Chương 2: Chapter 2: The Medicine Bottle Worth a Pound of Gold_1
"First: Eyes of Insight. Within this plaza, you shall gain a pair of eyes that see through objects, with no object escaping your scrutiny. Of course, that excludes the void, the plaza, the garbage entrance (black), and the world-traveling portals (white)!"
Suddenly, his eyes grew much brighter. Were these the Eyes of Insight?
Huang An didn't plan on testing them right away, as his attention was drawn to something else.
He saw a special thing that many protagonists possessed—the Golden Finger—the world-traveling portal!
There really were other worlds.
Was this his opportunity, his lifeline?
Huang An didn't know, but he really wanted to try.
The voice in his mind continued.
"Second: Interns are immune to the toxins from garbage of all worlds within this plaza."
"Third: An automatic washing protective suit, shovels, hammers, and other simple tools."
"Fourth: Mutter to yourself for ten seconds, and you can enter and exit the garbage site at any time and place, without any limit on the number of times."
"After a one-month internship and successful completion of the task, you will be rewarded with the use of the world-traveling portal and unlock higher-level functions."
"Friendly reminder: You can obtain some preliminary information about the anchored world of the world-traveling portal in advance, which may be helpful to you!"
"Wishing you good luck, fortunate one, I look forward to your completion of the internship."
Was it, or 'He', about to leave?
Before Huang An had time to react, another voice echoed in his mind.
"Friendly reminder, there are five hours left until today's garbage clearance deadline. You'd better act quickly, or your intern qualifications will be revoked, and you will be forcibly terminated!"
It turned out he was mistaken.
The voice vanished, but two lines of text appeared above the garbage mountain.
"Countdown: 1.6 hours."
"Garbage weight still to be cleared: 200kg."
Huang An's face remained pale. Forcible termination?
He had to act immediately!
Huang An slightly moved his stiff body from standing, enduring the pain as he straightened up and shuffled his feet to search for the protective suit and tools.
Thirty tons per calendar month, one ton of garbage clearing task daily.
Huang An was aware of his physical condition. A year ago, he wouldn't have seen this amount of work as a problem, but now, it was different. Prolonged sickness had left him extremely weak.
Even the effort to keep a ledger was wrenched out through clenched teeth.
Five hours for a one-ton garbage clearance task was a daunting challenge for him.
He could not delay any longer.
Huang An quickly donned the automatic washing protective suit not far from his feet.
It was a full set of protective gear, head to toe, completely white.
The garbage mountain was close by, and Huang An, now geared up, quickly approached it.
With one sweep of his eyes, Huang An determined that most of the garbage mountain consisted of a substance similar to black mud.
This black mud was familiar to Huang An, a waste material naturally generated in untreated garbage piles.
The mud was dirty, but Huang An had no choice.
Bending slightly, Huang An moved his hands, bit his teeth, and pulled out a white board half-buried in the mountain.
The board was tarnished, but covered in large white patches, leading Huang An to guess that it was originally white.
It felt like plastic but was a bit prickly to the touch.
He didn't recognize this material; it seemed to be a type of plastic.
With a flash of his gaze, a line of text appeared before Huang An's eyes.
"Filthy White Rock Board (scrapped): Clean it up, and it can be a mat for placing items... Exchange value: 0.1g Gold."
It was indeed plastic, but this must be a new material from another world.
As an old-timer who grew up in a waste processing plant, Huang An could tell that this material did not exist on Earth.
The White Rock Board was a new material, and even though the exchange value was only 0.1g of Gold, about 40 yuan, it couldn't hide its significant research value.
It was just a pity that Huang An, now suffering from a terminal illness, had no such concerns.
He dragged the plank, which weighed about fifteen kilograms, towards the black passageway behind him.
With clenched teeth and a slight stoop, Huang An swung his arms and threw the plank inside.
It was like a droplet of water on a still lake, creating an imperceptible ripple in the air before everything returned to calm.
Huang An paused for a moment, then continued his task for the day.
To think that he, a man with a terminal illness and not long to live, was still forced to work overtime.
"Grey mud spawned by bacteria: A collection of various microorganisms, bacteria, and viruses, containing a strong toxin... Exchange price: 0.001g Gold/kg."
Such a low exchange rate didn't cause any stir in Huang An's emotions.
The majority, about sixty to seventy percent, of the garbage mountain was made of this grey mud; its low value was understandable.
More importantly, this mud was naturally occurring, basically cost-free.
Huang An caught his breath and continued working, using his shovel to scoop up the grey mud and slowly moved towards the garbage entrance behind him.
In fact, there were small wheelbarrows on the plaza, but Huang An was discouraged by their weight, nearly fifteen pounds.
The tools were good, but he couldn't use them.
"Decayed Rat: Something even scavengers wouldn't touch. Exchange price: 0.001g Gold."
...
All of a sudden, Huang An, who was shoveling mud like a zombie, hit a hard object. By the feel of it, Huang An knew it must be a small machine.
He wouldn't overlook any potential anomaly; he wanted to survive.
With much effort, Huang An used a rake to clear away the ash and mud coating the machinery, revealing a decrepit piece of equipment in shades of gray, white, and black.
At that moment, the Insight's Eye provided timely information.
[Discarded Holograph Machine: Completely destroyed, maybe it could be sold as scrap? Contains 3kg of alloy steel, 4kg of various plastics and rubber, 2kg of brass, 0.001kg of silver... Exchange price; 0.1g of Gold.]
Such a pity.
Huang An took a deep breath, sweat drenched his body in less than ten minutes, and he was gasping for air.
While resting, he cast his gaze upon the ancient appliance that resembled a television set.
As a child raised in a waste processing plant who had also undergone higher education, Huang An understood all too well that this appliance, worth 0.1g of Gold in exchange price, could fetch several times more at his family's scrapyard.
The going rate for brass was 40 yuan/kg, and alloy steel was around 3 yuan/kg. This discarded Holograph Machine could bring Huang An a value of 89 yuan, and adding various other things, it would approximate 95 yuan.
However, its exchange price in this junkyard was just 0.1g of Gold, which was only forty yuan.
If Huang An wanted to make a fortune, he could simply exchange 0.1g of Gold for this Holograph Machine.
Regrettably, Huang An was now critically ill, and this was the last thing on his mind.
Pancreatic cancer, known as the king of all cancers, couldn't be cured with money alone.
Otherwise, Huang An wouldn't have kept this news hidden from the foster parents who had lived with him for nearly twenty-two years.
Besides causing additional pain and wasting money, his parents had no way to help.
To die, just fade quietly away.
Huang An had already braced himself for this.
"If I can use this dump to cure my cancer, or even just to stop the spread of cancer cells, extending my life, maybe I can also make a fortune to leave behind for my parents," Huang An mused bitterly.
He could only rely on these unrealistic hopes to ease the pain that could strike at any moment.
After a brief rest, Huang An continued his journey of waste clearance.
Since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he was no longer a procrastinator.
Even though his parents were away traveling and no one at the plant would notice his sudden disappearance, he resolved to complete his task as soon as possible.
He focused on every possibility that could allow him to survive.
This was Myriad Worlds Junkyard, and it certainly contained "junk" that would be incredibly useful to him, and Huang An was betting that he'd find that precious "trash" before his time ran out!
To clean a ton of garbage in five hours, he needed to clear two hundred pounds per hour.
Although exhausted, each time he finished hauling trash, he had to stand still, lean on his shovel for breath, but Huang An was confident he could finish the job.
Battling with sickness had gifted him with extraordinary endurance.
His illness had deformed his body, made his appearance monstrous, warped his personality, but still couldn't erode his tenacious will.
Time slowly passed, and in the junkyard, where there seemed to be no distinction between day and night, the light was neither bright nor dark.
"Huff, huff!"
Huang An moved back and forth between the garbage entrance and the pile of debris, staggering like a dying old dog, in an extremely pitiful state.
If his body were normal, his sweat could trail behind him.
Unfortunately, now, only his forehead was covered in sweat, all other parts of his body were engulfed in a chilling coldness.
Luckily, Huang An could leave at any time to replenish his bodily fluids, salts, and nutrients. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have lasted. He even forced down the supper that he had vomited at the office door, eating until nothing was left.
For that action, he vomited blood twice more.
Agony tormented Huang An, and even though he unearthed some interesting "junk" from the pile, it couldn't hide his body's fatigue.
[Countdown: 1.5 hours.]
[Remaining weight of trash to clear: 15kg.]
As the prompts sounded, Huang An's pale face twitched, forcing a smile. He had become numb.
After numerous rests, he had barely made it to this point, but thankfully the end was near.
Since his symptoms worsened, Huang An had never felt so terrible before. Strenuous labor made his chest feel as if it were exploding, his throat like it was sliced by a blade, dry and sore.
Pain emanated from every crevice of his bones, and there was no avoiding it, no relief.
With thirty pounds left, Huang An clenched his teeth, tossed the ash and small iron ore in the shovel into the garbage entrance, then turned and proceeded towards the mountain of trash that had hardly changed.
He decided to give it his all and complete the day's task.
[Worn-out doll...]
[Decaying tree trunk...]
...
[Abandoned backpack: ... Exchange price: 0.5kg of Gold.]
Huh?
Huang An, about to toss it into the garbage entrance, suddenly froze.
He straightened up slightly and once again checked the information given by the Insight's Eye.
0.5kg of Gold?
A whole pound of Gold! Very precious!
There's treasure!
Huang An dropped the shovel, squatted down with sweat rolling down his scalp and cheeks, his vision a bit blurred.
He wiped his face carelessly, but quickly realized he was wearing a protective suit; he couldn't wipe it off unless he took off the helmet temporarily.
Huang An didn't have the energy for that. He tore open the backpack packed to the brim and began rummaging through it.
Old books, the titles unrecognizable, Huang An paid no attention to them.
Moldy bread covered in green mold, Huang An ignored it as well.
A cracked ballpoint pen cover, discarded.
Until in his hands, he held a relatively clean plastic box, similar to a medicine bottle. By experience, this was a pharmaceutical container!
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