Chapter 114 - 113: The Yearning for Sweet and Sour Ribs

Words : 1206 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: The Yearning for Sweet and Sour Ribs"Simple Geothermal Heat Pump" "Upgrade Plan 1: Replace the circulating medium to improve the thermal exchange efficiency of the device medium. Survival points needed for the upgrade: 300" "Upgrade Plan 2: Replace the circulating medium to enhance the circulation efficiency of the device medium. Survival points needed for the upgrade: 500" The geothermal heat pump device assembled by Chen Xin was still an ugly thing, but compared to the jumble of parts used when first constructing the oxygen machine, this geothermal heat pump device at least looked like it was supposed to, not too rudimentary and shoddy. Upon seeing the upgrade plans displayed by the system, Chen Xin merely raised an eyebrow before confirming the upgrade, applying both upgrade plans to the geothermal heat pump device. A green light flashed once again, and the entire geothermal heat pump device seemed to have been reborn, with both its volume and structure changing. Overall, it simply meant the thing got bigger, the pipes became thicker, and the structure more complex. Or it could be said that what Chen Xin had just made was only something that could barely be called a geothermal heat pump, whereas the upgraded version was a true geothermal heat pump device. However, looking at the massive pile of pipes on the ground, Chen Xin couldn’t help but scratch his head. Qin Lan’s drill hadn’t been delivered, so how was he supposed to install this thing into the ground himself? The piping component of the geothermal heat pump was an enormous structure, and since the device was still uninstalled, many of the pipes were simply stacked together. But looking at that huge pile of pipes, Chen Xin still felt a headache. It was somewhat different from his expectations; assembling these pipes was like handling a colossal radiator, which couldn’t just be shoved into a hole in the ground! Just as Chen Xin was feeling troubled, the system once again emphasized its presence. "Would you like to spend 50 survival points to install the geothermal heat pump?" Looking at the system prompt that appeared in front of him, Chen Xin scratched his chin, his beard a bit prickly from not being shaved for days, but that wasn’t the main point. "Is the system really this powerful? You really can do whatever you want with survival points!" Chen Xin massaged his chin, and although he already knew of the system’s capabilities, seeing this still made him feel like he hadn’t fully utilized all of the system’s features. Previously, he had considered using the system for device installation, planning to put the assembled geothermal heat pump into the planting greenhouse, pretending it was installed and then using the system’s upgrade power to position it in place. Instead of what was happening now, where the device was right here, just one system click away from being installed. But since such a convenient function was available, Chen Xin didn’t trouble himself and chose to use survival points for the system to handle the installation. As for the installation location of this set of equipment, Chen Xin chose to place it beside the wall near the planting greenhouse in the public space, and also connected a radiator into the planting greenhouse. The system installation interface resembled placement interfaces in certain management and construction games, a green grid-like virtual interface. Chen Xin tried it out and found that within this interface, he could freely move or adjust the structure of the shelter and the placement of items, all controlled by his mind without any additional operations. Through this interface, Chen Xin was able to adjust the architectural structure and item placement within the shelter that he found unsatisfactory or inconvenient, even enlarging or shrinking room areas, creating functional divisions, and it was extremely convenient and powerful. Of course, such a convenient and useful function naturally depended on the consumption of survival points. Chen Xin had merely adjusted and moved a few rooms, changed the placement of some devices, and the survival points required for these adjustments as indicated by the system exceeded a thousand points. Seeing the number displayed by the system, Chen Xin could only obediently abandon his thoughts of adjusting the shelter’s building structure and device placement, opting to just have the geothermal heat pump installed and then closing the interface. Clearly, this interface wasn’t something Chen Xin could afford to play with at the moment. After installing the geothermal heat pump device, Chen Xin felt that he might need to upgrade the entire shelter as soon as possible or save enough survival points to adjust the architectural structure and equipment layout. Otherwise, he felt that his shelter would only become more cramped. After installing the geothermal heat pump, he connected the power to get it running. Chen Xin quickly felt the heat radiating from its radiator. On the control panel of the geothermal heat pump, he set the temperature to 20°C, checked everything, and after confirming that the device was functioning properly, Chen Xin then took out today’s dinner from the newly added food storage room, ready to eat. Chen Xin’s dinner was quite simple today, just a portion of shelter rations and a can of luncheon meat. Chen Xin simply pan-fried the luncheon meat, heated the shelter rations in a pot, then sat on the sofa holding the pot to eat. Despite the system saving him a lot of effort, Chen Xin still felt exhausted from such a busy day. Eating the somewhat coarse food, Chen Xin was unexpectedly reminded of his mother’s sweet and sour spare ribs. That was his favorite dish since childhood, tender ribs cut into sections, blanched and then fried, cooked with a sweet and sour sauce, thickened with starch before serving, and finally topped with chopped scallions... When Chen Xin was little, even if there was no meat and only a gloopy sauce over rice, he could finish a bowl of rice. As he reminisced, tears unwittingly flowed from the corners of his eyes, dripping into his food. His mother was far away in their hometown, over six hundred kilometers away, across the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangxi. Without the existence of the system, seeing his mother again in this lifetime would likely be a luxury for Chen Xin. Although Chen Xin forced himself not to think about these things, the tears continued to flow, and the longing for his mother surged uncontrollably. His parents were too far away. Even with a radio, Chen Xin couldn’t communicate with them, and his hope of seeing them again in this lifetime was already slim. The spoon in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and he couldn’t lift it to bring the food so close to his mouth. At this moment, what occupied his thoughts was no longer eating, but his parents, his hometown more than six hundred kilometers, over a thousand two hundred li away, wondering if they were well. Overwhelmed by longing, Chen Xin simply put down his spoon, grabbed a tissue to roughly wipe away the tears on his face, went to his bedroom, and took out the photo album originally locked in a box.

Chapter 114 - 113: The Yearning for Sweet and Sour Ribs

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