I have to get lucky right away.

Chapter 440: Is this what "people-oriented" means?
"Oh, a combined agricultural machine? That's interesting!" Feng Xue looked at the iron thing that looked somewhat similar to a combine harvester with great interest. It could be equipped with a rake or something for tilling the land, but for planting... could it be a seed drill or a rice transplanter?

Feng Xue wasn't the type to keep things to herself, so she immediately asked the question.

Upon hearing his question, Tao Qing paused slightly, then laughed and shook her head, saying:

"It's been over a hundred years, how could we still be using that kind of old-fashioned equipment? Look at this!"

As she spoke, Tao Qing took out a Z-shaped joystick, stuck it into the front of the car, and started cranking it. The creaking sound made Feng Xue's scalp tingle.

Then, just as he was about to ask, "Shouldn't you get some lubricant?", there was a loud "bang," and Tao Qing was sent flying backward, smashing a dent into the store behind her.

Seeing this scene, the young man beside Tao Qing, who had remained silent until now, seemed a little embarrassed and immediately said:

"Don't be nervous, it's just a technical issue. Tao Qing is tough and won't die..."

"Cough cough, can't you care about me for once? If it weren't for my well-developed Evil Metal Body, I'd be dead by now!"

As Tao Qing coughed up two mouthfuls of blood, she straightened her ribs, which had been broken by the connecting rod, and said somewhat awkwardly:

"The clockwork thing, you know... basically, if you don't use enough force, it won't work; if you use too much force, it just..."

"Good heavens!" Feng Xue's eyes widened instantly. He had thought this connecting rod was like a large car key for an old-fashioned tractor or military truck, but after hearing this...

Wind-up?

Although they didn't know what Feng Xue was thinking, the young man who was probably Tao Qing's partner also seemed a bit embarrassed. He glared at Tao Qing before awkwardly explaining to Feng Xue:

“Actually, we have a complete power system, but the Ink Cube is a contraband and cannot be brought into Xianyang City. However, this thing needs power, so I originally planned to use the Heart Flame directly…”

"That won't do!" Tao Qing immediately interrupted the young man upon hearing him mention the Heart Flame. Even disregarding her own injuries, she moved closer to the combined agricultural machinery and started winding it up, saying as she did so:

"The Heart Flame itself will cause the target to be affected by its own disturbance, which will greatly deviate the experimental results and make them less convincing. I created this thing for the people who do not have Heart Candles, so what's the point of using the Heart Flame?"

Feng Xue understood the debate between the two quite well. Although the forms of expression were different, the Heart Candle was essentially a way of presenting the power of will. Since it was the power of will, you had to face the question of "whether I discovered the appearance of the truth, or whether the truth was presented in the form I wished because of my observation".

However, Feng Xue wasn't concerned about that; he was more curious about:

"So, didn't that ink craftsman have the ink formula before?"

“That’s different.” Only after the massive machine made a crisp “crack” sound did Tao Qing finally wipe the sweat from her brow, cough up two mouthfuls of blood, and then pull out the connecting rod, saying seriously:

“Bringing it in isn’t difficult. After all, it’s considered a contraband, but it’s a relatively minor one. If we get caught, at most we’ll just be fined and have a teacher come to collect it. But we’re here to participate in the Covenant Casting Ceremony. We can’t just put the equipment powered by contraband on the judging panel, can we?”

“That makes sense.” Feng Xue nodded. It’s like playing games in your past life. Joining the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Sect in a single-player game is no problem, cheating in an online game is a moral issue, but openly cheating in a competition is an intelligence issue. “Anyway, that kind of thing isn’t important. It’s okay if the prototype is a bit clunky. As long as the results are out, there will naturally be experts to help optimize it!”

Tao Qing waved his hand, indicating that these were all details. Then, he slapped the front of the car with what he thought was a decoration, but now it seemed to be a button.

But this startled Feng Xue, because there was no one in the car!

But soon, he was no longer just startled, because this vehicle... no, this combined agricultural machinery, damn it, stood up!
Because of my preconceived notions, I thought it was just a combine harvester, but now I realize that this thing is a kneeling Transformer!

Hearing the violent rumbling coming from the robot's chest again, Feng Xue suddenly realized—

So you were bounced off a piece of coiled steel when you were rolling it up?
Seeing Feng Xue's shocked expression, Tao Qing assumed he was marveling at his invention and stood proudly beside the farm machinery, saying:
"How about it? Pretty cool, huh? This is our participant in the Contract Casting Ceremony, I call him Black Slave Number One!"

"Pfft..." Before Feng Xue could say anything, Fina choked violently, saying in disbelief:

"What do you call this thing?"

“Black Slave Number One?” Tao Qing said matter-of-factly. “The full name is ‘All-Area Agricultural Type Evil Metal Slave Soldier,’ but calling it ‘evil slave’ doesn’t sound good, and calling it ‘farmer’ would easily offend farmers. Isn’t evil metal also called ferrous metal? So we just called it Black Slave.”

"..." Feng Xue was still a little unaccustomed to the naming conventions of the Qin people, and suddenly worried that her body-tempering technique would be given a strange name.

But he ultimately suppressed his urge to complain about the name. After all, it was just this world, and he could always choose another name that suited his aesthetic.

Compared to this...

"Why make agricultural machinery in human form? This one is over three meters tall! Are you sure it can perform precision operations? Wouldn't it be better to just make it a seed drill or a curved plow?"

Feng Xue is a staunch advocate of "giant ships, cannons, and electronic warfare" science fiction. Although he enjoys space operas, he watches them mostly for entertainment, because he doesn't genuinely believe that humanoid machines have any advantage.

Of course, exceptions exist if remote mind control/body control is possible, so the device is designed to be in a way that is convenient for human use, or if it is simply used as an engineering device.

Tao Qing immediately shook her head at Feng Xue's question:

"You don't understand, do you? Craftsmen emphasize putting people first. If you make simple equipment, it's hard to measure the degree of control because machines have no sense of touch. They can't adjust in time. Even if a person drives it, it's hard to stop in time by sight and hearing. It's easy to make a mess of the fields."

Feng Xue found his words utterly absurd, but when she turned her head, she found that his partner also had a "that's exactly right" expression, leaving her speechless.
"So this situation won't occur if you make it into a human form?"

"Of course not!" Tao Qing nodded matter-of-factly and explained:
"The so-called human-centered approach means using human habits as a blueprint and constructing equipment by studying the human body's movement mechanisms. This gives the machine tactile feedback similar to that of a human, allowing it to judge the hardness and size of the object it touches. This is also why our metalworking school abandoned the development of war chariots and turned to the study of metal people. After all, we are all human, and we naturally know how to control human feedback, but when it comes to making a vehicle..."

(End of this chapter)