Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 57: Curious Engineer

Having an engine doesn’t mean you immediately have cars or engineering machinery.

Chassis, moving parts, suspension systems, transmission systems, vehicle body design, control systems… There are many components needed to build a good vehicle beyond just the engine.

However, the quality issue can be addressed later. Having a suitable power source is the beginning of everything.

To put it bluntly, even if you just use alloy and plastic steel to build a frame, a transmission rod, and some wheels to make a tricycle that can run and tow a cart, it’s still a significant improvement over human or animal power.

Now that we have the engine, if we can get some vehicle or engineering machinery design plans, the heavy industry in Gu Hang’s territory can take a big step forward.

Before that, though, Gu Hang plans to have someone design a simple vehicle that can move, improving transportation efficiency and potentially creating an export product.

If the production volume is decent and the performance is adequate, producing a small three-wheeled truck for our troops could elevate them to a motorized infantry regiment.

Gu Hang arrived at his secret base, where an underground facility had been dug and walls built.

Loyal and reliable Mechanized Light Infantry Battalion soldiers were strictly ordered to guard it, allowing no one to enter.

Of course, the Governor could enter freely.

Here, the two technologies previously drawn and the four Black Box Fabricators were all present.

Additionally, a significant amount of space had been reserved.

Some of it was for feeding materials and production for the existing four machines; the rest was for placing more machines in the future.

He configured the new two machines.

This secret factory also had workers.

The confidentiality level was high; they were not allowed to spill any secrets, required to live within the factory, and were not permitted to leave unless absolutely necessary.

Any outings were monitored.

They poured raw materials into the finished Black Box Fabricators for producing engines.

Soon, under Gu Hang’s initial settings, two engines—one large and one small—meeting his requirements were produced.

These two engines would be sent to the research institute and handed over to the technician who came down from the Quintet to figure out.

Anyway, there’s no progress in conquering the Synthetic Starch Production Line; it’s quite difficult to achieve.

There’s no way around it—Gu Hang’s industrial and research foundations are both extremely poor.

Even the basic-level technology within the scale of the entire Empire’s civilization is hard to develop.

This also indirectly proves the immense value of the technological functions within Gu Hang’s system.

Frankly speaking, if Gu Hang wants to meet the biennial tax requirements in the future, effectively utilizing the technologies provided by the tech panel will be key.

If Gu Hang has the capability to turn Fury Owl Planet into a small foundry world, then there’s no need to worry about the lowest tier of Empire tax.

Back to the matter at hand.

First, two finished engines were made using the Black Box Fabricators.

Once the research institute comes up with a specific application plan, more can be produced.

There’s no rush to start using the Black Box Fabricators for the production line either.

We’ll wait until the application plan is feasible, then begin full-scale engine production.

There’s no need to hurry.

…

The person whom Gu Hang places great hope on, tasked with figuring out how to overcome the technical difficulties of the Synthetic Starch Production Line and coming up with an application plan for the ‘Whetstone’ Hybrid Engine, is now scratching his head with a mechanical hand, contemplating his secret factory.

Wu Jiarong was incredibly curious.

She came from a foundry world and was a technical specialist, with the potential to be promoted to a mechanic.

But… the internal strife within the Imperial Mechanicus was far more severe than outsiders could imagine.

She lost the battle, and not only did she fail to get promoted, but all her property and knowledge were taken by others.

Moreover, she lost her personal freedom and was handed over as Empire tax.

Since then, her situation didn’t improve, but at least it didn’t worsen.

After all, she was a technical specialist, not a slave laborer.

When the Pegasus Fleet needed personnel replenishment, she was thrown onto the Quintet, where she spent ten years.

She had already resigned herself to her fate.

Leaving the foundry world and the Imperial Mechanicus system, she had little chance of any further advancement.

Even on the Quintet, she wasn’t the only technical specialist—there were several technical priests.

But it was difficult for her to become a student and earn a future opportunity to leave the starship and develop further.

Over time, she even felt that her current life wasn’t so bad.

Not overly busy, no need for scheming, just doing her job well and maintaining her part of the starship’s structure—especially the logistics system.

She still had a group of slaves and junior specialists under her command, obeying her management and assignments.

As for herself, she had some leisure time outside of work to study things she was interested in and create little gadgets for her own amusement.

Life wasn’t that bad.

Just when she had almost resigned herself to her fate, an order from Navy Commodore Alicia transferred her, along with several junior specialists, to the surface with the Synthetic Starch Production Line and its components.

Her good days seemed to be over.

That’s what she thought.

Wu Jiarong realized that she could never truly resign herself to her fate.

Every time she did, fate would slap her down another level, testing her resignation again.

Ten years ago, she lost the battle and resigned herself, planning to consider promotion next time, only to be utterly defeated, turned into Empire tax, and never returned.

Now, she stopped struggling, thinking that living on the starship for the rest of her life wasn’t bad, even planning to find a man to marry and have a child before her body modifications rendered her infertile, only to be sent to the surface of Fury Owl Planet.

There was always a lower limit.

But what could she do?

She could only accept her fate.

However, after arriving on the surface, she found that things weren’t as bad as she imagined.

She knew that Governor Gu had almost started developing this place from scratch.

The industrial and research foundations were practically zero.

But other than that, everything else was beneficial!

She had no worries about food or clothing, and the food was even better than on the starship.

Although she was tasked by the Governor to figure out how to realize the Synthetic Starch Production Line with limited resources, she herself didn’t need to eat synthetic starch.

According to the Work Points Allocation System devised by the Governor, her work points were quite high, and her rations and quality were good.

She could bask in the sun during the day and enjoy the night breeze, something unavailable on the starship.

More importantly, she had found a long-lost ‘goal.’

This notion might sound abstract, but in reality, it boiled down to one thing: knowing the significance of her work.

She saw the refugees from Revival City in the camp, struggling to get enough food.

She didn’t have much sympathy for them, but knowing that her research could eventually feed them wasn’t a bad thing.

She could see their smiles, receive praise from the Governor, and know that her work was making a tangible difference.

Unlike on the starship, where day after day, year after year, she couldn’t see the concrete results of her work.

Those cannons and machines seemed no different whether maintained daily or periodically.

Moreover, the synthetic starch project given by the Governor was quite interesting.

It was challenging, but seemed within her capabilities.

She was motivated to work hard.

Besides motivation and goals, she found something else that had long been missing:

Curiosity.

She was extremely curious about the Governor’s secret factory.