Humans Shrunk 100 Times

Chapter 138: Elevator

Tang Jing has always been confident and is often able to inspire others. In this regard, she and Dong Junwei can be said to be the two main pillars of the group.

However, despite her self-assurance, Tang Xueba (a nickname for Tang Jing) has always been low-key in her interactions with others. She only offers opinions and never imposes her ideas on others, let alone making such arrogant remarks as she just did.

Seeing her acting out of character, Chen Mu was planning to take advantage of this opportunity to ask her some questions. However, Tang Jing seemed to understand his intentions and preemptively changed the subject, saying:

"Regarding the defensive fortifications, I have also given it some thought. The most important thing is the position of the main entrance. But just throwing hand grenades downward probably won't be enough. We need longer range."

"Crossbows, or how about building a catapult?"

"In principle, crossbows can be considered, but the materials are not easy to come by. As for the catapult, as I mentioned before, at this scale, traditional catapults probably won't be effective."

"In fact, for such small hand grenades, all we need is a rubber band."

"The problem is we don't have any." Tang Jing shrugged.

"Next time we go out, we can pay attention to it. Not just food, but also bring back some useful materials," Chen Mu said.

"Even if there's no catapult, I can throw them myself," Wei Dalei rarely found a chance to speak up.

However, Tang Jing laughed and said, "You have plenty of things to do. How can you have time to stay on the surface every day?"

"Alright," Old Wei felt a bit disheartened.

Tang Jing said, "But I have another person in mind."

"Cao Zishan?" Dong Junwei asked.

"Yes."

"But he's not..." Dong Junwei suddenly realized, "You intend to place him in a higher position..."

"Yes, the current observation platform is 80 centimeters high, and Cao Zishan cannot fully utilize his abilities there. But if we set up a platform at a height of 2 meters, I believe he can be somewhat effective," Tang Jing explained.

"Wasn't his limit 2.5 meters?" Dong Junwei asked.

"That was just at the beginning," Tang Jing replied, "Cao Zishan's abilities are somewhat special. Currently, it seems that his growth does not depend on the strength of his power but rather on overcoming the influence of the surrounding humans on him."

"So, you mean he can gradually reduce this distance?"

"Exactly. Moreover, 2.5 meters is not a definitive limit; it's merely Cao Zishan's own perception. In reality, the farther he is from others, the stronger his power becomes, and for now, there seems to be no upper limit."

"Are you saying that his previous performance wasn't his maximum?" Wei Dalei was a bit taken aback.

"Of course not. I even think that if we could throw him to Mars, he might be able to shatter the planet with his bare hands," Tang Jing made a joke.

"Do you want to call Cao Zishan over and ask him?"

"No need. Let's talk to him once we're sure about this."

"But, with stairs at that height, Chen Mu will be exhausted," He Ying expressed concern and looked at Chen Mu with a hint of schadenfreude.

Chen Mu had already spent several days building stairs for the original 80-centimeter observation platform, and now increasing it to 2 meters, the amount of work was clearly visible.

Tang Jing smiled and said, "This time, we won't need stairs."

"But how will people get up there?"

"I remember someone suggested a lift after visiting the observation platform last time."

"That was Du Jiajia," Dong Junwei said.

Who knew Du Jiajia was nearby and heard someone calling her name. She hurried over because today it was her turn to take care of Gu Yingliu, and the petite female student followed her.

"Is there something, Squad Leader?" Du Jiajia led Gu Yingliu closer.

Dong Junwei, seeing that she had arrived, said, "Last time, didn't you complain about the stairs being too tiring when going to the observation platform?"

"Yeah."

"We are discussing this matter and considering installing an elevator."

As she spoke, Dong Junwei habitually walked to Gu Yingliu's side and tidied up her two scattered strands of hair.

Gu Yingliu was usually not talkative because she was really small, and Dong Junwei didn't know what tasks to assign to her. Currently, there were no plants in Qi Ming that needed her to split. So, Gu Yingliu ended up spending her days following the people taking care of her, getting familiar with the environment, and trying to recover her lost memories.

Regarding this matter, Tang Jing reached a conclusion after asking her several questions that day.

Gu Yingliu retained all the objective knowledge she had learned but couldn't recall her past.

Additionally, what was interesting is that she had lost all memories related to "people."

She knew about the existence of humans, but she had no knowledge of any specific individual.

For example, she could recite "Drinking Alone Under the Moon" from start to finish, but she had never heard of a person named Li Bai.

Similarly, she could remember the plot of a certain TV drama she had watched, know what someone did in it, but paradoxically, she had no impression of that person. She didn't know their name, appearance, or personality—nothing to identify them with.

She couldn't remember any specific person.

Not in reality, nor in fiction.

This perplexed people greatly.

If Gu Yingliu's memories were erased by some kind of supernatural ability, then that person with such an ability seemed to be extraordinarily formidable.

...

Upon hearing Dong Junwei's words, Du Jiajia immediately raised her hands in support. "Great! This kind of convenient facility should have been considered long ago."

Regarding the duty of climbing stairs for the watchtower, both Du Jiajia and Zhao Xiaoyan had complained about it more than once. Just climbing up and down consumed a lot of time.

The discussion didn't stop with Du Jiajia joining in.

Tang Jing said, "Since that's the case, the elevator can serve both the higher and lower areas. But for the higher location, we don't need to install stairs anymore. After all, most of the time, only Cao Zishan will go up there, and it's not worth wasting several days of Chen Mu's time."

"But how can we achieve the upward and downward movement of the elevator?"

"Without an electric motor, for now, we can only rely on manual labor," Tang Jing replied.

"By pulling it manually?"

"I can do it!" Wei Dalei found his value once again and patted his chest proudly.

Tang Jing ignored him and continued, "There are two manual methods. One is that the person using the elevator pulls the rope and operates the pulley by themselves. By adding counterweights, this method should work, but it will be a bit labor-intensive. Moreover, if it's purely for transporting goods, the efficiency might be lower."

Currently, there were no supplies needed at the observation platform. But according to Tang Jing's plan, Cao Zishan's location would become similar to an artillery platform in the future, and they would need a continuous supply of ammunition.

"What about the second method?" Dong Junwei asked.

"The second method is the one I personally recommend..."

At this point, Tang Jing called out to the distance, "Lu Liangliang, Shanshan, could you please come over here?"

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