Chapter 31: Materials, Materials

In the afternoon, Chen Yuan walked out of the main doors of the Science and Technology Museum.

Now that he had delivered them safely, it was time to get back to his own business. Although Xue Wu had invited him to stay, he felt that the time was not yet right.

He turned, gave a wave to the three women and the gruff man, and then headed back towards the river's surface.

Seating himself on the sled again, he was met by a fierce headwind, ice crystals peppering his goggles. The temperature had already dropped to negative sixty degrees Celsius.

"Tieniu, to the Materials Research Institute."

「Roger.」

This time, only Tieniu (Iron Bull) was pulling the sled. Tiedan (Iron Egg) and Tieqiong (Iron Dome) sat on either side of the sofa, scanning the surroundings for potential threats.

After the encounters of the past few days, Chen Yuan had a growing suspicion: did these zombies only come out at night? He had traveled such a long distance during the day and hadn't seen a single shadow. More importantly, Jiang Nan's story indirectly confirmed his theory. She had traveled during the day and hidden in shops at night, safely reaching the camp after two days.

In other words, if he wanted to be safer in the future, he had to travel during the day. But from another perspective, if he wanted to hunt zombies, he had to go out at night.

The sled flew across the ice, rapidly closing the distance to the Materials Research Institute. Although Jiangcheng was surrounded by the river, his destination was not on the riverbank. Chen Yuan chose a spot nearby to go ashore. After refueling his three robot dogs, he began to head inland.

The Materials Research Institute was backed by a large mountain. From a distance, it looked like he was about to climb a snow-capped peak. As he had expected, there were almost no signs of human activity here. After all, with no food and nothing of immediate use, who would waste their energy trekking all the way out here?

The institute's electric retractable gate was a mere decoration in front of Tiedan. It easily tore open a gap.

As he crossed the front courtyard, Chen Yuan saw quite a few cars still parked there. In addition to private cars, there were two large buses, likely used for receiving guests during conferences. If the roads weren't buried in snow, he might have considered converting one into a mobile home; life would be much more convenient that way.

He shook his head, pushing the thought aside, and followed the cleared path to the main entrance.

The old-fashioned aluminum alloy main door was unlocked. After his three robot dogs had performed a full 360-degree scan, Chen Yuan stepped inside. The moment he entered, he was hit by the thick, musty smell of a library. As expected of a research institute; the smell was probably coming from the laboratories.

But Chen Yuan's destination was not the labs, but the materials science department.

Following the directory on the wall, he climbed an old-fashioned staircase to the third floor. This level had only one office and one warehouse.

To upgrade his three robot dogs as quickly as possible, he ignored the computer chips in the office and the graphite powder in the printers, heading directly for the warehouse door.

"Tiedan, scan the inside."

「Report, Master. No threats detected.」

"Good. Break down the door. No, wait, just destroy the lock. Don't damage the door itself."

Tiedan, who had just extended its mechanical arm, retracted it slightly and used its tip to tap the Tieqiong beside it. The latter took two steps forward, extended its own arm, and began to forcefully twist the doorknob.

Chen Yuan watched from the side, slightly taken aback. Well now, you've learned to give orders? He was amazed by the intelligence of his three robot dogs, but also quite pleased. A single soldier's strength is limited, but coordinated combat was a different story entirely. He would have more robot dogs in the future. He could appoint Tiedan as their leader; artificial intelligence was faster than his own brain. When that time came, where in this city could he not go?

Hmm, still a bit too early to be thinking about that.

After Tieqiong had twisted the lock off the door, Chen Yuan stepped inside.

As far as the eye could see, there were rows upon rows of metal shelves. All sorts of materials, labeled and neatly stacked, filled them. Chen Yuan gave a cursory glance and was struck by the poverty of his own knowledge.

"Tiedan, guard the door."

With that, he took the Hyperspace Portable Tent from around his neck. He found a spot inside the warehouse and tossed the capsule-like tent onto the floor.

POOF!

The two-by-two-meter tent appeared.

"Tieniu, Tieqiong, move everything inside."

Since he didn't recognize the materials, he would just take them all. Who knew when they might be needed to produce something.

Receiving their orders, the two robot dogs began to work in tandem. Tieqiong used its pincers to place the materials one by one into Tieniu's mounted baskets, and Tieniu made trip after trip into the tent. Chen Yuan also ducked inside and began to personally organize the placement of the items.

The tent's original area was twenty square meters, but now, not only did it house the Apocalypse Store, but also all kinds of living supplies and raw materials. As the items from outside were piled in, the space began to feel a little cramped.

Chen Yuan rubbed his chin. He felt it was necessary to upgrade the tent's capacity. Since no one was here, he could stay for a few days to sort everything out before leaving. There was no rush.

An hour later, the once-full materials warehouse had been picked clean.

Chen Yuan stood before the Apocalypse Store, his fingers swiping back and forth across the blueprint screen, finalizing his upgrade plan.

First, he needed to produce a Nano-Biochemical Fuel Cell.

Second, he needed to produce the fuel for the fuel cell.

Finally, he would put Tiedan back in to upgrade its fuel compartment.

Once all three steps were complete, Tiedan would have undergone a complete transformation.

He stepped out of the tent and sealed the warehouse door with a metal shelf. Leaving Tieqiong and Tieniu outside to stand guard, he took Tiedan back inside the tent.

"Tiedan, start finding the materials..." Chen Yuan said, pointing at the small mountain of supplies, and began to give orders according to the recipe.

Tiedan ran back and forth seven or eight times before it finally gathered all the required materials. After confirming everything, Chen Yuan pressed the red button on the Apocalypse Store.

「Material insertion successful. Producing Nano-Biochemical Fuel Cell...」

As the prompt box popped up on the screen, the robotic arm on the manufacturing platform began to move. After a short while, a fuel cell that looked just like a soda can was produced.

But this was only the first step. The fuel cell itself did not generate power; it needed fuel.

According to his search of the blueprints, Chen Yuan found that many things could be used as fuel. But for him, there was one that had the highest cost-performance ratio.

「High-Concentration Liquid Carbon Fuel Canister. Materials required: Solid Carbon, Mineral Life Water.」 「Solid Carbon. Materials required: Wood blocks, Eco-Friendly Combustion Pellets.」 「Eco-Friendly Combustion Pellets. Materials required: Wood.」 「Mineral Life Water. Materials required: Water.」

See? It forms a closed loop, he thought.

Although it was a bit troublesome, this was just the production side. Each liquid carbon canister fed into the nano-biochemical fuel cell would allow it to continuously generate power for a full month, and the voltage was very stable. In other words, a little bit of trouble now would allow Tiedan to operate at high intensity for a month. All things considered, it was a very worthwhile endeavor.

He didn't want to be in a situation where he was facing a horde of zombies and his three robot dogs were all lying there, waiting for more combustion pellets.

Outside, the snow fell endlessly. Inside, he was busy as a bee.