I can upgrade the shelter

The Snow Country Train is both a train and a science fiction work, with the train itself being the most important stage in this sci-fi narrative.

In the original novel of "Snow Country Train," Blue Planet turns into a cold Hell for unexplained reasons. The last surviving humans cram into a perpetually moving train driven by a perpetual motion machine. If the train stops, humans will freeze to death, so it keeps moving forward endlessly.

On the train, the wealthy live lives indistinguishable from before the disaster. Coffee, tobacco, botanical gardens, aquariums, libraries... all these are enjoyed as a matter of course by the rich, while the poor live in the lowest-class carriages, surviving on protein blocks made from cockroaches. They must endure the torture of overcrowding, filth, and hunger, leading a life devoid of dignity.

This is quite a dystopian science fiction work that depicts, in an extremely satirical manner, the huge life disparities and social stratification between the rich and the poor. It’s a rather classic work.

Of course, for Chen Xin and the train’s staff, the actual significance is not substantial. Although the environment of Blue Planet is also an extremely cold Hell now, even harsher than depicted in the original "Snow Country Train," humanity hasn’t reached the point where survival is only possible on a train, especially one driven by an impossible perpetual motion machine.

However, the concept of the Snow Country Train is commendable. In such harsh environments, humans need railway transport, and trains that can operate normally under these conditions are crucial, making the Snow Country Train a pretty good reference.

"The design tasks required by the state include planning for mobile refuges, essentially developing trains for permanent or long-term habitation based on railways, moving survivors from the north to more favorable southern environments, or straightforwardly moving along the railway." The staff did not conceal this matter, as it’s not something that requires secrecy.

In response to this topic, Chen Xin thought for a moment and then shook his head, saying, "Moving along the railway is too costly. Not to mention how you would provide enough food for survivors on the train, a train can carry only one to two thousand people at most.

Given the need to also transport supplies and ensure survival, sustaining a few hundred people on a train would already be remarkable, and the cost of keeping the train running would be enough to build a shelter accommodating more people."

"That’s true, but this is considered a backup plan, after all. In case something necessitates it, it’s always good to be prepared," the staff naturally understood how much resources constructing a train for a few hundred people would require. But as he said, it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Chen Xin agreed with this. Technology is something that is never enough but always lacking. If someone thinks that technological development has reached its peak and there will be no new inventions, it only indicates that they are not thinking straight.

So Chen Xin also gave some of his suggestions for the Snow Country Train.

As a novelist, Chen Xin perhaps doesn’t have as much knowledge as scientists in some areas of conception, but in terms of creativity, he’s not inferior to those scientists. His inspirations are even more abundant because of his profession.

The staff were very interested in Chen Xin’s suggestions, and after recording some feasible ideas, they eagerly invited Chen Xin to visit the train manufacturing plant in Jianning and participate in the research and design work of the Snow Country Train when he had time.

Chen Xin was quite interested in this, but he didn’t directly agree, saying he would consider visiting when he had time, as he had his own matters to attend to for now.

As for why he accepted the invitation, it was because Chen Xin was inspired by the concept of the Snow Country Train to think of a more feasible yet equally difficult-to-achieve concept, which is the Mobile Base.

This is a concept more common in various science fiction or fantasy works, appearing in many games, novels, comics, and films.

A small one could just be a vehicle, like Chen Xin’s own RV, but a large one could be something as massive as Rhode Island, a Mobile City-State, or a Floating City.

Small Mobile Bases are easy to achieve, and with modern technology, creating one is not too troublesome.

Regarding larger Mobile Bases, it’s not that they don’t exist; for example, an aircraft carrier can be considered a Mobile Base on water.

But beyond these, building something like Rhode Island as a land-based Mobile Base is challenging.

It’s not that it can’t be made, but something that large lacks suitable roads to travel, not to mention the structural, material, shock absorption, energy, and sustenance issues all restricting the emergence of land Mobile Bases.

However, these problems may limit and trouble others, but for Chen Xin, they are no issue at all. At worst, he could just upgrade the system and it would eventually be made.

Only, after some thought, Chen Xin realized he might not need to build something as big, or there’s no need to make it that large.

For him, a Mobile Base is not a necessity but a means to avoid disasters with his family in the event of an unavoidable disaster, so it doesn’t need to hold many people and doesn’t need to be large.

Therefore, he doesn’t necessarily need to build something like Rhode Island; just a Mobile Base vehicle would suffice.

Having turned these thoughts in his mind, Chen Xin did not intend to immediately realize this idea, for a Mobile Base differs from a fixed shelter, involving too many aspects. Even if he could acquire help and resources from the state, crafting a usable Mobile Base wouldn’t be easily achieved.

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However, he did feel that when upgrading his shelter in the future, he could add some appropriate features, integrate the existing shelter’s structure, and gradually adjust towards a Mobile Base. Maybe after several upgrades, it could become a Mobile Base that can move around.

While Chen Xin was contemplating where he would go with his future Mobile Base, he and the staff finally reached the front of the train, witnessing the nuclear reactor in operation.

"This is the nuclear reactor of this train. Currently, it can provide a maximum output power of 35 MW, and we’re running it at only 70% capacity," the staff was evidently very pleased and proud of the nuclear reactor, which was not even the size of a six-seat minivan.