Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 176: Operating at the Limit

Su Ming did not speak. He walked over to the pile of formation plates, casually picked one up, and examined it carefully.

Then, he turned around to face his five subordinates who had already fallen into despair. His voice was not loud, but it struck each person's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Everyone, stand up!"

The five of them shuddered, instinctively straightening their backs.

"They think this is impossible because, in their eyes, repairing formation plates relies on a single formation master's momentary spark of inspiration."

Su Ming's gaze swept over each of their faces in turn.

"But we are different."

"We have processes! We have standards! We have every single one of you!"

He walked to the courtyard wall, picked up the largest wooden board, and began writing swiftly on it with a piece of charcoal.

There were no impassioned slogans, only cold, rational task assignments.

"Old Wang! Your task is not repair! It's 'sorting'! Within two hours, I want you to sort these five hundred formation plates into at least twenty batches based on model and degree of damage! Each batch must have a clear label!"

"Old Li, Zhao Tiezhu! You two are responsible for 'disassembly'! Don't worry about repair. Just use the fastest speed to disassemble all the formation plates into their most basic components according to the standard procedure, and sort them into the parts bins!"

"Zhang Asheng, Qian Xiaofan! You two are responsible for 'cleaning and preliminary inspection'! All disassembled components must be thoroughly cleaned, and core parts must be marked for preliminary damage assessment!"

"And I," Su Ming put down the charcoal, his eyes shining with an unprecedented light, "am responsible for repairing all the core runes!"

"Remember! We are not fighting alone. We are a machine! A precision machine born specifically for repair!"

These words exploded in the minds of the five like a thunderclap.

They looked at Su Ming, then at the brand new, logically clear "wartime workflow chart" on the wall. The despair and fear in their hearts were unexpectedly replaced by a strange, burning fighting spirit.

Yes! They were not alone! They were a single unit!

"Let's begin!"

With Su Ming's command, this small courtyard instantly transformed from an abyss of despair into a high-speed battlefield!

The crisp sounds of metal tapping, the friction of parts, and the faint hum of spiritual energy probing intertwined into a tense and stirring symphony.

Time flew by at their fingertips.

The sun set, the moon rose. The moon set, the sun rose.

For a full day and night, no one closed their eyes except for taking turns to meditate and recover for half an hour.

When the dawn of the second day illuminated the tired yet shining faces in the courtyard, an astonishing miracle had occurred.

One hundred and three repaired formation plates, brimming with spiritual light, were neatly stacked in the delivery area.

In the pending repair area, all the formation plates had already been disassembled, cleaned, and sorted, like troops awaiting inspection, silently waiting for the order for the "final assault."

However, just as Su Ming picked up the core module of the one hundred and fourth formation plate, ready to repair it, his brow furrowed slightly.

His divine sense probed inward. While repairing a "Ning" character rune, he keenly detected an extremely subtle, fleeting sense of spiritual energy stagnation. The sensation vanished in an instant;if he weren't intimately familiar with the spiritual energy he controlled, he would never have noticed it.

He did not make a sound, calmly picking up another core module of the same model.

The same location, the same sense of stagnation.

"Master," he whispered in his heart, "this batch of 'Kun Yuan Shield Formation' plates has a problem."

Lin Yu's soul sense instantly became alert, carefully perceiving the spiritual energy feedback Su Ming transmitted.

"It's not a trap... more like... a flaw that existed from the factory."

"Disciple, this is interesting. What Elder Luo threw at us isn't just a hot potato;it seems... there's another secret hidden inside."

From outside the courtyard came the sly, mocking voice of Manager Liu.

"Well, well, Junior Brother Su, esteemed colleagues, you've worked hard! How are the results on the first day? Let me have a look..."

When he walked into the courtyard and saw the neatly stacked pile of over a hundred finished formation plates, the smile on his face instantly froze.

The smile on Manager Liu's face cracked like cheap pottery struck by a winter wind, piece by piece, until it completely solidified.

The schadenfreude in his eyes was replaced by an emotion called "absurdity." He stared fixedly at the one hundred and three formation plates stacked as neatly as an honor guard, each one emitting a full and stable spiritual light that stung his eyes.

How was this possible?

This was absolutely impossible!

Those weren't some simple illumination formations;dozens of them were structurally complex "Sharp Metal Formations" and "Thick Earth Formations"! Even a Foundation Establishment stage formation master, working without sleep or rest for a day and night, could never possibly repair more than twenty!

Inside the courtyard, the air was filled with a faint, fresh scent of spiritual ink and the smell of cooled metal. Although Old Wang and the others were utterly exhausted, their spirits were unusually high, their chests puffed out. Watching Manager Liu's face turn from green to white, then from white to purple, an unprecedented sense of satisfaction surged in their hearts.

Manager Liu's Adam's apple bobbed. He wanted to say a few perfunctory words, but found his throat felt stuffed with dry hay;not a single word could come out. In the end, he just turned and left in a flustered, almost panicked manner, his sleeves flung back. His retreating back looked as if a demon were chasing him. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Master, he's gone," Su Ming said calmly in his heart.

"Mhm, ran off with his tail between his legs," Lin Yu's soul sense crossed his legs inside the Xuantian ring. "But disciple, don't celebrate too soon. At our current speed, one hundred pieces a day, five days exactly makes five hundred pieces. That's just 'barely completing' the task, still far from a 'stunning debut.' Moreover, even if you're made of iron, you can't sustain repairing core runes at high intensity for five consecutive days."

Lin Yu had pinpointed the core issue.

The biggest bottleneck in the entire process was Su Ming himself.

Su Ming looked at the mountain of formation plates awaiting repair piled in the courtyard, his brow slightly furrowed. He knew his master was right;his divine sense and spiritual energy were already showing signs of depletion.

"So," Lin Yu's voice carried a hint of amusement, like a mentor about to reveal a magic trick, "it's time for you to witness what true 'process management' is. Disciple, forget that you're a 'craftsman.' From now on, you are a 'chief engineer'!"