The journey home through the wasteland became extremely long without Oreo pulling the snowboard.
Su Mo had to rely on the strength of his feet to travel a distance of a hundred miles, trodding slowly, as he had to avoid hidden objects hidden below the deep snow from time to time.
Walking and stopping like this until noon, Su Mo had traveled half the distance.
To maintain such a pace, Su Mo had to keep consuming psychic energy water to recover his strength.
“Not sure how Earth Tiger is doing either. I was rushing last night and I didn’t shut the garage gate!
After having a bit of pancake and drinking a few gulps of water, Su Mo once again continued his journey after recovering his strength.
At times like this, the necessity of a good vehicle was clearly exhibited.
No matter whether it was traveling back and forth, or looking for his sister, he had to find or create a vehicle that could traverse any terrain as soon as possible.
“The next vehicle should be designed with terrain adaptability in mind. Otherwise, the situation with Earth Tiger will repeat itself in the future.”
Dragging his slightly heavy steps, Su Mo’s heart was filled with a type of “respect” for Kento Maeda and the other dead enemies who had previously walked the entire night, in the harsh wind and snow, to get to his shelter.
The saying rang true; as long as one was motivated, the road beneath their feet would not matter!
Still, before Su Mo could cheer up and continue to stretch his legs, three abrupt game panel prompts suddenly rang in his ears.
[Record]: The “Small single-arm excavator” card in your storage space has been unlocked. Please check and use it soon.
[Record]: The vehicle in the card is brand new when first summoned and has a full fuel tank.
[Record]: A copy of the corresponding user manual is attached. Happy gaming!
“The excavator card’s countdown timer has elapsed? I can use it now?”
This time’s happy gaming announcement came just in time.
He opened the game interface. Seeing the three consecutive unlocked notifications on it, Su Mo was happily surprised and hastily dug out the excavator card from his storage space.
Compared to its previously unpleasant appearance, after the countdown timer had elapsed, it was no longer emanating the green light that indicated a good-quality item, but instead the blue light that indicated an excellent-quality item.
It was obvious from just one look that it was an extraordinary item.
“It seems that, due to my brilliant performance during the second disaster, the game panel upgraded the card’s quality for free? Does this count as a hidden benefit?”
“Moreover, the vehicle already has a full tank of fuel at the start. That’s reasonable too… after all, if the second batch of arrivals drew a single-use vehicle card, it would be playing dirty if they didn’t have the fuel to operate it.”
Compared to the system, the game panel was a lot more generous.
Not overthinking things, he glanced at the terrain nearby and came to a gentle slope. Su Mo rubbed his hands together slightly, and the excavator card in his hands suddenly shattered.
Flash!
Boom!
A golden light that was a foot high instantly burst forth from the shattered card, before spreading over the snowy ground like flowing water, covering part of the surface.
The golden light was like a magic cloth in the capable hands of a magician, slowly spreading upwards.
At the same time, the golden light slowly revealed the “peerless beauty” of the small single-arm excavator!
The strong steel arm, tracked wheels, luxurious and high driver’s seat, as well as the large, eye-catching, characters etched on the body of the vehicle:
No. 1!
“Amazing. The game panel sure likes its bells and whistles, giving me such a high-profile decorative add-on for an excavator!”
Unlike the usual dirt-yellow color of most excavators, this excavator was full of character and also symbolized the honor of the world’s number one.
The large, black-and-white, No. 1 print did not only look good, but it also made the excavator seem forceful and compelling.
While the game panel’s description said that it was a small excavator, by Earth’s standards, it actually wasn’t all that small.
Curiously, Su Mo once again opened the new excavator’s properties and was instantly delighted with what he saw.
[Small single-arm excavator (Excellent)]
[Description: A small diesel backhoe excavator, produced using heavy machinery, with trench-end excavation, trench-side excavation, straight-line excavation, curved excavation, angled excavation, ultra-deep trench excavation, and trench slope excavation.]
[Total machine weight: 25,500kg]
[Machine specifications: Upper width (3045mm), total height (4255mm), total width (3190mm), track length (3640mm)]
[Bucket digging force: 175kN]
[Bucket capacity: 1.3–1.5m³]
[Rated power (kW): 147/2100kW/rpm]
[Movement speed (high/low km/h): 10.4–15.8 km/h]
[Climbing ability: 70%/35°]
[Special ability:
[Speedy movement: Its upgrade to excellent-quality gives it more engine power and horsepower. When the excavator is moving at full speed, it automatically boosts its maximum speed by an additional 30km/h.]
[Powerful: Its upgrade to excellent-quality gives it arm strength and doubles the bucket’s digging force!]
[Immortal: Damage received by the machine will gradually recover after the engine is turned off.]
“Not bad, not bad. After upgrading it to excellent-quality, regardless of whether it’s the digging capacity or the machine’s basic properties, all of them have increased dramatically.
“And of the extra special abilities, the speedy movement ability is simply too useful!”
The heavy and solid structure of the excavator meant that, even equipped with a powerful engine, it was not much faster than the average human’s walking speed.
Even if a normal excavator was driven at full speed in rabbit gear, it could only reach speeds about ten kilometers per hour at most.[1]
However, with the addition of the current special abilities, as long as it was driven at full speed, it could reach speeds of up to 40 km/h. Compared to the Type-99C tank’s speed of 60km, it did not differ too greatly!
Oreo also seemed to be very curious about the big vehicle that had just appeared.
Staring at the vehicle’s body that was painted similar to her own black-and-white color palette, Oreo’s face was full of pride. With light steps, she leaped into the excavator’s bucket.
Lying in the bucket, it was as if Oreo had returned to her mother’s “cradle”, and her doggy face revealed an extremely blissful smile.
“A dog that likes to lie in an excavator bucket?”
Seeing Oreo lay down, expressing that she was going to stay inside the bucket today, Su Mo burst into laughter.
Having received transportation equipment, Su Mo’s worries regarding his return journey to the Underground Shelter lessened, and he patiently circled and examined the excavator.
On the excavator’s right side, there was an adjustable handrail.
Grabbing the handrail, he stepped onto the step bar at the bottom and, using his arms’ strength, pulled himself up beside the excavator’s driver cabin.
The key to the vehicle was already in the door.
Turning it, the cabin door swung open to reveal the sophisticated interior layout.
“As expected of the airdrop reward for being the world’s number one. Every detail seems to have been thought out, and even the interior layout is not bad.”
The real leather seats had cushions that exuded comfort with just a glance, and the dashboard was also made of patterned solid wood.
The excavator was basically equipped with everything that was necessary, and even a bit more.
If this had not been an excavator but rather a sports car, based on the level of specifications provided, the game panel would have probably arranged for it to be constructed from carbon fiber.
Sitting in the seat and feeling the soft, but sturdy support beneath him, he tried adjusting the seat’s angle. The angle reached the point where his entire body could lie down halfway, in which Su Mo discovered some interesting observations:
The driving experience of the excavator was actually better than that of Earth Tiger, and its field of vision was also much wider.
Sitting in such a vehicle, not only did he feel a sense of security, but also a sense of power, something that Earth Tiger could not provide!
“I have to pull up the handle to operate the excavator’s arm…”
Half-lying in the seat, Su Mo picked up the user operation manual beside him and started seriously analyzing the excavator’s usage methods and features.
It was just like Lanxiang’s advertisements that featured close to a hundred sets of advanced equipment from all over the world for student practice, with no charges for the first month of trial lessons.
After looking through the user manual properly once, Su Mo was shocked to discover that operating the excavator was really not that difficult!
It was even simpler than driving a manual car, excluding the interior workings of the machine.
In terms of practical applications, its specific operation was divided into four actions, which were the boom, stick, bucket, and rotation.
Just these four actions pretty much covered all the excavator’s functions.
Following the instructions, Su Mo first turned the ignition then, when he heard the excavator’s engine rumbling, he took hold of the handle on the right.
“The handle on the right has two uses: the bucket and the boom. Moving it left and right lifts would retract the bucket, while moving it front and back would lift and lower the boom. There are another two handles that can only move the arms themselves, as well as for moving the chain tracks as well.”
Reading out the words from the instruction manual, Su Mo forcefully pushed the handle forward.
Suddenly, Oreo—who was still been resting in the bucket and basking in the sun—looked down in shock as if not understanding why the distance between her and the ground had suddenly grown.
Next, Su Mo tried pulling the handle, and the bucket that had risen earlier gradually lowered down.
“Woof! Woo woo woo! Woof!”
After being let down, Oreo fled from the bucket with a face full of fear. After that, when she saw Su Mo’s wicked smile in the driver’s cabin, she suddenly rushed back up with lightning speed.
“Ah? Still want to play?”
Seeing that Oreo seemed to have rediscovered the same joy she had while sitting in the buggy’s back seat, Su Mo was starting to have fun too and began testing out these functions one by one according to the instructions.
While the excavator was easy to use, it was difficult to operate with precision.
After all, the bucket was not the same as an arm. Relying on the two handles on the left and right, it was extremely difficult to control and manipulate accurately.
Fortunately, there were no traffic laws in the wasteland and no large buildings.
Even if he occasionally made a mistake while operating it, there was no instructor to nag and berate him.
After testing it out for half an hour and becoming familiar with its operation, Su Mo did not wait any longer. He lifted the bucket and, after signaling for Oreo to sit tight, he increased its speed to the maximum.
This big guy of an excavator did not have a gas pedal.
The excavator mainly relied on knobs and rods to control the flow of the pressure pump, and the throttle was equivalent to the master switch next to the water meter, with the pump control system and the handle being similar to the faucet.
As clouds of black smoke were emitted, the heavy chain tracks began to slowly move forcefully over the snowy ground.
As Su Mo shifted the gear into rabbit gear, the excavator no longer ground forward slowly but, propelled by an indescribable force, the chain tracks seem to be invigorated by a mysterious force and pushed the heavy excavator forward quickly.
“Woof woo!”
In the bucket, feeling the cold wind blow by, Oreo stood up excitedly and let out a domineering, wolfish howl!
[1] An excavator’s speed gear that is quick and suitable for flat surfaces.
