Chapter 190: Cold Start Phase Two

Chapter 190: Cold Start Phase Two

The shock delivered to Lei Jie by the two chip‑manufacturing machines might not be any less than the awe he felt upon discovering the 011 installation, yet regrettably these machines are far from pristine, ready‑to‑use wonders.

Because the equipment has been stored in a laboratory, its environmental control system is far inferior to that of 011, and each machine suffers from a variety of ailments.

A complete restoration will demand a relatively long stretch of time.

The good news, however, is that we no longer have to start from nothing.

Patchwork repairs are still simpler than forging anew with bare hands.

Thus Lei Jie feels little regret.

After a brief assessment of the machines’ condition, he dutifully returned to the cat‑car and rejoined the main convoy.

The road back to the 011 installation is far smoother than when Chen Jian’s squad first ventured there—not because “more footsteps carve a path,” but because while they were battling outside Jinling City, Fuxi was tirelessly clearing the way.

In just under forty‑eight hours, Fuxi laid over eighty kilometres of road, thanks to the super‑efficient operation of more than twenty all‑terrain, walking excavators under its command.

Such machines existed in Chen Jian’s era, but after two decades of explosive advances in hydraulics, electronics, and energy, their size, productivity, and capabilities have more than doubled.

Clearing obstacles, digging, bulldozing, and compacting in a seamless flow, the still‑working excavators made Chen Jian pause for several minutes, unable to look away.

Indeed, no matter a man’s age or circumstance, the lure of an excavator remains irresistible.

And, of course, Chen Jian is not the only one.

For the Huangshi folk who have never beheld such colossal machinery, the scene before them borders on miracle.

They cannot fathom that humanity could fashion and command such massive devices, and some even imagine them to be monsters of a kind they have never seen.

If it weren’t for the relentless training that has ingrained in them a reflex to obey orders, some might have been tempted to fire upon those “steel behemoths.”

The nearer they draw to the 011 installation, the more profound their astonishment becomes.

Flatcars hauling slag and waste, lumberjacks reaping trees as if cutting straw, and the ceaseless swarm of “ant‑colony” robots.

When they finally passed through the now‑pristine main corridor into the 011 complex, their feet on the lift, feeling the extraordinary sensation that technology bestows, the troupe nearly boiled over with excitement.

It was the first time Chen Jian witnessed a crowd weeping in orderly rapture from sheer elation.

——

The first time he saw it in reality.

Such uncontrollable emotion lingered for a considerable span; some even knelt on the spot, bowing and kowtowing toward the direction of Huangshi City.

These people were paying homage to their ancestors.

At its core, it is a rather simple sentiment.

Frankly, do the denizens of Huangshi truly expect their forebears to watch over them from the unseen realms?

They do not.

They merely project the affection they hold for departed loved ones onto a somewhat ethereal notion of “ancestors,” seeking spiritual solace.

Compared with the fanatical devotees of the Mechanical Cult, such ancestor worship is markedly more rational.

Thus, Chen Jian does not restrain them.

Only after the “worship” concludes does he usher the crowd into the residential sector of the 011 installation, beginning to plan and allocate living quarters.

Following the completion of Cold‑Start Phase One, the bulk of the stored cold‑start gear has been cleared from the living area, and the standardized storage crates have been dismantled by the ant‑colony robots and reassembled into individual habitable compartments.

The conditions remain modest, yet compared with Huangshi City and other wasteland dwellings, they are nothing short of paradise.

After a few minutes, with Fuxi’s assistance, Chen Jian successfully assigned over a hundred individuals to their places.

He himself received a slightly larger central compartment to serve as his bedroom—nothing particularly special.

Setting down his personal weapons and shedding his exoskeleton, the ant‑colony robots automatically ferried the exosuit to the armory for maintenance, while Chen Jian proceeded to his office to inspect the progress of Cold‑Start Phase Two.

The office screen continued to flash mission‑command subtitles; at a glance, the “Cold‑Start Equipment Deployment” steps were all completed, and two primary tasks were now underway.

The first concerned infrastructural preparations around the base’s perimeter.

The second involved the assembly and commissioning of the main production apparatus.

The former entails nothing particularly exotic—merely road‑laying, earth‑moving, timber‑cutting, not even reaching the stage of wall‑building.

The latter, however, is considerably more intricate.

According to the design logic of the 011 installation—or, more precisely, the logic of the Fuxi project—this shelter must possess the ability to swiftly reconstruct industry from scratch.

Thus, deciding where and how to begin is of paramount importance.

It is evident that the project’s original leader was a consummate pessimist. He doubted that post‑nuclear‑war survivors could harness a simple “industrial mother‑machine” to gradually fabricate the parts they needed and piece together more specialized production lines.

Consequently, his proposal called for the construction of a full‑functional “industrial mother‑machine cluster,” employing a turnkey approach, and erecting a massive intelligent workshop within the three‑layer cavern spanning levels six to eight at the base of the 011 complex.

The workshop’s purpose is singular: smelting, casting, and machining.

Yet its capabilities are remarkably expansive.

Supply it with a design for a desired device, and it will instantly follow a preset program, feed in raw materials, and produce the item.

In more intuitive terms, it is a gigantic industrial black box.

From bullets to the high‑pressure vessels required for synthetic‑ammonia production, it can forge them.

Of course, only on a small scale.

The sole drawback lies in efficiency.

Absent any functional specialization, the time required to fabricate a highly complex internal‑combustion engine is scarcely different from that needed to produce a disposable lighter.

It can only address immediate emergencies; to truly mature an industrial ecosystem, the various branches of industry must be refined as far as possible.

Chen Jian scrutinized the progress of the second primary task and discovered that, thanks to the tireless labor of the massive ant swarm, the intelligent workshop’s assembly had already surpassed forty percent.

According to estimates, within at most three days the workshop will be fully assembled and ready for its inaugural trial run.

Its successful operation will signify the completion of Cold‑Start Phase Two.

A surge of anticipation rose within Chen Jian.

He asked aloud:

“Fuxi, once the intelligent workshop is fully assembled, does that mean we can, albeit at a modest efficiency, produce anything we desire?”

“Yes.”

Fuxi replied:

“Not at a modest efficiency, but at an ‘extremely low’ efficiency.”

“If you wish to manufacture a structurally complex industrial product—say, an aircraft engine—the intelligent workshop could, in theory, accomplish it.”

“However, the estimated completion time would be 129 years.”

When Fuxi’s words faded, Chen Jian couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I wouldn’t be foolish enough to task this workshop with such complexity. Suppose I wanted to cast a 105‑mm howitzer—how long would that take?”

“The estimate is 1,440 hours, i.e., sixty days.”

“Moreover, during those sixty days the workshop’s capacity would be occupied at over sixty percent, severely impacting overall efficiency.”

“ I would not advise you to produce finished goods in this manner; the core purpose of this workshop is to manufacture other industrial components at a relatively low efficiency, such as standardized machine tools and assembly lines.”

“ Only in that direction can it achieve its greatest efficiency.”

“ For instance, we could spend a total of 510 days to fabricate all the equipment required for a 105‑cannon production line, and once those machines are fully assembled, the time to produce a single 105‑cannon could be compressed to under twenty hours.”

“ Understood.”

Chen Jian nodded slowly.

A thought sprang to mind.

If, disregarding any other industrial equipment demands, I were to order Fuxi to charge the 105‑cannon line at full speed,

would that not mean

that two years from now I could command a heavy‑artillery cluster of more than a hundred cannons??

Hiss.

If such a contraption truly existed, would anything on this wasteland ever be a match for the Huaxia forces?

Absolutely not.

The sole problem is that this extreme development path is fraught with uncertainty; a mis‑timed spell could leave us vulnerable to a sudden raid that wipes us out.

It seems that growing fat in one gulp is an illusion.

Better to climb steadily, step by step.

With that in mind, Chen Jian spoke:

“ Mobilize all resources and enter full‑power operation.”

“ Expedite the completion of Phase Two of the cold start.”

“ Then, commence production at once!”

(End of Chapter)