Big G, Coffee Machine and Goblin

Chapter 3 Some Preparatory Work

After finishing his latte, Ma Li officially began his modification work.

With the city's power supply cut off, his first challenge was finding a new power source for the auto repair shop.

He had previously found two portable outdoor power supplies while exploring the city, which could meet his daily needs, but they were not enough for the auto repair shop.

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

They carry larger batteries, some even exceeding 100 kWh, and come with wheels, making them easy to move.

I just need to find the car keys.

Fortunately, there are still many car washes in the city. Ma Li was lucky enough to find a NIO ES6 with 51 kWh of battery left and a Xiaomi SU7 with 42 kWh of battery left, which he drove to the auto repair shop.

Of course, he also has backup plans if these cars have little battery left.

Hospitals and gas stations usually have diesel generators that can generate electricity on their own during power outages.

Ma Li didn't remove it because it was too heavy and inconvenient to move.

Anyway, he has two big batteries on wheels. When one battery is almost dead, he will switch to the other and then drive the dead battery to charge it.

This ensures that the auto repair shop will always have electricity.

With the electricity problem solved, Ma Li can finally start making real modifications.

He spent some time familiarizing himself with the store's equipment and tools, awakening his dormant muscle memory.

The good news is that the G300p is already a very mature off-road vehicle and doesn't require much modification.

The horsepower simply upgraded the original owner's AT tires to larger, wider, and thicker MT tires, further enhancing the vehicle's off-road capabilities on rocky and muddy surfaces.

Then, an additional 85L auxiliary fuel tank was installed on the G300p, which, together with the original 96L fuel tank, ensures that it can travel more than 1,000 kilometers on a single refueling.

Of course, this is only the data for highway driving; it will definitely be reduced in the valley, so Ma Li plans to bring some diesel fuel when he sets off.

He also installed a 13500-pound spider winch at the rear of the vehicle, which, together with the three differential locks that come with the G300p, should be sufficient to handle most situations where getting out of trouble is required.

As for the bull bar at the front of the car, the side bars below the doors, and the chassis armor, they were all made of steel on the original car, which was already sturdy enough, so the engine was not replaced.

The snorkel and roof rack were also readily available. Mali simply checked them to make sure they were still functional.

In addition, to deal with the ubiquitous red fog, he upgraded the original halogen fog lights to laser fog lights, and then added two ARB spotlights to the front bumper.

Then comes some detailed work, such as readjusting the shock absorbers, chassis, and brakes after changing to different sizes of tires, and conducting stability and handling tests on the new car after the modification.

In addition to the maintenance work such as changing the engine oil, cleaning carbon deposits, checking the wiring, and cleaning, it took Mali about half a month to complete the whole process.

Finally, there was the choice of supplies. This was also a major dilemma for him.

While the G300p boasts excellent load capacity, it also has its limits, roughly around 1.5 tons, and this figure must be factored in the weight increase resulting from modifications.

Furthermore, according to the laws of basic physics, the greater the vehicle's load, the longer the braking distance will be, the slower the steering response will be, the more ambiguous the feedback will be, and the higher the fuel consumption will be.

At the same time, changes in center of gravity and weight distribution may exacerbate the risk of vehicle roll.

Therefore, Ma Li had to resist the urge to pack everything up and take only the essential supplies. He divided these supplies into four categories, the first of which was, of course, survival supplies such as food and water.

An adult male's basal metabolic rate is about 1500-1800 kcal per day, and that's just if he's lying down and doing nothing. Considering that he needs to drive and sometimes needs to get out of the car to check the road or do maintenance, setting this number at 2200 kcal is more reasonable.

The compressed biscuits that Ma Li found in the supermarket weighed 115g per pack and provided 500 calories of energy, which meant that about 4 and a half biscuits would be enough to meet his daily needs.

In theory, 30kg of compressed biscuits would be enough to feed him for two months.

However, in reality, swallowing four compressed biscuits a day is still too cruel.

Even if Ma Li is willing to sacrifice some of the taste when exploring, he can't withstand this kind of eating. His body might be able to endure it, but his sanity will probably drop to zero in less than half a month.

So in addition to compressed biscuits as his staple food, he also planned to bring some luncheon meat, chocolate, and canned fruit to eat with it. All of these things together weighed about 60kg.

But water is actually more troublesome than food.

Ma Li did not find any streams or rivers in the valley during his last expedition. Although he brought two portable RO water purifiers (each weighing about 500g), he decided to bring more water as a precaution. Ma Li's idea was to bring at least a month's worth of purified water and drive back if he could not find a water source within 14 days.

Based on an average daily consumption of 2500ml, that's equivalent to 75kg of water.

Mali stored them separately in four plastic buckets to avoid total loss due to breakage or contamination.

After solving the problem of feeding the people, the next step is to provide food for the vehicles.

The main fuel is diesel. Diesel has a lower density than water. 1L of 0# diesel weighs 0.835kg, but a car consumes fuel much faster than a person eats. We don't know if there are any gas stations outside the valley.

Therefore, in addition to the two fuel tanks, Mali also prepared an extra 500L of diesel fuel, which adds up to a weight of 417.5kg.

Next came some repair tools and spare supplies, such as a jack, spare tire, entrenching tool, jumper cables, emergency power supply, air pump, tire repair strips, traction boards, repair toolbox... Mali even carried 4L of engine oil and a can of antifreeze.

He also brought a walkie-talkie, which, combined with the existing radio in the vehicle, allowed him to contact other survivors outside via radio.

These things together weigh almost 40kg.

Finally, there are wilderness survival supplies such as tactical flashlights, sleeping bags, climbing ropes, trekking poles, binoculars, magnesium rods, lighters, compasses, portable gas stoves, first aid kits, logging axes, multi-tools, and bear spray.

Most of them were found in outdoor equipment stores; Ma Li even got two sets of windbreakers there.

But what gives him the greatest sense of security is the 9mm Type 92 pistol in the armrest box. He found it at the police station across from the auto repair shop, along with two magazines containing a total of 30 rounds of ammunition.

Ma Li had considered finding more weapons and ammunition, since fear often stemmed from insufficient firepower.

However, after searching the area thoroughly, and even going to another police station two kilometers away to search it, he couldn't find a single bullet.

During the trip, they did find several safes. Ma Li guessed that other weapons and ammunition might be locked inside, but unfortunately, he couldn't open them without the password.

Fortunately, the trip wasn't entirely fruitless. Besides the Type 92 rifle, Ma Li also found two sets of stab-proof vests, a pair of handcuffs, and four canisters of tear gas (filled with pepper spray), all of which he brought with him this time.

In order to fit everything into the car, he had to remove the back seats.

The vehicle's weight has also jumped from the original 2.8 tons to 3.5 tons (unloaded). Considering that the vehicle's original weight was about 2.6 tons, it is still some distance from the upper limit of 4.1 tons.

But Ma Li doesn't plan to add any more fuel.

(End of this chapter)