In the end, Qi Xu sold the electric scooter too, though it didn’t fetch much—only 11 Survival Coins in total, a far cry from what she got for that silver van.
Still, it worked out nicely, bringing her Survival Coins to a neat round number: “100.”
Qi Xu had one fragment of her own, got two from Retired Magical Boy, received two courtesy of Badass PLUS, and with this one from Li Zhi, she finally had a full set of 6.
When she put the fragments together, a complete Vehicle Upgrade Card appeared.
The requirements for upgrading her electric tricycle to Level 2 showed up on it as well.
Materials required to upgrade the agricultural electric tricycle: Iron Block x10, Nails x10, Rubber x2, Battery x3, Glass x2, Plastic x3, Electric Vehicle Headlight x1.
“Existing materials meet the upgrade requirements. Would the player like to upgrade immediately?”
Qi Xu glanced at the tricycle’s battery level—26% left.
This was the battery she hadn’t finished draining yesterday, so she hadn’t swapped it out last night. Because of that, she chose to hold off on the upgrade for now.
Upgrading would automatically recharge the battery to full, so doing it now would be a bit of a waste.
Qi Xu didn’t open the Silver Supply Crate either. She quickly tossed it into the back of the tricycle, twisted the throttle all the way, and took off!
Gradually, the parallel highway faded away, which meant she wouldn’t run into any more new players. Qi Xu focused on making good time. Along the way, she came across two wooden supply crates, though maybe she had used up all her luck for the day on those two “kind-hearted souls.”
Not only were there no supplies inside, one was packed with rats and the other was full of thorn balls.
Qi Xu drove the monsters off and stashed the wooden supply crates in her inventory backpack. Every crate only took up a single slot, and she had already collected 9 of them.
Once her vehicle was upgraded, the workbench’s dismantling function would unlock, letting her break supply crates down into materials.
Qi Xu rode until the battery was completely drained before hitting the “Upgrade Vehicle” button.
Upgrading to a Level 2 vehicle didn’t take long—just a one-minute wait.
Qi Xu used the downtime to hop off and loosen up, giving her limbs a good stretch, kicking her legs, and throwing a few punches. With both long and short weapons in hand now, her Overall Combat Power had already climbed to 42.
The minute flew by.
“Congratulations on becoming the 1st player in the entire region to upgrade a vehicle! Would you like to make a region-wide announcement? Announcements come with a reward!”
Qi Xu didn’t hesitate for a second. “Announce it.”
“Congratulations to player Invincible Black Whirlwind for becoming the first player in the entire region to upgrade a vehicle and earning a generous reward! Everyone, please work hard and don’t let the strong leave you in the dust!”
Qi Xu was looking forward to the reward, and before long, three small pills appeared—red, blue, and green, representing Constitution, Strength, and Agility respectively.
She knew these well; they showed up all the time in the mid-to-late game. Qi Xu popped all three into her mouth and chewed them down in one go.
Not a bad reward at all. All three of her basic physical stats went up by two points, putting them right on the verge of breaking into the thirties. Things were really looking up.
After checking the reward, Qi Xu turned her attention to her agricultural electric tricycle.
The cargo bed was twice as big now, and it had gained a canopy. Although the driver’s seat was still exposed, there was a roof directly overhead—super practical for both shade and rain.
It would also block some of the wind at night, and best of all, she could finally stretch her legs out straight when she slept! That was huge—sleeping comfortably made Fatigue drop faster, and her Health would steadily recover too.
Before, the tricycle’s top speed was 50 kilometers per hour, but after the upgrade, it could hit 70! Though it was bigger and faster now, it wasn’t as petite and cute as before.
The lace trim accessories and pink cushion now came up short as well.
Qi Xu knew what to do.
It was time to chant the spell again.
Qi Xu cleared her throat. “Pitch-black magic, make me pretty! La-la-ha woo-woo, gaba-gaba, transform!”
All the accessories and cushions instantly resized to fit, layer upon layer, looking exquisite once again.
Qi Xu suddenly realized her taste seemed to have changed. Since when had pink started looking so easy on the eyes?
She had always thought of herself as a cool girl! Still, she got over it fast. Qi Xu never wasted energy second-guessing herself—cool girls could like pink too!
Just as she was about to get moving again, a message came through—and from a friend, no less.
Qi Xu only had 3 friends at the moment: Retired Magical Boy, War Wolf 009, and Peppy Girl Guo Degang.
It wasn’t many, but all three of them had left her with a pretty good impression.
She opened the message and saw it was from Peppy Girl Guo Degang.
“Boss, I didn’t find a Vehicle Upgrade Card, but I did find a Motor Capacity Expansion Card. The person wants at least two servings of instant noodles. Wanna trade for it?”
Qi Xu sent over two tubs of instant noodles right away and threw in an extra compressed biscuit.
Peppy Girl Guo Degang didn’t stand on ceremony. Once the items were received, she got right to work, trading for the Motor Capacity Expansion Card and handing it over to Qi Xu in less than a minute. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Qi Xu had just been fretting over how, now that the electric tricycle was bigger, a single battery definitely wouldn’t last as long as before. It might not get her through a full day’s drive, and stopping partway to swap or charge batteries would be a hassle.
Now that headache was completely taken care of.
After fusing the Motor Capacity Expansion Card with her vehicle, it could hold 4 batteries at once.
“Thanks, I really needed this.”
“Don’t mention it, you paid me too. I came out ahead on this one.”
Qi Xu really liked this kind of arrangement—each gets what they need, nobody gets overly tied down, and they could still help each other out.
Before heading out, Qi Xu casually glanced at the chat lobby and saw War Wolf 009 looking to buy fever medicine.
“Urgently need fever medicine. Can trade food, weapons, blueprints, and all kinds of supplies!”
Qi Xu sent him a private message. “What blueprints do you have?”
War Wolf 009: “I only have one blueprint, and it’s for sanitary pads, but I also have a basic water condenser. Give me fever medicine plus a bit of food, and I’ll trade you both.”
Qi Xu: !!!
Sanitary pads!
Right before the game started, Qi Xu had bolted for the bathroom as fast as she could, and she still hadn’t managed to stuff that pack of sanitary pads into her arms in time. Even now, she felt it was a shame.
With a blueprint, she could craft them out of toilet paper and cotton! Her period was coming up any day now, so this was an absolute necessity too.
“I’ll take both. I can give you one fever medicine, plus two tubs of instant noodles, two bottles of mineral water, and two small bread rolls. Deal?”
“Deal.”
The trade went through quickly, and Qi Xu instantly felt a lot more secure.
She searched the trading hall for cotton and toilet paper, trading two compressed biscuits for a roll of toilet paper.
Cotton didn’t turn up, so she could only hope to find some in the next crates. Something to look forward to.
Qi Xu hit the road again..