bioinnovel Chapter 76 Rubbing hands!
Chapter 76 Rubbing hands!
3:00 AM, Training Room No. 3, School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangnan University.
The air was filled with the smells of Red Bull, instant noodle seasoning packets, and pine resin from molten solder wire.
For engineering students, this smell is called "the smell of cultivating immortality." Inhaling it too much can easily lead to sudden death, but it can also easily lead to miracles.
"Buzz—"
In the center of the test stand, the silver-gray carbon fiber hollow sphere is spinning at high speed.
The internal dual-duct fan emits a low whistle, like a wild beast trapped in a cage, ready to break free at any moment.
Lin Wei, sporting dark circles under her eyes resembling those of a panda, stared intently at the fluctuating waveforms on the oscilloscope.
The multimeter probes in her hand were trembling slightly, whether from hunger or nervousness, it was hard to tell.
"Attitude correction delay of 0.03 seconds... still a bit slow."
Lin Wei bit her lip and drew another heavy line on the drawing that was already covered with revisions. "If a sudden crosswind occurs at this time, 'Wind and Fire Wheel' may become unstable."
Zhang Yan sat on a swivel chair to the side, playing with a screwdriver in his hand, looking much more relaxed than Lin Wei.
"0.03 seconds, beyond the limits of human reaction."
Zhang Yan tossed the screwdriver onto the table with a crisp sound, "but in the machine's logic, it's definitely enough to make it fall flat on its face."
"What should we do? Change the algorithm? Or switch to a chip with more powerful computing capabilities?" Lin Wei scratched her already messy hair, anxiously pacing in circles. "But there are only three days left until the competition!"
"Replacing the chip means redesigning the PCB board and starting the tape-out process again, and the manufacturer's earliest turnaround time is at least a week..."
Ever since that Mr. Zhao came that day, Lin Wei has been like a frightened bird.
Although she didn't tell Zhang Yan, those harassing phone calls from the debt collection company had pushed her nerves to the limit.
She couldn't afford to lose; the prize money from this competition and the access to that national-level laboratory were her only chance to turn things around.
"Stop spinning, it's making my eyes dizzy."
Zhang Yan reached for a bottle of water and unscrewed it. "Rest for a while. Haste makes waste."
"How can I possibly sleep!"
Lin Wei sighed and reached for the cup of instant coffee on the corner of the table, which had long since gone cold.
Just then, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated.
The screen lit up; it showed an unfamiliar number without a contact name.
Lin Wei felt as if she had been struck by lightning, and her hand trembled violently.
"Snapped!"
The cup of coffee, which was filled to the brim, was knocked over by the back of her hand.
The brown liquid, like an out-of-control venomous snake, splashed onto the test bench in an instant and flowed precisely into the main control circuit board that was being powered on for testing.
"Sizzle—"
A sickeningly loud electrical short-circuit sound rang out.
Immediately afterwards, a wisp of smoke rose from the precision circuit board, accompanied by a pungent, burnt smell.
The "Wind and Fire Wheel," which was originally spinning at high speed, seemed to have had its soul ripped out. The fan blades suddenly jammed, and after letting out a mournful cry, it came to a complete stop.
The training room fell silent instantly.
Only that wisp of smoke continued to rise, as if mocking human folly.
Lin Wei stood frozen in place, her face as pale as paper.
She stared blankly at the charred control board, tears welling up in her eyes without warning.
"It's over..."
Her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground, covering her face with her hands, her voice filled with despair and collapse, "It's all over..."
That's the core control board.
It integrates the most critical gyroscope module and Zhang Yan's complex flight control algorithm chip.
It's burned now.
It's simply impossible to make a new one in three days.
"I'm sorry... Zhang Yan, I'm so sorry..."
Lin Wei cried uncontrollably, a release of pent-up emotions after years of intense pressure collapsed in an instant. "It's my fault for being so clumsy, I ruined everything..."
She not only ruined the competition, but also destroyed Zhang Yan's hard work.
Mr. Zhao is right, she's a troublemaker, a useless person who only drags things down.
Zhang Yan looked at Lin Wei, who was crying her eyes out on the ground, and then at the circuit board on the table that was still smoking.
He didn't get angry, he didn't even frown.
He simply bent down, picked up the still-vibrating phone, glanced at the number, hung up immediately, blocked it, and then tossed the phone back into Lin Wei's bag.
"Why are you crying?"
Zhang Yan's voice was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger. "It's just a burnt board. Anyone who didn't know better would think the sky had fallen."
"But...but it's too late!"
Lin Wei looked up, her eyes red and swollen, her face streaked with snot and tears. "The manufacturer needs three days to make the sample, the express delivery needs two days, and the welding and debugging needs another day... We can't make it!"
"Who said we needed to find the manufacturer?"
Zhang Yan walked to the tool cabinet in the corner, rummaged around for a while, and took out a copper-clad plate and a bottle of blue ferric chloride etching solution.
He then pulled out a utility knife from the drawer, along with the miniature drill press that he only used for rough work.
"Things made by manufacturers are mass-produced goods."
Zhang Yan threw the copper-clad plate onto the table with a loud "clatter".
He pulled up a chair, sat down, and turned on the lamp. The warm yellow light illuminated his angular profile.
"Wipe away your tears and heat up the branding iron."
Zhang Yan picked up a marker and quickly sketched on the copper-clad plate, speaking casually as if he were talking about what to eat tonight.
"Since the original one was burned, that's fine too."
"I didn't like the previous wiring either; it caused too much signal interference."
"Tonight, I'll give you an even stronger one by hand."
Lin Wei froze, her tear-streaked eyelashes trembling. "Hand...hand-crafting? You mean you're going to carve the circuit board yourself? This is a double-layered board! The line width is only 0.1 millimeters!"
In an era where even nanotechnology relies on lithography machines, hand-carving plates? That's like trying to build a rocket with a stone axe!
"Is 0.1 millimeters very fine?"
Zhang Yan smiled, and the utility knife in his hand had already made the first mark on the copper-clad board.
[Advanced Mechanical Manufacturing Mastery] unlocked.
In his view, this ordinary copper-clad board has been divided by countless virtual lines.
The direction of every line and the position of every via are precisely visualized in his mind.
His hands were frighteningly steady.
The tip of the utility knife moves across the copper foil, removing excess copper and leaving fine lines.
The action didn't resemble etching a circuit; it was more like micro-sculpting a rare treasure.
rustling --
The sound of the blade scraping against each other was exceptionally clear in the quiet of the night.
Lin Wei was stunned.
She didn't even bother to wipe her face before getting up and moving closer to Zhang Yan.
Those lines, finer than a hair, quickly took shape under Zhang Yan's knife.
No ruler or guide lines are needed; every line is as straight as if it were laser-cut.
Is this the level of precision that humans can achieve?
This is practically a humanoid CNC machine tool!
Twenty minutes later.
Zhang Yan threw the engraved plate into the etching solution and shook it. After the excess copper was reacted off, he took it out, rinsed it, and drilled holes in it.
Next comes welding.
If stencil cutting is a technical skill, then soldering nearly a hundred surface-mount components onto this palm-sized board is an art form.
The branding iron in Zhang Yan's hand seemed to come alive.
Tinning, placement, drag soldering.
All in one go.
Those tiny capacitors and resistors stood obediently in line, steadily resting on the solder pads.
Lin Wei held her breath, not daring to even exhale, for fear that a single breath would dislocate Zhang Yan's hand.
Looking at Zhang Yan's focused profile, the panic in her heart miraculously disappeared.
What replaced it was an unprecedented sense of peace of mind.
It seems that as long as he is there, there is no problem in the world that cannot be solved.
"alright."
Zhang Yan put down the soldering iron and blew away the rosin smoke remaining on the board.
A brand-new circuit board, with a more ingenious layout and even an industrial aesthetic, lay quietly on the anti-static mat.
"Let's install it and try it out." Zhang Yan pushed the board to Lin Wei.
Lin Wei took it with trembling hands, carefully put it into the belly of the "Wind and Fire Wheels", and turned on the power.
"Buzz—!"
This time, the fan's whistle became purer and more powerful.
The waveform on the oscilloscope straightened instantly, becoming as stable as a straight line.
"Attitude correction delay... 0.005 seconds?!" Lin Wei screamed, staring at the data on the screen, unable to believe her eyes. "Six times faster than before?! How is this possible?!"
Just by changing the wiring method, the performance has improved so much?
This isn't just a repair; it's a complete upgrade!
"Nothing is impossible."
Zhang Yan rubbed his slightly sore wrists. "The previous wiring was too convoluted, and the signals got lost inside. I just built a highway for them."
Lin Wei looked at Zhang Yan, her lips moved, a thousand words stuck in her throat, and in the end only turned into a nasal voice: "Great God... I want to kowtow to you."
Just then.
"Knock knock knock".
There was a knock on the door of the training room.
Before the two could react, the door was pushed open.
A faint, sophisticated woody scent instantly dispelled the unpleasant solder smell in the room.
Nie Qingcheng was wearing a loose, off-white cashmere coat over a silk nightgown, and even a pair of fluffy slippers.
She was carrying two huge insulated food containers, followed by her elusive butler, Uncle Fu.
"I thought you guys were building an atomic bomb."
Nie Qingcheng glanced around the messy training room, her brows furrowing slightly. Finally, her gaze settled on Zhang Yan, and her expression instantly softened. "You don't reply to my messages, and I can't get through on the phone. Are you trying to starve me?"
Zhang Yan glanced at the clock on the wall.
Four o'clock in the morning.
"Why are you here?" Zhang Yan asked, somewhat surprised. He walked over and took the food box from her hand. "Didn't I tell you to go to bed early?"
"I can't sleep." Nie Qingcheng let him tighten her coat collar, her tone carrying a hint of arrogance. "It's chilly in bed without someone in it."
After speaking, she turned her gaze to Lin Wei, who was standing next to her with red eyes and a disheveled expression.
Lin Wei was startled and instinctively shrank back.
This is none other than the legendary Nie Qingcheng!
That female demon who makes Jinghai tremble with a single stomp of her foot!
How could you possibly be showing up in this run-down lab in your pajamas and slippers?
"What happened?"
Nie Qingcheng looked at Lin Wei's almond-shaped eyes, raised an eyebrow, and said with a hint of danger in her tone, "Zhang Yan, did you bully this young girl?"
"without."
Zhang Yan opened the food box, and a fragrant aroma filled the air. It contained still-warm crab roe soup dumplings and bird's nest porridge. "There was a small accident just now. The board burned, which scared the child and made him cry."
"Oh, so what if it's burned? It's no big deal."
Nie Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Zhang Yan wasn't messing around with other women outside.
She walked up to Lin Wei, took out a pack of wet wipes from her bag and handed it to her. Her tone was still a bit cold, but it wasn't as scary anymore.
"Wipe it off, your face is all smeared like a kitten's."
"What's there to cry about if things get burned? Even if this building is blown up, I can afford to pay for it."
Nie Qingcheng turned around, picked up a crystal-clear soup dumpling from the food box, blew on it, and handed it directly to Zhang Yan's mouth.
"Ah—open your mouth."
Zhang Yan smiled helplessly, and under Lin Wei's dumbfounded gaze, he took a bite of the soup dumpling.
"Is it good?" Nie Qingcheng looked at him expectantly.
"Yes, Uncle Fu's cooking skills are getting better and better."
"That's right, I specially asked Uncle Fu to add crab roe oil." Nie Qingcheng smiled with satisfaction, reaching out to wipe the soup from the corner of Zhang Yan's mouth. "Look at your dark circles, it breaks my heart."
"Hurry up and finish eating, come home with me and catch up on your sleep. Let whoever wants to participate in this stupid competition participate."
Lin Wei stood to the side, holding the pack of wet wipes in her hand, watching the scene before her.
A female CEO worth hundreds of billions came to deliver takeout at four in the morning and even fed the food herself.
Zhang Yan, who was called a "gold digger," looked completely at ease and doting.
This is hardly the case of living off a woman.
This is clearly an extreme example of taking a woman's life to the extreme, elevating it to a whole new level, and making it an art form!
"Oh, right."
Zhang Yan swallowed the porridge in his mouth, then suddenly remembered something.
"Did that General Manager Zhao cause you trouble again later?" He looked at Lin Wei.
Lin Wei paused for a moment, then shook her head: "No... there was a strange phone call just now, and there's been no sound since you hung up."
"That's good."
Zhang Yan picked up the newly repaired "Wind and Fire Wheels" and pressed the start button.
The silver ball hovered steadily on the ground, emitting a slight hum, like a warrior ready to strike at any moment.
"Now that we've eaten and drunk our fill, it's time to get back to work."
Zhang Yan looked at Nie Qingcheng, a confident smile curving his lips.
"Honey, didn't you say that Apocalypse Technology is recently competing with you for market share?"
"I will send you a big gift in three days."
"I'll show that Mr. Zhao what it means to...lift a rock only to drop it on your own foot."