Chapter 44

Feng Yan was practically floating back to the R&D center, his feet feeling like they had springs in them.

As soon as he entered, he saw Wang Hao holding a wrench.

Gesturing at the five-axis machine tool, muttering to himself:

"... if the old man were here, which part would he fix first? This big guy looks so delicate..."

Li Yang and Chen Guang were gathered in the corner of the "Insect Workshop".

Facing those substandard "Spider-2" joint rejects, their brows were knitted into knots.

"Brothers!" Feng Yan shouted, attracting the attention of all three.

A smile he couldn't hold back was on his face, "Get ready, tomorrow morning, come with me to pick someone up!"

"Pick someone up? Pick who?" Wang Hao didn't react for a moment.

"Who else could it be?" Feng Yan raised an eyebrow, "Our 'pillar of the sea', Zhao Gong, Old Master Zhao!"

"Holy crap! You really convinced him?!" Wang Hao threw the wrench away and darted over.

"Brother Feng, you're awesome! You really wore him down after three visits?!"

Chen Guang pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses brightening: "Efficiency is 27% higher than expected."

Li Yang didn't speak, but immediately turned around and began to quickly organize the tools and parts that were piled a bit randomly in the "Insect Workshop".

His movements carried a rare sense of urgency.

Feng Yan looked at their reactions, feeling very satisfied, and hurriedly added details:

"The old man agreed to come and take a look first, to guide the work!"

"Everyone, get your spirits up, show our most authentic side!"

"Don't do any of those flashy welcome ceremonies; the old man doesn't like that."

The next morning, Feng Yan drove and carried Zhao Fusheng to the "Dragon Chant" R&D center.

Passing through the strict security and the imposing building again, there was no ripple on Zhao Fusheng's face.

Only his gaze lingered for a few seconds on several details that were clearly of military-industrial style, and the corners of his mouth moved imperceptibly.

Entering the main laboratory, Wang Hao, Li Yang, and Chen Guang were already standing straight.

—Although Wang Hao's standing posture looked a bit like a monkey waiting for inspection.

"Master Zhao, welcome, welcome!" Feng Yan introduced with a smile.

"This is the core of our team, Wang Hao, who does propulsion and launch technology; Chen Guang, who plays with lasers; Li Yang, the main force in mechanics."

Zhao Fusheng's gaze swept over the three, lingering for a moment on Wang Hao's messy hair and Li Yang's tightly pursed lips.

He nodded slightly, counting as a greeting.

Then his line of sight fell directly on the entrance to the "Insect Workshop" at the back of the laboratory, which was enclosed by temporary partitions.

"Let's go take a look over there first." The old man's goal was clear.

As soon as he entered the "Insect Workshop", Zhao Fusheng's brows furrowed imperceptibly.

Although there was plenty of equipment here, there was the old lettering machine Wang Hao had magically modified.

There was Chen Guang's high-precision calibration instrument, and Li Yang's 3D printer.

But the layout clearly still carried the "wildness" of a fireworks factory warehouse.

Tools were placed randomly, and semi-finished products and materials were piled everywhere.

A faint smell of solder and new composite materials still lingered in the air.

Li Yang keenly captured the fleeting expression on the old man's face and immediately stepped forward.

Picked up the "Spider-2" joint with the most problems and handed it over:

"Master Zhao, it's this one. Made on a five-axis, but the precision is not up to par."

Zhao Fusheng took the part, didn't use measuring tools, just rubbed his fingers carefully over several key mating surfaces.

Looked at it against the light, then walked over to the expensive five-axis machine tool.

Reached out and touched the gap at the junction of the spindle and the guide rail.

"The machine tool is fine," he said, his voice still steady.

"It's you who haven't served it well. No compensation for foundation micro-vibration, no consideration for environmental temperature drift, and insufficient spindle preheating time."

Every time he said something, Li Yang's expression became more serious; these were all details that were easily overlooked.

"Also," Zhao Fusheng picked up the part and pointed to an extremely subtle tool mark inside the joint.

"The cutting angle is wrong, it's squeezing the material, the stress is all bottled up inside; you can measure the dimensions a hundred times and they'll be right, but it deforms as soon as it's under force."

Wang Hao was dumbfounded on the side, his inner OS:

'Good heavens, does the old man have a built-in three-coordinate measuring instrument and stress analysis software?'

'He knows where the problem is just by touching it?'

"Then... is this salvageable?" Feng Yan couldn't help but ask.

Zhao Fusheng didn't answer directly, but his gaze swept across the "Insect Workshop".

Finally landing on the old-fashioned hand-cranked milling machine in the corner, sponsored by Wang Hao's dad, which was maintained until it was shiny and oily.

And the bench drill next to it that was also of a certain age.

"Move that small milling machine over here."

"And the workbench, clean it up." Zhao Fusheng commanded.

Li Yang and Wang Hao immediately got to work, grunting as they moved the old machine tool to the position with the best light.

Chen Guang quickly and orderly cleared the clutter off the workbench.

Zhao Fusheng opened the half-old toolbox he had brought.

Inside were the "old partners" he was used to:

A few oilstones of different thicknesses, a few scrapers with different angles, and a few steel needles ground to a sharp point.

He first adjusted the fixture of the milling machine.

And personally used an oilstone to carefully sharpen the edge of the drill bit on the bench drill.

Then, he picked up a new titanium alloy blank and fixed it on the small milling machine.

He didn't look at any 3D models on any computer screen.

Just looked at Li Yang's drawing marked with problems for a few glances, and turned the handle.

"Creak... creak..." The old-fashioned machine tool made a rhythmic sound that carried a sense of the years.

Zhao Fusheng's hands were terrifyingly steady, and the feed rate was controlled with extreme precision.

After rough machining was completed, he switched to the bench drill.

Manual drilling and tapping, the movements were smooth and flowing, without the slightest hesitation.

Finally, it was manual precision finishing.

He picked up the scraper and oilstone, facing that small joint part.

Began to repair and grind it bit by bit.

The movements were as gentle as if touching butterfly wings.

But every scrape carried an unquestionable precision.

From time to time, he used his fingers to feel the changes on the surface, or observed the reflected lines against the light.

The entire "Insect Workshop" was silent, leaving only the subtle sound of tools contacting metal.

Feng Yan and the others didn't even dare to breathe, for fear of disturbing this machining process that was almost an art performance.

Wang Hao's face turned red from holding his breath, and he whispered to Chen Guang beside him:

"Guangzi... I feel like the old man isn't repairing a part, he's 'consecrating' it..."

Chen Guang stared closely at every movement of Zhao Fusheng, responding in a low voice:

"He is using touch and vision to directly perceive and correct the microscopic form of the material."

"This requires extremely rich experience and a 'hand feel' that is difficult to quantify."

Li Yang's eyes didn't even blink, as if he wanted to carve every movement of the old man into his brain.

About an hour later, Zhao Fusheng stopped his hands.

He handed the joint part that had been manually repaired back to Li Yang.

Li Yang took the part, his fingers trembling slightly.

He first observed with the naked eye, the surface finish was significantly improved, and those subtle tool marks had disappeared.

He immediately took it under the precision instrument for testing.

The moment the data appeared on the screen, Li Yang looked up suddenly.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, his eyes filled with unbelievable shock!

"Ball socket roundness... within 0.001 millimeters... mating surface roughness Ra0.05..."

Li Yang's voice was a bit tight, "Higher than the drawing requirements... by half a grade!"

"Holy crap!" Wang Hao shouted directly, "It... it was really machined out?!"

Feng Yan was also so excited he almost jumped up, patting Li Yang's shoulder hard: "Old Li! Did you see that!"

"This is the gap! This is 'living' technology!"

Zhao Fusheng used a clean cotton cloth on the side to wipe his hands in a leisurely manner.

There was still no expression on his face, just saying blandly:

"You guys were shaving iron, relying on the rigidity of the machine."

"I am embroidering, relying on hand feel and experience, following the 'temperament' of the material."

He walked over to the reject that had been "sentenced to death" by the five-axis machine tool earlier.

Picked it up and looked at it: "This one, it's not unsalvageable either."

As he spoke, he picked up an extremely thin steel needle and a scraper.

Facing a specific position, he scraped it extremely slightly a few times, and used the oilstone to gently grind it for a moment.

Then, he signaled Li Yang to install it and try again.

Li Yang skeptically installed this "repaired" reject back onto the test stand of "Spider-2".

Turned on the power, start!

The obvious interference and sticking sensation from before had disappeared!

Although the movement fluidity wasn't as good as the newly machined one, it had reached a usable standard!

At this, even Chen Guang couldn't help but let out a low exclamation:

"This... this doesn't conform to material removal theory... did he just locally release the residual stress?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at the shocked expressions of the young people, and the corners of his mouth seemed to twitch slightly.

Revealing a trace of a smile that was almost invisible: "Machines are dead, people are alive."

"Some things, data can't tell you, but hands and eyes can."

He looked around at the "Insect Workshop" that was taking shape but was slightly messy.

For the first time, a light that was almost "kind" appeared in his eyes (although it was a bit incongruous with his serious face).

"This place, it's a bit interesting." Zhao Fusheng said slowly, "Things are a bit messy, but... there's a sense of vitality."

He turned to Feng Yan, his tone becoming a bit more formal:

"These old bones of mine, I can still move. This place of yours, I'll stay."

Feng Yan felt a hot current rush to the top of his head, so excited he was almost incoherent:

"Great! Master Zhao! Welcome to Dragon Chant! Procedures, treatment, I'll immediately..."

"No rush for those." Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, interrupting him.

His gaze returned to those micro-parts and drawings waiting to be machined.

His eyes were sharp, "Work first. That 'Spider-3' drawing, let me see."

"Li Yang kid, come over here, this place, your design has some problems..."

Li Yang leaned over almost instantly, his attitude respectful like a first-grade primary school student on his first day.

Wang Hao looked at the two, old and young, who had instantly entered a working state, and poked Feng Yan.

Winking and lowering his voice:

"Brother Feng, it's stable! Our 'Dragon Chant', finally has an old master who can hold down the fort!"

"From now on, Brother Li has someone to manage him, and our parts are saved!"

Feng Yan looked at Zhao Fusheng's focused silhouette and Li Yang's unprecedentedly serious expression.

A big stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

He knew that the biggest shortcoming the team had in manufacturing technology had been filled by Zhao Fusheng.

Next, it was time for "Dragon Chant" to truly show its edge.