Lin Mo didn't rush back to the new home; instead, she turned the car around and headed straight to the outskirts to continue replenishing building materials and energy materials.
This time, she navigated to a more remote route. She went along pumping gas and siphoning fuel, filling all the metal oil drums she had brought with the car to the brim. On the way back, she happened to come across an aluminum material shop. She quickly negotiated a price with the owner and had him drive a truck behind her to deliver the goods directly to her home.
Arriving at the new home, she smoothly stored the materials into the train.
[Building Materials Stored: 300kg, +180kg]
[Energy Materials Stored: 210kg, +75kg]
The train materialized and settled neatly in the long area of the living room and balcony, flush against the wall without taking up extra space. A glimmer of delight flashed in Lin Mo's eyes as she swiftly took out the Expansion Hammer.
With a subtle spatial fluctuation, a long-handled forging hammer with a dark silver metallic luster floating in midair appeared soundlessly in her hand.
[Expansion Hammer: Consumes 30kg of building materials to perform a spatial anchor strike in a designated direction. Swing three times to expand physical space by 1(length) × 1(width) × 3(height) m³.]
Lin Mo gripped the Expansion Hammer, aimed it at one side of the train, and swung it steadily. After swinging it exactly 18 times, she successfully expanded the physical space to 2 × 3 × 3 m³, consuming most of the building materials in the train.
[Building Materials Consumed: 180kg, Remaining: 120kg]
Lin Mo decisively drove to the building materials market again and purchased durable materials like titanium alloy, copper plates, and aluminum insulation sheets for pipes, asking the merchant to deliver them home in an hour.
On the way back, she passed several small supermarkets and stopped at each one to replenish supplies.
For food, she added ten 5L bottles of peanut oil, 200kg of assorted grains, 10 boxes of oatmeal, 10 boxes of compressed biscuits, 10 boxes of bread, and 10 boxes of ready-to-eat beef and dace canned goods.
For tools, she restocked 2 boxes of water purification tablets and 2 boxes of emergency candles.
She also bought 12 cases of beer, 6 cases of liquor, and 10 cartons of cigarettes to stock up. Cigarettes and alcohol were expensive, so she bought less.
In addition, she stocked up on plenty of sanitary pads and toilet paper.
Just after transporting the newly purchased building materials into her home, Lin Mo picked up the Expansion Hammer and started working again, deliberately designating this new space as the second carriage to organize the train layout better.
The expanded train layout was now very orderly: The first carriage, 4 meters long and 3 meters wide, served as a simple living room. The second carriage was the newly added bedroom, also 4 meters by 3 meters, just enough to fit the new bed and wardrobe. The third and fourth carriages were a 3-square-meter storage room and a 6-square-meter bathroom, respectively, with clear divisions.
The long space of the new residence was fully utilized by the train, with some building materials left over: [Building Materials Stored: 90kg]
Lin Mo surveyed the train with satisfaction: Could this area be considered a simple shelter? 11 meters long and 3 meters wide, packed to the brim with supplies. Even entertainment facilities were included—computer, phone, projector, and the portable hard drive were all inside.
But the system remained silent.
Before long, the furniture store's delivery men brought the double bed and large wardrobe.
The headboard of the new bed was upholstered in soft fabric—a row of arched or scalloped shapes in light beige, framed in warm walnut wood, looking exceptionally comfortable.
After placing the 1.8-meter bed, Lin Mo laid out a deep-sleep mattress and covered it with new Chinese-style yellow four-piece bedding with a dark pattern, instantly bringing warmth to the home.
She moved the bedside table from the old rental to one side of the bed, placed a desk and the new wardrobe on the other side, and after a simple arrangement, the second carriage shed its emptiness, becoming full and cozy.
If only the side window of this carriage could open—then she could plug electrical appliances directly into the rental's socket, sleep inside with an electric heater, and roll up the train after getting up in the morning, making future moves easier.
It was her own little nest, even more convenient than a mobile RV. Lin Mo concentrated, trying to communicate with the system to open a window.
But unfortunately, the system remained unmoved. Except for the front and rear, all other windows were sealed shut, not even a crack.
She wondered about the design choices—and between each carriage were thick iron doors, as if guarding against something.
She had to find another way.
She ran two extension cords from the front window, left the doors between carriages open, pulled the cords through the carriages to the living room, plugged them into the rental's socket, then retrieved the electric heater plug from the system panel and plugged it in manually, finally solving the power supply issue for the train's bedroom.
She hoped the community's electrical circuit would hold up and she wouldn't have to rely on the train's electricity card for now.
Suddenly, her phone rang. It was a call from Deppon Logistics: "Hello, the heavy items like smokeless coal you ordered have arrived at the community gate."
"I'll send you a 66 yuan red packet. Can you deliver them to the first floor of a building 1km away?"
"It's cold, and everyone's having a tough time. Thank you then. Which community?"
Soon, the courier delivered the supplies to her door, including 50kg of high-quality smokeless coal, a matching iron stove, and a small iron pot with a wooden handle.
She stored all the supplies into the train, and the familiar system notification finally sounded in her mind:
[System Mission Complete]
[Reward Issued: 1 Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment System, 1 Large Water Tank, 1 Wastewater Tank.]
[Your task completion speed exceeded 51% of all Train Conductors. Mission rating: B. Bonus reward: Fresh Air System.]
Lin Mo was delighted. With the Fresh Air System, she wouldn't have to brave the cold wind to open windows for ventilation. But after scanning the carriage, she didn't see any exhaust fan. The train really was full of surprises.
But exceeding 51%? Only a B rating? Did that mean there was competition for resources among Train Conductors? Lin Mo frowned.
[Water Tank: 0/2000L]
[Water source detected nearby. Start water intake?]
The system prompt sounded again. Lin Mo looked up and saw a virtual, soft rubber hose extending from the water tank icon on the system panel, translucent and floating in midair.
She sighed, regretting missing out on an A rating.
But with her limited finances, there was nothing she could do.
She gently pinched the rubber hose, walked from the living room to the kitchen, and pulled it to the faucet. As soon as it touched the nozzle, the hose automatically contracted, tightly wrapping around the faucet and starting to draw water.
[System Prompt: Wastewater Tank (0/2000L)]
[System Prompt: Wastewater Tank Discharge Setting—Select "Auto Discharge When Full" or "Manual Discharge."]
Lin Mo chose manual discharge and set the warning threshold at 1500L.
Since the system mission was completed, Lin Mo breathed a sigh of relief. Checking the time, it wasn't too late, so she decided to go out and buy more cigarettes and alcohol.
While waiting at a red light, she saw dozens of large freight trucks speeding past the intersection corner. They had no prominent slogans on their bodies, only an A4 paper with "Emergency Transport" taped inside the windshield, giving off a sense of gravity.
After buying cigarettes and alcohol and coming out, another convoy of large trucks passed by. The open trucks were piled high with what seemed to be green vegetables.
If she had driven further in, she would have noticed the familiar streets losing their hustle and bustle.
The roll-down door of the fresh supermarket was lowered to only half a person's height. The glass window reflected the taillights of passing vans, but no longer showed the stacks of vegetable baskets that used to reach the ceiling. At the grain and oil store, even the shelves had been cleared, leaving only a few unopened cardboard boxes in the corner.
Exhausted, Lin Mo finally threw herself into bed. Listening to the wind howling outside the window, she gradually sank into the soft darkness. In her sleep, she didn't notice that early in the morning, her phone screen suddenly lit up with an official push notification:
[National Emergency Management Ministry Alert: Extreme cold wave expected in the coming days. Municipal departments are urged to ensure water pipe freeze protection and grid cold-proofing, and take all measures to prevent damage to public facilities. Citizens are advised to protect themselves from the cold, minimize outings, stay warm at home, and stock up on heating supplies like charcoal. Those able are encouraged to drive to warmer regions such as Hainan and Guangdong.]
The internet exploded:
"Charcoal? What is this, 20 years ago?"
"Go to Guangdong? What about my job? Why is the notice so vague? If you've got the guts, mandate a holiday!"
"As if we can afford to go to Hainan???"
Author's note:
Update next Thursday at 0:00~ I really like hoarding supplies, but after the national notice, the female lead won't be able to compete with the uncles and aunties anymore.