5: Chapter 5: Obtaining an A-Grade Seed Vault! The Iron Coffin Upgraded to a Temperature-Controlled Divine Castle!

The air inside the carriage was so warm it made one feel drowsy.

A room temperature of twenty degrees would have only been considered a cool early autumn day on the old Blue Star.

But here in the Pale Shoals, where the average temperature was minus sixty degrees and a spit could crack the ground, this was equivalent to a God-given Eden.

Lin Wan carefully set aside the broken aluminum bowl and messily wiped the grease from the corners of her mouth with her dirty sleeves.

She straightened her posture, putting away her casual demeanor.

As a researcher who had dedicated her life's work to botany, this silver-white combination box was her life.

But after witnessing Lu Chen's methods and the constant temperature environment inside the carriage, she lowered her guard.

On the wasteland, knowledge was worthless.

The person who could provide the temperature and water source for seeds to germinate was the true Creator.

"Click, click."

Lin Wan's fingers moved quickly over the metal dial of the combination box, entering a complex sixteen-digit code.

With a soft 'hiss' of air pressure releasing from a valve, the heavy alloy lid of the combination box popped open on its own.

Pure cold air mixed with the scent of preservatives wafted out from the box.

Lu Chen leaned in to take a look, his usually rational thoughts experiencing a surge of emotion.

The interior of the box was divided into hundreds of small constant-temperature test tube slots by an advanced shock-absorbing gel.

In each transparent glass test tube lay a few, or even a dozen, seeds of various colors.

At the bottom of the test tubes, a small amount of dormant nutrient solution was also present.

"Lu... City Lord." Lin Wan swallowed hard and quickly entered her professional state, her speaking speed increasing. "This is the Grade A Constant Temperature Plant seed vault left behind by the Pre-Civilization Federation. Before the Frost Calamity arrived, the Federal Government established thirteen bunkers worldwide to preserve the diversity of Earth's species. This is the core backup of one of those bunkers."

She pointed to the rows of test tubes as if presenting her most precious treasures.

"Inside, there are not only staple crops like extremely cold-resistant highland barley and winter wheat, but also high-starch, high-fiber vegetables like Chinese cabbage, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and carrots. Even... look at this area!"

Her finger trembled as she pointed toward a few specialized test tubes at the very bottom of the box that emitted a faint purple glow.

"Inside these are three improved watermelon seeds and five high-sugar cream strawberry seeds! As long as there is sufficient temperature, light, and a nutrient substrate, I swear I can make it so you can eat the freshest fruit on this ice field!"

Watermelon.

Strawberries.

In this world, these two words were more magical than even the purest sourcefire coal crystal.

The nobles of those large City-States would be willing to pay the price of several lives for a single shriveled apple.

Lu Chen's breathing grew heavy.

As a construction maniac, a grand blueprint had already instinctively formed in his mind.

A heavy armored tracked vehicle comparable to a land carrier.

Inside would be layers of lush, green vertical ecological farms.

A fully automatic sprinkler system would shower down sweet dew.

And he would be under a bulletproof glass dome on the top floor, eating chilled watermelon while indifferently watching the raiders outside freeze into ice sculptures in the wind and snow.

"Good. Very good." Lu Chen calmed his emotions and instructed, "Close the box and put it away. Before the ecological farm is built, nothing can go wrong with these seeds."

"But..." Lin Wan looked at the [Simple Soilless Cultivation Box] at the foot of the bed, which was only half a meter square, and looked troubled. "City Lord, your cultivation box has built-in UV light and micro-circulation, but the area is too small. That cabbage seedling inside already takes up half the space. If we plant anything else, the root systems will strangle each other."

Lu Chen tapped the iron plate beside him. "I will solve the space issue."

"Your task now is to keep a close eye on that cabbage and ensure it matures perfectly in three days. If anything goes wrong, you can forget about eating another bite of hot meat for the rest of your life."

Stared at directly by him, Lin Wan shivered and nodded repeatedly. "Understood! I'll treat it like my own father!"

Lu Chen withdrew his gaze and re-examined the situation inside the carriage.

The [Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer] had plugged the drafty gaps, bringing the temperature inside the vehicle to twenty degrees.

But his keen hearing captured that the sound of the Primary Efficiency Boiler's operation was heavier than before.

He walked to the boiler and stared at the coal consumption scale on the side.

"The consumption rate hasn't dropped. Instead, because of the temperature increase inside the vehicle, the boiler's coal-burning efficiency has been pushed to the limit to maintain this high-temperature difference balance."

Lu Chen's brain worked rapidly.

In this world of minus sixty degrees outside, even if the carriage was wrapped in asbestos, it was still essentially a tin can.

The physical laws of heat conduction cannot be completely defied.

If he only plugged the gaps without completely locking in heat loss through materials science, the temperature would collapse instantly if they encountered more extreme low temperatures or if the coal reserves ran low.

"This tightrope-walking heating state is too unstable."

Lu Chen shook his head.

For someone with 'Insufficient Firepower Phobia,' defense and temperature must reach surplus levels to be considered a passing grade!

He summoned the Truth Tech Tree once again.

His gaze remained on the [Infrastructure Armor] branch.

The system had explicitly prompted that all nodes on the four major branch technology trees of the current level must be fully maxed out before cross-tier technology could be unlocked.

And on the [Infrastructure Armor Lv1] branch, a second node was impressively glowing with a faint light.

[Infrastructure Armor Lv1 (Node 2): Double-layer Asbestos Insulation Interlayer (Deep Reinforcement)]

[Node Description: On the basis of the original asbestos interlayer, a micro-Vacuum Insulation Bubble Layer is injected to form a complete Thermal Bridge Break. This completely cuts off heat conduction between the inside and outside. Once unlocked, even if the boiler runs at idle with minimum energy consumption, the interior of the carriage can be permanently locked at a base temperature of over ten degrees Celsius!]

[Unlock Cost: 50 Truth Points.]

Fifty points!

This was a huge sum.

But when Lu Chen saw the description about completely cutting off heat conduction and minimum energy idle operation, his DNA surged.

This meant his fuel consumption would plummet off a cliff!

This meant an abundant sense of security!

"System, invest 50 Truth Points and upgrade the interlayer reinforcement to the second node for me!"

[Ding! 50 Truth Points deducted. [Infrastructure Armor Lv1 (Node 2)] unlocked.]

[Injecting vacuum insulation bubbles... constructing Thermal Bridge Break...]

The moment the system prompt finished, Lin Wan noticed a change in the air pressure inside the carriage.

She watched in amazement as the surface of the originally rough, greyish-white flame-retardant coating around them suddenly took on a mercury-like metallic luster.

The luster spread rapidly along the walls, ceiling, and even the floor, eventually closing into a luminous spherical shell with no blind spots before disappearing beneath the coating.

What followed was the most intuitive change.

"Click."

The Primary Efficiency Boiler, which had been roaring under overload, suddenly let out a crisp gear-shifting sound from its internal gears.

The orange flames that had been leaping high automatically subsided to a faint dark red.

The air intake of the vents was greatly reduced, and the boiler entered the most fuel-efficient idle sleep state!

Common sense dictated that as the boiler's fire weakened, the temperature inside should drop rapidly.

Lin Wan stared nervously at the thermometer on the wall.

However, the needle stayed in place, not moving a hair.

One minute passed.

Five minutes passed.

The storm outside continued to rage, but the temperature inside was pinned at twenty degrees, not dropping even 0.1 degrees!

The heat was completely and utterly locked within this twenty-square-meter space!

Lu Chen watched the needle moving slowly on the coal consumption scale, and his tense nerves relaxed.

The anxiety brought by coal consumption finally vanished into thin air.

"Now, even if I don't add a single piece of coal to the boiler, I can survive in this damn snowstorm for ten days to half a month on just these embers."