8: Chapter 8 upgrade complete!

Lu Yuan sat in the cockpit, which was filled with the smell of machine oil and the icy scent of metal, and took a deep breath.

The loot had been counted, and now was the time to enjoy the fruits of his harvest.

He took out the blueprint that was emitting a dazzling purple light.

[Epic: Spatial Folding Bedroom Blueprint (5 square meters), Cost: None]

"Use!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a soft purple light instantly enveloped the back half of the cockpit.

In the narrow, dead-end corner where miscellaneous items had been stacked, a ripple in space eerily appeared, followed by the appearance of a wooden door out of thin air.

Lu Yuan pushed open the wooden door.

A warm breeze carrying the faint scent of natural wood rushed toward his face.

The space was not large, a mere five square meters.

Inside, there was only a single bed covered with a pure white soft cushion and a simple wooden desk.

Yet, on this Doomsday Highway filled with death, blood, and cold steel, this five-square-meter dimensional space was simply the legendary Garden of Eden!

Overhead hung a chandelier emitting a warm yellow glow.

Lu Yuan flopped onto the soft single bed and let out a long, comfortable sigh.

"This is what a human life should be like..."

However, it was not yet time to rest.

Lu Yuan returned to the cockpit and took out the [Tank Exclusive Modification Blueprint].

As the blueprint activated, an upgrade route radiating a heavy metallic luster appeared on the light screen.

[Reconstruction Plan: Scarlet Meteor Iron Heavy Armor]

[Characteristics: Greatly increases physical and energy defense, comes with an extremely strong recoil effect, but will significantly increase self-weight.]

Looking at this plan, the image of the Bone-Armored Zombie King's massive fist, smashing down like a millstone, instantly flashed through Lu Yuan's mind.

That punch had directly wiped out 50% of the tank's durability!

If he hadn't run fast, he would probably have been smashed into a pile of scrap metal by now.

Having just cured his "fear of insufficient firepower," Lu Yuan now suffered from a severe case of "fear of insufficient defense."

"Must upgrade the armor! Only by staying alive can I deal damage!"

"As for the power issue..."

A cunning arc curled the corner of Lu Yuan's mouth.

"Now I can totally exploit a system bug, utilizing the main cannon's infinite firepower to reverse and move forward using the recoil."

"And since my fuel is full, I'm not panicking at all!"

"Upgrade armor!"

"Ding! Consumed metal block x500, Tank Exclusive Modification Blueprint x1, modification started!"

A blinding red light instantly enveloped the entire Red Wolf Tank.

Accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of metal friction, the tank's appearance began to change drastically.

The old paint peeled off, replaced by a layer of deep, scarlet composite armor that looked like solidified blood.

The thickness of the armor visibly doubled, its edges became more defined, and it looked like an ancient, blood-colored beast armed to the teeth.

Looking at the majestic vehicle body reflected in the periscope, Lu Yuan grinned in satisfaction.

Now, a single blow from the zombie king would probably only reduce the armor by 5%!

"Now, it truly lives up to the name [Red Wolf Tank]!"

"Ding! Modification complete!"

"Current vehicle self-weight increased to: 65 tons!"

"Affected by the armor weight, the current maximum theoretical speed of the vehicle has dropped to: 120 km/h!"

Although the speed had dropped, Lu Yuan touched the thick, reassuring inner wall of the cockpit and felt that this deal was definitely worth it.

Next, was the last item.

[Intermediate Weapon Modification Blueprint x1]

Lu Yuan turned his gaze to the main cannon's operation panel.

The air compression cannon's recoil was indeed useful, but its shortcoming of having absolutely no lethality when facing the Bone-Armored Zombie King today had been fully exposed.

Lu Yuan directly pulled up the weapon panel.

"System, I want to increase the damage of the main cannon."

"Ding! Host's request detected. Combined with the Intermediate Weapon Modification Blueprint, the following reconstruction plans are recommended for you:"

[Route A: Explosive Flame Shockwave Cannon.]

[Cost: metal block x2000, highly concentrated accelerant x500.]

[The emitted air shockwave is mixed with highly concentrated solidified incendiary agent.]

[Greatly increases shockwave power. Once it hits or lands, it will form a fireball that burns continuously for 12 hours, causing continuous burn damage.]

[Route B: Air Collapse Cannon.]

[Cost: metal block x2000, circuit board x500.]

[Concentrates air to a single point, significantly strengthening the air compression ratio. Upon hitting the target, it produces a violent internal explosion and collapse, causing extremely terrifying single-target destruction, but the recoil will be significantly weakened.]

Lu Yuan took a look and locked his gaze directly on Route A.

Route B's single-target destructive power was indeed tempting, but if the recoil was weakened, how would he exploit the bug to travel?

Besides, flame explosions—this was a man's romance! How cool is that!

"Select Route A!"

Lu Yuan's eyes were frighteningly bright.

This was simply a double strike of physics and magic!

"Ding, talent activated."

"Cost: metal block x20, highly concentrated accelerant x5. Current highly concentrated accelerant is insufficient, consuming 50 liters of diesel to convert into highly concentrated accelerant x5."

"Ding, upgrade complete!"

[Current main cannon type: Explosive Flame Shockwave Cannon],

[Current attack power: 400],

[Current penetration: 20%],

[Special effect: Fire attribute damage +50/second, adds a layer of burn effect to the target],

Watching the main cannon upgrade complete, Lu Yuan was totally excited.

At this moment, the mileage segment he was in had just broken the 1,000-kilometer mark.

To test the new main cannon's recoil and to continue moving forward, Lu Yuan restarted the tank.

He deliberately avoided the center of the road, slightly shifting the muzzle to aim at an abandoned building on the edge of the road.

"Boom!"

A shot from the Explosive Flame Shockwave Cannon roared out of the barrel!

The massive recoil violently pushed the 80-ton tank backward, and its speed instantly picked up.

And at the edge of the road in front of the tank, a dark red flame, like a flower of hell, exploded violently on the abandoned building!

In an instant, the wasteland and building ruins within dozens of meters were turned into a surging, massive fireball.

The flame was extremely domineering, clinging to the broken walls and quietly burning, emitting astonishing light and heat.

"What fierce firepower!"

Lu Yuan excitedly controlled the tank, keeping the barrel pointing backward.

He did not aim the muzzle directly at the center of the road.

If he left this unquenchable sea of fire on the road, it could indeed form an absolute blockade, but it would also trap and kill all the struggling surviving players behind him.

Although he, Lu Yuan, was not some saint with a big heart, he would never be a mass-murdering king of hell either.

Therefore, during this boring journey, every few kilometers, he deliberately deflected the muzzle and fired a shot at the wasteland and ruins on both sides of the road to maintain the tank's maximum speed.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

On the vast, silent wasteland road.

The Red Wolf Tank was like a grumpy planter.

Along the road it passed, it left behind one dark red "fireball" after another, burning fiercely.

...

Unknowingly, a few hours passed.

The sky gradually darkened, and night descended silently.

After a wild dash.

Lu Yuan slowly stopped the tank and glanced at the mileage statistics on the system panel.

[Total mileage traveled today: 1600 kilometers.]

Afterwards, he pulled up the district-wide red mist warning map.

"Ding! Current distance from the edge of the red mist: 1300 kilometers."

"Estimated time of red mist arrival: 52 hours."

Seeing this number, Lu Yuan's nerves, which had been tense all day, finally relaxed completely.

52 hours!

A full two days of absolute safety!

"It's stable."

Lu Yuan turned off all the light screens, locked the tank's hatch, and turned on the close-defense cannon radar.

He took a box of premium braised pork canned food from his backpack and wolfed it down with two pieces of whole-wheat bread until it was all gone.

After eating and drinking his fill, he couldn't wait to push open the wooden door and crawl into the five-square-meter spatial folding bedroom.

Stripping off his sweat-soaked clothes, Lu Yuan threw himself heavily onto the soft single bed.

However.

Just as Lu Yuan had laid down on the bed.

The shrill warning sound of a district-wide announcement suddenly exploded in the air!

[District-wide warning!]

[The Night of Extreme Cold has descended!]

[The current outdoor temperature is beginning to drop sharply. It is expected to fall below minus thirty degrees within one hour!]

[Please all players look for cold-protection supplies immediately. Beware of frostbite!]

Outside the road.

The night wind, which had originally been just slightly cool, suddenly turned into a shrill howl.

The moisture in the air condensed into frost at a speed visible to the naked eye, crazily climbing onto the windows of one old car after another.

Desperate cries for help instantly erupted across the regional channel...