Great Power Reclamation

Chapter 2884 The Reporter Who Resigned Voluntarily

Editor-in-Chief Xie's furious roar still seemed to be stuck to my eardrums, buzzing.

Wu Mei leaned against the old sycamore tree beside the street of the military reclamation city. The rough bark pressed against her back, bringing a dull pain, but it also cleared her confused mind a little.

The afternoon sun filtered through the dense foliage, casting shimmering spots of light on the pile of shredded interview notebooks at her feet.

That pile of messy fragments marked the abrupt end of her journalistic career, and also the unloading of a heavy burden.

A gust of wind blew by, and a few snow-white scraps of paper swirled and flew up, as light as a farewell.

She took a deep breath, and the unique air of the military reclamation city, mixed with the dry scent of grass and sunshine, filled her lungs, bringing a strange and comforting power.

The uncertainty of the future still weighed heavily on her heart, and the image of Editor-in-Chief Xie's face, twisted with rage, still lingered in her mind, but an unprecedented, almost exhausting calm enveloped her.

It was a sense of relief that came after conscience finally broke free of its shackles and the soul was no longer enslaved by the distorted pen, though the dull pain remained clear.

My phone screen lit up in my pocket; it was a new message notification.

Wu Mei didn't look at it immediately; her gaze unconsciously drifted back to the quiet road leading to the Ye family's courtyard.

Inside the courtyard walls, the faint fragrance of roses could still be smelled. Two women sat there, Yu'e and Ivana.

They are like silent reefs, guarding the same man, and also guarding a spiritual height called "selflessness" that she had just touched the edge of amidst the raging waves.

That height made the "truth" she had so carefully constructed seem so base and insignificant.

She took out her phone, her fingertips still trembling slightly. The screen displayed Ye Yuze's reply to the text message, brief and devoid of any emotion:
"Didn't you go to my house? Just find my wife, her company needs people..."

Yu'e's company? That elegant and serene woman, with gentle, watery eyes yet possessing an ocean-like capacity for understanding...

Wu Mei's heart clenched. Going there meant safety, dignity, and perhaps she could often see that figure that stirred her heart—Ye Yuze.

The idea was incredibly tempting, like a mirage to a desert traveler.

However, the instant this thought arose, the light in Ivana's azure eyes reappeared clearly—

It is a kind of pure, almost sacred openness and unwavering integrity that has been refined by the passage of time.

She followed him not to get closer, but to repay him, to fight alongside him, and for that weighty trust and entrustment!
A near-decisive force suddenly shattered that fragile temptation.

No! Wu Mei's fingers flew across the screen, searching. Warrior Group… a vast industrial empire… a seed company… the Gobi Desert… new energy intercropping…

When the job posting for "Warrior Seed Industry Company - Desertification Control and New Energy Collaborative Project Department" popped up in its entirety, Wu Mei's heart nearly burst out of her chest.

The cold words in the notice hit me like a sandstorm from the Gobi Desert:

"Long-term stationing in field bases", "Harsh working environment (Gobi Desert, barren land)", "Need to adapt to extreme temperature differences and strong sandstorms", "Conducting water-saving agricultural experiments combining photovoltaic power generation and wind power", "Possessing strong physique and tenacious will"...

The harsher the conditions, the more intense the light in Wu Mei's eyes became.

She knew that Ye Yuze had devoted a large part of his efforts to these areas where he fought against wind and sand to reclaim land and against drought to grow food.

He was there often! That vast and harsh land was his true battlefield!
Get closer to him? No, what she longed for was to go to the place where he fought, to use her own eyes and her own hands to understand what the light of that "lighthouse" truly illuminated!
Even if it means being battered by sandstorms and scorched by the sun, and being far away from the hustle and bustle and comfort of the city.

She took a deep breath, as if trying to inhale the vastness of the entire Gobi Desert into her lungs.

With an almost tragic determination, she dialed the phone number listed on the job advertisement.
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The jeep roared, kicking up clouds of yellow dust as it bumped and jolted across the endless gray-brown Gobi Desert.

Outside the car window, the world was dominated by a monotonous, rough, and suffocating desolation.

The sparse camel thorn and saxaul grass are the only signs of life on this desolate land, tenacious yet seemingly insignificant.

In the distance, the undulating sand dunes resembled solidified yellow waves, surging towards the leaden gray horizon.

The wind is the eternal master here, carrying sand and gravel, relentlessly battering against the car windows, making a monotonous and stubborn rustling sound, like countless tiny teeth gnawing at everything.

Ume sat in the passenger seat, her body swaying and hitting the seat violently as the jeep jolted.

Her face was somewhat pale, her lips were slightly chapped from dryness, and she gripped the overhead handrail tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

Her stomach was churning, and each violent jolting made her almost vomit.

The almost tragic heroism I felt before setting off was now being worn down bit by bit by the relentless journey and harsh environment.

The driver was a technician from the project team named Lao Zhang. His skin was dark and rough, like gravel from the Gobi Desert, and he grinned, revealing teeth yellowed from the fumes of cheap tobacco.

"Newcomer? College student? Reporter?"

He glanced at Wu Mei's pale face, so out of place in the Gobi Desert, and her somewhat bookish air, and at the brand-new outdoor backpack at her feet:

"Hey, why not enjoy the good life in the city and come to suffer in this godforsaken place? What's the point?"

"Tu... I'll learn something."

Ume's voice was broken and intermittent by the bumps and sandstorms, but her gaze stubbornly remained fixed on the vast desolation outside the window.

What was she after? That name, buried deep in her heart, burned within her like a scorching hot iron.

"Learn something?"

Old Zhang chuckled, then jerked the steering wheel to avoid a deep ditch. The car tilted violently, and Wu Mei's head slammed against the window with a thud, making her see stars.

"Learn to endure hardship? Learn to eat sand? Just you wait, you won't last three days before you're crying and begging to go back!"

He spoke loudly, his voice cutting through the wind, "The 'Oasis No. 1' experimental field is just around the corner. Tsk, nice name, but there's hardly a bird's feather in it!"

The jeep suddenly surged up a sandy slope, and the view suddenly opened up. Ahead, a huge and abrupt scene came into Wumei's view, making her instantly forget the bumpy ride and headache, forget Old Zhang's taunts, and forget all her discomfort.

On the desolate, gray-yellow Gobi Desert, a vast, uniform array of deep blue formations spread out between heaven and earth like a giant carpet descended from the future.

Those were thousands upon thousands of solar photovoltaic panels, reflecting a cold, sharp light under the midday sun, forming a breathtaking "blue ocean." And beneath this "blue ocean," in the dappled shadows cast by the photovoltaic panels, rows and patches of vibrant green tenaciously grew!
Those were newly sprouted wheat seedlings, their green so fragile yet so breathtaking, like the earth's hand of hope reaching out from a cruel cage.

Further away, several huge white wind turbines slowly turned their three slender blades, their posture elegant and silent, like giants guarding this fragile life.

At the edge of the "blue sea" and green seedlings, rows of low white prefabricated houses and camouflage tents form a simple living area.

This is the front line of Warrior Seed Industry—a small miracle fought against the wind, sand and scorching sun with steel, silicon wafers and tenacious life.

"Stunned, aren't you?" Old Zhang stopped the car, his voice less sarcastic and more subtly proud.

"This is our 'Oasis One'."

"We generated the electricity ourselves, and the water was brought in from dozens of kilometers away by drip irrigation. Every drop of water, every leaf, was built with money and lives!"

As the car door opened, a wave of heat, a mixture of dry dust, the steaming smell of plants, and a faint odor of engine oil, rushed in, causing Wu Mei to cough a few times.

My feet sank into the hot, soft sand, sinking deep and sinking shallowly with each step.

The midday sun in the Gobi Desert poured down without any obstruction, like countless red-hot needles, stinging the exposed skin with a burning pain.

The air was so dry it felt like it could suck all the moisture out of her lungs. The sandstorm immediately embraced her, tiny grains of sand getting into her hair, ears, neck, and even between her teeth.

A middle-aged man with tanned, shiny skin and oil-stained work clothes strode over. He was stocky and had sharp eyes like a Gobi eagle. He was none other than Project Manager Zhao.

He glanced at Wu Mei and her brand-new backpack, his brows furrowing habitually, his tone crisp and decisive, carrying the roughness of wind and sand:

"Wumei? The new data recorder? I'm Engineer Zhao. Enough talk, let's get to work!"

"Old Zhang, take her to the prefabricated house to put down her luggage, five minutes! Then go to photovoltaic area number three! There are a few sets of support brackets whose angles need fine-tuning, and the sensor data also needs to be calibrated! It has to be done today!"

There were no pleasantries, no adjustment period; the orders were like the wind in the Gobi Desert, leaving no room for doubt.

Before Wu Mei could even see what the interior of the prefab house she was going to live in looked like, Old Zhang shoved a heavy wrench and a set of oil-stained tools into her hands and dragged her to the No. 3 photovoltaic area.

Climbing up the nearly two-meter-high work platform, you see neat rows of dark blue photovoltaic panels under your feet, radiating scorching heat under the blazing sun, making the air seem distorted by the heat.

The steel plates beneath my feet were so hot they could fry an egg. The wind was stronger, whipping sand against my face, making it almost impossible to open my eyes.

Ume clumsily imitated Lao Zhang, trying to use a wrench to tighten the bolts securing the bracket.

The huge bolts didn't budge, and the heavy wrench was completely unresponsive in her hands.

Sweat instantly poured out, stinging her eyes. She gritted her teeth, using all her strength, her arms aching and trembling.

"Use your waist to generate power! Keep your feet firmly planted! Haven't you eaten?"

Old Zhang was yelling from the side, his hands moving quickly, loosening one in a few moments.

Wu Mei held her breath and exerted force again. The wrench slid and slammed into the metal frame of the photovoltaic panel with a loud "bang." The crisp impact sound was particularly jarring in the empty Gobi Desert.

She herself stumbled and nearly fell off the platform because of the excessive force. Fortunately, she managed to grab onto the support next to her, and the rough metal edge instantly cut a bloody gash in her palm.

"Tsk!" Old Zhang clicked his tongue impatiently.
"Watch out! If you break the board, you won't be able to pay for it even if you sell yourself!"

My palms burned with pain, and the sweat mixed with sand and dust seeped into the wounds, making it even more excruciating.

Sweat soaked through her back, her clothes clung tightly to her skin, feeling hot and sticky. Her cheeks were flushed and burning from the sun, and her lips were chapped.

What embarrassed her even more was that she could feel the gazes from the workers nearby, gazes filled with curiosity, indifference, and above all, distrust.

How many days can a woman with delicate skin who can't even hold a wrench properly stay in this godforsaken place?
Just then, the sound of an engine grew louder as it approached. A mud-splattered SUV stopped at the edge of the photovoltaic array.

The car door opened, and a figure wearing an ordinary durable jacket jumped off the vehicle nimbly and strode towards the work area.

It's Ye Yuze!

Ume's heart skipped a beat, almost leaping out of her throat. Instinctively, she wanted to hide, to conceal her embarrassment and clumsiness.

But his feet felt like they were nailed to a scorching hot platform, unable to move.

She could only lower her head in a panic and haphazardly wipe the sweat and dust off her face with her uninjured hand, only to end up with a face full of dirt and looking even more disheveled.

Ye Yuze didn't seem to notice the small figure on the platform.

He walked straight to Engineer Zhao, and the two immediately huddled together, talking in hushed tones.

Ye Yuze frowned slightly as he listened attentively to Engineer Zhao's report, occasionally pointing to the location of a photovoltaic array or a wind turbine in the distance.

His movements were concise and powerful, conveying an undeniable sense of control.

Under the scorching sun, his temples were already noticeably gray, and the wrinkles on his forehead were as deep as the ravines of the Gobi Desert, but his eyes remained sharp and calm, like obsidian containing infinite power, piercing through the wind and sand, and precisely focusing on every technical detail.

He was right there! Just a few dozen meters away from her! The sandstorm seemed to subside at that moment, and the surrounding noise of work faded into the distance.

Wu Mei's eyes were now fixed on that figure. The stinging in her palms, the burning on her face, and the exhaustion in her body seemed to have vanished temporarily.

She gazed at him greedily, at his focused expression, at his posture as if he were one with this harsh land.

Hey! What are you spacing out for!

Old Zhang's roar lashed at her ears like a whip, "Bolt! Tighten it now! Are you waiting for Boss Ye to come up and tighten it for you personally?"

Ume jolted awake, suddenly snapping back to reality, and was instantly overwhelmed by a tremendous sense of shame.

She hurriedly grabbed a wrench and frantically continued to struggle with the stubborn bolt. Glancing at Old Zhang beside her, she observed his method of applying force.

Then she gritted her teeth and pressed down with almost all her weight, her arm muscles spasming and trembling from the excessive force.

With a soft click, the bolt finally loosened slightly!
A faint, blood-tinged sense of accomplishment, mixed with a more hidden power inspired by that figure's presence, quietly began to grow within her weary body.
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