13: Chapter 13: Post-Ice Storm Inventory! A Fortune of 250 Points of Truth!

Whew!

Lu Chen let out a long breath of hot air.

The breath was a mixture of the sweet freshness of cabbage and the fatty aroma of wolf meat.

In this wasteland world where even breathing would instantly freeze into ice needles, this single breath containing human body temperature was a luxury more extravagant than gold from the old era.

He slowly set down the chipped stainless steel lunchbox in his hand.

He had used the last half of a crisp green cabbage leaf to wipe the bottom of the lunchbox clean, leaving not even a tiny drop of broth or grease behind.

Outside the vehicle, the Extreme Cold Ice Storm continued to ravage the Pale Shoals with devastating force.

Violent winds mixed with fist-sized hailstones frantically clawed at the hull of the Polaris, creating a metallic wail.

However, within the twenty-square-meter space completely sealed by the [Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer (Deeply Reinforced)], it was so quiet that only the low, steady hum of the boiler could be heard.

The thermometer needle on the wall remained immovably pinned to the red line at twenty degrees Celsius.

The complete isolation provided by thermal break technology made the negative one hundred degrees outside a meaningless number.

"City Lord... let me wash the dishes."

Lin Wan, crouching in the corner, spoke up timidly.

Her face, which had been bruised purple from the cold and looked haggard, had miraculously regained a healthy flush after eating a meal of wolf meat stewed with cabbage, rich in protein and vitamins.

She gently picked up her chipped aluminum bowl and walked toward the [snow-melting water purifier] generated by the system.

Lu Chen's jawline tightened when he saw Lin Wan preparing to turn on the faucet and use pure water—more precious than sourcefire coal crystal—to wash the dishes.

"Stop."

Lu Chen's voice was flat.

Her hand trembled, suspended in mid-air, and she turned her head in alarm, her eyes filled with fear and unease.

"City Lord... did I do something wrong?"

"Pure water is a strategic resource used to maintain human metabolism and irrigate Grade A seeds."

He leaned against the somewhat worn leather backrest of the driver's seat, his gaze sweeping over her hand.

"Put the bowl in the collection tray next to the boiler. That is industrial wastewater condensed from the boiler's cooling pipes. Use that to wash it, then wipe it dry with paper. On my ship, any waste of resources is equivalent to a crime."

"Yes! I understand!"

Lin Wan nodded repeatedly in fear and quickly moved the bowl away.

She knew well that this young man before her had a cold and extremely rigorous logic for survival.

In this logic, there was no mercy, only calculations precise to the milligram.

Lu Chen ignored her.

He had more important things to do now.

For someone with severe hoarding tendencies and a fear of insufficient firepower, the comfort of being full could only last for a moment.

Only by converting all unstable spoils into solid Truth Points and technological defenses could his heart find true peace.

He turned around and took out ten pieces of low-grade sourcefire coal crystal, each about the size of a baby's fist, from the coal box.

They had a rough, obsidian-like texture on the surface, but deep within the cracks, a glowing dark red light pulsed.

These were the remains scavenged from the associated mineral veins where Icefield Wolves roamed and from the Snow Bear's territory.

Including the few spare pieces of coal kept in the coal box just in case, his current fuel reserves were quite substantial.

In the very center of the ten coal crystals, a crystal taken from a shock-absorbing groove was placed like a star surrounded by moons.

That was precisely the intermediate beast core dug out from the heart of that Mutated Snow Bear!

This beast core was a full size larger than the primary beast core from the previous Icefield Wolf.

Its interior was free of impurities, clear and transparent.

Most strangely, at the very core of the crystal, an extremely fine electric current flickered and jumped, making a faint sizzling sound.

That was the crystallization of the violent bio-electrical energy and extreme cold resistance factors from within a high-order mutant creature.

Lu Chen extended a finger and gently stroked the smooth surface of the intermediate beast core.

The violent energy tried to invade his skin along his fingertip, but it was forcibly suppressed by his rock-solid will.

High-energy materials of this level, if placed in those small or medium-sized Mobile Cities, would be enough to make City Lord-level existences personally step down to fight for them.

But with him, it had only one purpose.

As a cornerstone leading toward the truth.

Lu Chen's tense facial lines finally relaxed.

He issued the long-awaited command in his mind.

"System, perform a full scan and calculate the value."

[Ding! Command confirmed, high-dimensional scanning module activated.]

A faint blue holographic screen suddenly projected in front of Lu Chen's retina.

Immediately following, a layer of blue scanning light rippling like water peeled away from the screen, sweeping from top to bottom over the perfect array on the iron table.

The moment the light swept past, the physical shells of the coal crystals and the beast core were stripped away, turning into strings of golden data streams leaping in mid-air.

[Scanning complete, performing value conversion...]

[Detected: low-grade sourcefire coal crystal x 10. Single piece conversion rate: 5 Truth Points. Total: 50 Truth Points.]

[Detected: Mutated Snow Bear (Intermediate) residual core! intermediate beast core x 1. Contains pure bio-electrical energy and frost berserk factors. Single core conversion rate: 200 Truth Points!]

[Total convertible Truth Points: 250! Execute conversion immediately?]

Two hundred points!

Lu Chen's breathing hitched for a moment.

A single intermediate beast core was actually worth the energy of forty low-grade coal crystals!

He had originally thought this beast core could be exchanged for about a hundred points at most; he hadn't expected the system's evaluation to be so high.

This also meant that the high-order mutant beasts on the wasteland were essentially mobile treasure troves!

"Convert everything! Leave nothing behind!"

Lu Chen ordered without hesitation.

To him, resources that weren't converted into combat power and armor were just a pile of useless stones.

Once the Polaris was breached by a stronger enemy, these things would only become someone else's spoils of war.

The essence of the way of survival was to convert all money into a turtle shell that others couldn't break and cannons that could blow others to pieces; it must never be hidden in a cellar to grow mold!

[Ding! Command received. Material deconstruction beginning.]

The ten low-grade coal crystals on the table and the goose-egg-sized intermediate beast core began to tremble violently at a high frequency under the shroud of the system's faint blue light.

Their hard physical structures were forcibly decomposed by an indescribable high-dimensional power.

There was no explosion, no sound, only the annihilation of the matter itself.

These specks of light were attracted by an invisible force, converging into a brilliant river of light that flooded frantically into the holographic panel before his eyes.

[Conversion successful! Obtained 250 Truth Points.]

[Current account balance: 250 Truth Points.]

Looking at the golden number 250 flickering in the upper right corner of the light screen, Lu Chen completely relaxed.

The extreme sense of comfort brought by the windfall swept through his body, soothing his nerves that were constantly in a state of anxiety due to insufficient firepower.

Two hundred and fifty points.

He calculated that, added to the leftovers after previously maxing out the insulation, water circulation, and maneuverability systems, this was an unprecedentedly huge sum.

It was enough to let the Polaris undergo a qualitative leap.

Lu Chen once again summoned that [Truth Tech Tree] which emitted a mysterious aura.

Four main branches were displayed before him.

[Armament and Weaponry], [Infrastructure Armor], [Ecological Logistics], [Power Engine].

Currently, ecology and power had already met the needs of the present stage.

The water resources within the vehicle had achieved internal circulation, and the cabbage had been successfully harvested and could undergo a second growth cycle.

The track's cold-resistant lubrication system had also passed the test of a cruel negative one hundred degree ice storm, proving its impeccable stability.

So, the current shortcomings were laid out right before his eyes.

The defense was too brittle, and the firepower was too weak.

Lu Chen evaluated his vehicle.

The [Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer] solved the problem of heat loss, but this layer of bulletproof iron plating would still be easily pierced if it encountered heavy firepower or a direct physical collision from a monster of the Mutated Snow Bear's level.

As for firepower, the [Black Powder Steam Repeating Crossbow] was very useful.

But in previous tests, Lu Chen discovered that this weapon had a fatal flaw.

It was only suitable for mid-range sniping and suppression.

If an enemy used the terrain or some other means to get close, sticking to the blind spots around the vehicle's exterior, that 1.5-meter-long divine steam crossbow would become a useless fire poker due to the angle limitations of the firing ports.

He needed reliable close-quarters defense and heavy firepower capable of piercing heavy armor in one hit.

His gaze passed over the nodes that were already lit and fell directly on the second gray icon of the [Armament and Weaponry Lv1] branch.

That was the Truth he was about to light up.