84: Chapter 84: A furious pre-battle attack of 3,000 points! Dual engines take off immediately.

Polaris rolled over the steel ramp of the parking area and onto the grey-brown ice of the Rustwind Wasteland at dusk.

The western skyline was a dark orange, and the sun was halfway set.

The sky to the northeast was leaden and gloomy; in the distance in that direction, forty combat vehicles were on their way.

Lu Chen held the steering wheel with one hand; the speed was thirty-five kilometers per hour, with no boost engaged.

He summoned the holographic panel.

The status of the four major branches was displayed on the pale blue light screen.

Eight of the sixteen nodes were lit up.

His gaze first fell on Node 3 of the Infrastructure Armor.

[ Infrastructure Armor Lv2 Node 3: Cabin Thermal Insulation Coating. Apply a layer of ultra-micro composite thermal insulation coating on the inner walls of the cabin to optimize indoor temperature stability. It can maintain a comfortable temperature for short-sleeved work even in extreme external environments. Cost: 2000 Truth Points. ]

Wearing a single layer of clothing was already enough in the twenty-degree constant-temperature cabin; short-sleeved work offered no contribution to the battlefield at six in the evening, and spending two thousand points here was a complete waste.

He shifted his gaze to the Power Engine branch.

The detailed information for Node 2 expanded.

[ Power Engine Lv2 Node 2: Track Ground-Source Adsorption Array. Install a full set of ground-source magnetic adsorption modules on the heavy track base plate. Embed high-density magnetic anchoring units into each track plate, creating an extremely strong adsorption anchoring force the moment it touches the ground. This significantly improves chassis grip, keeping the vehicle extremely stable during high-speed sharp turns and violent collisions. Even if encountered with a level ten gale pushing from the side, it will not produce side drift. Cost: 1000 Truth Points. ]

Lu Chen's thumb paused for a beat on the steering wheel.

When fighting the Icebreaker Swarm in the morning, Polaris had one slight side slip while ramming the four vehicles of the third group at full speed on the ice.

Once.

It lasted less than half a second, and the vehicle body shifted laterally by about thirty centimeters.

It didn't affect the battle result at the time, but he remembered it.

The Bone's Ice-Rift Swarm used a tactic of forty vehicles arranged in a charge formation, pressing forward at full speed.

In that kind of high-density melee, Polaris needed to repeatedly change direction at high speed and weave into the vehicle group.

A thirty-centimeter side slip would cause the ram's entry angle to deviate by five degrees.

A five-degree deviation meant turning a glancing blow into a direct head-on collision.

A head-on collision wouldn't cause a loss, but it would waste time.

Time is Truth Points; one thousand points to buy an extremely stable chassis is worth it.

He continued to look at Node 3.

[ Power Engine Lv2 Node 3: Reciprocating Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine. Install a four-cylinder reciprocating heavy-duty diesel engine on the basis of the existing coal-fired steam boiler. The diesel engine and steam boiler operate in parallel, with dual power sources collaboratively driving the track transmission system. Peak power output increases by 80%, and the maximum speed breaks through the current limit. The diesel engine can directly use the low-quality diesel produced by the High-Energy Fuel Converter, forming a complete closed loop of fuel self-production and self-use with Lv.2 Node 1. Cost: 2000 Truth Points. ]

He stared at that line of text for three seconds.

Peak power output increased by 80%.

The supercharger is a short-term 1.5x burst, while this is a sustained 80% increase.

Adding the 1.5x burst bonus from the supercharger, the superimposed limit output calculates to 2.7 times the original, and the maximum speed breaks through the current limit.

Currently, the cruising speed without boost is thirty-five to forty kilometers per hour, and it can reach fifty-five with boost.

After installing the diesel engine, the cruising speed can be pushed to over sixty, and with boost, it's eighty to ninety.

What's important is the range.

The boost mode of the pure coal-fired boiler causes the consumption of coal crystal to rise exponentially; running at full boost for an hour can empty nearly half the coal bunker.

After the diesel engine is installed, coal and diesel dual fuel operate in parallel, and the boost load is shared between the two power sources, at least doubling the range.

There is no need to spend money to buy diesel; the High-Energy Fuel Converter will crack Mutant Beast fat to produce diesel, so hunting is equivalent to refueling.

Hunt Mutant Beasts to produce fat, crack it into diesel, pour it into the diesel engine to drive Polaris to hunt more Mutant Beasts—a perfect closed loop.

Lu Chen did the math.

One thousand plus two thousand, three thousand points; the current balance is six thousand and fifty-two, leaving three thousand and fifty-two after spending.

Three thousand points is not much, but there are forty Lv.2 combat vehicles and three heavy transport vehicles waiting for him to dismantle on the battlefield tonight; each is worth about two hundred points, so eating them all means over eight thousand.

Spend three thousand to earn eight thousand, a net profit of over five thousand; this deal is worth making.

" Lin Wan, grab something sturdy; the vehicle is going to stop for a moment. "

" Upgrading again? "

" Two. "

" Alright. "

Lin Wan's voice came from the planting area; she was already grabbing the support rod of the hydroponic rack.

Lu Chen slowed down Polaris and stopped it next to the remains of a water tower from a pre-civilization foundry.

The engine switched to idle.

" System, unlock Power Engine Lv2 Node 2: Track Ground-Source Adsorption Array. "

[ Unlock confirmed. Cost 1000 Truth Points. Current balance: 5052 points. ]

A dense sound of mechanical engagement came from the bottom of the vehicle; the sound lacked the dullness of a collision and was entirely the crisp clicking of countless tiny metal parts being embedded into preset slots at the same time.

The whole vehicle sank slightly by two centimeters.

Then it stabilized, abnormally stable.

His hand on the steering wheel noticed the change; the vibration on the steering wheel was completely gone, clean, without even a trace of residual tremor left.

Previously, in the idle state, there was always a slight vibration on the steering wheel caused by the contact between the tracks and the ground.

Now, it was gone.

The surface of the water in the thermos cup next to him was as smooth as a mirror.

" City Lord, why isn't the vehicle shaking anymore? "

" Magnetic adsorption modules have been added to the track base plate. "

" What does that mean? "

" It means this vehicle is now nailed to the ground; even a typhoon wouldn't be able to blow it away. "

Lin Wan was silent for a second.

" Is there anything you can't install on the vehicle? "

" I install whatever the system gives me. "

He checked the balance on the holographic panel again, five thousand and fifty-two, and then summoned the unlock command for Node 3.

" System, unlock Power Engine Lv2 Node 3: Reciprocating Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine. "

[ Unlock confirmed. Cost 2000 Truth Points. Current balance: 3052 points. ]

This transformation was much more violent than the track adsorption array.

A low metallic resonant sound came from the power core area at the rear of the vehicle.

In the space next to the boiler, the system's high-dimensional force field was generating new mechanical structures out of thin air.

A four-cylinder diesel engine with a cast-iron block gradually took shape from the blue radiance.

Crankshaft, connecting rods, pistons, fuel injectors, turbochargers, exhaust manifolds—one part after another condensed into reality from nothingness.

The output shaft of the new engine was connected in parallel to the existing track transmission system through a set of gearboxes.

Through the rearview periscope, Lu Chen saw a heavy iron block in the power core area, standing side by side with the boiler.

The boiler was round, the diesel engine was square; one new, one old, one round, one square, tightly engaged together through drive shafts and gear sets.

The fuel line of the High-Energy Fuel Converter automatically extended and connected to the fuel tank of the diesel engine.

The more than four liters of stored diesel reserves were redirected from the boiler's auxiliary fuel inlet to the diesel engine's main fuel tank.

The transformation process lasted forty seconds.

[ Power Engine Lv2 Node 3 unlocked: Reciprocating Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine installed. Current power mode: Coal/Diesel dual-fuel parallel drive. ]

Lu Chen pulled the engine control lever to the low-speed gear.

The boiler operated as usual, but the diesel engine next to it also started to turn.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

The sound was completely different.

The boiler's sound was the hissing of steam flowing through the pipes, low and long.

The diesel engine's sound was the roar of pistons reciprocating and impacting in the cylinder block, short and powerful.

The two sounds superimposed on each other, forming a brand-new power rhythm.

He released the idle lock and slowly increased the vehicle speed.

Twenty kilometers.

Thirty kilometers.

Forty kilometers.

Without boost, at forty kilometers per hour, the engine output still had at least thirty percent headroom.

The previous pure coal-fired boiler was already close to full load at forty kilometers per hour.

He continued to accelerate.

Fifty kilometers.

The vehicle body was terrifyingly stable; the new track adsorption array allowed the twenty-plus-ton iron beast to run at fifty kilometers per hour on the ice while still firmly gripping the ice surface.

No shaking, no side slipping, no signs of any looseness.

Sixty kilometers, still stable.

He tried making a fifteen-degree sharp turn at sixty kilometers per hour; previously, this maneuver would have caused the vehicle body to shift noticeably sideways, but now it didn't.

The tracks gripped the ground, and the vehicle body turned precisely along the direction he steered, without even a centimeter of excess lateral movement.

" City Lord, this speed looks much faster than before. "

" The diesel engine is installed, and the power has nearly doubled. "

" Then does that mean we don't need to store the fat in the cold storage anymore, and can just refine it into diesel? "

" Yes, from now on, all fat goes into the cracking furnace. "

Lin Wan thought for a moment.

" Then our hunting is equivalent to refueling. "

" You finally caught on. "

The communicator lit up.

Zhou Yuan's frequency.

" City Lord Lu Chen, the latest position update for the Ice-Rift Swarm. "

" One hundred and ten kilometers to the northeast, marching speed unchanged, twenty-five kilometers per hour. "

" Is there any adjustment to the arrival time at the buffer zone? "

" After correction, it is expected to arrive between 18:15 and 18:30. "

" About an hour and a half left. "

" Yes. "

Lu Chen glanced at the needle on the dashboard.

Vehicle speed sixty kilometers per hour.

From the current position to the iron wall position in the buffer zone is about forty kilometers.

At sixty kilometers per hour, it will take forty minutes to arrive.

There will be nearly an hour of preparation time after arriving.

" Chief of Staff Zhou, has the position of the nine remnants of the Icebreaker Swarm in the Ice-Rift Swarm column been confirmed? "

" Confirmed, the nine vehicles of the Icebreaker Swarm are arranged in the middle-to-rear section of the Ice-Rift Swarm column. "

" Middle-to-rear. "

" Yes, the Grey Bee people are mixed with the Bone's vehicles; they are no longer an independent formation. "

This information is very important; being mixed means the nine vehicles of the Icebreaker Swarm have been annexed by the Ice-Rift Swarm in terms of organization, and Grey Bee no longer has independent command.

The Bone is in unified command, and his tactic is to charge at full speed without slowing down; in other words, those nine remnants of the Icebreaker Swarm will also be swept into the charging formation.

" One more thing. "

Zhou Yuan's speaking speed was half a beat faster than usual.

" We cannot confirm whether the remnants of the Icebreaker Swarm provided information about Polaris to the Bone after merging with the Ice-Rift Swarm. "

" What is your judgment? "

" My judgment is that they most likely did. "

Zhou Yuan paused for a beat.

" The Grey Bee people were driven away by you, and at least one or two of the nine remnants have seen you fight with their own eyes. "

" To what extent? "

" Shrapnel grenades washing the ground, Heavy Machine Gun hitting the tracks, the ram being deformed, Steam Spray Gun pouring into the cabin. "

Zhou Yuan reported it over the communicator; if these tactical details were told to the Bone, he would be prepared.

" What about the Ray Cannon? "

" The Ray Cannon was only used once on the five vanguard vehicles, and those five vehicles were completely annihilated, leaving no survivors. But the Icebreaker Swarm had snowmobile scouts operating on the perimeter; I am not sure if they saw the red light of the Ray Cannon through long-distance observation. "

Lu Chen tapped his finger on the steering wheel.

" In other words, the Bone likely knows that Polaris has strong armor and fierce firepower, but has limited knowledge about the Ray Cannon. "

" This is the most reasonable speculation. "

" Understood. "

The communicator disconnected.

Driven by the new engine, Polaris cut toward the northeast at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour.

The noise inside the vehicle was actually lower than before; the diesel engine's speed was stable in the medium range, the boiler's load had dropped by thirty percent, and the two power sources each shared half of the transmission demand, so neither was strained.

He picked up his thermos cup and took a sip of water.

Three thousand and fifty-two points, ten nodes have been lit.

All three nodes of the Power Engine are lit, missing only one top core; Armament and Weaponry also has all three lit, missing one top core.

On the battlefield at dusk, the wrecks of forty combat vehicles were waiting for him.

Polaris's new engine emitted a short and powerful roar, crushing everything in front of it.