Chapter 16 Matsuda Jinpei's Complaint

However, Feng Xingshou's attention was entirely focused on what he was saying, and he didn't notice anything else. He was currently pondering something: "If that's the case, wouldn't it be difficult for most survivors to quickly upgrade their cars to level one? What if a disaster theme comes along? What if the monsters' attack power increases at night?"

"There must have been a lot of car upgrade blueprints and materials randomly distributed in the rewards for rankings between 11th place and 11th place!" Kenji Hagiwara speculated. "Perhaps in a few days they'll open a trading channel so survivors can trade with each other!"

The typical survival game follows this pattern: if this road game only aimed to provide the thrill of reaping the lives of aliens, it wouldn't have developed a trading system; instead, it would have focused on reaping alien lives by exploiting the difficulty of upgrading cars.

If they are seeking some other trait of Earthlings, or simply for fun and thrills, and killing is not their ultimate goal, then if the mastermind behind this has ulterior motives, then the trading channels will open sooner or later...

"If trading were truly allowed, everyone could exchange what they have, and their vehicles would be able to upgrade quickly, improving performance and increasing survivability. Moreover, with trading enabled, communication within the game would be possible, through open-world channels and the like."

"If the world channel is open, maybe we can ask about the other survivors, at least we can get a general idea of ​​the range of survivors that the game can capture, such as age, gender, physique, etc..." Hearing Hagiwara's speculation that the game's trading channels would likely be opened, Feng Xing Shou couldn't help but look forward to it.

"Indeed, opening up trading channels would be very beneficial for survivors." However, given the game's frugal nature, he didn't think the other side would easily open up trading channels.

Seeing her expectant look, Kenji Hagiwara smiled and didn't say anything to spoil the mood. Instead, he suddenly asked another question: "By the way, how did you fare in this dungeon?"

When this question was raised, Feng Xingshou's eyes instantly turned ashen: "What can you possibly gain from the home of an ultimate alcoholic who never cooks, whose clothes and bedding reek of alcohol and who never cleans them? The real haul is the various alcoholic byproducts."

"Heh... It's not bad to have alcohol. After purification, it can be used to disinfect, it can ward off the cold when it's cold, and it can even be used as a sleeping pill if you have insomnia." Seeing her eyes as lifeless as the sea, Kenji Hagiwara couldn't help but chuckle.

"Okay! I can console myself with that thought. Fortunately, the water we got today is enough for us to use for ten days to half a month if we use it sparingly. That's not bad." When the water issue was mentioned, Feng Xingshou suddenly remembered Hagiwara's strange behavior earlier.

Thinking about his strange behavior and her own speculation, she really wanted to ask him what was wrong, but a second before she opened her mouth, she remembered the awkwardness of her overly familiar way of speaking ill of someone's boss yesterday, and she had seriously reflected on it.

Now, if she suddenly asks him some casual questions, will he find her annoying and impolite? After all, while scrolling through her phone, she's seen many bloggers who have studied or worked in Japan say that Japanese people have a strong sense of distance.

They dislike people who lack boundaries, and they don't like irrelevant people asking them questions about their affairs... etc., so they swallowed back what they were about to say and hurriedly changed the subject: "By the way."

I just saw that the engine upgrade blueprints we got today require enough materials, and I have enough space in my inventory. Shall we upgrade the engine first?

“Great! The engine is like the heart of a car. Upgrading it might improve the performance a lot.” Hagiwara was also quite excited to hear that the engine could be upgraded, since the car he was used to driving was a relatively advanced vehicle from the early 2000s.

Driving these classic cars really hindered his performance, and being good at car repair is essentially the same as being good at modifying vehicles. He was also somewhat curious about this kind of car modification upgrade.

What effects will it have?

Seeing that Hagiwara was also looking forward to it, and knowing that Kazesei-no-Mori had read road trip survival novels and knew that the higher the car's performance, the better, he immediately opened the car door and got out, saying to Hagiwara, "Then I'll get out the materials I need..."

.

"I'll get off too! Having someone on the vehicle might affect the engine upgrade. After all, this isn't a portable toilet that can be manufactured and deployed immediately." Before Kazesei Mamoru could finish speaking, Hagiwara Kenji chimed in with perfect understanding.

Seeing his cooperation, Feng Xingshou couldn't help but smile. After Hagiwara got out of the car and he prepared the necessary materials, he unhesitatingly chose to use the engine upgrade blueprint and upgrade the engine of the initial car.

As she operated, 10 units each of plastic, rubber, and black iron piled up next to the car disappeared into thin air, and then a fog that was no different from the thick fog on both sides of the road enveloped the entire car for a few seconds.

A few seconds later, after the thick fog dissipated, the car, which appeared unchanged on the surface, reappeared in front of them. At the same time, the game panel automatically appeared in front of Feng Xingshou, presenting an interface she had never seen before.

[Vehicle Configuration: Starting vehicle, level 1 engine, starting body, starting tires, starting center console, starting windows, starting exhaust pipe, starting seats... Speed ​​180 km/h, 50-liter fuel tank, range 800 km.]

Kenji Hagiwara, who was standing nearby, also saw the interface and understood the car's configuration. He immediately said, "It seems that if we want to upgrade the entire car to level one, we may have to upgrade all these initial items to level one as well."

"I wonder what it will be like when it's fully upgraded to level one? It would be best if it were more spacious and could have a car air conditioner installed. This car is okay to drive during the day, but it's too much of a torture at night!" Feng Xingshou looked at the car, which hadn't changed much in appearance, and pinned his hopes on the day of the full upgrade.

"Heh... Judging from the improved stats after the engine upgrade, it should meet your expectations." Kenji Hagiwara seemed to have forgotten the shock he suffered in the dungeon today, and said with a nonchalant smile. After speaking, he gentlemanly opened the passenger door, gesturing for Kaze Seishu to get in, and said, "Kaze-chan! Get in!"

"Hey! Aren't we going to eat lunch before we set off?" Feng Xingshou asked hurriedly upon seeing this.

Kenji Hagiwara nodded and replied, "Let's just have some bread in the car for lunch today! We need to obtain all our supplies, car upgrades, and fuel from the road treasure chests."

"Time is limited, so it's better to drive first. We can make a proper dinner later. Anyway, we now understand the dangers of nighttime, so even if we start resting and cooking after dark, we still have time."

"Mm!" Feng Xingshou knew he was right; after all, it would take more than an hour to prepare lunch properly. And the time on this highway seemed to be based on the current springtime in the Central Continent of Earth.

It gets dark early and dawn comes late every day, with short days and long nights. Plus, you have to stop frequently to pick up treasure chests along the way, so traveling more during the day is the right thing to do...

So the two quickly got into the car, ate a few small breads while driving, and then began what was, for Kazesei-no-Mori, a very tedious driving lesson, even though Hagiwara was very funny and tried his best to teach in a way that would interest her.

She still found it all too complicated. Why did she have to be prepared to use both her hands and feet while driving? Couldn't she just ignore all the traffic rules? And what was a turn signal anyway? She wasn't good at multitasking!

Unfortunately, she was too embarrassed to confide these thoughts to her younger coach, and could only silently frantically vent her frustration... Sigh! o(╥﹏╥)o

During this time of year, there will likely only be occasional roadside treasure chests.

It could soothe her increasingly frantic mind, and the joy of achievement would help her suppress the urge to give up, even though... she knew this was a skill she had to learn even if it meant death. -_-||

.

As darkness fell, Hagiwara parked the car. During that afternoon, they had found a total of six wooden treasure chests, and to their surprise, before stopping, they encountered a black iron treasure chest for the last time.

The contents of these treasure chests pleased Fengxingshou greatly: 60 units of wood, 10 units of black iron, 80 units of fuel, 10 large skewers of roasted beef, a box of self-heating rice, a bag of two sesame seed cakes, a serving of medium-spicy cold noodles, a bottle of orange juice, a carton of pure milk, and a box of 10 eggs.

In a game where resources are scarce, how could you not be happy to harvest this food! Not to mention that you not only harvested food, but also a lot of fuel, which is even more cause for celebration.

Only Kenji Hagiwara watched Feng Jiang happily counting her loot with a somewhat bewildered expression. Why were all the treasure chests filled with Chinese food? Why weren't there any Japanese dishes? Was it because the survivor Feng Jiang was from Zhongzhou?

With the portable folding toilet, the problem of relieving oneself was solved. In the evening, the two of them cooked a proper dinner with beef skewers, rice cooked in a clay pot, and fresh vegetables collected from yesterday's dungeon. There were vegetables, meat, and rice, and the meal was quite good.

During that time, he even splurged on the only two cans of Coke he had. The fragrant roasted meat was only good with Coke, and he had been drinking plain water for several days, so his mouth was very bland. Drinking a can of Coke after so long greatly satisfied Feng Xingshou's taste buds.

In fact, they also collected a whole case of canned beer from the drunkard's house in today's dungeon and drank a few bottles. Fengxingshou asked Hagiwara Kenji if he wanted to drink, but he refused. After all, he had to fight monsters tonight and drive tomorrow, and he didn't want to ruin things by drinking...

After finishing dinner and cleaning up the dishes, the two of them took a walk around the car with the headlights on. Even in the dark, as expected, no monsters came out until midnight.

Feng Xing Shou had never seen anyone fire a gun in real life! She had planned to cheer herself up and accompany Hagiwara to fight monsters this time, and also to see what it looks like to fire a gun, but her biological clock was too punctual and too powerful, and she managed to stay awake until after 10 o'clock.

She couldn't help but yawn one after another, looking so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyelids open. Hagiwara found it both amusing and heartbreaking, so he simply advised her to go to sleep and that he would provide a wake-up service when she saw him. Unable to stay awake any longer, she fell asleep within half a minute of hearing this.

The very next second after she fell asleep, the ever-present gentle smile on Kenji Hagiwara's face vanished. He took a deep breath and solemnly pulled out his phone from his pocket.

Scrolling down the text message list to 7 years ago, the day he almost died in the line of duty, from November 7th, 2007 onwards, the unread messages suggest that Kojinpei was probably quite shocked that day, as he didn't receive any text messages for the first few days.

More than a month later, he saw his first text message from his childhood friend, who immediately complained about his colleagues' perfunctory attitude, saying that they had no evidence and were just making assumptions.

The court determined that no body parts of his were found at the explosion site on the 7th because the explosives were too advanced and completely destroyed his body. Therefore, the court concluded that he died at the scene of the explosion and closed the case.

Then, thanks to the case being closed, his family was finally able to hold a funeral for him. He was also promoted a police rank for dying in the line of duty and was buried with the rank of police inspector, but Kojinpei simply did not believe that he was dead.

They also believed that the eight egg traces found at the scene were not advanced enough to burn human bones to ashes. But unfortunately, apart from his family and three close friends from the police academy, no one would seriously listen to Kojinpei's thoughts and insistence...