Chapter 100: Chapter Ninety-Nine: Underground Passage

To restore industrial civilization, even if only part of it, precision is also one of the necessary foundations; therefore finding a unified standard for weights and measures is imperative.

As for this aspect, continuing to use the original units of measurement poses no major problem, but the commonly used measuring tools probably cannot achieve the precision now required by humanity.

For example, the millimeter is already the smallest commonly used length unit in daily life, but now 1 millimeter is roughly the diameter of a human fist; obviously such precision is still far insufficient.

However, going further down, silk-microns and hu-microns are almost unused units, and few people know them; instead, the even smaller micrometer is used more frequently in scientific research.

But regardless of the unit, once you go below a millimeter, ordinary measuring tools are already ineffective.

Chen Mu looked at the first completed house, and his thoughts gradually drifted to this matter.

"What are you thinking about?"

Tang Jing saw him remain motionless for a while and asked, a bit curious.

Chen Mu repeated his idea.

"Tang Xueba" laughed: "It's surprising you even know about silk-microns and hu-microns."

"I just happened to hear those two terms somewhere; actually I don't understand anything." Chen Mu consistently modest in front of Tang Jing; even when he happens to know something, he doesn't show it, preferring to listen.

"100 hu-microns = 10 silk-microns = 1 millimeter, but these two units are basically no longer used." Tang Jing said.

"But I've heard that old workers sometimes use the unit 'silk'."

"In machining, the 'silk' commonly referred to is not silk-micron but actually hu-micron, i. e., 0.01 millimeter, but it's also a non-standard term; I recall that at a national-level seminar once, someone proposed to popularize silk-microns and hu-microns again, but supposedly it failed because people feared that the commonly used 'silk' and silk-micron would cause confusion." Tang Jing said.

Chen Mu nodded: "Actually I think these two units are very suitable for us."

"Indeed, it's a pity most people don't know; if we only used it ourselves, that would be fine, but the habit of weights and measures isn't that easy to popularize—look, even now many places in the United States still use the anti-human imperial system." Tang Jing spread her hands, seemingly joking.

Chen Mu nodded: "Actually popularizing them is secondary; the main issue is, even if we used these units, what means do we have to measure? The measuring tools we can find at school probably only go down to millimeters at best; a vernier caliper would be hard to find."

"The precision of a vernier caliper is generally 0.05 or 0.02 millimeters." Tang Jing thought, then continued: "Going further down, a micrometer—I recall the physics lab on the third floor of the teaching building has one, with precision up to 0.01 millimeter. For anything smaller, you'd need optical instruments, which the school definitely doesn't have."

"However, even if we could obtain them, given our current size, they'd be difficult to move and use, and these tools require proper maintenance; otherwise they'd become inaccurate after a few uses. Under our present conditions, we might as well forget about them…"

"So, for now there's nothing we can do." Chen Mu spread his hands.

"Actually, in the short term, even if we need to build some equipment, we only need relative precision, not such high absolute precision; and later, perhaps someone will awaken a Special Ability for measurement?" Tang Jing seemed optimistic.

Chen Mu glanced at her, thinking to himself, "You're quite like that."

Although he had some guesses, since Tang Jing didn't bring it up herself, he wouldn't ask; moreover, given her condition, even if she had awakened, it certainly wouldn't be just a simple measurement ability—she's practically catching up to a supercomputer.

Regarding Tang Jing's extraordinariness, Chen Mu had noticed it from the start, because it clearly surpassed the realm of erudition.

But if Tang Jing had truly awakened some kind of brain-enhancing Special Ability, there seems to be no reason to hide it.

Even if she really wanted to conceal it, she could help everyone in a more subtle way, and Chen Mu might not notice her oddity; yet now it's apparent that even Dong Junwei and He Ying, etc., have begun to suspect.

Yet in Chen Mu's eyes, Tang Jing seems to actually want others to suspect her, yet she refuses to speak the truth herself.

It feels like this girl has some major secret, and after wrapping it in a layer of optional paper, she openly displays it before everyone without explanation or evasion, as if she wants to be seen through, yet she's confident she won't be.

This is also why, since the disaster, Chen Mu admires Tang Jing but always feels a bit distant from her.

Thus sometimes Chen Mu will deliberately act stupid in front of her, just to get Tang Jing to express herself more, perhaps leaking some secrets.

And Tang Jing seems to have realized this, and is even cooperating with him in return.

This is what leaves Chen Mu speechless.

Of course.

He still trusts Tang Jing greatly.

Because with her mind, whether or not she has awakened, wanting to harm these people of his would probably not be difficult.

Her oddness is likely also related to a Special Ability.

But for now there's no way to know.

As for the measurement issue, we can only leave it at that for now.

In fact, this is likewise Chen Mu's indirect probing of Tang Jing, but Tang Jing still gives no response.

……

After the first house was built, having a template made the rest much simpler.

Four consecutive rectangular flat-roofed houses rose from the ground.

The houses' bases are firmly bonded to the ground, with twenty-four clips added to ensure they won't be overturned when attacked; and with outer walls nearly one centimeter thick, even if a mouse really came, it would take considerable effort to gnaw through.

The greatest improvement of these houses compared to before is that Chen Mu dug a passage underground inside the floor that can hide four people, and equipped it with a flip panel.

The flip panel is made of stainless steel, flush with the floor, with an internal bolt; once hidden inside, even if a rhinoceros broke in, it would hardly suffer harm—unless it directly smashed the concrete floor.

The idea of an underground passage, Chen Mu had had it for a long time.

But initially his abilities were insufficient, so he couldn't put it into practice.

Since the apocalypse, he has had so much to do that he's hardly rested at all, to the point that Dong Junwei and Tang Jing, etc., sometimes have good ideas but don't dare to bring them up right away.

Of course.

For now the underground passage can only hide people; accurately speaking, it's just a cave, and opening another exit is still far off.

Changing an object's shape, but unable to affect its volume.

Therefore, digging a passage for Chen Mu is, in principle, the same as digging with an iron shovel.

He must continually transport the excess concrete blocks out; for Chen Mu, whose strength remains that of an ordinary person, this is actually the most troublesome part, so he must constantly alternate work with Wei Dalei, and efficiency naturally drops a lot.