MMB Chapter 240 Global Strategy
Chapter 240 Global Strategy
The World Bank's email is a signal.
The fact that the world's most authoritative international development agency has taken the initiative to seek cooperation with a Chinese private enterprise to build digital infrastructure in Africa is not a commercial act, but a recognition at the geopolitical level.
When Han Lu saw the email, her first reaction was to open a world map. In her memory, the World Bank had never included a private company as a core technology partner when advancing global infrastructure projects. 402 was the first.
She forwarded the email to Zuo Cheng, adding a note: This email carries more weight than ten billion dollars.
Zuo Cheng read the email and replied with only one word: Talk.
The negotiations lasted nearly a month. The World Bank's Africa team conducted an extremely rigorous assessment, sending three working groups to Hangzhou, Fujian, and Shenzhen for on-site investigations. The first working group examined the operational data and coverage area of the Sky Dome ground station; the second working group went to the smart agriculture pilot area in Fujian to verify the actual effectiveness of the unmanned system; and the third working group spent a full day observing clinical teaching at a brain-computer interface training center in Shenzhen. Each of the three working groups wrote an evaluation report, and their conclusions were consistent.
The final assessment report concluded in just one sentence: 402’s technical capabilities and project execution capabilities have reached the World Bank’s highest rating standards.
The core terms of the agreement are: the World Bank will provide a $10 billion financing guarantee, disbursed over five years. 402 will be responsible for technology and construction, building local quantum cloud computing nodes, Sky Dome satellite ground stations, and brain-computer interface training centers in each country. Zuo Cheng added a clause to the agreement: 402 commits to training at least two hundred local engineers in each project country to ensure independent operation after project handover.
The first phase covers five countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania. The World Bank's Managing Director for Africa commented on the draft agreement: "This isn't about giving Africa a blood transfusion; it's about creating its own blood."
Before signing the contract, Zuo Cheng asked Han Lu to mark all the countries where 402 currently has overseas business with red dots on a world map. Han Lu finished marking them in half an hour. Forty-seven red dots. Ten research branches in Europe are fully operational, three regional centers in Asia have formed a coverage network, the second phase of intelligent agriculture in Brazil in South America has expanded from 30 million mu to 80 million mu, and energy cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the Middle East has been implemented. Red dots connect to form lines, and lines connect to form a network.
Zuo Cheng looked at the map and said, "From today onwards, we're not going out to sea, we're laying a net."
The signing ceremony for the Africa project was held at the World Bank headquarters in Hangzhou (unit 402). The World Bank delegation, led by its Africa Regional President, consisted of seventeen people. Han Lu was responsible for the entire reception, signing process, translation coordination, and logistical support. She worked tirelessly for three days and three nights, and her hands were shaking when she finally signed the agreement.
After the signing ceremony, members of the delegation left the venue one after another. Just as Zuo Cheng was about to leave, a middle-aged man in his early forties stood up from his seat and walked towards him. He was wearing a dark gray suit and metal-rimmed glasses, his pace unhurried. Reaching Zuo Cheng, he handed him a business card. The card bore only one name and one title: Yang Hong, Vice President of the World Bank for Africa.
Zuo Cheng noticed a line in his resume: "He worked at the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for nine years."
Yang Hong's tone was calm, as if stating a simple fact. "Mr. Zuo, congratulations on signing the contract."
Zuo Cheng nodded. "President Yang, you're too kind."
After confirming that no one was paying attention to them, Yang Hong lowered his voice. "President Zuo, there's one more thing."
He took a USB drive from the inside pocket of his suit and handed it to him with both hands.
"Before I left China, Mr. Chen Xinghe gave me this. He told me that if I ever met someone who could understand the data inside, I should give it to them."
Zuo Cheng's hand did not tremble as he took the USB drive.
Yang Hong looked at him. "Old Chen said that when you meet that person, he will know what's stored inside."
Zuo Cheng looked into Yang Hong's eyes. There was no probing in those eyes, only a calm that had been waiting for a long time.
"I know," Zuo Cheng said.
He didn't explain how he knew. But when he said those three words, his voice was a notch lower than usual.
Yang Hong nodded without saying anything more. He turned and walked into the corridor, quickly disappearing into the crowd.
late at night.
Zuo Cheng returned to his office, locked the door, and inserted the USB drive into his computer.
There was only one file inside. The filename was a string of numerical coordinates, in the exact same format as the engravings found in the Taklamakan Desert.
The file contains three lines of calculations. It is not ordinary data; it is a spatiotemporal localization algorithm based on a brain-computer interface coding format.
Zuo Cheng stared at the screen for ten minutes. He remembered the logic of the algorithm, but he had never seen such a complete version. Chen Xinghe had spent at least seven years turning a fragmented concept into a working algorithm prototype. The core idea of the algorithm was to use the neural signal encoding method of the brain-computer interface as a coordinate basis to map the positional information in three-dimensional space to a higher-dimensional space, and then use the parallel processing capability of quantum computing to complete the localization in this higher-dimensional space.
He opened the system panel.
A new node popped up on the civilization perception interface. It wasn't a node on Earth. Outside of Earth, about thirty degrees to the upper right, a faint point of light was flashing. This was the first time information from outside Earth's range had appeared on the system panel.
The system popped up a notification: The prototype of the positioning algorithm has been obtained for the third link in the search for the origin mission chain. However, locking interstellar coordinates still requires a high-level integration of quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, and commercial aerospace.
Zuo Cheng looked at the fusion interface. The three rings represented quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, and commercial aerospace, respectively. He had activated all three branches, but had never fused them simultaneously. He had fused any two branches many times before, each time consuming ten points. This was the first time all three branches had been fused at the same time.
The three rings slowly rotated and aligned.
A confirmation dialog box popped up: This fusion will consume ten points and is expected to generate a completely new technological field. Spatiotemporal positioning science. Current points: 827. Confirm?
Zuo Cheng pressed confirm.
The three rings snapped shut instantly, releasing a blinding white light. A connecting line appeared between the blue star's beam of light and the extraterrestrial point of light in the civilization perception interface, like a bridge built of light. The score dropped from 827 to 817.
A new capability panel pops up with the message: Spatiotemporal Positioning Science, prototype-level algorithm unlocked. Current accuracy is at the galactic level. Upgrade requirements: field verification and data calibration.
Zuo Cheng closed the control panel. The precision at the Hengxing system level could only pinpoint the approximate direction; accurate coordinates on the planet's surface required real-world data. But at least the direction was known.
He unplugged the USB drive and placed it on the table. Chen Xinghe had left it to Yang Hong before his death. Yang Hong had waited at the World Bank for at least four years for a cooperation opportunity before handing it over. A man who had worked at the Institute of Computing Technology for nine years later went to the World Bank's Africa division. Chen Xinghe's choice of Yang Hong was not random.
Zuo Cheng put the USB drive into the drawer and walked to the window. The signal lights of the Tianqiong satellite flashed in the night sky.
Forty-seven countries. Ten billion US dollars. A USB drive. Three branches merging. These four things happened on the same day. With each layer of truth revealed, we get one step closer to the ultimate answer.