The rain stopped the next day, but the sun remained hidden. The temperature, however, soared, turning the entire Imperial City into a giant steamer—hot, stuffy, and incredibly humid.
The moment Shen Lu opened her door, a wave of hot, damp air hit her in the face. She had only taken a couple of steps before sweat began to bead on her forehead.
"What is with this awful weather? It's so weird."
Shen Lu couldn't help but complain, fanning herself continuously with her hand.
When she reached the No. 3 Landfill, the thick smell of rust assaulted her nostrils, making them itch. Shen Lu let out a series of sneezes before she finally stopped.
"This is going to be the death of me."
Shen Lu muttered to herself, covered her mouth and nose, and entered the landfill with her tools.
After she had knocked over a metal tower the day before, the entire "forest" of towers in that area had collapsed, slightly altering the landscape of the landfill.
Shen Lu didn't move to a new spot, continuing to rummage through the trash in the area of the collapsed metal towers.
Perhaps as a reward for her bravery the previous day, she found a lump of tin and a platinum ring in less than half an hour.
The platinum ring was pulled from a mechanical hand covered in realistic synthetic skin.
This world had extremely advanced medical technology. If one's physical condition allowed, they could replace limbs with artificial mechanical prosthetics, whose flexibility and durability far surpassed that of the original human body parts.
However, only the powerful and wealthy could afford such technology.
Someone in Fu Cheng's condition could also have received an artificial mechanical prosthetic, but he wasn't fit for the surgery. With his Spiritual Sea in turmoil and uncontrollable spiritual toxins rampaging through his system, he wouldn't even be able to withstand the anesthesia.
Shen Lu took a closer look at the mechanical hand and found that its functionality was largely intact. She had no idea why it had been thrown away as trash.
Judging by the degree of corrosion on the synthetic skin, it had been discarded for quite some time—at least over a year.
'Maybe they thought this hand wasn't good-looking enough? So they got a better-looking one?'
'And because they were so rich, they just threw the platinum ring away with it?'
The world of the rich was probably just that simple, unadorned, and wasteful.
Her good luck didn't seem to last long. For the next hour, aside from steel plates, Shen Lu found no other decent metals.
Staying in the landfill in this weather was truly unbearable.
The place already smelled foul, and the heavy humidity only intensified the scent of rust. Even with her mouth and nose covered by a cloth, she couldn't block it out completely.
Shen Lu felt like she was about to pass out from the fumes. For safety's sake, she had to end her scavenging early and return to her rented room.
"So annoying. I'm covered in that rusty smell."
Shen Lu sniffed her arms and shoulders. Even after returning to her room, the smell clinging to her was still strong.
'I really want to take a bath...'
For the past few days, she had only managed to give herself a quick wipe-down. She hadn't changed her clothes or washed her hair, and it felt absolutely awful.
Gritting her teeth, Shen Lu decided to splurge and use some water to wash up today.
But there was no bathroom in her rented room. Besides, with Fu Cheng lying there, she couldn't very well strip in front of him.
Shen Lu went to ask Granny Jin about bathrooms.
"There are no bathrooms," Granny Jin said, looking at her with amusement. "It's not just my place; nobody else has a bathroom in their home either."
"Does that mean no one bathes?" Shen Lu was shocked.
"There's a bathhouse. It's in the Fifteenth District. But there's no water there either, just ultrasonic bathing pods. You won't get the comfort of a water bath, but they get you very clean."
Water was a precious resource. How could anyone possibly use it for bathing?
Shen Lu thanked Granny Jin, grabbed her money, and headed to the Fifteenth District to find the bathhouse. On the way, she bought a complete change of clothes, from the inside out, so she could change after her bath.
The bathhouse was easy to find; Shen Lu located it without much effort.
The fee for a bath was very low, only 5 Star Coins.
Shen Lu took the numbered tag from the owner and went to the women's section.
She pushed aside the door curtain and stepped into the bath area. It was a bit noisy inside.
The layout was simple. There was no changing room or shower area, just a large, open space with five ultrasonic bathing pods.
People were lined up in front of each pod, holding their clothes. As soon as one person came out, the next would go in.
Shen Lu glanced at her tag. It had the number 5 on it, which she guessed meant she was supposed to queue for bathing pod number 5.
After waiting for about twenty minutes, it was finally Shen Lu's turn.
She pulled open the door and stepped inside.
The bathing pod wasn't large, only about one square meter. The walls were silvery-white with a slight mirror-like finish.
It was Shen Lu's first time, so she didn't know the procedure. Luckily, there were instructions posted on the door, so she just had to follow them step by step.
She removed all her clothing and raised both arms above her head. A light breeze wafted over her. Shen Lu looked around curiously but couldn't find where the breeze was coming from.
After a minute, a BEEP sounded from a speaker, signaling that the bath was over.
Shen Lu touched her skin and ran a hand through her hair. The sticky, greasy feeling was completely gone, leaving her feeling clean and refreshed.
'How magical.'
Marveling at the technology, she put on her newly bought clothes, opened the door, and walked out.
The bathhouse also offered laundry services. They used ultrasonic washing machines, and it cost 2 Star Coins per load.
Shen Lu paid without hesitation. Five minutes later, the clothes she had taken off were perfectly clean.
Feeling completely refreshed, Shen Lu left the bathhouse, thoroughly satisfied. It was an excellent value for the money.
Before coming, she thought it would cost hundreds of Star Coins, but it turned out that 7 Star Coins covered everything.
'If it's like this, I have to come wash up once a day.'
She didn't have a lot of money, but she could definitely afford a daily expense of 7 Star Coins.
Shen Lu hummed a song on her way back, then started preparing the ingredients for her food stall in high spirits.
After getting the things for the mint water and egg puffs ready, Shen Lu redeemed five large daikon radishes, half a kilogram of kelp, a quarter kilogram each of tofu skin and konjac tofu, and 50 grams of scallions.
She peeled what needed peeling and cut what needed cutting.
She still had the same two flavors, a clear broth and a spicy one, but this time she used a pot with four sections, dedicating two sections to each flavor.
She put the ingredients into the pot, brought it to a boil, then turned the heat down to a simmer, letting the flavors soak in.
Just then, the system issued today's quest.
[DING-DONG~ Quest issued: Please sell 30 cups of mint water, 20 orders of egg puffs, and 20 servings of malatang.]
Shen Lu stroked her chin. It seemed the quest quotas would increase every day, and they were also slightly adjusted based on the actual amount of ingredients she had.
'It's quite user-friendly.'
At this moment, Shen Lu hadn't yet realized that this was just the novice period, where the quests were relatively simple and lenient.
Once the novice period was over, the system would stop being so considerate.
However, for the current Shen Lu, all of that was still a long way off.
She served herself a bowl of the spicy version, happily sprinkling chopped scallions on top.
As expected, the scallions elevated the flavor of the malatang to a whole new level.
After finishing her lunch, Shen Lu fed Fu Cheng some egg puffs soaked in water.
There was no help for it; it was the easiest thing to prepare.
As for whether Fu Cheng was willing to eat it, that was not her concern.
Just as she finished feeding him, there was a knock at the door.
"Boss Shen, it's me."