The Quality Upgrade: An Excellent-Grade Excavator
Without Oreo's sled to pull them home, the journey back to the wasteland became extremely long.
They had to walk on foot to cover a distance of about a hundred miles, especially since they had to walk through the snow, sometimes sinking deep and sometimes sinking shallow, and constantly avoid obstacles hidden under the snow.
After taking breaks and resting intermittently, Su Mo had only covered a good portion of the distance by noon.
Even so, it was only because Su Mo was constantly using Psionic Water to restore his stamina that he was able to travel at such a fast speed.
"I wonder how Earth Tiger is doing. He left in such a hurry last night that he didn't even close the base gate!"
After eating some bread and drinking some water, Su Mo resumed his journey once his strength had been restored.
At times like these, the necessity of a superior vehicle becomes fully apparent.
Whether it's traveling back and forth between the two places or searching for his sister, he needs to find or build a vehicle that can adapt to various terrains as soon as possible.
"The next vehicle design must fully consider terrain adaptability; otherwise, it will break down just like a ground tiger when encountering rough terrain."
With slightly heavy steps, Su Mo felt a deep sense of "admiration" for Maeda Kento, who had once walked all night through wind and snow to reach the shelter, and for a series of deceased enemies.
As the saying goes, as long as you have motivation in your heart, what is a little road under your feet! However, before Su Mo could cheer up and continue to move quickly, three abrupt Game Panel notification sounds suddenly rang in his ears.
[Record]: The "Small Single-Arm Excavator" card in your Storage Space has been unlocked. Please check and use it promptly. [Record]: The card vehicle is brand new and has full energy upon first summoning.
[Note]: A user manual is included as a bonus. Enjoy the game! "Is the excavator's timeout over? Can it be used again?"
This time, the enjoyment of the game was a Timely Rain.
Upon opening the game interface and seeing the three consecutive unlock messages, Su Mo was overjoyed and quickly retrieved the excavator card from his Storage Space.
Compared to its previous unremarkable appearance, after the time limit was removed, the ordinary whiteboard cards no longer displayed the excellent quality green light, but instead were filled with the superior quality blue light.
It looks extraordinary at first glance.
"Looks like the game upgraded my card quality for free because of my outstanding performance in the second disaster? Is that some kind of hidden perk?"
"Furthermore, it's understandable that the card vehicle starts with a full tank of fuel. After all, for those who get a one-time-use vehicle after a second drop, it would be a real rip-off if it ran out of fuel."
The Game Panel is much more generous than the system panel.
Without much thought, Su Mo glanced at the surrounding terrain, came to a gentle slope, and rubbed his hands together slightly, causing the excavator card to shatter in his hands.
Whoosh! Boom!
From the shattered card, a foot-high Golden Light surged forth, then transformed into flowing water, spreading across the snow and occupying a considerable area.
The Golden Light, like a magician's magic cloth, slowly spread upwards.
Meanwhile, under the Golden Light, the single-arm excavator slowly revealed its "peerless beauty"! A powerful steel arm, tracked steering wheels, a luxurious cockpit with an extremely high field of vision, and a striking large sign on the machine: No.1!
"Wow, the Game Panel is really flashy. They even gave me such a high-profile paint job for an excavator!"
Unlike ordinary tan excavators, this excavator exudes extravagance and symbolizes the honor of being the world's number one.
The large black and white No.1 print is not ugly at all; on the contrary, it makes the excavator look extremely powerful and high-class.
The Game Panel describes it as a small excavator, but it's not actually small in the strict sense on Earth.
Filled with curiosity, Su Mo activated the new excavator attributes once again and was immediately pleasantly surprised.
Small Single-Arm Excavator (high-quality)
[Description]: A small diesel backhoe excavator produced by a certain heavy machinery manufacturer, which has the following working modes: trench end excavation, trench side excavation, straight excavation, curved excavation, excavation at a certain angle, ultra-deep trench excavation, and trench slope excavation.
[Machine Weight]: 25,500kg [Machine Dimensions]: Top Width (3045mm), Overall Height (4255mm), Overall Width (3190mm), Track Ground Contact Length (3640mm)
[Bucket Digging Force]: 175kN [Bucket Capacity]: 1.3-1.5m [Rated Power kW]: 147/2100kW/rpm [Travel Speed (High/Low) km/h]: 10.4-15.8km/h [Climbing Ability]: 70%/35° [Special Ability]: Rapid Movement: Superior quality results in higher engine power and horsepower torque, and the excavator automatically adds a super-fast speed of 30km/h when moving at full speed.
Unleash Immense Power: Superior quality brings greater excavator arm strength, doubling the bucket digging force! Unbreakable Resilience: The machine's wear and tear will slowly recover after the engine stops. "Excellent! After upgrading to Superior quality, both the shovel capacity and basic attributes have been significantly improved."
"And the extra special ability, the rapid movement ability, is incredibly useful!"
Although the tracked structure of an excavator is similar to that of a tank, the engine of the excavator determines that it is not much faster than a person walking.
Even if a regular excavator is driven at full speed and put in slow gear, it can only travel a maximum of ten kilometers per hour.
However, with the current special ability bonuses, as long as it is in full gear, it can reach a speed of 40 km/h, which is not much different from the 60 km/h of the 99C Tank!
Oreo, standing nearby, also seemed very curious about the new, large creature.
Looking at the black and white colors that were similar to his own, Oreo looked smug and, with a light running start, leaped into the excavator's bucket.
Lying in the shovel bucket, Oreo seemed to have returned to its mother's "cradle," and a very happy smile appeared on the dog's face.
"A dog that likes to lie in the shovel bucket?"
Seeing Oreo lie down and declare that he was going to stay there for the night, Su Mo burst into laughter.
With a means of transportation, Su Mo was less anxious about returning to the Underground Shelter and patiently circled the excavator to examine it.
On the right side of the excavator, there is a handrail for both up and down movement.
Grasping the handrail, stepping on the pedal below, and gently exerting force with his arms, Su Mo stood next to the excavator's cab.
At this point, the key used to open the door was already inserted into the lock.
As Su Mo twisted, the cockpit door opened, revealing the not-so-simple furnishings inside.
"As expected of the world's number one airdrop reward, every detail shows careful consideration, even the interior layout is quite impressive."
The leather seats are upholstered with expensive-looking cushions, and the dashboard is made of beautifully patterned solid wood.
Almost every visible part of the site uses a top-of-the-line excavator.
If this weren't an excavator but a sports car, given these specifications, the game would probably feature a full carbon fiber chassis.
Sitting in the seat, feeling the softness beneath, and adjusting the angle to allow for a semi-reclined position, Su Mo was surprised to find that the excavator's driving experience was actually better than that of the Earth Tiger, and the field of vision was also much wider.
Sitting in such a vehicle, you not only feel safe, but also a sense of power that no other excavator can provide! "The operation of an excavator's single boom involves pulling up the lever."
Reclining in his seat, Su Mo picked up the operation manual beside him and began to carefully study how to use the excavator.
Just like the nearly one hundred advanced equipment from around the world featured in Lan Xiang School's advertisements, students can practice there, and there are no fees for a one-month trial period.
After reading the manual, Su Mo was surprised to find that operating an excavator was actually not difficult at all! It was even simpler than driving a manual car, not to mention how to start the machine.
In practical applications, the operation is divided into four movements: boom, forearm, bucket, and rotation.
These four actions basically cover all the ways to use an excavator.
Following the instructions, Su Mo first started the engine, and after hearing the excavator's engine roar, he gripped the right handle.
"The handle on the right has two functions: bucket and boom. The left and right handles are used to open and close the bucket, while the forward and backward handles to raise and lower the boom. There are also two handles in front that can only move forward and backward. The foot handles are used for the tracked movement."
Reciting the words from the instruction manual, Su Mo tightened his grip and pushed the handle forward.
Suddenly, Oreo, who was leisurely basking in the sun in the bucket, looked down in horror, seemingly not understanding why he was suddenly so high above the ground.
Then, Su Mo tried pulling the handle again, and sure enough, the bucket that had just been raised gradually lowered down.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
After being lowered, Oreo jumped out of the bucket with a look of lingering fear. Then, seeing Su Mo's wicked grin in the cab, he immediately darted back up with lightning speed.
"Huh? You still want to play?"
Seeing that Oreo seemed to have rediscovered the joy of sitting on the back of the Bouncy chair, Su Mo was also filled with playfulness and began to try out the actions one by one according to the instructions.
Excavators are easy to learn, but difficult to operate well.
After all, a bucket is different from a human hand. Relying on the two handles on the left and right, it is extremely difficult to control this big thing with precision.
Fortunately, there are no traffic regulations or large buildings in the wasteland.
Even if there's an occasional mishandling of a shovel, there's no coach around to nag.
After trying for half an hour and figuring out all the operations, Su Mo didn't wait any longer. He raised the bucket, signaled Oreo to sit properly, and then pulled the throttle knob to the maximum.
Excavators, being such large machines, don't have an accelerator pedal.
The pump flow rate is mainly controlled by knobs and levers. The throttle knob is like the main switch next to the water meter, while the pump control system and handle opening are like the faucet.
As thick black smoke billowed up, the heavy tracks began to slowly and forcefully move across the snow.
As Su Mo shifted into the rabbit gear, this time the excavator stopped dawdling and a Giant Strength suddenly erupted from the tracks, propelling the heavy excavator forward at high speed.
"Woof~~~"
Inside the bucket, feeling the rushing cold wind, Oreo excitedly stood up and let out a domineering wolf howl!
I've been researching the flag event rewards for ages, but I still haven't figured out how to issue fan titles. Don't worry, let me figure it out some more!