Wang Tai fished desperately with his net while contemplating how he could gather enough quantity.
Eventually, he came up with an idea.
Wang Tai modified the net basket based on scallop cages from the breeding platform, which were connected by a rope with many shells in each layer.
Using the structure of a scallop cage, he added levers and cranks commonly used in the mining area. In Steel Refining City's mine, miners used these tools to pry rocks and steer stone-laden carts.
The combination of the two created a crude hand-cranked windmill.
Wang Tai had to take a shot in the dark.
He put this contraption through the working window into the Dead Sea, operated the crank to spin the wooden pieces on top, which set the net basket in motion to collect and catch.
However, when he pulled it up, he saw hardly any sediment in the net because the burlap itself would roll inside out, like long hair blown by strong winds, which was difficult to keep neat.
His two colleagues beside him advised him, "Stop messing with these, just work hard."
"Wang, you ought to focus on your work; do you not want this job? There are plenty of people eyeing it from the outside, and here you are fussing with these useless things."
"Like Bone Man Jacob and Ah Wei, diligently work, that's the right way for us here."
"Don't you understand?"
Wang Tai didn't give up.
He believed that by making the net basket smaller, the rolling issue would be resolved, just like cutting hair short to prevent it from getting messy.
There weren't any other solutions.
Wang Tai modified the large net basket into three smaller ones, fixing each to a rotating wooden piece.
He submerged the tool into the Dead Sea, anxiously operated the crank, then counted to 120, and used a rope to retrieve the tool below.
Indeed, the net basket contained Light Soot Sand; although the amount was minimal, it was enough to prove it was feasible!
Wang Tai immediately became excited and started to further adjust the device.
After busying himself day and night, he eventually completed this simple tool.
It had three sets of vanes, each capable of driving three small net baskets, tripling the collection efficiency of a regular net basket.
Wang Tai just had to turn one side crank, and the modified net basket vanes would rotate in the Dead Sea. By operating the crank on the other side, he could pull the net basket up to the window.
He even set up a rope mechanism, directly operating the crank, he could send the net basket all the way to the water bucket. After shaking off the Light Soot, he rotated the handle to send it back into the Dead Sea.
Thus, the process was cyclic.
Turning the crank could complete the collection task.
Wang Tai merely needed to sit in a chair, basking in the Sun, while timing his crank turns.
This tool assembly rapidly helped him achieve his quota.
His coworkers no longer mocked him but asked him to make similar devices for them.
The dam manager, Yuan Tong, even found Wang Tai specifically to discuss the widespread distribution of this tool and said he would ask for his commendations. Official source ıs novel·fiɾe·net
What Wang Tai did not expect was for Chairman Zhou Yi to come to him directly.
"Congratulations, you are the first recipient of the 'Wasteland Invention Award'. According to our assessment, your invention will increase the productivity of Guangtai Dam by at least three times. Therefore, we have ranked it as a first-class reward, with prize money of 100 Light Seeds."
The young man with black hair said earnestly, "Thank you for your ingenuity, which has allowed the company to develop better."
He extended his hand toward him.
Wang Tai somewhat nervously shook hands with this enigmatic chairman.
100 Light Seeds, converted to mushrooms, that's... 10 million mushrooms?!!
Wang Tai was more shocked and baffled, it felt very surreal.
The chairman gave him a Guangna Box and a piece of gold: "Here are 99 Guangna Seeds and 100 gold, take good care of them."
Holding the heavy gold and looking at the numbers in the Guangna Box, Wang Tai realized it wasn't a dream; this was real.
He had truly become incredibly wealthy overnight, possessing a vast fortune that would allow him to live comfortably even if he chose to be lazy every day.
The chairman smiled and asked, "What motivated you to invent this tool?"
Wang Tai was at a loss for words.
He hesitated for a long time but finally told the truth.
"...Without my mother's advice, this tool wouldn't exist."
"It's a bit embarrassing to say, but fundamentally, I invented it because I wanted to be lazy, and in desperation, I somehow managed to create it."
Zhou Yi was not disappointed; instead, his face showed a look of approval: "You have a good mother. She was absolutely right; health comes first. I don't think laziness is completely without value."
"All the tools we use are created to make our lives more convenient and to reduce effort. It's precisely because everyone wants to be lazy that we hope tools can replace us and complete the work we would otherwise have to do ourselves."
"In some way, laziness is the fuel that drives human progress."
"Enjoy the wealth you deserve. I hope we can have more people like you in the company, people who can live a healthy and happy life without working so desperately."
Wang Tai suddenly felt a bit sad.
If only his mother were here too.
"Thank you, Chairman."
"Name this tool. That's the inventor's privilege."
Wang Tai thought about it: "Call it the Desperate Machine. Let the machine do the desperate work for us."
The atmosphere on the dam gradually began to change.
Workers used to take the former Bone Man Jacob as their role model, toiling tirelessly every day. But after Wang Tai won first place in the Wasteland Invention Award and received 100 Light Seeds, becoming rich overnight, everyone started pondering the creation of new tools.
The entire dam began to shift from desperate labor to finding more clever ways to work.
Everyone would gather to discuss and exchange experiences, and whenever they had time, they would tinker with wood and stones, trying to come up with something.
Wherever Wang Tai went, everyone looked at him with envy.
"Wang, got any new gadgets recently?"
"Don't forget about us poor guys..."
"Wang, Wang, what do you think of this? Do I have a chance to win an award?"
Wang Tai found it somewhat amusing.
At the company, he gained a new title: Inventor.
Yet Wang Tai discovered that although he had earned enough money to live without worries for a lifetime, he no longer felt the previous laziness, as if he had been injected with some strange momentum.
It was as though something inside him had suddenly been activated, compelling him to create more and better new tools, allowing everyone to escape from the grueling work, ensuring that even if they worked in a relaxed manner, they could survive. There would be no more fathers dying in mining disasters, no more mothers paralyzed from exhaustion.
Without the pressure of survival, he began to focus more on improving the Desperate Machine.
Sometimes Wang Tai would gaze towards the other side of the Dead Sea, towards Steel Refining City, his dirty, chaotic hometown that he could never forget.
I'm not working too hard, I'm living well, and I'm healthy.