Chapter 119 is stuck at five micrometers.

CNC R&D Room.

The floor was covered in wadded-up balls of waste paper.

The blackboard was filled with dense logic diagrams of code, looking like a tangled mess.

The genius youth Liu Xiaodong had two massive dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was as messy as a bird's nest that had been struck by lightning.

"What's going on?" Lin Xi frowned.

"It crashed." Liu Xiaodong scratched his head a bit.

"Brother Lin, the amount of code is just too huge."

"I have to write interpolation, and also logic control..."

"There are tens of thousands of lines of code now, and they're all jump instructions."

"As soon as I change one parameter, everything else crashes."

"I wanted to ask the team members for help, but they can't understand my logic at all, so they can't take over!"

This was the common ailment of software development in the 80s—

workshop-style programming.

No architecture, no encapsulation, just everyone fighting on their own.

All the code was like a tangled mess of noodles.

It could only run by relying on a genius brain to force it; once the scale expanded, it was doomed to fail.

Lin Xi looked at the complex flowcharts on the blackboard and smiled.

He picked up a piece of chalk and erased a large section of the flowchart.

"Xiaodong, don't get stuck in a rut."

"You're trying to build an aircraft carrier using the method for building a handcart."

Lin Xi drew a large box on the blackboard and wrote the words "Machine Tool" inside.

Then he drew a few smaller boxes inside the large box:

[Spindle], [Feed], [Tool Post], [Cooling].

"From today on, forget those damn jump instructions."

"We're going to try a different way of playing."

"This is called—Object-Oriented Programming."

Liu Xiaodong was stunned:

"Object... oriented?"

"Do I need to find a girlfriend to write code?"

The streaming room burst into laughter instantly.

[What the hell, finding a girlfriend! The patriarch is teaching on-site!]

[The father of C++ is buying a standing ticket overnight to attend the lecture!]

[The Streamer is too ruthless with this move, directly bringing procedural programming to object-oriented!]

"What are you thinking?"

"It's not that kind of object."

Lin Xi tapped on the blackboard, his tone serious:

"Treat every component as an independent 'person'."

"Take the 'Spindle', for example; it has its own attributes: rotational speed, temperature, load."

"It also has its own behaviors: start, stop, accelerate."

"As the main controller, you only need to issue the 'Start' command to it."

"As for how it powers on internally, how it overcomes friction, how it controls heat..."

"That's its own business, you don't need to worry about it."

"This is—Encapsulation."

With Lin Xi's explanation, those abstract concepts turned into concrete building blocks.

Inheritance, polymorphism, interfaces...

These are the basic operations for programmers of later generations.

For Liu Xiaodong in 1981, it was no different from opening a door to a new world.

The originally chaotic "spaghetti code".

Under Lin Xi's chalk, it turned into clear, independent, and modular components that could be assembled.

"So... code can be written like this?"

The confusion in Liu Xiaodong's eyes dissipated.

It was replaced by a near-manic excitement, as if he had seen an peerless martial arts manual.

"As long as the interface is defined well."

"Then the team members can just be responsible for writing the 'Cooling Pump' module, without having to worry about what the spindle is doing?"

"Exactly."

Lin Xi threw away the chalk stub,

"This is modular development."

"You are the chief designer, and they are the workers making the parts."

"Finally, when assembled, it becomes a complete system."

"I get it! I f***ing get it!"

Liu Xiaodong jumped up suddenly:

"Brother Lin, don't say anything more! I'm going to tear it down and rewrite it! I know how to do it now!"

"If I can't get it done this time, I'll eat that picture tube!"

Watching the youth who had regained his fighting spirit, even appearing a bit manic.

Lin Xi nodded with satisfaction and turned to leave the room.

...

In Conference Room No. 1, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Two things were placed on the table.

A diffraction grating scale shimmering with rainbow luster.

A granite sample polished like a black mirror.

"The grating scale is done."

Jiang Jun was exhausted, but he couldn't hide his pride,

"The Changguang Institute brought out all their best kept secrets."

"Combined with your software compensation algorithm."

"In a constant temperature environment, our precision has reached about 1 micron."

"These are the four most precise grating scales made so far."

"As the 'Heavenly Eye' of the machine tool, it's definitely enough."

"The base is also no problem."

Zhao Qiang patted the stone,

"Old quancheng green material, the internal stress release is perfect."

"We did vibration tests, this thing is as stable as Mount Tai."

"But..."

Zhao Qiang changed the subject, pulled a silver-bright bearing from his bag, and placed it gently on the table.

"The spindle and the guide rail are holding us back a bit."

That was a P4-grade precision angular contact ball bearing.

The highest grade that can be produced domestically.

"This is a special supply from the Luoyang Bearing Factory."

Zhao Qiang's tone was bitter,

"But even so, the runout error after spindle assembly is still 3 microns."

"And the guide rails."

He pointed to the drawing,

"Although we used the plastic bonding process."

"But the stick-slip phenomenon of the sliding guide rails cannot be eliminated, and the positioning error is also 3 microns."

Overall, the machining precision is stuck at about 5 microns.

And the definition of a micron-level machine tool is precision between 1 micron and 5 microns.

It's just barely hitting the passing line.

"Can't it be ground out?" He Zhenhua asked.

"It can't be ground out."

Zhao Qiang shook his head,

"This is the limit of physical properties."

"The ball bearings are made of iron, and if it's iron, it can't be absolutely round."

"The guide rails are also made of iron; where there is friction, there is error."

"This is our country's industrial shortcoming."

"Basic materials, heat treatment processes, we are just that much behind others."

The conference room fell into dead silence.

Everyone looked at the prototype that was almost armed to the teeth.

The best stone base.

The best control algorithm.

The best grating scale.

Yet it was being ruthlessly rubbed into the ground by the most basic "friction" and "materials science."

There was a feeling of having strength but nowhere to use it.

Just then, a burst of hurried footsteps broke the oppression.

The courier ran in, sweating profusely, clutching an encrypted telegram in his hand.

"Manager Lin! Manager Lin!"

"An urgent telegram from Mr. Huo!"

Lin Xi's heart skipped a beat.

He took the telegram, and there was only a short line of text on it:

[The fish has taken the bait, come quickly to close the net.]

Lin Xi slowly closed the telegram, and the gentleness in his eyes vanished instantly.

Replaced by the cold light of a hunter seeing prey caught in a net.

That fishing paper signed "Watermen," had a fish finally taken the bait?

"Old He, Xiaodong, Zhao Qiang, Jiang Jun."

Lin Xi tucked the telegram into his pocket, turned around, and looked at this group of unwilling geniuses.

Since we can't build it at home, then we'll go outside and take it.

Whether by buying, tricking, or stealing.

"Work harder on what you have in your hands."

"I will find a way for the materials and precision issues."

He paused, a hint of sinister smile appearing at the corner of his mouth,

"Next, I'm going to take a trip to Hong Kong."

"To go and get what we need..."

"Bring it all back!"