16: Chapter 16 Upgrade to Level 5 RV! Forward at the Military Factory

"Your hands, I'll have to take out a high-value insurance policy for them later." Chen Chen reached out and ruffled Shen Wanxing's hair.

She shrank her neck but didn't dodge, muttering in rebuttal: "Then get me a pair of walking flats first. Walking on sand in high heels, my feet are almost ruined..."

As she spoke, she aggrievedly lifted her foot to show the red marks chafed into her skin.

Chen Chen glanced at those fair, delicate ankles: "Fine, I'll put it on your tab."

He turned his gaze back to the blueprint.

Opening the blueprint details, text popped up.

[Class C Vehicle-Mounted Heavy Machine Gun: Required Materials — Precision Mechanical Gear Set * 50, High-Strength Barrel Steel * 30, Ammunition Synthesis Module * 20, Class C Weapon Core * 1.]

The screen was full of red "Insufficient" text. He didn't have a single material.

You can't make bricks without straw.

The blueprint was top-tier, but he could only keep it for now.

Stuffing the scroll into his storage space, Chen Chen wasn't impatient.

With the blueprint in hand, it was only a matter of time before he gathered the materials.

Do what can be done first.

"Upgrade vehicle."

Ten Primary Vehicle Cores were lined up, and Chen Chen decisively swiped away seven.

[Deducting Primary Vehicle Core * 7, the All-Iron Exoskeleton RV has leveled up twice in a row, reaching Lv.5!]

The harsh sound of metal reshaping echoed around the vehicle body.

Under the forced intervention of the Power of Rules, the armor plates disintegrated, reformed, and thickened.

The interior space of the cabin expanded laterally, and the ceiling was forcibly raised by nearly twenty centimeters.

The cramped feeling of barely being able to stand upright inside was completely eliminated; the cabin was now spacious enough to pace around in normally.

The floor was covered with anti-slip metal mesh.

That old mattress, which was a struggle for three people to squeeze onto, was recycled by the system and replaced with a fixed 1.8-meter-wide hard bed, covered with a sturdy, moisture-proof cushion.

Between the cockpit and the living area, a sliding partition board appeared.

The dashboard underwent a complete iteration; the wobbly mechanical needle dials were replaced by backlit digital displays.

The exterior changes were even more exaggerated.

Shen Wanbing, sitting in the passenger seat, saw it clearly; the thickness of the inverted V-shaped anti-collision steel plate at the front of the car had doubled, and its edges had been ground by the system into rough, sharp, serrated cutting patterns.

The panel data was completely refreshed.

[Vehicle: All-Iron Exoskeleton RV (Lv.5)]

[Defense: 580 (Light armored fortress level, can withstand sustained attacks from a Level 10 Aberrant)]

[Magic Resistance: 35 (Possesses a little bit of mental protection)]

[Durability: 800/800 (Military-grade structural strength)]

[Tonnage: 7.8 tons (Mobile iron coffin)]

[Rear Cargo Space: 60 cubic meters (Including independent cockpit and living cabin)]

[Fuel Consumption: 32L/100km (The price of weight)]

[Fuel: 71.5 L/120L (Fuel tank expansion)]

[External Equipment: Heavy serrated anti-collision corner, Class C turbocharging kit]

[Vehicle-Mounted Weapon Hardpoints: 2 (Not installed)]

[Life Support System Upgrade: Intermediate air circulation, in-vehicle constant temperature control (18-26°C adjustable), basic water purification module (can purify 3L of drinking water daily)]

Two weapon hardpoints.

Once the heavy machine gun is built and welded on, this thing will completely transcend the category of an RV and become a proper armored combat vehicle.

Chen Chen took two extra looks at the words "Vehicle-Mounted Weapon Hardpoints" and decisively closed the light screen.

"About the materials." Chen Chen turned his head, casting his gaze toward the passenger seat.

Shen Wanbing understood immediately and closed her eyes.

Flowing light moved beneath her eyelids as her brain began working under high-intensity load.

A few seconds later, she opened her eyes, a thin layer of sweat seeping out on her smooth forehead.

"One hundred forty kilometers straight ahead, there is an abandoned military factory."

Her voice was hoarse from overexertion: "The talent prompt indicates a large amount of military-grade metal materials and ammunition components. The density is extremely high, enough to fill the requirements of the blueprint."

"Are there any elite monsters?" Chen Chen asked.

"I didn't scan any. There is a large area of information blind spots there. My current talent level isn't high enough to penetrate the shielding layer of that area."

An information blind spot meant that place was either an empty shell or hiding something troublesome that far exceeded her current detection limit.

Regardless of which it was, he had to step on the gas and go check it out.

Chen Chen pulled something out of the inner pocket of his tactical vest and tossed it onto the dashboard.

"Clack."

It was a pure black metal token.

A black dragon was coiled on the front.

Shen Wanbing glanced at it, her gaze pausing on the token for two seconds.

"Where did you get this?"

"Looted it off those five pieces of trash just now." Chen Chen inserted the key and turned it. The Level 5 RV's engine erupted with a deep, low-frequency vibration completely different from before. The exhaust note was dull and powerful, carrying an oppressive mechanical feel.

"Help me check the regional channel."

He straightened the steering wheel, and the RV crushed over the sand and drove back onto the road: "Look for a woman named Jiang Yanxue. She posted a coordinate summoning order on the channel."

Shen Wanbing's fingers hovered over the virtual panel, not moving.

She looked at Chen Chen.

"You're going to look for a woman?"

These words had no emotional fluctuation; it was purely a statement.

But paired with her eternally frozen face and that temperatureless gaze from earlier, the meaning changed.

In the back row, Shen Wanxing pricked up her ears.

"The eldest daughter of the Black Dragon Society."

Chen Chen didn't explain too much, pushing the token further onto the dashboard: "She has the things I need in her hands."

Shen Wanbing didn't ask further.

She opened the regional channel's search module and entered the keywords.

The information stream scrolled rapidly.

A few seconds later, an encrypted message was precisely located.

[Registered members of the Black Dragon Society, proceed immediately to coordinates (347, 892) to rendezvous. — Jiang Yanxue]

Shen Wanbing entered the coordinates into the navigation module, and a red dot lit up on the map.

"To the right front, slightly east, a straight-line distance of 137 kilometers."

After reporting the data, she paused: "There's a situation."

"Speak."

"There is a fork in the road 26 kilometers ahead, splitting into left and right branches. Jiang Yanxue's coordinates are located 111 kilometers along the right branch."

Shen Wanbing closed her eyes and activated her talent again.

The frequency of the golden light flashing was twice as fast as before.

She gritted her teeth and held on for three seconds; when she opened her eyes, bloodshot veins had burst in the corners of her eyes.

"Near the terminal of the right branch, a large abandoned facility is marked. The keywords that popped up in my talent are — 'Military', 'Industrial', 'High-density metal resources'."

She turned her head to look at Chen Chen.

"The military factory you're looking for overlaps with that woman's location."

Chen Chen tapped the steering wheel.

Too much of a coincidence.

"What about the Death Black Fog?" Chen Chen asked the most critical question.

Shen Wanbing pulled up the rear monitoring data.

"The Black Fog's current advance speed has recovered to 8km/h. Based on our current distance from the Black Fog —"

She quickly calculated on the virtual panel,

"We are about 15 kilometers from the leading edge of the Black Fog. According to the RV's current cruising speed and fuel consumption, it will take about two and a half hours to reach Jiang Yanxue's coordinate point if we keep our foot on the gas.

After we arrive, the distance between us and the Black Fog will be about 130 kilometers."

"That's enough." Chen Chen pressed the accelerator to the floor.

A 130-kilometer buffer zone was enough for him to scavenge a round in the military factory and then retreat.

The heavy-duty RV accelerated on the gray-white road.

The serrated anti-collision corner at the front split the oncoming sand and wind, and the exhaust pipe spewed scorching exhaust, dragging a long trail of smoke and dust across the desolate Gobi.

On the dashboard, the mileage numbers jumped at a steady rate.

Chen Chen held the steering wheel with one hand, his gaze sweeping across the straight horizon ahead through the protective mesh.

Military factory, heavy machine gun materials, eldest daughter of the Black Dragon Society.

They were all in the same direction, waiting for him to take them.

Shen Wanbing leaned against the back of the passenger seat, closing her eyes to rest.

Mental exhaustion made her face pale, but her breathing had stabilized.

In the back row, Shen Wanxing sat cross-legged on the newly replaced hard bed.

The constant temperature system after the cabin upgrade made the physical sensation much more comfortable.

She wrapped herself in that windbreaker, resting her chin on her knees, staring blankly at the broad back in front of her.

The sky outside was gloomy and oppressive.

The fork in the road in the distance had already faintly appeared at the edge of her vision.