Nie Yun, who had always been remarkably thick-skinned, quickly accepted his new reality. So what if he had been parasitized by an alien mechanical worm? He'd already cheated death—what was there to fear now? Every day from here on was a bonus.
Gazing at the mechanical worm, he stroked his chin and muttered, "If this thing is supposed to repair alien spacecraft, then patching up the *Sea Wolf* should be a piece of cake, right? But considering the vast difference in technology, I wonder if the worm can handle fixing this ancient relic of a ship?"
His heartbeat quickened at the thought. He tentatively issued a command to the microscopic creatures, and to his astonishment, the silvery-white mass of mechanical worms responded.
At the same time, a signal echoed in his mind: "Command acknowledged. No classified ships detected on this planet. Commencing repairs on civilian-grade sailboat."
Nie Yun was left speechless as he watched the tiny creatures begin their work, producing a sound like ants gnawing away. They quickly burrowed into the wood, carving out a sizable hole before his very eyes. Before he could feel sorry for his beloved ship, the silvery mass of worms slithered to the keel of the *Sea Wolf*, enveloping the fracture like a mass of clay, and the gnawing resumed.
Nie Yun watched intently as the splintered wood at the break began to mend, slowly but surely. In less than a minute, three centimeters of the keel had been restored, the newly formed surface so smooth it could practically serve as a mirror.
He knocked on the repaired section—*bang, bang*. As someone who often bought wood for boat repairs, Nie Yun was adept at judging its quality. Just by the sound, he could tell this material was exceptionally sturdy, far superior to any wood he'd ever purchased.
He grabbed a small knife and attempted to carve a scratch. Upon closer inspection—damn, not a mark in sight!
Nie Yun was elated. He hadn't expected the repairs to actually strengthen the structure! This material—he'd believe it if someone told him it was metal! The repair fluid from an interstellar spacecraft was indeed cutting-edge technology!
Then he noticed the damage the worms had caused nearby and rushed back to the cabin to fetch some wood chips. He scattered them over the worms, afraid they might start chewing up his beloved ship due to a lack of materials.
In the blink of an eye, the mechanical worms had decomposed the wood chips into materials and continued their work on the ship.
However, the pace was still a bit slow. An idea struck Nie Yun, and he returned to the cabin, grabbing some scrap metal like iron angles and nails, which he promptly threw onto the mechanical worms, then ordered them to self-replicate.
In an instant, the iron began to dissolve as if it were melting, and within a minute, the mechanical worms had consumed it entirely. The small patch of silvery-white mass expanded slowly.
"Self-replication complete. To continue replicating, please provide additional materials." A voice resonated in his mind.
Just a bit of scrap iron had nearly doubled the worms' numbers, significantly speeding up the repair process. With no time to waste, Nie Yun gathered all the unused iron objects in the cabin and tossed them in.
"Replicate! Replicate with everything you've got!"
However, after the worms had doubled in number again, they suddenly stopped. The worms' consciousness echoed in his mind: "Energy insufficient. Please replenish power."
Nie Yun was dumbfounded. Was there really such a setting? But he understood the law of conservation of energy—what should he do now?
"What kind of energy is needed?" Nie Yun asked inwardly.
"Solar energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, thermal energy, nuclear energy, energy crystals, antimatter annihilation energy…"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Nie Yun quickly interrupted. He barely understood a word after "nuclear energy."
He glanced at the sky—late at night, where was he supposed to find solar energy? Electric power? Sorry, the *Sea Wolf* was a collector's item. There was no way it would be retrofitted with electrics!
Nuclear energy? Did they expect a fisherman to use a nuclear-powered fishing boat?
Wait, that actually sounds kind of cool! Maybe I'll give it a try someday? As Nie Yun's thoughts began to drift, he wiped away some drool and quickly dismissed the outlandish idea of a nuclear-powered fishing boat.
Chemical energy? Could that mean fuel? He went to the stern, dragged out an empty diesel drum, and managed to scrape out the last remnants of fuel. He dripped the remaining diesel onto the silvery mass of mechanical worms.
As soon as the diesel touched the worms, it was absorbed like a sponge soaking up water, and they immediately resumed their work on the ship's repairs, this time at an even faster pace.
It seemed the worms had been running on solar energy stored from the daytime, but they were clearly starving. Diesel power worked wonders, and best of all, it was clean and pollution-free, with no emissions. He was still an unwavering environmentalist!
But he didn't have long to celebrate. After tripling their numbers, the mechanical worms stopped again—energy insufficient!
Damn it, these things are energy hogs! Can't they help reduce the country's GDP energy consumption a bit?
However, Nie Yun realized that the energy consumption required for self-replication seemed to be much higher than for simple repairs, and the more they replicated, the faster the energy demand increased exponentially.
Although Nie Yun didn't fully grasp what an exponent was, he knew well enough what 2x2x2x2x2 meant. This proved his elementary math teacher hadn't failed him.
But what could he do now? As Nie Yun reviewed his options, he noticed that his memory seemed to have improved. He could still recall the long list of energy sources the mechanical worm had mentioned, something that would have been a blur to him after ten minutes before.
He would never admit that his poor memory had been his downfall, leading his father to pull him out of school and send him to sea.
In his father's words, "You're just not cut out for book learnin'! Get those nets ready, boy!"
But where was his father actually from?
Those were minor details, though. The important thing was that he finally remembered there was an option for thermal energy!
Thermal energy? Now that's something I'm good at!
He gathered a pile of charcoal and dumped it onto the mechanical worms, then used some wood shavings to start a fire.
A small flicker of flame lit up a corner of the dark East Bay pier, illuminating the surrounding area, though it seemed a bit lonely.
In the distance, Uncle Liu happened to catch sight of this scene. He sighed, a vision of a solitary boy huddled by the fire, sitting alone with his knees drawn up, flashed through his mind.
"Poor kid," Uncle Liu sighed again as he returned to his cabin.
But what he didn't see was Nie Yun dancing joyfully around the bonfire, grinning from ear to ear as he performed an impromptu samba.
"Bum-cha-cha… bum-cha-cha…"
In the glow of the fire, the silvery sheen sparkled and writhed as if it were about to break free, to be reborn in the flames!