Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

"Alright, let's go to the courtyard for a drink, brothers. Let's not disturb Director Liu's sweet dreams."

A gentle night breeze blows, and outside the wooden gate of the courtyard house, streetlights illuminate the tidy alley. The distant chimes, melodious and lingering, seem to tell the world that a legend has come to a perfect end, and a new era is like the flag on Mars.

Forever. Shining.

"Dad, is the soil on Mars... really salty?"

A little boy pushed open the door and ran in, looking curiously at the sofa.

Xi Wanqing pulled him into her arms, pointed at Liu Ming, and whispered something in her son's ear:

"When you grow up, go and see for yourself."

Time flies, another ten years have passed.

Liu Ming has completely faded from the public eye and become an ordinary retired cadre in a Beijing hutong. His daily life consists of watering flowers, walking birds, picking up his grandson from school, and occasionally playing a couple of games of chess with the old men at the entrance of the hutong. He lives a leisurely life, like a cloud floating in the sky.

But the world has never stopped changing because of him.

[Xinhua News Agency Quick Report: my country's independently developed "Kuafu-1" controlled nuclear fusion experimental reactor successfully ignited at 3:00 AM today and achieved stable operation for over 100 seconds! This marks China as the first country in the world to master the core technology of an "artificial sun"!]

[People's Daily front page: Congratulations! The "Pangu" artificial intelligence system, led by the "Dragon" super quantum computer, has successfully completed deep self-learning. Its computing power has exceeded the combined computing power of all existing supercomputers in the world!]

……

These two news items, like two deep-sea nuclear bombs, have triggered a tsunami-like shock in the international community.

Controlled nuclear fusion. Quantum computing.

These two ultimate technologies, which are enough to rewrite the course of human civilization, were conquered by the Dragon Kingdom in just ten years.

Everyone knows what this means.

This means that this ancient Eastern country is no longer "catching up," but has truly stood at the pinnacle of technology on this planet, becoming... the leader.

At the end of both news articles, there was an inconspicuous name that was repeatedly mentioned.

— "Dragon Fund".

It is this mysterious fund, headed by Nangong Yao, injected with a huge sum of money left by Liu Ming's mother twenty years ago, and which has gathered donations from countless patriotic capitalists, that has provided a continuous stream of funding for these two "money-devouring behemoths" of scientific research projects over the past twenty years, regardless of cost or return.

……

"Old Liu, look! It's on fire! It's on fire!"

A secret underground base in the Gobi Desert of Northwest China.

The large viewing window was crowded with elderly academicians with gray hair. They were all excited, pointing at the huge reactor outside the window that slowly lit up like a steel heart, as excited as children.

Liu Ming sat in the middle of them.

He was wearing a simple gray jacket and holding a thermos in his hand; he looked like a retired cadre visiting the place.

But everyone knows it.

He is the real chief designer behind this "artificial sun".

"boom--!!!"

A deep, rumbling sound, like the heartbeat of an ancient behemoth, came from the depths of the earth!

Immediately afterwards!

In the core area of ​​the reactor, a ball of plasma, even more dazzling than the sun, suddenly lit up!

The golden light instantly illuminated the entire underground base!

It also illuminated the faces of everyone present, faces filled with excitement and fervor!

It worked!

They succeeded!

Humanity has finally mastered that power that belonged only to the gods!

"Waaaaah..."

The chief engineer beside me, who was nearly ninety years old and had dedicated his life to this project, could no longer hold back and covered his face, tears streaming down his face.

"Old Liu...did you see that? Did you see that? We...we did it! We really created the sun!"

Liu Ming looked at the golden "sun" slowly rising before him, and his eyes welled up with tears.

He recalled that lonely night twenty years ago, in that small office, when he wrote that "Ten-Year Revitalization Plan".

He recalled the young scientist who had worked himself to death on the job in order to overcome a technical problem.

It also reminded me of those nameless heroes who, in order to protect this secret, are forever laid to rest on the border.

"yes."

He slowly stood up and placed his hand on the shoulder of the elderly academician who was already sobbing uncontrollably.

"We succeeded."

"They can finally rest in peace."

……

When Liu Ming emerged from the underground base that had descended into revelry.

Outside, the sky was filled with stars.

The night sky over the Gobi Desert is as clear as a huge piece of black velvet.

That dazzling Milky Way, composed of countless stars, stretched across the sky without any obstruction.

It is so magnificent that it inspires awe.

Liu Ming raised her head and looked at the endless, deep starry sky, her gaze becoming more distant than ever before.

he knows.

Starting today.

Humanity's future will no longer be one of mutual destruction and consumption on this small blue planet.

Their journey.

Yes, that vast and boundless... sea of ​​stars!

"Let's go."

He smiled at the figure behind him, the one who had always been silently by his side.

"go home."

"Your grandsons are probably going to make a fuss again, wanting to hear you tell the story of 'Hou Yi Shooting Down the Suns'."