for my doctoral studies. My advisor has assigned me the first research direction: anti-jamming technology in low-Earth orbit satellite signal processing."

Zuo Cheng paused for a moment.

Low-Earth orbit satellite signal processing. Anti-jamming technology.

This direction highly overlaps with the technological field of the Sky Dome project.

"Does your advisor know I'm working on Sky Dome?"

"I didn't give specifics, I just said my boyfriend's company is working on satellite communication projects." Yu Ying glanced at him. "He seemed quite interested and asked a few questions."

Zuo Cheng quickly calculated in his mind. There was a natural synergy between Yu Ying's doctoral research and 402's business direction—academic research could provide theoretical support for engineering practice, while engineering data could in turn enrich academic papers. If the collaboration was handled properly, it would be a win-win situation.

But he didn't rush to conclusions.

"Let's talk about it after you and your advisor have worked things out for a while," he said. "First, find your rhythm during your PhD studies, and we can discuss other things later."

Yu Ying nodded: "Mm."

In July, Huaxia City was as hot as a steamer. The leaves of the plane trees along the roadside were slightly curled by the sun, and the cicadas were chirping their hearts out.

Zuo Cheng escorted Yu Ying to the subway entrance, watching her disappear behind the turnstiles as she walked into the station.

Then he turned and walked towards the company, already planning his work schedule for next week.

The third milestone for Tianqiong is in fifty days. Ruilian's sensor protocol solution is due for a first draft this week. Chen Hao from the Transportation Bureau says the requirements have changed again, and the workload needs to be reassessed.

All four lines are running simultaneously.

Busy, but with a clear direction.

He quickened his pace.