Chapter 113 Gobi Desert
The convoy bumped through the no-man's land for six full hours.
When leaving Kunlun Base in the morning, there was still a potholed gravel road. After three hours, even that road disappeared, leaving only the direction Zhao Gang determined via satellite positioning. Wheels crushed gravel, kicking up clouds of yellow sand, and visibility sometimes dropped to less than twenty meters.
Li Xiao held a tablet, staring at the slowly moving point of light on the screen. The area around the point was blank—no place names, no markers, only endless earthy yellow.
"Captain Zhao, are we still heading in the right direction?" she couldn't help but ask.
Zhao Gang held the steering wheel, squinting ahead.
"Yes. Forty kilometers more."
Li Xiao glanced out the window. Nothing was visible outside except yellow sand and gravel.
She shrunk her neck and said no more.
Chen Xueming sat in the back seat, remaining silent. He looked at the desolation outside, wondering what he was thinking.
Lin Mo sat in the passenger seat, also silent.
Forty kilometers took another two hours of driving.
At three in the afternoon, the convoy finally stopped.
Zhao Gang turned off the engine and looked at Lin Mo.
"Professor Lin, we're here."
The car door opened, and a gale mixed with sand poured in. Li Xiao choked and coughed a few times, wrapped her coat tightly, and jumped out of the car.
Then she froze.
Before her was a boundless Gobi Desert. The ground was covered in grayish-brown gravel, looking exceptionally bleak under the gloomy sky. In the distance were several low hills, and further away were continuous snow-capped mountains, their peaks appearing and disappearing in the clouds.
The wind was strong, whistling past her ears and whipping up gusts of yellow sand. No trees, no grass, no signs of life. Only gravel, wind, and endless desolation.
"This..." Li Xiao opened her mouth, not knowing what to say.
Chen Xueming walked around slowly, squatted down, picked up a handful of gravel, and rubbed it in his hand. Then he stood up and looked around, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
"Lin Mo," he spoke, his voice somewhat scattered by the wind.
Lin Mo walked over.
Chen Xueming pointed to the wilderness.
"Can a Nuclear Fusion device really be built in a place like this?"
Lin Mo didn't rush to answer.
He stood there, facing the wind, looking at that piece of land.
He saw the gravel, the wind-blown sand, and the barren desolation where not a single blade of grass grew.
But he also saw something else.
He saw a day in the future when a massive reactor would stand here. He saw the lights of the control center, the all-nighters in the laboratory, and thousands of people fighting day and night here.
He saw that Artificial Sun being lit for the first time on this desolate land.
He turned his head and looked at Chen Xueming.
"Teacher Chen, do you know why this place was chosen?"
Chen Xueming didn't speak.
Lin Mo continued: "First, it's sparsely populated. There are no residents within a two-hundred-kilometer radius; even if an accident occurs, it won't affect ordinary people."
Chen Xueming nodded.
"Second, geological stability. Captain Zhao has measured it; there are no fault zones beneath this land, and no risk of earthquakes."
"Third, water source. There's saline-alkali land at the foot of those snow-capped mountains, which suggests there might be groundwater. As long as we can tap water, it can support a base."
He paused, looking at the whitish area in the distance.
"Fourth, and most crucially—it's desolate enough, quiet enough, for us to work peacefully for ten years."
He turned around and looked at Chen Xueming.
"The more desolate it is, the more suitable it is for doing great things."
Chen Xueming was stunned for a few seconds.
Then he laughed.
"Well said, 'the more desolate it is, the more suitable it is for doing great things'." He slapped the gravel off his hands. "Alright, then this is it."
Li Xiao ran over, her face still carrying the shock from earlier.
"Teacher Lin, Teacher Chen, do you really think... a base can be built in a place like this?"
Lin Mo looked at her.
"You think it can't?"
Li Xiao thought for a moment.
"I... I don't know. There's nothing here."
Lin Mo nodded.
"Right, there's nothing. But precisely because there's nothing, we can start from scratch and build something brand new."
He pointed into the distance.
"Over there will be the location of the reactor. Over there, the control center. Over there, the living quarters. And over there, the laboratory."
Li Xiao followed his finger, trying to imagine the future.
But she couldn't imagine it.
However, she believed in Lin Mo.
"Teacher Lin, where do we start?"
Lin Mo looked at her and smiled.
"Start from beneath our feet."
Zhao Gang took a survey marker from the car and walked over.
"Professor Lin, where should I plant it?"
Lin Mo looked around and walked to a slightly higher spot.
"Right here."
Zhao Gang forcefully shoved the marker into the gravel. The red flag at the top snapped in the wind, like a small declaration.
The four of them stood around the marker, looking at it, and looking at the wilderness.
The wind was still blowing, and the sand was still flying.
But that red flag stood there, motionless.
Chen Xueming suddenly said, "Lin Mo, what do you think this place will look like when we stand here again in ten years?"
Lin Mo thought for a moment.
"I don't know," he said, "but it will certainly be livelier than it is now."
Li Xiao smiled.
Zhao Gang also smiled.
Chen Xueming looked at the red flag and was silent for a few seconds.
Then he turned and walked toward the car.
"Let's go, back to work. This place is waiting for us."
The four of them got into the car, the convoy turned around, and drove back the way they came.
Behind them, the red flag was still fluttering in the wind.
In that desolate land, it was the only color.
The only hope.