Chapter 141 No comparison, no harm

Section Chief Wang shouted in terror, but amidst the roar of the wind, his voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"Air shower room!"

Zhang Zhengguo stood at the strongest point of the wind, standing as still as a nail, and roared:

"This is a high-pressure air shower driven by a neodymium iron boron motor!"

"Wind speed is thirty-five meters per second!"

"Since you've come."

"Then leave every single speck of Shanghai dust you brought with you right here!"

Thirty-five meters per second?

That's a Category 12 typhoon!

Section Chief Wang gripped the handrail tightly, horrified.

Entering the workshop at the Shanghai factory just meant changing shoes, or if they were fancy, using a sticky dust mat.

Who had ever seen such a setup?

Thirty seconds later.

The storm ceased abruptly.

The world fell quiet again.

Section Chief Wang, still shaken, steadied himself against the wall, gasping for air.

He felt as if a layer of skin had been stripped from his entire body.

Beep.

Ahead, the second airtight door slid open silently.

A soft but intensely bright white light poured out from the gap.

Qu Weimin straightened his wind-ruffled collar, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.

The next second.

His pupils contracted sharply.

If the outside was a beggar's den, then this place was a crystal palace that truly belonged to the future.

A full five hundred square meters of underground space.

The floor was made of high-grade terrazzo poured in a single piece.

Every seam was meticulously divided by copper strips.

It was polished to a mirror finish, reflecting the rows of light tubes overhead.

It was blindingly bright here, yet shockingly clean.

There was not a hint of oil smell in the air, nor that metallic dust odor typical of old workshops.

Instead, it carried a faint, crisp scent, filtered through layers of purification.

One could even smell a trace of ozone.

"This..."

Section Chief Wang's mouth hung open, wanting to say something.

But he realized that his little bit of "expert" reserve had shattered into pieces here.

He instinctively looked at the temperature and humidity gauge on the wall.

The red numbers were pulsing steadily.

Temperature: 20.1 ℃.

Humidity: 45%.

"20 degrees... plus or minus 0.2?"

Section Chief Wang rubbed his eyes, thinking he had misread it.

You have to understand, at the Shanghai factory, to maintain a constant temperature, they had to put out ice blocks in the summer and fire up boilers in the winter.

Dozens of workers would hover around the thermometer, and if they could control it within plus or minus 1 degree, they'd be lucky enough to thank their lucky stars.

This place is underground!

How could it be so stable?

"What, think it's fake?"

"The actual temperature is 20 degrees... plus or minus 0.5."

Zhang Zhengguo pointed to the thick concrete walls, his tone carrying a touch of humblebrag indifference.

"This is a civil defense shelter, ten meters underground, with a natural constant temperature of 18 degrees."

"That kid Lin Xi designed a set of micro-motor temperature control cabinets."

"Combined with this natural environment, only minor adjustments are needed."

"No need to fire up boilers, no need to haul ice blocks."

"This is science."

Section Chief Wang blushed.

The feeling was as if he were still researching how to make a horse carriage ride smoother, while others were already whizzing past in maglev trains.

But he still refused to be convinced.

What the hell is the use of a good environment?

What about the machine tools?

Without top-tier machine tools, this place is just a fancy-looking morgue!

Qu Weimin did not speak.

His gaze swept across the empty workshop and locked firmly onto the center of the hall.

There, a behemoth stood alone.

It was covered by a transparent plexiglass shield.

The entire machine looked like a work of art enshrined in a temple.

Quiet.

Too quiet.

Apart from the faint hum of electricity from the light tubes overhead.

In the entire workshop, not a single roar of machinery in operation could be heard.

"This is...?" Qu Weimin's voice sounded a bit dry.

"Red Star - Mainstay."

Zhang Zhengguo recited the name softly, with a hint of reverence.

The group walked closer slowly.

Section Chief Wang stared at the machine, his brows furrowed tightly.

"It's not turned on?"

He pointed at the motionless machine tool casing,

"With such a massive cutting task, why has it stopped?"

If it were heavy-duty cutting, even with a top-tier Swiss machine tool, you could feel the vibration in the ground when standing close, and hear the low whine of gears meshing.

But this machine was like an inanimate object.

"Who told you it stopped?"

Zhang Zhengguo pursed his lips and pointed to the tachometer on the control panel.

The green numbers were bright and striking: 【1500 RPM】 (revolutions per minute).

"It's spinning?!"

Section Chief Wang's eyes widened,

"Impossible! That's fifteen hundred RPM."

"How could there be absolutely no sound?"

"I don't believe it!"

Section Chief Wang rushed forward a few steps, ignoring any attempt to stop him, and reached out with a trembling hand to touch the headstock casing of the machine tool.

He was a veteran mechanic; his hands were his stethoscope.

Just by touching it, he would know clearly whether the machine was running and how much it was vibrating.

Zhang Zhengguo didn't stop him, only crossed his arms and sneered.

Section Chief Wang's fingertips touched the cold metal casing.

One second.

Two seconds.

His expression froze.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The sensation from his fingertips was like touching a stationary stone.

There was no tingling sensation, no vibration.

Inside this machine, it was as if it wasn't metal rotating at high speed, but ghosts dancing.

"Hydrostatic..."

Section Chief Wang's face turned pale, and he muttered to himself as if he had seen a ghost,

"This is definitely the legendary full hydrostatic spindle!"

"Oil film suspension! Zero contact! Zero wear!"

"You... you actually pulled it off?"

He turned his head abruptly to look at Zhang Zhengguo.

The arrogance in his eyes was gone, replaced only by a sense of fear and awe when facing an industrial miracle.

Just then.

Beep—

A crisp beep broke the deathly silence of the workshop.

The protective door of the machine tool rose slowly.

The spindle slowly stopped rotating, emitting a soft "hiss" of pressure release.

A young figure was standing in front of the console.

Hearing the commotion, he turned around.

On that excessively young face hung a slightly tired but confident smile.

"Dean Qu."

Lin Xi pointed to the finished part in the chuck, which was a silver-white metal ring.

The inner wall of the ring reflected a dazzling luster under the lights.

It was a perfect mirror finish.

"This is the separation hook."

"We happened to have some raw materials, so we started working on it."

"It's fresh out of the oven, still warm."

"Or, did you bring a caliper? Want to inspect the goods?"