Chapter 5: Vehicle Upgrade! I Wouldn’t Trade My Car Even for an SSS-Class One!
[Vehicle Upgrade Card]: Raises the vehicle’s level by one.
To think such a thing exists—doesn’t that mean he no longer needs materials? Without hesitation, Lin Mu used it immediately.
[Ding! Vehicle level has reached Level 2. Vehicle traits unlocked.]
Traits?
He quickly opened the vehicle information interface.
[Vehicle: Garbage Cleanup Truck]
[Quality: Grade D]
[Level: Lv2]
[Fuel Tank: 92.9L/100L]
[Fuel Consumption: 1L/15 kilometers]
[Functions: Minor cold resistance, heat insulation]
[Vehicle Skill: SSS-grade vehicle skill (unique): Infinite Modification]
[Trait: [Waste Utilization]: By placing waste through the rear seat recycling port into the garbage processor behind, corresponding items can be decomposed.]
[Upgrade Requirements: Iron Ingots x15, Plastic x20, Electronic Components x2]
He drew a sharp breath.
Impressive!
It turns out that after the vehicle is upgraded to Level 2, two more pieces of information are unlocked. The trait is quite interesting—it seems each type of vehicle unlocks related traits. Waste Utilization...
Lin Mu rubbed his chin and glanced at the boxes beside him. Could those be considered waste? But how was he supposed to use it?
After searching around, he couldn’t find a method. Left with no choice, he asked the interface.
[Player and vehicle are bound; as long as waste is placed in the vehicle, you can use your intent to move it into the processor at the rear.]
Rear processor?
Lin Mu looked at the rearview mirror. So it was just the garbage container at the back—convenient indeed.
He tried placing the boxes into the garbage container. A black hole emerged from the rear seat and sucked the boxes inside.
Was that all?
“Wait, how long does it take for these things to produce items?”
[Depending on the type of waste, the time varies, from 30 minutes to 24 hours.]
Lin Mu nodded—seemed reasonable...
Reasonable? What nonsense! He’d come to participate in some highway survival, and here he was thinking about what made sense.
He shook his head, only now noticing how much the vehicle had transformed. The once dull dashboard was now completely renewed—even a radio had appeared. The steering wheel, formerly barely hanging on, was now brand new. Even the seats had become knitted fabric.
“Tsk tsk, so upgrading has these perks as well.”
Moreover, in the upper left corner of the vehicle, an electronic thermometer had been added, displaying two temperatures.
Outside: -5°C.
Inside: +20°C.
So this is why upgrading the vehicle was recommended from the beginning.
It was indeed much warmer than before; after the upgrade, the temperature inside the car had clearly risen.
From the next three boxes, Lin Mu gathered another heap of materials. He tossed three empty boxes into the waste processing station at the back.
“Let’s fuel up and hit the road!”
Whistling, Lin Mu pressed the accelerator, driving along the deserted highway.
He glanced at the radio and reached out to turn it on.
But there was no sound—not even static.
“A useless piece of equipment.”
The next box location was still 90 kilometers away—a drive of about an hour and a half.
Taking advantage of the time, Lin Mu opened the regional channel.
He watched the chat above.
He discovered this semi-transparent interface could be freely resized and controlled to appear wherever he liked in his vision.
It was as if he were using a phone while driving.
After all, he was the only car on the road—what was there to worry about?
“Someone help me! I just left home and got an armored vehicle; 1L of fuel only lasts 1.5 kilometers. I’m stranded!”
“Wait, wasn’t there a guy before who got 1L per 1 kilometer? How is yours even worse?”
“This is a highway survival game. People could claim 1L gets them 10,000 kilometers and it’d still be normal. What are you thinking?”
“Come on, folks, be kind. Give me some fuel. Just let me drive another 50 kilometers.”
Messages scrolled rapidly upward. From these, Lin Mu deduced everyone’s approximate locations.
The one who had driven furthest had reached 200 kilometers, while the closest hadn’t even made it 50.
He didn’t know if there was a distance requirement per day, but in his view, the farther you traveled, the better.
He glanced at the number above—99,218.
At this rate, nearly 2,000 people would die in a day—wouldn’t that mean 20,000 in a week?
It was truly ruthless.
Ding~
A crisp sound rang out from the car’s speakers.
What was that?
Lin Mu looked around—nothing visible.
Ding~
Ding~
The speakers kept chiming.
He frowned. The radio was off, nothing else should be making sound—what could it be?
After a few chimes, the sound stopped.
Puzzled, Lin Mu shook his head, kept driving, and watched the regional chat.
After five minutes, seeing nothing new, he shut off the regional channel.
Messages appeared on his interface and he stared, wide-eyed.
It was the sound of the [Waste Utilization] ability!
But wasn’t this too effective?!
[Successfully recycled one wooden resource box, obtained Wood x10]
[Successfully recycled one wooden resource box, obtained Wood x10]
[Successfully recycled one wooden resource box, obtained Wood x10]
...
You call this a D-grade vehicle??
Even if someone offered him an SSS-grade car, he wouldn’t trade.
Not to mention that SSS-grade skill.
Would he ever lack upgrade materials for his car again? Would he ever lack modification materials?
Lin Mu was so excited his face flushed, his hands trembled, and his eyes shone.
Just as his mood settled, the speakers chimed again.
[Successfully recycled one black iron resource box, obtained Iron Ingots x5]
[Successfully recycled one black iron resource box, obtained Iron Ingots x5]
[...]
Amazing!!!
Whew, whew, whew...
After calming himself, Lin Mu opened the world channel.
At first, he hadn’t looked closely because the information scrolled too quickly.
The first thing he noticed was the number in the upper right—five billion.
It seemed to match the planet’s population, minus the elderly and children.
He then looked at the central chat—by now, the barrage had stopped, leaving only the last few messages.
[Kimchi Country] Unknown: “Where is this place? Why did I appear here?”
[Sakura Country] Unknown: “Who’s playing such a joke on me?”
[Eagle] Unknown: “Is this some kind of film crew?”
Lin Mu glanced at his own text bar; a number 1 appeared at the end.
He casually sent a question mark, the number shifted to 0.
His highlighted message appeared in the chat box above.
[Huaxia] Unknown: “?”