Behind the Inability to Stay Overnight

Tom has never received much good education, nor has he been exposed to such good artistic cultivation. From orphans in orphanages to homeless children, he spent most of his childhood struggling to survive.

Practicality is always his first criterion for choosing items.

As he grew older, food and clothing gradually became available, and in addition to practicality, human aesthetic nature gradually revived in Tom. Therefore, the pursuit of human thermal weapons has extended from airplanes and tanks to spacecraft and robots in animated films, and the demand for art and romance has gradually increased.

So Tom chose puzzle making as his hobby, even though it required a lot of money.

But in addition to satisfying his needs for art and romance, the exercise of hands-on skills and the satisfaction of achieving results are also the reasons why he enjoys this "luxury" hobby.

Spend hundreds or thousands of yuan to buy a pile of plastic parts, and then buy a bunch of expensive tools and spray paint. It will take time to assemble and shape all the small plastic parts, ranging from two to three hundred to four to five hundred, and finally paint them with various colors. This kind of hobby requires both money, time, and energy. For Tom, it is indeed quite luxurious.

But when it comes to real life, especially after the micro scale disaster. Practicality remains Tom's top priority standard.

From the plastic armor in the rental house to the old street series armor in the old hospital campsite.

Tom's first need for them is protection and combat. As for their appearance, they naturally pursue it if conditions permit, and do not demand it if conditions permit.

The old street armor is made of level 4 red crystal, which is the size of a backpack. In order to match the crystal, the armor made naturally matches Tom's body shape. While balancing defense, there is also a pursuit of flexibility.

But now, what he has received is a level 5 red crystal. Faced with this big guy with a diameter of 5 centimeters and a length of 9 centimeters, the size of the Old Street Armor, which is up and down 9 centimeters, is really unbearable to carry.

A larger crystal means it will provide him with stronger strengthening power and speed, but it also means he needs to wear it. Traditional methods are no longer feasible.

So Tom's new armor is bound to be larger in size.

In his initial design blueprint, this armor, temporarily named "male ant", reaches a height of up to 16 centimeters. It's just as big as the little black dog they encountered before, it's a real big guy.

In science fiction movies and animations, robots are as agile as humans. But in reality, the technological content required to make robots capable of performing complex movements is too high.

Tom has no problem making a robot, but it's too difficult for him to move it.

After obtaining the level 5 red crystal, Tom changed the blueprint again to a design that was 12 centimeters high, approximately equivalent to the previous height of 3 meters.

Previously, the hands and feet of armor were worn on Tom's hands and feet, making it easy to drive. But with such a tall armor and the lack of various electrical mechanical technologies, it is impossible to achieve the effect of flexibly controlling the robotic arm and legs.

So he used a compromise method... to walk on stilts.

Tom, who is 7.2 centimeters tall, stepped on a 4-centimeter stilt to achieve the movement of the 12 centimeter high armor.

But if the armor is made taller and heavier, it means that the feet must also be heavier, so as not to be too heavy and unable to climb up directly.

So for every move of the male ant armor, Tom needs to activate the explosive power of his legs in order to move heavy footsteps.

However, the explosive power of the legs and the increased strength of the arms cannot be activated simultaneously, which means that Tom, wearing the ant armor, either moves or stops fighting during battles, severely limiting his previous thinking of continuous fighting and running.

Tom didn't want a bulky armor, but after seeing the power of the mutated puppy, Tom urgently needed even stronger strength.

After all, ordinary people have 6-10 powers, while they have 20. This means that after being amplified by the crystal, his strength will be much greater than others.

The magnification of a level 4 crystal is 5 times, and for this level 5 red crystal, Tom tested it briefly and found that it can at least have a magnification of 7. If gold is added to the conductive material of the armor, it is conservatively estimated that male ant armor can provide Tom with at least 8 times the strengthening power.

Eight times, which means Tom has 160 times the strength of an ordinary person, which is 16 times.

When facing mutated dogs or cats in this way, he has the power to fight.

The male ant armor, which is designed to lower the center of gravity, appears very strange. The lower body is thick and the upper body is slender, coupled with short limbs that completely do not match the human body proportions. From the design blueprint alone, it has nothing to do with Gundam's coolness and handsomeness.

No wonder Fan Jie exclaimed foolishly when he saw the revised blueprint.

Speaking of being silly is also a polite statement from Fan Jie. When Ouyang Haotian saw it, he simply laughed at Cheng Fuhua and others with the definition of a "bucket waist old witch".

Tom spread his hands, indicating that if there were better options, he wouldn't design it like this.

No matter how much Fan Jie dislikes it, Tom will do what he deems necessary.

The first step in shaping work is naturally the underlying framework, which, in terms of human body structure, means starting with the skeleton. With a framework, various joints and mechanisms can be stacked on top, and finally the outer protective armor can be mounted.

Fan Jie despised Tom's design and spent several nights making two blueprints himself, eagerly bringing them to Tom. Tom just glanced at it and said, "How can we achieve elbow rotation?" and his efforts were killed.

When Tom started making the metal frame, Fanjie looked disgusted and didn't want to help at all.

But after all, he is an eleven year old boy, with a strong thirst for knowledge, curiosity, and playfulness.

So after secretly seeing Tom's framework components several times, he was attracted and naturally became Tom's guide, the result of his actions.

With the addition of Fan Jie, the progress of armor frame production has accelerated significantly, and the consumption of green crystals has been reduced. Tom conservatively estimates that the framework will be completed in at least another week.

However, at noon on that day, Zhang Guangliang announced a new rule while having lunch after work: "Recently, there has been a lot of pressure on orders, and there are instructions on it that processing must be done overtime, so everyone should not take leave easily. Moreover, outdoor accommodation is no longer allowed, and everyone must stay in the factory dormitory."

This new regulation makes workers sigh, but of course, what they care about is processing overtime and cannot take leave. As for mandatory dormitories, factory dormitories are free and there is no difference for them. Even the five metal forgers are the same, they spend most of their time in the factory dormitory.

Only Tom has recently moved into a new home and moved into an ant colony. Every night after work, he rides his bike back to the ant colony. He and Fan Jie mostly rest during lunch breaks in the factory dormitory.

Tom is a person who goes with the flow, and there is no problem with Zhang Guangliang's new regulations, making it much easier to accept. The biggest impact on him was actually that he couldn't make armor when he returned at night, which undoubtedly greatly delayed the completion progress of the male ants.

For Tom, completing the armor and finding clues for his sister are equally important. He still needs to wait in the shelter until his sister's clues are confirmed. Moreover, relying solely on the 5 green crystals at home may not be enough to make a complete set of armor, which requires the use of green crystals from the factory.

He can do private work in the factory to make small parts. It's no big deal to take it out and pay another cost and wear and tear fee, which is also one of the benefits for metal forgers.

So Tom doesn't resist Zhang Guangliang's overtime regulations.

But for Fan Jie, it's different.

Eleven year old teenagers have a very casual nature, doing whatever they want. It's true that interests come quickly, whether they go quickly or not depends on the individual.

Within a few days, Fan Jie became fascinated by Tom's armor making work. His ability to shape metal is better than Tom's. Recently, he has learned a lot from Tom and feels a bit smug, thinking that he is better than him.

After shaping two parts for Tom and combining them together, he realized that Tom's idea of combining metal parts couldn't even catch up.

The boy who refused to give up naturally competed secretly, completing the work assigned to him by Tom with full enthusiasm every day. These metal shaped components are much more powerful than the monotonous combination boards in the factory.

Now this chubby middle-aged man suddenly tells him he wants to stay in the factory, which means he can't make armor at night. Can he bear it?

Immediately proposing to Tom, he agreed to his idea of leaving the metal forging factory.

Tom still needs to use the factory's work as a cover, unlike Fan Jie. He is just a temporary worker in the factory, carrying a large amount of engine technology transfer fee in his arms, which is not lacking in money. Now that it's hindering him from doing armor at night, he might as well resign and quit.

In the next chapter, Guangliang panicked. A metal blacksmith who could handle two and a half pieces only spent one piece of money. Where can I find such a useful child laborer?

He tried to plead with Tom and asked him to persuade Fan Jie to stay. He also agreed to the processing fee, but Fan Jie remained unmoved.

Zhang Guangliang's awkward attitude made Tom smell a strange smell.

The rules of this metal forging factory are mostly set by Zhang Guangliang, after all, he belongs to the contracted factory manager. Although the assets belong to Haiwei Mini Industry, he still has to bear the profits and losses on his own. Nowadays, in order to retain Fan Jie, he insists on both a salary increase and leave, but remains steadfast in the issue of mandatory accommodation.

This indicates that this regulation was not set by him and he cannot change it.

At first, Tom thought that mandatory overnight stay was also a rule, but Zhang Guangliang said for a whole day. As it was time to finish work, Fan Jie had to leave his temporary job and go back to the ant colony to assemble armor. He was hesitant to say that he could make an exception for Fan Jie and allow him to stay back at night.

At Tom's suggestion, another metal forging master who had some acquaintance with Tom also made a request to stay home and was agreed to.

Now Tom knows that this rule is aimed at him. He doesn't even have to go to Zhang Guangliang to demand it. Zhang Guangliang won't even allow him to go out at night.

Since the last time Zhang Chengjiang said "I want to use you, but I can't", it has been revealed that the management of the shelter has taken special measures against him. Most likely, this rule of "not being able to stay outside" is aimed at him.

Upon reflection, it was highly likely that the person targeted at him was Song Ren, the manager of the security department.

Tom sat on the rooftop, looking at the towering office building of Haiwei Mini Industry in the distance, and muttered to himself, "Is this revenge on me for rescuing Yuan Feipeng?"