Can't afford to pay for the takeout? Stunning CEO: Then pay with your body!

Chapter 74 The Grand Tournament!

Zhang Yan didn't know whether Mr. Wang's computer had exploded or not.

But he knew that the unlucky guy's server was probably playing the cheerful song "Good Luck" on a loop right now, at maximum volume, the kind that couldn't be turned off.

……

The morning sunlight peeked through the gaps in the curtains and shone on the messy bed.

Zhang Yan had just moved his arm when he was firmly pinned down by a fair and slender leg.

Nie Qingcheng clung to him like an octopus, the shoulder strap of her nightgown slipping halfway down, revealing a large expanse of dazzling white skin.

"Don't move..."

Her eyes were closed, her voice hoarse and languid, with a nasal tone as if she hadn't woken up yet. She rubbed her head against his chest like a cat guarding its food.

"What time is it?"

"8:30." Zhang Yan glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table, reached out and brushed the strands of hair that had fallen across her cheek. "I have to go to school. Old Man Yan sent three text messages yesterday urging me to get back to school."

Nie Qingcheng grumbled in dissatisfaction and tightened her grip on her arm.

"Can't I not go? That old geezer is awful, he's always taking advantage of me."

She opened one eye, her gaze shifting, and traced circles on his abs with her fingers, her tone full of self-righteous arrogance.

"I'll donate a building to your school so they can give you a break."

Zhang Yan grabbed her mischievous hand and smiled helplessly: "Stop fooling around. This seems to be a serious matter. It's called the National Undergraduate Mechanical Design Competition."

"Contest?"

Nie Qingcheng pursed her lips, finally let go, turned over and sat up, the blanket slipped off, revealing her private parts, but she didn't care at all.

She pulled a car key from the bedside table drawer and tossed it to Zhang Yan.

"Then I'll drive my car, so I don't have to squeeze onto the subway and get all sweaty."

It's the key to a Panamera.

"Isn't this too high-profile?" Zhang Yan frowned.

"How can you be worthy of my man, Nie Qingcheng, if you're not high-profile?" She leaned in and bit his lip hard. "Go early and come back early. I want sweet and sour pork ribs for dinner."

……

Half an hour later, at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Jiangzhou University.

Zhang Yan had just pushed open the door to the dean's office when he was choked by the smell of smoke inside and coughed twice.

Yan Zhenghua was studying a document on the table when he saw Zhang Yan come in. He immediately stubbed out his cigarette, and the wrinkles on his face instantly turned into a chrysanthemum with a smile.

"Oh my, my great hero has arrived! Please, have a seat!"

Yan Zhenghua was a little too enthusiastic, and he personally got up to pour Zhang Yan a glass of water.

"The design of that charging station last time, and the heat dissipation problem you solved for Lao Li, are now receiving a lot of attention from above! Our college has really made a name for itself this time!"

Zhang Yan pulled out a chair and sat down, getting straight to the point: "Professor Yan, you called me here in such a hurry, not to praise me, were you?"

"Hehe, it's so much easier to talk to smart people."

Yan Zhenghua rubbed his hands together, took out an application form from the drawer, and slapped it on the table.

The National Undergraduate Mechanical Design Competition is held every three years and is highly prestigious.

"Our school has two openings this time, and I've submitted your application."

Zhang Yan glanced at the form and said indifferently, "Not interested, too tiring."

To him, these college student competitions were like playing house. He'd rather spend that time at home making soup for his wife or helping her fix some code at the office.

"Wait a minute!" Yan Zhenghua exclaimed anxiously. "The theme of this competition is 'Intelligent Rescue,' which happens to be somewhat related to our 'Blue Flame' project. Besides..."

He lowered his voice and unleashed his trump card.

"Moreover, the champion of this competition will receive a prize of 500,000 yuan, and will also gain direct access to a national-level laboratory."

Zhang Yan didn't care about money.

But the eligibility criteria for national-level laboratories...

This means access to more cutting-edge equipment and materials, which will be somewhat useful for helping Nie Qingcheng with research and development in the future.

"Okay." Zhang Yan nodded. "But I'm usually busy, so I probably can't spend all my time in the lab every day."

"No problem! We'll handle this as a special case!"

Yan Zhenghua breathed a sigh of relief, then seemed to remember something, and his expression became a little strange.

"But there's something I need to tell you beforehand. This competition is a team competition, so there must be at least two people per team."

"I've assigned you a teammate."

"Who?"

"Lin Wei".

Upon hearing the name, Zhang Yan didn't react much, but Yan Zhenghua coughed first.

"She's a third-year student in our Mechanical Engineering department, and a recognized genius who has won numerous awards."

"That's just his temper... a little arrogant, please bear with him."

……

Ten minutes later, in the college's No. 3 training room.

Zhang Yan met this legendary "genius girl".

Lin Wei was wearing a slightly oversized gray jumpsuit, her hair was casually tied in a ponytail, and she wore a pair of thick-rimmed glasses.

She was squatting in front of a half-finished tracked robot, debugging the circuitry, holding a soldering iron in her hand, her expression as focused as if she were defusing a bomb.

Hearing footsteps, she didn't turn her head, her voice as cold as ice.

"Hand me the wrench."

Zhang Yan raised an eyebrow but didn't move.

Lin Wei waited a few seconds, then turned her head away impatiently.

Seeing Zhang Yan standing there empty-handed, looking lazy, her brows instantly furrowed into a tight knot.

"Who are you? No unauthorized personnel allowed in this lab."

"Zhang Yan".

Zhang Yan pointed to himself, "Professor Yan said I should team up with you."

"You're Zhang Yan?"

Lin Wei stood up and looked him up and down.

That look in his eyes didn't seem like he was looking at a teammate; it looked more like he was looking at some kind of hazardous waste.

She was so tired of hearing rumors about Zhang Yan at school.

In her view, things like living off a woman, climbing the social ladder by relying on a rich woman, or buying a cafeteria for ten million are all typical examples of not doing proper work.

As for that so-called charging station design?

Ha, Professor Yan probably hired a ghostwriter to draw this to give the kid a better image.

"Is Professor Yan getting senile?" Lin Wei took off her gloves and threw them on the worktable, her tone utterly impolite. "I don't need a pretty face as a teammate, especially not one of those gigolos who live off women."

Zhang Yan wasn't angry; instead, he found it rather amusing.

This girl is interesting.

Whether it's just a pretty face or not, you'll only know after you try it.

Zhang Yan walked over to the tracked robot, glanced at it, and asked, "Is this your entry for the competition?"

"All-terrain tracked rescue vehicle."

Lin Wei raised her chin, her tone tinged with pride, "It uses an independent suspension system and can traverse 45-degree slopes. It's currently ranked first in the school's selection competition."

"Rubbish."

Zhang Yan casually uttered two words.

The air froze instantly.

Lin Wei's face turned bright red, as if she had been slapped hard.

She stared wide-eyed at Zhang Yan, her voice trembling slightly with anger.

"What did you say? Do you even know what a mechanical structure is? Do you even know what mechanical transmission is? You're just a freshman, what gives you the right to...?"

"Calling it garbage is already giving it too much credit."

Zhang Yan interrupted her roar.

He casually picked up a marker from the table and drew a circle at the connection point of the robot's tracks.

"This kind of rigid connection structure is fine for running on flat ground."

"If you encounter complex terrain like ruins, the tracks will break within ten minutes due to uneven stress on them."

"And this center of gravity design."

Zhang Yan tapped the robot's chassis with the pen, producing a dull sound.

"Are you worried that the battery pack won't tip over quickly enough with that high? A 45-degree slope? I bet it'll be lying down and crying for help at 30 degrees."

Lin Wei was stunned.

She wanted to retort, but the words caught in her throat.

Because the two places Zhang Yan pointed out were precisely the pain points that had been bothering her recently, and she had yet to find a perfect solution!

But how is that possible?

He only glanced at it!

"A coincidence...it must be a coincidence!" Lin Wei gritted her teeth, forcing a smile. "Easy for you to say. What's your brilliant idea?"

Give me the pen.

Without saying a word, Zhang Yan directly pulled a blank drawing sheet from the side.

He didn't sit down, but stood there, holding the paper down with one hand, while the marker in his other hand began to fly across the paper.

[Advanced Mechanical Manufacturing Proficiency] Activated.

Countless mechanical structures were disassembled and reassembled in his mind.

Since it's a rescue operation, it needs to be fast, stable, and adaptable to all terrains.

Tracks? Too slow.

Wheeled? Its off-road capability is too poor.

Then...

"Shuashuashua——"

The sound of the pen tip scratching the paper was rapid and rhythmic.

Lin Wei had originally stood to the side with the intention of watching the spectacle unfold.

But just half a minute later, her expression changed.

From disdain to doubt, then to shock, and finally to utter stunned silence.

The structure shown on the drawings is not a traditional vehicle structure.

Instead, it's a biomimetic spider structure with six multi-jointed mechanical legs!

The most outrageous thing is that Zhang Yan didn't draw a sketch, but directly drew a cross-sectional view of the core drive shaft!

"This is... a six-legged linkage mechanism?" Lin Wei couldn't help but lean closer, her voice trembling. "But this kind of structure requires extremely complex algorithmic control, and it's very difficult to achieve synchronization in mechanical transmission..."

"Who said we should use algorithms to control it?"

Without even looking up, Zhang Yan twirled his pen and drew an extremely exquisite spherical gear assembly at the joint.

"This adaptive differential gear uses the reaction force of the ground to automatically adjust the step frequency."

"As long as you give it a forward force, it can find its own balance."

"This is called mechanical intelligence."

The final stroke was made.

Zhang Yan threw down his pen and blew on the ink on the paper.

"Now that's what you call all-terrain rescue." He looked at Lin Wei, who was completely dumbfounded, a playful smile curving his lips. "How does it compare to your clunky old thing that can only climb hills?"

The training room was deathly silent.

Lin Wei stared at the blueprint, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

As a genius in mechanical engineering, she knew all too well the value of this design.

This is simply the ultimate expression of mechanical aesthetics!

That adaptive gear design was a stroke of genius! It not only solved the control problem but also kept costs to a minimum!

Compared to this, her prized tracked vehicle really does look like... garbage.

"I……"

Lin Wei opened her mouth, her face turning red and then white.

Those sarcastic words from before now felt like resounding slaps back at her own face.

She took a deep breath. Although she still felt a little awkward, her professional ethics as an engineer forced her to bow her head.

"sorry."

Lin Wei lowered her head, her voice barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz.

"I was blind to his greatness... This design is amazing."

Zhang Yan shrugged, picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table, and took a sip.

"Alright, since there are no objections, let's get started."

"This drawing is just a rough draft. You'll have to oversee the actual parts manufacturing. I don't like doing this kind of manual labor."

Lin Wei suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with an alarming light.

"No problem! Leave it all to me!"

The aloofness and arrogance from before vanished instantly, replaced by a kind of fanaticism as if seeing an idol.

"Um... expert, how do you make the mold for this spherical gear? And what's the material for this connecting rod...?"

Just as the two were preparing to make a big splash.

The door to the training room was suddenly kicked open.

Wang Hao rushed in, panting heavily, his fat body jiggling with his movements.

"Brother Yan! No...something terrible has happened!"

Wang Hao, leaning against the door frame, was out of breath, holding his phone so high that the screen was almost touching Zhang Yan's face.

"Something terrible has happened!"

"The team from Jinghua University next door just released an official announcement showcasing their core technical solutions."

Wang Hao swallowed hard, glanced at Lin Wei, then at Zhang Yan, his tone filled with despair.

"They're also using... a six-legged bionic structure!"

"Moreover, they already applied for the entire set of patents yesterday!"

"If we use this plan again, it will be an infringement, and we will be disqualified from the competition!"

The blueprint in Lin Wei's hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

Her face was deathly pale, as if her soul had been ripped out.

"How could this happen..."

There was a car crash.

In the field of mechanical design, the worst thing is a collision.

Especially if the other party has already applied for a patent, this means that this path is completely blocked.

"It must have been leaked!" Lin Wei gritted her teeth, her eyes reddening. "The six-legged bionic structure isn't a new concept, but the idea of ​​the adaptive gear... it can't be such a coincidence!"

Zhang Yan picked up the blueprints from the ground and dusted them off.

His expression remained calm, without even a furrow of his brow.

"What's the panic?"

He glanced at the so-called "patent diagram" from Jinghua University on his phone screen, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Since the road is blocked."

"Then let's..."

Zhang Yan crumpled up the stunning drawing that had impressed Lin Wei in front of them and tossed it precisely into the trash can.

"Take another route."

"In this world, those who can fly are always faster than those who crawl on the ground."