99: Chapter 99: Zero Egg Number One is Born!

Just thinking about it is quite interesting...

However, there is no rush for now. I have more important things to do. Teaching Zero martial arts will have to be put on hold for the time being.

"Zero, report the progress of the workpieces in the CNC Machining Center."

"Machine No. 1 current workpiece: 73% completed, estimated time remaining: 24 minutes."

"Machine No. 2 current workpiece: 85% completed, estimated time remaining: 17 minutes."

"Machine No. 3 current workpiece: 34% completed, estimated time remaining: 19 minutes."

"Machine No. 4 current workpiece: 97% completed, estimated time remaining: 26 minutes."

"Current overall workpiece completion percentage: 97.24%."

Wang Shuo nodded with satisfaction. Having Zero manage these simple tasks was indeed much more convenient and efficient. Otherwise, if he were doing it all by himself, he wouldn't necessarily have achieved these results even after a week of struggling. Furthermore, this speed was already the result of Wang Shuo having fully optimized the underlying system. If he had used the original CNC Machining Center, even with Zero operating it twenty-four hours a day without rest, it would probably still be in the process of machining by now, and might even have encountered some malfunctions.

Fortunately, the batch of CNC Machining Centers provided by the Chen Group had a solid foundation, and they hadn't encountered any major issues since they started running.

It's just that they weren't free...

Wang Shuo thought silently.

For the four CNC Machining Centers, taking into account Wang Shuo's reputation, his relationship with Chen Xin, and Liu Yemei's public relations, they were finally sold at a rock-bottom price—13 million each, and that didn't even include installation.

How much is four units?

Wang Shuo didn't even want to calculate it.

The reason they wouldn't lower the price was simple: these machines were high-end imports, and any lower would mean a loss for them.

To make Wang Shuo feel that it was worth the money, the middle-aged man sent by the Chen Group even affectionately held his hand and counted on his fingers to break down the costs for him.

"Student Wang Shuo, it's not easy for us either. Look, you needed this stuff urgently, and it had to be transported from overseas. Shipping fees and import tariffs are not small expenses. And Student Wang Shuo, although this item isn't on the prohibited export list, purchasing it requires public relations, and the PR fees, along with travel and accommodation for personnel, are also a huge sum of money. Also, Student Wang Shuo, for this to be exported here, it's not just about the machine; there are mandatory installation and service fees. Even though you don't need them, we still have to pay them. You do the math—selling them to you for 13 million each, are we not making a loss?"

Making a loss your... forget it. I am a good patriotic youth, I can't use foul language.

But Chen Xin's uncle, is that it? I, Wang Shuo, will remember this grudge. When I have time, we will settle both old and new scores together.

Therefore... Wang Shuo's pockets were cleaner than his face right now. Not only was more than half of the 30 million he had just received gone before it even got warm, but he also owed quite a bit.

It was strange to say, but when he owed Chen Xin 3 million back then, Wang Shuo was scared to death, feeling as if a heavy mountain of debt was pressing down on his frail shoulders.

Now that he owed the Chen Group tens of millions, he didn't feel much of anything. Instead, he waved his hand and had Liu Yemei deduct 4 million directly from the 20 million prepayment, citing business operational needs.

I don't know if Chen Xin played a role in the middle, but the Chen Group wasn't stingy this time. They were very generous and readily accepted it. The only condition they proposed was that Wang Shuo repay at least 15 million annually as a guarantee.

Is this even a condition? Wang Shuo felt disdainful. People who have no money to repay are just this calm.

With a calm mindset, Student Wang Shuo sat back down in his chair, leaned against the backrest, and comfortably issued an order.

"Zero, export the CAD workpiece drawings, create a simulation environment, and prepare for testing."

"Exporting files... generating 3D model simulation environment... generation complete."

Immediately, a 3D interface appeared on the computer in front of Wang Shuo.

"Import data model."

Densely packed components appeared within the 3D interface.

"Start simulation assembly test."

The components on the screen suddenly became chaotic. Each part flew rapidly to its designated position, combined with each other, and slowly formed a complete object.

As the parts flew about, the entire screen became dazzling, and Wang Shuo's expression slowly turned serious.

In fact, this was not Wang Shuo's first test. Such tests had been conducted more than ten times back and forth, and every time some problems appeared—either the parts didn't match, or the final assembly malfunctioned.

Every time a failure occurred, Wang Shuo had to spend half a day painstakingly modifying it, and the bitterness of that need not be mentioned. Every time this happened, Wang Shuo felt very fortunate. Fortunately, Zero existed, saving him a lot of time searching for the causes of errors. He just needed to make targeted modifications based on the errors calculated by Zero.

Even so, it delayed him a significant amount of time.

From the time this thing started being designed until today when manufacturing began, Wang Shuo didn't know how many walls he had hit, and this was with Zero's highly efficient assistance.

Design errors...

Data calculation errors...

Finished product couldn't operate normally...

Even in the code layer, which Wang Shuo was most proficient in, problems appeared.

The Physics Engine of the existing virtual environment was completely insufficient to support Wang Shuo in conducting real simulations. He could only use the simplest data simulation and then produce them one by one for testing.

For this reason, Wang Shuo didn't know how many discarded components he had made Zero produce.

"Why has no one created a real Physics Engine?"

After pondering this, Wang Shuo discovered upon actually trying that people indeed had tried to create one, but none had succeeded... To this day, no Physics Engine in the world dared to claim it could 100% simulate real physical properties.

Wang Shuo was so depressed he wanted to cry. Having to do everything himself was just too miserable...

What to do? He could only make do. After all, a Physics Engine is different from other things; it requires massive system data to support it and takes time.

But through this incident, Wang Shuo also added the collection of Physics Engine data to his task list.

If only it could be obtained from other channels... This thought flashed through Wang Shuo's mind, but he didn't think much of it.

With the lessons learned from the previous ten-plus times, it would be a lie to say Wang Shuo wasn't nervous. If it didn't succeed this time, he would have to contact Liu Yemei, and some subsequent plans would have to be delayed.

Under Wang Shuo's gaze, the long five minutes passed, and Zero's voice sounded.

"Simulation test, normal."

Success? Wang Shuo revealed a look of pleasant surprise. At this moment, the machining sounds of the CNC Machining Center also slowly weakened until they fell completely silent.

Wang Shuo showed a faint smile; the last four parts had also been machined. Next, it was his turn to take the stage.

The components were ready, and they only needed to be assembled.

The raw materials for the internal structure had been handled by Liu Yemei and were all placed within reach.

The only relatively difficult task, the soldering of the custom motherboard, was casually thrown by Wang Shuo to the robotic arm controlled by Zero. He thoughtfully equipped it with a soldering iron. The blueprints had already been scanned by Zero, and all the various components were clearly labeled, which was enough for Zero to complete the soldering task.

The workshop fell silent for a moment. In the vast space, only the humming sound of Zero operating the robotic arm remained, while Wang Shuo, with a serious expression, picked up his tools and manipulated the machined parts and other equipment in front of him.

Time passed minute by minute.

When a ray of sunlight shone into the only ventilation opening of the warehouse door, Wang Shuo finally stopped what he was doing.

On the table in front of him, a spherical object was lying quietly. It was slightly smaller than a soccer ball, with an aluminum alloy silver-white body, interspersed with very regular but not complicated blue patterns.

"Finally completed."

Wang Shuo looked at the finished product in front of him, filled with a sense of accomplishment, and immediately said: "Zero, start the test."

"Please turn on the power."

Wang Shuo picked up the sphere and pressed his finger on a light blue circle on the side of the sphere facing away from him. With two beeps, the whole sphere vibrated slightly, the light blue circle lit up instantly, and the entire sphere immediately underwent a change.

He saw streams of light lighting up along the blue patterns. Accompanied by a slight humming sound, cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere.

On the front of the sphere was an irregular, symmetrical display area. After the screen lit up, it displayed two cute, light blue eyes. Just for these cute eye display screens, they had encountered quite a bit of trouble during procurement, costing Wang Shuo a huge amount of capital.

On both sides of the sphere, two cover plates separated, opening and closing, resembling two arms, or perhaps two wings.

The bottom featured a universal movement structure carefully designed by Wang Shuo, which referenced some structural designs of the Humanoid Race, and could reach a maximum speed of 15 kilometers per hour.

"Connecting... Connection successful..."

"Initializing... Initialization successful."

"Device self-check in progress..."

"Sir, self-check complete, all test data is normal."

"Very good." Wang Shuo laughed, "Upload the seed, test the operating environment."

"Uploading data packet and installing... Installation complete... Taking over the device..."

The next moment, Zero's voice came from the sphere in front of him.

"Hello, Sir. I am Zero Seed, secondary sequence number one."

"Not bad, not bad." Wang Shuo nodded: "The main intelligence is a sub-program of Zero, and it is a spherical object itself, so your series will be called..."

Rubbing his chin and staring at the sphere in front of him for a moment, Wang Shuo's eyes lit up.

"zero egg!"