At exactly ten o'clock in the morning, the upgrade was completed. Yi Yi, sitting beside Chen Wan and mindful that Jiang Wanning was present, announced it aloud this time: "RV upgrade to Level 4 complete. All attributes have been enhanced. The host will receive one attribute enhancement. One additional mechanical arm has been added. Compressed storage has expanded to one hundred and twenty square meters. Fuel and water tank capacity has each been upgraded to eleven thousand two hundred liters. Additionally, a new room on the upper level has been unlocked — fifteen square meters with a private bathroom — and a simulated sunroom has been added, suitable for growing vegetables and fruit."
Chen Wan exhaled with quiet relief. More people meant more water and fuel consumption — the expanded tanks were genuinely necessary.
She installed the new mechanical arm on the front left of the RV — the vehicle now had two mechanical arms at the front and one at the rear, which would be enormously useful for managing zombie encounters. She then put her attribute enhancement into agility, which meant all four of her attribute modifiers were now fully unlocked. With all four active, her next goal was to choose one and push it further.
The new room and the sunroom she was curious about.
"Yi Yi — what do the new room and sunroom look like? Take us to see."
"They're both on the upper level. Come on." Yi Yi smiled and led the way.
She brought everyone to the space behind the upper-level bathroom — in the same position as on the lower level — where a door handle had appeared in the wall. Yi Yi turned it and pushed the door open.
The room inside was laid out like their main bedroom, fully equipped. Chen Wan smiled. "Good timing — Yan Yan will be back before long. This room can go to Qin Ke and her."
Yi Yi blinked and looked at Jiang Wanning. The implication was clear — she and Wanning would need another upgrade before a room of their own became available.
Jiang Wanning had no idea why Yi Yi was looking at her like that. She had her own sleeping space. What was Yi Yi's expression about?
"Can we see the sunroom?" Chen Wan was already moving. The new room had been more or less expected, but the sunroom was something genuinely new.
"It's over there." Yi Yi pointed to the wall behind the reclining chairs on the upper level — previously bare, now fitted with another door.
She pushed it open.
Inside was a room of soft, loose dark soil — the whole space about twenty square meters, like a small indoor garden.
Chen Wan nodded, then thought of the obvious problem. "Yi Yi, where do we get seeds? It's the apocalypse."
Yi Yi smiled and explained. "Seeds can be exchanged for zombie crystal cores. One Level 1 zombie core exchanges for ten Level 1 plant seeds. One Level 2 core for ten Level 2 plant seeds, and so on. Plants grown in the simulated sunroom mature in five days due to the special growing conditions. Everyone should be eating fresh vegetables and fruit very soon."
Chen Wan was genuinely delighted. They hadn't had fresh vegetables in a long time. Yang Yang had suffered through several bouts of constipation that only honey had managed to fix — now, with proper produce available, everyone's nutrition would improve considerably.
"That's wonderful. Once the first batch is ready, we can finally do a proper hotpot." Chen Wan smiled broadly, and the warmth spread around the table.
Jiang Zhao Yuan turned to Chen Wan and said, "Leave the sunroom to your mother and me. You young ones have enough to deal with outside — we'll manage everything inside the RV. Growing the vegetables is ours to handle."
"That would be a real help. Thank you both." Chen Wan thought this was actually a very good arrangement. The older couple had been quietly anxious about not contributing enough — having something meaningful to tend to would do them good.
"Don't thank us. Your father loves gardening anyway — he'll be in his element." Ye Lan smiled warmly.
Chen Wan exchanged some Level 1 zombie crystal cores for seeds — cabbage, carrot, potato, round lettuce, banana, apple, and several other varieties of vegetables and fruit — and handed them all to Jiang Zhao Yuan, intending to see how well the sunroom performed before committing more resources.
At noon, everyone ate beef congee together. Jiang Wanning had instant noodles on the side since she couldn't eat beef. After lunch, the group agreed to set out at two o'clock to search for the steel and metal alloys they still needed — the last pieces required to begin rebuilding Yan Yan's body.
Those who needed rest rested. Those who wanted to nap napped. Chen Wan slipped out to have a quiet word with Yi Yi while Jiang Yanxin had gone back to the room with Yang Yang.
Yang Yang, who had missed sleeping between her Mom and Mama the previous night, was clinging to Jiang Yanxin now, small head buried against her, working through some very dedicated cuddling.
Jiang Yanxin looked at the little one fondly, squeezing her small hand. Then her eyes moved with quiet purpose, and she asked, as if casually: "Yang Yang — why did you suddenly want to sleep with Grandma last night? Did Mama say something to you?"
Yang Yang still thought the squeezing felt nice — and then remembered that Mama had told her not to tell Mom. Yang Yang patted Jiang Yanxin's hand and gestured for her to lean in close, indicating she had a secret to share.
Jiang Yanxin, thoroughly entertained by the display, leaned her ear down.
Yang Yang cupped both small hands around her mouth to form a little tunnel, signaling that this was very confidential information.
Jiang Yanxin nearly laughed out loud. Her baby was absolutely too much.
Yang Yang's big eyes swept the room carefully, then she dropped her voice to a whisper: "Mama said not to tell Mom. She said, " Keep the secret~."
Jiang Yanxin burst out laughing — quietly, into Yang Yang's hair. The little one had just confirmed the conspiracy entirely without realizing it. She was utterly, helplessly adorable.
Jiang Yanxin composed herself, arranged her face into a look of mild injury, and said to Yang Yang: "If you don't tell Mom, Mom is going to cry."
She even pressed a finger to the corner of her eye for effect, putting on a trembling expression. Yang Yang panicked immediately — she had never seen Mom cry before, and she was not about to let it happen now.
"Then I'll tell Mom! Mom, don't cry!"
Jiang Yanxin nodded solemnly. "All right. Tell me, and I won't cry."
Yang Yang cupped her hands around her mouth again, leaned up to Jiang Yanxin's ear, and whispered in her small, sweet voice: "Mama said she had something to do with Mom, and if I went to sleep with Grandma, she would give me two extra strawberry sweets. So I went."
Jiang Yanxin kissed her conspiratorial little cheek. "You traded Mom away for two strawberry sweets? You little troublemaker."
Yang Yang gave a bashful smile and reached her arms up to hug Jiang Yanxin, pressing into her and hoping charm would cover the rest. She was cute. Mom couldn't stay upset with someone this cute. And whatever consequences there were, they would land on Mama anyway.
Sure enough, Jiang Yanxin immediately pulled her in and hugged her warmly. But in her heart, she was already planning a return visit to the mindscape that evening to have a thorough word with Chen Wan. Bribing their daughter to clear the bedroom — the nerve. Fortunately, Yang Yang was easy to read, and one gentle question had been enough to unravel the whole scheme.
Chen Wan came back to the room still unaware she had been completely sold out by her co-conspirator. She reached happily for Yang Yang. "Sweetheart — did you miss Mama?"
Yang Yang nodded, entirely unbothered, and held out her arms for Chen Wan immediately. She was cute. Mama wouldn't be upset with her either.
"Missed Mama~" Yang Yang settled into Chen Wan's arms and kicked her little legs happily.
"I missed our Yang Yang too." Chen Wan bounced her gently, delighted.
Jiang Yanxin watched the two of them with a quiet smile, the corner of her mouth curving. She was looking forward to tonight.