Chapter 119: What is the point of having so much power if you cannot use it?

Everyone else was working hard and putting in the effort, so naturally, Ye Chao could not afford to slack off.

After more than ten days of hard work, the weight reduction he could achieve by manipulating his Fire Seed equipment finally improved from 73% to 72%...

That’s right, it actually decreased rather than increased.

For one thing, after all the effort and nutritional supplements during this period, he had grown two centimeters taller and gained one kilogram.

Although he had re-optimized the layout of his movement patterns, it was just like the A-share market—it still went down. It seems that having longer legs isn't necessarily a good thing.

Secondly, he had hit a bottleneck!

Thanks to Alpha-Ji’s relentless, day-and-night efforts, eighty percent of the materials in the warehouse had been imprinted. The remaining twenty percent wasn't due to a lack of time, but because they were such bizarre types that it was difficult to find relevant data.

Items like the third-generation iPod Shuffle, Sony Tablet P, Sony Librie, Sony XEL-1, Sony Air Board LF-X1, Sony VAIO UX, iPotty, and the Kin phone... Heaven knows where Jiang Cheng dug up so many oddities.

It could be said that the heavy lifting of the imprinting work was basically complete; what remained was just the daily routine of stocking and retrieving items.

However, Ye Chao did not advance to four-star as expected, even though his CPU frequency had reached 4000% of an F91, his GPU effects had reached 10000% of a top-tier Alienware laptop, and his total hard drive capacity had hit 50P...

Because of the presence of several Tesla and BYD electric vehicles, the number of battery cells reached a staggering 34,000+! The average output power was nearly 400 horsepower, and the peak instantaneous output could easily break a thousand!

But it didn't mean much.

It only brought an increase in quantity, not a qualitative leap. Sure, there was more power and higher output—he could now power a car instead of just a bicycle—but... Ye Chao didn't dare mess with too much electricity because it would cause a short circuit and produce an electric arc. And he couldn't exactly turn himself into an insulator.

In short, unless he wore a Faraday cage, the lead wires trailing from his forehead would shock him first. He had already tried it—isn't the bandage on his head still there?

So, unless he could get his hands on a room-temperature superconductor—which no one had researched before the apocalypse—he wouldn't be able to achieve his full potential. Currently, his maximum output was capped at around 30K, or about 40 horsepower—the level of a tractor or a motorcycle.

As for the idea of building a generator set in the imaginary space, it was abandoned for the same reason. In the words of the Calculator, what was the point of having all that stuff if it was trapped inside a cage?

Ultimately, Ye Chao concluded that his willpower was simply not strong enough. If his willpower were stronger, he should be able to manipulate the current to avoid shocking himself, and even his simple weight reduction should show better results.

Insufficient willpower meant his level wasn't high enough. But his level was stuck, hitting a bottleneck.

Unable to continue reducing his weight, Ye Chao could only pin his hopes on telekinetic traction.

In reality, the two were the same thing; the difference was that simple weight reduction fought against gravity, which had a constant magnitude and direction, whereas telekinetic traction involved complex directions, angles, and force.

Weight reduction was like standing or sitting—as long as you weren't mentally challenged... well, as long as you weren't a high-level paraplegic, even a moron could do it easily.

Telekinetic traction was different; it was more like running.

A toddler learns to stand and sit quickly, but running takes much longer. To run fast and well, you have to spend over a decade of arduous, unremitting, and scientific training!

Ye Chao’s body was naturally useless. While his brain was sharp, it was only sharp in terms of logic and learning; in terms of physical movement... let’s just say that despite his diligent training, he was still a pathetic shut-in who couldn't even beat a chicken.

So, as for this telekinetic traction... even after practicing for many days, it was basically as if he hadn't practiced at all.

After once again tripping his left foot with his right and his right with his left, and performing a face-plant after a botched "Cloud-Ladder Jump," he scrambled up, covered in dirt, and stared blankly at Alpha-Ji. He just stared.

Alpha-Ji felt guilty and anxious under his gaze, so much so that she couldn't even continue the imprinting...

*Wuwuwu*, if this keeps up, will I be discarded for being useless and replaced by the next model? Alpha-Ji continued to panic, and after a while, she had to muster the courage to ask: "What are you staring at?"

Ye Chao continued to watch her, his expression gradually changing: "Calculator, you’ve changed..."

Alpha-Ji’s tears flowed freely. She had assumed that line was supposed to be her dialogue, and she never expected Ye Chao to say it first.

Could this, could this be a precursor to him getting rid of her?

"I, I, how have I changed? I... I’ll change..."

"Before, when you saw me fall like this, even if you didn't laugh with schadenfreude, you would at least show a spark of favorability, even if it wasn't necessarily positive or negative... you might have even played some background music or something."

The more he spoke, the more Ye Chao felt something was wrong: "And before, you used to call yourself 'this palace' [ben gong]. When did you stop saying that and change to 'I'? You don't ask me to take you to see the stars anymore... and you don't vomit at me anymore..."

Alpha-Ji was truly crying now...

I’ve been suffering from depression for two weeks, and you’re only just noticing?

"Do I dare show favorability? Do I dare play background music? Do I dare call myself 'this palace'? Do I dare vomit at you? Are you trying to make me dig my own grave so you can replace me with someone else? Aren't you?"

"All these days, I’ve been working like a beast of burden, exhausted to death. I eat worse than a pig, go to bed later than a dog, and wake up earlier than a rooster... and it’s still useless! Two weeks! It’s only been two weeks! And you’re already tired of me... aren't you?"

(╥﹏╥)

Alpha-Ji completely broke down, giving up on everything.

(ノД`)

I... I... what did I say? I just felt something was off and asked... why is she crying...

Ye Chao was dumbfounded, having no idea how to handle this.

In the end, it was Roll-Roll who, hearing the loud crying, poked its head over and roughly understood what had happened. It rolled over, pushed Ye Chao aside with force, made a show of pounding him a few times, and then went over to comfort the Calculator.

To be honest, the gap between Roll-Roll’s intelligence and Ye Chao’s was roughly equal to the gap in their emotional intelligence.

"Wuwuwu, Roll-Roll, you’re the only one who cares about me!" Once the Calculator started crying, she couldn't stop; her tears were torrential, earth-shattering!

"Calculator, you... you should stop crying. It’s been five minutes already..."

Roll-Roll looked back, giving Ye Chao a look of disdain: Five minutes—is that enough for me to have a meal or for you to read a book?

"If you have any grievances against me, just say it directly. If you don't say it, I can't guess," Ye Chao finally realized.

She just kept crying! Crying! Crying...

After a long time, Alpha-Ji looked through her fingers and saw Ye Chao still staring at her with a confused expression...

Perhaps she felt that continuing like this wasn't a solution, or perhaps Roll-Roll’s comfort and Ye Chao’s honest expression gave her courage: "Fine, Ye Chao, if you want to talk, then let’s talk!"

"You go first: why, why did you copy my code without my permission?"