As for the material storage space, the restrictions were even more numerous, making it difficult to exploit any loopholes.
Therefore, the space inside the Hundred Refinements Furnace could only temporarily store the materials needed for vehicle upgrades for now.
Because the gas station was close to the market area, most of the vehicles coming to refuel were various types of trucks. Consequently, the tanker trucks stopping here to replenish fuel were also large ones.
Fortunately, the amount of fuel stored in the tanker truck at that time hadn't been used up much. So, even after Dong Qi had finished refining all the gold in the vehicle, he could still refill the fuel tank directly.
Over twenty tons of gold ultimately yielded only twenty-six grams of refined gold after the refining process. Combined with the small amount of refined gold already in the Hundred Refinements Furnace's material space, the total was still less than thirty grams.
This weight was far from enough for an overall enhancement, let alone a single-item enhancement.
Thankfully, the materials required for the Lifebound Vehicle at this stage didn't yet need high-grade materials like refined gold.
Now that he had obtained the Hundred Refinements Furnace, the next primary target for material collection became metal smelting companies.
Metal smelting company warehouses should have substantial reserves of metals that have undergone preliminary smelting. Using these metals for refinement should yield a higher proportion of final materials compared to refining ordinary metals.
However, Pengcheng didn't have large metal smelting plants, though there were many metal processing factories. While a single factory might not stockpile a huge amount of metal materials, the combined reserves across all these factories should be considerable.
At this point, only two or three days had passed since Dong Tianyu left the underground shelter. The vast majority of people were still hiding in the underground shelters and hadn't come out.
Under normal circumstances, the authorities would usually dispatch patrol officers to maintain stability in the outside world.
But in reality, due to the EMP impact causing communication system failures, the authorities could only rely on manpower in the short term to contact the major underground shelters.
Precisely because of this, patrol officers and peacekeepers were now needed to stay inside the underground shelters to maintain order. This was also why volunteers like Dong Qi, who were willing to venture outside, were allowed to test the natural conditions of the external environment.
Taking advantage of the paralyzed SkyNet surveillance system, Dong Qi directly emptied the warehouses of several metal processing factories. After refining, he ultimately obtained two cubic meters of ordinary metal alloy.
Two cubic meters of metal alloy might not seem like much, but in reality, these two cubic meters of metal alloy weighed up to thirty-eight tons.
Although the metals in the metal processing factory warehouses had undergone preliminary refinement, the ratio after further refining in the Hundred Refinements Furnace wasn't as exaggerated as the one-ton-to-one-gram ratio for gold refining into refined gold. However, it was still roughly one ton to one hundred grams.
From this, one can imagine that the two cubic meters of metal alloy currently stored in the Hundred Refinements Furnace's material space truly represented the complete emptying of several metal processing factory warehouses.
Just as Dong Qi had finished emptying the warehouses of those metal processing factories in the Northern Industrial Park and was preparing to head to the Eastern Industrial Park,
the authorities had confirmed the external environment was safe and directly arranged for residents to leave the underground shelters and return home.
Seeing many people appearing on the streets, Dong Qi understood that his days of free shopping sprees were over. From today onward, he needed to lay low.
Over the past couple of days, busy with refining materials, he hadn't gotten around to enhancing his Lifebound Vehicle.
Dong Qi wouldn't be like some protagonists in novels who, despite having obtained enhancement qualifications, insist on suppressing their level. They only remember they have the qualification to enhance and grow stronger when they're half-beaten by enemies.
Lifebound Artifact: Light Passenger Vehicle
Grade: Magical Artifact
Body Frame: Enhancement Level LV4
Power System: Enhancement Level LV4
Electrical Equipment: Enhancement Level LV0
Other Equipment: Hundred Refinements Furnace LV3
Manifestation from the Tide of Thought
Times Manifested: 2
Unknown Special Energy Value: 10.1
(Minimum energy consumption per manifestation: 100 points. No upper limit.)
Minimum energy consumption per manifestation: 100 points. No upper limit.
Stored materials: 28.3 grams of refined gold, 1 ton of metal alloy.
Although the enhancement level is not high, it consumed thirty-seven tons of refined metal.
The initial LV1 enhancement used up one ton of metal alloy, and to upgrade to the next level, the required amount of metal alloy doubles.
LV1 - 1 ton.
LV2 - 2 tons.
LV3 - 4 tons.
LV4 - 8 tons.
Dong Qi never imagined that just a few enhancements would require so much metal alloy.
If the consumption continues at this rate, he genuinely doubts whether cultivators in the Immortal-Cultivating World practicing the Treasure Forging Method can acquire such vast amounts of materials.
In reality, the high material consumption in each enhancement is due to Dong Qi's own greed.
In the Immortal-Cultivating World, most cultivators who practice the Treasure Forging Method choose relatively small weapons as their Lifebound Artifacts.
Even full-body armors or special artifacts generally weigh no more than a hundred catties.
However, Dong Qi selected a light passenger vehicle as his Lifebound Artifact, which has a curb weight of three to four tons.
Thus, the high consumption of metal alloy for enhancement is quite normal.
Moreover, in the Immortal-Cultivating World, cultivators can find suitable materials for each stage of their cultivation.
Therefore, although practicing the Treasure Forging Method is costly, it is not as difficult as Dong Qi's current situation.
Nevertheless, high consumption also comes with its advantages.
If Dong Qi's Lifebound Artifact could originally only withstand small-caliber firearms, after this enhancement, it can now withstand not only ordinary firearms but also sniper rifles with slightly smaller calibers without sustaining damage.
Multiple enhancements to the power system have made the tires, which appear ordinary, almost as resilient as the vehicle's body—more durable than tank treads.
Upgrading the Hundred Refinements Furnace has slightly improved its refining efficiency while moderately increasing the capacity of its two internal spaces.
The Hundred Refinements Furnace integrated into the Lifebound Vehicle manifests as an ornament placed in front of the windshield inside the car.
However, this ornament appears to be welded to the dashboard and cannot be moved.
No one would imagine that this small ornament in front of the windshield requires tons of metal alloy for each upgrade.
Logically speaking, after consuming over thirty tons of metal alloy for enhancements, the curb weight of the Lifebound Vehicle should have become extremely heavy.
However, in reality, Dong Qi's Lifebound Vehicle now shows a curb weight not much different from that of an ordinary vehicle.
When most people have grown accustomed to cashless payments, the sudden EMP shock damaged the majority of electronic devices, instantly shattering the once-convenient payment system.
More critically, most people's savings were stored in banks.
Due to the EMP shock, the electronic devices recording everyone's deposits were damaged.
This caused the wealth of the vast majority of people to vanish in an instant.
Those who still keep old-fashioned passbooks are fortunate, as they have proof of their previous deposit amounts.
However, the majority use bank cards, and with the damage to electronic devices, all the cards in people's hands have become useless.
