Chapter 107 A Boring Day

January 13, 335 AD, morning

Today the wind and snow are even stronger. Although I'm not surprised by it, I can't lie to myself that I really miss the rare good weather a few days ago.

However, this lord is indeed a very capable person, which gives a pessimistic person like me some hope.

Li Yang tirelessly hunched over his desk, writing furiously—a habit he had cultivated over many years, and also a source of solace for this helpless and destitute man.

Writing a long paragraph in the shortest possible text with the most grammatical errors is a waste of time, but he enjoys it every day.

Writing one's feelings on a sheet of paper made of seaweed fiber is a bit of an expense.

The paper is yellowish, which is caused by the pigments from the seaweed fibers that cannot be removed, but it is still so expensive it makes your teeth ache.

A notebook that can be folded into dozens of pages would probably cost him several days' wages as a technician.

But he still insists on doing it.

It's better than a corpse buried by wind and snow, leaving no trace of the world until death.

His dormitory was located on the first floor of the Azure, with several holes near the windows, ensuring that the less than 6-square-meter space had enough light.

He was the first to get up, while his other roommate, who shared the room with him, was still fast asleep.

Li Yang, with a pen resting on his upper lip, was still racking his brains about what to write next.

Then, with a slight change in his expression, he added another stroke to it.

"I hope I can die here. At least this place feels more human than outside. I hope the living can see my grave."

However.

Ha, if I'm going to die, I'd better die before that guy in the dorm who's still fast asleep.

I can't sleep without that guy's snoring.

Just as Li Yang was getting into it, a hand suddenly slapped him on the back, startling him.

"What are you doing, Yoko? Still writing in your little diary?"

"You're being a bit too nosy."

Zhou Zheng looked at Li Yang glaring at him angrily, then covered the words he had just written with his hands, afraid that anyone would see them.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes indifferently and smacked his lips, but sleepiness still lingered in his eyes.

"If you ask me, you don't need to spend your entire salary on this kind of thing. Like me, isn't it good to live life to the fullest on your daily wage?"

"Oh, then hurry up and spend your salary on alcohol and women. I'm looking forward to the day you're done having your fun."

"Your mouth is still as sharp as ever, so satisfying."

Zhou Zheng closed his eyes and searched for his work boots, which he didn't know where he had thrown them, making a sparse rubbing sound.

For these two, daily banter is part of their routine for welcoming each new day.

Although they seem to be incompatible, the two always manage to help each other out in life.

Li Yang is a technician in the Department of Science and Technology Progress, while Zhou Zheng is an outstanding representative of the Ministry of Labor.

Because the Azure ship never distinguishes between noble and lowly professions, this allowed these two individuals with vastly different backgrounds and personalities to chat together.

Their equal contributions earned them one of the few double rooms with 24-hour heating.

Li Yang flicked his pen, drawing a trajectory in the air, and spoke to Zhou Zheng, who was sitting on the bed, looking dazed.

"We've been disassembling significantly more technical blueprints lately than usual. Zhou Zheng, do you think this might be a bad omen?"

Zhou Zheng yawned, swaying as he searched for his clothes, which he had thrown somewhere during his drunken rampage the night before, looking completely indifferent.

"You're overthinking it, buddy. Look on the bright side, isn't this just a sign that our Azure is thriving?"

"Having work to do is better than having nothing to do. The more skillfully we swing the hammer, the stronger our fortress will become!"

He rolled up his underwear sleeves, flexing his biceps with a nonchalant air.

The air grew slightly still, contrasting with the wind and snow outside.

I wish I could be as optimistic as you.

Li Yang sighed, closed his pen, and looked up to see that the antique clock on the wall was almost 7 o'clock.

7 o'clock is the day when the Blue Ocean project will start full-scale construction.

In other words, He Feng still treats them like human beings. Compared to the 14-hour workday of other fortresses, their 7 am to 6 pm lifestyle is considered demanding.

"Let's go, it's time to go to work."

As the hatch was slowly pushed open, many people, just like them, could be seen.

Wearing a tattered cotton-padded jacket and matching work boots, with his trousers stretched taut by the clothes underneath, he propelled his frizzy body toward the construction site.

"Let's go." Zhou Zheng patted Li Yang on the shoulder before turning and heading towards the oil well covered in oil.

Working on oil wells is exhausting. The small, sticky, and oily surface requires them to do monotonous and strenuous work all day long.

Li Yang waved politely and walked in the opposite direction from the oil well.

A three-story building constructed of sheet metal and steel bars, with foam plastic lining the interior for insulation, is so lightweight that it's a substandard house that could be blown over by a gust of wind.

Because of these reasons, they found a secluded place to conceal the extremely fragile quality of the house.

Its origin lies in the fact that Zhou Haiping, the city defense official in charge of managing this area, specially built it to curry favor with He Feng.

It was useful, but not very effective, only earning He Feng a dismissive "Well done, keep up the good work."

So in the end, it benefited those engineers who were just freeloading.

Quiet, with excellent cold-weather protection, and located far from the city center, it is very suitable for scientific research environments.

After walking several hundred steps, Li Yang reached the door of the "research institute," a door so small that even the slightest breeze could cause it to tremble.

The gas lights were already on, but there were still very few people; he must have been one of the first few.

So he withdrew his hand, which should have been holding the statue and the gas lamp, and looked at his meticulous workstation.

Copies of various messy scientific blueprints were carelessly discarded on the ground, and occasionally a few detailed blueprints with various parameters would stick together because the snow on his feet had just melted.

So they had to tiptoe to barely find a way to walk.

His seat was in the top left corner of the room, the third group of seats, the one furthest to the corner.

Unlike other people's hopelessly messy desks, that place was always neat and tidy.

The books and papers were arranged in an orderly manner, which, compared to the chaos of others, truly revealed this person's attitude towards life.

Meticulous, a straight line.

He walked gracefully to his seat and took out the remaining materials from yesterday, as planned for the day.

Today's task is to disassemble the technical blueprints of an agricultural machine.

Although in many places the information exposed is very unclear due to the damage of some components.

However, usable parts can still be found in the original, meticulously detailed technical drawings, so their value remains high.

Today's task is to refine the remaining drawings after the first two groups were separated, breaking down the redundant information to achieve modularization.

His role was "the reverse engineering of reversible cylinder piston embedded components".

"You're here. You didn't arrive as early as me today." A melodious, girlish voice rang in his ear, quite pleasant to hear.

"Good morning." He kept his head down, sketching on the yellow paper with a ruler, then hesitated before looking up.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a newcomer in his group.

"You weren't late today?"

"Brother Li, please don't look down on me, okay?" The girl said somewhat guiltily, "Actually, I had too many tasks last night, so I didn't go back..."

The workload has increased dramatically recently, and it's to be expected that newcomers like them would be unable to keep up and would have to work all night.

The two prominent dark circles under her eyes alone tell the whole story.

"How much is left?" He slowly raised his head and looked at the girl's conflicted face.

"Seriously, bro? You're really helping me!"

"If you can't finish, our whole team will be delayed." He took a sip of bitter tea made from crop remains, which helped him to perk up a little.

"Just like that guy said, once we're done with our work, the Azure will be fine. You should thank someone for saying that to me on your behalf."

"Bring it here."

The girl, as excited as a hopping sparrow, carried over the tasks one after another, forming small mountains.

It's so complicated it's overwhelming.

As he waited for the task of retrieving his stockpiled goods, one sentence kept recurring in Li Yang's mind.

"The more swiftly the hammer is swung, the stronger our fortress will become."

This sentence is something he will ponder for a long time.