The Mad Dog Theory
As the tournament progressed, more and more people with mechanical experience began to notice that Xia Fei and Constantine were not repairing the Samurai-class combat drone but were using the limited parts to reassemble it.
There was no way to explain what their work looked like, but it was definitely a combat drone. It was just that it was different from the models that people commonly saw and did not belong to any of the known models in the Alliance.
Since it was a drone that had been assembled at the last minute, their work was far inferior to the Samurai-class drone in terms of firepower and defense, but that was not the main point. What mattered was that Xia Fei and Constantine had done it. The parts were so incomplete, yet they had used their hands to assemble a usable drone.
It was not an easy task, nor was it as simple as putting together building blocks. First, they had to redesign the various subsystems of the drone, then arrange the electrical output and input ports, and adjust the firepower and power.
If he had the assistance of a powerful AI engineering software, Xia Fei's work would definitely be a lot easier. Unfortunately, the tournament did not allow the use of computers, so he had to rely on his own brain to complete everything. The amount of calculations required was huge, and the complexity of the calculations was something few could understand.
Li Mo saw what Xia Fei and Constantine were doing from afar, and he suddenly realized that he might have gone in the wrong direction. He had always thought that the tournament today was a test of the participants' proficiency in dispatching difficult problems, but it was only now that he realized that the real purpose of the tournament was to test the participants' creativity and adaptability under extremely difficult circumstances.
Li Mo's forehead was covered in sweat. He hurriedly disassembled the half-assembled drone. Even if the drone could be restored to its original appearance, it would not be able to fly if he continued to reassemble it. Though he was very reluctant, he decided to copy Xia Fei's method and redesign the drone.
The biggest problem now was that there was not enough time. The electronic timer told the participants that they only had seventy-nine minutes left.
…
In the honorary members' lounge of the Association of Machinists, several senior machinists were getting more and more interested in the tournament. Since they were the chief judges of the tournament, they knew every move and every choice the participants made. All they needed was a few clicks on the computer in their hands, and everything would be clear to them.
"Between Xia Fei and Constantine, who do you think has a better plan?" asked Years of Floating Light, who was in charge of the tournament.
Everyone was silent. The tournament was still ongoing, and Xia Fei's drone had yet to be finalized, so it was not easy to judge the quality of his drone.
The chubby old man Lu Xuan said straightforwardly, "Xia Fei has reduced the defense system and focused on the drone's firepower, while Constantine is more balanced. Every aspect has been considered, and Constantine's design should be more outstanding."
An old man with a goatee said, "Old Lu, you can't say that. Though Xia Fei's design has lost some of its defense, it has adjusted its firepower to the same level as a brand new drone. Look, he's even adjusting the speed of the rapid-fire cannon. If he succeeds, his drone's firepower will probably be even better than a brand new one. You're in charge of defense systems, so of course you'll side with Constantine, but we who are in charge of fire control hope to have the highest firepower output. From my standpoint, Xia Fei's design is more outstanding. To be able to push the firepower to the limit under such limited conditions is something not everyone can do."
Fatty Lu Xuan snorted coldly and muttered to himself, "If there's no defense system, no matter how strong the attack power is, it's useless."
"What did you say?!" The goatee immediately panicked. He stood up and said sternly, "Offense is the best defense. Haven't you heard of this before?"
"I have." Lu Xuan retorted without batting an eyelid, "But that's just a one-shot attack. If it's a protracted battle, it'll still depend on the defensive capabilities of the drone."
These top-notch elders of the Association of Machinists were experts in their respective fields, so it was only natural that they would disagree with each other. The question of whether to defend or attack had been debated within the Alliance for tens of thousands of years, and there had never been a fixed answer.
Even the strongest warship in the universe would find it hard to achieve a balance. The relationship between a spear and a shield was like the chicken or the egg. No one could explain it.
The defense expert Lu Xuan and the fire control expert Goatee were arguing endlessly. Soon, the other experts from different fields joined in the fray. The most important VIP lounge of the Association of Machinists had turned into a wet market in the blink of an eye.
"Enough!" Years of Floating Light said in a deep voice. As the retired emperor of the Association of Machinists, the commander-in-chief of the eleven consecutive Golden Finger Cups, and the chief referee, Years of Floating Light's influence had even exceeded his own domain. Everyone immediately quieted down when he shouted. They sat in their seats angrily, their faces ashen.
"It's not like you guys don't know that there's no fixed answer to the question of firepower or defense. You won't get anywhere even if you argue for ten thousand years. Why don't we do this? When the tournament is over, call both Xia Fei and Constantine over and have them talk about their design concepts, and whoever's idea is more reasonable will be awarded full marks. How does that sound?" Floating Light suggested.
This was a good idea. Listening to the thoughts of the participants was much better than arguing with a few outsiders. Everyone expressed their agreement. Although they were all in agreement, they did not say anything else to each other, maintaining a cold war.
...
Seven minutes and forty seconds before the end of the tournament, Xia Fei was the first to finish his work. Since his special ability was speed, he had an absolute advantage in terms of hand speed. His drone was a lot more complicated than Constantine's, but it took him less time.
Avril nervously stood up from her seat. She already knew from the video that Xia Fei had not completed a samurai drone but something very strange.
Avril had asked Pang Xing for his opinion, wanting to know what Xia Fei had done. Unfortunately, Pang Xing did not know much about machinery, much less the essentials of a combat drone.
She had to admit that Xia Fei's taste was a little off. He had made this drone, which he had put together on the spot, look extremely hideous. It looked like a giant black cactus, with thorns of different lengths all over it. It could only be described as ugly.
Avril could not help but worry when she saw that the other participants had assembled a samurai drone that looked exactly the same as before, while her own Xia Fei had assembled a messy monster. She did not want Xia Fei to lose the tournament, especially to Li Mo and that nondescript Constantine.
Actually, there were many people who felt that Xia Fei's machine was ugly. The interplanetary internet was flooded with hundreds of millions of comments in an instant, all of them commenting on the appearance of Xia Fei's work. Almost everyone felt that the machine lacked aesthetics and was ugly.
Some nosy people started a poll to find the ugliest drone in the history of the Golden Finger Tournament, and Xia Fei's cactus drone was voted 99.99% of the votes.
Xia Fei did not know what the world thought of his work, and even if he knew, he would not change his initial opinion. Combat drones were not made for beauty; their existence was for combat, and the rest was not within Xia Fei's consideration.
Lighting a cigarette, Xia Fei quickly checked his drone. After all, it was a piece of work that he had put together on the spot. It had not been tested by the engineering simulation system, so Xia Fei did not have much confidence in its performance.
Li Mo, on the other hand, was already sweating profusely. Though he had copied Xia Fei's actions and started to reassemble the machine, he was still a little late, and he did not have Xia Fei's exceptional hand speed. Thus, he had only managed to complete fifty-five percent of the work, leaving him with only a few minutes left.
Two minutes and seven seconds before the end of the match, Constantine's creation was completed. Compared to Xia Fei's ferocious cactus, Constantine's drone was much more normal. It was like a rectangular box, looking silly with distinct edges and corners.
Countless spectators were enraged once more. Constantine's drone was slightly more normal than Xia Fei's, but it was definitely not beautiful. Therefore, his drone quickly took the second spot on the ugliest drone list.
The spectators frowned. It was truly a strange tournament. Xia Fei and Constantine, who had performed outstandingly, had created two of the ugliest drones in history. The first seed, Li Mo, had yet to complete his drone even before the end of the tournament.
Quite a number of participants had assembled their Samurai-class drones, but none of them looked happy, for they knew very well that the drones were just for show. They could not even fly, let alone fight.
Xia Fei checked his handiwork and found that there was nothing wrong with it, so he made his way out of the room. At the same time, he lifted his head and smiled at Avril. Avril's heart finally calmed down when she saw Xia Fei's confident demeanor. She waved at him with a blushing face.
On the other side, Constantine followed closely behind. He looked at Xia Fei's work before looking at his own and could not help but smile proudly.
"Beep! Time is up. All participants, please stop what you're doing and leave the venue within ten seconds, or else you will be deemed to have broken the rules. " The cold girl from the monitoring system said. All the smart computers had the same voice, as if they were carved out of the same mold. There was nothing new about it.
Xia Fei passed through the gate and stopped by the side to wait for his score, but there was nothing on the screen even after a few seconds. Constantine was the same. The two of them looked at each other strangely, not knowing what was going on.
Every participant that came out had a score, but all of them had scored zero without exception.
The crowd was in an uproar. It was unbelievable that so many people had scored zero at the same time. In the eyes of many laymen, Xia Fei's cactus drone was the one that should have scored zero, not these well-behaved participants.
Li Mo followed the crowd to the gate. He was sweating in his heart. He hesitated at the gate for a moment before gritting his teeth and passing through, as if he was a martyr.
"Twenty-three points!"
"Someone finally got a score!"
"That's not right. Li Mo didn't even complete the tournament. How could he have a score?"
"Yeah, many participants clearly completed the tournament but still got zero points. Li Mo only completed half of it, so how could he have a score?"
"The Li family is a big family. Who knows if they might have bribed the judges?"
The people in the stands and the audience watching the tournament through the interplanetary internet were all engaged in a heated discussion. They could not understand what was going on in today's tournament. Putting aside the fact that there were so many zeros, there was even someone like Xia Fei who did not get a score.
The rich imagination of humans made other lifeforms flinch. Just a few seconds after Li Mo's score came out, the interplanetary internet was filled with rumors. Some said that Li Mo had bribed the judges, some said that the AI monitoring system had malfunctioned, and some even linked this bizarre tournament to the insectoids' conspiracy, believing that some alien species had infiltrated the Pan-Human Alliance to sabotage the tournament.
Li Mo walked over to Xia Fei and Constantine with a malicious smile. He purposely circled around them, as if mocking them for not even getting a score.
That was when a staff member told them, "The tournament committee requests the two of you to come to the judging center. Now."
Xia Fei was slightly surprised. He had no idea why the committee would ask him to go over, and Constantine was equally confused.
After bidding farewell to Avrils, Xia Fei and Constantine followed the staff member out. Li Mo did not leave. He was very interested in the reason why the committee had summoned Xia Fei, wanting to know why.
Taking the elevator to the sixth floor, Xia Fei arrived at the clubhouse for old men. There were a total of nine people seated there, all wearing the Association of Machinists' medal of honor on their chests. They were all wearing the green uniforms that only the elders of the organization would wear. However, all of them were getting on in years, and many of them had big bellies, so their uniforms no longer looked as elegant as they did in the past.
"Please, have a seat." Years of Floating Light smiled. "I'm the chief referee of this Golden Finger Cup, Floating Light. Everyone here is also an elder of the association, and we have some questions that we would like to clarify."
Xia Fei replied, "Please feel free to ask."
Years of Floating Light nodded. "Constantine, why don't you tell us the main point of the drone that you assembled in today's tournament? And for what reason did you assemble it in such a manner? "
Constantine answered, "My idea is actually very simple: to make combat drones have a more balanced performance, especially when it comes to the armor. If a combat drone doesn't have a sturdy defense, it doesn't matter how powerful its firepower is. It needs to survive on the battlefield first before it can attack the enemy.
"That's why I used a fifteen-millimeter alloy steel plate to reinforce the outer shell, and I've also made corresponding adjustments to the interior, doing my best to increase the drone's survivability."
The chubby old man Lu Xuan was very satisfied with Constantine's answer. He himself researched defense systems, so he naturally placed more emphasis on the defense capabilities of drones.
Years of Floating Light nodded. "What you said makes some sense, but the drone you modified doesn't have enough power, and its speed is very slow, unable to track down high-speed targets. Moreover, Samurai-class drones are equipped with rapid-fire cannons, so their range is very short. Why didn't you modify the range of the cannons so that they can attack the enemy in a larger area?"
Constantine helplessly spread his arms. "Because I don't have enough time and materials. This is already my limit."
Everyone was very satisfied with Constantine's explanation. It was reasonable and did not seem to be exaggerating at all.
Years of Floating Light then asked Xia Fei, "The appearance of your creation is very strange. Of course, that's not the main point. What we want to know is why the drone you assembled is so crazily increasing its firepower, yet you didn't consider the defense it should have."
Xia Fei laughed. "That's because I can't think of anything else that this drone can do on the battlefield aside from providing firepower."
Everyone was very curious, and the quick-witted Lu Xuan interjected, "How can there be nothing else it can do? When the drone is attacked, it still needs to fly in circles to avoid being hit. After getting hit, it still needs to be able to resist attacks. After being hit by an enemy's electromagnetic bomb, it still needs to establish a second connection with the command system. It's not as simple as just firing the cannons. "
Xia Fei softly said, "You're talking about a normal drone, while the one I assembled is all about attacking, attacking with all its might."
"Why would you think that?" Years of Floating Light furrowed his eyebrows.
Xia Fei answered, "Constantine mentioned earlier that he added a fifteen-millimeter alloy steel plate to increase the drone's survivability. The steel plate can indeed increase the drone's defense, but what can it defend against in a real fight? The enemy's spears? "
"The fifteen-millimeter alloy steel plate's defense is too weak. Adding another layer of steel plate won't be of much use. Instead, it'll reduce the drone's speed. I've already done some careful calculations, and there's no way to increase the drone's defense with the existing raw materials.
"You might think that I'm wrong. If we use all the parts we have, we'll be able to increase the drone's resistance by ten percent. What I'm trying to say is that this is a pile of scrap metal to begin with. Is it really that important to have that ten percent increase in defense? No matter how much we strengthen it, the enemy will still be killed in a single shot, so there's no need to waste the limited resources on defense. "
Everyone was speechless. What Xia Fei said made sense. A piece of white paper would be punctured with just a light poke, and the effect would be the same even if two pieces of white paper were stacked together.
"My goal is very simple. I'll use this improvised combat drone as a disposable product, concentrating all the resources to increase its attack power so that it can give the enemy a vicious bite before it dies. Even if it doesn't die, it'll at least make them feel pain.
"It's impossible to build a qualified drone using these materials, so I've turned it into a qualified rabid dog. There's nothing much to say if it can't bite anyone, because its performance is right there. It's probably only a tenth of a brand new drone, but if the enemy is careless and gets bitten, it'll need to see blood!
"There's also the exterior you guys mentioned earlier. The reason why I've welded so many alloy spikes on the drone's outer shell is so that if the cannon fails to hit the target, it'll just crash into the enemy and die with them."
Everyone was stunned. Xia Fei's idea of dying in glory than living in disgrace was a little crazy. Phantom had once given Xia Fei a very fitting name for this idea.
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