owlsbooks Chapter 057 A newbie is a newbie
Chapter 057 A newbie is a newbie
When Lu Chen heard Yu say that she also thought scavenging wasn't good enough and that she would choose a higher-ranking profession if given the opportunity in the future, he felt a strange sense of peace.
In Lu Chen's view, this meant that Yu would not be a "passerby" in the City of Time.
In the future, Lu Chen will still have Yu as his guide, or rather, his 'teammate'.
But when Yu said, "It's not necessary to kill me," Lu Chen was suddenly taken aback.
After a moment, Lu Chen understood the source of Yu's worries and shook his head with a wry smile.
"Our gold is yours to keep."
"You can hide inside the city, just don't let me know."
"In that case, I will do my best to ensure your safe return to the city in order to protect my gold."
After saying that, Lu Chen pondered for a moment and then said, "After we leave the city, you will keep the gun."
"You can decide whether or not to give me the gun if we encounter danger."
...
In Lu Chen's view, Yu's worries stemmed from that gun.
After all, when the two were outside the city before, Yu had repeatedly expressed her confidence that "you can't threaten me."
She even confidently stated that outside the city, Yu not only did not need Lu Chen's protection, but she would protect Lu Chen instead.
Now, however, Yu has begun to give Lu Chen a heads-up.
Such a stark contrast clearly stems from that pistol.
That gun fundamentally changed the two men's fighting abilities.
After all, guns will have another name in 2025.
A vessel for the equality of all beings.
...
"You don't need to overthink it."
As she pondered, Yu's faint voice came from above again.
"I'm saying this just in case, to leave myself a way out."
"Just a reminder: whatever you want to do, you don't necessarily have to kill me to achieve your goal."
Yu emphasized again, "It's not that you have to kill me." For no reason, Lu Chen felt a pang of heartache.
More than anything, it's a sense of helplessness in the face of this absurd world.
Yu is a good person.
At least he's good enough to Lu Chen.
Since stepping out of the recovery point and officially entering the City of Time, Lu Chen's luckiest thing was definitely not retrieving the hibernation pod No. 9529 and obtaining 4 years of time and 300g of gold.
It is jade.
Lu Chen's greatest fortune was encountering jade.
Because of the jade, Lu Chen was able to leave the city to scavenge.
Because of the jade, Lu Chen was able to pay off all his bank debts in one go just six days after his recovery.
This is likely the fastest record of resurrected individuals paying off their debts in nearly three hundred years since Genesis.
Now, Lu Chen is "debt-free" and holds over 200 grams of gold. He has excluded scavenger number 172 from his long-term career plans.
How lucky is that?
Look at the other recoveries.
Take Yu's group for example—out of 193 people, only 7 survived to six months later.
Moreover, it is highly likely that they can only afford the bank interest, and are completely unable to repay their debts.
Even this was achieved by killing scavengers and stealing their pickup trucks.
Six years have passed since then.
Among those few "survivors," some still had to sell everything they owned to pay bank interest.
Still struggling to pay off interest, still unable to clear their debts, and truly surviving in the City of Time.
...
"Actually, I've never really believed in luck."
After a long silence, Lu Chen spoke slowly.
On the upper level, Yu slightly peeked out, revealing her forehead and a pair of light blue eyes.
Lu Chen rested his head on his hands, a sigh on his face, and said, "In my opinion, luck is just a coincidence."
"If you happen to complete something smoothly without encountering any obstacles, people will define it as: luck."
"I never imagined that one day I would be this 'lucky'."
...
"Thank you, Yu."
"Thanks."
With utmost sincerity, he said "thank you" twice in succession, his gaze meeting those light blue eyes without flinching.
The two were positioned one on top and one on the bottom; one lying down and the other prone.
They gazed at each other intently for a long time.
Finally, Yu gently withdrew her head and disappeared into the entrance at the front of the "makeshift hospital".
Get some rest.
Tomorrow will be very busy.
"It could even be dangerous."
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The next day, early morning.
Yu and Lu Chen first went to the outside of the coal mine and bought dozens of slices of black bread.
— Each person buys their own and pays for their own time.
They then pooled their money to buy a can of pickled vegetables at a shop inside the city gate.
Value: [7 days]
No wonder Yu eats so frugally.
Back at the apartment, I grabbed my backpack and headed to the steel mill, where I filled my kettle with molten rust.
After making all the necessary preparations before leaving the city, the two arrived at the parking lot inside the city gate.
While waiting for the shop assistant to bring the pistol, Lu Chen instinctively looked at himself and Yu's [timer].
【00:269:19:32:07】
【00:90:01:48:49】
...
All in all, it's nearly 360 days.
After deducting the 20 days that need to be paid for cutting in line to leave the city, the two of them will have a total of 340 days left.
"Huh?"
In a split second, a flash of inspiration struck Lu Chen.
Why do we have to store our time separately?
"If we store it together, we won't have to pay two storage service fees, right?"
As he spoke, Lu Chen stretched out his left arm, revealing his [Timer].
"I have 90 days, you have 270 days."
"Spend 20 days to cut in line, then each person takes 7 days to leave the city, that's..."
"Hmm, I want to save for [73 days], you want to save for [253 days]."
"--Adding it up, it's 326 days, which is just under a year."
...
"If you deposit the money separately, you will have to pay a daily savings service fee for each account."
"Saving them together only requires 1 day in total."
"That means you can save [one day's] service fee every day..."
By the end, Lu Chen was eager to try.
Seeing that Yu did not show any joy, she frowned slightly in hesitation.
"Is this not allowed?"
"still……?"
Upon hearing this, Yu subconsciously looked at her left arm.
Then she raised her head and looked at Lu Chen with a dark expression.
"You trust me that much, willing to entrust all your extra time to me for safekeeping?"
...
"Aren't you afraid that once I get outside the city, I'll find a way to get rid of you and monopolize your [time]?"
But Lu Chen nonchalantly stretched out his left hand, grasped Yu's left arm, and pressed their [timers] together.
While handing over his extra "time" to Yu, he said with a smile, "I've entrusted you with the safekeeping of gold worth decades, so what's a little "time"?"
"If you really take advantage of me, I can only blame myself for misjudging people."
...
"If you want to keep my gold and [time] for yourself, you don't necessarily have to kill me."
"All my wealth is in your hands."
"You can take me back to the city, take everything you can, and then we'll go our separate ways."
As he spoke, Lu Chen wore a slightly mocking smile, but a hint of composure also flashed in his eyes.
Seeing Lu Chen's behavior, Yu stood there stunned and remained silent for a long time.
He finally smiled knowingly and awkwardly turned his head away.
He muttered to himself, "A newbie is a newbie."
"They trust anyone and have no suspicion whatsoever."
"I don't know how they survived..."