9: Chapter 9: A Revolutionary Modification of a Scrap Metal Recycling Station!

A few days passed in a flash. Chen Fan had completely settled into Wang Defu's scrap yard. During the day, he used the system and the future smart brain to constantly explore and experiment while helping Wang Defu sort through the trash. At night, he planned his renovation project. His relationship with Wang Defu grew increasingly harmonious, to the point where Wang Defu almost treated him like a son.

Over these few days, he watched as Wang Defu continued to rely on the most primitive methods for sorting, weighing, and hauling. It was inefficient and exceptionally grueling.

Chen Fan felt it was time to perform a preliminary overhaul to help Wang Defu improve his efficiency. Ultimately, he intended to turn this place into his first secret R&D and production base.

"Uncle Wang, it's time to upgrade these tools of ours," Chen Fan said early one morning, pointing at the old equipment.

After interacting for several days, Wang Defu now trusted Chen Fan deeply and had gradually come to recognize his abilities. He nodded immediately. "Xiao Fan, whatever you say goes! You can use this pile of junk however you like!"

"Alright, Uncle Wang. You go ahead and get busy. Since you trust me, leave it to me with peace of mind," Chen Fan said.

Hearing Wang Defu's authorization, Chen Fan smiled. As his gaze swept across the yard, a clear renovation plan had already taken shape in his mind.

He first walked over to the ancient mechanical platform scale, which had a slightly crooked needle. "Let's start with the weighing. This old fellow should retire. I'll help you upgrade it."

After saying that, he placed his hand on the scale.

[Item detected: Shabby Platform Scale. Proceed with random Amplification?]

"Yes."

[Triggered 200x Precision Amplification. Obtained 'High-Precision Electronic Display Platform Scale'.]

A flicker of light passed over the surface of the old mechanical scale. A clear electronic display screen replaced the originally blurry dial, and the old scale instantly looked brand new.

Next, he applied Amplification to several manual compactors, turning them into [High-Efficiency Labor-Saving Compactors]. Now, it only took a third of the effort to compress a large number of plastic bottles into neat cubes.

He also found some discarded universal wheels and steel pipes, which he assembled after Amplification into a [Labor-Saving Self-Propelled Transport Cart] that could be easily pushed and steered freely.

Finally, based on a scheme optimized by the future smart brain, he used some discarded wooden boards and metal strips to build a simple sloped slide and partitioned bins in the sorting area. After Amplification, these became a [Primary Automatic Sorting Station]. One only needed to stand at a high point and pour the preliminarily categorized scrap down; items of different volumes and materials would automatically slide into different compartments via gravity, greatly reducing the frequency of bending over and carrying things.

When Wang Defu finished his work and returned, he was both shocked and delighted by the transformed site. He hadn't expected that after being out for just one morning, Chen Fan would have actually made so many things.

"Incredible! This is truly incredible!" Wang Defu grabbed Chen Fan's arm excitedly, his voice trembling slightly. "Xiao Fan, you... you are truly a man of great talent! How is your brain wired? These methods, these tools..."

"Uncle Wang, why don't you try them out first?" Chen Fan urged the excited Wang Defu to check out the results of the overhaul.

He tried using the new platform scale, and the reading was accurate to the gram. Wang Defu watched the numbers jumping on the screen, his mouth hanging open in surprise. "This... this is even more accurate than the electronic scales at the wet market! Little Chen, you even know how to repair scales?"

"I know a little bit," Chen Fan smiled modestly.

Wang Defu tried pushing the [Labor-Saving Self-Propelled Transport Cart]. The cart, filled with scrap iron, could actually be moved with a single finger. He was so shocked he couldn't speak for a long time.

"Is... is this fitted with a motor?" He circled the cart several times.

"Just a bit of structural optimization," Chen Fan brushed it off nonchalantly.

Then he looked at the automatic sorting slide. The principle was simple, but it was incredibly useful! It was a simple system with multi-stage slides and different-sized mesh screens. One only needed to stand at the feeding port and pour the mixed scrap down; the waste would slide down naturally by gravity. During the process, bottle caps, small metal pieces, and large cardboard would automatically separate based on volume and shape, falling into different collection baskets. Although it was still quite rudimentary, it had already drastically reduced the frequency and intensity of bending over to sort.

After this series of improvements, Wang Defu felt his workload had decreased by at least seventy percent! Yet his efficiency had increased by several times over!

He looked at Chen Fan with eyes full of admiration, no longer viewing him as the down-and-out young man he once was.

"Xiao Fan! From now on, this is your home!" Wang Defu felt like he had picked up a treasure. Chen Fan supported the excited Grandpa Wang, a happy smile appearing on his face.

Seeing Wang Defu's excitement and checking the data from the smart brain showing an "estimated work efficiency increase of 187%," Chen Fan smiled with satisfaction. Not bad, today's efficiency was quite high.

This was just a small test of his skills. Chen Fan had experimented a little and felt it was quite successful, which gave him full confidence in his future renovation plans.

"Uncle Wang, this is only the beginning." Chen Fan looked at the orderly yard, his gaze seemingly piercing through time and space. "Slowly but surely, I will make this place more advanced. It will be a hundred times more impressive than it is now."

Wang Defu followed his gaze, as if he too could see that brand-new scrap yard.

That evening, Chen Fan reviewed his work from this period. He felt that his coordination with the system had been very harmonious lately. Not only was the renovation of the scrap yard tools going smoothly, but even the attributes and effects of the medicine and pepper spray he sent to Su Qingyue were just right after Amplification.

It felt as if the system could hear his inner thoughts. "I need to continue summarizing and gain better control over the system to improve efficiency further."

Just as he was thinking this, he received a WeChat message from Su Qingyue. "Chen Fan, your pepper spray is so effective. I ran into that stalker again today. I sprayed him twice, and he went straight to the ground."

"Are you okay?" Chen Fan asked with some concern.

"I'm fine. As soon as I saw him fall, I immediately ran home. After I got back, I called the police," Su Qingyue said.

"It's good that you're okay. I saw on the news that the flu is still rampant. You deal with so many patients every day, so you must be careful," Chen Fan reminded her.

"I'm alright. A few of my colleagues at the hospital came down with it, though. I gave them the medicine you gave me. Those who took your medicine recovered very quickly, while those who didn't are getting better much slower. Your medicine is really effective. I've never seen this medicine before; where did you buy it?" Su Qingyue asked curiously.

"I made it with my superpowers; you can't buy it anywhere." Chen Fan didn't know how else to explain it, so he simply told the truth.

"Go ahead and tease me like I'm a child then." Naturally, Su Qingyue didn't believe him.

"If you run out, I'll send you more." Chen Fan laughed out loud. He found teasing Su Qingyue to be quite fun.

"I still have one box left." Seeing the Lingyun Orchid, Su Qingyue couldn't help but praise it again. "This orchid of yours is truly miraculous. Since I brought it home, I feel like I've been sleeping much better. It's way better than any air freshener."

"Of course it's good. Everything I give you is one of my treasures," Chen Fan said.

"Then I really must thank you. I have some time off at the end of this month; I'll treat you to dinner then." Su Qingyue's gratitude toward Chen Fan was heartfelt.

"No problem." Chen Fan was a little bit happy.

"I'll stop talking now. I have work tomorrow. Goodnight." It was getting late, and Su Qingyue intended to rest.

After chatting with Su Qingyue, Chen Fan was in a great mood. He looked at the small sprout of the Lingyun Orchid. "Little guy, hurry up and grow big~"