Chapter 12: Finding Scrap Steel

Energy comes from the scrap itself; depending on the material, decomposing one unit (five hundred kilograms) consumes approximately five to ten percent, which is used to maintain the system's operation.

【Detected a broken steel rolling machine, would you like to recycle it?】

【Detected a deformed bearing, would you like to recycle it?】

【Detected steel billets containing a large amount of impurities, would you like to recycle it?】

【Detected steel ingots...】

Found it!

Hearing this sound from the system, the large eyes behind Liu Mu's mask lit up. She held a steel pipe she had pried out and used it to lever a hole through the middle of the collapsed brick wall. After brushing away the dust, she indeed saw steel ingots, each one large enough to bring her joy.

Liu Mu smiled so wide her mouth corners nearly reached her ears. Through her gloves, she stroked the still-warm, large steel chunks; it was even more satisfying than touching a handsome man.

After several days at temperatures of several hundred degrees, they hadn't even lost their basic shape!

"Recycle! Recycle them all. Don't decompose them yet, oh my, look at these little cuties, they are just too cute!"

She would need to use these to trade for benefits later, and steel that is too pure is actually not good. Once the system decomposes it, there won't be any unnecessary impurities left at all. If the quality is too high, it will hinder making money.

In the past, she wouldn't have even dared to dream of such good treasures when selling scrap metal. Good heavens, this could be considered fulfilling the wishes of two lifetimes. What scrap dealer doesn't want to get their hands on scrap steel? If one had the connections to do this, it would be a massive business capable of supporting three generations of wealth.

Even in the apocalypse, having this warehouse was enough to be her first pot of gold to gain a foothold and establish a force of her own.

She no longer felt hot or tired; aside from watching out for things that might collapse, there were basically no other safety hazards.

When the disaster struck, the machines here might have still been running, which is why the factory building damage was so severe.

Logically speaking, factory buildings like steel factories and steel rolling mills are built very sturdily, and the temperature in the workshops is high every day, so they shouldn't have collapsed so easily. But now, the difference between this place and a ruin wasn't very large.

Liu Mu didn't understand; in her previous life, she never had such courage. She thought about it while searching, but couldn't come up with a reason. She had to clean her face mask almost every half hour; if this weren't her grand plan for getting rich in this life, she wouldn't have been able to endure this hardship.

Her recent physical training had been very effective. After moving things in such temperatures for several hours, she didn't feel tired at all, aside from needing to drink water and eat.

Of course, in Liu Mu's view, it might also be because the obsession with making a fortune kept her from feeling tired.

But, when the sky turned dark, it still gave her a fright.

For the first time in half a month, the sky turned completely dark. It wasn't that dim, hazy kind of darkness; it was a true night.

Liu Mu glanced at the time; it was only six in the afternoon. "In the middle of summer, it's getting dark way too early."

If she didn't want to spend the night outside, she had to rush back immediately, and she wasn't sure if the temperature would rise at night or... drop rapidly.

At the very least, within the Haicheng area, there was almost no vegetation left on the surface, so a large temperature difference between day and night was normal.

Following the path she came by, with the system's records, she would almost certainly not go the wrong way. The only thing to watch out for was the road conditions, so as not to fall into ditches or cracks.

She turned on the High-Intensity Flashlight on the head of the small tricycle, and she felt the temperature drop along the way. It still took four hours to return to the Scrap Station. From the bottom of the hillside, she saw shadows moving near the perimeter wall from afar. Liu Mu stopped and shone a beam of light directly at them.

The light first checked the lock on the large iron gate, which was still locked securely, then she looked at the person... it was actually Luo Sanlin.

This was someone she never expected to appear, but Liu Mu didn't want to see anyone right now.

"Oh, Brother Sanlin, why have you come?"

With the Flashlight beam shining on his face, Liu Mu's hand had already moved to the steel pipe behind her. At a time like this, no matter who it was, she had to be on guard.

"You went out?" Luo Sanlin had only arrived in the afternoon and had been waiting here for quite a while. He kicked a backpack placed by his feet. "This has about three days' worth of water and food. Take it first; don't go running around alone. You won't find food outside anymore."

He had actually come to deliver supplies. Liu Mu didn't lower her guard immediately. "How do you have these? Are Uncle and Auntie doing alright?"

Luo Sanlin was annoyed by the light and waved his hand. "Turn off the light! The military rescue has already arrived; they are all fine. What are your plans? Are you coming into the city with me now? Let me tell you, don't be reluctant. You've seen what it's like outside, right? Don't stay behind alone; it's not safe."

Liu Mu moved the light away and deliberately circled around to make sure no one else was hiding nearby before stepping forward.

"I think not," she said. As she got closer, she noticed a heavy smell of trauma medicine on Luo Sanlin. "I've reinforced a basement and still have some food. What are your plans now? I see that everything outside is almost burned out; are you going to rebuild?"

"We are going to rebuild," Luo Sanlin had originally intended to use the delivery of food as a way to ask Liu Mu about the natural disaster, but he hadn't expected this person to have even prepared a basement. "How did you know?"

"Brother Sanlin, I heard Brother Hu Xing mention it. Did you know?" Liu Mu put on a mysterious expression. "Their vehicle factory belongs to the higher-ups. They said they were urgently recalled to build a storage yard and insisted on building me a basement. He is truly a good person!"

"Good, my foot. He knew it would end up like this and still built it for you, pouring all that money in. Forget it, money isn't of much use now anyway. Since Hu Xing said so, I won't ask further. Why don't you come with me? How can you live alone?"

"I'll just live the way I've always lived. Haven't I always been alone?" Liu Mu feigned ease and pointed to the back of her tricycle. "Look, I even got some scrap metal sheets and such; I can patch up the small building. As long as there are no ghosts, I can stay here."

"You..." Luo Sanlin still tried his best to persuade Liu Mu to leave, but was talked out of it by her.

Xu Xiaofeng had seen Luo Sanlin on the monitor early on. When Liu Mu went down to the basement, she immediately handed her a wet towel. "Officer Luo came in the afternoon and waited for a couple of hours. I saw him walking around the perimeter wall a few times, and since he didn't seem to be in a hurry, I ignored him. Was there anything urgent?"

"Nothing, he brought some food," Liu Mu handed Luo Sanlin's backpack to Xu Xiaofeng. "Check it first and see what needs to be eaten first."

"Alright. You didn't run into any trouble being out for so long, did you?" Xu Xiaofeng had been worried all day; if Luo Sanlin hadn't still been outside when it got dark, she would have gone out to look for her. "Now that the mobile phones don't work, it's so inconvenient not being able to get in touch."

"It's fine. Outside," Liu Mu glanced inside first and, seeing that Zhang Xiaoyong was already asleep, said in a low voice: "There's no one left, and no animals either. It's safe for the time being. Sister Xiao Feng, I'm going to take a shower first, and then I have something to discuss with you."

"Wait, drink a cup of light salt water first."

Liu Mu had been taken care of so thoroughly by Xu Xiaofeng recently that she almost couldn't remember what it was like to live alone, but she still decided to tell her the news Luo Sanlin had brought.

When she came out after her shower, Xu Xiaofeng had indeed already brought out the food, along with some fruit. Such a meal would have been quite good even in the past.

Liu Mu was truly hungry; she ate while talking about the military rescue that had arrived in the city.

Xu Xiaofeng stuck to her original stance: "We will just stay with you. If you stay, we stay; if you leave, we will go with you. Xiao Mu, let's not bring this up again in the future. By the way, are you going out tomorrow? I'll go with you; we can look out for each other at least."