The moment he steadied himself, a vicious stench of rotting flesh and damp, decaying wood flooded his nostrils. It was so overpowering that it nearly finished Chen Lin off on the spot.
This mountain of garbage was larger than the previous two combined, almost reaching the top of the empty space.
But unlike the riot of colors he had seen before, the garbage mountain in front of him had only two dominant hues.
One was the nauseating dark brown of decomposing animal carcasses.
The other was the lifeless gray of mountains of broken logs and dead branches.
Chen Lin held his breath, fighting the violent churning in his stomach as his gaze swept over the nearest carcass.
It was a python more than ten meters long, but instead of scales, its skin had a rough, stonelike texture. Disgusting yellow-green pus kept seeping from it.
A pale blue screen appeared just then.
[Item information: Rotting mortal beast, rock snake]
"Mortal beast?"
Chen Lin froze for a moment.
This was a new term, but judging by its literal meaning, it probably meant an ordinary beast of the mortal world-unranked and worth very little.
He looked beside it, where a giant sheep the size of an elephant lay. Its spiraling horns gave off a faint white glow, but unfortunately, more than half its body had already rotted badly, filling the air with a foul stench.
[Item information: Rotting mortal beast, Brahma sheep]
Chen Lin quickly scanned the area again. Three-headed birds, winged lizards, enormous beetles... There were animal carcasses of every bizarre shape imaginable, like the waste dump of a failed biological laboratory.
Unfortunately, every single one was a "mortal beast."
And they were all hopelessly rotten. Forget extracting useful materials-even another glance felt like an assault on his eyes.
A chill crept into his heart.
Was he going to leave empty-handed this time?
As his thoughts wandered, an invisible force began to work, and the enormous garbage mountain slowly broke apart.
The automatic sorting had begun.
This time, however, the process was almost absurdly simple.
Countless rotting animal carcasses were drawn together into a huge mountain of bodies.
All the broken logs and dead branches flew to the other side, forming another small mountain.
The remaining stones and dirt formed a lonely third pile, pitifully small.
That was it.
Just three piles.
Chen Lin was utterly speechless.
It seemed his luck had finally run out.
He sighed and walked up to the mountain of broken logs and dead branches, clinging to the possibility of finding something.
He reached out, aimlessly running his hand over one oddly shaped branch after another.
[Item information: Mortal wood, fire willow] [Item information: Mortal wood, water poplar] [Item information: Mortal wood, western nanmu]
Nothing but worthless miscellaneous timber.
Chen Lin gave a self-deprecating smile and was about to leave.
Suddenly, his hand touched a bucket-thick trunk buried deep in the pile. The screen that popped up before him made his whole body jolt.
[Item information: Mortal wood, Rosewood]
Rosewood!
Chen Lin's heart clenched, then began pounding wildly!
Sure, it still had "mortal wood" in front of it, but this was Rosewood! The king of woods!
Back on Earth, this stuff sold by the gram!
Suppressing his elation, he willed the enormous log-over three meters long and nearly a meter in diameter-straight into his Storage Ring!
He'd hit the jackpot!
His eyes shone. Forgetting all about the stench, he turned into an industrious groundhog, frantically digging through the enormous woodpile.
Before long, he found two more!
They were a little shorter and thinner than the first, but they were still exceptionally rare, enormous pieces of timber!
"Nice, very nice! These three would be more than enough to make a top-quality set of heirloom furniture!"
Chen Lin clapped his hands together in satisfaction.
There had been fewer types of garbage this time, but the sheer quantity made up for it, and the sorting had been extremely fast.
Less than an hour later, the familiar twisting sensation swept over him, and Chen Lin returned to his room.
The first thing he did was take all three Rosewood logs out of his Storage Ring.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With three dull thumps, the enormous Rosewood logs appeared out of thin air, instantly cramming his modest room full.
The longest was over three meters, and even the shortest was two meters. All three were nearly a meter in diameter.
Looking at the three massive logs, Chen Lin felt his mouth go dry.
These three had to weigh several tons altogether. With large pieces of Small-Leaf Rosewood currently fetching two million yuan a ton, even a conservative estimate put these raw logs at several million!
What a killing!
Early the next morning.
Chen Lin was woken by a clamor of voices and car engines outside the courtyard.
He emerged from his room with dark circles under his eyes and a thunderous expression.
Seven or eight cars crowded outside his front gate. More than twenty men in assorted fishing vests were clustered at the courtyard entrance, hauling bags of fishing gear.
"Boss! Open up! We're here to fish!"
"Yeah! Hurry up! We're taking on your monsters today!"
Chen Lin did not even have to think to know that Tang Xiaolong and his crowd were behind this.
He had only introduced the new rules yesterday. He could hardly change them again today.
Just then, a Green Bubble notification chimed on his phone.
It was Song Qiuya.
"Chen Lin, are you free this afternoon?"
Chen Lin thought for a moment. He really did not seem to have anything to do.
He replied, "I'm free this afternoon. What's up, Manager Song?"
Almost the instant he sent the message, her reply arrived.
Song Qiuya: "I'd like to treat you to dinner tonight!"
Chen Lin stared at the screen, his typing fingers pausing.
Song Qiuya: "To thank you for saving me last time."
Only after seeing that message did Chen Lin relax.
He replied, "Sure, okay!"
Song Qiuya: "See you tonight, then!"
Chen Lin: "See you tonight!"
Putting down his phone, Chen Lin inexplicably felt much better.
At four that afternoon, he let his second uncle and aunt know he was leaving, then drove his Qin Plus toward the city.
He parked in Yida Plaza's underground parking garage.
As soon as Chen Lin reached the entrance of the café where they had agreed to meet, he spotted Song Qiuya sitting by the window.
Then he stopped dead in his tracks.
Today, Song Qiuya was not wearing her signature business skirt suit, which seemed like a layer of invisible armor.
She wore a black, figure-hugging long dress with an impeccably close fit. Its perfectly placed V-neck revealed her delicate collarbones and a small patch of snow-white skin.
The long dress traced every curve of her graceful figure, while her neat, short hair added a touch of bold elegance.
She was still herself, her manner retaining a hint of cool reserve, like an unattainable beauty to be admired only from afar.
But then she noticed Chen Lin at the entrance and turned toward him.
A bright, captivating smile blossomed across her refined face, which usually showed so little expression.
For that instant, Chen Lin felt as though the world before him had grown brighter.
The sharp, unapproachable air around her vanished in a heartbeat, replaced by a breathtaking softness and radiance.
It was as though a taut bowstring had finally slackened, revealing the warm, smooth grain of the bow beneath.
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