Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 132 First Logistics Order

The logistics company is called Tongshun Express. It started by providing regional distribution services in China and covers four provinces. It is a well-established brand in the industry.

The meeting was to be held at their Hangzhou headquarters, a six-story gray building with a row of green-painted trucks parked in front. It was an autumn afternoon, and the tire tracks left by the trucks were still wet. Han Lu had done her research beforehand. The company's general manager was He Qiang, who had worked for eighteen years and was skeptical of new technologies. He had switched to three different warehousing software service providers, but was not satisfied with any of them.

Zuo Cheng and Shen Yiming pushed open the door and went in. He Qiang was sitting at the round table, and the tea leaves in the teacup had already been brewed.

"Mr. Zuo, I've reviewed your proposal."

He put down his teacup without beating around the bush.

"The technology is indeed impressive, but I've seen far more impressive solutions. Huafeng's quote is 30% lower than yours, and they have five years of commercial flight experience. What do you have?"

Zuo Cheng didn't answer immediately. He put his laptop on the table and opened a data file.

"Mr. He, your question is very insightful. Cost and experience are indeed areas where we currently have an advantage, and I don't intend to fob you off here."

He Qiang's eyes flickered, but he didn't say anything.

"But I'd like you to do some calculations. What's your current average delivery cost per order?"

He Qiang gave a number.

Zuo Cheng turned a table in the document toward him and pointed to the prediction column.

"We ran 300 flight simulations at our test site, in remote mountainous scenarios, using the optimal route. The cost per delivery was 40% lower than manual labor. This isn't a conservative estimate; it's raw data with video recordings. I'm willing to give you a one-month test flight period, covering all costs, and settling accounts based on the actual delivery success rate. What do you think?"

He Qiang was silent for a few seconds, then picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"I've heard that kind of argument far too many times."

"So we won't say it; let the data speak for itself."

Another silence.

"Alright," He Qiang put down his teacup, "I'll give you a month."

---

The contract terms were set: a one-month trial flight, with performance assessed based on three indicators: delivery success rate, damage rate, and timeliness. Only if these indicators were met would a formal contract be signed.

On the same day that 402 and Tongshun Express finalized the details, Huafeng Technology released an announcement, declaring that it would conduct a three-month zero-cost trial flight activity in the logistics field. The intention was clear: to snatch orders at any cost. Han Lu sent over a screenshot, along with the comment: "They know we've won over Tongshun Express."

Chen Hao sent a message to Zuo Cheng: Huafeng is going to start a price war.

Zuo Cheng replied with two words: Let him.

He put down his phone, picked up the flight test report on the table, and flipped to the last page. It contained a record of the iterative iterations of the adaptive path algorithm, compiled by Shen Yiming, with a total of sixty-three scenario versions. This wasn't something that could be learned in a day. Huafeng could offer free services, but they couldn't provide this.

---

The first test flight route was specially chosen by He Qiang: a mountainous area on the outskirts of Hangzhou. The roads were rugged, and in the past, delivering goods relied on motorcycles, which took several hours each time and carried the risk of crashing. He Qiang's meaning was clear: if he was going to test something, he wanted to test the most difficult route.

On the eve of the test flight, Zuo Cheng walked around the company's test area, checking the flight control parameters. Shen Yiming stood next to him and pulled up the flight path planning documents for this flight.

"Mr. Zuo, the airflow in mountainous areas is particularly complex. Our path planning algorithm has run through 63 preset scenarios, all of which are covered, but the actual situation may not be a perfect match."

Zuo Cheng stared at the screen, not speaking immediately. He mentally opened the system panel and glanced at the current status. The technology radar had long since cooled down, but he didn't plan to scan it tonight; he'd save the points for when they were more needed. The AI ​​branch's autonomous decision-making engine was activated, and the system's passive support was taking effect, with the algorithm's computational efficiency twenty percentage points higher than comparable architectures. This line didn't require any additional intervention.

"The algorithm itself is fine," he said. "Let it fly, trust our system."

The drone took off at the foot of the mountain at nine o'clock the next morning.

He Qiang stood beside the command vehicle, his hands in his pockets, his expression one of distrust typical of a seasoned veteran who had seen too many pitfalls. His technical supervisor, Xu Yue, stood to his right, watching the flight monitoring screen.

The airflow in the mountains was indeed unpredictable. Twenty minutes after takeoff, the drone encountered a period of lateral turbulence, causing the fuselage to deflect by nearly seven degrees.

Xu Yue frowned.

However, the flight control system then initiated adaptive adjustments, read real-time data from the wind speed sensor, recalculated the flight path deviation, and corrected the flight attitude within two seconds. The flight path automatically switched to alternative option three, bypassing the area with the strongest airflow, and continued flying toward its destination.

Xu Yue stared at the screen and let out a low "whoosh".

He Qiang didn't speak, his eyes following the light spot as it moved across the map.

Forty-eight minutes later, the drone landed at the target point on time, reducing the delivery time by 38 percent compared to expectations, and the goods were intact.

He Qiang walked over without saying a word, just staring at the landing drone for a long time. The cargo hatch popped open, revealing the delivery package inside, its packaging completely undamaged.

He bent down to check the bottom of the package, then looked up at Xu Yue beside him.

"Fly it again, I want to see it a second time."

A week later, Tongshun Express's data report came out: 100% success rate in 10 flights, zero damage rate, average delivery time 42% faster than manual labor, and 37% lower cost per flight.

He Qiang found Zuo Cheng and threw a contract on the table.

"It's signed. The service fee for the first year is five million. We'd like to discuss a second phase next year." He paused, then added, "I politely declined Huafeng's offer. They came to me specifically to offer a permanent zero-fee service and said that your 402 technology isn't stable enough."

Zuo Cheng didn't speak, but simply picked up his pen.

He Qiang continued.

"I've been in logistics for eighteen years, and I know what the four most unreliable words in the market are: 'permanently free.' Anything that's 'permanently free' will ultimately come at the highest cost when it comes to settling the bill." He looked at Zuo Cheng. "If you dare to talk about success rates, I dare to sign."

Zuo Cheng pushed the contract back and signed his name.

After signing the papers, he looked up at the window. The row of green trucks in the parking lot was still there, but in the sky above this industry, several unseen flight paths had quietly appeared.

Han Lu whispered to herself: "The zero-cost test flight with Huafeng is still progressing, and there are more clients to discuss next."

Zuo Cheng folded the contract and put it into his briefcase.

In the logistics arena, 402 has fired the first shot. There are still many more shots to be fired.