"Your Majesty, we pay our respects!"
Zhou Xu's arrival caused a stir.
Aside from the Steam Excavator project team, quite a few other project teams were also conducting research and testing here at the testing grounds.
The commotion quickly attracted the attention of the other project teams, and many people instinctively looked over.
Zhou Xu had come in plain clothes this time. He did not want to make things too troublesome.
He hurriedly waved his hand.
"Go about your business. Don't mind me."
Although the members of the project team were terribly nervous, they continued with their final tests.
During that time, Zhou Xu's gaze had already fallen on the huge Steam Excavator in the middle of the field.
Compared with the excavators in Zhou Xu's memories, the one before him was undoubtedly far larger and clumsier.
Its base used a tracked-wheel design. Qin Fen had already been developing Dwarf Steam Tanks, so the tracked-wheel design was universal, unexpectedly saving them quite a bit of trouble.
Above that was a design resembling a small house, rectangular in shape.
The fuel compartment occupied the rear half, with a large cylindrical smokestack connected to the top. The front half was the cab, connected at the front to a massive articulated mechanical arm and bucket.
After fuel was loaded, the Steam Excavator started up. Accompanied by a muffled "thud, thud, thud, thud," thick smoke continuously billowed from the large smokestack, while the excavator operator in the cab nervously worked the controls.
In this era, an excavator's mechanical arm was nowhere near as nimble as the ones Zhou Xu remembered. It consisted of two large components joined together and could perform only some very simple movements. Even those were not particularly smooth—it moved once, then stopped.
Given the limitations of their technology, this was