If not for that muscle-bound devil-man weakening the Anomaly, he probably wouldn’t have been able to scrape together even a thousand points.

The desperate escape had seared a lesson into his mind: speed was life. Without the Power-Assist System on his tricycle, he would have been left in the dust when the convoy fled. And in this apocalypse, being left behind was a death sentence.

The convoy’s frantic, disheveled flight today confirmed one thing: they had sensed a massive, approaching danger. Staying with the group was his best chance of survival.

He needed a vehicle that could keep up. Ideally, a hybrid tricycle—one that could switch between manual pedaling for cruising and electric power for emergencies.

“System, can I design the upgrade blueprint myself?” Chen Ye tentatively projected the thought.

To his surprise, the system responded instantly.

[Design Mode Activated.]

A 3D holographic rendering of his tricycle appeared in his vision. It was a blank canvas, waiting for his input.

Chen Ye began to mentally sculpt his ideal apocalypse vehicle.

First, the wheels. He replaced the standard rims with heavy-duty ones and swapped the tires for 16-inch vacuum tires. He reinforced the cargo bed, making it deeper and sturdier to hold more supplies. He added a throttle and handbrakes to the handlebars, and even a high-beam headlight.

He paused, considering the weather. Rain would be miserable without cover. With a thought, he added an enclosed cabin for the driver’s seat.

Then, he reconsidered the tires. Vacuum tires were good, but in a world filled with debris, a flat tire could be fatal. He switched them to solid, off-road tires. They would offer a rougher ride and transmit more shock to the frame, but they were virtually indestructible and maintenance-free. Perfect for the wasteland.

To handle the extra stress, he reinforced the frame, thickening the steel tubing.

The system was incredibly intuitive. It not only visualized his ideas instantly but also optimized them. When he designed a rear-wheel-drive system, the system suggested a three-wheel-drive configuration for better traction. In a world where roads might be nonexistent, three-wheel drive was superior.

Chen Ye didn’t stop there. He completely redesigned the chassis, swapping the standard frame for a non-load-bearing body-on-frame structure—the kind usually reserved for hardcore off-road trucks. This would allow the tricycle to handle rock crawling, desert terrain, and rough cross-country travel.

By the time he was done, the vehicle in the hologram bore little resemblance to an “Old 28” bicycle. It looked like a miniature, three-wheeled tank. If this thing became real, it would rival the modified off-road vehicles in the convoy.

Chen Ye clicked confirm.

The hologram shimmered, and a prompt appeared.

[Optimizing design plan…]

[Optimization complete.]

[Upgrade requires 3,500 Slaughter Points. Insufficient points. Upgrade failed.]

“No!” Chen Ye groaned. “Fuck!”

3,500 points? That was extortionate!

He stared at his current balance: 1,240 points. He was nowhere near enough.

But looking at the holographic blueprint of his dream vehicle, he felt a pang of intense longing. He was practically drooling over it. Giving up on it felt like a physical blow.

He lit a cigarette, taking a long drag to calm his nerves. He had to compromise.

Reluctantly, he began to strip away features. The enclosed cabin? Gone. The headlight? Gone. He removed anything that wasn’t strictly essential for survival, aiming to slash the cost.

A few minutes later, he looked at the simplified blueprint. It wasn’t as glorious, but it was functional.

[Current upgrade plan requires 1,200 Slaughter Points. Upgrade duration: 15 hours.]

[Confirm upgrade?]

1,200 points. He had just enough. Fifteen hours was a long time, but acceptable.

He raised his hand to confirm, but his gaze drifted to the roadside. In the tall grass lay an abandoned motorcycle, its frame rusted and moss growing in the cracks of the engine block.

Such sights were common in the apocalypse. If he had enough luck and patience, he might eventually find a working off-road vehicle and ditch the tricycle entirely. But he couldn’t bank on “might.” The tricycle was the only asset he controlled right now. If he didn’t upgrade it, he wouldn’t survive long enough to find anything better.

An idea struck him.

“System, if I provide parts, can the Slaughter Point cost be reduced?”

The response was immediate.

[If suitable parts are provided, the system can reduce the cost accordingly.]

Chen Ye’s hand trembled slightly as he took another drag of his cigarette. The glowing ember illuminated his profile, reflecting the sharp gleam in his eyes.

“Damn it, let’s do it!”

Fighting against the soreness in his limbs, he struggled to his feet. He dragged the rusted motorcycle over to his tricycle.

People in the nearby camp heard the noise and glanced over. Seeing it was just Chen Ye, the guy with the tricycle, they lost interest and turned back to their own affairs. Tents were going up, and fires were being lit.

The scent of roasting meat drifted over, assaulting Chen Ye’s senses. His mouth watered uncontrollably. He took two fierce puffs of his cigarette, forcibly suppressing the gnawing hunger in his stomach to focus on the task at hand.

“System, can this motorcycle be used for the modification?”

The tires, the engine, the transmission—surely some of it was salvageable.

[Yes. Using this vehicle as material reduces the upgrade cost to 900 Slaughter Points.]

Only a 300-point reduction? That was stingy.

“System, is there any way to save more points?”

[Yes. If the Host disassembles the motorcycle and performs preliminary installation of the parts onto the tricycle, an additional 100 points can be saved.]

[If the Host finds a third tire, another 100 points can be saved.]

[If the Host…]

Chen Ye understood. The more work he did manually, the less the system charged. It was a fair trade: labor for points.

Unfortunately, he had no tools. Dragging the bike over was the limit of his current capabilities. He made a mental note to scavenge a toolset next time he went out.

He scanned the darkness, hoping to spot another abandoned vehicle, but the night was too thick to see anything further away.

This would have to do.

The upgrade would transform his electric tricycle into a gasoline-hybrid. It was unavoidable; electric motors needed batteries and chargers he didn’t have, but engines could run on siphoned fuel. He would have to join the scavengers hunting for gas in the future.

But having two power sources—human and engine—was a massive advantage. Even if the gas ran dry, he could still pedal, though dragging the extra weight of an engine would be grueling.

He confirmed the selection in his mind.

[Upgrade initiated. Time remaining: 06:00:00]

An hourglass icon appeared over the tricycle. Providing the motorcycle had shaved nine hours off the construction time. By dawn, his new ride would be ready.

With the work done, Chen Ye finally turned his attention to his loot.

He had carried two large bags out of the supermarket himself. The other two bags were the ones he had seized from the dead Qiangzi and the fleeing Jiajia.