Chapter 140

Tang Jing's usual confidence often infects others; in this regard, she and Dong Junwei can be said to be the two main spiritual pillars of Qiming.

But Tang the academic ace has always been low-key in conduct, only ever offering opinions, never making decisions for others, let alone speaking so arrogantly as now.

Seeing her act out of character, Chen Mu was about to take the opportunity to ask some questions, but Tang Jing seemed to know his intent and, getting in first, changed the subject, saying:

"Regarding defensive works, I've also considered it; the main point is still the gate's position, but merely throwing grenades down probably isn't enough—we need greater range."

"Bow and crossbow, or build a catapult?"

"In principle, bow and crossbow can be considered, but the materials are hard to obtain; as for the catapult, just as I said before, at this scale a traditional catapult probably wouldn't work."

"Actually, for such a small grenade, all you need is a rubber band."

"The problem is we don't have one." Tang Jing spread her hands.

"Next time we go out, we can also pay attention to that—not just food, but also bring back some useful materials." Chen Mu said.

"Not having a catapult is fine; I can throw it myself." Wei Dalei finally found a chance to speak.

However, Tang Jing laughed and said: "You have plenty to do; where would you find the time to stay up there all day?"

"All right." Old Wei felt a bit deflated.

Tang Jing said: "But I actually have another candidate in mind."

"Cao Zishan?" Dong Junwei asked.

"Hmm."

"But he isn't—" Dong Junwei suddenly realized: "You mean to place him at a higher position..."

"Yes, the current watchtower is 80 centimeters high; Cao Zishan can't exert his full strength up there, but if we set the platform at a height of 2 meters, I believe he can be of some use."

"Wasn't his limit said to be 2.5 meters?"

"That was just at the start." Tang Jing said: "Cao Zishan's ability is somewhat special; so far, his growth potential lies not in the strength of his power but in overcoming the influence of surrounding people on him."

"In other words, he can gradually shorten this distance?"

"That's right, and 2.5 meters isn't a real limit—it's merely Cao Zishan's own illusion; actually, the farther he is from others, the greater his strength, and we haven't seen an upper limit yet."

"In other words, last time wasn't his limit?" Wei Dalei felt a bit discouraged.

"Of course not; I even thought that if we could throw him onto Mars, he might just blow up the planet with his bare hands." Tang Jing made a joke.

"Should we call Cao Zishan over to ask?"

"No need; let's wait until we've confirmed this, then tell him."

"But building stairs that high would wear Chen Mu out, wouldn't it?" He Ying looked at Chen Mu with a mix of worry and schadenfreude.

The original 80-centimeter watchtower had already taken Chen Mu several days to build the stairs; now increasing it to 2 meters makes the workload obvious.

Tang Jing laughed: "This time we actually don't need stairs."

"But how would people get up?"

"I recall last time someone who, after visiting the watchtower and coming down, suggested wanting a lift?"

"It was Du Jia Jia." Dong Junwei said.

Who would have known that Du Jia Jia was nearby; hearing someone call her name, she came running over, and since it was her turn to look after Gu Yinglong, the petite girl followed her as well.

"Anything you need, class leader?"

Du Jia Jia led Gu Yinglong forward.

Seeing her arrive, Dong Junwei said: "You weren't the one who said climbing the stairs to the watchtower duty was too tiring last time, were you?"

"Exactly."

"We're just discussing this, considering installing a lift."

Dong Junwei said this while habitually walking over to Gu Yinglong's side and tidying up her two loose strands of hair.

Gu Yinglong usually doesn't speak much, being so tiny that Dong Junwei doesn't know what chores to assign her; moreover, Qiming currently has no plants that need her to split.

Thus, the idle Gu Yinglong follows her caretaker each day, familiarizing herself with the surroundings while trying to recover her lost memories.

Regarding this, after Tang Jing asked her a few questions that day, she drew a conclusion.

Gu Yinglong retains all the objective knowledge she has learned, but cannot recall her own past.

Moreover, interestingly, she has lost all memories concerning "people."

She knows that humans exist, but she doesn't know any specific person.

For example, she can recite the whole poem "Bring in the Wine," yet she has never heard of Li Bai.

Furthermore, she can remember a TV drama she watched, knows the plot, knows that someone did something, but has no impression of that person whatsoever—she doesn't know his name, what he looks like, his personality, or anything that could serve as a marker.

She cannot remember any specific person.

Whether real or fictional.

This is very puzzling.

If Gu Yinglong's memory was erased by some Special Ability, then the wielder of that ability must be incredibly powerful.

……

Du Jia Jia, upon hearing Dong Junwei's words, immediately raised both hands in support: "Great, this kind of convenience facility should have been considered long ago."

Regarding the duty of climbing stairs, Du Jia Jia and Zhao Xiao Yan have complained more than once, as just going up and down takes a lot of time.

The discussion did not stop because Du Jia Jia joined in.

Tang Jing said: "Given that, a lift would conveniently serve both high and low spots, though up there we wouldn't need to install stairs anymore—after all, only Cao Zishan usually goes up there, so wasting Chen Mu's several days of work wouldn't be worth it."

"But how would the lift achieve upward and downward movement?"

"Without a motor, for now we can only rely on manual labor."

"By people pulling it?"

"I can!" Wei Dalei again found his worth, slapping his chest with a bang-bang sound.

Tang Jing ignored him and continued: "Manual operation has two methods; one is for the person riding the lift to pull the rope to drive the pulley, and by adding counterweight this should be feasible, though it's a bit laborious, and if the sole purpose is to transport materials, the efficiency would be somewhat lower."

The current lookout post has no supplies that need to be used, but according to Tang Jing's plan, the position where Cao Zishan is located will in the future be similar to an artillery emplacement, naturally requiring a continuous supply of shells to be transported up.

"What about the second type?" Dong Junwei asked.

"This second type is also the method I personally recommend more……"

Tang Jing said this and shouted into the distance: "Lu Liangliang, Shan Shan, please come over for a moment."