Once the final presentation ended, Director Cui was the first to speak.
"Does anyone have further questions?"
No one responded.
Haifeng had already addressed architecture, uptime, security, settlement, and user flow.
Cui turned to him with genuine anticipation.
"President Lu, when can this system go live?"
Haifeng gave it some thought.
"Technically, anytime.
But the setup is still manual right now.
Installing and debugging hardware will take one or two months before full automation."
Cui waved his hand boldly.
"Then let's go full speed ahead.
If you need anything—ask. We'll coordinate everything on our end.
Let's get this online as soon as possible so people can enjoy the benefits of accurate technology."
A deputy director added:
"Director Cui, how about a trial run first? Let's start with a few routes.
Haifeng agreed.
"That's reasonable. Let's test for two days.
I'll have our engineers stationed at the Railway Building the entire time.
If anything goes wrong, we'll fix it instantly."
📍 Launch Day – Morning
Haifeng arrived early.
Today was huge—not just for the project but for China Star's entire reputation.
If it succeeds, our data center becomes untouchable.
If it fails… we lose everything.
He led the entire tech team into the Railway Department building.
Director Cui Sheng and several other leaders personally greeted them.
"President Lu, thank you for coming so early."
"Of course, Director Cui," Haifeng said politely.
They entered the command center. The countdown had begun—just 5 minutes to go.
At 9:00 AM sharp, ticket sales opened across North and Central China.
Everyone stared at the massive screen.
And then—
BOOM.
"We sold the first ticket from He Province to Yanjing—at 9:00:10!"
"We've already hit 12,578 tickets sold in one minute!"
"What about payments?" Cui asked urgently.
"All completed. No errors."
"Any crashes?"
"None. System's rock-solid."
"...We did it," someone whispered.
"We did it."
The room erupted.
There were cheers, tears, and quiet, overwhelmed smiles.
For years, the public had mocked 12307 and compared it to 12306. They called it a national embarrassment.
But now?
The tech worked.
The people could go home.
And the Railway Department had proven itself.
Online, the buzz was exploding:
"I'm buying tickets for the Lantern Festival right now!"
"Did they relaunch the online system? How??"
"This is insane. Last time, it took hours. Today, it's instant."
"Who developed this system? Seriously—this is world-class."
"Wait… didn't I hear it was built with some foreign tech again?"
"Heard it's next-gen—only other country using it is the U.S."
"If they spent billions again, I swear I'll protest."
"I just hope it works. Let me get home. That's all I want."
But behind the scenes, only the insiders knew:
China Star built this entire system.
From infrastructure to cloud optimization, from wallet payments to user flow—it was 100% homegrown.
Director Cui stood in front of the screen, eyes reddening.
Only he knew how much pressure he'd been under for years.
And today… he finally saw his dream realized.
He cleared his throat and spoke:
"Comrades, today we witnessed a miracle.
And we've seen firsthand how technology can transform lives."
"We started with nothing.
From zero.
From handwritten forms to serving tens of millions in real-time."
"This isn't just the launch of a new system.
This is the beginning of a new era—for the Railway Department and our country."
"To every worker here—thank you.
You've made this miracle possible."