The meal was soon over.
Everyone said their goodbyes and quickly dispersed.
Chen Mo glanced into the distance. Little Lolita was chasing Red Hare, clamoring for a donkey ride.
Red Hare dodged nimbly, letting out aggrieved brays.
But judging by the way his mouth kept opening and closing, he was clearly mouthing a nonstop stream of curses.
Su Qian pressed a hand to her forehead, unsure whether to laugh or cry, and looked at Chen Mo.
Chen Mo waved to reassure her that it was fine.
Let that old donkey suffer a little too.
He turned and caught Old Yang, who was about to pack up.
He pointed at the Dump Truck.
"Use that Mechanical Core to modify my truck."
Old Yang chuckled, as though he had expected this all along.
Without any ceremony, he held out a hand, all five fingers spread.
"Half a case of Luosifen."
"Fuck, you really are a goddamn profiteer!"
"Didn't we agree we were friends?"
"That is the friend price. Everyone else pays a whole case."
"Come on, let me take a look."
Great, even Old Yang had gone bad.
Now he was gouging his friends.
Chen Mo brought Old Yang over to the Dump Truck.
With some effort, he hauled Li Xia out from under the Potato Chips in the truck bed.
Red Hare had tormented Li Xia so badly along the way that the plastic joints throughout her body had loosened.
She rattled and clattered as Chen Mo tugged her free.
"Take a look at this too. Can she still be repaired?"
"You've done pretty well for yourself, kid."
Old Yang walked over and ran a hand over Li Xia's plastic casing. She flinched in fright, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Was this man... the same as that donkey?
That donkey had truly terrified her.
After a while, Old Yang raised his head with a wry chuckle.
"This intelligent entity has lost her connection to her host, and her core is shattered. She probably couldn't even beat an ordinary person now."
"The only useful thing left in her entire body is probably that clump of vengeful soul that hasn't dissipated."
"Repairing her would be tough, but I can put her into your truck and give it an intelligent system."
Li Xia, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke. There was a pleading note in the voice formed from her vengeful soul.
"I'm willing... please, as long as I don't have to stay with that donkey."
At least inside the truck, she could keep her vengeful soul from dissipating and escape that inhuman torment.
Chen Mo nodded and shrugged helplessly.
"Let's do that, then. Better than throwing her away."
An intelligent entity would be nice. Even this crappy agricultural dump truck was getting a good meal.
A gold rim on a chamber pot.
Old Yang fetched a toolkit from Lin Lu's command vehicle.
"Sit tight. This'll probably take some work."
As he spoke, Old Yang switched on a Handheld Cutting Machine.
He began cutting through the rear wall of the Dump Truck's cab.
Once he had separated the cab from the truck bed, he took out the Level-One Damaged Core that had dropped in the Supermarket.
He began circulating the transcendent power within his body.
Old Yang's signature pale blue glow slowly spread over his hands.
Old Yang carefully guided the core, now enveloped in blue light,
toward the truck's engine compartment...
The Mechanical Core gradually fused into the vehicle's metal structure, emitting a low hum.
The whole process had a post-apocalyptic punk aesthetic.
Chen Mo watched, bored out of his mind.
Why did it all look so mysterious?
Say what you liked about this Mechanic,
he did look pretty cool modifying a truck.
A young man with dyed yellow hair walked over. He was one of Brother Dao's men.
When Yellow-Hair saw Chen Mo, his face filled with a respectful smile. He held several packets of instant noodles.
"Brother Mo, a congratulatory gift from Brother Dao. Congratulations on becoming a Transcendent."
Chen Mo nodded, gesturing for Yellow-Hair to put them down.
Chen Mo wasn't particularly interested in this stuff,
but he wasn't about to turn down something free.
As for Brother Dao's earlier insults,
Chen Mo had originally intended to deal with him.
But then he remembered the Severed Tail Lin Lu had mentioned.
Hmm... I'll leave him alone for now.
Yellow-Hair put down the noodles and was about to say something to cozy up to him when he caught sight of Li Xia, who was being "worked on" by Old Yang nearby.
He recognized that face!
She was the creepy Sales Assistant from the Supermarket in Apricot Blossom Town!
Yellow-Hair's calves instantly began trembling. He nearly wet himself in fright and scrambled away.
At that moment, Old Yang grabbed Li Xia, whom the donkey had broken through his antics, and melted her entire body into a mass of twisted black shadow.
Treating her as raw material, he forcibly stuffed her into the passage he had just opened between the cab and truck bed.
The shadow let out a scream of both terror and relief, then fused completely with the vehicle.
Red Hare came running back just then.
Xiao Ya had finally tired herself out chasing him, and Su Qian had taken her into the vehicle.
Curiosity filled the donkey's face as he watched Old Yang work.
Chen Mo looked around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned toward the donkey and nudged Red Hare with his elbow.
"So? Did you figure out what Sequence Xiao Ya belongs to?"
Without turning his head, the donkey transmitted his voice to Chen Mo.
"I haven't figured out the details. Probably something to do with that doll, but one thing's certain: she's definitely level two."
Chen Mo thought for a moment and didn't ask any more questions.
After all, they were all part of the same convoy now,
and digging further wouldn't do him any good.
In this apocalypse, who didn't have a few secrets?
"That captain of yours has quite a background. He's actually from Everbright."
Chen Mo lowered his voice and glanced at Old Yang.
"Everbright Bastion?"
The donkey warily scanned their surroundings.
"Hang on, let me scratch my ass first."
Only after making sure no one was paying attention did he scratch his backside with a hoof.
"I don't know the details either. Seems like a big organization. They were probably studying Transcendents before the apocalypse."
"In this goddamn world, where he's from doesn't matter. He does know quite a lot, though."
Chen Mo said nothing more.
It seemed this world was even more complicated than he had imagined.
Two days later.
The convoy passed through endless fields of golden wheat.
The modified Dump Truck traveled in the middle of the convoy, with the Bus still following behind.
"Hey, look. Chen Mo's truck looks different now."
"Yeah, it's much bigger. Is that his ability?"
"Oh, Old Yang modified it. I heard that badass rode his donkey into battle and cut down Weird Dao Rong."
"That's how he got the materials."
A wave of whispers came from the Bus.
The Dump Truck was now larger overall, and the truck bed that the donkey had kicked open was once again enclosed, this time with thicker sheet metal.
The front had grown larger, giving the cab more room.
Even the tires looked different, gleaming faintly with a metallic sheen.
Inside the truck, Red Hare waved a hoof and blocked the view from outside.
Back in his flashy pink shorts and gold chain, he sat in the passenger seat with his big front teeth bared.
"Fuck, I couldn't stand it anymore. Those sons of bitches have been feeding me out of a shitty dog bowl every day."
"Can't you tell them to treat me like a person?"
The more the donkey spoke, the angrier he became. He banged a hoof against the center console.
"Little Xia, report the vehicle's condition to Lord Donkey! And read out those Anomalous Artifact abilities while you're at it!"
A gentle female voice came from the truck's speakers. It was none other than the Sales Assistant, Li Xia.
Her voice still held a trace of grievance.
[Anomalous Artifact No. 91622, "Unnamed," has been generated. You may name the anomalous artifact.] [Passive ability: Vehicle Intelligence. Can report real-time speed, fuel consumption, tire pressure, engine condition, and basic data on the surrounding environment.] [Equipped with an Autonomous Driving Module. Can execute autonomous driving commands.] [Vehicle base defense increased by 30%. Impact resistance increased by 50%.] [Anomalous Artifact side effect: when an ordinary person with low sanity approaches the vehicle alone, there is a 10% chance that the residual vengeful soul will possess them.]
"Of course, without Lord Red Hare's orders, I wouldn't dare do that."
"At least you've got some sense."
"DJ! DJ! Play the hottest track you've got for Lord Donkey!"
"From now on, you're Red Hare Two! Got that?"
Chen Mo drove, taking in the completely transformed Agricultural Dump Truck.
Honestly, he hadn't expected a pile of broken materials to produce an Anomalous Artifact.
Even if its number was only 91622.
It was still an Anomalous Artifact.
Just then, the music from the truck's speakers cut off abruptly.
A voice came over the radio Lin Lu had given him.
"Starfire Council, there's anomalous activity one kilometer ahead."
"Everyone, stay alert."
After a moment of silence...
Su Qian's gentle voice came through.
"Can't we go around it?"
"We can't!"
"Everyone, prepare for battle!"
Before you continue