39: Chapter 39 Robotic Arm Test! Ultimate Safety Without Leaving the Vehicle

After finishing a celebratory promotion lunch of stewed Snow Bear meat with cabbage leaves, Lu Chen began a comprehensive equipment test.

Lin Wan sat next to the planting area, transplanting cabbage seeds into a new cultivation box while secretly observing Lu Chen's operations.

In the cockpit, Lu Chen started the Polaris's engine.

The boiler's output power after the upgrade was clearly on a whole new level.

The sound of the tracks turning was steadier and deeper than before; the occasional metallic friction noise from earlier had completely vanished.

The steam hub distributed power to every subsystem.

Engine drive, weapon charging, heating circulation, and air purification.

The four lines each performed their duties without interfering with one another.

The Polaris slowly drove out of the ice-rock bunker where it had been parked.

The vehicle's body was nearly two meters wider than before, and the track assemblies were much broader and thicker.

The tracks left marks nearly twice as deep on the ice, an intuitive manifestation of the significantly increased tonnage.

"Test the ram first."

Lu Chen's gaze locked onto a three-meter-high ice mound two hundred meters ahead.

He pushed down the accelerator pedal without activating the supercharger.

The Polaris advanced steadily toward the ice mound at a normal cruising speed.

One hundred meters.

Fifty meters.

Twenty meters.

Bang!

The moment the tip of the manganese steel ram pierced the ice mound, Lu Chen didn't feel any violent impact.

Back when he used the scrap steel ram to hit an Ice-Rock Pig, the vibration inside the cabin had literally bounced Lin Wan off her chair.

Now, that three-meter-high ice mound stood no chance against the manganese steel ram and was split right open.

Ice shards splashed to both sides as the Polaris drove right through the mound without any noticeable drop in speed.

Lu Chen glanced back toward the rear of the vehicle.

The ice mound had been split in half right down the middle, the cross-section smooth and neat.

"Not bad."

He turned back, his tone extremely casual.

Lin Wan poked her head out from the planting area. "City Lord, what was that sound?"

"Just hit an ice mound. It's fine, go back to planting your vegetables."

"Oh."

Lu Chen continued driving the Polaris forward for another kilometer.

On a flat patch of snow, he spotted the carcass of a primary Icefield Wolf that had frozen to death in the ice storm.

The body was mostly covered in snow, but there was still a large amount of frozen meat on the exposed hind legs.

In the past, Lu Chen would have needed to stop the car, put on a heavy coat, jump down, and use a skinning knife to manually cut the meat and dig out the core.

Each time, he would be exposed for at least three to five minutes.

In an environment of minus sixty degrees, three minutes was enough for unprotected skin to develop frostbite.

But now...

Lu Chen parked the Polaris five meters away from the wolf carcass.

He didn't get up; instead, his right hand gripped the mechanical arm control lever.

Hiss.

A maintenance cover on the right armor plate popped open, and a dark hydraulic mechanical arm slowly extended, tracing an arc in the cold wind.

Through a newly added small metal-framed observation mirror in front of the dashboard, Lu Chen could clearly see the position of the mechanical arm's claw.

He fine-tuned the control lever, and the claw firmly bit into the frozen hind leg of the Icefield Wolf.

The hydraulic system pressurized to full capacity.

Crack!

The rock-hard frozen wolf leg was snapped clean off the body by the claw.

Lu Chen controlled the mechanical arm to lift the wolf leg and stuff it into the external resource collection port on the side of the vehicle.

Inside the collection port was a conveyor track that delivered the prey directly to the cold storage area inside the cabin.

Lin Wan heard a dull thud from the resource warehouse. She walked over and saw a complete frozen wolf leg lying on the floor of the cold storage.

"City Lord? Where did this come from?"

"Picked it up outside."

"Did you get out of the car?"

"No."

Lin Wan was silent for two seconds.

"The mechanical arm?"

"Yes."

Lu Chen's voice carried a rare hint of ease.

He continued to operate the mechanical arm, completing the further dismantling of the wolf carcass from inside the vehicle.

First, he pried open the ice shell on the chest cavity, then used the claw to steadily extract a pale, frozen primary beast core from the heart's position.

The beast core slid through the collection port into a dedicated small tray inside the cabin.

He hadn't left the driver's seat for a single step during the entire process.

"This thing is too convenient."

Lu Chen retracted the mechanical arm back into the vehicle body.

"I won't have to get out of the car after hunting anymore. Digging out cores, cutting meat, and mining—it can all be done from inside the car. The safety level is several grades higher than before."

He glanced at the beast core but wasn't in a hurry to convert it.

The ninety-point balance plus the thirty points from this core only totaled one hundred and twenty points, far from the next five-hundred-point technology node.

"Save it for later."

Lu Chen placed the beast core into the storage compartment next to the dashboard.

He gripped the steering wheel again, his gaze darkening slightly.

Time to test the Heavy Machine Gun.

The Polaris continued forward for another half a kilometer.

Two primary mutated Icefield Wolves appeared on the snow ahead, tearing at their prey.

Lu Chen didn't slow down.

His right hand moved from the steering wheel to the fire control joystick, his thumb resting on the gray trigger.

Through the brass periscope sight, the crosshairs steadily locked onto the Icefield Wolf on the left that was busy eating.

"City Lord? There are wolves ahead."

Lin Wan leaned against the porthole nervously.

"I know. Don't block my line of sight, crouch down."

Lin Wan quickly crouched down.

Lu Chen applied slight pressure with his thumb, and the gray trigger was pressed.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

A violent, continuous burst of gunfire poured down from the roof!

The six barrels rotated at high speed, driven by steam power, as golden shell casings flew out of the ejection port in a string.

Over a dozen rounds of standard-caliber ammunition were poured out in less than two seconds.

The dense barrage of bullets turned the entire upper body of the Icefield Wolf on the left into a sieve.

A red mist mixed with flesh and ice shards splashed onto the ice.

The Icefield Wolf didn't even have a chance to scream before it was turned into a pile of blurred, shredded meat.

Its companion on the right was so terrified by this horrific firepower that it froze in place, unable to move.

Lu Chen adjusted the joystick, shifting the crosshairs by two degrees.

Rat-tat-tat!

Another short burst, and every one of the eight rounds bit into the target.

The second wolf's head disappeared from its neck.

The bitter smell of burnt gunpowder drifted through the cabin, and a humming resonance lingered after the barrels stopped spinning.

Lu Chen released the trigger and glanced at the ammunition count.

One hundred rounds minus consumption, seventy left.

"Thirty rounds to take down two primary wolves."

He did the math in his head.

One crossbow bolt per wolf versus fifteen Heavy Machine Gun rounds per wolf.

In terms of efficiency, crossbow bolts were more economical.

But in terms of firepower density and suppression capability, the Heavy Machine Gun was leagues ahead of the crossbow.

When facing swarms of enemies or an ambush by multiple chariots, the Heavy Machine Gun was the real trump card.

"One truth point for ten rounds, fifteen rounds to kill a primary wolf. One beast core is thirty Truth Points, a net profit of twenty-eight and a half."

Lu Chen nodded with satisfaction.

This was a guaranteed profitable business.

He operated the mechanical arm to recover the beast cores and usable meat from both wolves into the vehicle.

The entire process took less than three minutes.

From spotting the prey to finishing the harvest, he hadn't even unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Hunting efficiency will increase manifold from now on."

Lu Chen muttered to himself as he retracted the mechanical arm.

Lin Wan crouched below the porthole, the lingering echoes of the Heavy Machine Gun fire still ringing in her ears.

She looked at the man sitting steadily in the driver's seat.

With one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the fire control console, he could complete the entire hunting process.

Her mouth opened, but in the end, she said nothing.

She simply lowered her head and worked hard at planting seeds in the cultivation box.