Digging

The two children, carrying simple tools, ventured into a narrow path. After winding their way through the maze of obstacles, they arrived at a hidden "cave" concealed among piles of garbage.

The cave is not too narrow; in fact, it is quite spacious. This was not intentionally carved out like this. In fact, a few years ago, this was the site of a village. Due to a Ground Collapse, the original village was buried, and the two Garbage Mountain above the valley also collapsed. Then, supported by some kind of large piece of garbage, it became a huge hollow.

Although it seemed relatively safe, the village elders believed that this unreliable structure might collapse at any time, so they decisively abandoned the original location and built a new village not far away. The cave was carefully hidden so that it could be used as an emergency shelter in times of crisis.

The two little ones hadn't walked far when they saw the "landmark," a gigantic, menacing metal monster. Judging by its size, it was at least twenty meters tall. Its body, covered in jagged spikes, was half-buried, and numerous cracks covered its entire surface. One arm and one leg had completely disappeared, and at the broken ends, one could see twisted, gnarled fibrous structures, numerous cables, and some things that looked more like muscles.

The metal giant lay sprawled on the ground, a diamond-shaped wound on its head. Anyone who glanced at it would have thought it was completely dead.

Even when lying down, its enormous size, several meters tall, still exudes an overwhelming sense of oppression.

However, the two little ones weren't very interested in this big guy.

They had already tried to remove even a single piece of sheet metal from the cracked body after the massive object fell from above, but after realizing that they couldn't remove even a single piece of sheet metal from its cracked body with their tools, they stopped paying attention to the object and instead focused on the trash that had fallen with it and buried a third of its body.

Good things don't usually come alone; this is common sense among the scavengers living on this Garbage Mountain.

When you discover an unusual item, it's highly likely that everything around it also comes from the same world.

Such a massive metal giant must have come from a world with a high level of technology. Perhaps we can find one or two usable pieces of equipment to bring back to the village. As for how much [knowledge] it will consume... that's a question to consider after we confirm its functionality.

By this time, much of the Garbage Mountain covering half of the giant's body had been dug away. As children who grew up in the Garbage Mountain, they had already mastered how to obtain the most information with the least amount of digging at a young age. Seeing that the Garbage Mountain was about to be dug through, the girl's eyes almost lit up!

"What will it be? A super-electric drive system? An integrated industrial module? A 3D printer?"

Vera muttered to herself as she shoveled aside the useless scraps, then tossed the relatively intact items into her basket. Her twin brother, who had been digging alongside her, pursed his lips and whispered:

"I really want a Hand-crank Generator. I found a True Thing TV before, but I can't use it. It would be such a waste to just eat it."

"Idiot Vero! Even if there's a signal, you can't watch anything if the TV has no signal, right?" Vera rolled her eyes, but Vero didn't care at all.

"Even without a signal, you can watch DVDs. There's a whole mountain of CD to the east, as long as you have a generator..."

"Then you'll need to buy another DVD Player." Vera mercilessly crushed her brother's wish, her fingers pausing slightly before she said with a hint of surprise:

"Hey, why are there so many Cotton Wadding here? You idiot, Vero, hurry up and collect them, they might be enough to make a quilt!"

"I know, I know... This is impossible no matter how you look at it!" Vero pouted, looked at the Cotton Wadding in the trash, shook his head, and started collecting it.

Although one time isn't enough, I can save it up first; who knows, maybe I'll have enough someday?

The two, who had been working roughly, became more careful, painstakingly picking out the Cotton Wadding mixed in with the trash. As the digging continued, Vera finally noticed something and exclaimed with delight:

"If I'm not mistaken, this must have been thrown out by something like a quilt or a sofa, otherwise it wouldn't be stuck in the trash like this!"

"Shall we hurry up and forget about these loose bits and pieces?" Vero asked tentatively, only to be flicked on the forehead by his sister.

"What did your teacher teach you? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Who knows if there's really more cotton down there!"

"Then why did you talk so much nonsense?" Vero rolled her eyes at her sister, lowered her head and started picking cotton again. Vera didn't just let her brother do the work; her small, tender hands, covered in scars, were also quickly rummaging through the trash.

The two of them worked for two hours, filling half a basket with cotton scraps. At that moment, a very beautiful piece of fabric caught Vera's eye.

It was a piece of Black Silk- like material, looking delicate and soft. Even without touching it, Vera knew it was definitely not a cheap item.

She immediately shouted at her younger brother:

"There's something good here, hurry! Don't dig in the middle, start from the edge!"

"I know, I know, it's not like I'm new to picking up trash!" Vero replied impatiently, but upon seeing the fabric that was clearly out of place with the surrounding trash, he immediately perked up.

Generally speaking, even the most expensive and high-end fabrics will inevitably get dirty when placed with a pile of garbage, but this fabric looks as if it was just taken out of the store.

Faced with this situation, the only thing the two children could think of was that "legendary" item they had learned about in their general education classes—

Phantom Object!

But soon, the two little ones fell silent.

The Phantom Object was indeed Phantom Object, but it was being worn by a person, and this person didn't seem to be quite dead yet.

"We're doomed!" Vero stumbled back two steps and fell to the ground. In the village's education, all Outsider were considered extremely dangerous, especially those with Phantom Object, who were considered a particularly terrifying type.

Vera, however, was more composed. Looking at the man before her, still mostly buried in the garbage, seemingly only his eyes able to move, she addressed her pathetic younger brother:

"Calm down, he seems to be seriously injured, but he's not a threat for now."

As she spoke, the girl picked up a metal part, about twenty centimeters long with a relatively sharp break, from the trash and held it to Feng Xue's neck, saying:

"Who are you? Where are you from? Do you have any other accomplices?"

"..."

Feeling the chill on her neck, Feng Xue took a long breath and sighed:

"My name is Feng Xue, and I am..."

Before she could finish speaking, Feng Xue suddenly felt her consciousness begin to spin rapidly, but...

"Why is this time?!"