Chapter 13: At 200 Kilometers, Encountering a Resource Crate and Upgrading the Vehicle!

“Hahaha, some idiot traded water for junk again—must be the same person as yesterday.”
“I got 100 ml this time. Really hope that kind soul keeps putting water up.”
“By the way, has anyone found a box yet? I’ve driven 140 kilometers and haven’t seen a single one.”
“Don’t even mention it. I haven’t seen any either. What if there are no boxes today?”
“I’m too scared to go on. Can anyone spare something to stop bleeding? I’m dying here!”
“...”

Lin Mu’s lips twitched. You’re the idiots!
He was getting riled up just reading these messages. Trade if you want to trade—what’s the point of hurling insults?
Still, his hands moved with practiced ease, putting the water from the freshwater collector back on the market.
He couldn’t help it—the materials people were offering were just too good.

[Ding~ Recycled mineral water bottle x1, received Plastic x1]
[Ding~ Recycled mineral water bottle x1, received Plastic x1]
[Ding~ Recycled tattered clothing x4, received Cloth x20]
[...]

A flood of materials surged into Lin Mu’s backpack.
See? How could he not trade?
If he didn’t, wouldn’t that make him the fool?

[Ding~ Recycled miscellaneous items, received Gasoline 1L]
??
Question marks popped up endlessly in Lin Mu’s mind. Even gasoline was possible? That was insane.
But what exactly were “miscellaneous items”?
When in doubt, consult the panel.

[Miscellaneous items: Items that cannot be dismantled into raw materials.]
“...”
That explanation might as well have said nothing. Who could understand it?
Shaking his head, Lin Mu tossed the newly acquired junk into the black hole for decomposition.
He closed the panel and glanced at the odometer—it now read 470 kilometers.
So it wasn’t just him; no one seemed to be finding resource boxes. That was a relief.

...

At 500 kilometers, a wooden resource box appeared in the middle of the road.
Lin Mu rubbed his eyes—there really was a box.
Damn, the first box of the day after 200 kilometers? He’d been driving for over three hours!
By this rate, he’d barely manage thirty boxes today—just like yesterday.
And he’d started even earlier today!
Lin Mu shook his head. What could he do? His speed was capped; he couldn’t go any faster even if he wanted to.
He’d tried all the modification materials—none of them increased his speed.
Ah, the road ahead was still long.

When he was ten meters away, Lin Mu brought the vehicle to a stop.
A collector and a weapon both extended out of the driver’s window.

“Heh heh, who says you can only control one at a time?”
At first, he’d thought only one could be used simultaneously, but just now he’d managed to operate both at once.
He didn’t rush to open the box. Instead, he manipulated the weapon and the collector—swiping with the long blade, moving the collector—both in tandem.
Satisfied, Lin Mu nodded. No problem at all.
This time, instead of using the collector to open the box, he slashed it with the long blade.

Thunk!
The resource box opened.
But the contents didn’t flow along the blade into Lin Mu’s backpack.
“Looks like you have to use the collector to actually collect the items.”
He extended the axe-shaped collector, and the moment it touched the box, the items inside transformed into glowing orbs and entered his backpack.
Just as expected.

[Congratulations, you have opened a Wooden Resource Box: Half a Stewing Hen x1]
...

Lin Mu retrieved the newly obtained item from his backpack.
Indeed, it was half a stewing hen—still fresh.
Scratching his head, he looked at the empty box on the ground. Wasn’t this a bit odd?
Yesterday it was bread and sausages; today it’s a hen. What next—a whole cow?

...

[Congratulations, you have opened a Silver Resource Box: 2 Jin of Beef Brisket x1, Deluxe Spice Kit x1, Deluxe Ingredient Pack x1]

Lin Mu rubbed his chin, glancing at his inventory.
This was the fourth box he’d found today.
The previous boxes yielded: twelve 500ml beers, a roast chicken, a set of kitchen knives, and a variety of miscellaneous materials.
What was this pattern? Was the second day meant for everyone to have a good meal before setting out?
The items at the start were so random, Lin Mu couldn’t make sense of it.
Driven by curiosity, Lin Mu started the car once more, heading toward the next resource box location.
This time, it was a silver box.

[Congratulations, you have opened a Silver Resource Box: Plastic x10, Iron Ingot x5, Stone x5, General Materials x1]
Now this was what a resource box should look like. What were those things before?
Were they testing the players? But what could this possibly test?
If it’s a test, bring more of it!
From this box, he could see that basic materials weren’t limited to just a few types—two new ones had appeared.
Stone and General Materials—easy enough to understand.
He wondered if gold and silver ingots would appear in the future.
A glance at his backpack told him he now had enough materials to upgrade the vehicle.
Why wait? Upgrade immediately!

[Ding! Vehicle upgrade successful!]

A flash of light filled the cab, and Lin Mu could feel the seats changing beneath him.

In five seconds, the whole vehicle was transformed.
The seats were now genuine leather with heating functions.
The air conditioning indicator was now lit, which meant it should work.
The dashboard had become solid wood, and the radio was now a multimedia system—everything looked more high-end...
But what use did any of this have for survival!
Apart from the seats and air conditioning, the rest was completely useless.
He glanced at the multimedia unit and tapped play.
A familiar piece of light music began playing through the speakers.
When he tried to change the music, a line of text appeared on the screen:

[Expanding the music library requires Silver Ingot x1]

Damn it!
They really had to monetize this, huh? Even here you want payment.
Fine, he paid.

[Ding! Music library +10.]
“...”
Unbelievable!
Wasting a silver ingot just for that.
Well, at least it would make the drive a little less dull.
He opened the vehicle info panel to check the materials needed for the next upgrade.

[Vehicle: Garbage Collection Truck]
[Quality: D-grade]
[Level: Lv3]
[Fuel Tank: 52.7L/100L]
[Fuel Consumption: 1L/10km]
[Speed: 80km/h]
[Functions: Basic cold resistance, basic heat insulation, slight increase in defense]
[Vehicle Skill: SSS-grade (Unique): Infinite Modification]
[Feature: [Waste Utilization]: Insert junk through the rear seat recycling slot to the garbage processor behind and decompose for corresponding items.]
[Upgrade requirements: Iron Ingot x20, Glass x10, Copper Ingot x5, Electronic Components x2, Vehicle Core Lv2]
(Note: Multimedia consumes 1L/100km, air conditioning 1L/10km)

The quality hadn’t changed, but the vehicle’s level and speed had increased, now displayed for reference.
The functionality had improved considerably.
Most notably, the upgrade requirements now included copper ingots—clearly another basic material.
But the standout was the vehicle core; apparently, this was also needed for upgrades.
It seemed his earlier choices had been correct.
He’d been driving this long and still hadn’t encountered another vehicle; upgrading the core would likely be very difficult.
What Lin Mu didn’t know was that before many more days passed, he would indeed encounter other vehicles—and then, the battles would be fierce beyond imagination.