Chapter 187: The

Passing young researchers looked at him curiously, whispering.

"Who is this?"

"Heard he's a folk expert..."

"Just this? Doesn't really look like it."

Just then, Wang Hao rushed out of the elevator: "Master Wu! Over here, over here!"

He took Lao Wu upstairs to the mech testing field.

When Lao Wu saw the dozen or so brand-new, brightly painted mechs on the field, he was stunned.

"These are all... made by you?"

"Yes," Li Yang walked over.

"These are civilian versions improved from the Iron Wolf, developed by downgrading military technology. Those over there are engineering mechs, those over there are fire-fighting mechs..."

Lao Wu slowly walked up to an engineering mech and reached out to touch the shell.

Smooth, cold, exquisite craftsmanship.

"This one... how much does it cost?"

"Excluding R&D costs, the manufacturing cost per unit is around twenty-eight thousand," Li Yang said.

Lao Wu's hand stopped.

He turned his head to look at the sack he had brought, which contained several key parts of his mech.

"Mine... five thousand," he said.

"That's why we invited you here," Feng Yan walked over. "Help us bring the cost down from twenty-eight thousand to eight thousand."

The first technical discussion meeting was a bit awkward.

The young engineers at the institute held PPTs, talking about material performance, control algorithms, and energy optimization.

Lao Wu sat in the corner, holding a small notebook, taking notes from time to time, but mostly just staring blankly.

After the presentation, the person in charge asked: "Master Wu, do you have any thoughts?"

Lao Wu looked at the notebook in his hand, then at the complex formulas on the projection, held it in for a long time, and said:

"That joint... why use three bearings? Two are enough, add a gasket in the middle, cheap, and not easy to jam."

The conference room was silent for a few seconds.

A young engineer frowned: "The three-bearing structure is more stable, and the stress distribution is more even..."

"But expensive, and hard to install," Lao Wu said.

"Your design, if it breaks, you have to dismantle the whole joint; mine, if it breaks, you just replace the gasket, ten yuan and it's done."

"But the performance..."

"How much worse is the performance?" Lao Wu asked.

"Ten percent worse? Five percent? To spend two thousand yuan more for this little bit of performance, it's not worth it."

Li Yang suddenly spoke: "Let's verify the data."

Chen Guang operated on the tablet, calling up the "Torch Dragon" simulation system, inputting data for both structures.

Three minutes later, the results were out.

Three-bearing structure: theoretical load 1.5 tons, lifespan 10,000 hours, cost 2,100 yuan.

Double-bearing plus gasket structure: theoretical load 1.3 tons, lifespan 9,500 hours, cost 300 yuan.

Performance difference of thirteen percent, lifespan difference of five percent, but the cost difference was seven times.

The conference room was dead silent.

Lao Wu added: "And we can make the gaskets ourselves, just grind down some scrap iron plates, it costs nothing."

That afternoon, Lao Wu ate his first meal at the institute's canteen.

Buffet, dozens of dishes, take whatever you want.

Lao Wu held the plate, looking at those dishes, his hands even shaking a little.

"Master Wu, eat more," Wang Hao put a piece of braised pork on his plate. "We have plenty here!"

Lao Wu lowered his head to eat, eating very slowly and carefully.

Halfway through, he suddenly said: "This meal... is enough for me to build half a mech."

Everyone at the table was stunned.

Lao Wu looked up, his eyes a little red: "I collect scrap in the countryside, I've seen too many people."

"There are old men who walk twenty miles to sell scrap iron just to save five yuan in bus fare. There are old ladies who save plastic bottles for a year, selling them for eighty yuan, and they're as happy as can be."

He paused: "You guys do high-tech to win glory for the country. I mess around with junk to let those old men and ladies use something decent too."

No one at the table spoke.

Feng Yan put down his chopsticks and looked at Lao Wu seriously: "Master Wu, from today on, you are a member of our team."

"Salary will be paid as a senior advisor, with full social insurance and housing fund."

"If your son is willing, he can come too, we'll arrange training."

Lao Wu opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

Finally, he just nodded.

In the following month, Lao Wu completely integrated into the Longyin Research Institute.

He moved into the staff dormitory, had his own workstation and laboratory, but he still wore the old work clothes he came in, and still used that tattered sack to carry his tools.

With his participation, the low-cost mech rural outreach program progressed rapidly.

Lao Wu contributed a dozen "folk optimization schemes":

Using farm tractor engines to modify mech power, the cost dropped directly from the expected eighty thousand standard to twenty thousand.

Using old tires as cushioning material instead of expensive synthetic rubber.

Using ordinary angle iron to reinforce key parts instead of special alloys.

Every time he optimized something, he would say: "This thing, anyone who repairs tractors in the countryside knows how to do it."

A month later, the first "Harvest-Type 1" farm mech prototype finally rolled off the line.

Cost accounting: seventy-six thousand yuan. If mass-produced, it could be pushed below sixty thousand. Plus the fifty percent national subsidy, farmers only actually needed to pay thirty thousand.

The appearance was still a bit rustic, the shell was ordinary engineering plastic, no fancy paint job;

The joints were exposed, convenient for maintenance;

The operation interface was extremely simple, just a few buttons and a joystick.

But the functions were complete: plowing, sowing, harvesting, transporting—all could be done.

The test site was chosen in an ordinary rural village in the north.

When Lao Wu, wearing his work clothes, stood on the ridge of the field, watching that farm mech working steadily in the field, he lit a cigarette and didn't speak.

The old farmer invited to test-drive it walked over.

"This thing... can it really plow?"

"Try it," Lao Wu said.

Hearing this, the old farmer climbed into the cockpit; the operation was also very simple, just a seat and a console.

After a simple ten-minute training, he could operate it.

The farm mech went into the field, plowing.

Deep plowing, leveling—the efficiency was three times that of a tractor, and more precise.

Half an hour later, the old farmer climbed out of the cockpit, his legs shaking.

"This... this is even simpler than driving a tractor!"

Lao Wu smiled, his face full of wrinkles.

That night, the test data was sent back to the institute.

"Harvest-Type 1" field test passed, performance met standards, cost controllable.

More importantly, after the old farmer tried it, he said one sentence:

"If we had this thing earlier, my old lady's back wouldn't have been ruined."

This sentence was recorded on the first page of the project report.

The next day, Xinhua News Agency published a report: "From Scrapyard to National Laboratory—A Folk Craftsman's Mech Dream."

The accompanying photo was Lao Wu standing on the ridge of the field, watching the farm mech plowing.

The article wrote: "In this era of pursuing cutting-edge technology, we sometimes forget that the ultimate goal of technology is to serve people.

And those who best understand what ordinary people need are often ordinary people themselves."

Once the report was issued, Lao Wu's phone was almost blown up.

There were media wanting interviews, companies wanting to cooperate, and peers coming to ask for advice.

He turned them all down, saying: "I'm just a junk repairman, nothing to talk about."

But he agreed to one thing: opening a column on the Longyin official website called "Lao Wu Talks Maintenance."

Updated once a week, teaching ordinary people how to use the simplest tools and materials to maintain and repair civilian mechs.

The first video was about "how to use old bicycle chains to make spare drive belts for mech joints."

The view count broke ten million directly.

Comment section:

"This is the real boss!"

"Learned it! My tractor at home is just missing this!"

"Master Wu, are you still taking apprentices?"

The Longyin Research Institute took the opportunity to launch the "Folk Creative Fund," allocating ten million yuan annually to support ordinary people with ideas.

The application conditions were simple: have creativity, have feasibility, and be able to solve practical problems.

In the first month, there were over two thousand applications received.

There were "orchard picking mechs" designed by high school students, and "pipe dredging mechs" improved by retired workers.

There was even a housewife who submitted a "kitchen assistant mech" plan—capable of cutting vegetables, washing dishes, and wiping tables.

Wang Hao looked at these applications and sighed: "I used to think that innovation had to happen in the lab. Now I find that the folk really are hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

Chen Guang pushed his glasses: "Data supports your view. 'Torch Dragon' analysis shows that folk creativity is generally superior to professional institution designs in terms of practicality and cost control."

"Then can we be lazy from now on?" Wang Hao laughed.

"Dream on," Li Yang patted him. "Folk creativity is inspiration; landing it still depends on us."

It was late at night, and Lao Wu was still in his small laboratory.

He had a blueprint spread out in front of him, drawing a new design: "Harvest-Type 2," adding irrigation and fertilization functions.

The phone rang; it was his son Xiao Wu.

"Dad, did you see the news? Foreign media are reporting on you! Saying you're the 'representative of Longguo folk innovation'!"

"Representative of what," Lao Wu said. "I'm just a junk repairman."

"You're a national-level advisor now!"

"Advisors have to work too," Lao Wu said. "Stop talking, I haven't finished drawing the blueprint yet."

Hanging up the phone, he continued drawing.

Halfway through, he stopped his pen and looked out the window.

The research institute was brightly lit, and on the test field in the distance, there were still mechs being debugged at night.

He remembered a month ago, when he was still in that scrapyard, struggling with a five-thousand-yuan junk mech.

Now, he was in a national-level laboratory, designing equipment that might change the lives of millions of farmers.

This change was truly too big.

So big that he felt it was a bit unreal.

But the blueprint in his hand was real, the lines under his pen were real, and the lights outside the window were also real.

He took a deep breath, lowered his head, and continued drawing.

And in the more distant future, there would be more ordinary people like him who would walk into this once unreachable world because of the "Folk Creative Fund" and "Lao Wu Talks Maintenance."

Because of the door opened by Longyin.

Their creativity would turn into blueprints, prototypes, and products.

Then walk into the fields, into factory workshops, and into thousands of households.

Technology shouldn't be high and mighty.

It should bend down, reach out, and touch the most real land.

And the most real people.

Lao Wu finished the last stroke and put down the pencil.

On the blueprint, the outline of "Harvest-Type 2" was already clear.

Tomorrow, he could start making the prototype, Lao Wu thought. ===== CHAPTER 188 =====