Advanced alloys

"Foolish Boy!"

"Prepare for my arrival!"

"This will be a perfect landing!"

Boom!

Cheng Qi smashed his one and only shack to pieces.

Amid the wreckage, Cheng Qi raised his head.

Perhaps the biting wind at that altitude had brought tears to his eyes, or perhaps his heart was simply overflowing.

Then.

Cheng Qi stared at the remaining shoes.

He was eager to see what the next level of the Turbojet Shoes would look like.

But that would require merging every shoe he had.

He decided to leave a pair of flying shoes for Foolish Boy. Otherwise, those two brass legs would never keep up with him.

He would need Foolish Boy's company on his future treasure hunts.

Once he obtained new materials, he would upgrade all the shoes together!

Next.

Cheng Qi turned his attention to the shelves beside his shack.

Over a hundred black cylinders sat packed together on them.

These were all nickel-based superalloy, which Cheng Qi had extracted from countless pieces of scrap using the High-Energy Crucible.

Although extracting them was a complicated process, these alloys were not worth much. They were generally used to manufacture things like high-strength screws.

It was much like the scrap yards of the old era, where copper wire would inevitably accumulate over time.

"149 pieces of nickel-based superalloy. If I sold them outright, they'd fetch about 100 Credit Points."

Cheng Qi's eyes gleamed. "I wonder if these basic materials can be synthesized."

[Similar technological constructs detected]

[Matter formatting initiated]

The voice sounded wonderfully sweet in Cheng Qi's mind. "Of course! Alloys may be basic materials, but they're still technological constructs!"

Just then.

Cheng Qi's satellite phone, wrapped in black tape, began vibrating furiously.

Cheng Qi glanced at it. Hyena was requesting a connection.

Luke Hyena was a scavenger who had done fairly well for himself.

A year ago, he had suddenly struck it rich after finding a valuable item, then gone into the loan-sharking business.

Previously, Cheng Qi had gone all in, borrowing 2,800 Credit Points from Luke Hyena to buy the "development rights" to 7-12-5. He had thought that once he fully developed 7-12-5, repaying Hyena with interest would be easy.

But that bastard E Luo had stolen 7-12-5.

Cheng Qi had been left empty-handed.

Luke Hyena lived up to his name. He would devour a man without leaving even the bones.

If Cheng Qi failed to repay him, he would certainly be torn apart, minced, and then fed to real hyenas by Luke Hyena.

But.

That was before.

Now, Cheng Qi had the Standard Template Construct!

Meanwhile, the Standard Template Construct had already completed its first synthesis.

[Intermetallic compound]

[A compound composed of two or more metallic elements, featuring high strength, high hardness, and good oxidation resistance. Suitable for manufacturing high-temperature spacecraft components]

Cheng Qi looked at the brand-new piece of metal on the shelf, its surface gleaming orange-yellow, and slowly smiled.

Intermetallic compound.

He knew it all too well. This material was precious, though not exceptionally rare.

A scavenger had once found some in a scrapped starship thruster. Just 100 grams had allowed that scavenger to live in drunken luxury for four months and sleep with every streetwalker on Bar Street.

Now.

Just two pieces of cheap nickel-based superalloy had synthesized into a fist-sized piece of intermetallic compound.

It weighed about 500 grams!

More than enough to pay his debt.

But Cheng Qi would not stop there. He had over a hundred pieces of basic synthesis material!

[Similar technological constructs detected]

[Matter formatting initiated]

[Synthesis]

[Amorphous alloy].

[Amorphous alloy] × 31!

[Amorphous alloy is an alloy composed of multiple elements, featuring ultrahigh strength, ultrahigh hardness, low weight, and exceptional corrosion resistance. Suitable for wear-prone components in Interstellar Engine cores. Classified as a star-system-grade industrial material]

[Similar technological constructs detected]

[Matter formatting initiated]

[Synthesis]

[High-entropy alloy]!

[High-entropy alloy is an alloy with a disordered atomic arrangement, featuring S3 high strength, S3 high hardness, and exceptional electromagnetic shielding. Suitable for constructing high-precision Interstellar Radar. Classified as a scarce star-system-grade material]

Five minutes later.

Cheng Qi held twenty-three pieces of amorphous alloy and four pieces of high-entropy alloy.

He had kept synthesizing, but deliberately controlled the process to retain some intermediate products.

These materials were meant to be converted into cash.

If he blindly synthesized only the most advanced materials, then suddenly produced something earth-shattering on this garbage-covered planet, he would inevitably cause a stir. And that stir would turn into a disaster.

If the Standard Template Construct had a shortcoming, it was that it did not appraise the monetary value of items.

As for this amorphous alloy and high-entropy alloy.

As a veteran scavenger with ten years of experience, Cheng Qi had seen a great deal.

After toying with them for just a few seconds, Cheng Qi smiled faintly. "Never heard of them."

Everything synthesized by the Standard Template Construct represented a leap to another tier. These two alloys were certainly no ordinary materials.

Cheng Qi understood that perfectly.

Determining their value was his first priority.

By then, Cheng Qi already had a plan.

He stood, picked up the satellite communicator, and calmly pressed the connection button. Luke Hyena had been calling furiously all this time.

"You fucking little garbage worm!"

"You took my money, and now you think you can run?!"

"I've already heard! Someone stole your 7-12-5!"

"With compound interest, the money you borrowed from me comes to 4,800 Credit Points!"

"If you can't pay, I'll dissect you and sell your prefrontal lobe and spinal bones to those Biopunk Merchants!"

Cheng Qi had borrowed a principal of only 2,800 credits. In less than seven days, it had already become 4,800.

Everyone knew how black Luke Hyena's heart was.

"Don't get worked up."

Cheng Qi's voice was calm. "I got lucky today and found a piece of intermetallic compound. Hmm... about 100 grams."

"What?!!"

Luke Hyena sounded startled, but then he gritted his teeth. "You expect me to take your word for it? I've seen this trick plenty of times. Trying to stall, are you?"

Ting...

Cheng Qi gently flicked the piece of intermetallic compound with his finger, producing a clear, lingering ring.

Luke Hyena fell silent on the other end of the communicator for five seconds.

The man had become exceedingly shrewd. No ordinary metal could produce such a clear ring.

Within barely ten seconds, Luke Hyena had confirmed that the intermetallic compound was genuine.

"Very good!"

"500 grams, right!"

Hyena still sounded vicious. "Round it up. Give me that piece of metal, and we'll call your debt settled!"

"That's quite some rounding."

Cheng Qi shook his head with a smile. "Actually, I found the intermetallic compound in a very finely engineered briefcase. It looked like someone had thrown it away by mistake. Besides the intermetallic compound, there was another layer of tightly sealed compartments inside, containing a piece of... faintly white, somewhat translucent metal."

"Oh?!"

Luke Hyena paused. "A briefcase?"

"Yes."

Cheng Qi feigned confusion. "The label on this metal says something like... amorphous alloy? I've never seen this kind of metal before. Is it worth anything?"

The communicator went silent for two seconds, followed by a faint crackle, as though the signal was suffering interference.

Then Luke Hyena's slightly disappointed voice came through. "I thought you'd found something incredible. It's just amorphous alloy. That stuff is worth slightly more than intermetallic compound, but it's an ultralight material. It weighs so little that the same volume won't sell for much."

"So that's how it is."

Cheng Qi hefted the piece of amorphous alloy in his hand. "It really is light."

"Tell you what, I'll buy that piece of amorphous alloy at market price."

"I've got business to deal with right now. Come find me at the bar in three hours."

"Fucking nuisance. Every day, I have to deal with little garbage worms like you!"

Luke Hyena hung up, still cursing and sounding thoroughly uninterested.

Cheng Qi set his communicator on the table as well.

Then he smiled.

Hyena was covering something up.

Amorphous alloy was extremely valuable. Extraordinarily valuable, in fact!

Just now, when Cheng Qi had said the name of the amorphous alloy, Hyena had fallen silent for only two seconds, but a crackling sound had come through the communicator. That had not been signal interference.

It had happened because Hyena was gripping his communicator extremely hard.

These battered communicators, including Cheng Qi's, all shared the same fault: squeezing them or gripping them tightly would produce crackling interference.

He had to admit.

Hyena had reacted quickly. Within two seconds, he had suppressed his emotions and adjusted his tone.

He had even pretended to be busy, arranging their meeting for three hours later.

If he seemed too eager, he would give himself away.

Everything Hyena had done could be summed up in a single phrase.

Playing hard to get.

Cheng Qi could not help chuckling to himself.

If Luke Hyena knew that Cheng Qi had another twenty-two pieces of the amorphous alloy that had sent his heart racing and nearly driven him mad, as well as four pieces of the even higher-grade high-entropy alloy, what would he think?

"He'd definitely find a way to kill your sorry ass!"

"Leave you belly-up in a coffin!"

Foolish Boy extended an arm and made a throat-slitting gesture.

"Exactly."

Cheng Qi gave a helpless smile, his eyes gleaming. "Never mind the other materials. A single piece of amorphous alloy is already enough to make him kill me and take it."