Chapter 194: Engine (Alliance Leader Bonus 8/10)

An Ruosuo continued: "However, those few people's abilities aren't very strong; the food they produce each day is limited, so it must be allocated well. Black water is the worst food, sterilized food is next, and of course the best is cooked food."

"However, only members of the top three layers can eat cooked food every day; the middle layers can have it once a week, otherwise using sterilized food as a substitute; while the lower layers can almost only rely on black water to stave off hunger, occasionally eating some sterilized food."

Everyone listened as if hearing a story, listening to An Ruosuo talk about the matters of Qingbei.

Relying on eating black water like traditional Chinese medicine every day to stave off hunger is worse than having Yu Yuan supply nutrients.

Xiao Pangzi still can't stay with everyone now; otherwise this guy would probably stand with hands on hips, feeling proud for a while.

Chen Mu thought carefully for a moment, roughly grasping some information.

In this apocalyptic environment, Qingbei being able to achieve this is actually quite difficult; their greatest advantage lies in their large numbers, so they can divide labor very finely.

For example.

There are three ways to prepare cooked food that are on par.

As for Qiming here, the combination of awakened abilities is still not bad, which is why we have the current situation,

Actually, think about it: whether it's Dong Junwei or Chen Mu, or Tang Jing and Wei Dalei, if any one of them were missing, everyone's current life couldn't be like this.

It must be said that luck occupies a large factor.

After eating.

Dong Junwei brought An Ruosuo and the other person to the side of the room, pointing at a plaque on the wall, and said:

"You can come to seek refuge; we certainly welcome you, but although Qiming isn't as large or strict as Qingbei, some rules still need to be observed—this is our constitution. As for other personnel assignments and duties, I believe Zhao Xiao Yan already explained them to you earlier, right?"

"Mm-hmm." The two nodded heavily.

If that's the case.

Dong Junwei said: "In my capacity as Qiming's Chief Decision Officer, I formally approve your joining the organization. I hope you will love and support each other, share the same boat, and do your utmost for Qiming and for the revival of all humanity."

An Ruosuo and Yang Li nodded with excited faces, as if they had regained some long‑awaited feeling.

……

He Ying walked up to Chen Mu's side and said: "Letting them join so quickly—is that really okay?"

"They're different from Lu Shanshan and the other three; after all, they also came a long way to seek refuge, but being overly hesitant actually hurts people's initiative." Chen Mu paused, then said: "Besides, Tang Jing said she could guarantee no problems; looking at her, she seems eager to use these two people."

"What bad ideas does she have again?" He Ying asked with a laugh.

"It's probably not that bad." Chen Mu chuckled.

"Who was it that locked Cao Zishan in a room filled with Xu Xue's farts to stimulate his potential, forcing him to demolish the house bare‑handed?" He Ying gave him a sideways glance.

Chen Mu rubbed his forehead, giving a dry laugh: "But it really works, doesn't it?"

Tang Jing indeed often does things that are unexpected; sometimes her methods are extremely radical, causing embarrassment.

But the problem is, all those methods ultimately yield excellent results.

For example, Cao Zishan—although that time he was almost killed by the fumes, it was precisely then that he finally managed to break his own limit to within two meters.

This also allows the high‑position gun turret to exert its maximum power.

He Ying sighed: "I hope these two people are genuinely coming to seek refuge; otherwise, they probably wouldn't last a few days under Tang Jing's hands."

……

Chen Mu's speculation was confirmed the next day.

Tang Jing seemingly made arrangements for her as soon as she learned of An Ruosuo's ability.

Next, please allow me to demonstrate a newest type of power machinery, which will also be the equipment we Qiming rely on most in the short to medium term.

At the meeting the next day, Tang Jing displayed the thing she had drawn and written all night before everyone.

That was the appearance of a machine.

Wheel disc, tubular parts, linkage device, piston……

Although Chen Mu recognized some components, putting them together still felt a bit unfamiliar.

After studying for a while, he said somewhat uncertainly: "Could this not be… an engine?"

Half right." Tang Jing laughed: "To be precise, it's called a Stirling engine."

The three words 'engine' shocked everyone present so much their jaws almost dropped.

Not long ago, the spring device had already caused everyone to sigh in admiration.

Many things, though the principle is simple, become quite different when actually put into practice.

For example, using a spring to drive an elevator—the principle is very simple, even Wei Dalei can explain it fluently.

However, when actually building the real thing, problems still abound; often a minuscule size difference in a single part can paralyze the whole setup.

Chen Mu is very clear about this.

Although all the elevator's components were made by his own hands, without Tang Jing, even giving him another year wouldn't make the machine truly run; not to mention, he still hasn't fully understood the speed governor on the cable.

And now.

Engine?

Is this step a bit too big?

Dong Junwei, Chen Mu, and the others at least know the Stirling engine; Shangshi's teaching materials have little theory, focusing more on practice and divergent thinking. In the thermodynamics chapter, they also compared several types of engines' similarities and differences—internal combustion, external combustion, their pros and cons—all covered.

But if just learning a little from textbooks meant one could build an engine by hand, nobody would believe it.

The Stirling engine belongs to the typical external‑combustion engine; structurally, it's relatively simple.

But it's obvious that neither Chen Mu nor Dong Junwei can imagine how to build a Stirling engine themselves.

"Are our current abilities sufficient?"

Although knowing that Tang Jing saying this means she's confident, Chen Mu still couldn't help but double‑check.

"With our previous abilities, building an engine actually isn't that hard, but due to material issues, two aspects temporarily can't be met."

"Which two aspects?"

"The first is the working fluid; the Stirling engine uses gas expansion and contraction to convert kinetic energy. The ideal working‑fluid gas would be hydrogen and helium, which we obviously can't meet, but at our current scale, directly substituting air can barely meet practical requirements;"

And the second one won't work, because the working fluid is a gas, and there are very high sealing requirements between the piston and the cylinder, but at the same time, the piston's operation needs lubrication, which is a contradiction.

"Do we have lubricating oil?" Chen Mu asked.

This is one of the major reasons why the Stirling engine couldn't be widely adopted early on—we can't use lubricating oil.