Chapter 229 35th Birthday

April 17th, Gobi Desert.

At 7:00 AM, Lin Mo pushed open his dormitory door as usual, preparing to head to the Canteen for breakfast. But the moment he stepped out, he froze.

There were over twenty people standing at the door.

Li Xiao stood at the very front, holding a cake in her hands—simple frosting, with a crooked "35" on it; it was clearly the handiwork of Master Liu from the Canteen.

"Senior brother, happy birthday!"

Everyone said in unison: "Happy birthday!"

Lin Mo stood frozen in place, unable to react for a long time.

Li Xiao leaned in with a grin: "What? Shocked silly?"

Lin Mo looked at her, then at the people behind her—Zhao Gang, Section Chief Wu, a few people from the Equipment Section, several key members of the laboratory, and a few familiar faces whose names he couldn't recall.

"You all..." He opened his mouth, "How did you know?"

Li Xiao said: "Did you forget? I have your file here. April 17th, right?"

Lin Mo was silent.

He had indeed forgotten.

Over the past month, his mind had been filled with blueprints for the space elevator, production lines for Carbon Nanotubes, and various international cooperation negotiations. Things like birthdays had long been cast to the back of his mind.

"Come on, blow out the candles!" Li Xiao held the cake up in front of him.

Lin Mo looked at that single, lonely candle and suddenly felt a sting in his nose.

He took a deep breath and blew out the candle.

Everyone applauded.

In the Canteen, Master Liu had specially prepared a large table of dishes.

Braised pork belly, sweet and sour pork ribs, steamed sea bass, braised prawns—all things Lin Mo usually loved to eat. As she ate, Li Xiao chattered: "Master Liu started preparing for this meal yesterday; he got up at 4:00 AM to stew the meat."

Lin Mo looked at the table of food, then at the people around him, a warmth welling up in his heart.

His phone rang; it was a video call from Chen Xueming.

"Old Lin!" Chen Xueming's face appeared on the screen, with his office in Guangdong in the background, "Happy birthday!"

Lin Mo smiled: "Thank you."

Chen Xueming said: "I can't get away from things here, so I can't go back. But I sent a gift; have you received it?"

Lin Mo was stunned for a moment: "A gift? No, I haven't."

Chen Xueming was also stunned: "That's impossible, I sent it three days ago; it should have arrived."

Zhao Gang interjected from the side: "I received the package. It's in my office; I haven't had a chance to bring it over yet."

Chen Xueming breathed a sigh of relief: "You scared me. Old Lin, I specially selected that gift; you'll definitely like it."

Lin Mo asked curiously: "What is it?"

Chen Xueming teased: "You'll know in a bit."

After eating, Zhao Gang brought a package from his office.

Chen Xueming urged from the other end of the video call: "Open it! Hurry up and open it!"

Lin Mo opened the package, and inside was an exquisite box. Opening the box, he found a transparent spherical object—a planet model.

Mars.

A dark red surface, white polar caps, and the clearly visible Olympus Mons.

Lin Mo froze.

Chen Xueming said on the other end of the video call: "Old Lin, I had this specially customized online. It's at a 1:50 million scale, and the surface topography is based on the latest probe data—it's absolutely accurate."

He paused, his voice turning somewhat low:

"I know your goals. space elevator, lunar base, Mars outpost. We are currently working on the first step, and the second step is coming soon. This Mars globe is a gift for you to remind you not to forget the third step."

Lin Mo looked at that red planet and didn't speak for a long time.

Then he raised his head and looked at Chen Xueming on the screen:

"Xueming, thank you."

Chen Xueming smiled: "What are you thanking me for? When we actually land on Mars, I'll take you to see the real thing."

Li Xiao's gift was a notebook.

It had an ordinary black cover, but after opening it, Lin Mo froze.

On the first page was Li Xiao's handwriting:

"Happy 35th birthday, Senior brother! Thank you for taking us so far. We will continue to follow you on the road ahead."

Below, it was densely packed with signatures and well-wishes.

Wu Deming (Equipment Section): Academician Lin, you have made this old bag of bones feel young again. Wishing you good health, and lead us to space!

Zhang Xiaomei (Material Group): Chief Designer Lin, I'm little Zhang who came three years ago; you might not know me. But I will always remember that time you stayed up for three days in the lab, and finally said with a smile: "It's done." At that moment, I knew I had followed the right person!

Wang Jianguo (Construction Team): Dr. Lin, I'm old Wang from the construction site. You might not know me, but I know you. Every time you come to the site, you wear a hard hat just like us, and squat in the shed to eat just like us. You are a person who does great things, and you are a good person.

Li Na (Administration): Academician Lin, I've washed your coffee cup over a hundred times. I'll continue to wash it for you in the future, until you go to space!

...

A total of eighty-seven signatures, eighty-seven well-wishes.

There were people he knew and people he didn't; there were researchers and ordinary workers; there were those at the base and those working elsewhere—Chen Xueming's signature was also there, crooked and clearly added later.

Lin Mo flipped through the pages one by one, his eyes slowly turning red.

Li Xiao said softly from the side:

"Senior brother, I secretly collected these for two months. I mailed Chen Xueming's to him to sign and mail back, I had Brother Zhao sign his in person, and I had to chase Section Chief Wu to the workshop to get his..."

Lin Mo raised his head and looked at her.

"Thank you, Xiaoer."

Li Xiao shook her head: "No need to thank me. It's you who gave us a home."

Finally, it was Zhao Gang's gift.

He took a slender box out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Mo.

"Dr. Lin, this is a small token of my appreciation."

Lin Mo opened the box; inside was a military knife.

A black handle, a sharp blade, with a line of small characters engraved on it:

"To Lin Mo—always standing with you."

Lin Mo raised his head and looked at Zhao Gang.

Zhao Gang kept a straight face, but his eyes were a bit red:

"This was my service knife when I was in the military; it was with me for twenty years. When I later transferred to civilian work, I brought it with me. It accompanied me on countless missions and never once let me down."

He paused, his voice somewhat choked up:

"Now, I'm giving it to you. I hope it can protect you too."

Lin Mo held the knife, unable to speak for a long time.

Li Xiao said softly from the side: "Brother Zhao, this gift of yours is too valuable."

Zhao Gang shook his head: "What's valuable about it? Dr. Lin is worth it."

Lin Mo looked at Zhao Gang, looked at Li Xiao, and looked at these familiar faces around him, suddenly feeling his nose sting intensely.

He took a deep breath and said: "It's so good to have you all."

In the afternoon, Lin Mo returned to his office alone.

On the desk lay those three gifts—the Mars globe, the signed notebook, and the military knife.

He picked up the notebook and flipped through the signatures again.

Eighty-seven people.

Eighty-seven hearts.

These people, following him, went from Room-Temperature Superconductivity to Nuclear Fusion, and from Nuclear Fusion to the space elevator. It had been four years; no one had left, no one had complained, and no one had fallen behind.

He remembered the scene from four years ago, the first time he stood in the Gobi Desert. At that time, there was nothing here, only wind, sand, and desolation.

Now, there was a base here, a group of people, and a dream.

He put down the notebook and picked up the military knife.

On the handle, the words "Always standing with you" glinted in the sunlight.

He remembered what Zhao Gang had said: "It accompanied me on countless missions and never once let me down."

Lin Mo put the knife away and placed it in his drawer.

He wouldn't use it to carry out missions.

But he would use it to remind himself—there were people who would always stand with him.

In the evening, Lin Mo called Wang Zhenguo.

"Teacher, today is my birthday."

Wang Zhenguo laughed: "I know. You're thirty-five."

Lin Mo said: "How did you know?"

Wang Zhenguo said: "Your mother called me, said you would definitely forget, and asked me to remind you."

Lin Mo was stunned for a moment, then smiled.

Wang Zhenguo said: "What gifts did you receive?"

Lin Mo said: "Chen Xueming gave me a Mars globe, Li Xiao gave me a signed notebook, and Zhao Gang gave me a military knife."

Wang Zhenguo was silent for a few seconds, then said: "Good gifts."

Lin Mo said: "Teacher, do you think we can make it to Mars?"

Wang Zhenguo didn't answer directly, instead asking back: "What do you think?"

Lin Mo thought for a moment and said: "Yes."

Wang Zhenguo laughed: "That's all that matters. As long as you think we can, they will think we can."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Mo stood in front of the window, looking at the starry sky outside.

In the low sky to the southeast, that dim star was still twinkling.

He thought of the Mars globe Chen Xueming had given him, and the clearly visible Olympus Mons on it.

Mars.

Humanity's next stop.

One day, he would stand there and look back at Earth.

On that day, he would remember today—his thirty-fifth birthday, a group of people in the Gobi Desert, accompanying him.