Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 197 The Machine Soul is Greatly Rejoicing?! What the heck?!

It was already past eight o'clock inside the Industrial Innovation Center.

Lu Tao sat down at the laser measuring instrument with a bewildered look on his face.

"Uh, how do you say it?"

Zhai Da picked up the workpiece and showed it to Lu Tao: "See this curved surface? Its design requirements are on the computer next to you. Let's do an experiment and see if you can tell me how the curved surface changes during the processing."

Lu Tao doesn't need to complete 100% verification; as long as he can save half of the equipment time, that would be a great help.

In the last few shots close to the "standard value", you can still switch back to the laser device.

Lu Tao glanced at the computer beside him. As an architecture major, he was naturally familiar with CAD software, but he exclaimed in surprise after just one look.
"That can't be right, can it? 0.01 millimeters, is that something you can see with the naked eye?"

Zhai Da said, "Didn't you already figure it out just now?"

Zhai Da applied only a slight force to that playing card; even he could only perceive it through his "nimble hands," but the feedback was felt in his eyes and brain.
Nothing.

Lu Tao wasn't incapable; he simply lacked confidence because he had never tried before.

He felt that Zhai Da was playing him, but with so many people watching, he couldn't bring himself to say "no."

Looking at the silvery-white metallic leaves, he looked troubled, but finally said, "Wait a moment."

After rummaging through my backpack for a while, I found a pure black card, similar to a color chart, but I didn't know what it was for.

I placed the color swatch behind the parts to increase the contrast of the outlines, stared intently at it from different angles for a long time, and then pulled out the catalog.

A few pencil lines, one solid and one dashed, are drawn, like two slightly misaligned lenses overlapping each other.

Solid lines are perfectly rounded, while dashed lines are somewhat uneven.

At first, Lu Tao just wanted to use paintbrushes to replace communication, but he suddenly felt that this method was much more effective than speaking.

He pointed to a protrusion on the workpiece: "This is roughly what the cross-section should look like."

Zhai Da looked at the parts, then at the manuscript paper. An area of ​​about two millimeters had been magnified to the point of filling an entire A4 sheet of paper.
Wan Chunrong looked at her husband with some doubt, as if asking: Is this reasonable? Is this how precision manufacturing is done?

Wu Qiang gave his wife a knowing look: "A whole chicken neck is a weird thing. Don't ask. He's never seen one before either."

Zhai Da stopped hesitating and chose to trust Lu Tao. After all, Wu Qiang and the others had already produced enough scrap parts for seven or eight people, while Wan Chunrong only needed three.

If you mess it up, just treat it as a joke.

Zhai Da adjusted the clamp and then gently ground it over the spot that Lu Tao had pointed out earlier.

"now what?"

Lu Tao glanced at it and drew a dotted line on the white paper again: "About like this."

He himself thought it was a bit outrageous, but he could definitely tell that he had never paid attention to changes at such a small size before.

It's not eyesight, but an extraordinary sense of space.
The two became more and more skilled at working together. Lu Tao's speed of observation and drawing was faster than Zhai Da's speed of processing, so when he had free time, he would draw new things on his own, constantly changing his observation angle while trying not to disturb Zhai Da.

Like butterflies fluttering around Zhai Da.

Zhai Da also showed complete trust, even abandoning his previous idea of ​​"switching back to the laser device at the last minute," and followed Lu Tao's instructions thoroughly.

Watching the two of them work together so earnestly yet so absurdly, a thought suddenly flashed through Wan Chunrong's mind. She seemed to have heard of a certain mental illness that could cause patients to have a spatial ability that surpasses that of ordinary people.
I've forgotten his name, but the way he looked at Lu Tao was somewhat scrutinizing.

Well, I can't ask, "Are you sick?" Just keep it to myself!
Finally, after working together for an hour, Zhai Da completed the fine-tuning of this surface.

This is the difference between manual labor and machinery. If a qualified CNC machine could handle this, it would have spun ten brand new machines in that time without getting tired or losing focus. But manual labor is just fixing a "surface" and it takes a lot of effort.

But this is also where human labor is superior to machines. Machines always have limits; they are there, and once those limits are exceeded, there is nothing that can be done.

Humans are different; they can continuously improve, summarize experiences, and break through their own limitations.

Zhai Da handed the completed workpiece to Wu Qiang: "Brother Wu, take it to the second floor and test it. I'm going to take a break."

Wu Qiang took it with skepticism, wondering if it would work. Later, Zhai Da didn't check it again, relying entirely on the long-haired boy's visual judgment.
From a conventional perspective, isn't this just a joke?
Wan Chunrong gave Wu Qiang a look, signaling him to hurry up and go.

Zhai Da was a little thirsty, but fortunately, Wan Chunrong's graduate students had good eyesight and had already bought two bottles of Coke. Zhai Da handed one to Lu Tao: "Awesome, you're even better than I thought."

Witnessing talent in an unfamiliar field is a completely different experience than witnessing talent in a familiar one.

He only knew that Lu Tao was talented in architecture, but he had never thought about how that talent was formed.

This reminded him that the system's prompts via "special items" might not be comprehensive.

It is embodied in an architectural notebook, but when broken down, it may include "color sense", "spatial sense", "geometry" and "higher intelligence than the average person", etc.

If what I saw that day was "sketch notes," I might have mistakenly thought the other person simply had a talent for sketching.
Does this mean that Lu Wei is the same? And even Ge Qiaoqiao?

"You're like a human laser pointer, I think we'll win this time in one go."

Lu Tao felt a little embarrassed. Few people praised him, not because he wasn't good enough, but because he had very few people to talk to.

"There are actually still many things wrong with that workpiece. Is that alright?"

Zhai Da shook his head and said, "Errors will always exist. As long as it meets the design requirements, it's fine. Besides, some parts are made by CNC."

What is CNC?

I'm a complete novice in engineering and know absolutely nothing about it.

"Where you will work in the future."

Lu Tao: ?
Have I been reduced from a human being to some kind of cog in a machine?
A dozen minutes later, Wu Qiang came down from upstairs, looking utterly incredulous. He felt that his views on engineering, mechanics, and even giants were about to be completely overturned.

Wan Chunrong asked curiously, "Did it work?"

"It's more than just a success! Don't overdo it. Just look at the surface that Xiao Zhai made. The maximum error is only 11 micrometers, which is 1.1 silk."

Zhai Da and Lu Tao exchanged a glance, although the latter did not understand what a silk was.

In the past, veteran craftsmen used "silk" as the unit of precision machining, meaning that "silk" was the smallest unit in manual processing.

The strongest will not exceed ten times, so smaller units are unnecessary (except for metric units).

I think I watched a documentary in my past life. A guy who pushed the limits of human capability only managed 0.3 millimeters and was called a master craftsman.

Zhai Da had never reached this level before, but today, working together with Lu Tao, the two of them easily touched the limits of manual processing.

And this was their first time working together.

Over the next two hours, Zhai Da and Lu Tao continued working and produced two more workpieces, both of which passed inspection.

It was already 10 p.m. Although the teamwork was getting better and better, we decided to stop there. Wan Chunrong's project team only needed three people. Doing more would not be very meaningful, and we might have to revise the plan again later.

But the manufacturing process this time was eye-opening for them; they felt like they had witnessed a miracle.

Wu Qiang insisted on having a late-night snack with the two of them, while Wan Chunrong told the graduate students to take their things and go back first, and she would keep them company for a while.

Harbin Institute of Technology is located in the old downtown area, so finding a place to have a late-night snack nearby couldn't be easier. Just go out the side gate and there's a row of barbecue stalls to choose from.

Wu Qiang quickly ordered the food, while Wan Chunrong poured tea with a big smile.

She had truly discovered a gem. If they weren't both freshmen, or even sophomores, she would have wanted to recruit them directly into her project team.

This is a piece of raw jade.

Of course, this is just wishful thinking. Zhai Da, that big radish, the school has been waiting to assign her a spot for a long time, so it's not her turn.

Lu Tao, an architecture major, would be out of place there.

However, maintaining this relationship is also very helpful at this stage.

For the first time in all these years, I feel that my husband, Wu Qiang, is a real talent.

Networking talent!
As the barbecue was piled up, Zhai Da picked up a skewer of large, oily bits. The taste was indeed amazing. He thought to himself that the craft beer section might have a "disguised" storefront. Besides pretending to be a stylish little beer bar, maybe they could also consider getting some food.

Xu Xuejun is coming this weekend, so I'll have to go pick him up.

Just as I was pondering this, a loud buzzing sound came from the road behind me, which was very annoying and could probably wake up the elderly people in the nearby neighborhoods.

Zhai Da didn't even need to turn around to know that there was a blond guy causing trouble in the street.

In my past life, when I was young, I would always think that someone's car was really amazing and that the engine was so loud. Later, when I became rich and learned more about cars, I realized that...

Dujibo illegally modified its exhaust system to deliberately create noise.

The mechanic at the repair shop told him, "Which car manufacturer would produce a car that's this noisy just to show off their immature technology? Even sports cars prioritize sound quality over volume. Any car that makes a crackling noise that can be heard from miles away has been modified by the manufacturer itself."

"Essentially, it's the same as playing music on an electric scooter, it's just tacky and uncool."

However, even the traffic police have a hard time managing this. Unless they catch the car in the act, they can't stop every vehicle to check its exhaust. The public can only put up with it and curse their ancestors.

As he was recalling, Zhai Da suddenly felt a jolt of energy throughout his body, from his fingernails to the top of his head; to an outsider, it looked like he just shivered.

Wan Chunrong asked with concern, "What's wrong? Are you cold? The heating will be turned on soon, and you southerners might not be used to it."

Zhai Da shook his head, reached into his pocket with his right hand, and found nothing there, but when he pulled it out, he had an old pocket watch in his hand.

I quickly opened the watch case and sure enough, I saw that the three hands were no longer hanging limply, but were trembling slightly and pointing to a certain spot.

And it's moving very fast.

The noise outside grew louder and louder, and Zhai Da immediately understood what was happening. He got up and ran outside.

Sure enough, just as I stepped out of the barbecue restaurant, I saw an old convertible Porsche whizzing past, and the loud noise it made was coming from that car.

A young couple sat in the car; the man was wearing a leather jacket, and the woman was dressed in pink fur like a flamingo, but that wasn't the point.

A blue zigzag line extends from the convertible.

"Congratulations, host. A special blue item has been discovered: the Nine-Turn Resurrection Chariot. It has been involved in multiple accidents and major repairs, and has seen nine owners pass away. The first one may already be in elementary school."

Ownership: Not owned, not activated.

"Equipment Effect 1: When driving this vehicle, the probability of an accident increases by 100%, and the probability of attracting the attention of the opposite sex increases by 200%."

"Equipment Effect 2: This vehicle is like the Ship of Theseus, any 'realistic modifications' can be perfectly integrated into the vehicle's performance."

"Equipment Effect 3: This vehicle has an extremely high threshold for [Equipment Modification]. No [Equipment Modification] will weaken its energy, and it may even be strengthened due to different parts."

Special Effect → Machine Soul Delight: ???

"Unsealing Mission: ???"

"Note: Not all previous owners were completely unaware, but spending tens of thousands of yuan to show off and slap themselves in the face, parking in front of a nightclub to start a free trial, they all ended up thinking they were the 'special' ones. Do you think you are too?"

(End of this chapter)