Modifying the Electric Toy Cars

Xiao Bao returned to his orange cat, and Tom felt that it should be relatively safe for him to stay there, so he remained focused on his own tasks for the time being. The electric soldering iron was indeed a bit heavy, but Tom, who had tripled his strength, had no problem pushing it. Before they left, of course, he wouldn't forget to stuff the solder into his backpack.

Descending to the second floor, Liu Lian and Li Qiang helped Tom push together, conserving some energy for the gems. The three of them made their way down to the first floor. Downstairs, Cheng Fuhua, with three security guards, volunteered to help Tom with the soldering iron.

Modifying the remote-controlled electric toy car wasn't too difficult. Tom's task was to first dismantle the remote controller, remove the integrated circuit from inside, and install it onto the electric car. To reduce weight, unnecessary components had to be removed. After all, the remote controller, along with its batteries, almost matched the weight of half an electric car. This was why Tom needed the soldering iron to complete the modification.

However, merely fixing it onto the car wasn't enough; the remote controller needed some wiring modifications. Originally, the controller was powered by two batteries, but now the power supply lines were to be connected to the battery compartment of the electric toy car, allowing the car's battery to take over the controller's power supply function and saving extra battery weight.

Tom plugged in the soldering iron and heated its tip until it glowed red. He replaced it with a new ruby and stood on a higher box, holding one end of the soldering iron, and began to solder the circuits below.

This task was somewhat challenging. Previously, with one hand holding the soldering iron, Tom could easily complete a few touches on the circuit board. Now, holding this large tool, a slight misjudgment in force could burn the circuit, and there would be no replacement boards readily available.

Previously, it required another hand to assist in fixing the solder and wires, melting the solder with the hot pen tip, and fusing the wires with the nodes on the circuit board.

Now, it required two people to assist from below, and the pen tip temperature was too high, posing a certain risk.

Li Qiang and Liu Lian, as Tom's core members, naturally took the lead. They also trusted Tom's technical skills and abilities. So, before starting work, they wrapped three layers of hard paper with transparent glue on their bodies. Although it would be hot, it would at least prevent them from being burned to disability by the hot pen tip at the slightest touch.

During the first soldering attempt, Tom didn't control it well and accidentally touched Li Qiang. Fortunately, with the protection of the hard paper, even so, it still hurt so much that Li Qiang jumped around. After all, being smaller meant much less tolerance for temperature.

So they had to change roles. Xiao Gao volunteered to come forward, and others helped wrap him with the hard paper that had been prepared earlier.

After one failure, Tom became much more proficient. He quickly completed the modifications, reinstalled the shell of the electric car, and considered it finished.

Originally, the remote-controlled car was controlled by two levers: one could only push forward and backward, and the other could only turn left and right. The lever for forward and backward control drove the electric car forward or backward. The left and right lever controlled the front wheels of the electric car to turn left or right. Together, the two levers controlled the electric car's forward, backward, and turning movements.

The modification now was limited to the power supply. Changing the control method would require wire modifications on the circuit board, which would be troublesome without familiarity with the circuit board. Therefore, they decided to stick to the original control mode.

And to drive this electric car, at least two people were needed: one to control forward and backward and the other to control left and right turning.

As soon as they installed six No. 5 batteries, the two security guards couldn't wait to climb up and have a try. They pushed the levers, and the electric car quickly dashed out, hitting the shelves opposite and sending both of them flying, landing in a messy heap.

Tom couldn't be bothered with them. He waved his hand, "Next one!"

Did they really think this car would be as easy as before? They hadn't even gotten used to it yet, and they pushed the speed to the top in one go. It was no wonder the other person couldn't react in time to control the steering. It would be strange if they didn't crash. To drive this thing well, cooperation between two people was necessary.

The other three electric cars were also dismantled long ago, and as soon as one was modified, another one was pushed up.

With the experience of the first one, modifying the remaining three cars was much quicker and smoother.

After completing the modification of a total of four remote-controlled electric toy cars, Tom wiped his sweat and sat on the box. Despite the enhanced strength from the ruby, it was still a considerable test of Tom's stamina.

As for the people assisting below, they had changed five times, except for Zheng Shiyi, who had broken his arm. Each person had taken a turn. After all, the pen tip temperature was high, and it was too hot to get too close, not to mention being wrapped in three layers of thick paper.

After eating and drinking a little and taking a break, Tom pulled Liu Lian to start practicing driving.

Liu Lian was responsible for moving forward, and Tom was responsible for direction. They also bumped the car twice at the beginning, but they gradually mastered the knack. After practicing for a while, the two of them cooperated proficiently and could now circle around the supermarket at the highest speed.

Although steering was the responsibility of one person, the one in charge of acceleration couldn't drive mindlessly. They had to control the speed appropriately based on the steering and the distance ahead to avoid situations where they couldn't turn in time and ended up crashing into obstacles.

At Tom's request, everyone had to learn and adapt to this driving style, including Zheng Shiyi, who could only move one arm. They had to prevent emergencies where the driver couldn't drive anymore, leaving everyone else clueless.

With 14 people and 4 electric cars, there was no problem fitting everyone in, and as for batteries... the supermarket was not short of those.

After that came the modification of seat belts and seats. Tom checked the time and decided to let everyone rest, postponing the remaining modifications to tomorrow.

As soon as the idea of resting came up, it was time to arrange shifts again.

The people from the club had been staying in the supermarket for several nights and hadn't considered setting up a night watch, thinking there wouldn't be any danger.

But now Tom was in charge, and things had to be done his way. In Tom's view, with crises lurking everywhere, night guards were necessary. No one could guarantee that something like a cockroach, ant, or mouse wouldn't come out of a corner.

Mosquitoes? They weren't foolish. On their first night here, they lit mosquito coils, so mosquitoes weren't a threat.

Although Li Zexin and others had complaints, they still had to follow Tom's instructions. Tom had arranged the protective gear, completed the electric car modifications single-handedly, and inadvertently established his authority among this group of people.

In the eyes of some, besides setting rules, the leaders of teams often just gave orders, like with night watches. It wasn't common for leaders to participate in night watches.

So when Tom became one of the first two night guards, Li Zexin and Zhang Feng privately told others that Tom was just putting on a show to win people's hearts.

Not only was Tom the first to take the night watch, but he also woke up several times in the middle of the night to supervise. He would wake up those dozing off, patrol again himself, and then go back to sleep. It wasn't that he wanted to lead by example; he simply didn't trust the people in this team. If someone slacked off and failed to notice approaching danger, it would affect the whole team, including Tom himself.

On the night they encountered the lizard, Tom woke up several times due to this sense of crisis. He could be said to be the first among these people to adapt to the laws of the post-apocalyptic world.

Fortunately, nothing happened that night, but Li Zexin and others sniffed at Tom's precautions, thinking he was going overboard, just trying to show off his leadership authority.

Tom couldn't be bothered with what they thought. In the morning, he climbed to the third floor, checked on the sleeping Xiao Bao, and confirmed that the mutated large orange cat hadn't moved.

It hadn't moved, but compared to last night, the size of the orange cat had increased.

Tom was sure it wasn't an illusion. The floor tiles occupied by the orange cat yesterday morning were smaller than they were today. Without a doubt, one of the characteristics of mutation, size increase, was evident in the cat.

He believed that besides size, there would be other changes in the cat's body, such as intelligence, various physical indicators like speed and explosiveness.

Despite his communication experience with the lizard biscuits, he naturally had a sense of distrust toward cats, which were unpredictable creatures. If it came to choosing sides between cats and dogs in the online debates, Tom undoubtedly leaned towards dogs.

Originally, he wanted to coax Xiao Bao downstairs with chicken legs and Milkis, keeping him away from this mutating orange cat. However, seeing the corner filled with vacuum-packed food and Milkis, he gave up on the idea.

It should be said that this orange cat was indeed very clever. All this food was undoubtedly brought back by it, which reassured Tom somewhat. At least this cat could be communicated with.

With the emerald in hand, Tom cautiously approached, but there was no response. Undeterred, he tightened his grip on the emerald, took a deep breath, and tried to "pour" his thoughts into the orange cat's body, still without any response.

Perhaps the orange cat was asleep?

Tom had tried it before; even if biscuits were asleep, he could still sense their emotions. There was no reason why this cat wouldn't respond at all.

Try again!

In a trance, the pain of a nail being driven into his brain surged up again.

With his eyes closed, Tom "saw" familiar scenes.

At this moment, he was very short, seeing only an adult's legs. As he looked up, he saw the contorted and angry face of a middle-aged man.

He couldn't hear the words the man said clearly, but he recognized him; this man was the supermarket owner, so without a doubt, what he was seeing now was a scene from the orange cat's memory.

The usually gentle supermarket owner was now loudly scolding Xiao Bao. Then a woman protected Xiao Bao and was slapped by the owner.

After the owner finished hitting her, he continued to scold and lash out with a cane at the woman, who endured the blows while protecting Xiao Bao, leaving behind bloody whip marks.

At this moment, Tom saw Xiao Bao nestled in the woman's arms, his eyes full of resentment as he stared at the supermarket owner.

At this point, Tom realized what he was seeing. The orange cat was witnessing Xiao Bao's experience of domestic violence: the father scolding his son, the mother protecting her son, and then being beaten by the father.

"So that's why whenever Xiao Bao talks about his parents, it's always his mom in the forefront and his dad in the back," Tom couldn't forget the resentful eyes Xiao Bao had looked at his father in the orange cat's memory.