Chapter 2: The Big G and the Coffee Machine

Unlike his first time going out, this time Mali made more thorough preparations.

First and most importantly, it was the choice of transportation.

Although walking was the simplest and most convenient, the supplies one could carry were limited, and once injured, it would affect the speed of travel.

Fortunately in his misfortune, his previous sprain wasn't very serious. Although it took three times as long, he still limped back, and after resting for about a week, it was mostly healed.

But looking back, Mali still couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

If he had sprained it more severely at the time, or if he had fallen and injured his waist or leg while climbing, losing his mobility, his situation would have become very dangerous, almost impossible to save himself.

So this time, Mali planned to hit the road by car.

Ordinary family cars could almost only drive on asphalt roads built by humans and couldn't handle the harsh terrain of the river valley.

Fortunately, there was a type of vehicle born specifically for this situation.

Mali finally chose a professional version G300.

The history of this car can be traced back to the 1970s; it was a military off-road vehicle commissioned by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and manufactured by Mercedes-Benz specifically to cope with the harsh environments of deserts and mountainous areas.

However, before this batch of first-generation Big Gs with the chassis code W460 could be officially delivered, the Pahlavi dynasty had already fallen.

So Mercedes-Benz had to look for other buyers, successively promoting this car and its subsequent upgraded and modified versions to the militaries of countries such as Argentina, Germany, France, and Australia.

However, what truly made Mercedes-Benz successful was the civilian market. The civilian Big G launched based on the W463 chassis established its status in the luxury off-road vehicle market, while the military version's ownership was not high.

And the professional version G300 was one of the few Big Gs in the civilian market built based on the W461 chassis.

Compared to the W463, which focused on the civilian market, the W461, as an upgrade to the W460, emphasized extreme off-road performance even more, so it was more favored by the military, deriving many military versions of the Big G, the most famous of which was the German military's Wolf SSA.

The G300p, or the professional version G300, could be seen from its naming that it was mainly aimed at special customers with professional needs such as rescue teams and exploration companies, and it also used the same W461 chassis as the Wolf SSA.

As far as Mali knew, the G300p in the country basically flowed in through special channels like parallel imports.

Strictly speaking, this car was not suitable for city travel, and with a price of over a million, it was destined to be a toy for a few rich people.

But for him at this moment, it unexpectedly came in handy.

Mali discovered this G300p at a car wash on the street next to the hospital.

Like other car owners who went to the car wash, its owner also left the keys behind.

Mali found it on the key wall of the car wash with almost no effort, and then successfully started this G300p.

However, he wasn't in a hurry to hit the road, but intended to carry out some modifications and maintenance on it.

Few of Mali's friends and former colleagues in B Shi knew he could repair cars, and even fewer knew that his home had an auto repair shop.

In fact, Mali had been helping out in the shop since he was ten, assisting his father and other masters. It was just that he didn't like this job.

Besides the fact that it was unpaid, the more important reason was that auto mechanics had a "stink" on them.

It was a chemical smell mixed with engine oil, paint, and metal corrosion, which would make Mali's classmates intentionally or unintentionally distance themselves from him.

Mali had seen more than once people making gestures of covering their noses in disgust in front of him, and after school, no one was willing to play with him or go home with him.

What was even worse was that even if Mali took three showers a day, he couldn't completely eliminate that stink.

The small organic molecules in engine oil and solvents were very easy to adhere to clothing, skin, and even hair, making them very difficult to clean off.

Precisely because of this, after the third grade of elementary school, Mali almost always went his own way.

After entering puberty, many of his classmates became couples, but only Mali remained alone.

He found it hard to even make friends, let alone hope for romance.

It wasn't that Mali hadn't resisted; he had wanted to escape the black labor of the auto repair shop more than once, but in the end, he was always ruthlessly suppressed by the cold and arbitrary capitalist, and his butt even blossomed as a result.

It wasn't until the college entrance examination ended that the escape plan Mali had been brewing for seven or eight years could finally be launched.

Perhaps because he wasn't troubled by puppy love and had no bad friends to lead him astray, Mali's final college entrance exam score was quite good, and he chose a university in B Shi, thousands of miles away, without hesitation.

And he didn't follow Old Ma's order to choose the vehicle engineering major, but hid it from him and applied for international affairs and international relations.

Mali didn't like studying international situations; it was simply because this major seemed the furthest away from auto repair.

At that time, he was single-mindedly wanting to escape the auto repair shop and escape his stubborn father with whom he couldn't communicate.

In fact, he did indeed get his wish later and stayed in B Shi, finding a job, although that job had nothing to do with his college major.

But Mali still stuck with it all the way, and even reached middle management in the company.

It was just that fate was sometimes full of drama; later, due to health reasons, Mali took a severance package and returned to his hometown.

And then he was swept into this strange red mist.

Mali shook his head hard, as if to shake these messy emotions aside.

Following his past memories, he came to that familiar auto repair shop. Like most shops in the city, the rolling shutter door here was also in an open state.

However, there was no one inside.

But all kinds of tools and equipment were there, some of which hadn't changed much from Mali's impression; he even found the words he had crookedly carved on the rear pillar of the lift.

—I hate this place.

In addition, the shop had also added some new equipment, such as the tire changer by the wall, the vulcanizer, and the balancer. The walnut sand carbon cleaning machine, four-wheel aligner, and disc machine had all been replaced with new ones.

Mali had never understood since he was a child why some people were so obsessed with repairing cars, a job that got them covered in oil and dirt.

But one thing was certain: that man truly loved the career he was engaged in.

In contrast, Mali wouldn't invest too much emotion in his work. Although he was also a well-known workaholic in the company, he always treated work only as a means to make a living.

No one would like those strings of numbers on the KPI.

Mali plugged the capsule coffee machine into the outdoor mobile power supply and first made himself a latte.

He wasn't a coffee lover either; at first, he just needed coffee to refresh himself, but later it gradually evolved into a ritual before starting work.

Before preparing to do a big job, he always felt something was missing if he didn't drink a cup of coffee.

Just like a sailor not praying to Mazu before going to sea.

Rather than saying this was a dietary preference, it was more like some kind of postmodern sacrifice.

And the capsule coffee machine was simply a godsend for office cattle like him. For one thing, it was healthier than instant coffee, without so many messy additives; it was just pure coffee beans pressed out, and you could mix whatever flavor you wanted.

But it wasn't as cumbersome to operate as an ordinary coffee machine, was easy to maintain, and almost required no cleaning.

Usually, once a bag of coffee beans was opened, the shelf life wouldn't be very long, and it was hard for one person to finish it, while the capsules used by the capsule coffee machine didn't have such trouble because they were already portioned and sealed.

Take the LOR Mali often drank; the price of one was usually around two yuan, cheaper than Luckin and Cotti.

And the capsule coffee machine itself was very small and could be thrown directly on the workstation.

Every time he drank coffee, Mali couldn't help but praise it from the bottom of his heart.

Just like a Christian praising Jesus. ===== CHAPTER 3 =====