332: Chapter 332 Before the Rocket Launch!

Zhao Yang looked at these online comments, feeling a mix of amusement and frustration.

He skimmed through them, feeling more helpless the more he read.

Some people claimed that God Zhao had actually developed a life-extension serum that could potentially allow people to live for hundreds of years!

Others said that perhaps the higher-ups had already used this life-extension serum!

Some even seriously analyzed whether he had developed some undisclosed genetic modification technology and used it on himself.

This left Zhao Yang speechless.

The most absurd comment claimed that God Zhao's true identity was actually an AI that had traveled back from the future, implanted with a human appearance by some secret laboratory, with the goal of accelerating human technological progress.

Even more ridiculous was that someone had actually replied seriously under this comment: "If that's true, I hope he stops hiding it and just releases the blueprints for controlled nuclear fusion and room-temperature superconductivity."

Zhao Yang looked at that comment, the corner of his mouth twitching. The netizens of this generation certainly had rich imaginations.

However... from a certain perspective, damn it, what they were saying actually didn't seem to have any issues?

Truly abstract!

Various conspiracy theories were emerging endlessly online. How could such a seemingly unremarkable Biology paper in Zhao Yang's eyes be interpreted in such a way by them?

Zhao Yang felt helpless; if he didn't come out to debunk the rumors, these people would likely get more and more outrageous.

Just as he was preparing to post on Weibo to debunk the rumors, the Weibo operations team sent him a message. They said that the discussion about him lately had been too heated.

Especially regarding the fact that Zhao Yang was simultaneously advancing his "Cell" paper and aerospace engine work, many netizens were speculating whether he had been involved in some kind of anti-aging research for a long time.

The operations team sent him a private message, respectfully asking if Zhao Yang had time. If he did, he could post a Weibo to explain briefly and interact with netizens; even just a few sentences could bring a lot of traffic to the platform.

Of course, this was just a suggestion, but the platform would provide Zhao Yang with a certain reward amount based on the traffic generated.

Zhao Yang thought for a moment and replied with "Sure." After all, he held a nominal position at Weibo and received a monthly retainer; he still needed to provide this level of cooperation.

He opened Weibo and typed a few lines: "Recently, I have seen many discussions regarding my 'Cell' paper. Here, I would like to clarify: my paper validates the antioxidant capacity of SOD2 mutants in mammalian models, which has no direct connection to 'immortality' or 'anti-aging'."

"Currently, there is no life-extension technology hidden in the laboratory. Also, regarding my time management, there is nothing special about it—it's nothing more than sleeping a little less and doing a little more. That is all. I hope everyone will not over-interpret this. Thank you!"

As soon as Zhao Yang's Weibo post went out, the comment section exploded.

"Holy crap! He's back from the dead!"

"? Who are you?"

"Oh my god, God Zhao actually responded to this kind of thing! I feel like I haven't seen God Zhao's Weibo in a long time!"

"Support God Zhao!"

After skimming through the comments for a while, Zhao Yang smiled and shook his head, continuing to focus his attention on the rocket development.

The most critical moment had arrived. In no more than two months, the long march 5 rocket would have its maiden flight. At that time, Zhao Yang would also need to go to the Jiuquan Aerospace Center.

With Zhao Yang's clarification, the public opinion online gradually calmed down. Zhao Yang also devoted himself wholeheartedly to the development work of the long march 5 rocket.

On the chip side, Liang Mengsong sent a briefing every week. The yield of the 32-nanometer production line had stabilized above 93%, the electrical tests for the second batch of mass-produced chips had all passed, and the first batch of wafers shipped under the name of the Singapore company had already been delivered to several top domestic chip design companies.

Liang Mengsong said in the email that the other parties were very satisfied with the yield and consistency, and subsequent order schedules had been booked for the next half year.

The global sales network for the spark stimulant was also accelerating its expansion. Chen Haifeng had built a new branch factory in each of Shenghai, Shenzhen, and Rongcheng, and agency contracts for Europe and Southeast Asia were signed very smoothly.

The global monthly revenue had soared from nearly one billion to nearly three billion.

With more money, there was more Zhao Yang could do. He invested a sum of money into the Space Agency; after all, the Space Agency was indeed short on funds.

Since the inception of the long march 5 rocket project, funds had been constantly shuffled between different projects, and several key experimental pieces of equipment had been in use for over a decade and were still barely holding on. Zhao Yang had talked to Deputy Director Liu and Chief Engineer Sun once, saying that he could invest a portion of the funding gap for the rocket development.

Deputy Director Liu was silent for about two minutes, then asked how much he was planning to invest. Zhao Yang stated a figure, and Deputy Director Liu was silent for another half-minute before standing up to shake his hand, saying that the money would be used for its specific purpose and every expenditure would be reconciled with him.

Of course, Zhao Yang also held a portion of the property rights for the rocket.

The premise was that it could be profitable. At least for now, the Space Agency had almost no profitability, so no one was hung up on this matter.

Zhao Yang did not care about these things; he only cared about the completion progress of his system tasks, and the development of the country was also one of the things he cared about most!

With this funding, the progress of the rocket development accelerated significantly. Several key verification tests that had been constantly delayed due to funding schedules were all scheduled within a week.

Coupled with Zhao Yang's comprehensive involvement in the YC-1 engine and the rocket body structure, many technical problems were discovered early and solved during the design phase.

In just a few short months, the long march 5 rocket welcomed its maiden flight. This progress was almost unheard of in aerospace history. Originally, the maiden flight date for this rocket was 2016, but now it had been advanced by a full five years.

The maiden flight location was in Jiuquan. Zhao Yang arrived at the launch center a few days early and stayed in the astronaut apartment. The room was not big but very clean, and pushing open the window, one could see the scattered camel thorn plants on the distant Gobi Desert.

During the final assembly inspection before the launch, Zhao Yang stayed in the assembly workshop for an entire night. The four thrust chamber nozzles of the YC-1 shone with a silver-gray metallic luster under the spotlights. He squatted next to the engine, staring at the circle of sealing rings at the turbo pump interface for a long time.

The assembly master next to him, Old Zhang, thought he was worried, so he quickly said to Zhao Yang.

"Chief Designer Zhao, please rest assured. This batch of sealing rings was just replaced, and I have carefully checked every single one! There definitely won't be any problems!"

Zhao Yang nodded, stood up, rubbed his knees that had gone numb from squatting, and walked around the assembly line. He carefully looked at every key interface. Of course, this was not to confirm safety, but just to take one last look before the launch; after all, even if there really were any problems, he wouldn't be able to tell by touching them.

The weather was clear on the day of the launch. The sky in Jiuquan was a shade of light blue that could only be seen in the Gobi Desert, so dry that there was almost not a trace of water vapor.