There was no way Jiang Qi could scavenge twenty-five intact low-grade energy cores from the garbage mountain within fifteen days.
Based on his experience, even if he pulled all-nighters sweeping the place clean and got absurdly lucky, he would be lucky to find two or three in a week.
"No, wait—not necessarily intact ones. Damaged ones would work too," Jiang Qi murmured, thinking it through.
Damaged energy cores were much easier to come by than intact ones. On a lucky day, even an ordinary scavenger could pick up one or two.
Since he had Synthesis, as long as the cores were not too badly destroyed, he could combine two damaged ones into one functioning core. By that logic, if luck was on his side, he could probably accumulate around ten low-grade energy cores in a week.
In that case, maybe in fifteen days, he really could gather a dozen... maybe even close to twenty.
And for whatever shortfall remained, he could make up the difference by buying a few with alloy ingots...
Hm.
Looking at it that way, maybe there really was hope?
No.
That was not right either.
Now that he thought about it carefully, collecting the energy cores was only one part of the problem. He also needed to spend time gathering parts and repairing the damaged energy bay in Glaxia's chest.
Once he factored that in, there was no way the time would be enough.
Jiang Qi suddenly realized that what he was facing seemed to be an impossible task.
Should he give up?
No.
This was a top-tier technological creation from Tiangong. Its potential was beyond question. This was a genuine opportunity to change his situation.
How could he possibly accept giving it up just like that?
"Wait... damaged cores... I feel like I remember someone mentioning a place that produced a whole bunch of them..." Jiang Qi frowned, searching hard through his memories.
Then suddenly, he remembered a conversation he had once had with a scavenger friend of his named Ruoke.
At the time, Ruoke had been complaining about something...
Right.
He remembered now.
"One match at the mech club, and they scrap ten or twenty low-grade energy cores like it's nothing. So why am I not even allowed to own a single one for my heater?"
That day, Ruoke had gone to the power station to recharge an energy core, only to have one of the Flying Crow Gang's men snatch one away from him on the grounds that he was "using more energy cores than a scavenger ought to have." Eyes red, Ruoke had poured out his bitterness to Jiang Qi at the foot of the garbage mountain.
That day, Jiang Qi had wanted to say something to comfort him.
But after holding it in for half the day, he still could not think of a single word.
Because there had never been any rule limiting how many energy cores a scavenger was allowed to use.
Those bastards from the Flying Crow Gang had simply decided that a scavenger like Ruoke did not deserve that many, so they took one away.
Even though the number of cores Ruoke used was not even half of what those gang members had in their own homes.
Even though the electricity at the power station could not even be fully utilized most of the time.
They were the lowest of the low in Deadwood Town.
The gang members, meanwhile, were the privileged few.
There was no reasoning with the privileged from the bottom.
Those so-called rules only had any use in places where the light happened to reach.
Letting out a sigh, Jiang Qi became even more determined to change his situation.
At the same time, he also had a new line of thought.
If the Mecha Club produced large numbers of spent energy cores, then maybe... just maybe... he could try his luck there.
But for now, he needed sleep first.
Yawning as he looked at the watch on his wrist—just past eleven o'clock—Jiang Qi felt a little helpless.
After finding Glaxia yesterday, he had not made it back until the middle of the night, and did not get to sleep until after four in the morning.
Although he had technically slept long enough by now, he still felt vaguely exhausted, as if his body clock were protesting his chaotic schedule.
Only after splashing some water on his face did he feel a bit more awake.
"At this hour... I should grab something to eat first, then head over to the Mecha Club and have a look around..."
Jiang Qi thought it over.
There was no way he could collect enough energy cores just by scavenging for trash. He had to find some other route.
Now that he knew the mech club generated large numbers of spent cores, he absolutely had to go and try his luck there.
But before that, he needed to clean himself up.
First, Jiang Qi heated some water and wiped himself down. While he was at it, he even gave himself a haircut.
The clippers and comb he used had both been scavenged and then repaired with his two-into-one synthesis. Water was scarce in the Wasteland, making proper bathing almost impossible, so usually all one could do was wipe down with a damp towel and call it done.
As for hair, some people kept it long to protect their scalp and help keep warm against the wind, but Jiang Qi preferred to cut his short and wrap his head with a cloth to block the sun.
After cleaning himself up, Jiang Qi also changed into a fresh set of clothes and tossed the old ones straight into the stove.
It might have sounded extravagant, but in reality, once the cost of buying fresh water was included, synthesizing a new set of clothes was far cheaper for Jiang Qi than actually washing an old one clean.
If not for the fact that other people noticing would be hard to explain, Jiang Qi would have loved to change into brand-new clothes every day.
After all, after spending a day in the garbage mountain, the smell that clung to those clothes really was awful.
Of course, even though he called them new clothes, Jiang Qi still kept the style as close to his old ones as possible.
In the Wasteland, wearing a fresh new set of clothing was not exactly an everyday occurrence, and he had no desire to draw attention to himself.
Once he had finished tidying himself up, Jiang Qi left the house and headed straight for the restaurant.
The moment he arrived, the benefits of washing up and changing clothes became immediately obvious.
At noon, the restaurant was almost devoid of scavengers. Ordinarily, Jiang Qi's presence would have earned him plenty of cold looks—but today, nobody showed any obvious disgust. In fact, people who did not know him simply assumed he was some ordinary laborer working in town.
Seeing the reactions around him, Jiang Qi let out a quiet breath of relief.
This afternoon, he was planning to go to the Mecha Club—a place that counted as a "high-end venue" in this town. Scavengers normally did not even go near it.
Because they all knew very well that filthy, foul-smelling people like them would not just be refused entry.
They could get beaten half to death for so much as lingering near the entrance.
Jiang Qi had been worried before about whether he would even be able to get inside.
But after testing the waters with the restaurant crowd's reaction, he now felt that maybe, just maybe, he really had a chance to get in and take a look.
Just as Jiang Qi was halfway through his bowl of porridge, someone suddenly sat down across from him.
His heart immediately skipped a beat.
He dropped his gaze at once, worried that someone had come to pick a fight.
But no sooner had he lowered his head than he heard a somewhat familiar voice.
"Well now, kid, skipping work today? Stayed up too late watching movies last night?"
The voice was full of amusement and teasing, but carried no malice.
Jiang Qi froze for a moment, then looked up.
Sure enough, it was the bookstore owner, Homa.
"Uncle Homa? What are you doing here?" Jiang Qi asked in surprise.
"What, I'm not allowed to come here? I need to eat too," Homa said, waving a hand.
Jiang Qi opened his mouth, because of course that was not what he had meant.
He had not been asking why Homa was at the restaurant.
He had been surprised that Homa would actually choose to sit across from him.
But Homa either did not understand what he meant...
Or perhaps he understood perfectly well and was deliberately dodging the question because he did not want to answer it?
Jiang Qi's instincts told him it was probably the latter, and he forcibly swallowed the question back down.
Watching Jiang Qi's reaction, Old Homa's brows shifted ever so slightly.
The boy really was pretty sharp.
He had indeed understood Jiang Qi's question.
He just had no intention of answering it directly.
Because...
As one of the town's "respected elders," could he really bring himself to admit that he had sat down here because Jiang Qi looked half-dead with exhaustion, and he had assumed the kid had simply overindulged himself the night before—so he had come over specifically to tease him about it?
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 120)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 100)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 100)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter89)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter86)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter63)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter75)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 53
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 57
From Junkman to Wasteland 35
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