The Monster Pickup Truck's onboard electronic control system had reached the point where it had to be upgraded.

The instant the vehicle's lighting system flashed on earlier, the reaction from those Anomalies made it clear that the lights affected them.

Perhaps the emergence of Eternal Night had caused these Anomalies to appear in large numbers.

Light exerted a certain suppressive effect on them.

But now, the truck's power had been exhausted.

They had not known before that light affected the Anomalies.

Now that this weakness was known, of course it should be exploited.

If they wanted to fully charge the vehicle and increase their chances of surviving the third Anomaly Tide, they needed to act.

There were currently two plans.

First: at least get the engine started.

Second: upgrade the solar charging system.

Start with the first plan.

Get the car started and use it to charge the vehicle battery.

But if they did that, another problem would arise.

There wasn't much gasoline left in the tank.

Even if they traded that gasoline for electricity, it probably wouldn't buy much.

Besides, that fuel had to be preserved for the upcoming migration.

If, later on, Chen Ye and the others—if they could leave this Sea of Trees—and had no fuel, that would be a huge problem.

Although Old Schemer Chu Che probably had some stockpiles.

But that's a different matter; distant water cannot put out a nearby fire.

Of course, that did not mean there was no solution.

Chen Ye turned his gaze to the ordinary people who were working.

The Monster Pickup Truck had another ability, an ability that had triggered passively a few times, but he had never used it actively.

Xu Lina had already started organizing the civilians to sweep all the leaf litter around the camp clean.

Because supplies had been replenished, and according to convoy rules, whatever supplies someone received belonged to that person.

As a result, many ordinary survivors had received extra goods.

So happy smiles beamed from everyone’s faces.

Watching those happy smiles...

Chen Ye slowly looked away.

Chen Ye was a complicated man.

He was neither a pure good nor a pure evil.

Earlier, when there had been infighting in the vehicle, Chen Ye had mercilessly shoved the troublemakers into the leaf litter, not even bothering to ask who had started it.

In his view, there had been three people at the door, any of whom could have been responsible.

Without asking, he shoved all three down into the leaf litter.

He had his reasons for doing so.

First, to intimidate others who might get ideas.

Second, to test the reaction of the newly minted Superhuman Xu Lina.

Later, seeing the leaf litter layer seemed not to be dangerous, he had even let others go down there for experiments.

In Chen Ye's mind, those actions were unavoidable.

Someone had to take these risks.

If ordinary people wouldn't do it, should a Superhuman go?

He could always find a suitable justification for what he did.

Even if the justification was a bit strained, a bit brutal, or unreasonable.

But it was still a reason.

To Tang Le Le, Chen Ye had once been a bad man because he had taken her Ideal Grain Seeds.

Later, Chen Ye had given her a Wonder.

Then he became the best person in the world.

And to the pregnant woman left in Divine Elephant Village, Chen Ye was also a good person.

Without him, she and the child in her belly would have died long ago.

But to many others, Chen Ye was an utter villain.

Like Mo Huairen at the beginning, later Wu Jianshan, and many more...

To his convoy teammates, Chen Ye was considered not bad, a fairly reliable companion.

Right now Chen Ye wished, more than anything, that a truly monstrous, everyone-hates-him villain would suddenly appear...

So the Monster Pickup Truck could swallow that person up without him having to bear any psychological burden.

Chen Ye let out a faint sigh.

Following Chu Che and Chen Hao, his moral standards were rapidly improving.

Enough, the first plan was set aside for now.

Perhaps that method was useless for someone like him who had not yet fully rotten to the core.

He really couldn't bring himself to do that without any legitimate reason...

...

Now for the second plan: the possibility of upgrading the solar charging system.

Given the Eternal Night situation, there was only a little daylight at noon each day.

Getting the solar panels to an ideal charging state under these conditions would be difficult.

But having the System made it not completely impossible.

Besides, Chen Ye currently had enough Slaughter Points.

Those last few minutes of frenzied killing at the end of the second Anomaly Tide had replenished some of his Slaughter Points.

If he chose the second plan, Chen Ye mentally summarized the points that needed to be accomplished.

Second plan, point one.

First repair the solar charging panel on top of the vehicle's hood.

The solar panel had been smashed earlier and had not been repaired until now.

They had not been able to use it before, so it had been postponed.

Second plan, point two.

Daylight now was dim.

But it was not completely dark.

If they wanted charging under such conditions, they first had to improve the solar panel's efficiency under low-light conditions.

Just this alone would likely cost a fair amount of Slaughter Points.

Second plan, point three.

If merely upgrading the solar panel's low-light conversion efficiency wasn’t enough.

Currently the Monster Pickup Truck's solar panels were only the portion on the hood.

That surface area was still too small; even if conversion efficiency improved, it would still be insufficient.

They had to increase the area of the solar panels.

For example, the roof of the cargo bed offered a large area to use, even more than twice the size of the hood.

Therefore, expanding the solar panel area was urgent. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Second plan, point four.

That was the issue of the vehicle battery's storage capacity.

Right now, the Monster Pickup Truck combined with the battery from the former chopped pepper fish head, plus the early two-kilowatt outdoor charging station they had swapped in, only amounted to around twelve kilowatt-hours of capacity.

A few minutes ago, they had drained the remaining four or five kilowatt-hours completely in just minutes.

At that rate, twelve kilowatt-hours would only last about the same length of time.

At most, not more than ten minutes.

No one knew what the next Anomaly Tide would be like.

So no preparation could be considered excessive.

Chu Che had written in the captain's notebook a first entry about the Anomalies that fully explained their characteristics.

Logically, the third Anomaly Tide would definitely be worse than the first and second.

To survive the third Anomaly Tide, they needed to use everything available.

Even if light did not deliver lethal damage to the Anomalies, it was still worth upgrading.

Also, the Monster Pickup Truck needed repair.

Although the second Anomaly Tide had not breached the vehicle's interior, it had inflicted considerable damage to the chassis.

Urgent repairs were required to restore the truck's previous rigidity.

Chen Ye's mind kept weighing pros and cons.

He calculated how, with the Slaughter Points he had and the limited time, he could guarantee survival.