Chapter 115: The

The final assembly workshop was brightly lit. Li Yang stood on the second-floor observation platform, looking at the production line busy like an ant nest below, his brows locked.

There was less than a month left until the delivery deadline, but the production progress of the "Jing-An" mech was stuck at a critical point.

The yield rate of the main waist drive shaft just wouldn't go up.

"Another one wasted!" Wang Hao ran over from the end of the production line, holding a deformed drive shaft, his face covered in oil stains.

"This is the third one today! Zhao Gong said at this scrap rate, we couldn't afford it even if we sold the whole institute!"

Li Yang took the scrapped drive shaft and gently rubbed his fingers over the deformed part.

This was the most critical load-bearing component of the "Jing-An," required to withstand a speed of 3,000 revolutions per minute under extreme load.

The precision requirement marked on the design drawing was plus or minus 0.001 millimeters, dozens of times thinner than a human hair.

"The material is fine; the strength of Master Li Kui's 'Dragon Scale Type 3' alloy is sufficient." Li Yang muttered to himself.

"The processing equipment is also the latest five-axis linkage center; where is the problem..."

"If you ask me, it's that the precision requirement is too perverted!" Wang Hao sat on the toolbox next to him.

"This thing is even more demanding than building an aero-engine; are we building mechs or Swiss watches?"

Just then, Zhao Gong walked over from the other end of the workshop with several apprentices.

The old man was rarely not wearing work clothes today, but had changed into a washed-white Zhongshan suit, holding an old black leather toolbox.

"Move aside, move aside!" Zhao Gong shouted with full breath.

"Clumsy hands and feet, you've ruined such good materials!"

Wang Hao's eyes lit up: "Zhao Gong, do you have a way?"

Zhao Gong ignored him, walked to a scrapped drive shaft, took a magnifying glass from the toolbox, and carefully checked the processing marks.

The focused expression was like he was appraising some rare treasure.

"Temperature." Zhao Gong suddenly spoke, "The coolant temperature during processing was 0.5 degrees too high."

Li Yang was stunned: "Our temperature control system is imported from Germany, the precision can reach..."

"Foreign gadgets are still not smart enough!" Zhao Gong interrupted him and turned to instruct his apprentices, "Go, invite the old partner out."

A few minutes later, several young workers pushed over a guy covered in canvas.

When the canvas was lifted, everyone was stunned.

It was a rusty, old-fashioned manual milling machine, looking older than the fathers of many people present.

"Zhao Gong, are you kidding?" Wang Hao was dumbfounded.

"This antique is older than my grandfather; can it process parts with a precision of 0.001 millimeters?"

Zhao Gong snorted and slowly adjusted the dial on the milling machine: "What do you little brats know?"

"This machine has been with me for over thirty years; it knows the rules better than these CNC ones."

Under everyone's skeptical gaze, Zhao Gong began his performance.

He didn't look at any electronic screens but gently touched the surface of the workpiece with his hands, closing his eyes from time to time, adjusting entirely by feel.

Those calloused hands were amazingly steady, and every movement carried a unique rhythm.

"See that?" Zhao Gong explained while operating.

"The material is telling you what temperature and speed it wants."

"Those machines of yours are too rigid!"

Three hours later, when Zhao Gong placed the processed drive shaft on the detector, the whole workshop went quiet.

"Precision... 0.0008 millimeters." The inspector's voice was trembling.

"It's 0.0002 millimeters higher than the design requirement!"

"That's impossible!" Wang Hao rushed over to check the detector himself, "Is this broken machine broken?"

Zhao Gong slowly lit a cigarette and proudly blew a smoke ring: "The machine isn't broken; it's that you rely too much on these new machines."

"Remember, no matter how good the equipment is, it's still used by people."

This local method soon spread throughout the workshop.

Under Zhao Gong's guidance, workers began to combine modern equipment with traditional craftsmanship.

They discovered that for certain critical processes, the feel of an old master was indeed more reliable than cold numbers.

"Director Li! Director Li!" A young technician ran over excitedly, "Master Li Kui has a breakthrough too!"

In the materials lab, Li Kui was dancing around a newly baked furnace of "Dragon Scale Alloy."

When the furnace door opened, it wasn't the usual silver-gray, but shimmering with a faint golden luster.

"See that? See that?" Li Kui was incoherent with excitement.

"I said add a little of that... ah, who cares what it is! Anyway, it worked! The yield rate of this furnace can reach eighty percent!"

It turned out that after continuous failures, Li Kui had a sudden inspiration and added a certain rare earth element during smelting.

This formula couldn't be found in textbooks at all; it was entirely figured out based on his decades of blacksmithing experience.

"You are..." Li Yang picked up a sample and found it was ten percent lighter than before, but the strength had actually increased.

"Lighter, right?" Li Kui rubbed his hands proudly.

"I was thinking, mechs need to run and jump, so being too heavy is a waste of effort. This is just like blacksmithing; good steel must be used on the blade!"

These local methods soon caused a chain reaction on the production line.

The yield rate of drive shafts soared from thirty percent to seventy-five percent, the new alloy reduced the overall weight of the mech by eight percent, and even energy consumption dropped.

"My god..." Wang Hao looked at the tenth "Jing-An" that had just come off the line and couldn't help but exclaim.

"At this rate, we might finish the mission ahead of schedule!"

However, just as everyone was rejoicing, Chen Guang hurriedly found Li Yang: "There's a problem."

"The electromagnetic properties of the new alloy have changed, affecting the signal transmission of the 'Torch Dragon' system."

The workshop became tense again.

If this problem wasn't solved, all previous efforts would be in vain.

"Let me think..." Li Yang stared at the test data.

"If we add a layer of nano-scale shielding inside the armor..."

"That would increase weight, and the processing difficulty is too high." Chen Guang shook his head.

Zhao Gong, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "Use copper mesh, hand-woven."

Everyone was stunned.

"Old man, what era is this, still hand-weaving?" Wang Hao was between laughter and tears.

Zhao Gong glared at him: "What do you know! The mesh woven by machines is too regular, and signal reflection has a pattern."

"Hand-woven mesh looks messy, but it can actually form better diffuse reflection."

No sooner said than done.

Under Zhao Gong's leadership, several skilled female workers began this seemingly atavistic work.

They used special copper wires thinner than a human hair, weaving the shielding mesh bit by bit under a magnifying glass.

Three days later, when the first "Jing-An" equipped with the hand-woven shielding mesh completed testing, everyone was shocked by the results.

Signal interference was actually reduced by fifty percent more than expected!

"This works too?!" Wang Hao looked at the test report, almost popping his eyes out.

Li Yang gently touched the smooth outer shell of the mech and sighed: "Sometimes, the most cutting-edge technology actually requires the simplest wisdom."

In the evening, the eleventh "Jing-An" successfully came off the line.

Feng Yan arrived upon hearing the news, looking at the steel giants arranged neatly on the production line, and didn't speak for a long time.

"At this speed, there's no problem finishing thirty units by the end of the month." Li Yang reported the progress.

Feng Yan nodded, but his gaze looked out the window: "Speed up the progress. Just received news that the movements at the border are getting bigger."

Hearing this, everyone's expressions became solemn.

They finally understood why the higher-ups wanted to speed up the equipping progress at all costs.

"Don't worry, Brother Feng!" Wang Hao patted his chest.

"With Zhao Gong and Master Li, these two 'gods' here, let alone thirty units, we can build three hundred!"

Zhao Gong snorted: "Stop flattering! Hurry up and install the drive shaft for the thirteenth unit, don't delay my getting off work!"

Amidst the laughter of the crowd, the speed of the production line seemed to increase a bit more. ===== CHAPTER 116 =====