Chapter 186: The

The 150th day after the document was released, outskirts of Yunchuan City, Lao Wu's Scrap Recycling Station.

Seven in the morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Lao Wu (Wu Youcai, fifty-two years old, but looking like sixty-two) squatted on the concrete floor of his yard, holding half a welding rod, struggling with a pile of scrap iron in front of him.

"This gearbox... the gear ratio is wrong," he muttered, dragging over a gearbox dismantled from a scrapped tractor.

Behind him stood a three-meter-tall iron creation.

Using "mech" to describe it might be a bit of a stretch; the shell was pieced together from various scrap iron plates, and rough welding marks could still be seen at the seams;

The left arm was a hydraulic arm dismantled from an excavator, and the right arm was a modified small crane arm from a tower crane;

The leg structure was the most outrageous: one side had a motorcycle shock absorber, and the other had the rear axle of a farm tricycle.

The power source was even more extreme: three old electric scooter motors, plus two truck batteries, forcibly connected through a transmission system designed by Lao Wu himself.

The whole creation stood in the yard like an iron beggar that had just crawled out of a scrap heap, but somehow... it could actually move.

"Test number two hundred and thirty-seven," Lao Wu pressed his homemade remote control. "Rise."

The motors hummed, and the iron creation slowly raised its right arm (the one modified from the small crane arm), traced an arc in the air, and then precisely picked up an empty soda can from the ground.

The movement was a bit stiff, a bit slow, but very steady.

"Release."

The soda can was gently placed on a small table nearby, without falling over.

Lao Wu grinned, revealing a mouth of teeth yellowed by smoking.

Just then, his son Xiao Wu (Wu Ming, twenty-two years old) rushed out of the house, holding his phone: "Dad! Dad! Look at this!"

On the phone screen was a comment posted three days ago by the official account of the Longyin Research Institute:

"Brother, your craftsmanship is amazing. Interested in joining the Longyin Civilian Creative Advisory Group? Travel expenses reimbursed, and room and board provided."

Under this comment, there were already over a hundred thousand likes and thousands of replies.

Xiao Wu was so excited his hands were shaking: "President Feng! It's President Feng himself who commented! Dad, you're going to be famous!"

Lao Wu took the phone and squinted for a long time; he was a bit farsighted and couldn't see clearly without glasses.

"What does this mean?"

"They're inviting you to the Longyin Research Institute! To be an advisor!" Xiao Wu almost shouted. "This is a national-level position!"

Lao Wu was silent for three seconds, handed the phone back, and turned to continue fiddling with his gearbox.

"Not going."

"Why?!" Xiao Wu was anxious. "This is such a good opportunity!"

"Can they even look at this pile of junk of mine?" Lao Wu didn't look back.

"They do high-tech stuff, what am I? Pieced together from scrap."

Xiao Wu wanted to say more, but Lao Wu waved his hand: "Hurry up and eat breakfast, go to school after you're done. Don't you have class today?"

"I've already graduated!"

"Then go find a job."

Xiao Wu stomped his feet in anger, but there was nothing he could do; his dad just had that temper.

Three days later, inside the Longyin Research Institute.

Feng Yan looked at the backend data, frowning slightly.

After that comment was posted, the account "Scrapyard Lao Wu" hadn't replied, hadn't sent a private message, and hadn't done anything.

The comment section, however, had exploded, with a bunch of people tagging Lao Wu, but the person involved had no reaction.

"This Lao Wu... does he not go online?" Wang Hao leaned over and asked.

"His son does," Chen Guang pulled up the user information.

"The account was registered by his son, and the videos were posted by his son, but the one actually operating the mech is Lao Wu himself."

Li Yang was carefully studying the dozen or so videos Lao Wu had posted.

Although the footage was rough and the camera shook violently, he could see the mech's movements very clearly.

"The joint design is very... special," Li Yang pointed at the paused screen.

"Look here, this linkage structure on the leg. Using the simplest lever principle, it achieves multi-degree-of-freedom movement. Although the precision isn't high, the concept is very clever."

"Is there anything special about the materials?" Zhao Kaiyuan asked.

"All scrap," Li Yang zoomed in on the image.

"This plate is the bottom plate of a truck bed, this one is a pressure-resistant plate from a boiler, this one... looks like a washing machine inner tub?"

Wang Hao laughed: "Can you even build a mech out of a washing machine?"

"You really can," Zhao Gong suddenly spoke; he had been smoking his pipe on the side without saying a word.

"When I was young at the farm machinery factory, I repaired all kinds of junk. Sometimes when parts were missing, you had to find ways to find substitutes. This Lao Wu... his methods are wild, but very practical."

Feng Yan thought for a moment: "Let's go take a trip."

"Now?" Wang Hao was stunned.

"Now."

Two hours later, an ordinary SUV stopped at the entrance of Lao Wu's Scrap Recycling Station.

Lao Wu was still in the yard removing rust from an old generator; hearing the car, he looked up, then lowered his head and continued working.

Feng Yan got out of the car, followed by Wang Hao, Li Yang, Chen Guang, and Zhao Kaiyuan.

The five were dressed in casual clothes, not looking like researchers at all, but rather like people coming to buy scrap.

"Master Wu?" Feng Yan walked to the yard gate.

Lao Wu looked up, squinting at them: "Selling scrap? Weigh it over there."

"Not selling scrap," Feng Yan smiled. "We're here to see the mech."

The wire brush in Lao Wu's hand suddenly stopped.

He stood up and patted the rust off his body: "See what?"

"See the one you made," Feng Yan pointed to the iron creation in the corner of the yard.

"Can you demonstrate it?"

Lao Wu looked at them for a few seconds, didn't speak, walked to the pile of scrap iron, and pressed the remote control.

The motors started, and the iron creation slowly stood straight.

Then it began to demonstrate: walking (although a bit wobbly), turning, raising its hand, grabbing, and putting down.

Throughout the whole process, Lao Wu didn't speak, just stood on the side watching.

After the demonstration, he turned off the power: "That's all."

Feng Yan walked to the mech and carefully looked at the details of the assembly.

The welding was rough, but the stress points were all thickened; the wiring was also exposed, but all wrapped with electrical tape;

Some grease could still be seen at the joints, the old-fashioned kind of lubricant, not synthetic oil.

"Can I ask about the design concept?" Li Yang spoke up.

Lao Wu glanced at him: "What concept? Just thought it would work."

"This leg structure," Li Yang pointed.

"Why use a tricycle rear axle modification? Wouldn't it be better to just make an axle?"

"The rear axle is ready-made, sturdy, and can handle differential," Lao Wu said. "Making an axle yourself is a lot of effort, and it might not be as sturdy."

"Then this hydraulic arm," Wang Hao leaned in, "how do you control the pressure?"

"I added a pressure relief valve on top," Lao Wu fished a small part out of the toolbox next to him.

"Dismantled from this scrapped hydraulic press, adjusted it, and it automatically releases pressure when the pressure gets too high."

"What about energy?" Zhao Kaiyuan asked. "How long does the battery last?"

"Fully charged, it can work for two hours," Lao Wu said. "If connected to a generator, it can work continuously."

Chen Guang had been scanning the mech structure with a tablet, and at this point, he looked up: "Master Wu, this mech of yours... how much did it cost?"

Lao Wu thought for a moment: "Motors, batteries, scrap iron... counting electricity and welding rods, about five thousand yuan."

"Five thousand?!" Wang Hao's eyes widened. "I spend more than five thousand just going out for a meal now!"

Lao Wu ignored him and looked at Feng Yan: "What exactly do you guys do?"

Feng Yan took out his work ID: "Longyin Research Institute. I'm Feng Yan."

Lao Wu took the ID, squinted at it for a long time, then handed it back: "Oh."

Just an "Oh."

Wang Hao couldn't help it: "Master Wu, our President Feng came personally to invite you to the institute, why aren't you excited at all?"

"Excited for what?" Lao Wu lit a cigarette. "I'm just a scrap collector, what can I do at the research institute? Sweep the floor?"

"Not sweeping the floor," Feng Yan said seriously. "We're inviting you to be an advisor. We need your experience."

"What experience do I have?" Lao Wu exhaled a puff of smoke. "Just messing around."

"We couldn't even do that 'messing around'," Li Yang pointed to the mech.

"You made something that can work for a cost of five thousand yuan, while our mechs start at three hundred thousand."

Lao Wu was silent.

Feng Yan continued: "We want to do a low-cost mech rural outreach program, letting rural areas use mechs too."

"But the cost has never been able to come down, and the performance hasn't been balanced well; I think you can help us."

"Rural areas?" Lao Wu's eyes moved.

"Yes, plowing, harvesting, transporting—these jobs can all be done more easily with mechs," Feng Yan paused.

"But it has to be cheap, and it has to be sturdy, and farmers have to be able to fix it themselves if it breaks."

Lao Wu stepped on the cigarette butt, didn't speak, walked to his pile of scrap iron, squatted down, and started fiddling with the gearbox again.

Just when Feng Yan thought there was no hope, Lao Wu suddenly spoke:

"When are we going?"

Three days later, the Longyin Research Institute welcomed a special guest.

Lao Wu was wearing his washed-out work clothes, carrying a tattered sack, standing in the lobby of the institute, looking just like a migrant worker who had walked into the wrong place. ===== CHAPTER 187 =====