A Way to Cash In Points?

Fatty Wu had described it perfectly—sorting cargo really was as easy as playing soccer.

A light tap of the toe against a package, then a push forward with the back foot, and the package could fly more than ten meters. Who cared whether the buyer or seller was cursing inside? Once a delivery entered this place, it was their problem if it got wrecked.

Actually, it was not that the part-timers were irresponsible. The full-timers were even more rough and direct. Once the conveyor belts started up, nobody had the spare time to handle things carefully. Who cared if the box said fragile or valuable goods? Even if the cardboard got torn open, there were people specifically assigned to collect it, tape it up, and put it back on the conveyor belt.

"This package is broken. It looks like alcohol or something—I can smell it."

"Forget about it. As long as the shipping label isn't wet, just toss it onto the conveyor belt. Make sure the label faces up."

The group had a clear division of labor and had taken over an entire parking space. Two people unloaded by the truck, dragging packages off the vehicle and flinging them onto the ground. Another two stood by the conveyor belt, tossing the incoming parcels onto it. Everyone else was responsible for "dribbling." After a while, it unexpectedly became rather fun.

While dribbling packages, Fatty Wu even had the leisure to brag to the leader of the full-timer team beside them, saying he wanted to compete with them.

Watching his schoolmates kick deliveries around like soccer balls, the guy grabbing packages off the truck beside Lu Zhou felt so heartbroken he could barely breathe. He could not help whispering, "Be gentler. One of my packages might be in there."

Naturally, nobody heard him. And even if they had, they probably would not have cared.

There were so many deliveries. If they gently carried them one by one, how many trucks could they unload in a single night?

Although Wu Dahai had not told them how many packages they needed to sort in one night, only telling them to do as he said, Lu Zhou guessed that Wu Dahai definitely had some sort of arrangement with the sorting center. They were probably paid according to the amount of work done.

For example, if each package was worth five cents, they only needed to sort twenty-two thousand packages in one night for Fatty Wu to break even. If they sorted another thousand, they would earn fifty more yuan.

Lu Zhou estimated that, over eight hours, the ten people on his side should be able to unload thirty thousand packages at least. Maybe even forty thousand. Including Fatty Wu himself, there were twelve people working.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhou could not help sighing inwardly.

Other people worked all night for a fixed wage of one hundred yuan. Fatty Wu, on the other hand, would probably make more than one or two thousand in a single night—enough to cover an ordinary student's monthly living expenses! While others still needed living expenses from home, he might even have money left to send back.

Still, envy was envy. Lu Zhou knew that if he were the one handling this, he might not be able to pull it off.

First, he would need to recruit so many people and organize them. But organizing them was not enough—he would also need strong negotiation skills, enough to make the sorting center manager comfortable handing the job over to him, and to secure a reasonable price through negotiation so both sides could benefit.

The emotional intelligence required for that was something no number of problems could teach. Just watching Fatty Wu smoothly offer cigarettes to the manager, Lu Zhou knew he could never learn that. The same went for everyone kicking packages around like soccer balls.

Otherwise, the person earning one or two thousand yuan a day would not be Fatty Wu, but one of them.

Ah, this damned capitalism!

His hands mechanically handled the cargo on the truck as Lu Zhou tried to let his thoughts wander so he would not get too bored. His gaze drifted around the factory, constantly losing focus.

Honestly, from the perspective of a college student in the new era, he felt that the sorting center's design was completely unreasonable. First, it was not intelligent at all. Second, it wasted enormous amounts of labor on repetitive work requiring no technical skill.

Of course, he knew he was only saying that because he was standing outside the situation.

Upgrading technology required capital. A sorting center operating through outsourcing like this was unlikely to receive outside investment to upgrade its equipment. And even if the sorting center's shareholders really had that much money to upgrade the equipment, they definitely would not invest it in the sorting center.

According to the principle of risk diversification in investment, the money would definitely be split into two streams and poured into the housing market or various fund products. Because capital's ultimate goal had never been to upgrade technology and lead all humanity into the future. Quite the opposite—technology had always served capital.

It was only because their interests aligned in the places most people could see that so many people confused the causal relationship between them.

"If another parallel conveyor belt were added at the sorting center entrance, and intelligent robotic arms were used to identify, classify, and sort packages, it could not only reduce package damage during logistics, but also improve the sorting center's operating efficiency..." As he thought about it, Lu Zhou's brow slowly furrowed.

Suddenly, as he concentrated on the issue, the scene before his eyes began to change in a subtle way.

As his focus continued to deepen, a translucent holographic window appeared before him.

[Blueprint for No. 001 Intelligent Sorting System (including intelligent mechanical program). Requirements: Informatics Level 1, Engineering Level 2.]

[Required points: 5000]

"Holy shit?!"

The sudden appearance of the system startled him, and seeing the required points frightened Lu Zhou even more.

Five thousand fucking points!

Did all this broken system's black technology burn through points like this?

"What's wrong?" The guy beside him looked at him blankly, having no idea why he had suddenly lost it.

"Uh, nothing. I suddenly remembered that I seem to have gotten one question wrong on today's advanced mathematics test."

Lu Zhou gave an embarrassed smile. After quickly brushing the guy off, he focused once more on the holographic window only he could see, his mind racing.

The system could answer real-world problems by consuming points. Apparently, a problem did not have to be limited to a specific question—it could even point toward a vague concept, with the system filling in the details.

Simply put, it was like collaborating on an academic paper. The host was the one who proposed the "idea," while the system was the hired ghostwriter responsible for making that idea a reality.

For example, the blueprint for this No. 001 system had completely recreated his concept according to the actual circumstances of the sorting center. Of course, because his requirements had been too vague, the system had made some components overly futuristic.

Furthermore, based on the difficulty of the problem and the relevant skill levels, the system would determine how many points to consume...

All of a sudden, Lu Zhou thought of something, and his heart stirred.

"What if I narrowed the problem down to the intelligent program needed for a sorting robotic arm..."

Shaking his head, Lu Zhou focused on this new question. Soon, a line of text appeared in the holographic window.

[Intelligent Robotic Arm Control System for Sorting Center (XX Sorting Center). Requirement: Informatics Level 1]

[Required points: 1570]

Just as he thought!

Lu Zhou excitedly clenched his fist.

This was the fucking correct way to use the system!

For instance, if he wanted to make a phone, there was no need to package the entire big idea and hand it to the system to solve. He could break it down into several smaller ideas and focus on the parts he could not solve himself.

To be more specific, if he held a Xiaomi 4 and shouted, "System, increase its performance by 10 percent for me," the system might randomly price the task at anywhere from one thousand to ten thousand points and provide a complete phone upgrade plan of equivalent value.

But if he took apart his Xiaomi 4, removed the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip inside, held it in his hand, and asked the system for help—requesting a design plan that could improve the chip's performance by 10 percent without changing its manufacturing process—

Once the request was specified to that extent, the system would provide a solution according to its rules. In the end, he might only need to spend fewer than a thousand points to obtain blueprints for an upgraded Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip for the Xiaomi 4...

Lu Zhou was immediately overcome with wild joy. At last, he had found a way to cash in system points.

But soon, he suddenly calmed down again.

Come to think of it, he seemed to have only thirty-five points left.

Even with a way to cash them in, he still needed points. And the points he had now seemed only enough to solve math problems.

At that thought, Lu Zhou's mood instantly soured again.