Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

Chapter 174 From Nothing to Something, We Did It

On October 20th, the weather in Shenzhen finally cooled down.

Lin Dong left his office and walked towards the laboratory.

Zhou Chengyu sent a message yesterday saying that the touch screen had reached 9.7 milliseconds, but he didn't reply, wanting to see it in person.

Some things can't be seen from numbers; you have to experience them firsthand to know.

The laboratory door was ajar, and it was very quiet inside.

Zhou Chengyu sat in the innermost corner, with a prototype connected to a testing instrument in front of him. The waveform on the screen was still jumping, but his fingers were not on the keyboard.

He stared at the screen, motionless, as if waiting for something.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and adjusted his glasses.

"You're here?" he said.

Lin Dong walked over and stood next to him.

Zhou Chengyu picked up the prototype on the table and swiped his finger across the screen.

The screen followed his finger perfectly, without any lag or stuttering.

He slid again, and it was still smooth.

Then he handed the prototype to Lin Dong, his eyes shining; his tone didn't reveal any excitement, but the upturned corners of his mouth clearly betrayed him.

He doesn't usually smile much, so when the corners of his mouth curved up, Lin Dong knew he was genuinely happy.

"Nine and a half milliseconds. Better than the target," he said.

Lin Dong took it and slid it a few times.

The screen followed his finger, as if glued to it, moving at a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow, neither hurried nor impatient.

He put down the prototype and nodded.

Zhou Chengyu's lips curved slightly, but he didn't say anything more and turned back to look at the data.

His fingers rested on the keyboard, and he began typing again, but the rhythm was much lighter than usual.

Lin Dong turned to leave.

Zhou Chengyu stood up, turned off the testing device, picked up the notebook on the table, and followed behind him.

Lin Dong didn't turn around, but he heard footsteps, leather shoes clicking lightly on the floor.

On October 22nd, Lin Dong went to the laboratory again.

This time it's Cheng Chuan and Cheng Yu.

Cheng Chuan was adjusting the antenna. The instrument was displaying numbers, and he was staring at the screen, his fingers making fine adjustments on the knob, one by one, very carefully.

Cheng Yu stood to the side, holding a data record book in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed, occasionally jotting down a note in the book.

Seeing Lin Dong approaching, Cheng Chuan looked up and grinned.

"Mr. Lin, the antenna signal is one dB higher than normal."

He pointed to the numbers on the instrument, his tone tinged with pride, his voice not loud, but rising at the end.

Cheng Yu glared at her, and she awkwardly stopped laughing, swallowing her smugness and putting on an expression that said "it's no big deal," but she still couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth.

Cheng Yu added from the side, "The heat dissipation is within 0.4 degrees Celsius."

Lin Dong looked at the data and nodded.

Cheng Chuan stood up from the chair, reset the knob, turned off the instrument, and followed Zhou Chengyu, standing next to him.

He reached out to pat Zhou Chengyu's shoulder, but withdrew his hand halfway through, probably feeling it was inappropriate.

Cheng Yu closed his notebook, clipped the pen to the cover, and followed. His pace was neither fast nor slow, keeping a distance of two steps from Lin Dong.

Three people followed him, their footsteps echoing down the corridor, one after another, their rhythms slightly different, but their directions the same.

On October 25th, Zhang Mingyuan was running motherboard tests.

The waveform on the oscilloscope was still jumping, and the green line was fluctuating up and down on the screen. He didn't notice Lin Dong walking in. He was staring at the screen, his brows furrowed, and a "川" character was squeezed out between his eyebrows.

On the table was a thick stack of printed data, densely packed with numbers, some of which were circled in red pen. Notes were written next to them, the handwriting was messy, but it was clear that it was Zhang Mingyuan's handwriting.

He'd been sitting in this pile of papers all day, and three coffee cups were empty, but he hadn't poured them out.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and paused for a moment.

He glanced at Lin Dong, then at the group of people behind Lin Dong, his gaze lingering on their faces for a moment, as if he hadn't expected there to be so many people.

Then he glanced at the clock on the wall; it was 10:15.

"How long have you been running?" Lin Dong asked.

"Ninety-five days. No crashes."

Zhang Mingyuan's voice was a little hoarse, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

His gaze returned to the pile of data on the table, and he tapped his finger on the paper circled in red. "Power consumption 323 milliamps." His voice lowered slightly. "Just a little short. Two days, three milliamps."

Lin Dong patted him on the shoulder.

Zhang Mingyuan organized the data on the table, stacked it neatly, clipped it with a clip, stood up, and followed behind them.

Lin Dong walked in front, followed by four people.

On October 27th, Ding Xiao was writing the last line of code.

She was wearing headphones, with white headphone wires hanging down from her collar, one end connected to the computer on the table and the other end plugged into her ear.

She didn't hear Lin Dong come in.

My fingers tapped on the keyboard with a steady rhythm, neither too fast nor too slow, and each tap was precise.

The screen displays lines of code scrolling upwards, against a black background with colorful text and a blinking cursor.

She was wearing headphones and couldn't hear anything outside, but her fingers were tapping along to the rhythm in the headphones.

From behind, her shoulders were relaxed and her back was very straight. She didn't look like she was rushing to finish a task; it looked like she was doing something she was enjoying.

She stopped typing after typing the last character.

A new line of code appeared on the screen, and the cursor stopped at the end, blinking as it waited.

She stared at the line of code for two seconds, then pressed the compile button.

Messages started popping up on the screen, line by line, in green text.

Compilation complete, and a green "SUCCESS" message appears.

She waited two more seconds and then clicked "Run".

It's working.

The word "SUCCESS" popped up on the screen; it was green, large, and very eye-catching.

She leaned back in her chair, took off one earphone, and let out a long sigh.

She turned her head, saw Lin Dong, and paused for a moment.

Her gaze lingered on Lin Dong's face for a second, then shifted to the people behind him, her eyes widening slightly as if she hadn't expected so many people.

"Thank you for your hard work," Lin Dong said.

Ding Xiao didn't say anything.

She took the headphones off her neck, wrapped them around her twice, and placed them on the table.

Then stand up, push the chair in, and follow.

She walked at the very back, her steps very light, as if she didn't want to disturb the people in front of her.

On October 29th, Su Xiaowen leaned against the wall.

She wasn't sitting in a chair or standing at the worktable; she was leaning against the wall, her back against the white wall, holding the last mid-frame in her hand.

The silver-white metal gleams coldly under the light, and the curved edges feel smooth and rounded to the touch, without feeling rough. The bright edge around the camera opening reflects light slightly, like a small ring.

She lowered her head, her thumb slowly tracing the edge of the frame, from one end to the other, as if confirming something.

Her fingers were very thin, and her nails were cut very short.

She didn't look up when she heard footsteps.

She knew who it was.

Lin Dong walked up to her and stopped.

The people behind them also stopped and stood in the corridor, but no one spoke.

Su Xiaowen handed him the mid-frame.

Her hands were very steady.

"Ninety-nine percent yield rate. The last set, zero defects."

After she finished speaking, the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

When she handed over the frame, she ran her fingers along the edge of the frame again, her thumb sliding across the curved surface, as if to confirm it one last time.

Lin Dong took it, glanced at it, said nothing, and put it back in her hand.

Su Xiaowen took the frame, glanced at it, and then placed it on the table next to her. She placed it very gently; the frame made almost no sound when it hit the table.

She dusted off her hands, smoothed out the hem of her clothes, and followed.

There were already six people standing behind me.

Zhou Chengyu, Cheng Chuan, Cheng Yu, Zhang Mingyuan, Ding Xiao, and Su Xiaowen stood in the corridor one after another.

No one spoke; they all stared at Lin Dong's retreating figure.

The fluorescent lights in the corridor were on, casting their shadows on the ground, long and short, overlapping each other.

On November 1st, at the back of the lab, Li Hu sat in front of his computer.

The screen is full of code.

Black background, green text, densely packed, arranged from the first line to the last.

There were two or three takeout boxes piled up on the table, with chopsticks stuck in the last box, barely touched.

The mineral water bottle was unscrewed but the cap was off, the bottle opening was facing upwards, and there was still half a bottle of water left.

He had lost weight, his cheekbones were protruding, there were dark circles under his eyes, his hair was messy as if he hadn't washed it for days, and his bangs hung down, covering half of one eye.

But his eyes were bright, staring at the screen without moving.

Lin Dong walked over.

The people following behind him lined up the entire corridor.

Zhou Chengyu, Cheng Chuan, Cheng Yu, Zhang Mingyuan, Ding Xiao, Su Xiaowen, and everyone else were there.

No one spoke; they all stared at Li Hu's back.

The corridor was quiet, with only the hum of the fluorescent lights.

Li Hu did not turn around.

His fingers tapped a few times on the keyboard, then stopped.

Delete, rewrite. Compile, run. Data starts jumping on the screen, numbers scrolling line by line, green text scrolling upwards on a black background.

Lin Dong stared at the screen, and the person behind him also stared at the screen. No one spoke. One minute, two minutes, five minutes. The only sounds in the lab were the clicking of keyboards and the hum of equipment.

Li Hu leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen.

His shoulders slumped, and he sank into the chair as if he had let out a long sigh of relief. The green numbers on the screen were still flashing, but there was no more new information.

About ten seconds later, Li Hu turned around. He first saw Lin Dong, his gaze lingered on Lin Dong's face for a second, and then moved to the people behind Lin Dong.

"When did you arrive?" His voice was a little hoarse.

"The system is running smoothly. It has been running continuously for six hours without crashing."

The lab was silent for a second.

Cheng Chuan was the first to shout out – "It's done!" His voice boomed in the quiet laboratory, like a breath that had been held in for a long time finally being exhaled.

Cheng Yu's own eyes also reddened.

Zhang Mingyuan lowered his head, took off his glasses, and wiped them with his sleeve. His fingers were trembling, and he almost dropped his glasses, but he quickly caught them.

Zhou Chengyu pushed up his glasses, his lips curving into a wide smile that he couldn't suppress.

Su Xiaowen turned her head away, not letting anyone see her face; her shoulders were trembling, but very slightly.

Ding Xiao lowered her head, her hand loosening its grip on the earphone cord, the cord slipping from her fingers and dangling down, swaying back and forth.

Li Hu grinned, but as he smiled, his eyes reddened.

He reached up and rubbed his face, burying it in his palms.

His fingers were long, with distinct knuckles, covering most of his face.

He muttered sullenly, "Three days."

He hasn't slept for three days.

The laboratory fell silent, and everyone looked at Lin Dong.

"Don't rush," he said, "run the whole machine through once."

He walked to the worktable and picked up the prototype.

Silver-white, full touchscreen, with a round Home button at the bottom of the screen.

The metal frame gleams coldly under the light, and feels smooth and rounded to the touch, without any roughness.

Everyone was looking at him.

He placed the prototype on the test rack, connected the wires, and made sure each wire was plugged in correctly. He then pressed the power button.

The screen lit up.

The sunrise logo appeared on a black background, with a bright edge that glowed slightly against the dark background, like the first rays of sunlight just breaking through the horizon at sunrise.

The startup sound was very soft and clean, like the sound of a bell.

Everyone stared at the screen; no one spoke.

The only sounds in the lab were the hum of the equipment and the breathing of ten people.

Lin Dong began running through the tests one by one.

Touch screen.

He swiped, and the screen followed his finger without lag or drag, as if it were glued to his finger.

A green "PASS" message popped up on the screen.

The antenna display showed a digital signal strength of 100%, indicated by a green "PASS".

The temperature is normal, at 36.5 degrees Celsius, and the green "PASS" indicator is displayed.

The motherboard's power consumption is stable at 323 milliamps, indicated by the green "PASS" indicator.

All peripherals are recognized (green "PASS"). Battery charging and discharging are normal (green "PASS").

The camera can take pictures, the viewfinder lights up, and the screen shows the workbench image with a green "PASS".

The music played, the speaker rang, a very soft sound, but it was clearly audible in the quiet laboratory, and the green "PASS" was displayed.

I can connect to the internet, the browser opens, and a blank page appears on the screen with a green "PASS" button.

After each run, a green "PASS" icon will appear on the screen.

Every single one is green.

The cursor jumped once and then stopped.

The last item popped up.

"ALLTESTSPASSED" (All tests passed).

The green text glowed quietly on the black screen.

The lab was silent for a second.

Cheng Chuan broke free from Cheng Yu's grasp and shouted, "We did it!"

Zhang Mingyuan took off his glasses, wiped them clean, and put them back on.

His eyes were red, his nose was red, and tears clung to his eyelashes.

Zhou Chengyu pushed up his glasses, his lips curving into a wide smile that he couldn't suppress.

Su Xiaowen and Ding Xiao hugged each other, crying tears of joy.

Li Hu leaned back in his chair, staring at the line "ALLTESTSPASSED" on the screen.

Xu Zang stood at the very back, without a book in his hand.

He leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, a smile playing on his lips.

He rarely smiled, so when he did, everyone knew he was genuinely happy.

Lin Dong stood in front of the worktable, looking at the prototype.

The screen was still lit, and the sunrise logo remained quiet.

The white light shone on his face, illuminating his features clearly.

He turned around and looked at the people in the laboratory, from Zhang Mingyuan to Zhou Chengyu, from Zhou Chengyu to Su Xiaowen, and from Su Xiaowen to Cheng Chuan, Cheng Yu, Ding Xiao, Li Hu, Chen Long, and Xu Zang.

I looked at them one by one, and I looked at everyone.

He said, "Everyone, thank you for your hard work. We did it."

Zhang Mingyuan was the first to lose his composure.

Tears fell down.

He turned his head away, wiped his face with his sleeve, his hands trembling violently. He smeared his face haphazardly with his sleeve a few times, then a few more times.

Others also shed tears of emotion.

It wasn't easy; it was about going from nothing to something, from zero to one.

Lin Dong turned around, walked to the window, and turned his back to everyone.

Outside the window is the night view of Futian CBD, with the lights on the high-rise buildings under construction and the red lights on the tower cranes flashing.

His flagship store is located below those buildings, with its glass curtain wall lit up, and warm white light shining through it, making it very conspicuous in the night.

He stood there for a long time.

The people behind him didn't leave either.

No one spoke.