Granny Jin worked quickly, replacing the door lock in under five minutes.
Shen Lu rubbed her nose, a little afraid to look outside.
"I've already called someone to take care of the bodies." Granny Jin seemed to read her mind as she put her tools back in the toolbox. "You'd better be careful. Not many good people live around here."
Shen Lu tilted her head and blinked. "But you're a good person, Granny."
Granny Jin faltered for a moment, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I'm your landlady. I only have an income as long as you keep renting from me."
'She wasn't some soft-hearted fool.'
'Soft-hearted fools don't live long.'
Shen Lu just giggled and said no more.
After Granny Jin left, Shen Lu cautiously poked her head out to look down the hallway.
There were no bloodstains on the floor; it looked the same as always.
Aside from a brief jolt when she first realized it, Shen Lu felt no guilt about accidentally killing a few punks.
'If she was going to survive in this wasteland, she had to play by its rules. There was no point in clinging to her old ways.'
'Still, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of melancholy.'
'It really wasn't easy to stay alive here.'
After collecting herself, Shen Lu used the ingredients she had set aside from yesterday to make breakfast, which she shared with Fu Cheng.
You needed a full stomach to have the energy to work. Shen Lu firmly believed this.
Grabbing her tools, Shen Lu headed to the No. 3 Landfill, full of excitement.
'Today's goal: scavenge tons of junk, trade for tons of food, and earn tons of Star Coins and popularity value.'
Because of the time spent changing the lock, the landfill was already crowded with people by the time Shen Lu arrived.
Shen Lu put on her homemade mask and headed for an area she hadn't explored before.
The heaps of metal junk here were piled high, reaching four or five stories. They consisted mostly of frames and rod-shaped metal. The wind would whistle through them, making them creak and groan as if they might collapse at any moment.
Very few people came to this area. Shen Lu wasn't sure if it was because they thought it was unsafe, or because it had already been picked clean of anything valuable.
But Shen Lu preferred not to be around too many people anyway.
An hour later, Shen Lu had found four or five tungsten wires, a few steel plates of decent quality, some thumb-sized copper blocks, and a sliver of silver the size of a grain of rice.
Shen Lu had pried the tiny piece of silver from a component. If her detector hadn't been flashing red insistently, she never would have had the patience to take the part apart.
"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!"
A piercing horn blared, growing louder as it approached. Shen Lu looked up instinctively and saw a truck with a massive bed driving toward them.
In an instant, everyone at the No. 3 Landfill scrambled toward the truck.
'What's this?'
Curious, Shen Lu drifted closer to get a look.
The truck's bed tilted up, the gate swung open, and with a great RUSH, a chaotic mess of junk poured out.
Shen Lu: "..."
'Oh, so it was a garbage truck here to dump a new load.'
'Judging by its appearance, you'd never guess it was a garbage truck.'
'With its black-and-red color scheme and cold, hard lines, it looked more like an armored vehicle.'
'Mechanical civilization had clearly advanced to the point where even the garbage trucks were high-class.'
'Just another feature of this world, I guess.'
Suddenly, a powerful shove from behind sent Shen Lu stumbling, nearly pitching her face-first onto a pile of sharp metal.
The person didn't even think of stopping to apologize. The hem of their clothes flew up, and the strip of cloth tied around their forehead whipped through the air like a fast-moving black snake.
They darted into the noisy crowd, as if terrified of missing out on the fresh junk.
Shen Lu ground her molars, wishing she could grab that person and give them a good shock.
'How outrageous!'
'Just for some stupid trash, they nearly got her killed!'
The garbage truck drove off as soon as it finished dumping, paying no mind to the scavengers.
Shen Lu stayed where she was and continued her search, not particularly interested in fighting over scrap with the others.
She had just bent down to rummage through some metal junk when a heaven-shaking roar erupted from the area with the new dump.
"Zeng Xiaodao, put down that nutrient liquid, or I'll end you today!"
"It's not like this nutrient liquid is yours. Why should I put it down just because you say so?"
"Fuck! I've had it! I'm going to fucking kill you!"
'Something to watch.'
Shen Lu eagerly looked up. A burly man was chasing after a boy.
Shen Lu narrowed her eyes. She didn't recognize either of them, but the black strip of cloth tied around the boy's forehead looked very familiar.
'Oh, wasn't that the person who'd nearly knocked her over just now?'
Zeng Xiaodao was clutching several vials of nutrient liquid. He glanced back as he ran and stuck his tongue out. "Nyah nyah nyah, Wang Daguo! You big oaf! You wanna catch me? In your dreams!"
He, Zeng Xiaodao, was famous in the Seventeenth District for being fleet-footed. How could Wang Daguo possibly catch him?
As luck would have it, Zeng Xiaodao ran right in Shen Lu's direction.
As he passed Shen Lu, she subtly stuck out her leg. Zeng Xiaodao stumbled, his body lurching as he nearly fell to the ground.
Luckily, he was agile. He caught himself with one hand on the ground, managing to stay upright.
However, the nutrient liquid he was carrying fell out, shattering with a CRACK. A slightly murky liquid spilled out, instantly disappearing into the dirt.
"Fuck! My nutrient liquid! It took me forever to get that!" Zeng Xiaodao was heartbroken, glaring furiously at Shen Lu.
Shen Lu clasped her hands behind her back and pretended to admire the scenery.
'He shoved her, she tripped him. Now they were even.'
Wang Daguo took the opportunity to catch up. With a swipe of his large hand, he grabbed Zeng Xiaodao by the back of his collar.
"Zeng Xiaodao, let's see you run now!"
Zeng Xiaodao's sharp eyebrows shot up. He glanced sideways at Wang Daguo, then suddenly lunged forward.
Wang Daguo instinctively tightened his grip on the fabric. With a RIIIP, the collar was left in his hand, but the boy himself was gone.
"I run when I want to run!" Zeng Xiaodao's voice, arrogant as ever, drifted back from the distance. "Wanna catch me? Try again in your next life!"
"Son of a bitch!" Wang Daguo furiously threw the scrap of cloth to the ground and spat. "That little punk is as slippery as an eel!"
'This big guy really is a bit dumb,' Shen Lu thought. 'What's the point of grabbing his collar? He should have grabbed him by the neck.'
'The moment he tries anything, just apply a little suffocating pressure as a warning.'
"Um..." Shen Lu sidled up to him. "What were you two fighting about?"
Wang Daguo looked down and saw a young girl with the lower half of her face covered by a cloth. His gaze swept over her dirty lace dress, and he immediately knew who she was.
A pair of siblings had recently moved into the Seventeenth District. The brother was a cripple, his condition unknown, while the sister wore a very expensive-looking lace dress. She was fair-skinned and pretty, like a fallen heiress.
Such a pair was bound to attract attention. Many people were speculating about their identities in private, and some were even thinking of causing them trouble.
Although Wang Daguo was big and looked intimidating, he never got involved in that sort of messy business.
He spent his days diligently scavenging or doing odd jobs. If he didn't have a family to support and such high expenses, he wouldn't have chosen to live in the Seventeenth District, where the rent was cheapest.
Wang Daguo didn't answer Shen Lu's question. He just turned and walked away.
'Rather than answer such a trivial question, he'd be better off rummaging through the new pile of junk.'