Chapter 181

The midsummer sun hadn't climbed up for long, and the heat was already pressing on the construction site like an invisible thick blanket, stuffy and dull.

On the construction site of the "Bao'an Central District Super High-Rise Complex Project."

Project Manager Old Chen stood on the edge of the foundation pit where the base concrete had just been poured, holding the construction schedule, his brows furrowed enough to pinch a fly to death.

"Manager Chen, the client just called again," construction worker Xiao Liu ran over, sweating profusely.

"Asking why our progress is half a month slower than the contract."

"How would I know?" Old Chen threw his safety helmet on the ground.

"Thirty-eight floors, two hundred meters high, you tell me how else it can be faster? In this little space, only two tower cranes can be used, workers can only work eight hours a day, faster? Faster and people will die!"

This was not false.

In the traditional construction industry, progress has a physical ceiling.

Steel bars have to be tied one by one, templates have to be supported one by one, and concrete has to be poured truck by truck.

No matter how much you rush the construction period, you can only do so much work in a day.

Xiao Liu swallowed and lowered his voice: "I heard... the project next door, China Construction, introduced a batch of new equipment."

"What new equipment? Can it be faster than a tower crane?"

"Not a tower crane," Xiao Liu took out his phone and pulled up a blurry video, "It's this."

In the video, more than a dozen yellow, humanoid machines were busy on a construction site.

Some were carrying bundles of steel bars, some were installing curtain wall glass, and some were even... laying bricks?

Old Chen widened his eyes: "What is this?"

"This is a mech that has been particularly popular recently, the civilian engineering mech inside," Xiao Liu said.

"Longyin certified, Category II. I heard one can top the speed of twenty workers, and it doesn't get tired."

Old Chen stared at the video for more than ten seconds, then suddenly turned around: "Call! Call the equipment rental company! Ask how to rent this thing! I want it today!"

It was only 10:00 AM, and 30 "Jian Gong-1" engineering mechs arrived at the construction site.

Bright yellow paint, three meters tall, with the blue "Longyin Certification" logo printed on the streamlined shell.

These engineering mechs were civilian versions developed based on the downgraded technology of the "Iron Wolf-Assault Type," removing all weapon interfaces and strengthening structural strength and operational precision.

The most important difference was that they were complete mechs that needed to be worn and driven, not the low-end exoskeleton tool attachments like those for delivering takeout.

The pilot climbed into the enclosed cockpit located in the mech's chest via a ladder behind it.

The cockpit had air conditioning, shock-absorbing seats, and panoramic display screens.

The operator put on a sensor suit, wore a helmet, and every movement of the mech would be fed back synchronously.

This was the real "human-machine integration."

Old Chen walked around the mech and patted the thick "Dragon Scale-Civilian" composite armor: "This thing... can it really work?"

"Try it and you'll know," the equipment company technician smiled.

"We have trained the first batch of operators, ten of them, enough."

One of the operators was a master named Li Jianguo, fifty-three years old, who had been a steel bar worker all his life.

When he was selected for training, he wasn't happy: "I have a pair of hands, I've been tying steel bars for thirty years, can a machine be better than me?"

But after only three days of training, he shut up.

Now, Master Li climbed into the cockpit of "Jian Gong-07" and started the system proficiently.

"Hum—"

The mech's eyes lit up with blue light, and the joint hydraulic system emitted a steady charging sound.

The panoramic screen inside the cockpit lit up, showing a 360-degree real-time view around the mech, with important information overlaid in AR mode.

"07 ready," Master Li said in the communication channel, his voice coming through the mech's speaker.

"Task assignment has been issued," the AI voice of the construction site command center rang out.

"07, responsible for the steel bar tying operation on floors 3 to 5 of Zone B. The drawings and points have been synchronized to your operation interface."

On the screen in front of Master Li, the building BIM model unfolded, and the position, model, and tying requirements of each steel bar were clearly marked in different colors.

He gripped the joystick and pushed it forward gently.

The mech took a step, walked to the steel bar stacking area, unfolded the "multi-function clamp" installed on the mechanical arm, and clamped twelve 25mm diameter threaded steel bars at once.

Clamp, lift, turn, walk toward the work surface.

The whole process was smooth and flowing, the mech's balance system adjusted the center of gravity automatically, and it walked as steadily as if on flat ground.

Arriving at the work surface, Master Li switched to "precision operation mode."

The clamp at the front of the mechanical arm changed into a smaller "tying hand," picked up the tie wire, threaded, wrapped, twisted—three seconds per piece, precisely as if the machine was doing it itself.

But Master Li knew it wasn't the machine doing it, but him.

Every micro-adjustment of the mech, every exertion, was transmitted to his body through the sensor suit, and fed back to the mech through his movements.

Human-machine collaboration, this is the real collaboration.

He finished tying the first pillar and looked at the time: 4 minutes 30 seconds.

Before, tying by hand took at least fifteen minutes.

Now the mech tying doesn't hurt hands, and it doesn't get tired.

The mech took on all the weight, and he only needed to do precision control.

"Old Li, how is it?" another operator asked in the communication channel.

"Awesome!" Master Li replied with one word.

At 11:00 AM, the style of the construction site had completely changed.

Ten mechs were moving materials in the foundation pit, able to carry two tons of steel bars at once, walking faster than people.

Ten mechs were setting up scaffolding, the mechanical arms unfolded nearly three meters long, able to fix eight connection points at once.

Ten mechs were tying steel bars, supporting templates, and pre-burying pipelines, all precision work, but done more steadily than the old masters.

The tower crane driver looked down from the cab and was a bit stunned: "Is my tower crane... going to be laid off?"

Project Manager Old Chen stood in the temporary board room of the command center, staring at the monitoring screen, his mouth never closing.

The screen showed a real-time progress bar: Zone B third-floor steel bar tying completion rate, jumped from 0% in the morning to 30%, then to 60%...

12:00 PM, lunch time.

The operators climbed out of the cockpit and went to the rest area to eat.

The mech entered "standby inspection mode," automatically moved to the charging pile, the back interface docked, and began to replenish energy.

"Xuanming-Civilian" micro-fusion pile, one charge can be used for eight hours.

The construction site installed mobile charging trucks for replenishment at any time.

Master Li carried his lunch box, squatted in the shade, and watched his mech charging while eating.

Xiao Liu leaned over: "Uncle Li, how does it feel?"

"How does it feel?" Master Li shoveled a mouthful of rice, "Feels like I can work for another thirty years without any problem."

At 2:00 PM, the temperature rose to a high temperature of 38 degrees.

If it were normal, basically no work could be done on the construction site in this weather, because it was too hot and the risk of heatstroke for workers was too high.

But today was different.

The mech cockpit had air conditioning, a constant temperature of 25 degrees. Operators could even wear short sleeves inside.

Master Li was tying steel bars while being able to see the real-time temperature through the mech's external sensors:

The mech shell temperature was 42 degrees, but the temperature inside the cockpit was only 25.5 degrees, very comfortable.

He even had the leisure to listen to the radio.

"07, pay attention," the command center suddenly reminded.

"The third main bar of the B-5 pillar, the drawing requirement is 28mm, the one in your hand is 25mm. Wrong one."

Master Li was stunned, pulled up the AR view to look, and sure enough, the steel bar clamped in the mech's hand was 0.3mm thinner than marked.

This error, the naked eye couldn't see it at all.

But the mech's laser scanner saw it immediately.

"Changing immediately," Master Li manipulated the mech to put the steel bar back into the material pile and took another one.

Scan confirmed: diameter 28mm, qualified.

"This eyesight is better than mine," he muttered.

At 4:00 PM, if there were no accidents, an accident should happen.

A mech (number Jian Gong-12) moving templates on the 5th-floor work surface suddenly slipped, a wooden board wasn't fixed well and was stepped over.

The mech, three meters tall and weighing nearly a ton, instantly lost its balance and fell toward the outside!

"12!" the command center exclaimed.

The operator was a young guy, scared silly, hands and feet in a mess.

But the mech wasn't silly.

The moment the tilt angle exceeded 30 degrees, the mech's self-balancing system started.

The four attitude adjustment nozzles on the back ignited simultaneously, spraying high-pressure gas;

The leg joint hydraulic system adjusted with full force; the mechanical arm pushed hard in the opposite direction.

"Clang!"

The mech stabilized in mid-air, then slowly straightened, knelt on one knee, and finally stood up.

The whole process, three seconds.

Inside the cockpit, the operator was pale, panting heavily.

"Are you okay?" Master Li asked in the channel.

"I, I'm okay..." the young operator's voice trembled, "Just... my pants seem to be wet."

There was a burst of laughter on the construction site.

But in the laughter, everyone understood one thing: this mech is safe!

It's not that kind of fragile robot, it's a real piece of equipment with protective capabilities that can deal with unexpected situations.

At 6:00 PM, work finished.

Old Chen held today's progress statistics table, his hands shaking.

Zone B third floor, steel bar tying completion rate: 100%.

Template support completion rate: 85%.

Pre-buried pipeline completion rate: 70%.

And according to the traditional construction method, these jobs would require 50 workers to do for three days.

Today, 10 mechs, 10 operators, 8 hours, finished it.

"Three days a floor..." Old Chen muttered to himself, "Can really be realized..."

But he didn't expect that the play of the masters among the people was even wilder.

At 7:00 PM, after the workers got off work, several young operators didn't leave.

They drove the mechs to the open space of the construction site and started... "Mech Hegemony Competition."

Project 1: Precision hoisting.

Two mechs, using mechanical arms to lift water buckets full of water, competing to see who walks steadily and spills less.

Project 2: Fast bricklaying.

Two mechs, competing to see who lays more bricks and has straighter joints in one minute.

Project 3: Mech arm wrestling.

Two mechs, mechanical hands gripped together, comparing strength.

More and more people were watching, laughter and cheers connected into one.

Someone filmed a video and posted it online.

Title: "What do construction workers play after work?"

In three hours, the view count exceeded 10 million.

Comment section:

"This working environment... I'm sour"

"Mech arm wrestling is okay?"

"So, in the future, when recruiting for construction sites, do you have to require game rank?"

"This is not a construction site, this is a man's romance!"

At 9:00 PM, in the cafeteria of the Longyin Research Institute, Wang Hao scrolled through his phone, laughing uncontrollably: "See? The mech I designed can also be used for competition!"

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses: "Data shows that the efficiency of that construction site today increased by 320%."

"But energy consumption was 15% higher than expected, these operators played too high."

"High is good!" Wang Hao didn't care.

"Working without getting tired, and having fun, this is what technology should look like!"

Li Yang was more concerned about technical details: "Feedback says that in precision operation mode, the mech's joint response still has a 0.1-second delay."

"No problem for jobs like tying steel bars, but for welding, carving, and other operations that require higher precision, it might not be enough."

"Already optimizing," Chen Guang pulled up the code.

"'Torch Dragon' civilian version is learning the operation data of various trades, next system update, the delay can be reduced to 0.05 seconds."

Feng Yan listened to the discussion and suddenly asked: "What about the countryside?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Rural self-built houses, infrastructure in remote areas," Feng Yan said, "In these places, can mechs be used?"

Li Yang thought for a moment: "Technically, it's possible. But the cost... a Category II mech is 300,000, which is too expensive for ordinary farmers."

"Then make a simplified version," Feng Yan said.

"Based on Category I exoskeletons, develop agricultural modules, plowing, harvesting, transportation. Press the cost below 50,000, the state subsidizes a part, and farmers actually pay 20,000 or 30,000."

"I'm good at this!" Wang Hao raised his hand.

"My hometown is in the countryside! I know what farmers need, sturdy, durable, and repairable by themselves if broken!"

"Then you take the lead," Feng Yan made the final decision.

"Form a small group, go to the countryside for research. Three months, come up with a plan."

"Order received!"

It's late at night.

On the construction site, those yellow mechs stood quietly by the charging pile, their eyes (cameras) flashing with faint standby light.

Master Li hadn't left yet, he touched the cold leg armor of the mech, like touching a good horse.

"Old partner," he said softly, "Tomorrow, let's continue."

The mech of course wouldn't answer.

But the screen in the cockpit flashed quietly, showing a smiling face expression.

That was the automatic response of the system after detecting the operator's emotion.

Master Li smiled.

He climbed into the cockpit, didn't start it, and just sat there.

Through the panoramic glass, he looked at the night view of the construction site: the lights of the tower crane, the unfinished building, the neon of the city in the distance.

The industry he had worked in all his life was changing at a speed he had never imagined.

And he, fifty-three years old, actually became the first batch of people to keep up with the change.

His phone rang, it was a message from his daughter: "Dad, I saw the video of your construction site online! That mech is so cool! Which one are you driving?"

Master Li replied: "07. The coolest one."

"Bragging!" his daughter sent a ghost face, "But Dad, be careful, don't get tired."

"Not tired," Master Li typed, "Wearing this thing is easier than you playing games."

He put away his phone and took one last look at the mech's operation interface.

Tomorrow's work plan had already been synchronized: Zone B fourth floor, steel bar tying, template support, concrete pouring.

Three days a floor.

No, maybe it can be faster.

He turned off the screen and climbed out of the cockpit.

In the night, the figure of the mech stood tall.

And in the further north, in a small village in Hebei, a young man was drawing a crude design in the dim light.

On the drawing was a rustic "farm mech" modified with a tractor engine.

He didn't know that in a few days, this drawing would be sent to the Longyin Research Institute.

Then, a broader world would open to him.

But that's another story.

Tonight, the lights of the Shenzhen construction site were still on.

Illuminating those steel figures.

And illuminating, an era that is accelerating.