Chapter 5

With nothing to do in the evening, Qiao Ning cleaned her mouth with mouthwash and went to bed early.

The car only has about two or three seats, plus a trunk. The driver's seat is so small that Qiao Ning, who is 1.78 meters tall, couldn't stretch her arms and legs, so she had to sleep on the steering wheel all night.

As the saying goes, "What you think about during the day, you dream about at night." Qiao Ning didn't sleep well that night, as she dreamt of being chased by monsters from beginning to end.

When she woke up for the second time, the sky outside the car window was still not fully bright. She wondered if it was a visual problem, but she felt that the sun seemed bigger today than yesterday.

Or perhaps, it's a little too close?

Qiao Ning recalled a classical Chinese text she had learned in childhood, "Two Children Arguing About the Sun," and wondered if she was just imagining things. However, her gaming experience and intuition told her not to overlook any detail. She secretly noted this unusual occurrence in her mind.

The first thing Qiao Ning did after getting up was to rinse her mouth and then drink water.

She slept for about ten hours, waking up once in between to drink water.

Compared to yesterday, she could clearly feel that the air was drier today.

After getting out of the car and moving around for 30 minutes as usual, Qiao Ning felt a little thirsty again after returning to the car. Looking at the empty 550ml mineral water bottle, she seemed to be deep in thought.

This natural disaster is a drought, and judging from the moisturizing products that were previously distributed, the negative effects of drought cannot possibly be limited to the land.

Players may experience frequent thirst, dehydration, dry skin, and even chapped skin.

Of course, this is just her speculation.

Qiao Ning currently has plenty of drinking water. Apart from what she drank from yesterday until now, what she used to replace materials, and what she used to wipe her hands and feet, she still has 13 liters left.

116 units of gasoline remain.

As for materials, after deducting the cost of manufacturing the storage boxes, her current inventory includes:

Wood*204, Iron Blocks*34, Copper Blocks*35, Silver Blocks*10, Gold Blocks*2

Plastic*62, Rubber*41, Glass*32

The manufacturing process for a universal flush toilet requires 30 iron blocks, 20 copper blocks, 5 silver blocks, 1 gold block, 10 glass blocks, 20 rubber blocks, and 5 glue blocks.

All the other materials are available, but the glue, Qiao Ning, hasn't been prepared yet.

She searched the trading area yesterday, but no one was selling glue; probably because nobody has it yet.

Qiao Ning ate a buttered croissant and purple rice bread for breakfast. She also sliced ​​500 grams of beef she had bought, pan-fried it, and sprinkled it with seasonings such as salt, sugar, and pepper. The taste was unexpectedly delicious.

She initially thought the beef wouldn't look like steak and would be tough, but it turned out to be incredibly tender and had a milky flavor.

Qiao Ning drank AD calcium milk for breakfast, but instead of quenching her thirst, she felt even thirstier. Helpless, she could only drink another 200ml of water to quench her thirst.

After finishing her meal and taking care of her business, Qiao Ning glanced at the time. It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, so she decided to open the chat channel to see what everyone was talking about.

[Anyone have water? I'm offering a hefty price for 1 liter. DM me for details!]

I'm dying of thirst! I haven't had any water since yesterday afternoon. If any kind soul could lend me a bottle of water, I'd be eternally grateful!

[Is anyone replacing 250 grams of food with 100 ml of water?]

[Gasoline was replaced with water; 2 units of gasoline were replaced with 1 liter of water!]

[Upstairs, gasoline is precious, but it's not that expensive, is it? Would you trade 200ml of water for two units of gasoline?]

[Seriously? Yesterday, two 550ml bottles of water couldn't even buy one unit of gasoline.]

There's nothing we can do; times have changed. Look how fast water prices have gone up today! Not only is everyone getting less water, but we're also getting thirstier all the time. Even the best gasoline won't kill you from thirst.

Even so, 200ml of water is too little. Two units of gasoline for one 550ml bottle, are you in or not? If you're in, let's trade directly; otherwise, forget it.

Okay, this is your first order of the day, so I'll give you a discount. Send me the transaction details.

Upon seeing this, Qiao Ning thought to herself, "As expected, the water price has gone up." The problem is that it's only the second day, and the water price has risen so quickly; a natural disaster cycle lasts for seven days.

It will only get drier and drier, and there will be more and more water shortages.

Thinking of this, Qiao Ning, who had originally thought that a dozen liters of drinking water was already quite a lot, suddenly felt nervous again.

With six days left, a dozen liters of water would be enough to drink, but what if there were other things to consume? The game was full of pitfalls, and she couldn't help but think things through.

Qiao Ning quickly tidied up the leftover breakfast trash, and seeing that it was almost time, she drove off after eight o'clock.

In the chat, people keep saying that there are fewer items in the supply boxes and fewer high-star boxes; most of them are only 1-star.

Almost everyone has now unlocked the ability to send chat messages, and the chat box in the channel is scrolling very quickly.

Qiao Ning used to level up game accounts for others, leveling up multiple accounts at once, which honed her multitasking skills. Now, while driving, she occasionally glances at the system chat channel without it affecting anything.

After driving 50 kilometers, Qiao Ning encountered a row of supply boxes right on time. There were still 3 boxes, but 2 were 1-star boxes and 1 was a 3-star box.

She didn't rush to open the box, and kept opening it until a little after noon, when she was ready to rest and have lunch.

During this time, she drank a 550ml bottle of water and ate nothing. Except when she got out of the car to pick up the supply box and relieve herself, the car never stopped.

Including the first box she picked up today, she picked up a total of 18 boxes in six separate trips.

There are 4 three-star items, 8 two-star items, and 6 one-star items.

The 1-star supply crate only contained 12 pieces of wood.

The main supplies for 2-star hotels are gasoline, water, and food.

100 units of gasoline, 5 liters of drinking water

Donkey meat sandwich*1, 2 lbs pork belly, 2 lbs chicken drumsticks, 1 lb green bell pepper, 1 lb red bell pepper, 2 lbs onion, 2 lbs tomato, 1 liter soybean oil, 1 liter rapeseed oil, 2 lbs potatoes, 2 lbs green vegetables, 1 cabbage

One case of Coca-Cola (10 cans), one packet of braised meat seasoning (ten kinds of seasonings, totaling 2 jin).

Other fruits: 500g grapes, 500g cherry tomatoes, 1000g sweet oranges

Compared to the supplies I got from those 2-star crates yesterday, the total amount has decreased, especially the amount of drinking water, which has decreased significantly.

The contents of the four 3-star chests were even fewer, so few that Qiao Ning was somewhat surprised. Each chest only contained two items, for a total of eight items:

Protective film drawing *1, automotive integration drawing *1

4 reinforced tires, 1 car reinforcement blueprint

Humidifier bulbs *5, exhaust system diagram *1

Car Butler System *1, Vehicle Repair Card *1

After carefully reading through the descriptions of all the supplies in the 3-star crate, Qiao Ning no longer felt that there was too little and was quite satisfied.

The car integration blueprints, car reinforcement blueprints, and the previously obtained car modification blueprints are all component blueprints for car upgrade blueprints.

At this point, all three component blueprints have been collected, and the system interface's manufacturing panel now displays the quantity of materials needed to upgrade the car, as well as a full-view model of the upgraded car.

Even though Qiao Ning was mentally prepared, she still felt dizzy when she saw the quantities required for the various materials:

Plastic 300, Rubber 300, Glass 300, Glue 50

3000 iron blocks, 3000 copper blocks, 1000 silver blocks, and 500 gold blocks

Or mix 10 metals

500 iron, 500 copper, 100 silver, and 50 gold can be fused together in the crafting menu to create 1 [Mixed Metal].

In terms of quantity, it seems more economical to manufacture them separately using various metal materials, but Qiao Ning saw the metal detail booklet that was unlocked after obtaining the car upgrade blueprints.

The description of the mixed metals states: Before players unlock the vehicle attribute panel, the more mixed metals a vehicle contains, the higher the initial values ​​of its basic attributes, the higher the later enhancement bonuses, and the greater its growth potential.

Do vehicles still have basic attributes?

That could mean that in the future, vehicles will also have defense values, attack values, and even health values.

This... is definitely a bit exciting.