leonardwarren Chapter 8 Main Story Begins
Chapter 8 Main Story Begins
Zuo Cheng stood in the corridor, staring at the line of prompts in his mind for a full half minute.
Main Quest Chain: Breaking the Communication Barrier
Total number of stages: 4 (The 4th stage is a hidden stage, which is triggered after completing the first 3 stages)
Total Duration: 90 days
[Step 1: Deliver a complete algorithm solution and pass the review in the Blue Bay Communications horizontal project. Deadline: 30 days.]
[Reward for Stage 1: Unlock the "Advanced Channel Estimation" blade, +8 points]
[Chain completion reward: Unlock the "Communications Project" branch, plus 20 bonus points]
[Failure Penalty: Chain interruption, 50% of earned points deducted, corresponding blade downgraded to gray.]
[Note: Once the main quest chain is started, it cannot be abandoned midway.]
[Confirm activation?]
Zuo Cheng read every word twice.
The total timeframe is ninety days, with four stages, the first three of which are explicit, and the fourth hidden. The rewards for completing the entire chain far surpass those of any side quest—he was seeing the concept of "twigs" for the first time, but just from the name, he could guess that it was a reward of a whole dimension higher than that of leaves.
The cost is also clear—failure deducts half the points, and the blade becomes gray. He currently has five points and three blades. If the chain breaks, his points will drop to just over two, and the blade he painstakingly lit will be downgraded. It's equivalent to more than half a month's effort going down the drain.
But Zuo Cheng didn't hesitate for long.
In his previous life, his biggest regret was not making any wrong decisions, but rather holding back when he should have acted, hesitating repeatedly in the face of opportunity, and in the end, the opportunity was gone.
The horizontal research project with Lanwan Communications has been secured, and Han Zhe's internship offer is also in hand. He'll have to take this path sooner or later, and starting sooner is better than later—the more time he has, the greater the margin for error.
He mentally clicked "confirm".
The light screen flashed, and a pale golden vein appeared on the main trunk of the technology tree, extending from the root all the way to the first branch. At the end of the vein hung a dark golden outline that was larger than an ordinary leaf—that was the locking position of the "Communication Engineering" branch.
[Main Quest Chain: Breaking the Communication Barrier] is now open.
[Countdown to Stage One: 30 Days]
The golden light pulsed slowly, like a fuse waiting to be lit.
Zuo Cheng put away the system panel and took a deep breath.
Within thirty days, a complete 5G intelligent channel estimation algorithm solution was delivered and passed the review of Blue Bay Communications.
It was quite challenging, but breaking it down, he had already completed 60% of the core work during the defense phase. The remaining 40% was engineering—transforming the theoretical solutions from the lab into something that could run in real-world scenarios, which required a lot of additional work on boundary condition handling, adaptation to abnormal scenarios, and performance optimization.
He can't finish all this work by himself.
He needs help.
That evening, Zuo Cheng invited Chen Hao to dinner at a small noodle shop near the school gate.
Two bowls of beef noodles were served. Zuo Cheng put down his chopsticks and got straight to the point: "Haozi, I got the Blue Bay Communications project, but the workload is huge, and I can't handle it alone. Would you like to work with me?"
Chen Hao's chopsticks stopped in mid-air.
"you mean--"
"You'll be leading the technical work on this project, specifically the algorithm implementation and simulation verification. Your name will be listed as an author, and we'll split any compensation offered by Blue Bay Communications later," Zuo Cheng said, looking at him. "But let me make this clear upfront—this project is quite demanding. You might have to put aside your work at Studio 402 for the next month and focus all your energy on this."
Chen Hao slowly put down his chopsticks and adjusted his glasses. He was the kind of person who would only act after careful consideration; he wouldn't impulsively agree to something, nor would he feign modesty.
Will the industry-funded research projects at Lanwan Communications help my graduate school application?
"Yes," Zuo Cheng said. "Participation in university-industry collaborative research projects is a plus in the graduate school application process. If the project results in a published paper, it's not just a bonus, it's a valuable asset."
Chen Hao remained silent for five seconds.
"Okay. I'll hand over the work on 402 to Zhang Lei and Liu Wei; they're good enough at handling routine technical requests. We'll hold off on the more complex cases until we finish the project."
Zuo Cheng nodded. He picked up his chopsticks and added, "Also, I plan to ask Yu Ying for help. She's better at numerical analysis than I am, and some simulation steps require her expertise."
Chen Hao slurped up a mouthful of noodles and mumbled an "okay." Then he paused, added, "School beauty... Cheng-ge, you're something else..."
Zuo Cheng glared at him.
Chen Hao immediately lowered his head and focused on eating his noodles, saying nothing more.
The next day at noon, Zuo Cheng ran into Yu Ying in the cafeteria.
To be precise, Yu Ying saw him first—she walked over from the crowd carrying a tray, sat down opposite Zuo Cheng, and immediately asked, "How do you plan to proceed with the Blue Bay Communications project?"
The news travels fast, Zuo Cheng thought to himself.
"The core algorithm framework is already in place. Next, we need to do three things—engineering implementation, multi-scenario simulation verification, and performance benchmarking analysis," he said succinctly. "Chen Hao and I can handle the first two, but the third requires a lot of numerical computation, especially the real-time decomposition of high-dimensional matrices. I'd like to ask for your help with that."
Yu Ying thought for a moment: "Does Teacher Lin know?"
"I plan to report to Professor Lin this afternoon. If he agrees, we'll proceed with the formal collaboration process for the research group."
"Then I'll wait for your news." Yu Ying picked up a piece of braised pork ribs, looking at him earnestly. "But let me make it clear first, I'm helping because I'm genuinely interested in the technical aspects of this project, not because I'm doing it as a favor. If I find any problems with the algorithm framework during the process, I'll tell you directly."
"That's precisely why I sought you out," Zuo Cheng smiled. "I don't need a collaborator who only nods in agreement."
Yu Ying smiled slightly, but didn't reply and lowered her head to eat.
Zuo Cheng noticed that she was wearing a light yellow cardigan today, with a small sunflower brooch pinned to the collar. For some reason, he felt that this detail lingered in his mind.
In the afternoon, he went to Lin Zhiyuan to report on the project plan and the division of labor within the team.
After listening, Lin Zhiyuan didn't immediately give a response, but instead asked a question: "How do you plan to handle your relationship with Ma Hao?"
Zuo Cheng's heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm.
"Senior Brother Ma has over two years of experience in channel modeling. I don't want to say much about the group meeting, but if he's willing to participate in the Blue Bay Communications project, I welcome him."
Lin Zhiyuan took off his reading glasses and wiped them, his tone calm: "I'll handle things with Ma Hao, you don't need to worry about him. Just focus on completing your research project."
The implication was clear—Professor Lin saw everything clearly about the group meeting, he would handle Ma Hao's situation, and Zuo Cheng didn't need to get involved.
As he left the office, Zuo Cheng let out a long sigh of relief.
Next, it's time to get down to work.
He took out his phone and sent a message in the dorm group chat: "Guys, we're having a dorm meeting tonight. There are two things to arrange."
Zhang Lei replied instantly: "What's up?"
"First, for the next month, you and Liu Wei will be the main force handling the work in Studio 402. Chen Hao and I will work on the Blue Bay Communications project. If you encounter a project you can't handle, postpone it and don't force yourself to take it on."
"receive!"
"Secondly, could you keep an eye out for students in engineering departments who are particularly good at embedded systems development? They don't need to be geniuses, just have solid fundamentals and be able to code. We might be expanding our staff in 402 later."
Zhang Lei sent a fist emoji: "Leave it to me, I have a lot of connections!"
Zuo Cheng turned off his phone, stood on the rooftop of the teaching building, and looked at the city skyline in the distance.
Thirty days.
A task chain that cannot be abandoned.
A platform he could never have dreamed of in his past life.
There's another technology tree waiting to be unlocked.
He rubbed his fingertips together, feeling a long-lost excitement welling up from his bones.
It's not the ecstatic joy of winning the lottery, but the calm, focused, and ready-to-go feeling of a hunter eyeing his prey and drawing his bowstring taut.
On the light screen, the countdown for segment one quietly ticked away.
28 days, 23 hours, and 47 minutes.
Go dry.