Evolution of The Puppy Seme XIII, Part II
It was only after Duan Jingzhe went back that he found out exactly how much material there was. Although Duan Jingzhe has a good memory, it takes time to really understand it.
He gives him a day to rest because Duan Jingzhe is exhausted. Hah! That's rich.
Because Duan Jingzhe had been staying up all night reading the information, it was already 11 o'clock in the morning when he went to sleep.
Duan Jingzhe rested for only two hours, and when he got up again from the bed, he had a pair of very obvious dark bags under his eyes. He took out his last nutrition packet from his backpack and rushed to the teacher's office.
The young teacher was obviously very satisfied with Duan Jingzhe exhausted appearance, and a pair of peach eyes smiled slightly.
"Very good, it looks like you were quite diligent yesterday. Follow me, I'll take you to the lab."
The lab is a little far away from the teacher's office, and they needed to exit the building and walk through a long corridor before they finally got there.
"This whole building is used to do experiments, but each laboratory has different materials, which is to say that the assembled mecha parts are not the same. You can come to my laboratory to get permission to go into these laboratories, and you can come to me to get the next laboratory's access if you pass the laboratory assessment standards."
Duan Jingzhe followed the teacher into the first laboratory.
The young teacher brushed on the side door access with his own communication device, and the metal door receded into the ground. When the two people had entered, the door rose again.
"The mecha components this laboratory makes the calf of the armor," the teacher turned on the screen inside the laboratory, and pointed to the mechanical leg displayed, saying, "Although the calf of the armor has to be flexible, the requirements are not nearly as high as for the hands, and its support strength is less than the thigh. So this part needs the least parts to assemble. Thus, it is the easiest part of the machine to manufacture."
As soon as Duan Jingzhe entered the laboratory, his eyes had begun to shine. As he looked at the parts, he felt really excited. At this time, when he heard the teacher's speech, he changed his expression quickly to blank, but he happily nodded his head.
The young teacher was obviously satisfied with Duan Jingzhe's response now, as there was a warm smile on his face. "Yesterday, I asked you to learn about the 108 parts of the A series. 34 of those part form the complete calf of the mecha."
"Now let me show you how to assemble the calf."
The young teacher led Duan Jingzhe to the experiment table.
A row of rectangular metal boxes was placed neatly on the experimental table, with the corresponding code on each metal box.
The teacher brushed one box with his own communication device, and opened the metal box. Inside were the complete 34 parts of the A series.
"Do you know the number of each part?" The teacher randomly picked up a part in the box.
"A-s09-04", Duan Jingzhe replied almost unconsciously.
He hadn't slept at all yesterday night. His mind was full of the numbering and construction of these parts. He had simulated their appearance and internal structure in his mind. He had pictured each part in his mind and then compared it with the actual description. From the beginning of the process, which had been full of mistakes, until the end, when he could clearly picture each part in mind, Duan Jingzhe had already recognized an identified them hundreds of times in his mind.
So now when he sees these parts, his responses are basically conditioned reflexes.
"And what about these?" The teacher pointed to other components in the box one by one, and Duan Jingzhe also very quickly rattled off the number of each one ...
"Very good." The young teacher's smiling peach blossom eyes glimmered with satisfaction and surprise. "Now pay attention to how I assemble them."
Then he picked up one of the parts, hands moving quickly.
......
After only ten minutes, a complete calf component was assembled.
Duan Jingzhe was shocked, that was so fast!
He had seen a variety of mecha assembled video components, but none of them had assembled something as fast as the teacher.
The teacher seemed to know what he was thinking, and slowly explained, "For a machine assembler, strength is influenced by two factors, one being physical fitness, the other being spiritual force. The two qualities are very important in producing mecha."
"A component can take a whole half of a day to assemble, so if the body is weak, they won't be able to do it. Once errors occur because of exhaustion, the component will be completely destroyed. Because of the flexibility of many parts, there are some internal gears. Once you assemble one of them, you must assemble the next part within a certain time. As for mental power, it is also very important during assembly. Your mental power determines how well you observe. If your mental strength is strong enough, you can adjust the internal changes of each part very carefully, so as to better control the timing of assembly."
Duan Jingzhe nodded seriously.
"But there is still another factor, not separately tested, and not separately categorized by people," the teacher paused, "and that is the speed of the hand!"
"Speed of hand?" Duan Jingzhe, some at a loss, he heard the term, but the term was about the mecha warriors' training.
"Yes," The teacher wiggled his fingers. "The term's commonly mentioned in the Department of mecha warriors, and rarely seen here in machine manufacturing. But the truth is, it's not only them who need to be sleight of hand, but it also applies to us too in assembly! Even the most basic components have two or more mechanisms, and only if the most appropriate force is applied to the most appropriate location will the flexibility of this be high. Some people are very strong in mental power and ability to adjust how much the components change, but because their hands are too slow, they often have are too slow to act in the best time frame."
Duan Jingzhe's eyes lit up again. No wonder he had felt so unsatisfied with something he couldn't name when he worked at his former factory.
He always knew where the problem was, but he just couldn't find a solution. It was exactly because he wasn't fast enough!
"And", the teacher went on, "it's very hard to improve physical and mental strength, but there is a way to improve the speed of hand."
......
It's been half a month since the teacher took Duan Jingzhe to the lab that day.
During this half a month, Duan Jingzhe learned that the teacher was surnamed Dong and that he was an associate professor of the Department of machine manufacturing. Of course, he has finally remembered the teacher's appearance, and will not make the embarrassing and awkward mistake of failing to recognize him.
The first time the young and distinguished teacher took him to the lab, he had told him the time of every class, so that he could avoid the students when they had class.
Besides going to the teacher every day to learn the trigger points of all the parts, Duan Jingzhe used his remaining time in the first laboratory. He did not try to assemble mecha leg parts but instead did hand exercises over and over again to improve his speed.
The teacher even gave him a handful of soybeans, instructing him to throw them into the air and grab the beans at the fastest speed.
The practice of throwing beans has become an indispensable part of Duan Jingzhe's daily life, and he spends quite a lot of time -- two hours -- a day on it. The result of every day's exercise was swelling of the arm and the numbness in his two hands. Duan Jingzhe gritted his teeth before going to bed to massage his finger. No matter how much it hurt to raise his hand, he persevered every day.
Finally, the day came when his hands were not swollen or hurt. Additionally, he felt as if his hands had been washed, and his palms were very light!
When Duan Jingzhe felt this sensation, he immediately ran to the laboratory and started assembling the components, which had been deeply embedded in his mind, at a flying pace. Duan Jingzhe's first try at assembling was successful, with not one trace of indecision!
Happily surprised, he put the assembled parts in the tester, and the test results showed that it was at "E" grade!
Duan Jingzhe was very happy, but soon he was quiet and went over the assembly process again and again in his mind. Although the assembly was much better than it had been before, Duan Jingzhe was clearly aware that the process was not perfect, and that there was room for improvement.
He closed his eyes quietly and simulated every moment of every step and part. After he had repeated the process more than 10 times, Duan Jingzhe's forehead was covered with beads of sweat, but he did not wipe them off.
On the fourteenth time, he found a wrong step.
According to his assembly method, a-s09-78's No. 2 metal needle will pop up 0.5s time in advance! This 0.5 second doesn't break the metal pin, but the friction will prolong the assembly process and seriously affect the flexibility of the parts.
Duan Jingzhe suddenly opened his eyes, which filled with excitement.
He had just adjusted his assembly steps and time in his mind, and he assembled it in more than 5 minutes less time than he did before.
Duan Jingzhe giddily opened another metal box and took a deep breath to calm himself down. When he became relaxed and was in a state of extreme calmness, the mental power in his mind suddenly showed itself, unbeknownst to him. The cloud of spiritual power that had curled up rose, as if stimulated by something, and expanded bit by bit. They follow the Duan Jingzhe's thoughts and extended a long filament carefully into the mechanism's components, and quickly supplied him with information about each component.
His hands flew like birds.
When Duan Jingzhe returned to himself, there was an assembled calf component on the table.
Duan Jingzhe couldn't help but frown.
What had that been? Why could he not recall the details just now?
Duan Jingzhe wanted to check the calf in the tester, but his communication device rang.
"OK, teacher, I'll be there right away."
Teacher Dong had asked him to go to his office just then. Duan Jingzhe did not think much. He placed his assembled calf to one side and exited the laboratory.
- -
"Professor Zhang, isn't it a bit early for the students to be exposed to the assembly of components?" the young assistant asked, opening the lab door. "The previous sessions were still memorizing the first 10 components of the A series at this point in time."
"Early my ass," Professor Zhang said, dissatisfied, and giving his assistant a look.* "In fact, I think that they're overdue to try assembly in the laboratory!"
(*Ok, so he doesn't exactly say, "Early my ass," it's actually "早什么早", which is a construction of phrase that's really Chinese and not easily translated into English. I just went with what I think conveys the attitude of what he's saying.)
"The students this session are pretty good." Professor Zhang's face is complacent. "I only improved the way they were taught and had them memorize more. Now, most people have already completed the task. Only a few people can't recite the structural drawings of the first 10 parts of the A series. This time let's have them work in the lab for a bit, and they will definitely do just as well as the past students," Professor Zhang pushed his white hair up from his face, feeling quite satisfied.
- -
When Duan Jingzhe came out of his teacher's office, he went back to his dorm.
He doesn't know why, but he feels very tired today. He plans on resting a lot.
But when he opened the bedroom door he suddenly froze.
A stranger in black was lying on the other bed.
The man in black was surrounded by a cold aura. When he heard Duan Jingzhe approaching, he turned in his direction.
Duan Jingzhe nodded expressionlessly at him, feeling as though he had seen this man before.
He has lived here for more than half a month. At the very beginning, he was waiting for his other roommate to appear. But for a long time, the man didn't come. Duan Jingzhe had thought that the dormitory was assigned just to him. Who knew that there would be a somewhat familiar stranger here.
The man saw Duan Jingzhe's reaction and didn't seem pleased by it. He turned his back to Duan Jingzhe with a cold "Hmph."
Duan Jingzhe stared at the man, puzzled, for a while, eyebrows furrowed.
Where in the world did he see the man? Why did he feel so familiar?
After Duan Jingzhe had pondered it for a long time, he gave up, picked up the soybeans on the table, and practiced in the living room.
The moment Duan Jingzhe turned around, the ramrod-stiff back that had been stared at slowly relaxed. And when the door was closed, a cold hum filled with anger suddenly appeared in the room.
The next day:
Duan Jingzhe got up according to his biological clock as usual, but he hadn't slept well because of the arrival of the new man yesterday.
After waking up, Duan Jingzhe went over the mecha assembly method in his mind as usual.
At about seven or eight, the doorbell suddenly began to ring.
Duan Jingzhe opened his eyes, pulled himself out of his simulation, and opened the door.
"Little Ah Zhe*, how did you sleep today?" When he opened his eyes there was a dazzling, handsome face in his vision and a frivolous tone in Duan Jingzhe's ear.
(*I don't remember if I've explained this before, but "little" and the character "阿"[ah] are both terms of endearment)
Duan Jingzhe expressionlessly took two step back. "Hello, Teacher Dong."
"What do you always want to be so far away from me?" Teacher Dong raised an eyebrow, his eyes shimmering like water, and leaned toward Duan Jingzhe with his hand on the side of the door, trapping Duan Jingzhe directly between his two hands. He said every single word or phrase very slowly, but also as if with endless love, his words extremely vague. "Yesterday I dreamed about you. To be honest, I really miss you, I couldn't wait to come over and see you this morning."
"And I don't even know whether you missed me." When he said this, he moved his mouth to Duan Jingzhe's ear and blew on it ambiguously.
At this moment, he felt a gust of wind coming toward him!
Teacher Dong felt it and quickly lost his gentle and careless appearance, nimbly sidestepping the attack.
The act was suave, and his expression was like that of a cat that had gotten its cream*.
(*Wow, two idioms in one sentence. "风流倜傥" [Fēngliú tìtǎng] = merry or handsome, and "怡然自得"[Yírán zìdé] = pleased with oneself)
Teacher Dong straightened his shirt, then threw Duan Jingzhe a coquettish glance.
"Dong. Hao. Yang." Said someone darkly, as if the words had been squeezed out from between their teeth.