When Old Jiang spoke of the previous civilization, a complicated emotion surfaced on his face, but he quickly came back to himself and dragged the topic back—
“A one-star cybernetic prosthesis is just a mechanical limb. Its functions are barely better than nothing; it’s more decorative than practical, mostly to make people feel they’re still more or less whole;
“A two-star prosthesis has a bit of high tech to it. It can barely replace the original flesh, with little difference in function, and may even be enhanced in certain specialized areas, but a downgrade in experience is inevitable. The lowest-level workers and gang errand boys basically all use this grade;
“A three-star prosthesis can perfectly replace the original body and provide certain auxiliary functions—for instance, a prosthetic eye with infrared, or a prosthetic hand with a stabilizer and the like. It’s the most widespread grade. But the gap between the upper and lower limits of this stuff is enormous. The reason they’re all called three-star is merely that the difficulty of the craftsmanship is about the same, so the previous civilization lumped them into one category;
“A four-star prosthesis comprehensively surpasses the original body and possesses functions flesh can’t match. The senior employees in corporations, the higher-level enforcers in gangs, and those professional security types basically all install this kind;
“A five-star prosthesis has already left the category of civilian prosthetics. At present, only Dayan and Gelian have the technology for mass production. Those who install this stuff are either senior researchers, top-tier hackers, or soldier-king types. Of course, there are also toys specially made for the rich, like this Purple Mood;
“As for prosthetics of six stars and above, at present there are only unique specimens excavated from ruins of the previous civilization. Forget finished products—even core components and special materials will be fought over by every faction. You couldn’t buy them even if you had the money. But supposedly, both Dayan and Gelian have technology that can combine multiple five-star prosthetics to achieve the effect of a six-star prosthesis. That’s only a legend, though. At present, the common method of obtaining six-star power is to make the prosthesis bigger—in other words, what people call mecha.”
At this point, Old Jiang cut off the subject and pointed at the chip currently being written with the program.
“Well? Now do you understand how precious this Phantom Dragon Soul Type III is?”
Feng Xue looked at the large amount of code flashing rapidly across the monitor, incomprehensible yet impressive, and for a moment his eyes went a little dizzy.
But he quickly locked onto the part most important to him.
“In that case, a one-star prosthesis doesn’t seem to mean much to me, does it?”
“Under normal circumstances, it really wouldn’t mean much. After all, a one-star prosthesis can barely let you take care of daily life. But you’re of the flesh-and-blood source energy system. As long as you meet the basic standard for activating your ability, that’s enough. Besides, don’t we have this chip? Add this main control chip in, and even if your whole body is cheap junk, it can still raise you to a three-star level! This is the importance of compatibility! You understand compatibility, right?”
Old Jiang waved both hands, looking extremely excited, while Feng Xue listened in some bewilderment.
“Compatibility? Isn’t that a concept from traditional Chinese medicine?”
“Oh, you know traditional Chinese medicine?” Old Jiang’s eyes flashed, as if the switch for his urge to lecture had been triggered, and he immediately began explaining excitedly:
“If you know, that makes things easy. The wisdom of our ancestors was never limited to any single field. Prosthetics are related to medicine, after all, so they also emphasize the monarch, minister, assistant, and envoy! You understand monarch, minister, assistant, and envoy, right?”
“I’ve… heard of it…” Feng Xue had at least been a somewhat accomplished writer in his previous life, so he still had some knowledge in this area. Seeing him say this, and with nothing else to do for the moment, Old Jiang immediately dragged over a whiteboard and began drawing a mind map.
“Manufacturing prosthetics is just like prescribing a formula in Chinese medicine. The key is compatibility!”
He drew a circle and wrote “Monarch.”
“The monarch is the core functional component. It determines what this prosthesis is for. For example, the core functions of an arm prosthesis are gripping and fine manipulation. If you install a core component meant for energy output, then that’s not a hand—it’s a turret! The monarch must be clear, not vague. A lot of cyberpsychosis happens because additional functions are placed above the core function, causing conflict between the prosthesis and one’s self-recognition.”
As he spoke, he drew several small circles beside it and wrote “Minister.”
“The minister is the main structure, used to assist the ‘monarch’ in achieving its function. Take an arm, for instance. If the core component is the mechanical hand skeleton, then its ministers are the matching hydraulic rods, muscle bundles, movable joints, and bionic skin. All of these are ‘ministers.’ To put it plainly, they’re components that help the monarch better achieve its core function.”
Then he drew a square below and wrote “Assistant.”
“The assistant is the energy source and auxiliary module. It provides the power necessary for the prosthesis to perform, while also taking on the role of suppressing side effects. For example, high-energy batteries and cooling systems are the most typical ‘assistants.’ Their main function is harmonization: they must ensure that the ‘monarch’ and ‘minister’ have the strength to exert themselves, while also reducing the burden and harm they cause to the user.”
Finally, he drew several lines connecting these characters together and wrote “Envoy.”
“The envoy is the control system. It’s responsible for scheduling and command, making the prosthesis obey your brain, and allowing different prosthetics to coordinate with one another. Neural interface lines and control chips are all ‘envoys.’ The envoy must be smooth and precise. If the ‘monarch and minister’ are the foundation of a prosthesis, and the ‘assistant’ determines its lower limit, then the ‘envoy’ defines its upper limit.”
Old Jiang tossed aside the marker and patted the “old-fashioned” computer case beside his hand.
“It’s like building a computer. The processor and graphics card are the monarch. The motherboard and cables are the ministers. The power supply and cooling are the assistants. The system and drivers are the envoys! As for the remaining case, lighting effects, keyboard and mouse… those are peripherals and the like. They’re all just extras!
“Right now, you have this Phantom Dragon Soul Type III chip as the envoy. As long as you match it with a power source of sufficient output as the assistant, then even if everything else is one-star goods, you can still overclock it to a three-star level as the norm!”
Feng Xue listened with his mouth agape. This theory actually sounded damnably reasonable! Even a novice like him, who had only just come into contact with prosthetics, could understand it. So much so that the manufacturing system in his golden finger, which had absolutely no user manual, suddenly seemed to have some clues.
Without a doubt, this old man was definitely a talent!
Just as he was rejoicing that he had thickened his skin and asked to learn, and could hardly wait to open his golden finger and try out this theory, a “ding” suddenly rang out, like a microwave finishing its work.
He saw Old Jiang abruptly shove the whiteboard aside, stride to the oven in a few quick steps, and open it. Using a pair of oversized pliers that looked as if they had been taken from the set of Haihu, he clamped out that steel bar. Then, with a lathe that looked to have already seen many years of use, he began cutting it amid showers of sparks.
Looking at that crooked, uneven thing, less orderly than randomly chopped firewood, Feng Xue’s obsessive-compulsive side flared up. He wished he could grab a file and trim its sprues and deburr it.
As if noticing Feng Xue’s conflicted expression, Old Jiang cheerfully said:
“The processing window for this thing is only this short. If you miss it, you have to process it all over again, and the cost goes up with every back-and-forth. Besides, grinding and polishing consume abrasives too. In any case, you’re going to assimilate it with flesh-and-blood source energy. It’s cheap stuff, so just make do!”
“…” Feng Xue really wanted to retort, but when he thought of that six-hundred-yuan budget, in the end he still couldn’t bring himself to speak. What else could he do? For this bit of money, not even the junk scavengers on Tuba would take the order, okay!
If prosthetic grades were compared to vehicles, then one-star would be a handcart, two-star would be a bicycle, and the gap within three-star would be relatively large: from electric scooters and motorcycles to commuter cars, pickups, vans, and so on. You also couldn’t say they were all low-end, because hundred-ton king trucks were included here too; it counted as the most widely used range. Four-star would be luxury cars, tanks, armored vehicles, and the like. Five-star would be state-level heavy weapons such as missile trucks, though there were also rich people’s toys like flying hovercars. As for six-star, that would just be a Transformer.