Chapter 62: Chapter 56: Mechanical Village, Level 10 Light Bus (Bonus Chapter)
Unlike the uniform decorations of Holy Spring Village, Dawn Village’s orderliness, Mechanical Village, as the first human settlement Lin Feng has seen, remains the same as when first seen...
Chaotic, noisy, and full of passion.
The thumping sound of metal clashing was incessant from the moment Lin Feng and his companions approached the village.
At the end of the advancing convoy, at the entrance of Mechanical Village.
Four guards holding short-barrel submachine guns aimed their guns at the approaching tricycle.
Chen Shanshan took out the transaction order, explained their purpose, and the guard captain lying inside the vehicle flipped through the recent report slips, confirmed it, and waved his hand through the window, signaling to pass.
Then he pulled up the curtain and continued resting.
A guard put away his gun, mounted an electric vehicle, and led the group into the village.
This was Lin Feng’s first time here, observing outside through the slit of the tricycle’s armor.
With thousands of vehicles of various models, Mechanical Village resembled more a mobile car repair and modification factory than a village or convoy.
There are platforms dedicated to disassembly, electric-powered hydraulic cranes, and large groups of welders with electric welding pliers, cutting and welding the newly stored car frames.
On the outermost area, a heap of heavy trucks was towing dozens of shells of vehicles left with only frames, chassis, and tires, while photovoltaic panels spread from the truck’s head to the roofs of the shells.
From a distance, it looked like a hundred-meter-long train, specifically for transporting cars.
There were no fewer than twenty such heavy trucks.
Thus, in Mechanical Village’s thousand vehicles, more than half are raw materials and platforms for modification, providing travel services to the other Four Major Villages of Oasis Town.
And when the Oasis Battleship has needs, it will also have Mechanical Village serve it, for instance, every Holy Spring Day, the pilgrimage convoy heading to the big city to trade goods is the handiwork of these vehicle repair masters.
Soon, under the guidance of the guard, the group arrived at the order production site.
After hooking the tricycle in the repair bay, the group disembarked, seeing a long-box van being automatically towed forward. Originally dark gray, it was painted gray-yellow to conceal the vehicle on wasteland.
The originally six-meter specification, after modification, was extended to nearly seven meters, because of an added foldable iron plate walkway around the sides and rear of the vehicle.
When needed, it can be lowered to form a half-meter-wide corridor, especially the rear box, extended by nearly one meter, and the width of the vehicle changed from two meters to three meters wide.
Equivalent to an additional nine square meters of space.
This design is common on vehicles in Oasis Town.
Like the sides of the Hunting Wilderness Guild vehicle, there is such a fixed design that not only allows Hunter vehicles to dock for business but also facilitates walking, proving very convenient.
But for Lin Feng and his group, this extra design is more than just a corridor; it is also a space for placing supplies.
It can not only stack team members’ luggage but also store prey caught on outings.
Lin Feng was troubled by the smell of blood and the stench of excrement and urine from piling Desolate Beast corpses in the car, making it uninhabitable.
Now, he can directly hang the beast corpses on the back and sides of the vehicle, dissect while walking, placing a blood trough below, to automatically drain and collect blood, solving preservation issues without any waste.
It is truly convenient and useful.
Lin Feng was very satisfied with this modification.
The assembler opened the side door and invited Lin Feng and the three into the interior for a tour.
Upon entering, the vehicle is nearly 1.8 meters high, with the elevated chassis forty centimeters off the ground, bringing the total height of the vehicle to over 2.2 meters, much taller than the original version Lin Feng drove before.
The row of the driver and the front passenger seat is nearly 1.5 meters wide, lowering the seat back can turn it into a recliner for direct sleeping.
The second row of seating space is also 1.5 meters wide, allowing full leg extension when seated.
Moreover, the backrests of the three seats can be laid flat to become a small bed 1.5 meters long and 1.7 meters wide, enough for two people to sleep crosswise.
Next is the last rear compartment.
According to the request of Lin Feng and the group, the remaining three-meter space was modified into a sleeper area.
With two 70 cm wide, 2-meter-long iron beds on each side, leaving a middle aisle of more than half a meter.
There is a 30 cm space under the lower bunk bed to store items, and above, a 1.5-meter high space where two bunks share an average of 70 cm gap, barely enough to sit up straight with the upper body.
Of course, these living areas are not the focus.
The focus is on inspecting the vehicle’s power system and the front driver’s central control system, whether the power is sufficient, whether the button conduction is smooth and silky.
These are the keys to the vehicle’s long-term operation.
Fortunately, the ordinary electric vehicle without an installed energy storage system directly uses photovoltaic panels for power generation, supplying power to the motor, making the structure not complex, hence lasting for over a decade without malfunctioning.
Only requiring the replacement of aging photovoltaic panels.
Lin Feng doesn’t have much driving experience, and for Chen Shanshan, it’s even less. During the Old Earth Era, she was only twelve years old, barely having touched the steering wheel.
So, the task of test-driving was given to the professional among the three - Liu Mingfei.
As a professional veteran driver for decades, having driven a taxi for so many years, he is exceptionally familiar with vehicle performance, supplemented by the recently learned auto repair knowledge, filling in the theoretical gaps...
Now, Liu Mingfei is almost a semi-expert; just a test drive can reveal many issues.
As he sat in the driver’s seat, letting the repairer unlock the tow chain on the car head, then stepping on the gas pedal, steering sharply to the left.
The engineer from Dawn Village inside the car held the order sheet and began explaining the photovoltaic panels and the motor power system:
"You have selected the ordinary package, with twenty square meters of ordinary photovoltaic panels, on the roof frame, according to the vehicle’s six-meter length, six by three configurations, and the last two panels extend to the rear of the vehicle, serving as a sunshade for the iron plate walkway."
"According to the propulsion rate of 100 kg per square meter, it can push a two-ton object forward at a speed of two kilometers per hour."
"This electric vehicle weighs 1.5 tons, and the entire power system, including the photovoltaic panels and the motor, weighs 300 kg, so it can carry at most an additional 200 kg of cargo."
Upon hearing this, Lin Feng and the three on the vehicle frowned.
Back when the manager of Dawn Shop seemed to play a word game, he didn’t add the weight of the photovoltaic panels and motor to the maximum propulsion limit.
Although for the advanced tier with 200 kilograms and the top tier with 500 kilograms per square meter propulsion, the extra 300 kilograms didn’t feel significant.
But for the regular tier, it’s quite deadly.
The original half-ton payload surplus is now drastically cut, leaving only 200 kilograms, enough to carry three people at most, not counting other supplies.
Seeing the customer looking displeased, frowning...
An engineer from Dawn Village quickly explained:
"Of course, this is under the condition of two kilometers per hour. After coordinating with the masters from Mechanical Village, we set up two-speed adjustments, a low-speed gear at one kilometer per hour to match the pace of Oasis Town."
"Under low-speed gear, coupled with an advanced motor, the propulsion of this electric vehicle can increase by 50%, which means a max load of three tons!"
"Deducting the vehicle’s weight plus the power system, there remains 1.2 tons, or 1,200 kilograms, not to mention us four, even ten people, it can still run smoothly!"
After explaining, the engineer added:
"Just this gear at two kilometers per hour seems somewhat lacking in power, at most speeding up to 1.5 kilometers, but for traveling in Fifth Village and keeping pace with Oasis Town, it’s more than adequate!"
Lin Feng wasn’t very interested in this; as long as the vehicle’s state was confirmed to be fine, everything else could be handled by the Item Upgrade System.
He asked Liu Mingfei, at the driver’s seat, to open the iron board pathway on both sides and at the rear, while Lin Feng stepped outside to start checking the attributes of the photovoltaic panels.
In the corner of his eye, results kept appearing:
"Inferior Photovoltaic Panels Level 6, White Quality"
"Basic Attributes: Power generation efficiency 10%, 24-hour power generation 1.5 kWh; Durability: 7/10, Life Value can be consumed for an upgrade"
"Note: Remaining lifespan 3 years"
Consistent with the sample seen in the shop, but the durability is slightly lower, and its lifespan is not as they boasted, able to guarantee a wasteland year, that is six years.
And it only has half left, remaining three years.
Lin Feng thinks this point deserves pointing out.
The previous propulsion load issue could be attributed to textual ambiguity in the order contract, but this lifespan was clearly written, in black and white.
Upon thorough inspection, although all are Level 6 inferior photovoltaic panels, at least half of them have a lifespan less than five years, not achieving the contract’s stated six-year guarantee.
At this time in Mechanical Village, Liu Mingfei, struggling to maneuver the electric vehicle around a few circles, also discovered many issues.
First is severe insufficient power, the second-speed gear was like not opened at all, only less than half of the low-speed gear, accelerating felt like a crawling turtle.
This point has been explained by the engineer.
It’s not the reason of the Mechanical Village’s modification masters.
The second issue was that the front wheels weren’t equipped with suspension shocks; every bump was intensified, unsuitable for mountain terrain, despite the order stating front and rear would be equipped.
Another big issue is the direction transmission between the steering wheel and the axle is somewhat sluggish, so is the foot pedal throttle; the gears in the chassis need fine-tuning, and more lubricant should be added to ensure smooth operation.
As for some minor issues, Liu Mingfei pointed them all out without omission.
Back at the repair shop, Liu Mingfei discussed the vehicle’s inherent problems, while Lin Feng aptly pointed out the aging lifespan issues of the photovoltaic panels.
Ultimately, Mechanical Village agreed to a factory overhaul.
From Dawn Village’s side, to the engineer, this batch of goods was already picked from a pile of semi-waste in the warehouse, choosing the ones with decent quality.
Originally reported as waste, no matter how much purchased, it belonged to the department’s minor treasury...
They thought among the wasteland’s deserters, no one could identify quality, yet Lin Feng, an eagle-eyed person, emerged, accurately identifying numerous defects.
But rework is impossible; swapping entirely with substandard goods is more costly, and it would also record losses.
So the engineer used fully assembled as an excuse to refuse Lin Feng’s replacement request, instead proposing a discount compensation.
Willing to offer a 200-point discount, after deducting the deposit, only 700 points need to be paid.
Calculating this way, the whole power system costs only 1,000 points in total.
Savings were immediate.
Lin Feng agreed at once.
As long as it’s not in scrap state, durability related to lifespan isn’t a concern for him.
Like this, by 10 a.m. the next day, after Mechanical Village’s repair masters completed rework, they ultimately offered an extra 50-point deduction as compensation.
Due to some minor issues being weld-related, removing then repairing would be unrealistic for a vehicle already road-ready.
As it doesn’t affect the vehicle’s performance, losing a piece or two of iron panel doesn’t pose much issue for traveling.
Liu Mingfei looked at the faults he pointed out and was delighted, realizing those auto repair books weren’t studied in vain.
Lin Feng and Chen Shanshan looked at him with new-found respect.
Praised him several times.
Thus, when Liu Mingfei drove out the modified Jinbei Seagull electric vehicle, handed over after modification, from Fifth Village...
The team surprisingly gained an additional 250 points.
Braking continuously, upon arriving at the Fifth Village Hunting Wilderness Guild, Liu Mingfei parked the vehicle beside the guild.
Lin Feng disembarked in a great mood, patted the vehicle’s hood, in the corner of his eye appeared attribute data:
"Light Bus Level 10, Red Quality"
"Basic Attributes: Defense 60; Durability 7/10; Top Speed 2km"