High-grade metals and usable parts can be judged by the naked eye and experience, but energy stones are a different story. You can’t tell their value just by looking; you need a testing device to know the remaining energy value. Testing the energy value is like opening a blind box, making your mood go up and down.

Today, Mang Ge found two pieces of gray iron and eight energy stones. After testing, three E-level energy stones had residual energy, with the highest one having 82% remaining energy. He also found three parts useful for repairing airships, which was quite a haul.

The tall, skinny guy in the co-pilot seat found a half-new guidance instrument and seven energy stones, but all the energy stones turned out to be duds, not a single usable one.

The guy with black hair found two small parts that could be used on an airship and an old model mini household robot with a round head. Mang Ge said it wasn’t too damaged and could be repaired and sold.

Qi Huan looked at it enviously, thinking it would be nice to have it at home.

“The garbage ship from the High Star Domain really delivers; today is much better than the previous times,” the black-haired guy said contentedly, his face full of happiness. The tall, skinny guy and the guy in the work vest nodded in agreement, feeling that today was indeed not bad. After all, for them, working all morning for nothing was also a common occurrence.

Quan Hai found a sizable piece of gray iron and thirty-eight energy stones. In the end, four E-level stones had residual energy, and two F-level stones had about 50% energy left. He and Mang Ge always had good luck and ‘many hands,’ making their harvests among the best.

Soon, only Qi Huan and the guy in the work vest hadn’t tested their finds. Qi Huan didn’t mind waiting a bit and gestured for him to go first.

The guy in the work vest had picked up thirteen energy stones, and he couldn’t suppress his smile. But as he tested them one by one, they were all empty. His face gradually darkened until the second-to-last stone, when the box finally reported an energy value: [E-level energy stone, remaining energy 20%].

When he put the last stone into the testing box, he clenched his fists tightly. A few seconds later, the glaring red [0] on the display shattered his last hope.

“How could this happen?” He stared at the pile of empty waste stones, clutching his head in frustration. He had picked up the most energy stones, second only to Quan Hai, but they all turned out to be useless.

When it was Qi Huan’s turn, he first took out the pile of colorful, randomly inserted large metal pieces from his backpack and handed them to Quan Hai. Quan Hai shook his head, indicating that they couldn’t be used for airships and were only good as welding pieces for furniture makers, not worth much.

Qi Huan was just trying his luck, so he wasn’t disappointed when Quan Hai said they weren’t worth anything. He then took out four energy stones from a small bag to test. The first three were also empty.

Hearing that his stones were also empty, the guy in the work vest seemed to feel a bit better, his face relaxing slightly. But then the fourth energy stone exploded with the highest value of the day, E-level, with 98% remaining energy! Almost brand new!

The guy in the work vest’s eyes immediately turned red.

“I also have a piece of gray iron,” Qi Huan said, reaching into the bottom of his bag. He felt two long, thin metal strips and pulled them out. One was the piece of gray iron he had picked up, and the other was a ten-centimeter-long blue metal piece.

He was a bit confused by the extra blue metal piece, but then he realized it must have been stuffed into his bag in the last half-minute, mixed in with the large pieces on top. Because it was small, it had fallen to the bottom through the gaps.

The surface of the blue metal piece was smooth and had a strong mirror-like finish. Qi Huan had a thought and waved it in front of Quan Hai and Mang Ge, asking, “Is this gray iron?”

Quan Hai shook his head, and Qi Huan thought he was overthinking it. He was about to throw the piece into the pile of waste metal when Mang Ge quickly stepped forward and almost snatched it from his hand, saying, “Let me see.”

Qi Huan: ???

Qi Huan looked at Quan Hai in confusion, but Quan Hai was also staring excitedly at the piece, not paying any attention to him.

“Blue copper!” Mang Ge declared confidently after a few seconds.

Everyone except Qi Huan gasped.

Although Qi Huan had never heard of this name before, he could guess from everyone’s reaction that it was a high-grade metal, and definitely rarer and more valuable than gray iron.

“You’re really lucky!” the black-haired guy said enviously.

“Let me rub some of that luck!” The tall, skinny guy excitedly grabbed Qi Huan’s hand and rubbed it with his right hand, “Bless me with some good luck today.”

“Mang Ge has connections and can help you sell it for a good price,” Quan Hai said, patting Qi Huan’s shoulder excitedly.

Qi Huan wasn’t familiar with high-grade metals and was about to ask about the price when the guy in the work vest suddenly jumped up from his chair, pointing at the blue copper in Mang Ge’s hand, “Wait a minute, that piece was picked up from my area, I should get half.”

The tall, skinny guy and the black-haired guy were confused by this sudden claim, as they had been focused on picking up things and didn’t know what had happened.

Quan Hai sneered, “How did it become something picked up from your area?”

“I saw it! I saw that little bastard pick it up from my area with my own eyes.”

“Well, I saw you dismantling energy boxes in his area!” Quan Hai retorted angrily.

The guy in the work vest immediately pointed to the pile of empty energy stones at his feet, “I can give him half of what I picked up too.”

How shameless! Quan Hai was so choked by his shamelessness that he couldn’t speak.

“Anyway, that blue copper was picked up from my area,” the guy in the work vest insisted stubbornly.

Qi Huan glanced at Mang Ge and then at the guy in the work vest, “We agreed that ‘what you pick up is yours.'”

“Who can prove that?” The guy in the work vest rolled his eyes, refusing to admit it.

“I can.” Mang Ge, who had been silent, handed the blue copper back to Qi Huan and looked coldly at the guy in the work vest, “You barged into his area to dismantle energy boxes and refused to leave. He generously didn’t mind and suggested ‘what you pick up is yours,’ and you agreed, even telling him not to go back on his word.”

This was just blatant bullying! After hearing Mang Ge recount the situation, the tall, skinny guy and the black-haired guy looked at the guy in the work vest with disdain. After all, they were ‘teammates,’ how could he bully his own people?

The guy in the work vest was still somewhat afraid of Mang Ge, so he lowered his eyes and softened his tone, “Well, I didn’t think it through at the time, can’t I change my mind now? That little bastard picked up such a good thing from my area, if not half, at least a third.”

Is he just being unreasonable? Qi Huan was so angry that he laughed, “What, taking a third is you being generous? You say I ‘took’ it from your area, where’s the evidence? Where is ‘your area’? How long, how wide, how big is the area? Do you have a map or a land deed? What’s the permitted range? Was it notarized at the Base Command Hall? Did you pay the application fee and rent? Otherwise, how do you prove your ownership, by daydreaming and making things up?”

“You…” The rapid-fire questions left the guy in the work vest dumbfounded.

“What do you mean ‘you’? If your intelligence, which is like a ‘spend 300, save 50’ deal, can’t understand the base’s rules, let me explain: without evidence, it’s called slander and defamation! That’s a 50 to 500 point penalty on your security record!”

“I…” The guy in the work vest was speechless. He had thought Qi Huan was easy to bully because of his good-natured appearance, but he had clearly misjudged him.

“Damn it!” His face twitched, and in a fit of rage, he suddenly pulled a dagger from his vest pocket and pointed it menacingly at Qi Huan, “You little bastard, are you looking for trouble?”

Playing with knives? Qi Huan, who had been handling kitchen knives since he was four, wasn’t afraid of this. He lightly kicked a piece of metal from the pile of discarded items, and a 50-60 cm long metal piece appeared in his hand.

Quan Hai quickly stood beside Qi Huan, ready to help at any moment.

Mang Ge stood up, his tone warning, “Lao Pi, if you keep causing trouble, it’s not going to be fun.”

The guy in the work vest glared at Qi Huan, then looked at the disapproving eyes of the tall, skinny guy and the black-haired guy, knowing that if a fight broke out, he would be the one to suffer. After hesitating for a few seconds, he put away the dagger, muttering, “I’m giving Mang Ge face,” and left in a huff.

The time was almost up anyway, and after this commotion, no one was in the mood to continue. They dispersed quickly. Qi Huan, short on money, entrusted the blue copper and gray iron to Mang Ge to sell. He kept the energy stone for himself, planning to use it later to trade for kitchenware energy stones.

Quan Hai, worried that the shameless guy in the work vest might block him on the way, told Mang Ge he would take Qi Huan home first.

“I didn’t expect Lao Pi to be such a shameless person.” Quan Hai kicked a small stone on the road in frustration.

“Some people have disposable faces,” Qi Huan said, patting his shoulder comfortingly.

Quan Hai looked puzzled, “What do you mean?”

“It means people like him have no shame,” Qi Huan said, buying two bottles of water from a roadside vending robot. “Can those two things sell for a lot of money?”

“Between twenty-five thousand and thirty thousand,” Quan Hai said, taking the bottle of water Qi Huan handed him.

“Cough~” Qi Huan choked on the water he had just gulped down, “How much?”

“More than twenty-five thousand,” Quan Hai laughed, patting his back. “You’re really lucky. I’ve been there so many times and only saw Mang Ge pick one up once!”

“About the same as a C-level beast core?” Qi Huan was surprised. He had guessed it was valuable, but not this valuable. No wonder Lao Pi was so desperate to get a share.

“That’s blue copper, a material for making mechas,” Quan Hai said, looking at the sky with longing.

“Mechas?” Qi Huan was shocked. This world actually had mechas? Was the mecha he dreamed of that night real? “Are they used by hunting squads?”

“Only high-level hunting squads with Sentinels can use them, as only Sentinels can pilot mechas.”

It seemed he needed to look into this tonight. It sounded like Sentinels weren’t what he initially thought. Qi Huan silently planned to research this as his evening entertainment.

“Don’t think about it. I’ve been hoping for years and haven’t seen one in person. In a place like Waste Star, high-level hunting squads rarely come,” Quan Hai said with a bitter smile, patting his shoulder.

“Who said I haven’t seen one?” Qi Huan’s eyes sparkled, and he arrogantly raised his chin.

“You’ve seen one?” Quan Hai was taken aback and immediately asked, “When?”

“The night before last.”

“The night before last?” Quan Hai scratched his head, “Where?”

“In my dreams,” Qi Huan said mischievously, winking at Quan Hai before sprinting away.

“You little brat, you’re messing with me!” Realizing he had been tricked, Quan Hai chased after him, giving Qi Huan a playful ‘beating.’

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t mess up my antenna.”

…

After a morning of activity, Qi Huan was so hungry that he felt weak. He decided he needed to keep an eye on when the ingredient store had a special on cocoa powder so he could make some homemade chocolate to carry with him. At least then, he could replenish his blood sugar when he didn’t have time to eat.

Back home, he gave Quan Hai three mini candied hawthorns, prepared food for the little cat, and put up a new notice for the owner. By then, the morning was almost over. After a quick lunch, Qi Huan grabbed the remaining candied hawthorns and headed to the unloading site, planning how to use this unexpected windfall.

He planned to give half to Quan Hai and Mang Ge—he didn’t mind sharing, but the recipient shouldn’t be the guy in the work vest. It should be Quan Hai and Mang Ge, as without them, he wouldn’t have had the chance to find such a treasure.

After paying off Uncle Wan’s debt and the management fees he owed, he could consider using the remaining money to buy some ingredients and try making some simple breakfast items to start a breakfast business. Thinking of this, his steps became much lighter.

Qi Huan handed the mini candied hawthorns to Wan Lao Da and diligently helped organize the ingredient cabinet. Everyone had just finished lunch, and the sweet and sour little fruit skewers were perfect for cutting the grease. Lao Wu and Wan Lao Er quickly finished theirs. Wan Lao Da said his wife liked sweets and eagerly took his portion to the side courtyard.

In the afternoon, a hunting squad brought in a stone beast. Lao Wu was skilled at dismantling D-level stone beasts, and with time to spare, they also finished dismantling the long-faced beast from the day before.

Seeing him eyeing the pile of dissected innards, Lao Wu stopped him, “You can’t take those; they’re toxic. You should take the bones and hooves instead.”

Qi Huan, who had been imagining making stewed dishes, was disappointed to hear the innards were toxic, and even the little tuft of hair on his head drooped.

Wan Lao Er sighed and gently patted the back of his neck, “You can also take the heads of those two long-faced beasts.”

Seeing the long-faced beast heads, Qi Huan’s beautiful eyes lit up again. The heads were also good—boiled sheep’s head!