Chapter 56: Repairs

Three Spark 26 fully automatic tactical rifles with 120 rounds of ammunition could be exchanged for about five days’ worth of rations for a ten-person team, or 80 liters of gasoline.

Yet, all these weapons combined could only be traded for two boxes of antibiotics.

In addition, water filters, heating equipment, and communication devices became more and more valuable as the apocalypse continued.

Thus, the red bean, also known as the Anomaly Blood Crystal by the Phoenix Society, became a new hard currency for trade. As the polar night encroached and research deepened, more and more value was being discovered in this item.

It could open up communication within the dark tide, allow a glimpse into the dark world, enhance abilities, and even detect Ethereal Fluctuation levels to determine the danger of an area…

One could imagine how important it was.

Lin Xian was now very keen on that Ethereal Fluctuation detector.

If he could have such a thing installed on the train, they could determine the risk of an area when they stopped to rest. That would greatly enhance the safety of the train during rest periods, and at the same time, allow him to spare more time for exploring his Mechanical Heart.

Before long, most of the teams had negotiated some trades among themselves. They didn’t linger and began to exchange goods directly.

“Friend.”

At this moment, the middle-aged man named Xu Jin walked over with an anxious look on his face. The woman named Shu Qin was with him.

“If it’s convenient, could you take a look at her water purification device?”

The woman named Shu Qin had short hair and was not tall, but she looked very capable. She said to Lin Xian, “Yes, if you can fix it, I can also offer you a reward.”

“Let’s go take a look first.”

Lin Xian said to KIKI, “Missy, have Dalou bring the things we just negotiated and trade them with that brother in glasses for his red bean.”

“You got it.” KIKI also helped arrange the trade.

Walking out of the abandoned factory, the wind and snow had intensified. Walking on the snow began to make crunching sounds.

Many of the survivors from the teams outside were already wearing thick clothes, but some were still thinly clad, shivering in the snowy night.

Lin Xian followed behind, his eyes scanning the survivor teams along the way. Almost all of them were covered in mud, with undried bloodstains showing a dark red color in the dark night. All the vehicles carrying supplies, water, and children were surrounded in the center of the convoys. Among the people on guard, some had sharp eyes, while others had wooden expressions.

Shu Qin’s team was a small one, with only 8 vehicles. One of the pickup trucks had a water tank mounted on the back, and a simple rainwater collector made of sheet metal was on the roof.

“The rainwater from the sky can’t be drunk directly, not even after boiling. It has to be filtered first. Otherwise, the water heater will break down quickly, and it will also consume a lot of electricity.”

Shu Qin patted the sheet metal water tank, her expression grave. “Drinking too much rainwater, besides the large number of bacteria causing fever and diarrhea, will also produce terrifying hallucinations and cause great mental torment.”

“That’s right.” Xu Jin sighed. “We’ve been looking for water for two days. We used to use a homemade filter and then distill it into clean water, but that consumes too much fuel…”

Hearing this, Lin Xian was secretly amazed. His Infinity was filled with bottled purified water he had scavenged before. Plus, he had never received the Phoenix Society’s broadcast, so he had never considered this problem.

Now that he thought about it, he immediately became vigilant. The biggest advantage of the Infinity compared to these convoys was its loading capacity and protection, which allowed him to carry a lot of supplies.

But the bottled water would run out sooner or later. The train only had a boiler and a steam generator, no water purification equipment at all.

He thought he wouldn’t lack water after getting the Ice Shield, but he hadn’t considered the issue of water sanitation. It was a good thing he only licked it that time…

Because there was plenty of bottled water, the train wasn’t in such a shortage that he needed to make water from ice to drink. Who knew if the water from the Ice Shield was created out of thin air or condensed from the surrounding water vapor? If he got sick, it could be very troublesome. When they were scavenging for supplies late at night at the outpost, they were in too much of a hurry. Besides weapons, food, and water, they only found some hemostatic gauze and iodophor-like medical supplies.

Even now, disinfectant drugs like iodophor had become scarce resources…

And now, with the need to supply heating, the electricity consumption was also huge.

His Mechanical Heart ability was already feeling a considerable physical strain, and he still had to travel long distances every day…

Damn it. When I get back, I’ll devour all the trailers in the back, and that useless locomotive. I’ll only keep one of Qian Yu’s armored vehicles and my own motorcycle for backup, to reduce the load as much as possible and also to level up my Mechanical Heart as soon as possible.

“Let me take a look first.”

Lin Xian took out his flashlight, climbed directly onto the pickup truck, and then pretended to start inspecting the water purification device.

In reality, his [Mechanical Scan] was quietly activated, quickly scanning the blueprint of the water purification device and checking for problems at the same time.

[Scan successful. Obtained blueprint for Blue Sky KK-93 Reverse Osmosis Water Purifier.]

Soon, a holographic blueprint of a small water purifier appeared on the light screen in front of Lin Xian’s eyes.

“This simple?”

“But it needs PVC filter membrane material…”

Lin Xian frowned slightly. What he had devoured before were mainly metal things. Since he activated the decomposition ability, he hadn’t devoured those civilian machines and home appliances for a long time.

“Looks like I need to find a place to scavenge properly. Although the Mechanical Source points might not be much, I can get some necessary materials.”

…

“How is it? Captain Lin, can it be fixed?”

Xu Jin seemed even more anxious than Shu Qin. From the looks of him, he hadn’t had a drink of water for a day or two.

That’s why he had just traded some weapons and daily necessities for a lot of purified water to solve his immediate crisis.

“It might be a circuit problem. Can you find me a screwdriver and a pair of pliers?”

He said it convincingly. When Xu Jin and Shu Qin heard this, their eyes immediately lit up.

For Shu Qin, if it could be fixed, she could trade this thing for a lot of useful supplies.

And for Xu Jin, it was a real solution to his urgent need.

“Okay, right away!”

Shu Qin quickly had someone from her team find a toolbox and hand it to Lin Xian.

“Captain Lin, to fix this, what do you need…”

“Just give me twenty cans of food.” Lin Xian had scanned the area when he arrived. Shu Qin’s team’s supplies were not abundant. The dozen or so people looked miserable, clearly not a wealthy group.

She had given Lin Xian a kind reminder from the beginning, and she had also directly told him the information she knew about abilities. Lin Xian had a good impression of this female captain, and he had also obtained the blueprint for the water purifier, so he didn’t ask for an exorbitant price.

If this water purification device was repaired, she could trade it with Xu Jin for supplies worth at least two red beans. Twenty cans of food wasn’t even a tenth of that. It was indeed very conscientious.

“Really?!” Shu Qin’s face lit up with joy. “That’s great! I’ll go get them for you right away!”

Actually, Lin Xian had another motive for asking for canned food.

During the bonfire trade just now, none of his requests included supplies or water. And he was driving a train. This could easily give people an impression:

That his Infinity Team was not short of food and water at all.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian deliberately proposed to take canned food as a reward, being a little cautious.

Xu Jin, at the side, was also full of eagerness. From Lin Xian’s expression, it seemed that the malfunction was not complicated, which meant that this water purification device had few problems, and he was more at ease.

Without another word, Lin Xian unscrewed the cover with a screwdriver while frowning and pretending to study and think.

In fact, he had already fixed it when he was operating his Mechanical Heart just now. Although the problem was not big, it would still be quite troublesome for an ordinary person to fix. Thanks to the heaven-defying ability of Lin Xian’s Mechanical Heart, he only needed to use some materials from his decomposition space to repair the circuit board and the water pump motor, and he solved the blockage problem at the same time.

“It should be fine now…”

Lin Xian busied himself for a while, tightened the screws, wiped away a thin layer of sweat, and said to Shu Qin, “Turn it on and try.”

“Okay!” Shu Qin quickly patted the car door, telling the pickup truck driver to start the engine and turn on the switch of the water purifier at the same time.

Whirr~~

The water purifier began to work normally, and a stream of filtered clean water slowly flowed out.