Beyond Yangguan, No Old Friends

After resting overnight in Dunhuang, Shen Qi and other leaders and experts from the capital inspected the ground engineering of the "Project Starlight" by helicopter the following morning.

The helicopter flew southwest and soon reached the airspace above Yangguan Town.

The ancients said, "West of Yangguan, there are no old friends," while modern people say, "Along the Belt and Road, everyone is a friend."

Transportation along the Silk Road was upgraded, with the China-Europe Railway Express replacing camels.

From camels to trains, their mission has remained unchanged: trade, exchange, and the great unity of the world's people.

From Dunhuang to Yangguan, tourism continues to drive GDP growth. Tourists throng the Mogao Caves, and laughter and song fill the Crescent Spring.

Flying westward from Yangguan Town, Shen Qi looked down and saw that the tourism-covered area ended there. West of Jiashan Mountain was a military control zone, with tall barbed wire fences stretching endlessly and fully armed soldiers patrolling 24 hours a day.

The soldiers are guarding industrial buildings of various shapes and sizes, some already completed and others under construction.

Engineer and construction workers, wearing hard hats, carried out construction work in a tense but orderly manner, while construction vehicles, as imposing as metal behemoths, skillfully swung their mechanical arms under their command.

Joyful and excited hikers, solemn and dignified soldiers, and meticulous builders.

A thousand-year-old grotto, a spring with shimmering, dragon-like reflections, and a bustling construction site.

A helicopter view of these changing scenes takes only ten minutes.

Shen Qi couldn't help but recite. "No old friends west of Yangguan, but a true hero emerges west of Yangguan!"

"Academician Shen is quite artistic!" Director Zhao shouted, relying entirely on shouting on the helicopter.

Shen Qi said loudly, "These lovely and respectable Engineer, construction workers, and soldiers are all national heroes! I don't know their names, but they will surely be recorded in history! Director Zhao, please put on your headphones; your throat is sore from shouting for so long."

Even after putting on his headphones, Director Zhao still shouted, "Yes, they are all heroes who dedicate themselves silently! The country will never fail to reward heroes who shed blood and sweat!"

"Is this place called Heilong Pit?" Shen Qi asked, looking at the map and observing the surrounding environment.

Director Zhao replied, "Yes, Heilong Pit! It used to be an iron mine."

Shen Qi asked with concern, "After this area was requisitioned by 'Project Starlight,' where did the iron mine workers go?"

Director Zhao, who is in charge of the logistics for the entire project, said, "We built resettlement houses in Dunhuang and Jiuquan. The iron mine workers and their families moved to the resettlement communities. They have new jobs and are living very well!"

Shen Qi nodded and said, "That's good, that's good. Everything we do is to serve the people."

After learning about the resettlement situation, Shen Qi turned to Chief Engineer You to discuss engineering and technical topics. "Chief Engineer You, from what I've observed, the construction of the ground-level supporting facilities is progressing quite smoothly."

"The construction of the ground engineering is progressing as expected. Academician Shen, look, the buildings below are the ground engineering control center, and the power generation area is in front of it," Chief Engineer You said, pointing into the distance.

The Heilong Pit, where the control center is located, is now devoid of vegetation.

Continuing to fly west, all Shen Qi could see within his field of vision was yellow sand.

This is the Kumtag Desert, and further west lies the famous Taklamakan Desert.

Above the Kumtag Desert, Shen Qi finally witnessed firsthand the most important component of the "Project Starlight" ground engineering.

In the endless desert, domestically produced ultra-large Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array shimmer with silver light. When viewed from the side, they are arranged in a staggered pattern, like countless silver armors standing on the yellow sand.

From Shen Qi's perspective, looking down from above, he saw a giant silver mirror, covering an area of 120 square kilometers, reflecting the boundless blue sky.

Everyone in the helicopter wore sunglasses, as the human eye could not directly look at the dazzling light.

Spectacular and breathtaking.

This is Shen Qi's personal experience.

Constructing such a massive project in the vast desert is not something that can be easily accomplished by some scientist with advanced thinking simply by making a PowerPoint presentation.

China's ability to construct such a magnificent project stems from its strong national power, the silent dedication of a generation, the tireless efforts of hundreds of thousands of builders, and the people behind them.

China remains unrivaled in infrastructure development worldwide. The ground infrastructure construction in the "Project Starlight" was completed or nearly completed in the shortest possible time according to China's highest quality standards.

From the sky to the ground, participants in the "Project Starlight" have invented more than 13,000 technological patents.

The array of microcrystalline silicon thin-film batteries right under Shen Qi's nose involves more than a thousand important technological patents and inventions.

Apart from the conceptual idea being borrowed from the United States, all other aspects of the "Project Starlight"—theoretical research, application of theory, engineering design, and manufacturing—are independently developed.

Made in China and built in China must rely on Chinese inventions and creations.

While Shen Qi was stationed at the Capital Headquarters, he had studied the core component of the ground engineering Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array, countless times.

The firsthand experience is more authentic than reading information on a computer, which is also the purpose of Shen Qi's Northwest Survey.

Shen Qi is the head of the research team. In addition to showing off his "My Country 666" campaign, his more important task is to inspect the progress of the ground engineering and understand the actual problems or potential problems that may arise after the Northwest Base is officially put into operation.

Based on Shen Qi's initial assessment, there were basically no problems with the hardware of the ground engineering project.

Shen Qi also noted that the outdoor temperature in the 120-square-kilometer area of Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array was significantly higher than that in Heilong Pit, Yangguan Town, and Dunhuang.

The Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array is located in the Kumtag Desert, where it is naturally very hot near midday.

There wasn't a single tree or any vegetation around, and even birds didn't fly here.

The environmental monitoring team of the "Project Starlight" predicted that once the "Project Starlight" is officially operational, the reflecting satellites in the sky will focus sunlight onto the Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array in the desert with an efficiency 400 times that of Natural Light Intensity, which will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in the temperature of the air in this area. In other words, this place will become hotter in the future.

The heat is one factor, but the presence of the reflector satellite makes this area a massive light source, making it not only extremely hot but also extremely bright. Even at night in the capital, the sky above the Kumtag Desert still seems to be filled with what appears to be a "sun."

The ecosystems of regions that are extremely hot, extremely bright, and have no distinction between day and night will definitely be affected.

The Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Battery Array for the ground-based "Project Starlight" was chosen to be located here because this area was originally a barren, uninhabited desert wasteland.

As the Chief Scientist of the "Project Starlight," Shen Qi has a deep understanding of the issues at hand.

Since the "Death Desert" is unsuitable for humans and most plants and animals to thrive anyway, let's just go all out and wreak havoc on the desert.

Is that really the case?

Is this really a good idea?

Whether it's good or bad, things are already like this. The ground construction is almost complete, so it's impossible to move it elsewhere.

Shen Qi noted down a topic that needed further research in his mind, then waved his hand, ordering the helicopter to return to base.