4 Silver Coins and a Black Cat

The last class in the afternoon was usually a study period set aside for students to do their homework.

By then, the sky had grown considerably darker.

Several Gray Crystal Lamps in the classroom had all been lit.

Cheng Han narrowed his eyes at the elegantly designed Gray Crystal Lamps, his thoughts drifting.

A "Gray Crystal Lamp" was a lighting device powered by Gray Crystals, which were special crystals containing a small amount of Source Energy.

Besides that, the Crystal Energy Cars speeding along the roads and the various machines operating in factories were also driven by Gray Crystals.

Cheng Han had given such things a name—Crystal Energy Technology.

Gray Crystals were useful, but rather expensive. Only well-off families could afford them.

The Hall of Councillors of Qinglin City treated schools with particular generosity and covered their lighting expenses, allowing students to enjoy bright Gray Crystal Lamps for free.

Incidentally, electricity simply did not exist in this world.

There was no static electricity in daily life, nor had lightning and thunder ever appeared in the sky.

Cheng Han had once tried to build a hand-cranked generator, but unfortunately, he could not even find a single magnetic object. The people around him did not know what magnetism was, either.

At that moment, Qian Qingqing sat beside him, occasionally sneaking glances at his profile.

Noticing his deskmate's gaze, Cheng Han turned and asked, "Why do you keep looking at me?"

Qian Qingqing's tone was somewhat dreamy. "I'm increasingly feeling that you're completely different from the other boys in class."

Cheng Han blinked. "How am I different?"

Qian Qingqing gave an example. "In yesterday's history class, the teacher talked about several terrifying disasters related to the Three Heretical Gods, saying that Alien Gods were the root of all calamities.

"But you said that human desire was the real root cause. Even without Alien Gods, as long as humans still had desires like greed, disasters would never be absent from this world.

"I didn't believe it at the time. After dinner yesterday, I talked to my dad about what you said. He thought you were absolutely right, and even said your insight surpassed that of many adults."

Cheng Han smiled but said nothing more.

There had been no Alien Gods on Blue Star in his previous life. Yet open the history books, and there had been countless tyrants and traitors to the people, emperors drowning in extravagance and excess by the handful, and local tyrants and evil gentry who committed every conceivable evil.

Behind the thunderous collapse of every dynasty, the root cause was always a serious problem with the distribution of benefits, leading to fiscal collapse, and finally the collapse of the state itself.

"Ding-ling~"

The dismissal bell rang.

The classroom immediately became lively.

Cheng Han swiftly packed up his belongings and bid the little girl farewell. "See you tomorrow!"

Qian Qingqing gave him a sweet smile. "See you tomorrow!"

Wen Jie, seated in the back row, felt jealousy rise within him once more.

To Cheng Han, saying "see you tomorrow" to each other every day was merely a trivial little thing. But to Wen Jie, it was something forever beyond his reach.

As Cheng Han walked out of the teaching building, he slipped his right hand into his pocket, gripped a Silver Coin, and silently recited, "Deduce where I can pick up money."

This was precisely how he usually "earned" his living expenses.

According to experience, a direct deduction succeeded five times out of ten.

But if he held a coin, he could obtain useful information seven times out of ten.

Cheng Han called this phenomenon "correlation." When deducing information, possessing a related object could greatly increase the success rate.

Very quickly, he saw an Illusion: beneath the shallow soil under a shrub lay a buried coin. Perhaps because his skill level was not high enough, the image was somewhat blurry, making it difficult to identify what kind of coin it was.

The Illusion changed several times, indicating an approximate route.

His Spirit Value was consumed by another 0.5 points, leaving only 0.6 points, yet his Proficiency still did not increase.

Cheng Han felt a faint dizziness.

This was the result of his Spirit Value dropping to a relatively low level.

Cheng Han muttered softly, "East Terrace Road. I'll need to take a little detour."

The school gate was quite lively at this time. Apart from a large number of students, there were also parents who had come to pick up their children.

Several four-wheeled vehicles were parked along the road. Their appearance closely resembled cars from the 1930s of his previous life. These were the Crystal Energy Cars of this world, each costing more than twenty Gold Coins and affordable only to the wealthy.

Qian Qingqing's family owned one. Her father drove her to and from school every day.

On the other side stood a group of riding beasts nearly two and a half meters tall. Their bodies were covered in thick gray feathers, and they occasionally let out cries of "Ang! Ang!"

Any Blue Star native would blurt out one word the instant they saw them—dinosaurs.

That was because these riding beasts looked astonishingly like the prehistoric Pyroraptors of Blue Star.

They were called Feathered Beasts and served much the same purpose as horses. Each sold for no less than eight Gold Coins, and most families in decent financial circumstances would buy one as a riding mount for travel.

Crystal Energy Cars were products of industrial civilization, while Feathered Beasts were steeped in the aura of wilderness and savagery. Yet the two were mixed together.

Pushing an old Bicycle, Cheng Han thought, Only a transmigrator could witness such a fantastical sight, right?

The Bicycle was one of the assets left behind by its previous owner. It was at least ten years old, creaking everywhere whenever it was ridden as though it might fall apart at any moment.

Its previous owner had once planned to give it a complete overhaul, but his pockets had been empty, and he had never managed to put the plan into action.

After Cheng Han transmigrated, he repeatedly used the Money Picking Technique. In the first month alone, he picked up four Silver Coins, bought a large batch of parts, replaced the severely aged components, and gave it a fresh coat of paint, restoring it to eighty percent of its former condition.

The previous owner's long-cherished wish of many years had been fulfilled with such ease.

A quarter of an hour later.

Riding his Bicycle, Cheng Han arrived at East Terrace Road.

This was a factory district. There were not many people on the road at this time, while the factory buildings on both sides were brightly lit.

Factories in this world generally followed an "889" work schedule: starting work at eight in the morning, getting off at eight in the evening, and working nine days before receiving one day of rest.

Watching this scene, he could not help muttering, "Even if it kills me, I'm never working in a factory."

After traveling several dozen more meters, Cheng Han spotted a large patch of shrubs near a wall. Comparing it against his memory, he nodded. "This should be the place!"

Cheng Han parked his Bicycle, walked over to the shrubs, took out a small shovel, and began digging through the dirt.

More than ten seconds later, there was a "ding" as the shovel struck something hard.

Cheng Han's face lit up. "Found it!"

He reached into the soil and rummaged around a few times. Sure enough, he felt a coin-shaped object. After wiping away the dirt on its surface, silvery-white metal was revealed.

It was actually a Silver Coin! With a cheat in hand, making money was this easy! Cheng Han grinned. "The Silver Coin was buried, so it was probably lost here a long time ago."

If the coin's owner could be found, he would take the initiative to return it. But if it had been lost for too long, the Eye of Omniscience was currently too low-level to trace it back, so he could only accept it with a smile.

In high spirits, he lightly tossed the Silver Coin. "Time to head home."

"Meow~"

A cat's cry came from nearby.

Cheng Han abruptly turned around and looked toward the wall behind him. A black cat was crouched atop it, its pair of ghostly green eyes staring fixedly in his direction.

After they stared at each other for a moment, the black cat lightly leaped over the wall and vanished from sight.

Cheng Han's heart gave a heavy thump, and a faint sense of unease arose within him.

He could not help frowning. "Was that an illusion? Or could it be a bad omen?"

After pondering for a moment, Cheng Han made a decision. "To be safe, I'd better use the Eye of Omniscience to deduce it. But my Spirit Value is nearly depleted, so I should go home and recover it first."

He straddled his Bicycle and sped away.