The next evening, make a 6 square meter...
After sending off the workers, Lin Mo brought in the lemons and oranges left at the door by the delivery driver. She closed the door and, with a thought, familiar silver particles curled around her fingertips, whisking all the supplies in the living room into the train.
The dryer and microwave could be used once plugged in, but the washing machine was another matter—the water inlet and outlet pipes were nowhere to be found. But perhaps these functions could be activated through tasks in the future? She decided to store them first.
[Home appliances detected. Auto-install?]
"Yes." Lin Mo was startled for a moment but quickly agreed.
So the system was smart now. Earlier, when she had inquired about appliances in her mind, it had remained silent.
She had expected a mechanical "clank, clank" sound like when the Basic Locker was installed, and the carriage would be chaotic for a while. But instead, all the appliances stayed in their original positions, leaving no trace of installation.
However, within two minutes, icons for the washing machine, dryer, and heater appeared on the system panel, clear at a glance.
Examining the appliances, she saw that their power cords seemed to have merged into the train walls, completely invisible. She tried moving the icons with her mind, and the actual positions of the washing machine and dryer shifted accordingly, saving her the effort of moving them manually.
Lin Mo tapped the heater icon on the system panel, and a green light turned on.
Then she manually pressed the hot air button on the heater body, and warm air immediately blew out with a whir.
"The system is quite reliable," she nodded with satisfaction and tested the washing machine. When she turned on the power in the system, the machine displayed a "No water source" warning.
Lin Mo tried communicating with the system: "Alright, when will you install a water supply system for me?"
The system remained silent.
Having not expected much, Lin Mo shrugged and continued with her own tasks.
She turned on all the heaters, and the energy display still showed a green light for low load, which put her slightly at ease. She turned off the power card to save electricity. Curling up in the mint-green bean bag sofa she had just stored in the carriage, she slowly sipped the remaining milk tea, her mind drifting back to the issue of new energy.
She wondered if installing a solar generator would work. Even if she collected gasoline every day, at most she could exchange it for six days' worth of power cards—far from sufficient for long-term maintenance.
However, winter in S City was overcast, making solar power unreliable. What about wind power?
Wind turbines were those giant windmills in the fields; she had no idea where to inquire about them. But small solar generators might be sold in outdoor supply stores—she could go ask.
With several large appliances in the train, the space suddenly felt cramped. Outside the window, the sky was pitch black. Car horns from the distant road indicated heavy traffic during evening rush hour, so it wasn't convenient to go out for gas now.
"I'll wait until rush hour passes, and I need to be home to sign for the insulation cotton," Lin Mo decided. She left the train and started cleaning up the yard.
She piled the unused flower pots, old clutter, and previously hoarded odds and ends into the kitchen, then stored the new large shoe cabinet into the train, clearing a large open space in the middle of the yard.
Preparations done, Lin Mo summoned the dark silver construction hammer, gripped the handle with both hands, and swung it toward the boundary at the rear of the train. Once, twice... After eighteen swings, she expanded the space by 3 meters in length, 2 meters in width, and 3 meters in height.
[Expansion detected. Early access to newbie quest: Attach Second Carriage.]
[Attach second carriage?]
Lin Mo chuckled: "Can quests cut in line?"
But she wouldn't refuse a good thing thrown her way. Without hesitation, she selected "Yes" and designated the newly expanded space as the second carriage.
A flash of silver light made Lin Mo squint instinctively. When the light faded, a brand-new silver-white carriage appeared before her.
Separated from the original carriage by a heavy metal door, the sides and rear of the new carriage were still large transparent windows, offering excellent lighting.
The only downside was a lack of privacy when driving out, so curtains or privacy film would be needed. For curtains, she'd need to install a track... but she couldn't handle that either, so she just made a note in her phone's memo.
Once she accumulated more building materials, she could expand another meter in length. For now, there was still a one-meter gap to the yard wall.
[Newbie quest completed. Reward: Dry-Wet Separation Bathroom Blueprint.]
Lin Mo's eyes lit up, and she immediately claimed it.
[Dry-Wet Separation Bathroom Blueprint: Consume 20kg building materials, 40kg wood, 50kg ceramics, 20kg glass, 10kg paint, 20kg marble to obtain a 4-square-meter bathroom. Can increase building area based on materials.]
In addition to the general building materials, a bunch of specialized materials were specified.
But these materials were way too many! Lin Mo sighed softly as she looked at the list.
Just as she was feeling down, a few messages popped up on WeChat. Lin Mo switched to that page.
Seeing the sender, she couldn't help but snort: "Hah."
It was a colleague from an adjacent department known for shifting blame, or rather, a "former colleague."
"Xiao Lin, organize the XX materials. The department urgently needs them for cross-team collaboration."
"Must be sent to me before tomorrow's work. I've already told your department head."
"The chairman is also paying close attention to this project. If you do well, it'll benefit you across the industry."
It was already after work hours. The old-timers in the adjacent operations department still had no class, always waving their authority around. They couldn't finish their own work, yet they called it "cross-team collaboration."
Harassing newcomers late at night to do work wasn't the first time.
Lin Mo stared at the screen with a cold smile. The other person kept sending annoying messages. Didn't they know she had resigned? Or was it intentional harassment with the manager's approval? Either way, she wasn't going to tolerate it: "Adult, I'm not your mom, right? And you're not a three-year-old. If it's so important, why didn't you do it earlier?"
The other person seemed stunned. College graduates entering the workforce usually had thinner skins; it was the first time he had been rebutted like this. He exploded a series of question marks in the chat: "????"
Lin Mo snorted coldly and added another jab: "Can't understand plain language? If you're incompetent, go home and retire. This is a workplace, not a nursing home."
She blocked him decisively before he could rage in vain: With the disaster counting down, time was life. There was no point wasting energy on garbage people.
Around seven in the evening, a small truck stopped downstairs. The driver jumped out and unloaded 10 rolls of nano-insulation cotton wrapped in plastic film, then carried 10 heavy buckets of composite silicate thermal insulation coating. In the bitter winter wind, he wiped sweat from his forehead, pulled out a delivery receipt from his pocket: "Please sign here."
Lin Mo quickly signed and, sizing up the worker's age, took a bottle of water and a box of hazelnut chocolate: "Thank you for your hard work. Please accept this little something."