Reborn in 1977, I will no longer be my brother's blood bag.

There are six long tables in Laboratory Hall No. 1.

Each table has an old motor, a base plate, and the same number of relays.

The questions on the blackboard only have three lines.

Temperature control is completed within three hours, with shutdown upon heating and startup upon cooling.

Continuous operation must not be out of control.

After reading the question, Zhao Guodong first went to look through the parts on the table.

"The relay is peeling and the buttons are old. The school really can't bear to give us new ones."

He Qiuyan pressed several buttons and picked out a red one.

"The rebound is slow."

"Change."

"Only one part can be replaced per group." Li Mingyuan picked up the requisition form. "If we use it now, we won't have any more if it breaks later."

Zhao Guodong squatted down by the table.

"What if it gets stuck halfway through the exam?"

He Qiuyan had already opened the outer casing.

"Repair it first."

A soft laugh came from the next table.

Liang Jianmin won first place in the department's experimental test last year, and several people in his group are also senior students. Their wires have been arranged by color, and their tools are all in their respective places.

"The evaluation only considers the final result," Liang Jianmin said. "Repairing old buttons won't earn you any extra points."

He Qiuyan re-secured the spring and pressed it twice.

"If it saves you a replacement opportunity, why not?"

The bell rang.

The only sound in the lab was the clinking of tools against the table.

Lin Xiuhe spread out the blueprints.

"Li Mingyuan connects the control line, Zhao Guodong sets up the main circuit, Du Changshun installs the base plate, and Qiu Yan checks the parts."

The group of people each started working on their own.

Liang Jianmin's group was indeed fast.

Just over an hour and a half later, they had successfully powered on the device.

When the temperature probe is placed in hot water, the motor immediately stops; when cold water is placed in, the motor starts running again.

The reaction was crisp, and the pointer remained steady.

The reviewer made a few notes on the record sheet.

After Liang Jianmin finished reporting the data, he turned to the person next to him and asked:

"Aren't you ready yet?"

Zhao Guodong raised his head.

"What's the rush?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to submit the forms in time."

"wiring."

Lin Xiuhe handed over a wire.

Zhao Guodong persisted in his words and continued to tighten the connector.

Once the Morning Star group was completed, there were only forty minutes left on the clock on the wall.

Zhao Guodong closed the gate.

The indicator light is on.

However, the motor continued to run after the temperature reached the set position.

Li Mingyuan inspected the circuit and quickly pointed to one of the old relays.

"Unstable latching".

The only chance to replace the part is used here.

With the new parts installed, the equipment finally completed the startup, shutdown, and restart process.

Zhao Guodong looked down at his watch.

"Twenty-seven minutes left. Hand it in."

Li Mingyuan flipped through the record sheet.

"Submit it now, and your grades won't be low."

Lin Xiuhe put the probe back into the hot water.

"Let's run another round."

Zhao Guodong thought he had misheard.

"Still running? If it breaks down again, there won't even be time to fix it."

The problem requires continuous execution.

"We've already run that far."

"One round doesn't show continuity."

Li Mingyuan tapped the record sheet with a pencil.

"Submit now, and you'll at least be in the top three. If you keep testing, and something goes wrong, you might not get a score."

Lin Xiuhe looked at the still-running motor.

Of course she knew.

The five of them had been working for almost three hours, and He Qiuyan still had cuts on her fingertips from fixing the buttons. If they stopped now, they would have already secured half the ranking.

Keep running, who knows what other problems the old parts might cause.

"You decide for yourselves."

She laid out the options on the table.

He Qiuyan picked up the pocket watch first.

"run."

Du Changshun re-inspected the four corners of the base plate.

"I'll stay here."

Zhao Guodong scratched his head.

"Fine. If you really lose, don't blame me when you get back."

Li Mingyuan reopened the notebook.

"Start the timer."

The fourth round has begun.

The temperature rose slowly.

The motor stopped.

After replacing the probe with cold water, the shaft started moving again.

They were a few seconds slower than Liang Jianmin's group, but the whole process went smoothly.

Eight minutes later, a sudden, rapid vibration came from next door.

Liang Jianmin's device would stop and then start again, with the relay jumping back and forth.

He quickly cut off the power and lifted the cover.

The three layers of control wires were crammed together, with several connections pressed to the very back. The team members swarmed around to check, but the more they rushed, the more chaotic things became, and the wires they had just straightened were pulled apart.

The reviewers reminded:

"Twelve minutes left."

Liang Jianmin moved the people to both sides.

"Don't all crowd together, check them one by one."

Sweat was dripping from his chin onto the drawings.

Lin Xiuhe finished her fourth round.

He Qiuyan announced the last number.

"normal."

Zhao Guodong pulled the power switch, picked up the record sheet, and walked towards the review table.

"pay!"

When the bell rang, Liang Jianmin's side was still open.

After reviewing the records of the four rounds of the Rising Star group, the judges opened the equipment casing.

The wiring is not complicated; the main line and control line are clearly distinguished, and several key connection points are labeled with numbers.

"Your response speed is second only to the others."

Lin Xiuhe nodded.

"Three seconds slower."

"Only twenty-seven minutes left, and you still dare to keep running?"

"The equipment malfunctioned twice."

"so what?"

That's why we have to run again.

The teacher turned to the last page.

"If it breaks, you might not even get a place this time."

"That's still better than handing over a set of equipment that you yourself wouldn't dare use much of."

The teacher, holding the record sheet, turned around and looked at Liang Jianmin's group.

That side has the highest performance data.

Beneath the cover, however, lay a tangled mess of unidentified wiring.

Half an hour later, the results were posted on the blackboard.

First place.

Qimingxing Student Group.

Performance is the second priority.

Stability is the top priority.

Troubleshooting is the top priority.

Cost control is the top priority.

Zhao Guodong squeezed to the front of the crowd, first reading out "first place," then looking through all the sub-categories, before turning around and shouting:

"It really is us!"

He Qiuyan stood behind, still holding the repaired red button in her hand.

Li Mingyuan copied the results into his notebook and added two words next to "Fourth Round".

It's time to run.

Liang Jianmin did not come over to argue.

He stood in front of his test bench, laid out the three layers of circuitry again, and marked each section with a pencil.

The reviewing teacher handed the stamped transcript to Lin Xiuhe.

"You guys don't have the highest parameters."

He then pointed to the device whose cover had been closed.

"But out of the six groups, only you dared to let it continue running after the problem occurred."

Professor Chen then handed over a notice.

"Next month, there will be an exchange and evaluation of automatic control research projects among universities in northern China."

"The department will report your group."

Zhao Guodong received the notice and, upon seeing the words "other school," his smile hadn't even faded.

Lin Xiuhe stacked the report card and the notice together and put them into the drawing bag.