The rain had stopped, but Chen Hao was still squatting by the irrigation ditch, a lump of wet mud in his hand. He had intended to make a mud figure to pass the time, but his hand slipped, and the mud ball fell into the ditch with a splash, instantly being washed away.
He stared at the flowing water for two seconds, then suddenly stood up, grabbed the hoe leaning against the rock, and smashed it against a dead tree root.
One stroke, two strokes, and a small chip appeared on the hoe blade.
"Holy crap!" He shook his numb hand. "This thing is crispier than potato chips?"
Nana was standing beside the smelting pit adjusting the optical scanner when she heard the noise and turned around: "It needs to be replaced. The current tool has an average lifespan of thirty-seven hours, which is eleven times over."
"I know we need to replace it!" Chen Hao slammed the hoe into the ground, panting heavily. "The problem is, what are we going to use to replace it? We don't have any hardware stores to go to!"
“We have the materials,” she said. “The titanium-iron alloy layer in the spacecraft wreckage has not been completely oxidized, and the theoretical recovery rate can reach 60%.”
Chen Hao's eyes lit up, then drooped again: "Sounds like an advertisement. We don't even have a decent furnace, how are we going to refine it?"
“We can build a focused furnace.” She pointed to a tilted metal plate in the distance. “Using the refraction of sunlight to raise the temperature, and with the help of a combustion accelerant, it can theoretically reach 1,400 degrees Celsius.”
"Fourteen thousand?" He scratched his head. "Isn't iron supposed to melt at least fifteen thousand?"
“If it’s 100 degrees off, you can use saltpeter to replenish the ignition value.” She paused. “The success rate is estimated to be… 23 percent.”
Chen Hao grinned: "So you're saying 'it might succeed, or it might blow up the kitchen'?"
“It’s a statement of fact,” she said calmly. “Would you like to give it a try?”
He looked at the broken hoe in his hand, then at the pile of rusty spaceship wreckage in the distance, and gritted his teeth: "Let's try! We can't keep using our fingernails to weeding from now on!"
The two immediately took action.
Chen Hao carried a rope and a crowbar to the wreckage area, dismantling the spaceship while cursing, "Who built this crappy spaceship? The welds are like cookie crumbs, they break as soon as you break them."
“Civilian transport ships are designed to have a lifespan of only twenty years.” Nana used a robotic arm to sort through the metal fragments beside her. “The piece you’re holding is a main load-bearing beam, which has a high titanium content.”
"Oh, so that means... it was originally quite expensive?" He chuckled. "Now it's mine. Turning waste into treasure, an environmental champion."
He dragged the largest piece back to the smelting pit and placed it in the center of the pit he had dug beforehand. Nana then used several reflectors to create a concave structure and adjusted the angle to face the sun.
"The critical temperature is expected to be reached in 30 minutes," she said. "It is recommended to stay away from the work area."
"Wait!" Chen Hao pulled a pair of swimming goggles from his backpack and put them on. "With protective gear in place, we can open fire at any time."
"That's not protective equipment."
"That's how I feel."
The flames rose rapidly after igniting the mixture of charcoal powder and saltpeter, the heat forcing people to retreat. The inner walls of the earthen stove began to glow red, and the edges of the metal fragments gleamed slightly.
“It’s reached 1000 degrees.” Nana stared at the data stream. “The structural stability has dropped by 12 percent, and microcracks have appeared in the furnace body.”
"Can it still hold on?" Chen Hao squinted and leaned closer to look.
"No," she said. "I suggest stopping the addition of ingredients."
"Wait a little longer!" He grabbed a handful of saltpeter powder and was about to sprinkle it in. "Just a little bit more—"
boom!
A crack appeared in the furnace wall, molten metal gushed out, sparks landed on the haystack, and flames shot up.
Chen Hao tripped over a rock as he jumped away and landed hard in a mud pit. Nana immediately deployed a shield to contain the fire and released fire-extinguishing foam. As the white mist filled the air, the flames gradually died down.
The surroundings became quiet.
The smell of burning mixed with sulfur wafted through the air. Chen Hao sat on the ground, his face covered in soot, clutching the half-empty bag of saltpeter powder in his hand.
He looked down and smiled bitterly: "It's over. My high-tech dream has burned to nothing."
Nana walked over, used the robotic arm to clear away the debris, and took out a piece of cooled metal. Its surface was pitted and twisted, like cheese that had been gnawed by a cat.
“Impurity separation failed,” she said. “The oxygen content was too high and the carbon ratio was unbalanced, making forging impossible.”
"So, this thing can't even be cooked in a pot?"
"To be precise, even a pot lid won't work."
Chen Hao sighed, took off his swimming goggles; the lenses were blackened by smog. "I thought that as long as I dared to fight, I could win."
“You’re just doing it the wrong way.” She placed the metal sample into the analyzer. “The current conditions are insufficient to overcome the melting point bottleneck; the process must be changed.”
"Then what do you suggest we do? Wait for aliens to send us a blast furnace?"
“No need.” She pulled up a set of data charts. “We can try staged purification. First, we can use low temperature to remove light impurities, and then use electromagnetic oscillation to assist crystallization.”
"I've heard every single word you say before, but I don't understand what they mean when put together."
“It means—” she looked up at him, “that adding some borax next time will lower the melting point.”
"Borx?" He frowned. "Where did we get borax?"
"Laundry detergent contains similar ingredients."
"You mean... using laundry detergent to smelt steel?"
“Theoretically, it’s possible,” she said. “And you just found half a bag of expired laundry detergent yesterday.”
Chen Hao paused for a few seconds, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Great! I'm the founding father of the new school of metallurgy—the 'Washing Machine School'!"
He stood up, brushed the dust off his trousers, walked over to the pile of wreckage, and kicked over a piece of rusty iron. "But come to think of it, our lives are really surreal. Yesterday we were rolling around in the rain, and today we're working like boiler operators trying to turn scrap iron into a knife."
“Progress often happens amidst chaos,” she said. “Your mood swings are 18 percent more stable than last week, which indicates improved resilience.”
"Thanks for the compliment." He rolled his eyes. "But I'd rather have an axe that doesn't chip."
He bent down, picked up a small fragment, and weighed it in his palm. "You mean these things were originally part of a spaceship? Flying through space, seeing the stars, and now they're lying here being burned as firewood?"
“All matter will eventually return to its basic form,” she said. “The only difference is whether the process is used effectively.”
“Oh, that sounds quite philosophical.” He grinned. “But I don’t believe in fate, nor do I believe in any kind of regression. I just believe that as long as you keep trying, you’ll eventually succeed.”
He stuffed the fragments into his pocket and turned to walk towards another area of wreckage. "Let's go salvage some more usable parts. This time, let's try a different approach: instead of trying to achieve everything at once, let's get a few durable parts first."
Nana followed, her optical eyes continuously scanning the ground. "Warning: There is an unexploded energy module in the southeast corner. We recommend detouring."
“It’s okay, I only dismantle the ones that look the least dangerous,” he said without turning his head. “Like those that are obviously leaking electricity, smoking, or flashing red light.”
"That's the most dangerous."
That's why I said 'selective'.
The sun was setting in the west, its rays slanting across the smelting pit. The collapsed furnace resembled a miniature ruin, with the failed lump of metal lying in the center.
Chen Hao sat on the edge of the pit, took out a bottle of water from his backpack, took a sip, and handed it over: "Want some?"
"unnecessary."
“I know you don’t need it.” He swallowed hard. “But I have to pretend to be civilized, you know? Social etiquette.”
He wiped his mouth and gazed at the distant horizon. "Do you think that if we really build a plowing robot in the future, it will dislike the way it looks now?"
“It only executes instructions,” she said. “It doesn’t evaluate the operator.”
"Then it must have never seen a real social death scene." He shook his head with a smile. "When it sees me standing in front of a fire with swimming goggles, it will probably shut down and become a complete idiot."
Nana was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "Record update: There are seven reasons for the failure of this experiment. Three of them can be solved by adding flux, two require improvement of the furnace structure, and the other two involve the fuel ratio."
"So... there's still hope?"
“Yes,” she said. “The success rate can be increased to 39.5% next time.”
"Almost 40% done?" His eyes lit up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's keep going tomorrow!"
He stood up, patted his backside, then squatted down to pick up the twisted metal fragment and put it into his tool bag.
“I’ll keep it as a souvenir,” he said. “I’ll tell my grandson how Grandpa turned laundry detergent into Iron Man.”
Nana watched him work, and her mechanical fingers twitched slightly.
"I recommend checking the tool bag's seal tonight," she said. "Residual metal powder could corrode the fabric."
“Okay, I’ll wrap it with three layers of tape later.” He patted the bag. “Anyway, we lack everything, but we don’t lack the spirit of making use of waste.”
He shouldered his tool bag and headed towards the camp. Nana followed behind, her optical eyes still flashing blue as she continued to process the data she had just collected.
The wind swept across the open space, stirring up a few specks of ash.
Chen Hao took a few steps and then suddenly stopped.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the small metal piece, and looked at it against the setting sun.
The edges are rough and the color is dull, but it feels heavy in your hand.
He didn't say anything, put it back in his pocket, and continued walking.
Nana's voice came from behind: "Actually... the swimming goggles you just threw away have aluminum alloy frames, which can be recycled."
“Understood,” he said. “The first thing I’ll do tomorrow morning is melt down my ‘Goggles Armor’.”
He stepped over a rock and his foot stepped into a puddle.
Water splashed up and wet his trouser legs.
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