Lin Mo has a long dream.
In the dream, he has just graduated with a master's degree in engineering.
He wakes with a start to find himself in a hospital bed in Harbin in 1952, only fourteen years old.
A System has appeared in his mind: reading books earns points, which he can use to strengthen his theoretical knowledge and upgrade his skills.
To get stronger quickly, he'll need plenty of reading material, as well as things to practice on.
But where can he find books? Before he can think of an answer, the problems of the present press in on him.
His parents are martyrs, laid to rest in Korea. The factory job that should have gone to his older sister has fallen through after taking a circuitous route.
The other party doesn't want to make a scene, so they offer him an arrangement: a permanent job at a salvage yard outside the city. It's stable, far away, and keeps them out of each other's sight.
Lin Mo doesn't argue. He thinks it over: the salvage yard may be remote, but at least it isn't under the textile mill's thumb, so he won't have to put up with anyone's abuse. It has plenty of old books and damaged volumes, as well as scrapped parts. It may have more things to practice on than anywhere else.
So he accepts.
To everyone else, the old radios, rusted parts, and yellowed foreign-language books seem unremarkable. To him, they're perfect materials for study and dismantling.
From making his first impression by repairing a radio, to building precision equipment by hand; from being treated like a treasure and whisked off to the Harbin Institute of Military Engineering by Brigadier Chen, to traveling far and wide to solve thorny industrial problems.
Soviet technology is no ceiling, and Western restrictions cannot stop progress.
Starting out in a junk heap, the young man gradually fills the gaps in the country's industry, forges the nation's most vital equipment, and supports the complete industrial backbone of China.
