Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

"Students, times have changed."

Li Ang stood there, his usual playful smile fading, replaced by a rare solemnity in his tone.

"The golden age of scientists and inventors that once flourished is becoming increasingly distant from us."

"The once-celebrated aerospace engineering has gradually faded from public attention, replaced by the booming internet engineering, attracting countless talented individuals to join its ranks!"

The entire room fell silent.

Li Ang's gaze swept intently over the crowd.

"Of course, there's nothing wrong with developing the internet; it's an inevitable trend and what people want. But I still hold the view that it's a waste to watch the younger generation of elites use their best minds to figure out how to trick people into clicking 'GG'."

"Even so, I am still very gratified to see so many PhDs from top-tier universities willing to dedicate themselves to aerospace engineering. This is a blessing for Dongkuk Aerospace..."

Instructor Li delivered a heartfelt opening speech.

Then, the emotional appeal ended, and the true intentions were revealed.

Li Ang abruptly changed the subject and got straight to the point:

"These past few days, I've led everyone on a tour of the Nanyuan Assembly Plant. The reason I keep bringing everyone to the front lines is so that everyone can personally experience the most authentic aerospace engineering."

"In the last century, before Dongyu Group and Dongfang Group were separated, in that fiery era of fighting against nature and working day and night, aerospace workers conducted research and development in extremely harsh environments."

"Back then, aerospace engineers could tinker to their heart's content under rocket engines, replacing valves, repairing igniters, and increasing the horsepower of turbopumps... Their passion for the machines was something that people who hadn't handled them couldn't understand."

"But after the turn of the century, the design work of aerospace engineering seems to have become closed off, with young people preferring to hide in the office and study software on paper rather than hardware."

"Many people have never smelled the heat of a soldering iron, yet they can draw blueprints with a mouse and command rockets to execute different instructions... But I believe that such engineering designs always lack a soul, hence today's second round of assessment..."

As they talked, Li Ang led the students into a white room that had been prepared in advance.

On the long table, several cross-sectional models of spacecraft were neatly arranged, their internal pipelines intricately intertwined.

Everyone was completely baffled, wondering what the real intention was.

Song Xingye rested his chin on his hand and stared at it for a while, quickly figuring out something. He muttered to himself:

Spatial imagination, fine motor skills, foreign object awareness, emergency engineering intuition...

Chang Jian, who was standing nearby, leaned over and asked, "What kind of intuition?"

"Key points for this round of exams."

Song Xingye said casually, "If you listened to me these past few days and didn't just watch the show, but actually took a little action, it won't be difficult."

Next, Li Ang pointed to the cross-section model of the spacecraft and explained the rules in detail:

"The theme of this round of assessment is: blind operation perception."

"These models include rockets, satellites, spacecraft, probes, and even space stations. Don't be alarmed, they are just models. To make it easier for everyone to operate, the wiring inside is largely the same."

"They will be used to simulate the internal wiring of some narrow compartments that cannot be seen directly. You will only be able to connect a set of precision plugs and complete the binding of fuses within half an hour, relying on the touch of your hands and a flat drawing."

"Finally, a periscope was used to observe a fist-sized inspection hole, and a long soldering iron was used to complete a soldering repair. The solder joint didn't need to be full and smooth; it just needed not to burn the surrounding dense cabling..."

At this point, a sly smile appeared on Li Ang's face again.

"This level of test shouldn't be too difficult, right? It's been several days, and you guys haven't even touched a soldering iron once, have you?"

"Also, a friendly reminder: please do not drop any parts during operation. This model has an aluminum alloy shell; you can clearly hear even a screw falling off. One point will be deducted for each drop."

He tapped the model and said, "Each of the three practical exercises is worth 10 points. For every minute you finish early, you'll get an extra point. If you understand, let's begin..."

After Li Ang finished speaking, Chang Jian was filled with admiration and frantically patted Song Xingye's arm:

"Holy crap...you're incredibly insightful! You guessed it all right!"

Song Xingye chuckled lightly. "That's not hard to guess. Cao Que, Guo Yanyang, Tao Shuo, and Fan Xiaoying have been researching this for a while now and even took notes. Only you are so carefree, treating this visit as a paid vacation?"

Chang Jian was embarrassed. "Hehe, but why didn't you take any notes? Every time we visit, I see you just wandering around empty-handed..."

"Maybe I'm just the kind of person who prefers to compete internally behind the scenes."

Song Xingye made a casual joke.

There was really no need to write it. He was a chief engineer, how could he not have touched a soldering iron?

Soon, under Li Ang's organization, the assessment was quickly launched.

The students lined up and were randomly assigned to different cross-sectional models of spacecraft.

Behind each model was a scorer holding a form.

At this moment, the side of the model with its wiring facing the grader, while the side covered by the aluminum alloy casing faces the students.

Song Xingye's team consisted of six students, with two girls behind him.

Jiang Mian peeked over and greeted him cheerfully, "What a coincidence, Song Shen!"

The round-faced girl behind her also introduced herself: "Hi Song Shen, my name is Zhao Yuehe, and I'm Mianhua's roommate!"

Song Xingye's eyebrows twitched: "Cotton?"

Jiang Mian angrily nudged her roommate with her elbow and explained sullenly, "She made up this nickname out of thin air, and I haven't even agreed to it yet."

Zhao Yuehe said, "Her name is Cotton, and mine is Lotus. I think it sounds pretty good."

"What do you mean by 'good'? It sounds awful! I don't want to be called Cotton..."

The two girls started whispering behind him. Song Xingye smiled, then looked away and focused on watching the person in front of him operate the equipment.

From this angle, you can only see the student in the first position, wearing goggles and sweating profusely as he fiddles with something.

He would look at the blueprints for a while, then reach out and continue fiddling with them. He repeated this process for half a day before finally managing to complete the first two practical exercises.

Occasionally, the crisp sound of a screwdriver or some other tool falling onto the aluminum alloy casing could be heard.

With each beep, the grader would mark a line on the form, presumably deducting points, which would make the students even more flustered.

As soon as the first student finished, Jiang Mian and Zhao Yuehe, who were behind her, tensed up and whispered as they exchanged tips.

After a while, it was finally Song Xingye's turn.

With encouraging looks from the two little girls, he calmly stepped forward, gave his name to the scorer, and picked up the blueprint placed on the model.

The first three students have looked at this drawing over and over again many times, and each of them was sweating profusely after looking at it.

Song Xingye thought it would be a difficult operation, but after a quick glance, he found it to be surprisingly simple.

After thinking about it, I realized it made perfect sense.

After all, Dongyu Group wasn't selecting level eight technicians; they were just using this assessment to see if everyone had studied diligently these past few days.

Even the last step, operating the soldering iron, is something any ordinary person could learn after watching a few times.

Time passed second by second. While looking at the blueprints, Song Xingye automatically recreated the appearance of the cross-sectional model of the spacecraft in his mind.

With his exceptional spatial imagination, he completed the precise insertion and removal of the required components almost in one go.

"Click!"

With a crisp snapping sound, the connection was complete.

A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of the scorer opposite him.

Next, use tools to secure the fuse.

This operation is not difficult; it mainly depends on how steady your hands are. As long as you don't drop anything, there won't be any problems.

Chief Engineer Song completed the task smoothly as always, and he was very satisfied with his hand speed, which he had maintained for 24 years as a single man.

As a final step, Song Xingye picked up a mini periscope and peered through a fist-sized inspection hole on the model for a while.

After quickly going through the process in his mind, he put away the periscope.

On the circuit board inside, there is a clearly broken jumper wire; that's the wire that needs to be soldered.

This was a piece of cake for him. Although he did the most overall design work when he was the chief engineer, he didn't sit in the office all day. He would still come to the grassroots level to train from time to time.

The long rod is inserted, the wrist sinks slightly, and the position is as steady as a rock.

A few minutes later, Song Xingye pulled out the soldering iron, deftly put the tool down, and raised his hand to signal:

"Report complete."