Chapter 134: Resolving the Energy Crisis

Lin Mu was not quite ready to give up.

"Is there really nothing we can use?"

"There actually seems to be something—items similar to nuclear reactors. However, they are quite rare; we only found them on a few individuals."

Shu Yi quickly added, "I know what you're talking about. During the battle, some of those people were able to fly into the sky and deploy various weapons from their bodies to attack. I assume that reactor must be some kind of power source, though it’s very small."

Lin Mu’s eyes lit up. Wasn’t this exactly the energy source he needed?

The size wasn’t an issue; he had his modification skill!

"How many are there?"

"A little over 50." Jiang Han hurried to take them out and placed them on the table.

Each one was only about 20 centimeters in diameter; they were indeed quite small.

Lin Mu immediately stowed them into his backpack. "You all go ahead and eat. I’m going back to the vehicle. If I don't return, feel free to disband."

He turned and hurried into the vehicle, with 001 close behind him.

The others exchanged glances. "Is that stuff actually useful?"

"I don't know, but our captain always manages to turn decay into magic. You can't judge his actions by conventional logic," Shu Yi said calmly.

In her eyes, there was nothing Lin Mu couldn't do.

This man was practically like a cheater in a game.

While everyone else was struggling to survive, he had already started enjoying himself. It was simply preposterous.

Back in the vehicle, Lin Mu immediately activated his modification skill and tossed the 50-plus reactors inside.

"Modify into a large-scale reactor."

A circle appeared.

Perfect!

Seeing that circle, Lin Mu knew he had it in the bag. Whenever the circle appeared, he knew the project was guaranteed to succeed.

This time, it took longer; a full ten minutes passed before the options were presented.

[Option 1]: Reactor Matrix: Silver Ingot x20, Mithril Ingot x20, Universal Material x10, Electronic Components x50.
[Option 2]: Large-scale Reactor: Silver Ingot x50, Iron Ingot x50, Copper Ingot x10, Electronic Components x100.

Lin Mu frowned; the disparity between the two was far too great.

He clicked on the Reactor Matrix to check its details.

[Reactor Matrix]: Generates 20,000 energy units per hour. New reactors can be added at any time.
[Large-scale Reactor]: Generates 50,000 energy units per hour.

Lin Mu looked at the descriptions for both options and fell into a brief dilemma.

One produced less energy but was expandable.
The other produced more energy but couldn't be expanded later.

But... where was he supposed to find more reactors? He had to choose Option 2.

After confirming, the interior of the vehicle was once again enveloped in light, which faded a moment later.

However, the vehicle didn't seem to have changed at all.

He looked closely and noticed a new switch on the vehicle's console.

A fuel-electric switch?

So the vehicle had become a hybrid? That was certainly innovative.

He just wondered how much of a war machine 50,000 units of energy per hour could power.

It was unbearable to have equipment he couldn't use. If he could start the war machine, he could search for targets directly from the sky. There would be no need to struggle like this.

He glanced outside at the group eating. They were already beginning to clear the table, preparing to rest. Since that was the case, he wasn't in a rush to go out.

He opened the console and looked at the blueprints he had recently acquired.

The raw materials for both the concrete and asphalt blueprints were stone. However, concrete required only stone, while asphalt also required timber and universal materials.

He didn't plan on producing them, though. When he left this place, he intended to dismantle everything. Especially the protective array—it was excellent material for upgrading his vehicle's own arrays. With that, he could save a lot of resources.

He turned his attention to the internal combustion engine. He finally understood: this thing was the primary component for industrialization, and it had nothing to do with being used on the vehicle as he had initially thought.

Thinking of this, he crafted one immediately.

"As expected, it’s just an ordinary machine. It could be modified into a generator, but unfortunately, I don't know how."

He was realistic; he didn't know everything.

But his modification skill did.

He wanted to see what this thing could become. He tossed the internal combustion engine into the modification interface.

"Modify into a generator."

He tossed in a few simple materials, and a generator popped out.

100 energy units per hour. He wasn't sure if this energy was electricity, but he figured it probably wasn't.

[Ding! After the host’s frequent use of the Infinite Modification skill, the skill has leveled up!]

Huh? It leveled up again?

Come to think of it, quite a bit of time had passed. If he had used this ability more often before, it might have leveled up sooner.

He opened the modification skill and stared at the interface in surprise.

There was an extra golden frame. What did this mean? Did he need to place four materials?

As he looked, a line of text appeared, pointing to the golden frame.

[Place the main material into the golden frame. The modification skill will use it as a foundation for upgrading, with a chance for a technological upgrade.]

Lin Mu rubbed his chin. What did that mean?

He understood the first half; upgrading was something he had always done. But what was a "technological upgrade"?

Raising the tech level? Turning a rifle into a laser gun?

With that thought, he looked at the internal combustion engine that had just become a generator. Why not test it and find out?

Upgrade initiated!

He tried several times, but it remained a generator, only with increased energy output; no technological upgrade occurred. Not only that, but it also wasted a lot of his resources. With that many materials, he could have upgraded his wind turbine several times over.

Was the probability too low?

With this in mind, he threw the generator back in.

"If it doesn't upgrade this time, I’m quitting, you hear me?" Lin Mu directly threatened the modification skill.

Whether it was because the threat worked or the probability finally hit, the modification skill began to emit a golden light, which lasted for nearly five minutes before dissipating.

[Ding! Technological upgrade successful. Congratulations on obtaining a Nuclear-Powered Reactor!]

Lin Mu’s eyes widened!

Holy crap!

A nuclear-powered reactor? Wasn't that the same thing as the one he had made earlier? If he had known, he should have chosen the matrix option.

He took the reactor out.

Holy crap! It was huge.

A cylinder two meters in diameter and three meters high appeared before him.

[Nuclear-Powered Reactor]: Produces 10,000 energy units per hour.

It lived up to its size, providing 10,000 energy units on its own.

He placed the nuclear reactor inside and selected the large-scale reactor.

"Modify into a matrix."

[Sorry, insufficient quantity for modification. Forming a matrix requires at least 20 reactors.]

Lin Mu’s mouth twitched. He had only gotten this one by pure luck.

Twenty units... how much would that take?

Lin Mu rubbed his chin.

Luck... luck...

He wondered if Shu Yi could use this skill.