Chapter 150 - 64: A Bold Idea
The canvas at the top of the rain shelter is tied to the wooden stakes.
And the stakes are embedded in the sand, surrounded by rocks to ensure the stakes don't tilt sideways.
Sixty bags of cement piled only two and a half layers thick, densely packed inside the rain shelter, skewing the stakes and snapping the ropes at the edges of the canvas, causing the canvas to collapse downward.
However, the rope connecting the rain shelter to the wooden pegs and stakes wasn't broken by the cement.
Picking up the frayed hemp rope outside the rain shelter, Chen Zhou stared at the cut end in surprise.
The cut was incredibly smooth, like a mirror, not resembling anything severed by animal teeth or a blade.
He looked up at the sky and walked a circle around the rain shelter.
Carefully inspecting every cut rope, Chen Zhou found their ends identical — smooth and even.
And the degree of smoothness and evenness might have reached molecular-level precision, far beyond the technological capability of the 17th century.
Chen Zhou even suspected that laboratories in the 21st century would struggle to achieve such high precision cuts.
It's like the indestructible droplet from "The Three-Body Problem"; the technological level of the civilization capable of creating such phenomena exceeds human imagination.
"So, these ropes were severed by the force field or some special container that accompanied the mysterious reward?
If at 00:00, I wait for the reward to descend in the sand, would I also be cut in half by this force field?"
Holding the short rope, he suddenly had a bold idea —
Since the descending reward generates a force field capable of cutting objects, could he use this force field as an enormous and incredibly advanced cutting machine?
If he could determine the shape of this "cutting machine's" blade and its precise location, he could utilize it to cut wood, stone, and metal, thereby processing various materials.
Though the cutting machine operates on a 15-day cycle, it covers a large area, exerts strong force, and is highly efficient.
To cut a pile of stone bricks, one only needs to stack the stones neatly under the "blade"; when the mysterious reward arrives, it can cut one side of the stones into smooth flat surfaces.
By flipping these stones with one side cut and placing them under the blade again, in another half month, it would yield two smooth surfaces.
Bricks with two flat surfaces can be used.
Especially gray and green stones, if they could be cut into bricks, they'd be stronger than kiln-fired bricks.
The same theory applies to wood.
Without a plane in the carpenter's toolbox, making a single plank independently within ten to fifteen days is impossible.
Even laboriously crafted planks with saws and axes are merely inferior pieces.
Not to mention reaching modern plank standards, even matching the quality of finished materials on a ship is difficult.
In such times, using this special cutting machine solves all problems.
Using it to process metal plates, shorten gun barrels, or even cut metal parts poses no issue.
As long as he identifies the precise location of the "blade," it becomes a simple and convenient cutting machine.
…
"Am I exploiting a loophole to cheat?"
This sentence Chen Zhou dared not speak out; he feared his idea being detected by the reward providers and then fixing the bug, losing his large cutting machine.
After deliberation, Chen Zhou felt confident in the viability of cutting materials using the force field generated during rewards, it was entirely feasible.
Worried about unexpected changes, he decided to measure the shape and length of the entire "blade" early and then gather materials he wished to cut under it — a once-every-fifteen-days opportunity should not be wasted arbitrarily.
Pulling out the wooden pegs, he drew lines at the positions where the hemp ropes were severed, then connected all lines around the rain shelter, forming a large square on the sand.
The entire cutting area measured five meters in length and approximately three meters in width, with unknown height.
The rain shelter's height was over two meters; during this reward distribution, the top of the shelter wasn't damaged, indicating the cutting force field's height was greater than two meters.
In previous instances when rewards were given, with no extra items on the sand, Chen Zhou had never noticed similar anomalies.
Of course, this might also relate to his lack of careful observation.
After all, anyone, regardless of leisure, wouldn't study whether the grains of sand on the beach were sliced in half.
Thus, he couldn't ascertain whether the size of this force field is fixed.
Perhaps when the reward object is small, the force field is small; when the reward object is large, the force field is large, a reasonable assumption.
If the cutting area is fixed and consistently this size, it means the reward object's volume wouldn't exceed five meters long by three meters wide.
Within this range, neither large trucks nor excavators could fit, many powerful large lathes and heavy machinery couldn't be loaded, and many of the reward objects Chen Zhou fantasized about wouldn't appear.
"Better to test it first; if the area is really fixed, although a bit disappointing.
But such an indestructible cutting machine can surpass many large machines, its minimum capability is quite high.
At least it saves me the time of building a brick kiln or planing wood, possibly even cutting firearm parts."
…
Before placing stones or wooden blocks along the calculated range, Chen Zhou dismantled the frame and pulled out the wooden stakes supporting the rain shelter.
Untying a few intact strings that still tied the canvas, he piled up these components of the rain shelter nearby, and started transporting cement, placing it on waterproof cloth.