Before, it had been colder, but as long as the temperature stayed consistent, he never woke up shivering; he had simply grown used to the freezing chill.
Now, with Heating System 1.0, the room warmed up nicely, but once the hot water inside the copper pipes cooled down, the fluctuating temperature made him rather uncomfortable.
Therefore—
He intended to build a Heating System 2.0 before nightfall to provide continuous warmth for the camp.
...
The plan was simple.
Currently, the camp's heating system used copper pipes leading outside to collect rainwater, heated it in a boiler inside the wooden cabin, and then let it flow through copper pipes within the cabin to provide heat.
However, without a circulation pump, the entire process required a fair bit of manual operation and could not be fully automated.
What he needed to do now was handcraft a circulation pump to serve as a pressure source.
First, he spent two ghost stones to craft a bear trap, then spent another ten ghost stones to upgrade it into ground spikes.
For the upgrade path, he selected "Enhanced Power," which would increase its thrust.
Immediately after,
he crafted a square copper pipe, one meter wide and one meter thick, erected directly atop the ground spikes. The whole thing looked like an inverted T, but since the ground spikes were also one meter in width and length, they happened to fit together seamlessly.
An hour later.
"All done."
Standing outside the camp and looking at the structure before him, which resembled a giant black cock, Chen Fan rested his hands on his hips, panting softly, and broke into a satisfied grin.
A complete success!
The ground spikes would trigger once they detected a certain amount of pressure, thrusting upward with dark, hardened wooden spikes. He had modified the mechanism beforehand: first, he chopped off and smoothed down the tips of the wooden spikes to greatly reduce their lethal power, then stripped off some hide from a monkey head ghost and secured it over the top of the spikes.
That way, whenever the spikes triggered, they would swiftly drive upward beneath the ghost hide,
just like—
a massive leather piston.
Moreover, the ground spikes trap structure was extremely energy-efficient. It could be triggered countless times before exhausting the ghost stones used in its construction and breaking down, making it practically a perpetual motion machine.
Next,
he linked a thicker copper pipe to the stove inside the wooden cabin, treating this pipe as a large boiler, and used narrower copper pipes to connect the outdoor piston structure with the boiler.
The copper pipe at the top of the piston structure was unsealed, and near its upper end, a copper pipe extended horizontally, piercing through the wall into the wooden cabin.
Once rainwater filled the vertical copper pipe standing outside the camp, applying sufficient pressure, the ground spikes would register the weight and activate, thrusting violently upward. Driven by this pressure, the rainwater inside the pipe would surge out through the horizontal pipe near the top and pour into the cabin's boiler.
This pushed the hot water already inside the boiler into the cabin's internal copper pipes, while the newly introduced rainwater remained in the boiler, supplying it with fresh cold water.
The discarded hot water was then discharged outside through copper pipes.
With that,
Heating System 2.0 was fully operational!
For aesthetics,
the pipe extending horizontally from the top of the piston structure was laid flush against the ground and walls. Although this cost a few extra ghost stones, it also minimized the risk of collapse—after all, copper pipes were merely building modules and could hardly be called sturdy—while making the setup far more visually pleasing.
In truth, there were other solutions, such as harnessing the energy released when boiling water, but that approach had drawbacks.
For now, this was the simplest and most resource-efficient method available.
Naturally, there was plenty of room for optimization, but he could refine it gradually later on. Rome wasn't built in a day.
...
Quehou and the others gathered around the piston structure standing flush against the wall outside the camp. After listening to Chen Fan explain its principles, they stood rooted to the spot, completely baffled and at a loss for words.
"..."
Wang Mazi looked at the five ground spikes beside the farmland, then glanced back at the piston structure erected on the ground, his eyes filled with sheer bewilderment.
Ground spikes...
could be used like this?
How had he never thought of that?
Only then did he gaze at Chen Fan's back, a chill flashing through his eyes. He had originally assumed Chen Fan had risen to prominence merely by inheriting the architect legacy left behind by his mother. Now, it was clear that wasn't the case at all.
A legacy could be inherited, but could intelligence be passed down as well?
A young master bullied by everyone in the Chen family suddenly gained enlightenment the moment he arrived in the wilderness?
How could that be possible!
Both his conduct and personal demeanor were completely different from the Chen Fan he had known in the Chen family. To hide his talents for so many years just to break free from the family's control one day and soar high into the sky—such mental fortitude was frankly terrifying.
"Young Master!"
Excited, Quehou limped in circle after circle around the piston structure. "I never imagined a ground spikes trap could be used like this. And I vaguely feel... could this structure you call a piston have even more uses?"
"Of course."
Standing at the edge of the camp, Chen Fan looked at the crude piston structure with great satisfaction and chuckled softly. "This piston is just a basic application. The field behind this technique is something I call... mechanics."
"Mechanics?"
"You can simply think of it as boiling water."
"Oh, oh..."
This was a fantasy world.
Yet...
he wasn't a native of this world. A ground spikes trap that triggered upon sensing pressure and consumed negligible energy was far more than just a trap in his hands.
"Um..."
Right then—
Wang Kui raised his hand timidly and hesitated before asking, "Stationmaster, while this heating apparatus is perfect, its main water source is the heavy rain during the rainy season. Once the rainy season passes and winter arrives, how will this apparatus operate?"
As soon as the words fell,
the group exchanged glances.
Right.
Winter was the coldest season, bitterly cold enough to freeze people to death. Without an ample supply of rainwater, wouldn't this heating system become useless?
"No need to worry,"
Chen Fan replied casually. "Currently, the wastewater from the cabin's heating pipes is discharged directly outside. Once the rainy season ends, we only need to add a buffer unit and connect the wastewater pipe back to the piston to recycle the water.
"Right now we're in the middle of the rainy season and don't lack water, so I just saved some ghost stones on crafting extra copper pipes.
"Every bit saved counts."
The next moment—
"Stationmaster!"
Zhou Mo's loud shout came from the perimeter of the camp. After Quehou inspected them, Zhou Mo led his men briskly up to Chen Fan, full of excitement. "Stationmaster, we had a great haul today! And on the way back, we even..."
"Huh?"
Zhou Mo suddenly noticed the dark, vertical copper pipe standing on the ground nearby and asked in surprise, "What's this?"
"..."
Chen Fan smiled, pulled the Broadsword exotic treasure from his robes, and tossed it into Zhou Mo's hands. "Let them explain it to you. I'm going inside to rest for a bit. Report to me in a moment, and make sure everyone is ready—night will fall soon.
"Take this blade and use it."
"Ahem."
Quehou balled one hand into a fist, cleared his throat lightly, and spoke with an earnest expression. "First of all, nothing I am about to tell you may be disclosed to outsiders. This is a new secret architectural method researched by the Young Master, which he calls 'mechanics.'
"It is a closely guarded secret.
"This structure you see before you is called a piston. Inside, it uses ground spikes as a pressure source, and..."
Seeing Zhou Mo's increasingly bewildered gaze, Quehou grew even more animated, the corners of his mouth curving upward uncontrollably.
This was his young master's masterpiece!
The only one of its kind in all of Jiangbei City!
After a long while,
Zhou Mo looked earnestly at Quehou.
"Brother, you don't need to worry about me leaking anything at all.
"Because I didn't understand a single word you said. Even if I wanted to spread it, I couldn't.
"Still..."
"This blade is truly incredible."
Zhou Mo looked down at the exotic treasure broadsword cradled in his arms, his grin stretching nearly from ear to ear. Unable to tear his hands away, he chuckled foolishly and walked toward the camp.
"Sigh."
Quehou let out a helpless, long sigh. These people were utterly uncultured. Back when he attended the Chen family clan school, he had ranked top of his class in theory every single year.
The piston structure invented by the Young Master was worth vastly more than that scrap blade in your hands, all right?
He could faintly sense that this was not merely a heating structure, but the dawn of a brand-new era belonging to his young master.
Just like... a foundation.
In the blink of an eye,
one could raise high towers to feast the realm.
Chapter 37