CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER 189: SNOW TREAD WHEELS

Ding Ning used Chen Xin’s shortwave radio to contact the city bureau and inform them of Chen Xin’s speculations and concerns, feeling much more at ease.

Even though she didn’t know how much her warning could help, it was better than not warning at all, and it allowed her to have a clear conscience.

As for this matter, there was not much Ding Ning and Chen Xin could do after all.

After all, both Ding Ning and Chen Xin were just ordinary people. Ding Ning had at most a father who was the commander of the special police force, and Chen Xin merely had a system with cheats.

However, the care Ding Ning’s special police commander father provided was limited, and he couldn’t act recklessly for his daughter; Uncle Ding didn’t have that kind of authority either.

As for Chen Xin, although having the system made him strong in some ways, the problem was that before he got the system, he was just an ordinary person with a very weak foundation, which meant he couldn’t quickly leverage the system to enhance his abilities.

From the current standpoint, the greatest function of the system was to ensure Chen Xin could survive better in the current environment, but it didn’t yet grant him the ability to intervene in other matters.

Thus, after notifying about the matter, Ding Ning and Chen Xin didn’t focus on it any longer, merely discussing it briefly. Chen Xin then went about his afternoon tasks, and Ding Ning joined to lend a hand.

Chen Xin’s vehicle modification plan was progressing as scheduled, but he could do very little at the moment since the parts and materials Li Yulong had promised hadn’t been delivered yet.

Moreover, not wanting to spend any more on the car before the upgrade, Chen Xin didn’t plan to upgrade it again, so although he told Ding Ning he was working on the vehicle modification, in reality, he was merely dismantling, inspecting, and repairing the car before him.

After all, the car was not designed to drive in such harsh conditions. Even though Chen Xin hadn’t driven much over the past six months, the extreme cold and dust had inflicted substantial damage on the vehicle, necessitating inspection, repair, and maintenance.

Chen Xin had never performed vehicle maintenance or repairs himself, but given the current situation, he couldn’t take the car to a 4S shop for servicing, so he had to do it himself.

Fortunately, as a car owner, Chen Xin was able to diagnose and resolve basic malfunctions.

He opened the hood, looked at the dust-covered engine and other components underneath, and took out a large brush to start dusting off the accumulated grime.

For more professional inspection of component failures, Chen Xin could determine problem components with the system’s upgrade interface, since it would display as "faulty XXX component" if there were any malfunctions.

Despite the serious dust accumulation, Chen Xin’s car was in decent condition, and no faulty components were indicated.

"Ah Xin, how do you plan to modify your car?" Ding Ning, ready to assist, curiously asked Chen Xin about his modification plans.

Inside Chen Xin’s engine compartment, there were no malfunctions. Previously, he had removed the battery and upgraded it to a nuclear battery, but the upgraded nuclear battery didn’t match the original battery’s size, and its output was vastly different, so he couldn’t directly use the nuclear battery as a regular battery.

Chen Xin had to spend 500 survival points to upgrade the vehicle’s power system, switching it from fuel-powered to electric-powered, which allowed him to install the nuclear battery back, avoiding the embarrassment of not being able to start the car after removing the battery.

However, not wanting to waste upgrade points, the upgrade only involved adjustments to the power system without any other changes; even the dust in the engine compartment remained, as if the car had always been in this state, having been driven for a long time.

Due to the information state concept blurring functionality, and since the battery itself wasn’t eye-catching, it appeared to be just a greyish component under the dust cover in the engine compartment.

Not knowing much about cars, Ding Ning couldn’t figure out whether it was a fuel-powered or electric-powered car, let alone distinguishing the conceptually blurred nuclear battery.

"Ah Xin, how are you planning to modify your car?" Ding Ning watched Chen Xin clean the engine compartment and took a step back to avoid getting dust on herself.

"I plan to replace the wheels with tracks so driving on snow will be more convenient; tires are too prone to getting stuck in snow." Chen Xin answered Ding Ning while dusting off the grime.

According to standard cleaning procedures, one should clean the dust inside the engine compartment with a soft brush and then use detergent to wash the engine, but due to limited resources, Chen Xin could only brush off the dust.

Upon hearing Chen Xin’s plan to switch to tracks, Ding Ning was somewhat incredulous, "A tracked chassis and a wheeled chassis are completely different; how can this modification work?"

"Why can’t it be modified? Shame I didn’t get the track conversion kit before the apocalypse, otherwise there would’ve been no need for such a transformation." After cleaning the dust in the engine compartment, Chen Xin closed the bonnet, ignoring Ding Ning’s inquiry.

However, Ding Ning’s curiosity was piqued by Chen Xin’s words, and she pursued him with questions, "Track conversion kit? What is that?"

"It’s something called snow track wheels, a track structure which can clamp onto wheels using a connecting mechanism, turning the wheels into tracks." Chen Xin explained to Ding Ning; he had seen such things online, and wanted to buy them, but hadn’t seen them being sold in Flame Country.

Ding Ning was greatly intrigued, pestering Chen Xin with questions about snow track wheels: "What kind of thing is it, really? Do you remember the structure, Ah Xin? Can you make one yourself?"

"I remember the structure, but making it myself..." Chen Xin was a bit frustrated with Ding Ning’s questions but still answered her; he was about to say he couldn’t make it, but suddenly paused.

Perhaps using the system’s workstation, he could make it?

First of all, snow track wheels have a relatively simple structure. Unlike traditional track systems that replace wheels, they don’t require modifying car transmission or changing tires; the snow track wheels are simply placed on the ground, and the car drives onto them, hooking onto the wheels to complete installation.

Moreover, they don’t have any power, relying on the car’s original wheels to drive the tracks forward, eliminating the need for a complex transmission system or powering system design.

Understanding the structure and principles makes creating something similar quite feasible, especially for Chen Xin, who has the system; making them would be even easier.

Ding Ning noticed Chen Xin was in a daze, so she nudged him, "Ah Xin, what are you daydreaming about? Can you make this? If you make it, I feel like the demand would be substantial. You could produce it and exchange for resources with my dad and the others.

Plenty of cars in the bureau are idling, unable to manage the snow. Solving this problem would be amazing!"

The nudge brought Chen Xin back to his senses; he nodded to Ding Ning and said, "I was just thinking about the structure of this thing. It looks doable, and it’s not too complicated."

Chen Xin said this and took Ding Ning from the garage to the workstation inside the shelter, taking out white paper and a pencil to sketch draft drawings.

Given it’s called snow track wheels, a track structure is obviously crucial, but there’s no need for metal tracks — rubber tracks would suffice.

As Chen Xin recalled his past glimpses of snow track wheels, he sketched on the paper, with Ding Ning watching eagerly from the side and occasionally asking curious questions.

"Ah Xin, How does this thing latch onto the wheels?" Ding Ning asked Chen Xin curiously, observing the sketches taking shape.

Although Chen Xin sketched the snow track wheels and basic structure, he was still unclear on how they’d latch onto wheels.

He’d only seen images and videos, no physical examples, so what he sketched was only reconstructed from his impressions. Detailed explanations could only be confirmed through hands-on creation.

However, Chen Xin still answered Ding Ning based on his intuition, "It’s placed beneath wheels, so it likely relies on the weight of the car to hold it in place. There seems to be fixtures on both sides of the tire connection to prevent it from falling off.

I’m not sure if this is exact, without seeing a physical example, I’m only sketching from memory. Its practicality can only be verified after making and testing it."

While stating this, Chen Xin continued refining the design, pondering how to manufacture it concurrently.

As Ding Ning suggested, if produced, demand would indeed be high, as it could resolve most driving issues faced by vehicles with traditional wheel chassis under current conditions, without resorting to the laborious method of replacing wheels with tracks.

Despite adopting a track system being an ultimate choice in current conditions, as the city built underground passages, many vehicles still necessitated wheel usage due to tracks significantly damaging road surfaces more than tires.

Thus, such easily detachable track kits are far more practical and convenient than those requiring wheel removal for track systems.

Yet, without confirming the specific fixture structure, Chen Xin would need to first make a prototype and then use system upgrades to ascertain the fixing method, since relying solely on a vehicle’s weight to press down for fixture isn’t feasible; uneven terrain or overcoming obstacles would risk them easily falling off.