4: Chapter 4: Instant Wealth of 160 Points! The Iron Coffin Gets Upgraded, and She's Stunned!

Inside the carriage, the Primary Efficiency Boiler emitted a steady, low roar.

Lin Wan was famished, huddling without any semblance of dignity on the iron plating closest to the boiler.

Cradling the chipped aluminum bowl with both hands, she didn't even bother with chopsticks, using her frost-reddened fingers to grab a piece of scalding Icefield Wolf meat and stuffing it into her mouth.

"Hiss... Huuu..."

The boiling juices mixed with grains of coarse salt burst in her mouth, the heat making her eyes water. Yet she couldn't bear to spit it out, swallowing it hard after just a couple of messy chews.

The wolf meat was coarse-fibered, carrying a wild, gamey scent.

But after starving for three days and nights in the extreme cold of the wasteland, this mouthful of high-temperature, high-fat protein was the most exquisite delicacy in the world to her.

The heat slid down her esophagus into her stomach, turning into a warm current that swept through her limbs, slowly dispelling the bone-deep numbness and frostbite.

Lu Chen's gaze lingered on her for only a second before indifferently shifting away.

As an extremely rational infrastructure maniac in his past life, he firmly believed that in the apocalypse, compassion was the cheapest waste; only interests and order were the cornerstones of survival.

Since Lin Wan had already demonstrated her value as a Botanist, he naturally didn't mind bestowing a full meal upon her.

He turned and walked toward the welded iron bed, pulling out a tin box originally meant for scrap metal.

"Clang."

Lu Chen dumped the spoils he had just scavenged from the blizzard outside onto the lid of the tin box in one go.

Over a dozen shiny black low-grade sourcefire coal crystals lay there, their surfaces coated in a thin layer of ice.

There were also three primary beast cores the size of pigeon eggs, dug out from the hearts of Icefield Wolves, emitting a faint blue light.

The coal crystals made a dull metallic clinking sound as they collided. Even though the three beast cores had left the wolves' bodies, the blue light inside still pulsed rhythmically, showcasing the powerful energy residue of the wasteland's mutated creatures.

Looking at these shiny, dark hard currencies, Lu Chen felt a great sense of satisfaction. Staring at these resources, his nerves, which had been tense for days, finally relaxed completely.

In this frozen dead zone, what could be more reassuring than a warehouse full of fuel and energy?

"System, full scan. Calculate the value," Lu Chen commanded in his mind.

[Ding! Command confirmed, scanning module activated.]

A faint blue holographic screen projected in front of his retina.

A rippling blue scanning beam cast down from the screen, sweeping over all the items on the tin box lid from top to bottom.

[Scan complete.]

[Detected: low-grade sourcefire coal crystal x18. Each crystal contains a trace of fire-attribute origin, usable for primary engine combustion or conversion into system energy. Individual conversion rate: 5 Truth Points.]

[Detected: Primary Icefield Wolf Beast Core x3. Contains violent bio-electric energy and extreme cold resistance factors. Individual conversion rate: 30 Truth Points.]

[Convert all to Truth Points?]

Lu Chen quickly did the math.

Eighteen coal crystals meant ninety points, plus ninety points from the three beast cores—a total of one hundred and eighty Truth Points!

This was undoubtedly a huge sum! He had only spent thirty points to unlock the three basic technologies earlier. This wave of hunting and counter-killing had directly brought him a fortune.

"Keep four low-grade coal crystals as backup fuel for the boiler tonight, convert the rest!"

Lu Chen gave the order without hesitation. As a practitioner of the 'cautious way,' he always had to keep backup energy; he couldn't put all his eggs in the system's basket—that was his bottom line.

[Ding! Command received. Conversion beginning.]

The fourteen low-grade coal crystals and three beast cores on the table trembled violently under the shroud of the system's light.

Their physical matter was decomposed by high-dimensional power, turning into tiny specks of light that gathered into a reverse rain of stars, flooding into the holographic panel before Lu Chen's eyes.

[Conversion successful! Obtained 160 Truth Points.]

[Current account balance: 160 Truth Points.]

Watching the golden number in the top right corner of the light screen jump to 160, Lu Chen let out a long breath.

He turned his head, his gaze falling on the pitted iron interior walls of the carriage, which were covered in impact marks.

After the boiler upgrade, the temperature inside the car had been forced up to fifteen degrees Celsius. The price, however, was the boiler running at overload, greedily devouring fuel.

The Polaris's shell was just a thin layer of bulletproof iron. In the negative sixty-degree winds outside, it became a giant radiator, constantly siphoning away precious heat.

He could even clearly hear a shrill whistling from the gaps in the doors and windows. That was the cold wind hissing its way inside.

Every gust of incoming cold air was consuming his precious coal!

For an infrastructure maniac, this was no different from cutting into his own flesh!

"Drafts? Absolutely not." Lu Chen frowned and directly summoned the Truth Tech Tree.

Four main branches: [Armament and Weaponry], [Infrastructure Armor], [Ecological Logistics], [Power Engine].

His gaze skipped over the flashy weapons and fixed directly on the [Infrastructure Armor] branch. Among the grey icons at the very bottom, he found what he needed most right now.

[Infrastructure Armor Lv1: Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer]

[Node Description: Generates a high-density composite insulation layer of industrial-grade asbestos and fiberglass attached to the interior of the vehicle's original shell. Fills all non-reserved gaps and isolates the extreme cold outside.]

[Unlock Cost: 10 Truth Points.]

Without any hesitation.

"Invest 10 Truth Points, unlock!"

[Ding! 10 Truth Points deducted, [Infrastructure Armor Lv1: Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer] unlocked successfully!]

[Armor reconfiguration, beginning.]

Lin Wan, gnawing on the last bone, froze mid-motion. Her eyes stared intently at the eerie scene unfolding around the carriage.

Visible streaks of earthy-yellow light wove together like living vines, sprouting out of thin air from the gaps in the steel plating at the bottom of the carriage!

These faint lights quickly climbed up the iron interior walls that were radiating cold and covered in thin frost.

Accompanied by a sizzling sound, wherever the light passed, the thin iron plating began to wildly grow a thick, grey-white material with a fine mesh structure.

That was exactly the industrial-grade insulation asbestos generated by the system!

This composite material forced its way violently into the gaps of the door frames, sealing the holes in the aging rubber strips of the window corners. Even the screw holes on the ceiling, originally meant for hanging miscellaneous items, were tightly wrapped up!

The whole process lasted less than ten seconds.

When the faint light dissipated, Lin Wan held her broken bowl, staring blankly at her surroundings.

The originally bone-chilling raw iron interior walls were gone, replaced by a five-centimeter-thick grey-white insulation interlayer, its surface covered with a fire-retardant coating to prevent dust from falling off.

The most direct sensation was silence.

The sharp whistling of the storm outside, which had been loud enough to cause a headache, was instantly blocked by eighty percent by this unremarkable asbestos layer, turning into a dull hum.

Even more terrifying was the temperature!

Without the influx of cold wind and the direct heat dissipation from the iron plating, the heat waves emitted by the boiler were locked tightly within this twenty-odd square meter space.

The thermometer needle on the wall climbed upward again!

Fifteen degrees, sixteen degrees, seventeen degrees...

Finally, it stopped steadily at twenty degrees!

Twenty degrees Celsius! In the heart of an apocalyptic extreme cold storm, inside a thin iron box, the temperature had actually reached the most comfortable room temperature for a human!

The wolf bone in Lin Wan's mouth fell to the ground with a clatter.

She looked at the man who was calmly straightening his old coat while wearing only a thin sweater. Her previous wariness and fear faded, replaced only by a reverence as if looking at a creator.

Was this a man, or a god walking the wasteland?!

"You... who exactly are you?" Lin Wan swallowed hard, her voice incredibly raspy.

Even in the Mobile City where she used to live, only the City Lord's core fortress could possess this level of seamless insulation technology!

Lu Chen didn't look at her, merely extending a finger to tap lightly on the rough fire-retardant coating of the wall.

Feeling the solid texture, his furrowed brows relaxed.

"Me? Just a coachman with OCD."

Lu Chen turned around, his gaze falling on Lin Wan, and pointed at the silver-white code box she was subconsciously clutching to her chest.

"You've had your fill. Now, let me see your certificate of loyalty. What exactly is the good stuff in my grade a seed vault."