ABT Chapter 58: This Is Not a Car!
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Li Fanyu’s current mood was akin to that of an Apple fan seeing the release of the iPhone 7—itching with excitement to get his hands on it and try it out.
The same went for the Xapp, even though he knew the modification workshop was practically useless to him, he couldn’t resist the urge to check it out.
After much self-persuasion, Li Fanyu couldn’t hold back any longer. With a determined clench of his teeth, he headed to the parking lot, got the keys from the salesperson, and drove a white Toyota Safeng SUV into the modification workshop.
Before the timeline had changed, Toyota’s most iconic SUVs were the Prado, commonly known as the “Badao,” and the Land Cruiser, known domestically as the “Land Cruiser.”
These two models represented Toyota’s mid-size and full-size SUVs respectively. Both had gained wide recognition in the market for their off-road performance and usability.
The Prado was the go-to choice for a mid-size rugged SUV under 500,000 RMB. The Land Cruiser, with its superior vehicle performance and exceptional durability, outshone all its competitors in the same class.
On various off-road vehicle forums, comparisons between the Land Cruiser and Land Rover were frequent. Phrases like “the Land Cruiser that doesn’t break, the Land Rover that can’t be fixed” were common, highlighting the Land Cruiser’s stellar reputation among users.
Once, during a trip to Lhasa, Li Fanyu noticed the Toyota models everywhere along the treacherous Sichuan-Tibet line, a testament to their market dominance.
At their sales peak, even Toyota couldn’t keep up with demand and ran self-congratulatory ads—“Where there’s a road, there’s a Toyota.”
Arrogance on full display!
Although the historical timeline had shifted, it didn’t affect the emergence of these vehicles’ successors. Now, the Toyota Safeng had taken over the Prado’s market share in the mid-size SUV segment.
Compared to the Prado’s rugged and bold exterior, the Safeng looked a bit more rounded. Although it was essentially a rugged off-road vehicle, its design resembled that of a city SUV.
This awkwardness made Li Fanyu curl his lips, though he was secretly eager; when he could manufacture cars, he’d replicate the Prado and outperform this “sissy” model.
Thinking about this, he felt a bit smug; using a Toyota model to compete with Toyota’s market, it was... quite exhilarating.
Stealing Japanese car designs didn’t give him any guilt at all.
The modification workshop had been transformed, now milk-white in color, simple and bright. In the center of the workshop was a ten-square-meter black workbench. Next to the workbench stood a man-height transparent touch panel.
All the clutter and parts previously scattered around were gone, digitized within the workshop’s touch panel.
Modification materials: Metal 505, Plastic 605, Parts 200, Sheet metal 350, Rare 20.
Li Fanyu was a bit bewildered. Could it be that the items placed in the workshop were automatically decomposed into resources for modifications? This was incredibly overpowered.
After driving the car onto the modification platform, Li Fanyu got out, walked to the panel, and entered the program.
The panel listed all the car’s parameters, revealing its poor condition due to lack of maintenance.
Power: 50
Acceleration: 30
Top Speed: 40
Handling: 30
Comfort: 20
Off-road Performance: 65
Safety Level: —
The program also provided modification suggestions: Mid-size SUV, overall vehicle performance is low, recommend upgrading power, acceleration, and handling. If the vehicle is needed for special purposes, consider increasing the safety level.
Power, acceleration, and handling, Li Fanyu could understand. Using foreign modification techniques, power could be increased by expanding the engine block, torque could be increased by altering the gearbox gear ratios, and flexibility could be enhanced by replacing the suspension.
But what was this safety level? Did it mean strengthening the chassis? That would be quite challenging.
However, seasoned drivers taught us that “truth comes from practice.” To improve one’s skills, experiencing the real thing beats watching countless videos.
No more hesitation, time to get hands-on!
Li Fanyu pulled up the modification panel and, with a series of clicks, increased each attribute by 20 points.
"Modification material reserves are low. After calculation, the existing materials can only increase off-road performance by 5 points. Proceed?"
Materials running low? Then let's temporarily increase off-road performance by five points. Let's first see how other aspects perform after increasing by 20 points.
As the program prompted that the materials were depleted, the modification of the car began. The car on the modification platform seemed to be disassembled by an invisible butcher!
Almost every assembly part of the car, from its structure to its appearance, underwent significant changes.
After about a dozen minutes, all the assembly parts miraculously reassembled into a car that looked slightly different from before, appearing in front of Li Fanyu.
He immediately excitedly ran to the car, only to see that the previously damaged sheet metal had changed its appearance!
Originally, the car body had a white metallic paint surface. Now, while it remained white, you could clearly see the porcelain glaze shining through, casting a milky-white halo under the workshop's fluorescent lights.
At the same time, a prompt came from the panel: "Vehicle modification completed. Vehicle performance improved:
Power: 70
Acceleration: 50
Top Speed: 60
Handling: 50
Comfort: 40
Off-road Performance: 70
Safety Level: 20 (Level II)"
Li Fanyu stroked the car door, feeling the smooth surface, somewhat puzzled: "Porcelain? Could it be that the so-called safety level involves changing the chassis strength and sheet metal hardness? Damn, could it be bulletproof?"
Ignoring this for now, he opened the car door and leaped into the driver's seat.
Originally, the interior of this Safeng felt very plastic, almost like a roughly made toy.
While the overall interior changes weren’t significant, all the touchable parts inside the car, except for the gearbox, were covered with a thin layer of soft leather.
The original leather seats had been upgraded to sports seats, and the steering wheel had changed from a four-spoke large round wheel to a two-spoke leather sports type.
Sitting in the driver's seat, one could clearly feel the comfortable wrap and back support.
Li Fanyu started the car, and immediately, a low growl from the engine reverberated, as if there wasn’t a cold machine under the hood, but a ferocious beast waiting to devour!
This kind of SUV only conveyed one message to the driver—control me, I'll take you to conquer the world!
Li Fanyu couldn't wait any longer. He slowly drove the car out of the workshop, turned the front of the car towards the unused space of the company, which was the location of the second phase of the used car trading center.
In front of him was vast wasteland. Unable to contain his excitement, Li Fanyu abruptly stepped on the accelerator.
With a roar, the car moved! Instantly, a tremendous push sensation came, slamming him hard into the seat. The world outside the car window quickly receded backward, Li Fanyu tightly gripped the steering wheel, feeling as if the car was a massive sprinter, rushing fearlessly towards its target with agility that didn't match its size, like an athlete accelerating after the starting gun.
No! To say that is too polite, even for an athlete it's too slow!
This wasn’t a car at all; it was an aircraft accelerating, intending to take off!
The wasteland was not flat, but after the suspension modification, the car moved like a speedboat on choppy waves, traversing the uneven terrain.
Set against the backdrop of the dust from the rear of the car, the entire vehicle resembled a sharp sword being unsheathed, speeding away.
Li Fanyu's heart was pounding, silently counting.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8...
Even on such a bad road, the 0-100 km/h acceleration time was just ten seconds!
Even for a sedan, achieving zero to a hundred kilometers per hour in under ten seconds would be considered outstanding.
But you have to know, this was an off-road vehicle weighing over two tons!
After reaching a speed of 160 km/h, Li Fanyu slowly eased off the accelerator and stopped the car.
He slapped the steering wheel hard and cursed: "NMBD! That was awesome!"
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