To verify this idea, you need to find an "experienced baby" to practice on—something simple, broken, and one you won't be too badly hurt to fix.
Su Wei rushed into the storage room at the end of the corridor.
This is a pile of miscellaneous items left by Su Wei's parents.
Rusty animal traps, chairs with broken legs, fishing nets with holes, and several old appliances whose names I don't know.
Su Wei's gaze swept quickly across the area.
A chair with a broken leg won't do; that falls under the category of carpentry.
That disassembled washing machine won't work either; the circuit board is too complex—that's electronic engineering.
We also need to look for those with mechanical structures.
Finally, Su Wei's gaze settled on the bottom shelf of the corner unit.
There were toolboxes filled with rusty tools.
Chapter 54: The Experience Grinding Journey, The Scrapped Engine
Under the dim light of the storage room, the air was filled with the smell of old engine oil and musty dust.
Su Wei knelt on the cold cement floor.
In front of me was a metal toolbox, quite old, with most of the red paint peeled off, revealing the rust underneath.
The latch is rusted shut.
Su Wei did not use brute force to smash it.
He picked up a half-empty bottle of WD-40 rust remover and sprayed it into the gaps of the lock.
scream
A pungent chemical odor immediately filled the air.
The liquid seeped in through the cracks, bringing with it murky, rusty water.
Su Wei waited for two minutes, silently counting to one hundred and twenty in his mind.
Then he picked up a flathead screwdriver, wedged it into the gap, and pried it open with his wrist.
Click.
With a crisp click, the rusted latch popped open.
Su Wei felt a sudden surge of relief.
The lid of the box was opened.
Inside, a dozen or so wrenches of varying sizes, two pipe wrenches, and several screwdrivers whose original color was no longer discernible lay scattered about.
They were all covered with a thick layer of oxide, looking as if they had just been dug out of the ground.
In the past, Su Wei would most likely have just thrown this box of junk away.
But now, these aren't scrap metal; they're experience points.
Su Wei found a piece of coarse cloth, poured kerosene on it, and picked up the largest adjustable wrench to start wiping.
The rough rust made my palms feel sticky.
He wasn't in a hurry; he traced the metal's grain with his fingers and carefully removed the rust.
This feeling is very similar to when he was whittling wood.
Wood has a grain, so shaving along it is less strenuous.
Even though metal is an inanimate object, there are patterns to how and where rust grows.
He patiently polished it, using a steel wool pad to scrub away the dirt in the hard-to-reach corners, and then repeatedly wiping it with a cloth soaked in machine oil until the metal surface regained a bit of silver-gray luster.
One.
Two.
When the third screwdriver was cleaned and the jammed shaft spun smoothly again, Su Wei stopped what he was doing.
Sure enough, the voice rang out.
[Completed a basic tools maintenance.]
[ Life Module Experience +15]
Su Wei threw down the black rag and let out a long sigh.
Your guess was right.
Repairing, maintaining, or even just cleaning—as long as you put in the effort and make things better, the system will recognize it as a life skill practice.
This gives you far more experience than doing mundane chores.
And no skill books are required.
So-called skills are nothing more than muscle memory formed by repetitive labor; the system simply digitizes this process.
Su Wei stood up and stretched his aching knees.
The experience gained from using light-wiping tools is still too limited.
Cleaning out a box of tools will only earn you a few dozen experience points at most, far from unlocking [ Mechanical Repair ].
We need to find something more complex.
We need to disassemble things.
Su Wei's gaze swept around the storage room.
Soon, he spotted a hand-cranked water pump in the corner.
That used to be for pumping water. Later, when electric pumps came out, this thing was taken down and left here to collect dust.
The cast iron pump body was bulky and rough, and the rocker arm could no longer be pressed down.
Su Wei moved it to the open space next to him.
This is not as simple as just wiping away rust.
He needs to figure out why it won't shake.
Su Wei picked up the pipe wrench he had just prepared and used it to clamp the connection port under the pump body.
Use force.
It remained completely still.
The rust had sealed the threads shut.
If you're a carpenter, you can cut off a dead knot or carve it into another shape.
But machines won't work.
Machinery requires perfect fit; even a missing screw renders it useless.
Su Wei calmed himself down.
He found a hammer, but instead of smashing the nut directly, he gently tapped around the iron pipe at the joint.
Vibration can loosen rust.
Clang, clang, clang.
A dull knocking sound echoed in the storage room.
Cotton Candy had sneaked in sometime earlier, and curiously lay down on the doormat, tilting her head to watch her owner busy with a lump of metal.
I knocked for five minutes.
Su Wei clamped the pipe wrench again, took a deep breath, and used the strength in his waist.
Crunch
A metallic scraping sound rang out from the teeth.
The nut turned half a turn.
Once things are started, things will be easier.
Su Wei seized the opportunity and dismantled the pump body into pieces.
The internal structure is not complex.
A piston, a connecting rod, and a one-way valve.
The problem lies with the piston cup.
The leather gasket that should have been soft and sealed is now as hard as a rock, stuck tightly in the cylinder, filled with mud, sand, and rust.
Su Wei carefully used a knife to pry the leather bowl out.
It still works.
He threw the leather bowl into the engine oil to soak it, letting the oil soften the leather.
While it was soaking, he cleaned the rust out of the cylinder and applied a thick layer of lubricating oil to the connecting rod pin.
Half an hour later.