After the end of the second act of "Giant Lake", the next day, Li Yan and Cha Xiaodao brought some braised duck and whiskey and took the initiative to visit Chang Yu's rented apartment.

When the two knocked on the door, Chang Yu was polishing the plating of a hand armor. It's not a job, he always likes to make gadgets in private.

"I'm sorry, ever. I know you're on vacation. But I had a great time talking to you last time, and I still have a lot of questions for you. ”

Chang Yu smiled at Li Yan: "If you say anything, come in and say." ”

He let the door open, and Li Yan and Zha Xiaodao walked into Chang Yu's rented house.

The room doesn't look big, and it doesn't have any decent furniture. Cardboard boxes with metal parts were placed everywhere. There are also some commonly used parts processing machines, such as pneumatic grinding machines, gear fanchengyi, and even a small processing machine.

On the side of the bed against the wall, stacks of brick-thick drawings are stacked. On the windowsill stands a pen holder, which is full of used charcoal tubes, as well as dental jars, toothbrushes, razors and other household items.

There was no table, but there was a rail-style drawing machine and a small bench, and only half of the design of the individual soldier's helmet was only half drawn on the drawings.

The three of them sat in a circle, and Li Yan pulled out the wine cork and poured wine for the other two.

"Actually, I thought about your question last time, and I still insist that people are just more complex machines made of flesh and blood, but the current stage of technology is not enough to reach this height. But if you want to achieve what you said, a machine comparable to a living thing, you may not be able to do it. ”

Chang Yu held a duck leg, and he didn't bother to take off the monocle he usually wears at work, and talked to Li Yan eloquently.

"Look at this."

He handed Li Yan a book that looked like a scholar's work on mechanical theory.

"The basic function of the triathlon ball is twofold, the first is that it can intensify vaporization hundreds of times, and with a small amount of water and fuel, it can generate a huge amount of power. The second is to make some liquids and metals that are not easy to vaporize can be vaporized at very low temperatures, so as to play their role, for example, mercury vapor can emit strong light, and tungsten vapor can be used to make fully automatic individual soldiers. ”

"More than 100 years ago in England, a scholar put forward the well-known three-ball linkage theory, that is, in the same machine, more three balls can be made to run at the same time, and the efficiency of the machine will be increased exponentially. The discovery caused a sensation at the time, but it was soon discovered that in most cases, only one of the three balls in a brutal row in a machine would work. It is only through the experimentation of different materials and the design of the machine that more triathlon balls can be made to work. ”

Hearing this, Li Yan suddenly remembered the six-core individual soldier "unicorn" of the Steam Princess in the Giant Lake.

Chang Yu continued to rush Li Yan's popular science with great interest: "In the decades since the advent of the three-ball linkage theory, most scholars and engineers have stayed in dual-core mechanical design, and a few steam equipment have reached three-core. At that time, there were many brilliant science fiction writers, who fantasized that multi-nuclear machines could fly into space, go deep into the seabed, create huge illusions, burst out with mythical destructive power, and even immortality. ”

Li Yan stretched out his voice: "What do you mean?" ”

The three linkage theories sound absurd, but in reality, no one can overturn this theory today. In 1805, the Scottish steam airship came out, and the technical level reached the level of five triathlon balls operating at the same time, and the city of London floated into the sky in 1850. It is powered by eight triathlon balls. And this month, the Sky Train, which will be on display at the London World's Fair, also has seven to eight triathlon balls running at the same time. ”

Chang Yu opened his hands, his eyes shining: "If there is an eight-core steam soldier in the future, or even a nine-core one." Maybe what you said, a robot comparable to a living thing will also become a reality. ”

After hearing this, Li Yan immediately asked, "Then what are the most advanced steam individual soldiers now?" ”

"Seven cores."

Chang Yu replied without hesitation: "Enfield Company is the world's most advanced steam individual soldier. A while ago, the latest steam soldier, the eight-core "Giant Ymir", was overloaded, causing the three balls that supply the Eros Tower to operate to be overloaded, and Ymir failed to operate. Therefore, the steam individual soldiers who can be put into actual combat are only at the level of seven cores at the highest. ”

"If you might be offended, Chang, with your ability, how many core-level individual armor can you make?"

"Six or seven cores."

Li Yan didn't speak, just stared at Chang Yu in a daze.

Chang Yu scratched his head a little embarrassedly: "However, the production process of high-level steam soldiers requires the use of large machinery and equipment, which are the property of Enfield Company. And, in fact, I didn't do the production process of the steam soldier alone, I did it all to others, and the reason why I said that I might be able to make a six-to-seven-core soldier was because ......"

Chang Yu was a little embarrassed, he threw away the duck bones, and took out a lot of things from under the bed, which were actually all kinds of high-end steam soldiers of Enfield Company!

This includes the "Venus", which can fly and has high maneuverability. The "Thor" equipped with heavy firepower, four-wheel drive, can be used as a single off-road vehicle "Hera", but invariably, the tallest of these individual soldiers is only fifty centimeters, and the small ones are only twenty or thirty centimeters, to put it bluntly, just toys.

"It's all made from the stuff in my room, not just the models, all the parts are scaled down according to the real individual scale."

Cha Xiaodao's eyes were very peculiar to Chang Yu, he picked up a single soldier and raised it at Chang Yu: "Can it be used?" ”

"Haha, then you'll have to find a dwarf who can wear these individual soldiers."

Chang Yu made a joke.

"Ah, yes, Lee, this is for you."

Chang Yu knocked open the chassis behind a toy soldier and used a screwdriver to remove a hotpot-like part the size of a fingernail from inside.

"I heard Knife say, you want a three-on-the-road. The three balls used in the factory are too expensive to row. If you're just interested, I'll send this to you, I'll do it myself, and the cost is not high. ”

After that, he put the pocket-sized three balls in Li Yan's hand.

Li Yan looked at the three balls thoughtfully, and suddenly raised his head and said to Chang Yu: "Chang, I want to hire you to make such a single soldier." I will design the specific style with you. Make an offer if you want. ”

"You are Cha's friend, and you are also my friend, if you like it, everything is here, you can pick whatever you want, no money."

Li Yan shook his head: "These things don't meet my requirements, they must be made separately." ”

Chang Yu lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said for a long time: "Okay, what style do you want?" ”