90. Treasure
Grandpa Gu looked at the young man in front of him. The other person's face still showed a slight sign of illness, and the young man lacked arrogance; his demeanor was a rare and commendable trait. During the time working in KID, besides Boss Shen, Coach Jiang was the only one frequently seen in the maintenance room. Grandpa Gu knew there was another maintenance specialist in the KID maintenance room, but due to illness, he hadn't seen him during his hospital stay.
Elderly people often dislike arrogance. Grandpa Gu had worked in a parts factory for many years in his early years, encountering many proud and arrogant young people.
However, for some reason, the young man standing before him, who stood straight, was humble, and understood manners, had a very favorable impression on him from their first meeting.
Grandpa Gu politely responded, briefly introduced himself, and then went straight to work, saying, "The damage to the armor of several mechs has been repaired. Ji Qingfeng's competition-grade mech hasn't been repaired since it was damaged in Qiu Jin. The configuration of his mech should be your work. I just did a simple inspection and repair. I didn't touch main work; I'll leave that to you."
Ying Chenlin responded with a nod and was about to fetch maintenance tools nearby.
Seeing this, Jiang Simiao at the top immediately said, "Chenlin, you just got out of the hospital! Put down the maintenance tools!"
Ying Chenlin had already picked up the mechanical pliers and replied, "I won't use my right hand; it won't take long."
"Ah, San Shui, let Chenlin stay for a while; it won't hinder anything."
"Yeah, if I had to stay in the hospital for a month, I'd go crazy."
"Come on, didn't you ask us to give you the data from the contaminated zone?"
This was not an occasional problem. If Shen Xingtang came back and knew that this person went straight to the maintenance room right after being discharged, she would probably go mad. Jiang Simiao paced back and forth at the entrance of the maintenance room, hesitating whether to wait and see or directly pull the person away. "Wait a moment; I'll think about it."
At this moment, the man standing nearby said, "I can keep an eye on him for you."
Surprised, Jiang Simiao looked at You Su.
"Didn't you say you were going to organize data in the contaminated area?"
You Su's tone was casual, "I'm not going to the training room. I'll help you watch for a while."
Jiang Simiao hesitated for a while, but in the end, she instructed You Su to make sure to pull the person out in time.
You Su responded lightly, appearing to agree.
The rest of the KID members stayed in the maintenance room for a while but didn't linger long before leaving. When everyone had left, the spacious maintenance room under the program platform seemed to truly start its work. You Su didn't enter the maintenance room; he stood on the elevated program platform, overlooking the scene below. The two mechanics stood together, discussing the data on their tablets one by one.
The young man had a serious expression on his face, as if he had never been careless in his work.
Theo timely spoke up, "I haven't been repaired yet; remind him."
"Why the rush?" You Su looked down, and Ying Chenlin had already entered the mech.
Theo grumbled on the side, feeling upset. It stayed silent for a while.
Suddenly, You Su asked, "Has his mech been unresponsive lately?"
"Huh? The signal is still there; it hasn't entered dormancy," Theo explained, "It might be because the stored mental power is not sufficient. Ying Chenlin can't replenish its mental power, right? So, it can only use it sparingly; otherwise, once the mental power is depleted, it can only enter dormancy again."
"Didn't you mention the mech when you handed him the note that day?"
You Su: "I did. He probably knows that he can't use his mental power at this stage."
Theo complained, "Ah, it's so troublesome. You even handed him a note. Can't you just talk to him verbally?"
Suddenly, it remembered something, "Ah, You Su, you don't have his private communication code, do you?"
You Su: "..."
"Can you not speak."
Theo: "You just didn't go get his contact code!"
Ignoring the noise of Theo in his mind, You Su considered not only the consumption of mental power but also the energy reserves in the mech. In the absence of Ying Chenlin's mental power activation, it was challenging for Yuan to revert to its original form for energy charging. However, currently, the mental power seemed to deplete faster, while there appeared to be no shortage of energy in Yuan.
Excluding other possibilities, it seemed to be Yuan's autonomous charging.
It was probably related to the storage device that heated up when Ying Chenlin was in distress, where something was stored.
An anomalous crystal, perhaps...?
You Su thought indifferently.
Ying Chenlin didn't pay attention to the elevated program platform; he and Grandpa Gu reevaluated the situation of Ji Qingfeng's mech and formulated a new maintenance plan. The right leg that was severed by the ape in Qiu Jin indeed posed a significant problem. Repairing it was not an option; they had to remake Ji Qingfeng's mech's right leg.
Remaking the right leg required a substantial amount of materials, but fortunately, KID had harvested quite a bit during this period, and there was no significant issue with remaking the components.
"One hour has passed," Grandpa Gu reminded when they reached a stopping point.
Ying Chenlin paused, and then Grandpa Gu said, "There's still plenty of time now. Health is the capital. Take a break and come back tomorrow. The mech isn't going anywhere. If you collapse, it's not worth it."
"Somebody's waiting for you upstairs." Grandpa Gu took the mechanical pliers from Ying Chenlin's hand. "Come back tomorrow."
Ying Chenlin only then noticed that You Su was standing at the entrance of the maintenance room.
Observing the time, You Su planned to bring Ying Chenlin down when the hour was almost up. However, he saw Ying Chenlin emerging from the lower repair area. Arching an eyebrow slightly, You Su saw him approaching and asked, "Finished already?"
"Taking a break. I'll come back tomorrow," Ying Chenlin replied and, remembering Grandpa Gu's words, added, "Are you waiting for me?"
Looking at the time, You Su responded, "Let's go."
So, he was indeed waiting for him.
Ying Chenlin followed his steps, glancing down when leaving the maintenance room.
A similar admonition seemed to have been heard a long time ago. In the previous life, in KID's maintenance room, due to physical constraints, Ying Chenlin often received care from other maintenance specialists when entering and leaving the room. The master was the one who spoke the most, advising him to leave the maintenance room using the same words.
—"Health is capital. Rest now, come back tomorrow."
In the following days, Ying Chenlin maintained a regular schedule, entering and leaving the maintenance room as usual.
KID's dormitory area had a few more residents now. The space inside belonged to Grandpa Gu and Gu Xiaotian, and the two innermost rooms had been converted into a medical room by Dr. Eric, who had been moving medical equipment into the base these days.
Dr. Eric did indeed have a peculiar personality. Occasionally, passing by the medical room, one could hear cries and howls, with Ji Qingfeng being the loudest.
While other mecha pilots kept their distance, Ying Chenlin found the doctor strange but took his treatment seriously.
Ying Chenlin had to go to him for a checkup every day. The daily injections he used to receive were now adjusted to a new dosage.
"You can't inject two doses at once," Dr. Eric said. "The artificial nerves in the mech's right arm look similar to human nerves, but the simulated blood vessels are different from human blood vessels. The machine has strong tolerance, but human vessels are fragile."
Pointing to the bruised skin on Ying Chenlin's mechanical arm, he continued, "Excessive injections are not good. I'll change it to a different medication, once a day, injected before bedtime."
Leaving the medical room, Ying Chenlin went to the maintenance room.
Shen Xingtang often didn't return to the base. During this time in the Dawn Galaxy, it seemed that a lot had happened, with various speculative messages circulating on the StarNet. Only Ying Chenlin and Grandpa Gu were left in the maintenance room.
The suspension of the Mecha League also meant an extended maintenance period. This was a good thing for KID, as most of the materials used in their mechs were of A-class quality. In fact, there was room for further improvement, and the large bases like Gale and YDS would likely make adjustments according to the situation.
With an abundance of materials, they could upgrade the overall components of the mechs and schedule the replacement of new weapons.
However, when Ying Chenlin proposed upgrading the mech components, Grandpa Gu voiced his opinion.
"Are the base's parts your modifications?" Grandpa Gu had been at KID for some time and had noticed the different parts in KID's warehouse, "When you made those modifications, you used a second reshaping of mental power. Such reshaping has drawbacks; after one reshaping, you can't modify that part again."
Ying Chenlin did not deny it. "Yes."
He knew about such drawbacks because the technique he used was a method of refining component performance that emerged after the maturity of part technology. It was more of a method later known to all mechanics, a method involving mental power. Grandpa Gu had briefly taught him in his past life, and Ying Chenlin utilized this method to improve components. He would polish the parts to his satisfaction before assembling them, gradually making it his habit.
He achieved such precision through years of continuous polishing. However, this method could only be used by himself. When he shared the technique with Jianheng, despite the efforts of many engineers under Jianheng, the precision only increased by half, indicating limitations in this method.
"You must have seen that part of mine. Why didn't you keep it for research?" Grandpa Gu asked.
Seeing those components in the warehouse, Grandpa Gu knew that the young man who returned the parts to him in the hospital was Ying Chenlin.
"The part is useless in my hands. I'm just a mechanic, not involved in component research. Polishing the parts is just a habit from my years in the field," Ying Chenlin didn't conceal and truthfully replied, "The part in my hands would only gather dust. Returning it to you allows the part to fulfill its purpose."
Grandpa Gu looked at him and sighed, "I have conducted such research. In fact, your method is correct, but your method is in the second step, the final refinement of the components. This operation is irreversible. However, if you raise the precision of the components to a higher level before the final step and then use mental power for polishing, your method will yield even higher precision."
"If you want to improve the performance of mech components, try my method. You can raise the performance before using mental power for polishing," Grandpa Gu said, showing Ying Chenlin a data tablet with data on a small improved component using this technology.
Ying Chenlin took the data tablet and examined it seriously.
The information on the data tablet was clear, showing an increase in precision for the presented component. Although it was only a small 1%, this improvement was upgradable and represented a genuinely scalable operation.
Ying Chenlin was a mechanic, and his knowledge of components was supplementary to his learning in maintenance. He had a midstream background, and he lacked the confidence to push for component reform.
In terms of component knowledge, he was far behind Grandpa Gu. When he saw this data tablet, he already knew how influential the data on this tablet would be for today's component technology.
Grandpa Gu handed out the item and regretted it a bit. He hesitated, "But not doing it is also okay. My method may not yield much, and it's a waste of time."
"Not a waste of time. Let's give it a try," Ying Chenlin returned the data tablet to him and said earnestly, "You said our time is abundant, right? Also, haven't you already achieved that level with your component?"
Grandpa Gu was slightly stunned. Only those who understood knew the value of components. This value wasn't just a simple functional value but another deeper level of value.
He chuckled, "But I've been researching for many years, always in the same place."
"Your research hasn't been stagnant; it just needs a large number of samples. KID's available samples and manpower are too limited."
Ying Chenlin said seriously, "I want to introduce someone to you. He can assist you in completing this research."
Grandpa Gu heard this and felt a bit excited yet worried about the trouble. "Forget it... I came to KID for help. Where would I find the time to deal with all this?"
"Not a trouble at all. He should be upstairs now," Ying Chenlin put down his current task. "It's Boss Zhou, the owner of Jianheng Technology, who rents the KID building."
"Boss Zhou values talent, and you must have heard of the reputation of Jianheng Technology. You can talk to him, and if you have any issues, I can help you resolve them. Your expertise shouldn't remain unknown; it's a treasure of this era," Ying Chenlin said earnestly.
Grandpa Gu was stunned by this statement. However, before he could react, Ying Chenlin had already contacted Boss Zhou.
Boss Zhou happened to be on a business trip during this time and was currently in Sirius. Upon receiving Ying Chenlin's communication, he immediately agreed to come over.
Grandpa Gu didn't expect Ying Chenlin to arrange everything so quickly. He was aware of Jianheng's reputation but didn't anticipate that his own technology could collaborate with such a big company. He didn't reject Ying Chenlin's goodwill. This technology was the result of his many years of hard work, and if there was a possibility of continuing the research, he wouldn't give up.
So, when he presented the technical concept to Boss Zhou and other researchers, it immediately gained the approval of multiple engineers. Boss Zhou even wanted to sign a cooperation contract on the spot, willing to establish a dedicated laboratory for his research.
Shen Xingtang, who heard about this upon returning to the base, assured Grandpa Gu, saying that all issues in the contract could be addressed through her. "Boss Zhou is a good person and has helped us a lot at KID. You don't need to worry too much. As a businessman, your technology is beneficial to KID, so don't worry about causing trouble. Just go ahead and do it."
Upon hearing Shen Xingtang's words, Grandpa Gu's last bit of hesitation vanished.
The cooperation wasn't as difficult as Grandpa Gu had imagined, and Boss Zhou gave him plenty of time. Additionally, he didn't need to monitor the progress all the time; he could continue helping in KID as usual and periodically push the project forward.
When Gu Xiaotian heard about this progress, he cautiously asked, "Grandpa, have we encountered a good person?"
"Yes," Grandpa Gu said seriously, "We have encountered many good people, so we cannot let their goodwill go to waste, understand?"
When the contract was signed, and they began building the laboratory, Grandpa Gu didn't expect that by suggesting a minor improvement during maintenance, this young man would be willing to help him reach this stage.
He had squandered half of his life, and he didn't expect to meet such benefactors at this age.
Perhaps because of this incident, Grandpa Gu became more outspoken in suggesting improvements in mech components. He wasn't as restrictive as before; he was confident, willing to try some small details, and proposed many suggestions that significantly assisted in upgrading KID's mech components.
On days when others in KID were busy with their tasks, Ying Chenlin spent every day in the maintenance room with Grandpa Gu. While Grandpa Gu focused on researching ways to enhance mech performance, Ying Chenlin devoted his efforts to the study of mech weapons.
They harvested many anomalous crystals this time. Some of these crystals were not useful for their base's mechs and could be sold on the StarNet shop as regular materials. The high-grade anomalous crystals could be handed over to the auction house in Sirius to fetch high prices and subsidize other expenses of the base.
He already had ideas for weapon design. The progress of the weapon crafted from the anomalous crystal of the Sand Lizard was only halfway. However, the eight vines and the anomalous crystal from the little gorilla harvested in Qiu Jin gave Ying Chenlin new ideas. The counter-injury anomalous ability of the Eight Vines and the vacuum shockwave ability of the little Gorilla inspired him to create new weapons for Huo Yan.
The wind-type anomalous crystal from the Steel Wing Bird needed to be kept. Also, the S-rank speed variation anomalous crystal from his encounter with You Su needed to be kept. However, the brain domain enhancement anomalous crystal from the big Gorilla had no use for weapons. On the contrary, some tech companies liked to use such anomalous crystals to build intelligent systems. This crystal gained a lot of attention, and in the end, Shen Xingtang didn't sell it to other companies that came from other galaxies but instead sold it to Boss Zhou from Jianheng Technology.
Every time Shen Xingtang wanted to help upon returning to the base and saw the two in the maintenance room, he would send both the elderly and the patient back to rest.
Yawning, Jiang Simiao said, "Every time you come back, you're busy sending people to sleep."
"What else can I do? An old man and a patient. I feel guilty even when hiring someone." Shen Xingtang rubbed his temple and, thinking about it, smiled again. "Simiao, do you think our base has started turning things around?"
Jiang Simiao replied, "We've already turned things around, starting from when you dug up the big gold mountain."
"What do you mean dug it up? The gold mountain came to our base on its own." Shen Xingtang took out the recent financial expenditures of the base. "Lately, Boss Zhou seems to be in a good mood. Every time we have advanced materials, he comes to ask if I want them."
"Ah, there's too much material thrown over by Chenlin. Our customer service, Xiao Zhang, has been slacking off lately. When I send him messages at night, he takes half a day to reply."
Speaking of customer service for the online shop, Jiang Simiao said, "Xiao Zhang is very diligent too. You have to consider how much material we've produced during this time. It's impressive for Xiao Zhang to handle it all alone."
Shen Xingtang nodded. "Then let's give him a raise. Good employees like him are hard to come by."
She said this, but her gaze lingered on two documents on the light brain.
One of them was a document on the reform of the Mech Alliance competition system.
Seeing the document on the new competition system, Jiang Simiao asked, "Has the news come down? Are we going to modify medical mechs?"
"It's basically confirmed. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be in the next two years. The specific competition system is still under discussion, and the progress depends on the Galaxy Alliance headquarters."
Shen Xingtang frowned slightly. "There are many bases that have long been prepared for medical mechs. Other galaxies have secretly trained medical mech operators. The operation of such a competition system is not beneficial to us, the weaker star systems, because we have never had a system for training medical personnel. Chairman Li's application to suspend the competition is actually buying time for Dawn."
"The chance for training is not much."
Shen Xingtang looked at the other document, which was labeled [Korya Contamination Zone], and said coldly, "But some people just like to bully the weak."
-
In the Gale Base, Brother Zhang sat with a gloomy face in the Gale Base conference room.
During this period, the materials produced by KID exceeded his imagination, and he couldn't handle the workload. In the end, he could only mobilize a few base employees to help KID organize the materials. He gave up on finding Yuan and even decided to resign after finishing this month's work. Before he could submit his resignation, he received a salary raise notice from KID's boss. His first thought upon seeing the increase of a thousand star coins was that the stingy capitalist at KID finally had a bit of conscience, and he was somewhat happy about it.
[Shen Xingtang: Xiao Zhang, you've worked hard recently. Keep up the good work next month too!]
[Shen Xingtang: Don't push yourself too hard; take care of your health.]
......
Zhang Ge: ... What encouraging corporate culture. Shen Xingtang, this woman is too frightening.
When other mech operators came to the meeting, they saw Brother Zhang with a slightly sinister smile, and for a while, they didn't know if this person's recent mental state needed intervention from the base doctor.
Qi Sicheng frowned slightly, "He has indeed been a bit off recently."
Zhao Lejie replied, "Middle-aged men, there's always such a period."
Zhang Ge, seeing that everyone in the conference room had arrived, put the light brain aside, and finally turned off the virtual screen in the conference room. "The riots caused by the black hole in the Dawn Galaxy lasted for almost three months. The pollution zone problem inside the galaxy is easy to solve. I called you here today for something more important, regarding the edge contaminated zone [Coria]."
As soon as the Coria Contaminated Zone was mentioned, Qi Sicheng's brow subtly furrowed, "I remember it's the edge contaminated zone between us, Dawn, and the Second Star Domain?"
"Yes, because the geographical location of this contaminated zone is special. The chairman has been negotiating with the Second Star Domain. Twenty percent of the area in Coria belongs to our Dawn Galaxy, only one-fifth is in the Second Star Domain's Foli Star System, and another twenty percent belongs to the public border."
"The resources in Coria have always been very rich. The chaos caused by the black hole also affected it. The S-grade pollution sources inside have the most reports." Zhang Ge continued, "Because the chairman wanted to keep the resources in Dawn, he has been politely refusing cooperation proposals from other star systems. However, people from the Second Star Domain, under the pretext that Dawn was slow in clearing pollutants, forcibly intervened in the resource allocation of this contaminated zone, utilizing their one-fifth territorial claim in the border region."
Zhao Lejie became furious, "Isn't that one-fifth completely insignificant? Moreover, the Star Alliance has already given the management rights of Coria to Dawn."
"Yes, but there's nothing we can do. The Dawn Galaxy is too weak."
Zhang Ge said seriously, "The chairman has fought hard for it, but the rules for the border are too vague... The chairman doesn't want to give up these resources to the Second Star Domain. So, he has issued mission requests to several mech bases in Dawn."
Meanwhile, at the KID Base.
Shen Xingtang displayed a mission message on the virtual screen in the narrow training room. She tapped the virtual screen, "It's probably like this. The Second Star Domain wants to grab our resources, and we're not willing to let go of them."
"So, we're going to grab with them, understand?"
Author's Note:
KID: Understood!
The next chapter will enter the Coria Contaminated Zone!
The time to grab resources has come!
TN:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I’ll take a short break to recharge, maybe a week or so. My New Year’s resolution is to finish all my projects. Although 99.99999% of the time my resolutions are never achieved, a girl can hope right? Make responsible choices and attainable resolutions everyone. May 2024 be better than this year has been.
jjwxc tutorial.
Author Support Project
90. Treasure
Grandpa Gu looked at the young man in front of him. The other person's face still showed a slight sign of illness, and the young man lacked arrogance; his demeanor was a rare and commendable trait. During the time working in KID, besides Boss Shen, Coach Jiang was the only one frequently seen in the maintenance room. Grandpa Gu knew there was another maintenance specialist in the KID maintenance room, but due to illness, he hadn't seen him during his hospital stay.
Elderly people often dislike arrogance. Grandpa Gu had worked in a parts factory for many years in his early years, encountering many proud and arrogant young people.
However, for some reason, the young man standing before him, who stood straight, was humble, and understood manners, had a very favorable impression on him from their first meeting.
Grandpa Gu politely responded, briefly introduced himself, and then went straight to work, saying, "The damage to the armor of several mechs has been repaired. Ji Qingfeng's competition-grade mech hasn't been repaired since it was damaged in Qiu Jin. The configuration of his mech should be your work. I just did a simple inspection and repair. I didn't touch main work; I'll leave that to you."
Ying Chenlin responded with a nod and was about to fetch maintenance tools nearby.
Seeing this, Jiang Simiao at the top immediately said, "Chenlin, you just got out of the hospital! Put down the maintenance tools!"
Ying Chenlin had already picked up the mechanical pliers and replied, "I won't use my right hand; it won't take long."
"Ah, San Shui, let Chenlin stay for a while; it won't hinder anything."
"Yeah, if I had to stay in the hospital for a month, I'd go crazy."
"Come on, didn't you ask us to give you the data from the contaminated zone?"
This was not an occasional problem. If Shen Xingtang came back and knew that this person went straight to the maintenance room right after being discharged, she would probably go mad. Jiang Simiao paced back and forth at the entrance of the maintenance room, hesitating whether to wait and see or directly pull the person away. "Wait a moment; I'll think about it."
At this moment, the man standing nearby said, "I can keep an eye on him for you."
Surprised, Jiang Simiao looked at You Su.
"Didn't you say you were going to organize data in the contaminated area?"
You Su's tone was casual, "I'm not going to the training room. I'll help you watch for a while."
Jiang Simiao hesitated for a while, but in the end, she instructed You Su to make sure to pull the person out in time.
You Su responded lightly, appearing to agree.
The rest of the KID members stayed in the maintenance room for a while but didn't linger long before leaving. When everyone had left, the spacious maintenance room under the program platform seemed to truly start its work. You Su didn't enter the maintenance room; he stood on the elevated program platform, overlooking the scene below. The two mechanics stood together, discussing the data on their tablets one by one.
The young man had a serious expression on his face, as if he had never been careless in his work.
Theo timely spoke up, "I haven't been repaired yet; remind him."
"Why the rush?" You Su looked down, and Ying Chenlin had already entered the mech.
Theo grumbled on the side, feeling upset. It stayed silent for a while.
Suddenly, You Su asked, "Has his mech been unresponsive lately?"
"Huh? The signal is still there; it hasn't entered dormancy," Theo explained, "It might be because the stored mental power is not sufficient. Ying Chenlin can't replenish its mental power, right? So, it can only use it sparingly; otherwise, once the mental power is depleted, it can only enter dormancy again."
"Didn't you mention the mech when you handed him the note that day?"
You Su: "I did. He probably knows that he can't use his mental power at this stage."
Theo complained, "Ah, it's so troublesome. You even handed him a note. Can't you just talk to him verbally?"
Suddenly, it remembered something, "Ah, You Su, you don't have his private communication code, do you?"
You Su: "..."
"Can you not speak."
Theo: "You just didn't go get his contact code!"
Ignoring the noise of Theo in his mind, You Su considered not only the consumption of mental power but also the energy reserves in the mech. In the absence of Ying Chenlin's mental power activation, it was challenging for Yuan to revert to its original form for energy charging. However, currently, the mental power seemed to deplete faster, while there appeared to be no shortage of energy in Yuan.
Excluding other possibilities, it seemed to be Yuan's autonomous charging.
It was probably related to the storage device that heated up when Ying Chenlin was in distress, where something was stored.
An anomalous crystal, perhaps...?
You Su thought indifferently.
Ying Chenlin didn't pay attention to the elevated program platform; he and Grandpa Gu reevaluated the situation of Ji Qingfeng's mech and formulated a new maintenance plan. The right leg that was severed by the ape in Qiu Jin indeed posed a significant problem. Repairing it was not an option; they had to remake Ji Qingfeng's mech's right leg.
Remaking the right leg required a substantial amount of materials, but fortunately, KID had harvested quite a bit during this period, and there was no significant issue with remaking the components.
"One hour has passed," Grandpa Gu reminded when they reached a stopping point.
Ying Chenlin paused, and then Grandpa Gu said, "There's still plenty of time now. Health is the capital. Take a break and come back tomorrow. The mech isn't going anywhere. If you collapse, it's not worth it."
"Somebody's waiting for you upstairs." Grandpa Gu took the mechanical pliers from Ying Chenlin's hand. "Come back tomorrow."
Ying Chenlin only then noticed that You Su was standing at the entrance of the maintenance room.
Observing the time, You Su planned to bring Ying Chenlin down when the hour was almost up. However, he saw Ying Chenlin emerging from the lower repair area. Arching an eyebrow slightly, You Su saw him approaching and asked, "Finished already?"
"Taking a break. I'll come back tomorrow," Ying Chenlin replied and, remembering Grandpa Gu's words, added, "Are you waiting for me?"
Looking at the time, You Su responded, "Let's go."
So, he was indeed waiting for him.
Ying Chenlin followed his steps, glancing down when leaving the maintenance room.
A similar admonition seemed to have been heard a long time ago. In the previous life, in KID's maintenance room, due to physical constraints, Ying Chenlin often received care from other maintenance specialists when entering and leaving the room. The master was the one who spoke the most, advising him to leave the maintenance room using the same words.
—"Health is capital. Rest now, come back tomorrow."
In the following days, Ying Chenlin maintained a regular schedule, entering and leaving the maintenance room as usual.
KID's dormitory area had a few more residents now. The space inside belonged to Grandpa Gu and Gu Xiaotian, and the two innermost rooms had been converted into a medical room by Dr. Eric, who had been moving medical equipment into the base these days.
Dr. Eric did indeed have a peculiar personality. Occasionally, passing by the medical room, one could hear cries and howls, with Ji Qingfeng being the loudest.
While other mecha pilots kept their distance, Ying Chenlin found the doctor strange but took his treatment seriously.
Ying Chenlin had to go to him for a checkup every day. The daily injections he used to receive were now adjusted to a new dosage.
"You can't inject two doses at once," Dr. Eric said. "The artificial nerves in the mech's right arm look similar to human nerves, but the simulated blood vessels are different from human blood vessels. The machine has strong tolerance, but human vessels are fragile."
Pointing to the bruised skin on Ying Chenlin's mechanical arm, he continued, "Excessive injections are not good. I'll change it to a different medication, once a day, injected before bedtime."
Leaving the medical room, Ying Chenlin went to the maintenance room.
Shen Xingtang often didn't return to the base. During this time in the Dawn Galaxy, it seemed that a lot had happened, with various speculative messages circulating on the StarNet. Only Ying Chenlin and Grandpa Gu were left in the maintenance room.
The suspension of the Mecha League also meant an extended maintenance period. This was a good thing for KID, as most of the materials used in their mechs were of A-class quality. In fact, there was room for further improvement, and the large bases like Gale and YDS would likely make adjustments according to the situation.
With an abundance of materials, they could upgrade the overall components of the mechs and schedule the replacement of new weapons.
However, when Ying Chenlin proposed upgrading the mech components, Grandpa Gu voiced his opinion.
"Are the base's parts your modifications?" Grandpa Gu had been at KID for some time and had noticed the different parts in KID's warehouse, "When you made those modifications, you used a second reshaping of mental power. Such reshaping has drawbacks; after one reshaping, you can't modify that part again."
Ying Chenlin did not deny it. "Yes."
He knew about such drawbacks because the technique he used was a method of refining component performance that emerged after the maturity of part technology. It was more of a method later known to all mechanics, a method involving mental power. Grandpa Gu had briefly taught him in his past life, and Ying Chenlin utilized this method to improve components. He would polish the parts to his satisfaction before assembling them, gradually making it his habit.
He achieved such precision through years of continuous polishing. However, this method could only be used by himself. When he shared the technique with Jianheng, despite the efforts of many engineers under Jianheng, the precision only increased by half, indicating limitations in this method.
"You must have seen that part of mine. Why didn't you keep it for research?" Grandpa Gu asked.
Seeing those components in the warehouse, Grandpa Gu knew that the young man who returned the parts to him in the hospital was Ying Chenlin.
"The part is useless in my hands. I'm just a mechanic, not involved in component research. Polishing the parts is just a habit from my years in the field," Ying Chenlin didn't conceal and truthfully replied, "The part in my hands would only gather dust. Returning it to you allows the part to fulfill its purpose."
Grandpa Gu looked at him and sighed, "I have conducted such research. In fact, your method is correct, but your method is in the second step, the final refinement of the components. This operation is irreversible. However, if you raise the precision of the components to a higher level before the final step and then use mental power for polishing, your method will yield even higher precision."
"If you want to improve the performance of mech components, try my method. You can raise the performance before using mental power for polishing," Grandpa Gu said, showing Ying Chenlin a data tablet with data on a small improved component using this technology.
Ying Chenlin took the data tablet and examined it seriously.
The information on the data tablet was clear, showing an increase in precision for the presented component. Although it was only a small 1%, this improvement was upgradable and represented a genuinely scalable operation.
Ying Chenlin was a mechanic, and his knowledge of components was supplementary to his learning in maintenance. He had a midstream background, and he lacked the confidence to push for component reform.
In terms of component knowledge, he was far behind Grandpa Gu. When he saw this data tablet, he already knew how influential the data on this tablet would be for today's component technology.
Grandpa Gu handed out the item and regretted it a bit. He hesitated, "But not doing it is also okay. My method may not yield much, and it's a waste of time."
"Not a waste of time. Let's give it a try," Ying Chenlin returned the data tablet to him and said earnestly, "You said our time is abundant, right? Also, haven't you already achieved that level with your component?"
Grandpa Gu was slightly stunned. Only those who understood knew the value of components. This value wasn't just a simple functional value but another deeper level of value.
He chuckled, "But I've been researching for many years, always in the same place."
"Your research hasn't been stagnant; it just needs a large number of samples. KID's available samples and manpower are too limited."
Ying Chenlin said seriously, "I want to introduce someone to you. He can assist you in completing this research."
Grandpa Gu heard this and felt a bit excited yet worried about the trouble. "Forget it... I came to KID for help. Where would I find the time to deal with all this?"
"Not a trouble at all. He should be upstairs now," Ying Chenlin put down his current task. "It's Boss Zhou, the owner of Jianheng Technology, who rents the KID building."
"Boss Zhou values talent, and you must have heard of the reputation of Jianheng Technology. You can talk to him, and if you have any issues, I can help you resolve them. Your expertise shouldn't remain unknown; it's a treasure of this era," Ying Chenlin said earnestly.
Grandpa Gu was stunned by this statement. However, before he could react, Ying Chenlin had already contacted Boss Zhou.
Boss Zhou happened to be on a business trip during this time and was currently in Sirius. Upon receiving Ying Chenlin's communication, he immediately agreed to come over.
Grandpa Gu didn't expect Ying Chenlin to arrange everything so quickly. He was aware of Jianheng's reputation but didn't anticipate that his own technology could collaborate with such a big company. He didn't reject Ying Chenlin's goodwill. This technology was the result of his many years of hard work, and if there was a possibility of continuing the research, he wouldn't give up.
So, when he presented the technical concept to Boss Zhou and other researchers, it immediately gained the approval of multiple engineers. Boss Zhou even wanted to sign a cooperation contract on the spot, willing to establish a dedicated laboratory for his research.
Shen Xingtang, who heard about this upon returning to the base, assured Grandpa Gu, saying that all issues in the contract could be addressed through her. "Boss Zhou is a good person and has helped us a lot at KID. You don't need to worry too much. As a businessman, your technology is beneficial to KID, so don't worry about causing trouble. Just go ahead and do it."
Upon hearing Shen Xingtang's words, Grandpa Gu's last bit of hesitation vanished.
The cooperation wasn't as difficult as Grandpa Gu had imagined, and Boss Zhou gave him plenty of time. Additionally, he didn't need to monitor the progress all the time; he could continue helping in KID as usual and periodically push the project forward.
When Gu Xiaotian heard about this progress, he cautiously asked, "Grandpa, have we encountered a good person?"
"Yes," Grandpa Gu said seriously, "We have encountered many good people, so we cannot let their goodwill go to waste, understand?"
When the contract was signed, and they began building the laboratory, Grandpa Gu didn't expect that by suggesting a minor improvement during maintenance, this young man would be willing to help him reach this stage.
He had squandered half of his life, and he didn't expect to meet such benefactors at this age.
Perhaps because of this incident, Grandpa Gu became more outspoken in suggesting improvements in mech components. He wasn't as restrictive as before; he was confident, willing to try some small details, and proposed many suggestions that significantly assisted in upgrading KID's mech components.
On days when others in KID were busy with their tasks, Ying Chenlin spent every day in the maintenance room with Grandpa Gu. While Grandpa Gu focused on researching ways to enhance mech performance, Ying Chenlin devoted his efforts to the study of mech weapons.
They harvested many anomalous crystals this time. Some of these crystals were not useful for their base's mechs and could be sold on the StarNet shop as regular materials. The high-grade anomalous crystals could be handed over to the auction house in Sirius to fetch high prices and subsidize other expenses of the base.
He already had ideas for weapon design. The progress of the weapon crafted from the anomalous crystal of the Sand Lizard was only halfway. However, the eight vines and the anomalous crystal from the little gorilla harvested in Qiu Jin gave Ying Chenlin new ideas. The counter-injury anomalous ability of the Eight Vines and the vacuum shockwave ability of the little Gorilla inspired him to create new weapons for Huo Yan.
The wind-type anomalous crystal from the Steel Wing Bird needed to be kept. Also, the S-rank speed variation anomalous crystal from his encounter with You Su needed to be kept. However, the brain domain enhancement anomalous crystal from the big Gorilla had no use for weapons. On the contrary, some tech companies liked to use such anomalous crystals to build intelligent systems. This crystal gained a lot of attention, and in the end, Shen Xingtang didn't sell it to other companies that came from other galaxies but instead sold it to Boss Zhou from Jianheng Technology.
Every time Shen Xingtang wanted to help upon returning to the base and saw the two in the maintenance room, he would send both the elderly and the patient back to rest.
Yawning, Jiang Simiao said, "Every time you come back, you're busy sending people to sleep."
"What else can I do? An old man and a patient. I feel guilty even when hiring someone." Shen Xingtang rubbed his temple and, thinking about it, smiled again. "Simiao, do you think our base has started turning things around?"
Jiang Simiao replied, "We've already turned things around, starting from when you dug up the big gold mountain."
"What do you mean dug it up? The gold mountain came to our base on its own." Shen Xingtang took out the recent financial expenditures of the base. "Lately, Boss Zhou seems to be in a good mood. Every time we have advanced materials, he comes to ask if I want them."
"Ah, there's too much material thrown over by Chenlin. Our customer service, Xiao Zhang, has been slacking off lately. When I send him messages at night, he takes half a day to reply."
Speaking of customer service for the online shop, Jiang Simiao said, "Xiao Zhang is very diligent too. You have to consider how much material we've produced during this time. It's impressive for Xiao Zhang to handle it all alone."
Shen Xingtang nodded. "Then let's give him a raise. Good employees like him are hard to come by."
She said this, but her gaze lingered on two documents on the light brain.
One of them was a document on the reform of the Mech Alliance competition system.
Seeing the document on the new competition system, Jiang Simiao asked, "Has the news come down? Are we going to modify medical mechs?"
"It's basically confirmed. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be in the next two years. The specific competition system is still under discussion, and the progress depends on the Galaxy Alliance headquarters."
Shen Xingtang frowned slightly. "There are many bases that have long been prepared for medical mechs. Other galaxies have secretly trained medical mech operators. The operation of such a competition system is not beneficial to us, the weaker star systems, because we have never had a system for training medical personnel. Chairman Li's application to suspend the competition is actually buying time for Dawn."
"The chance for training is not much."
Shen Xingtang looked at the other document, which was labeled [Korya Contamination Zone], and said coldly, "But some people just like to bully the weak."
-
In the Gale Base, Brother Zhang sat with a gloomy face in the Gale Base conference room.
During this period, the materials produced by KID exceeded his imagination, and he couldn't handle the workload. In the end, he could only mobilize a few base employees to help KID organize the materials. He gave up on finding Yuan and even decided to resign after finishing this month's work. Before he could submit his resignation, he received a salary raise notice from KID's boss. His first thought upon seeing the increase of a thousand star coins was that the stingy capitalist at KID finally had a bit of conscience, and he was somewhat happy about it.
[Shen Xingtang: Xiao Zhang, you've worked hard recently. Keep up the good work next month too!]
[Shen Xingtang: Don't push yourself too hard; take care of your health.]
......
Zhang Ge: ... What encouraging corporate culture. Shen Xingtang, this woman is too frightening.
When other mech operators came to the meeting, they saw Brother Zhang with a slightly sinister smile, and for a while, they didn't know if this person's recent mental state needed intervention from the base doctor.
Qi Sicheng frowned slightly, "He has indeed been a bit off recently."
Zhao Lejie replied, "Middle-aged men, there's always such a period."
Zhang Ge, seeing that everyone in the conference room had arrived, put the light brain aside, and finally turned off the virtual screen in the conference room. "The riots caused by the black hole in the Dawn Galaxy lasted for almost three months. The pollution zone problem inside the galaxy is easy to solve. I called you here today for something more important, regarding the edge contaminated zone [Coria]."
As soon as the Coria Contaminated Zone was mentioned, Qi Sicheng's brow subtly furrowed, "I remember it's the edge contaminated zone between us, Dawn, and the Second Star Domain?"
"Yes, because the geographical location of this contaminated zone is special. The chairman has been negotiating with the Second Star Domain. Twenty percent of the area in Coria belongs to our Dawn Galaxy, only one-fifth is in the Second Star Domain's Foli Star System, and another twenty percent belongs to the public border."
"The resources in Coria have always been very rich. The chaos caused by the black hole also affected it. The S-grade pollution sources inside have the most reports." Zhang Ge continued, "Because the chairman wanted to keep the resources in Dawn, he has been politely refusing cooperation proposals from other star systems. However, people from the Second Star Domain, under the pretext that Dawn was slow in clearing pollutants, forcibly intervened in the resource allocation of this contaminated zone, utilizing their one-fifth territorial claim in the border region."
Zhao Lejie became furious, "Isn't that one-fifth completely insignificant? Moreover, the Star Alliance has already given the management rights of Coria to Dawn."
"Yes, but there's nothing we can do. The Dawn Galaxy is too weak."
Zhang Ge said seriously, "The chairman has fought hard for it, but the rules for the border are too vague... The chairman doesn't want to give up these resources to the Second Star Domain. So, he has issued mission requests to several mech bases in Dawn."
Meanwhile, at the KID Base.
Shen Xingtang displayed a mission message on the virtual screen in the narrow training room. She tapped the virtual screen, "It's probably like this. The Second Star Domain wants to grab our resources, and we're not willing to let go of them."
"So, we're going to grab with them, understand?"
Author's Note:
KID: Understood!
The next chapter will enter the Coria Contaminated Zone!
The time to grab resources has come!
TN:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I’ll take a short break to recharge, maybe a week or so. My New Year’s resolution is to finish all my projects. Although 99.99999% of the time my resolutions are never achieved, a girl can hope right? Make responsible choices and attainable resolutions everyone. May 2024 be better than this year has been.
jjwxc tutorial.
Author Support Project
