Chapter 3 asked you to clear out your inventory, but what exactly did you draw on your blueprints?

The exhaust fumes from the Santana outside the main gate had already dissipated completely.

Niu Dazhuang stood there scratching his head, his bronze-colored face twisted into a bitter melon.

"Young Master, Brother Biao might have left, but what are we going to do in three days?"

Niu Dazhuang followed behind Lu Jingming, his tone sounding timid.

"Those brick phones in the warehouse, they lag even when playing Snake upon startup. Are we really going to use them to make phones to sell for money?"

Lu Jingming pushed open the rusty security door of the office building without looking back.

"Do as I say. Call Old Li and the other technicians to Workshop No. 1."

"Bring the soldering irons and multimeters, and move all the scrap over there."

Returning to his office, he closed the peeling wooden door.

Lu Jingming immediately summoned the system panel in his mind.

Golden light flickered, and the novice gift pack rewarded just moments ago opened automatically.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the "Bulletproof-Grade Rugged Phone Structural Blueprint" (Basic Version).]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the "Ultra-High Capacity Die-Cast Battery Technology" (Outdated Era Special Edition).]

Lu Jingming looked at the holographic blueprints in the void and couldn't help but chuckle.

Bulletproof? Large die-cast battery?

Ten years from now, this stuff would at best be standard equipment for senior phones sold in Africa.

But in 2007, when everyone was still using 500mAh batteries and plastic phones that cracked upon a single drop...

This is a total game-changer!

Half an hour later, at Workshop No. 1.

The air was filled with the smell of machine oil and rosin.

Three or four middle-aged men wearing anti-static suits huddled together, staring blankly at a table full of scrapped motherboards.

Leading them was a balding uncle with thick, bottle-bottom glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

This was the only senior engineer remaining at the factory, Li Jianguo.

"Old Li, the Young Master says we're going to restart the production line using this pile of junk."

Niu Dazhuang walked in carrying a cardboard box of brick phones and slammed it onto the workbench with a "clatter."

A cloud of dust billowed from the box, making the men cough uncontrollably.

Old Li pushed up his glasses and gave a cold snort.

"Nonsense! The motherboard fly-wires are all short-circuited, and the casing is made of shoddy injection molding."

"If this can be pieced together into a good phone, I, Li Jianguo, will eat this table today!"

"Keep the table for work, how about eating something else?"

Lu Jingming strode into the workshop, casually throwing on a blue lab coat.

He grabbed a whiteboard marker and immediately started sketching rapidly on the workshop blackboard.

"Old Li, stop staring at that rotten motherboard. Come look at this."

Old Li walked over slowly, still muttering.

"Young Master, what time do you think it is? Please don't mess with us..."

His words suddenly got stuck in his throat, as if someone had grabbed him by the neck.

On the whiteboard was a cross-sectional view of a phone with a bizarre structure.

Lu Jingming's marker tapped against the blackboard with a rhythmic thumping.

"Listen up. It doesn't matter if the motherboard is rotten; we'll reinforce it with direct fly-wires and pot the whole thing in epoxy resin."

"We won't use plastic for the casing either. Go dig out all the polycarbonate stored in the warehouse and make a double-layer roll cage."

Old Li's eyeballs were almost pressed against the blackboard.

He pointed at the blueprint with trembling fingers, his voice cracking.

"Full potting? A roll cage? Are you building a phone or an armored vehicle!"

"It'll weigh at least half a jin! If you put it in your pocket, it'll pull your pants down!"

"That's exactly the weight we want. Now take a look at this battery."

Lu Jingming drew a huge rectangle on the bottom half of the blueprint.

Old Li leaned in to look and was completely dumbfounded.

"Twenty... twenty thousand milliampere-hours? How is that possible!"

Old Li grabbed his already sparse hair, hopping with anxiety.

"With current battery technology, a capacity that big would be the size of a brick!"

"That's why we're not using the traditional winding method."

Relying on the technology in his mind, Lu Jingming quickly wrote down several strings of codes for the die-casting process.

"Use the stacking die-casting process to double the electrolyte density."

"You don't need to make it super precise; just fill the entire back casing."

Old Li felt his worldview being rubbed into the ground.

Having worked in state-owned factories for half his life, he had never seen such wild design logic.

Who doesn't care about a phone's appearance and instead makes it into a lump of iron?

"Young Master, this doesn't comply with common physics!"

"How will you solve heat dissipation? With such a large current, the motherboard will burn out the moment you turn it on!" Old Li argued persistently.

Lu Jingming smiled, picking up a scrap motherboard from the table and tossing it in his hand.

"Old Li, other than making calls and sending texts, does this broken motherboard have any other functions?"

Old Li was stunned and subconsciously shook his head.

"No... it doesn't. Even the MP3 function was stripped out."

"Then where would the heat come from?"

Lu Jingming retorted, his gaze like an eagle staring at its prey, his presence fully unleashed.

"We aren't competing on screen pixels, we aren't competing on features, and we aren't doing any flashy designs."

"We are only doing one thing: forging this thing into a survival beast that can crack walnuts and last a month on a single charge."

The entire room fell silent.

Only a few exhaust fans whirred overhead.

Lu Jingming tossed the scrap motherboard back into the box.

"If we can't come up with the money in three days, the factory will be sealed, and everyone will have to go back home to farm."

"You choose: watch the factory die, or go crazy with me?"

Old Li gritted his teeth, staring intently at the lines of die-casting process parameters on the blackboard.

The more he looked, the more goosebumps rose on his skin.

Laymen watch the show, experts watch the technique.

These process parameters were exquisite to the extreme, just like a textbook from the future!

As long as the equipment can be tuned correctly, it will definitely work!

"Let's do it!"

Old Li yanked at the collar of his anti-static suit, his eyes turning red.

"I've never built anything this outrageous in my life, so even if I die, I'll die knowing why!"

He turned around and roared at the few technicians who were in a daze.

"Dazhuang, go and recalibrate the parameters of the pick-and-place machine!"

"Xiao Wang, go and mix the epoxy resin! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The workshop instantly came to life.

Blue smoke from the soldering irons rose, and the roar of machines echoed through the factory again.

Lu Jingming personally joined in, guiding them to correct every error step-by-step according to the system's blueprints.

This was the perfect embodiment of violent aesthetics.

The 20,000mAh stacked battery was forcefully shoved into the polycarbonate roll cage.

The fragile single-layer motherboard was tightly sealed in insulating resin, like an insect in amber.

Then, the heavy engineering plastic casing was put on, and anti-loosening titanium steel screws were driven into the four corners.

Time ticked away second by second.

After over ten hours of high-intensity, insane modifications, everyone's eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion.

Even Niu Dazhuang, a layman, was standing by, helping to pass screwdrivers, not daring to even breathe loudly.

"Click."

As the last screw was tightened by Old Li.

A pitch-black phone with a rugged design resembling a small brick lay quietly on the workbench.

It lacked any of the slimness of future smartphones.

Instead, it exuded a wild, muscular feel that made one's heart palpitate.

Like a steel beast lying in wait.

"The casing is 1.5 centimeters thick and weighs 450 grams. This is practically a lethal weapon."

Old Li wiped the sweat from his forehead and swallowed hard.

Holding this prototype, he felt like he was holding a solid lump of iron.

Niu Dazhuang watched from the side, rubbing his hands, and leaned in eagerly.

"Young Master, is it done? Can it turn on?"

"Don't rush, put it on the testing bench."

Lu Jingming pointed to the dusty integrated testing instrument in the corner.

Old Li took a deep breath and carefully picked up the prototype named "xinghai generation 1."

He walked with small steps, as if carrying a detonator that would explode at the slightest touch.

He plugged the data cable into the port at the bottom of the phone and connected it to the terminal of the testing instrument.

Everyone gathered around.

Unconsciously holding their breath, their hearts beating like drums.

Success or failure hinged on this one moment.

The instrument was powered on, and a faint blue light glowed around the screen.

The progress bar began to climb slowly.

Lu Jingming leaned against the edge of the workbench, arms crossed, a curve of confidence tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Beep—"

The testing instrument suddenly let out a long beep.

The various data on the screen jumped frantically before finally settling on a set of red numbers.

Old Li leaned in to look, and his expression changed instantly.

He turned his head abruptly, holding the test report, his voice trembling.

"Young Master, this report... this report is unbelievable!"

Niu Dazhuang grabbed Old Li's arm in anxiety.

"Old Li, stop keeping us in suspense! Did it explode or what?"

"Tell us quickly, can this lump of iron be taken out to sell for money?!"