Card maker? No, I'm a mechanic!

Chen Ming paused, then gave Lao Wang a meaningful look. "I would say it was an unexpected incident, but I handled the crisis promptly and properly."

"Yes, yes, thank you so much, Master Chen! Thank you so much, Master Chen!"

Old Wang felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly nodded as he saw Chen Ming off.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and the weight on his heart finally lifted.

Chen Ming was sent down by the company; he was both stationed on-site and a supervisor.

Supervise him, the overseer.

Therefore, he naturally couldn't threaten him like he did with the dismantlers.

However, since he's willing to admit it, his blunders can probably be considered a thing of the past.

Jiang Zhe couldn't help but sigh inwardly as he watched this scene.

These people are all such drama queens!

One wanted to keep his job, and the other wanted to cover up his dereliction of duty; both tacitly chose to deceive the other.

But that's fine, he's happy to have some free time.

"Xiao Jiang, are you alright?"

After Chen Ming left, Old Li came over and asked with some concern.

Jiang Zhe was about to say something like "wait a moment" when Old Li swiftly grabbed his arm.

"Don't move, I can tell your arm is dislocated just by touching it."

As Old Li spoke, he casually groped Jiang Zhe's arm a few times, then pushed and pulled it.

"Snap!"

With a crisp crack, Jiang Zhe's bones returned to their original position. Although he grimaced in pain, his shoulder instantly felt much lighter.

"Wow... Uncle Li, that was impressive."

"Hmph, I was on the battlefield back in the day. What kind of wounds haven't I seen?"

Old Li smiled smugly, but his eyes still looked somewhat serious.

"That thing you just used... it's something else."

Jiang Zhe's heart skipped a beat. He knew that Lao Li, as a card maker, must have a much better eye than other ordinary workers.

Naturally, one can also discern the intricacies of the arm armor.

But before he could say anything, he saw Old Wang return to the platform and start shouting again.

"Stop standing there, all of you! Get to work! Nobody's leaving until we meet today's targets."

After seeing Chen Ming off, Old Wang's arrogant expression returned to normal.

Although he was talking about work, his eyes kept looking in Jiang Zhe's direction.

Clearly, he was still shaken by the power of that punch.

If hitting a troll is one punch, then how can he be harder than a troll?

Jiang Zhe also knew that what happened today was just the beginning.

As long as their processing station remains the least efficient, Lao Wang will definitely find other ways to compensate.

Sooner or later, a second or even a third troll will appear at this processing station.

He must improve his strength as soon as possible.

"Xiao Jiang, you should go and rest first, although we probably won't get that troll."

"But Old Wang wouldn't dare to shortchange him on this kind of money."

Old Li patted Jiang Zhe on the shoulder and gave him a meaningful look.

Jiang Zhe nodded without saying anything.

He merely glanced at the shifty-eyed old queen before silently walking toward his secluded studio.

……

After returning to his container workshop, Jiang Zhe locked the door behind him.

He sat at the worktable, looking at the cards in his palm with a complex expression.

Although he won this battle, it also exposed many of his problems.

The arm armor has too much recoil and a short attack range.

If he misses his punch, he'll be nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter during the vacuum period...

"It's really rudimentary."

"But that's not bad either; at least it shows there's still a lot of room for improvement."

Jiang Zhe pulled a worn-out notebook from under the worktable.

It was filled with detailed records of various energy circuit diagrams he had seen, as well as his own ideas and concepts.

"First, we need to solve the shock absorption problem. The 'shaving card' is okay for removing dirt, but it's too much of a buffer."

He tapped the table, his mind replaying suitable discarded cards.

"What is needed is a material that can absorb impact and quickly regain its elasticity."

"Ideally, it should have good ductility and low energy conduction efficiency."

Soon, Jiang Zhe thought of a type of discarded card commonly found in the processing station: slime.

This thing is usually used as cannon fodder by low-level card masters, but the characteristic of slime is that it is soft, sticky and can be deformed.

"If we modified the slime's circuitry, making it liquefy upon impact and then quickly solidify..."

"Isn't this... a non-Newtonian fluid?"

His eyes lit up, as if he had seen the holy light of physics.

"The second thing is battery life."

Jiang Zhe turned to the next page of the notebook, which was filled with drawings of all sorts of strangely shaped energy cores and power supply pipes.

The power source for the gauntlet is currently that premature ejaculation fireball card; although the energy is powerful enough, it is consumed quickly as well.

Even if his body could withstand the recoil, he couldn't last more than a few hits with that kind of output efficiency.

"It's like putting a supercar's fuel tank on a motorcycle."

He tapped his head; this problem was much more troublesome than shock absorption.

The combat cards he currently knows and can access are either summons or instant-cast spells.

There is no type of 'battery' that can provide continuous and stable output.

Traditional card players replenish card energy by infusing it with mental power or by directly exchanging cards.

However, premature ejaculation fireball cards are not that common, and he doesn't have time to infuse his mental energy during battle.

"We need something that can maintain output for a long time..."

Thinking about it, Jiang Zhe's gaze fell on the worktable, on a flash card that he had disassembled and converted into a table lamp.

After he modified it and reduced its power, this thing could output power continuously, but it was reduced so much that it wasn't very bright.

"If we could combine this consistency with high efficiency..."

Jiang Zhe picked up a pencil and sketched out a complex system in his notebook in a few quick strokes.

He thought of the turbine engine from his previous life.

The exhaust gas drives the turbine, which in turn drives the compressor, forming a self-sustaining cycle.

Although it may sound complicated, it simply means recycling and reusing waste.

In this world of card games, he could naturally draw on this idea as well.

"The core idea is energy recovery."

Each time the arm armor is activated, a large amount of waste energy is generated.

If we can find a way to recover some of this waste energy and reinject it into the power cycle.

That would naturally extend the battery life significantly.

It's easier said than done.

The space for modifying cards is limited; if you were to directly create a structure within it...

That only wastes a lot of space and doesn't offer any benefits.

However, when he tried to modify and implement it using card loops, he found that his knowledge of cards was insufficient.

In an instant, various plans flashed through Jiang Zhe's mind, but were quickly rejected.

"Perhaps...we could try to find some outside help?"

Old Li's face suddenly appeared in his mind.

You know, Old Li isn't very good at fighting anymore, but his knowledge of cards is still better than this half-baked guy.

"No one is perfect. We can't just cling to those mechanical theories like they're treasures. We should learn more and ask more questions."

With a sigh, Jiang Zhe packed up his notebook and went outside.

I spent a lot of time thinking, and now it's already evening.

The workers, who had been exploited all day, headed to their respective dormitories.

Old Li's dormitory was not far from his workshop, and Jiang Zhe arrived at the door of Old Li's dormitory shortly afterward.

"Knock knock..."

"Is Uncle Li here?"

Who is it?

The door creaked open, and Old Li cautiously poked half his head out.

But his wariness gradually dissipated only when he saw Jiang Zhe's face clearly.

"Oh, it's Xiao Jiang. Come in quickly."

Old Li's dormitory was very simple, similar to Jiang Zhe's workshop.

A strange medicinal smell lingered in the air, seemingly the medicine Old Li used to treat his old injuries.