10: Chapter 10: Chen Yi's Dimensional Reduction Attack!

Workshop No. 3

This place was much smaller than the main workshop and far more private.

Aside from a few basic pieces of auxiliary equipment, a large area in the center had been cleared.

It was specifically used for handling these kinds of sudden, precision maintenance tasks.

Lin Quan walked in front.

Chen Xu followed behind him at a leisurely pace.

He sized up the workshop; the floor here was made of anti-static epoxy resin, smooth as a mirror.

The air was filled with the scent of high-end cutting fluid.

Compared to his oil-stained workshop, these were two completely different worlds.

"Little Boss Chen."

Lin Quan stopped, turned around, and looked at Chen Xu and Chen Yi.

"Which major factory did this brother of yours work at?"

Lin Quan's question was very direct.

The skill Chen Yi had just displayed was definitely not something that could be practiced in an ordinary factory.

That kind of insight into marks and judgment of faults...

...could only be honed in the very top-tier major factories.

Chen Xu smiled.

"Chairman Lin, a craftsman's past isn't important."

"What matters is that he is my man now."

Lin Quan laughed as well.

"A fine 'my man' indeed."

"Young man, I admire your courage."

"But whether Haotian Group will be the springboard for you to become famous in one battle remains to be seen."

Just then, the workshop door was pushed open.

Chief Engineer Zhang Weiguo led a team in, pushing several carts filled with precision instruments.

"Chairman Lin, everything has arrived," Zhang Weiguo reported stiffly, deliberately avoiding Chen Xu.

The foreign expert followed them in, standing furthest away with his arms crossed, clearly there to watch the joke unfold.

"Portable Laser Calibrator, High-frequency Induction Heater, Metallographic Microscope..."

Zhang Weiguo read out the names of the instruments one by one.

Any one of these pieces of equipment started at a million yuan; he was truly uneasy.

Now, they were to be handed over to some young brat who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Little Boss Chen," Lin Quan made a gesture of invitation, "the instruments are ready, please begin!"

Chen Xu gave a slight nod to Chen Yi behind him.

"Chen Yi."

"Understood, Boss."

Chen Yi set down the toolbox in his hand and walked toward the pile of instruments worth millions.

He took off his jacket, leaving only a gray racerback tank top that revealed his two bronze-colored arms.

The moment he put on his goggles, his entire aura changed.

That taciturn dullness vanished, replaced by a kind of absolute focus and calm.

Everyone present, including Zhang Weiguo and the foreign expert, was stunned.

One can tell a pro's worth as soon as they make a move.

This kind of bearing couldn't be faked.

Chen Yi first picked up the Portable Laser Calibrator imported from Europe.

His fingers operated the touchscreen, pulling up a series of complex parameter settings.

Hum—

Several laser beams invisible to the naked eye shot out from different angles of the instrument, enveloping the disassembled spindle.

On the adjacent monitor, a perfect 3D model of the spindle was constructed in green lines.

Immediately after, Chen Yi started the scanning program.

The laser beams began to move, overlaying the actual data of the damaged spindle onto the green model in the form of red lines.

The next second, a collective gasp rose from all the engineers on site.

The vast majority of the red and green lines on the screen overlapped perfectly.

But at the front third of the spindle, that red line representing the actual contour...

...showed an extremely tiny deviation, almost indistinguishable to the naked eye.

In the data box next to it, a number was highlighted in red.

[Maximum Deformation Deviation: 0.012mm]

"He... he was right," a young engineer muttered to himself.

"The amount of deformation really doesn't exceed 0.02 millimeters..."

Zhang Weiguo's expression turned solemn.

The ridicule on the foreign expert's face had also vanished, replaced by a serious expression.

To predict data that required millions in equipment to measure using only a flashlight...

Is he even human?

However, this was only the beginning.

Chen Yi set down the calibrator and picked up the High-frequency Induction Heater.

Then, from his own toolbox...

...he took out a copper coil that looked somewhat crude and replaced the equipment's original coil with it.

"What is he doing? Modifying the equipment without permission?" Zhang Weiguo instinctively moved to stop him.

But Lin Quan raised his hand to block him.

"Keep watching."

Chen Yi held the heater's handle in one hand and a spray bottle containing an unknown liquid in the other.

He started the device.

Hum—

There was no flame, no electric arc.

At the tip of the self-made copper coil, a dark red halo lit up, and the surrounding air began to distort.

He manipulated the heater, slowly approaching the deformed area on the spindle.

The distance was consistently maintained at about three millimeters.

No contact.

Yet one could see the color of the metal surface in that area changing rapidly.

From silver-white to pale yellow, then to a magnificent blue.

Just as the color was about to turn purple, Chen Yi suddenly pulled the heater away.

At the same time, the spray bottle in his other hand gave a sharp blast toward the scorching area.

Sizzle—

A cloud of white mist exploded.

The piercing sound of metal cooling made everyone's hearts shrink.

"Madman!" Zhang Weiguo finally couldn't help but roar out.

"He's quenching it! If the temperature difference is too great, it will create stress cracks! This spindle is completely ruined!"

But before his voice had even faded...

...Chen Yi brought the heater close again.

Heating, color change, withdrawal.

Spray cooling.

His movements were fluid and natural, yet possessed a strange, incredibly precise rhythm.

In the entire workshop, only the hum of the heater and the piercing 'sizzle' of the coolant evaporating remained.

Once, twice, ten times.

That engineer stared at every one of Chen Yi's movements.

He remembered something.

He suddenly rushed to the screen of the laser calibrator nearby.

Pointing at the red line that had barely changed, he shouted excitedly:

"It moved! Look! That red line is moving!"

Everyone turned to look.

The red line representing the deviation on the screen, through every cycle of heating and cooling...

...was moving in micron-level units, extremely slowly toward the green reference line, bit by bit...

...getting closer!

That spindle, which had undergone plastic deformation due to impact...

...was actually, under everyone's watchful eyes and accompanied by a faint 'hum' sound, bit by bit...

...undergoing self-correction!

"My god..."

That engineer, due to extreme shock, felt his legs go weak and almost slumped to the floor.

He pointed at Chen Yi's back.

"Shape memory effect... He's using the metal's memory effect and thermal stress to reverse and counteract the plastic deformation!"

"This kind of technology... I've only seen the theory in a doctoral thesis from ETH Zurich!"

His voice rose, completely out of control.

"A theoretical technique that only exists in papers, and you're telling me... he's operating it by hand?!"