Chapter 165 - 163: News about the Car

Words : 1144 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

While Li Yulong was bargaining with the city government staff, Chen Xin and Qin Lan used the original staircase of the shelter to go up to the underground floor. "Axin, will you move here in the future?" Qin Lan and Chen Xin came to the boiler room. Seeing Chen Xin inspecting the boiler, Qin Lan asked this question for some unknown reason. Chen Xin was examining the now frozen boiler and was taken aback by Qin Lan’s question. He looked back at her, surprised, but quickly replied, "No, this place will be used as a trading market and plantation in the future. Those who live here will be workers. I’ll come by occasionally, but I won’t move here." "Oh, I was thinking if you moved here, I would too." Qin Lan lowered her head, biting her lip, feeling a bit disappointed. "If you want to move here, you might as well move to my place. It’s much better in all aspects." Qin Lan’s meaning was clear, and Chen Xin responded smoothly. However, Qin Lan didn’t respond, continuing to lower her head in thought. Seeing Qin Lan’s attitude, Chen Xin didn’t say anything further and continued inspecting the boiler and pipes before him. This is an important part of the shelter’s heating system. Even if Li Yulong plans to install a ground-source heat pump here, these pipes will still be useful. However, when Chen Xin knocked on the obviously frozen pipes, the dull sound inside troubled him. There was still water frozen inside these pipes. To make it operational again, the ice would have to be melted bit by bit. Starting the boiler directly or connecting it to a ground-source heat pump with the ice still in there could very well burst the pipes due to blockage. But Chen Xin was not a professional engineer, so he just checked the boiler’s condition without inspecting the pipeline thoroughly. This boiler is still usable, but clearly the entire set of pipes needs cleaning. When they evacuated, the person responsible for the boiler must have been lazy and didn’t drain the water from the pipes. Thus, under low temperatures, the pipes were surely blocked with ice. "What’s so interesting about this boiler?" Qin Lan, seeing Chen Xin still focused on the boiler, couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous. "This is the heating system of the shelter. If there’s a malfunction here, it would be a big problem." Chen Xin obviously detected Qin Lan’s jealousy and turned around to smile at her. "The pipes seem to be frozen. To restore heating, we need to solve the ice problem first. But that’s not my responsibility; I’ll let Xiaolong worry about it." As Chen Xin spoke, he suddenly removed one of his gloves, reached into his clothes, and took out an insulated box. After opening it, he took out a rice sandwich and handed it to Qin Lan. "Try it. I made this in the morning. It’s a rice cake sandwich made with rice I grew myself, fried, and filled with lettuce and ham. The ham is Iberian ham that Xiaolong sent over. Although it shouldn’t be eaten with rice cakes, with limited ingredients now, we have to make do." After saying that, Chen Xin handed the rice sandwich to Qin Lan. Qin Lan, looking at the sandwich, hurriedly took off her gloves and face mask, grabbed the still warm rice cake sandwich, and quickly took a bite. "It smells great! So delicious!" Qin Lan chewed with a smile on her face, looking delighted by the taste. Seeing Qin Lan enjoying the meal, Chen Xin then extended the rest of the contents of the box to her with a smile. The method of simply using a rice cake to sandwich ham can’t be considered a delicacy, and it’s more like just throwing ingredients together. Even though neither of the components is particularly flavorful, Chen Xin had especially added lettuce to counteract greasiness, so it tasted not bad, but still quite distant from truly delicious. Qin Lan’s enjoyment could simply be explained by the fact that she hadn’t had anything good to eat during this post-apocalyptic time. Even a plain-tasting rice cake sandwich could seem delightful to her. As Qin Lan ate the sandwich, Chen Xin suddenly asked her, "Alan, do you know where in the city I can find a car?" "A car? That would be very difficult." Qin Lan, who had just quickly finished one sandwich, responded to Chen Xin after swallowing the food. "Both the city government and our special police unit are using cars from before the disaster, but it’s not possible to spare one for you. If you’re after parts, that might be negotiated. Materials transported every week by rail from San Zhen in Hubei Province and Jianning in this province include car parts. When they pass through the city, we can get a few. If your car breaks down, you can get parts for repairs." Avoiding the food from getting cold, Qin Lan spoke while picking up the second sandwich and taking another bite. "Is that so? That’s a bit troublesome!" Chen Xin couldn’t help frowning. "What’s wrong? Axin, is your car broken? If you need repairs, I can let the mechanic in our team take a look at it for you." Qin Lan asked with concern, seeing Chen Xin’s troubled look. Chen Xin shook his head and explained, "My car isn’t broken, but the problem is that regular SUVs can’t drive on these snowy roads anymore. I plan to modify it or switch to something that can travel in the snow." "That’s true. Even without considering issues like engine oil freezing or diesel solidifying, just the tires slipping is troublesome enough. Just the day before yesterday, two vehicles from the team nearly crashed on a mission." Qin Lan understood Chen Xin’s difficulty but didn’t have a solution. Although she couldn’t solve Chen Xin’s problem, Qin Lan offered some information, "I heard the city government is considering this issue and plans to replace the vehicles for themselves and our special police unit. Perhaps a batch of cars will arrive from Star City next month. By then, you could ask the captain or let Xiaolong connect with city officials. You need vehicles for your plantation, so perhaps you could get one through Xiaolong’s connections." "Really? But wouldn’t the cars coming from Star City be the same as the ones I’m driving now? Apart from maybe having anti-freeze measures." Chen Xin didn’t immediately grasp, thinking Qin Lan was talking about regular cars. But Qin Lan laughed, closed the empty insulated box, and returned it to Chen Xin before explaining, "They would definitely replace them with snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles that can travel on snow. The city contracted the far-off heavy industry company for tracked snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, which are much better than the current wheeled ones."

Chapter 165 - 163: News about the Car

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