Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 441 Visiting the Three Gardens

When Zhai Da recognized the characters, he almost instinctively pulled the little wooden figure back two steps, startling the World Health Organization tour guide standing nearby.

"Mr. Zhai, is that you?"

Although he knew it was just his imagination, he still subtly lowered his breathing rate, afraid that there might be some unusual smell in the air.

"I was just... startled by how ugly it was."

God the hell, the aroma of burning sawdust terrifies adversaries.

Even knowing what it is, I'd still panic!

The tour guide laughed and said, "Many of the exhibits from Africa have a very unique and wild style."

It's even quite bizarre.

Zhai Da confirmed the equipment information a second time, but his mind still felt it was outrageous—how could this thing be displayed so openly here?!
Putting aside its intensity, in terms of sheer eeriness, only the "Execution of Old Yu" and the "Clan-Burning Cauldron" in the Qilu Museum can rival its monstrous nature.

Through the tour guide's explanation, Zhai Dacai learned that unlike other national pavilions, many of the artifacts exhibited in the African pavilion were genuine.
For these impoverished small countries, replicating a piece might be less difficult than producing the original. Moreover, many items are not valued in their own countries, being regarded merely as handicrafts rather than antiques.

Furthermore, due to a lack of historical records and a weak cultural foundation, there are virtually no records of events from a hundred years ago. People simply bring things over because they find them unique, without necessarily understanding their purpose or origin.

Sure enough, a middle-aged Black man came over to explain, but he only said that it was a handicraft from a primitive tribe in Burundi, and he didn't know anything else.

To be serious, this thing is probably used for storing food.
Zhai Da took a deep breath, his eyes filled with a hint of speechlessness.
But he felt that compared to the "clan being boiled alive in the cauldron," it was far more humiliating.
It seems like there's a chance to get my hands on this.
Aside from being eerie, it doesn't seem to have much use.

This "unsealing mission" is basically impossible to complete. Putting seven newborns inside is some kind of cult-like thinking, and the idea of ​​seven enemies' fat is also ridiculous.

Unless you orchestrate a scheme to get your enemy to have liposuction.
But perhaps there will be opportunities to synthesize it in the future; after all, it is a green equipment.

Zhai Da looked at the middle-aged Black man. There were only two or three stalls here, with two Black women acting as guides or something; he was probably the person in charge.
So Zhai Da looked at the donation box next to him, probably for wildlife protection or something. Zhai Da took out five hundred-yuan bills from his wallet and put them in. The middle-aged black man was overjoyed.

"I might travel to Africa sometime in the future. I'm very interested in wildlife. If possible, could you please leave your contact information?"

Zhai Da didn't keep any for himself, but asked the people at the research institute for a favor, and then continued his stroll.

You can give it a try, but there's no rush.

This is something that was exhibited at the World Expo, but after the Expo ends, it will probably just be a craft item.

After the group left, the middle-aged Black man took advantage of the absence of others and reached directly into the donation box.

He took out the five hundred yuan that had just fallen in and stuffed it into his pocket.

The small black hand could touch something that might be half a year's salary for a local. The two female guides saw this but didn't say anything.

Afterwards, Zhai Da and his group visited several places and even met Lee Jae-yong at the Korean Pavilion, where they admired a traditional Korean musical instrument that looked exactly like a guzheng but sounded like cotton.

It feels like the guzheng was passed down, but the tuning techniques weren't.

Finally, I went to the China Pavilion with the Samsung staff.

At the foot of the China Pavilion, the huge openwork structure makes one feel exceptionally small, as if it could be used directly as a football field.

Lu Tao held his drawing board, tilted his head back, and wrote furiously. This was the work of Academician He Jingtang, a design master. He had created numerous masterpieces, all of which had a significant impact. What was even more remarkable was that he was one of the few "local" architectural masters who had no overseas study experience, which was extremely rare in modern times. He was Lu Tao's idol.

The artist's brush was flying so fast it was smoking, his eyes observing everything, but he had no time to watch where he was going.

In the end, it was Ge Qiaoqiao who used her height advantage to pull Lu Tao's trouser leg to guide him and prevent him from getting separated from the group.

As for the interior of the China Pavilion, it's difficult for people from later generations to feel truly moved by this kind of exhibition. In fact, due to technological limitations such as the resolution of large screens, it feels quite retro.

However, I was still very happy to see my own products in the third exhibition area, the "low carbon" section.

Being exhibited here demonstrates that the research institute has already established itself as a leader in the numerous tracks of industrial upgrading.

The gleaming, perfectly organized motor, once placed there, clearly exudes high technology!

Even if this is just their initial version, the new version is already much better.

As for the "concept car" that was rushed to completion, and whose appearance was very similar to the SU7 but had a strong plastic feel, Zhai Da selectively ignored it.

It's a bit embarrassing. Can I apply to withdraw the request?
The entire "low-carbon" exhibition area is very large, or rather, it is the only area in the China Pavilion that purely showcases technology.

This is related to the international trend in recent years. The narrative logic is still the same as the Western environmental protection approach, which focuses on carbon emissions, and can even be called "carbon original sin".

The fact that there is a separate "low carbon" exhibition area shows how strong this trend is now, perhaps even at its peak!
The country also attached great importance to it and persisted for more than ten years before discovering that most foreign countries were just making empty promises and their voices were getting weaker and weaker.

It seems they didn't expect anyone could actually do it.

I spent an hour in the China Pavilion, which focused on urban changes and development. The animated "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" was quite good, although the resolution was a bit low.

When he was about to leave, Lu Tao said he wanted to stay a little longer, planning to do so just before the park closed, as he still had many things he wanted to record.

No one objected, except for Ge Qiaoqiao, who insisted on staying, claiming she was afraid Lu Tao would get lost. Everyone saw through her intentions but kept quiet, except for the oblivious Lu Tao, who remained completely oblivious.

------

The next morning, Zhai Da took his entire family to Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, which is the top hospital in Shanghai, where there are countless top-tier hospitals.

The purpose was simple: Mom needed to have a physical exam.

He had not forgotten the risks of his past life. Although the possibility of breast cancer had been greatly reduced due to life pressures and different moods, it was not nonexistent.

My mother, Lu Wei, and Tang Xiao Kui all underwent a full set of expert-level physical examinations.

Tang Xiao Kui might be better known as "Childcare".

Only Zhai Da himself made a simple registration, patted his heart and brain, and had his blood tested.

He knew he was healthy, but some of his symptoms might be different from those of ordinary people due to the effects of the "high gravity training" and "endogenous furnace" suit.

It's probably not to the point of being "abnormal," but it would likely be considered "sick" to some extent. For example, the hardness of the bones.

When conditions permit in the future, it is only a matter of time before we can establish our own medical unit, such as adding a hospital to Sunmazhuang.

The full set of physical examination results won't be available so quickly, but according to the feedback from the doctors on site, none of the three of them have any major problems. Ms. Yu has occasional minor ailments, which are caused by her age.

They ran around the hospital from 7 a.m. until the afternoon before finally returning to the Expo Park to get their tickets checked and participate in the opening ceremony performance.

As VIPs with invitation tickets, they had very good seats, and this was probably the first time in both lifetimes they had seen such a large-scale performance.

Unfortunately, the final experience was just so-so.

The entire opening ceremony consisted of a series of activities, such as fireworks, fountain shows, laser performances, and a giant screen several stories high on the Huangpu River.
The scene was surprisingly monotonous: only celebrities singing and leaders giving speeches.
The singing was also mediocre, consisting entirely of metaphysical stream-of-consciousness songs like "The world calls for love," with none of them being well-known, and the singing style leaning towards bel canto.

The leader's speech, being given by a top-ranking official, was rather long.
The overall experience isn't necessarily better than watching TV. Its only advantage is probably the strong sense of participation.

Overall, the performance was far inferior to the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony that Zhai Da "had in mind".

Or perhaps that shocking, sensational, and adrenaline-pumping performance was just his imagination through the television.

At the end, Zhai Da stood up and stretched.

I've practically participated in the World Expo in this lifetime, and from a unique perspective at that. At this time in my previous life, I'd probably still be playing games at an internet cafe near the university.
Overall, it felt like a very grand and solemn event.

However, it still made him, a visitor from later generations, feel that something was slightly lacking.

It's probably self-confidence.

Like many foreign affairs activities of this era, there is always a sense of fervently advocating for foreign countries to recognize, understand, and accept us.
Eating shark fins is immoral, but Japan hunts whales, Denmark slaughters dolphins, and historically, shark extinctions have largely been caused by Western fishing.

It's okay, we'll fix it.

Spending huge sums of money and pooling resources to hold large-scale events, opening the doors wide to welcome guests from all directions, only to be smeared by foreign media for years, with even state media directly advising their own citizens to wear "gas masks" when visiting China.

It's okay, we'll fix it.

This dilemma of self-justification has persisted for most of the time since the reform and opening up.

This is why we have been able to host large-scale events that far exceed international standards, creating many memorable moments.

Asian Games, Olympic Games, World Expo
In fact, these are the results of extremely hard work, far more important than in other countries, and at a huge cost.

Zhai Da stood up and looked around for a moment, watching the audience leave like a tide.

Such large-scale events, where the entire nation mobilizes its resources, will likely become increasingly rare in the future.

There's no need for that anymore.

If you absolutely must showcase something, just show off your weapons and technology. Respect, understanding, and recognition will follow.
Participating in the historic World Expo somewhat made up for the regrets of 08.

Not in vain.

Finally, Zhai Da looked around and unconsciously focused on the row of people on the leadership platform, especially the figure in the fourth position.

Because he recognized him and was surprised, Zhai Da paused for two extra seconds.

Their eyes met briefly from a distance.

Zhai Da turned around, clapped his hands, and said:
"Let's go, get some rest, we'll take the early flight back to Dongyang tomorrow."

"Our factory can finally be prepared for operation."

　Taking leave has already messed me up... and I'm extremely late again.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)