Chapter 64: The Scope of Du Qiu’s Gaze

“This is the first step of a thousand-mile journey!”

Du Qiu didn’t spell it out, but his words still led Sun Hongming to wonder—could the technology Du Qiu is developing now be aimed at entering space in the future?

As soon as Sun Hongming began to think this, he shook his head to dismiss the idea, chalking it up to overthinking. After all, Dream Technology had only just started and had developed nothing more than a top-tier numerical control system.

Du Qiu paid no attention to what Sun Hongming was thinking. Having encountered alien civilizations in his dreams, the technology he was developing was no longer confined to the small Blue Star.

Just yesterday, when designing waste disposal equipment, he thought of a self-recycling ecosystem.

Tang Country already had the “Lunar Palace 365” self-recycling ecosystem experiment, which created a record for four people surviving in it for over 200 days.

Du Qiu’s waste disposal equipment wasn’t simply for dealing with urban waste anymore—it was a key device for creating a self-recycling ecosystem.

With the continuous experiments of new catalysts and molecular exchange agents recently, coupled with the full picture of an alien civilization’s production base obtained last night, he had some new ideas for the future.

Making money was necessary—how else could technology be developed without money, even to purchase equipment one would have to be cost-conscious.

But making money wasn’t his goal, nor was developing technology; Du Qiu’s gaze had already reached the starry sea above him.

The production base of the alien civilization in the dreams was on a planet without an atmosphere. So, could it exist in the same spacetime as his Blue Star?

Du Qiu also understood the theory of parallel universes; perhaps the dreams connected to another parallel world.

However…

It’s also possible that the alien civilization exists in his own spacetime, especially considering the medium of connection—the crystal pillow—may have been left behind by that civilization during an ancient visit to Blue Star.

If so, the alien civilization should be in the same spacetime as him.

As he validated the dream’s technologies in reality, Du Qiu felt a sense of urgency:

The alien civilization had been to Blue Star, but would they come again?

These thoughts led Du Qiu to accelerate his work. Only with sufficient strength could Blue Star assert itself when facing an alien civilization.

That titanium alloy rotor—thanks to the glorious era of online shopping—Du Qiu finally found a manufacturer, though the price was indeed quite professional.

Du Qiu only ordered 20, expecting them to arrive after the May Day holidays.

During this time, Du Qiu hoped to find a new material to replace titanium alloy, or else it would be difficult to sustain, and he would need to find another path.

After speaking with Sun Hongming, Du Qiu started working full force in the afternoon to complete the waste processing equipment production line, which was fully automated.

Using this production line, Du Qiu planned to test how the “Skypiercer System” would function after expanding to a fully automated system.

However, after completing the design, Du Qiu encountered a problem.

The existing numerical control machining centers in the country had difficulty producing high-precision parts.

Even with Tianqi Company using Du Qiu’s numerical control operating system, which improved accuracy, they couldn’t meet his requirements due to the gap in core component levels.

There are many factors affecting the accuracy of numerical control machining centers, mainly hardware issues, though software also plays a part.

Du Qiu was confident that the software could meet the requirements, but there was nothing he could do about the hardware.

The West held an absolute monopoly in the market for high-precision machining centers, and Tang Country’s self-sufficiency rate was less than 10%.

Critical imported components included the main bearing, ball screw, and cutting tools.

Taking the main bearing as an example, rolling bearings are generally divided into P0, P6, P5, P4, and P2. For numerical control machine tools and machining centers, precision bearings of P4 or higher are usually required.

A large portion of the domestic demand for precision bearings above P4 had to be imported.

With the current strength of Du Qiu’s company, importing a precision numerical control machining center was out of the question—not only would it be challenging to procure, but even with access, it was unlikely he could afford it.

Therefore, without a doubt, Du Qiu planned to choose a Siemens machining center and try to improve its processing accuracy using his software.

He was confident in his software and in Rein Leinar, who would help with the modification.

For this reason, even when facing the expensive quotes for imported main bearings, ball screws, and cutting tools, Du Qiu gritted his teeth and reluctantly placed some orders.

At that moment, Du Qiu dearly wished he could research some special materials sooner to produce these core parts himself.

Not only would it undoubtedly bring in significant profits, but the costs for his own projects could be substantially reduced.

In the afternoon, not only Qin Yun came, but Rein Leinar also arrived.

Du Qiu handed Qin Yun over to Sun Hongming to arrange her duties. Since she had been handling the company’s accounts previously, there wasn’t much need for onboarding.

Du Qiu then led Rein Leinar on a tour of the workshop before inviting him to try out the numerical control machining centers himself.

Rein Leinar tried machine after machine, meticulously measuring each test component.

Liu Yaofeng whispered to Du Qiu, “Boss, who is this foreigner? He seems very serious about his work.”

Du Qiu replied, “He is a professor from the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering School of my alma mater, a German named Batti Rein Leinar. Just call him Rein Leinar.

From now on, he’ll be the company’s technical advisor. If you have any issues with the numerical control machining centers, you can ask him—he’s definitely an expert.”

“Boss, impressive! You managed to get such a big shot to be an advisor,” Liu Yaofeng exclaimed.

“Mr. Du, can we also consult him about software issues?” Wu Xinghuo chimed in.

Of course, Wu Xinghuo would prefer to ask Du Qiu directly, but seeing that Du Qiu was busy in the lab every day, barely even finding time to eat, he felt bad about disturbing him.

Now that they had a technical advisor, it would be marvelous if he could answer questions about software.

Liu Yaofeng teased, “Do you speak German? Or, at the very least, is your English fluent?”

Wu Xinghuo was suddenly deflated, scratching the back of his head and saying, “Mr. Du, maybe our technical advisor should have a translator.”

“Friend, do you need any documents translated?” a voice asked from behind Wu Xinghuo.

Liu Yaofeng opened his mouth wide in astonishment—Rein Leinar spoke Mandarin quite well, although a bit slowly.

Wu Xinghuo turned to see that it was Rein Leinar asking, and he was overjoyed, repeatedly saying, “That’s great! You speak Mandarin. There’ll be no communication barriers between us.”

Du Qiu smiled and said, “Batti, they admire you greatly as their advisor. They’ll likely ask you many questions about software and hardware.”

Rein Leinar smiled and responded, “No problem. We progress together.”

Wu Xinghuo didn’t need further explanation; the advisor was clearly adept at answering software questions, seemingly as versatile as Du Qiu in both software and hardware.

This realization spurred him to consider learning more about hardware.

“Du, your software is the best numerical control software I’ve seen. I believe that applied to Siemens—no, to any brand of machine tool—it will enhance the processing precision.”