Chapter 3: Some Preparations

After finishing the latte in his hand, Mali officially began his modification work.

Since the city's power supply had stopped, the first challenge he had to face was finding a new power supply for the auto repair shop.

When he was exploring the city before, he had found two mobile outdoor power supplies, which could meet his daily needs, but they weren't enough for the auto repair shop.

So Mali turned his attention to the new energy vehicles in the city.

The batteries they carried had a larger capacity, some even over 100 degrees, and they came with wheels, making them very convenient to move.

It was just that he needed to find the car keys.

Fortunately, there were still many car washes in the city. Mali was lucky and found a Nio ES6 with 51 degrees of electricity left, as well as a Xiaomi SU7 with 42 degrees of electricity, both of which he drove to the auto repair shop.

Of course, if these cars didn't have much electricity left, he also had a backup plan.

Places like hospitals and gas stations generally had diesel generators, which could generate electricity independently when the power was out.

It was just because the weight was too heavy and it wasn't convenient to move, so Mali didn't dismantle it.

Anyway, he now had two big batteries with wheels; when one was about to run out of power, he would switch to the other, and then drive the one without power to charge.

This way, he could ensure that the auto repair shop would always have electricity to use.

Having solved the power problem, Mali could finally truly start the modifications.

He spent some time re-familiarizing himself with the instruments and tools in the shop, awakening the hidden muscle memory.

The good news was that the G300p itself was already a very mature off-road vehicle and didn't need much modification.

Mali just upgraded the original owner's AT tires to MT tires with larger dimensions, wider width, and thicker sidewalls, further enhancing the off-road capability for rocky surfaces and mud.

Then he added an extra 85L auxiliary fuel tank for the G300p, which, together with the original 96L fuel tank, ensured a range of over 1,000 kilometers on a single fill-up.

Of course, this was just data for road driving; it would definitely be discounted in the valley, so Mali planned to bring some diesel when he set off.

He also installed a 13,500-pound spider winch at the rear of the car, which, combined with the G300p's own three differential locks, should be enough to handle most scenarios requiring self-rescue.

As for the bull bar at the front, the side bars under the doors, and the chassis armor, they were all made of steel on the original car and were already thick and sturdy enough, so Mali didn't replace them.

The snorkel and roof rack were also ready-made. Mali just checked them to ensure they were still usable.

In addition, to cope with the ubiquitous red mist, he also upgraded the original halogen fog lamps to laser fog lamps and then added two extra ARB spotlights on the front bumper.

Then there was some detailed work, such as re-adjusting the suspension, chassis, and brakes after changing to tires of different sizes, and conducting stability and handling tests on the new car after the modifications were completed.

Coupled with maintenance work like changing the engine oil, cleaning carbon deposits, checking circuits, and cleaning, Mali spent nearly half a month busy before finishing.

Finally, there was the choice of supplies. This was also the part that made him very conflicted.

Although the G300p had excellent load-bearing capacity, it also had a limit, which was about 1.5 tons, from which the weight increase caused by the modifications itself had to be subtracted.

And according to the basic laws of physics, the greater the load of the vehicle, the longer the braking distance would inevitably become, the slower the steering response, the more blurred the feedback, and the higher the fuel consumption.

At the same time, changes in the center of gravity height and weight distribution might also exacerbate the vehicle's rollover risk.

Therefore, Mali had to restrain the urge to pack everything and take it away, trying his best to carry only the essential supplies.

He divided these things into four categories. The first category was, of course, survival supplies like food and water.

An adult male's basal metabolism per day is about 1500-1800 calories, and this is just in a state of lying down and doing nothing. Considering that he needed to drive and sometimes get out of the car to scout the road or repair things, setting this number at 2200 calories was relatively reasonable.

And each pack of compressed biscuits Mali found in the supermarket weighed 115g and could provide 500 calories of energy, which meant about four and a half packs could meet his daily needs.

Theoretically, 30kg of compressed biscuits was enough to support his food for two months.

However, in fact, swallowing 4 packs of compressed biscuits a day was still too cruel.

Even if Mali was willing to sacrifice some taste when exploring outside, he couldn't stand this way of eating. His body might be able to persist, but his sanity would probably hit zero before half a month.

So besides the compressed biscuits as the staple food, he also planned to carry some luncheon meat, chocolate, and canned fruit to eat with them. These things added up to about 60kg.

And what was actually more troublesome than food was water.

Mali didn't find any water sources like streams or rivers in the valley during his last expedition. Although he still brought two portable outdoor RO water purifiers (about 500g each), for the sake of insurance, he still had to bring more water. Mali's idea was to bring at least a month's worth of pure water, and if he still couldn't find a supplementary water source within 14 days, he would decisively drive back.

Calculated according to a daily average consumption of 2500ml, that was 75kg of water.

Mali stored them separately in four plastic barrels to avoid total loss due to damage or contamination.

After solving the human rations, it was the car's turn to chew.

It was mainly diesel. The density of diesel is lower than water; 1L of 0# diesel weighs 0.835kg, but the car's fuel consumption speed is much faster than a person's eating speed, and he didn't know if there were any gas stations outside the valley.

Therefore, besides the two fuel tanks, Mali also prepared an extra 500L of diesel, which was another 417.5kg of weight.

Then there were some maintenance tools and spare consumables, such as a jack, spare tire, engineer shovel, jumper cables, emergency power supply, spark plugs, air pump, tire repair strips, recovery boards, maintenance toolbox... Mali even packed 4L of engine oil and a barrel of antifreeze.

In addition, he also brought a walkie-talkie, which, combined with the car radio already in the vehicle, would allow him to contact other survivors if there were any outside.

These things added up to nearly 40kg.

Finally, there were some wilderness survival supplies like tactical flashlights, sleeping bags, climbing ropes, trekking poles, binoculars, magnesium rods, lighters, compasses, portable stoves, first-aid kits, logging axes, multi-functional knives, and bear spray.

Most of them were found in outdoor supply stores, and Mali also got two sets of windbreakers there.

But if you asked what could give him the most sense of security, it was the 9mm Type 92 pistol in the armrest box. This was something he picked up at the police station across from the auto repair shop, and along with it were two magazines, totaling 30 rounds of ammunition.

It wasn't that Mali hadn't thought about finding more weapons and ammunition; after all, fear often stemmed from insufficient firepower.

However, he searched that place carefully and even ran to another police station two kilometers away to rummage through it, but he didn't see the shadow of a single bullet.

During this time, he did discover several safes. Mali guessed that other weapons and ammunition might be locked inside, but unfortunately, he couldn't open them without the password.

Fortunately, this trip wasn't without gains. Besides the Type 92, Mali also picked up two anti-stab vests, a pair of handcuffs, and four bottles of tear gas spray (filled with chili water), all of which were brought along this time.

To fit everything into the car, he had to remove all the rear seats.

The vehicle weight also jumped from the original 2.8 tons to 3.5 tons (unloaded). Considering that the car's factory weight was about 2.6 tons, it was still some distance from the 4.1-ton limit.

But Mali didn't intend to stuff any more in. ===== CHAPTER 4 =====