3: A family-run small factory, the beginning of a handmade journey

The path to ultrapure water was completely cut off, blocked by an invisible wall. Excellence returned to his dorm dejectedly, looking at the glaring [Not Acquired] status on the system's light screen, feeling his life was bleak. He didn't even dare to think about trying that path with Su Mu again. That girl was too smart, her eyes too sharp; he was afraid that if he said two more words, 'instant noodles' wouldn't be enough to fool her.

"What should I do... what should I do..." He paced around the small dorm like a trapped beast, the noisy sounds of his roommates playing games now particularly grating. He needed quiet, he needed materials, he needed a place where he could 'hand-build' that damned system device, whatever it was supposed to do!

His gaze swept over the 'treasures' on his desk that he had acquired through 'great hardships'—beakers from Pinduoduo, diamonds from Taobao, palladium powder from Alibaba—they sat quietly, as if silently mocking his incompetence.

[Warning: Initial resource collection remaining time is only 58 hours and 14 minutes. Host, please improve efficiency.] The system's death knell sounded promptly, its cold voice intensifying his anxiety.

"Efficiency, efficiency! Where am I supposed to improve efficiency?!" Excellence was almost frantic. "My money's almost gone, I can't get ultrapure water, and for the rest of those strange parts and materials, am I supposed to dig them out with my bare hands?!"

Wait... dig them out with his bare hands?

A thought suddenly flashed. His family's small processing factory! Although it was called the 'Excellence Precision Processing Factory,' which sounded impressive, it was actually a small, family-run workshop, mainly taking on scrap material processing and small parts orders from larger factories nearby. His father was the boss and chief technician, and there was also an old master, Uncle Liu, who had been with the family for many years.

There were machine tools, tools, and various metal material scraps there... Most importantly, it was free! At least for him, it was free.

As if a drowning man had clutched at the last straw, Excellence immediately pulled out his phone and checked the long-distance bus schedule. The weekend! He would go back this weekend!

On a Saturday morning, Excellence, with increasingly deep dark circles under his eyes, boarded a two-hour, bumpy long-distance bus. Outside the window, the urban-rural fringe scenery continuously receded, gradually changing from a bustling university town to a somewhat desolate industrial park. His mood was complex, with a glimmer of hope from a desperate situation, but also deep worry about how to persuade his father.

The bus stopped at the bus stop at the entrance of the industrial park, where the air was filled with a faint smell of industrial dust. Excellence took a deep breath of the familiar air, mixed with metal cutting fluid and emissions from distant chimneys, and quickly walked towards the factory area where he had played since childhood.

The sign for 'Excellence Precision Processing Factory' was a bit old, with even some rust on the edges. Inside the factory, there was a familiar, rhythmic hum and occasional sharp cutting sounds. Pushing open the somewhat heavy iron door, the scene came into view: the space wasn't large, and although efforts were made to keep it tidy, some metal shavings were inevitably scattered on the floor. Several old-looking machine tools were running, and the smell of coolant mixed with machine oil created a unique industrial aroma.

His father, Father Zhuo, was wearing oil-stained goggles, bent over, completely focused on operating an old-fashioned lathe. His bronzed skin glistened with oil under the lights from the workshop ceiling, and fine beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, but his eyes were concentrated, his movements steady, as he carefully processed a shiny metal part.

"Dad, I'm back," Excellence called out, his voice sounding a bit faint amidst the roar of the machine tools.

Father Zhuo heard the voice, his hand movements paused slightly, and then he turned off the lathe. The humming stopped abruptly, and the workshop instantly became much quieter. He looked up, saw his son, and a simple, slightly tired smile appeared on his face, mostly covered by the goggles: "Xiao Yue's back? Why did you suddenly come back? Have you eaten? Your mother was just saying this morning, if you came back, she just stewed some pork ribs."

"I ate a little at school." Excellence leaned closer, pretending to be curious as he looked at the part his father had just finished processing; the smooth metal surface reflected a cold light. "Dad, your craftsmanship is still amazing."

"Practice makes perfect, that's all." Father Zhuo picked up a cotton rag nearby and wiped his hands, then asked casually, "Did you come back for something?"

Excellence's heart sank, knowing he couldn't hide it from his shrewd father. He took a deep breath and pulled out the slightly crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. On it were the system's detailed, almost harsh parameter requirements for oxygen-free copper wire—2.00mm ±0.01mm diameter, 10 meters long, requiring extremely high conductivity and purity, with no oxidation whatsoever.

"Dad, can... can you help me draw some copper wire? Just this kind, oxygen-free and highly conductive. The parameters... the parameters are all on this." Excellence handed over the paper, feeling his palms sweating again.

Father Zhuo took the paper, squinted, and examined it carefully under the light, his brows gradually furrowing: "These requirements... they're not low. Not for ordinary experimental use. What do you suddenly need this for, kid? For your graduation project?" He looked up, his gaze probing, at his son.

Excellence's heart pounded, his brain racing, and he lied with a straight face: "Ah... yes, yes, yes, it's for my graduation project! Our group... is making... uh... a high-power... efficient... lighting device! Yes, LED spotlighting and so on, my supervisor's requirements are particularly high..." His voice got softer and softer as he spoke, even he thought the excuse was ridiculously clumsy. What kind of graduation project at what school would use such high-spec materials?

Father Zhuo watched him in silence for a few seconds, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate his lies. Just as Excellence was about to give in and confess, his father merely nodded, carefully folded the paper, and tucked it into his work uniform pocket: "Alright, there's a small piece of suitable copper blank in the warehouse. But for this precision requirement, I'll have to adjust the wire drawing machine myself. You kid," he paused, his tone seeming to carry a hint of imperceptible satisfaction, "you're finally doing something proper, and you know how to use good stuff."

Listening to his father's words, filled with trust and encouragement, Excellence felt a mix of emotions—unease, guilt, and a touch of warmth. He almost wished his father would scold him instead of this unconditional support.

While his father went to the warehouse to find materials and adjust the old wire drawing machine, Excellence aimlessly wandered around the factory, his eyes scanning every corner like a radar, searching for other scraps mentioned in the system's list that might be found here—stainless steel rings of specific sizes, ceramic bases requiring extremely high surface finish, several pure aluminum plates of different thicknesses... The list was despairingly long.

"Xiao Yue, what are you looking for, wandering around like that?" A loud, resonant voice sounded behind him, startling him.

Turning around, he saw Uncle Liu, the old master of the factory. Uncle Liu's face bore traces of years of oil stains, but his smile was especially hearty, and he was holding a large wrench, looking at him cheerfully. Uncle Liu was the technical backbone of the factory, having been there since Excellence was a toddler running around naked. His craftsmanship was excellent, and he had practically watched Excellence grow up.

"Uncle Liu," Excellence said, as if he had seen a savior, yet feeling a bit embarrassed, "I'm looking for some... well... something a bit special, a bit strange." He scratched his head, not knowing where to begin.

Uncle Liu laughed heartily, walked over, and clapped Excellence hard on the shoulder, almost making him stumble: "Why be so polite with your uncle! Just tell me what strange thing you need! Don't look down on your family's factory, kid. Besides aircraft carriers and lithography machines, we can't make those. But for all those odds and ends, those weird-shaped things, as long as you can draw the blueprint, Uncle can figure out a way to 'dig' them out of this pile of iron for you!"

Excellence's eyes instantly lit up! That's right! How could he have forgotten this 'great deity,' Uncle Liu! Wasn't his family's factory a ready-made, 'primitive smelting' version of a high-tech 'hands-on' base?!

He immediately stopped hesitating, and as if presenting a treasure, he pointed out to Uncle Liu all the parts in the system's list that required mechanical processing—complex blueprints, micron-precise tolerance requirements, strange material specifications—one by one.

Uncle Liu leaned in front of the phone screen, squinting, his expression gradually changing from cheerful to serious and focused, muttering occasionally: "Oh, this tolerance... quite tight..." "Hmm, this chamfering method is interesting..." "Ceramic base? And polished to Ra0.2? That'll need diamond grinding paste and a lot of rubbing..."

Although he didn't fully understand what kind of earth-shattering device these parts would eventually assemble into, with decades of accumulated astonishing experience and an artisan's intuition, he quickly grasped the key points and difficulties of the processing.

"Whoa, kid, your graduation project is pretty hardcore!" Uncle Liu looked up, his eyes not showing difficulty, but rather a spark of excitement at facing a challenge. "No problem! Leave it to Uncle! This bit of work, it's just a bit of effort! Father Zhuo will draw your copper wire, and I'll take care of these bits and pieces!"

For the rest of the day, Excellence was completely immersed in the workshop. The roar of the machines was no longer noise, but an inspiring accompaniment. He followed his father, watching the red-hot copper blank gradually thin and lengthen under the pull of the wire drawing machine, emitting scorching heat and a faint glow; he followed Uncle Liu, learning how to adjust the lathe's speed and feed rate, how to measure precision with a micrometer down to a thousandth of a millimeter, watching cold aluminum blocks and stainless steel blanks, under the cutting of the machine tools, shoot out sparkling metal shavings, gradually transforming into precise parts that met the system's demanding requirements.

The smell of machine oil and metal cutting fluid in the air, his father's focused profile, Uncle Liu's hearty laughter and occasional technical guidance... All of this was so familiar and reassuring. Excellence's heart, which had been anxious and restless because of the system, strangely and little by little, calmed down in this industrial environment full of life.

Perhaps... this seemingly absurd path of 'hands-on building' wasn't as unreliable as he had imagined? At least, here, he could touch real materials and see tangible progress.

In the evening, his mother specifically came to the factory to call them for dinner. On the small family dining table, there were all of Excellence's favorite dishes, and his mother kept putting pork ribs on his plate: "Xiao Yue, don't work too hard at school. I see you've lost weight, and your dark circles are heavy. But you also have to study hard. Look at your dad, how difficult it is to run such a factory, working from dawn till dusk. He's just hoping you'll have a good future..."

Excellence buried his head in his rice, vaguely agreeing, and that little bit of guilt resurfaced. His father, however, unusually interrupted his mother, took a sip of wine, and said, "The child is grown, he has his own ideas. I think the things Xiao Yue was tinkering with today, the blueprints were quite decent, and the requirements were high. Although I don't understand what they're for, it feels... interesting."

His father's simple affirmation suddenly warmed Excellence's heart, and the tip of his nose immediately tingled. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to choke on his food. If his parents knew that what their son was 'hand-building' might be something that could change the world (or blow up the dorm), he wondered what expression would be on their faces.

Before he left, his father handed Excellence a heavy, long package carefully wrapped in old newspaper and kraft paper. Inside were the hard-won roll of oxygen-free copper wire and several key small parts that Uncle Liu had processed. Uncle Liu had even specially treated each part to prevent bumps and scratches.

"Work hard." His father didn't say much, just patted him on the shoulder, his eyes filled with pure, undisguised encouragement and expectation.

"Thank you, Dad! Thank you, Uncle Liu!" Excellence hugged the heavy package, which embodied the factory's hard work and warmth, and boarded the long-distance bus back to school.

The scenery outside the window rapidly receded. In his mind, on the light screen, the [Basic Material Acquisition Progress] surged forward significantly due to these tangible, high-quality materials, reaching [65%].

[Basic Material Acquisition Progress: 65%. Material processing precision exceeds expectations, energy consumption assessment lowered.] For the first time, the system's evaluation carried a positive tone, but it was immediately followed by a cold urging, [Host, please resolve the ultrapure water problem as soon as possible. Remaining time: 39 hours and 08 minutes.]

Ultrapure water... Holding a pile of metal parts, Excellence's slightly relaxed brows furrowed tightly again.

That clear, transparent, yet incredibly heavy problem, once again appeared before his eyes.

Could it be... was that really the only path left? To go to that physics department genius, Su Mu, who could see through his clumsy lies with a single glance?

The thought of facing Su Mu's seemingly all-seeing eyes again made Excellence's stomach churn.

The road back to school seemed even longer and heavier than the journey there.