Where on earth did you buy it, for crying out loud?!
Thinking of Qiu Shuyu's personality, Luo Liuzi knew she was honest and particular about things, so he gave up beating around the bush and asked outright, "Xiao Yu, where exactly did you buy this axe? If you've got such a good connection, introduce us, will you? We can team up to chop trees from now on and work even faster!"
Tian Man caught on too. Dropping the subject of compensation, he added, "Right, let's go buy axes together. We might even get a better price. The boss who sold you the axe must want to expand his business, right? I'll send more people his way!"
The two of them wanted that little axe badly. They really hadn't gotten enough of using it.
Although the little stone axe wasn't very durable, its price probably wouldn't be too outrageous. It was made of stone, after all...
But the craftsmanship was truly impressive...
Maybe the boss even had iron ones. Even if they cost a little more-yes, even twice as much-they would be willing to buy them.
Sharpening an axe didn't delay the woodcutting. An axe that felt right in their hands could make them more efficient and earn them more money.
Qiu Shuyu saw what they were thinking and knew they genuinely wanted to buy little stone axes. The problem was, she hadn't bought hers.
Xiaozhu had made this axe with Force.
Qiu Shuyu didn't want to rashly expose Song Xiaozhu's identity as a "craftsman." She needed to discuss this with Xiaozhu first and see what her plans were.
So Qiu Shuyu said, "I didn't buy it."
Tian Man and Luo Liuzi both froze and asked in unison, "Then where did you get it?"
Qiu Shuyu paused, then said, "Found it."
She wasn't exactly lying. Xiaozhu had made the axe, and all the raw materials had been scavenged from Garbage Mountain. Rounding things off...
The little axe had been found.
Tian Man and Luo Liuzi looked at each other, each seeing the same feeling in the other's eyes-
Utter disappointment!
Living at Garbage Mountain, they had all scavenged before.
With good luck, they could indeed find plenty of secondhand tools, or even treasures that had made their way out of the city.
This little stone axe felt anything but ordinary in their hands...
It really did seem like something that had come from the city...
Neither of them had scavenged in a long time, so the possibility hadn't occurred to them. They had simply assumed a new axe-making craftsman had appeared at the logging grounds.
Luo Liuzi wilted. "You found it, huh..."
Tian Man lost interest too.
Even asking Qiu Shuyu where she had found it would be pointless,
Something like this could only be stumbled upon, not sought out.
Liu Mu, who had been sulking off to the side all this time, finally recovered. Even his exhausted body felt energized as he gloated, "Isn't it just a secondhand stone axe? There are loads of them at the recycling station. If you want one so badly, head back early and buy one."
Tian Man couldn't be bothered with him.
Luo Liuzi was still sighing. "It was so good... so damn good. Now that I've had a taste of that, I don't fucking want to chop trees anymore!"
Liu Mu scoffed. "When have you ever wanted to chop trees? All you know is slacking off and cutting corners. No ambition at all."
With the little axe unusable, Qiu Shuyu had no axe left at all.
Of course, this wasn't a problem. They had gone out to chop trees together so many times that they already had a way to handle situations like this-
Four people sharing three axes was common enough.
They just had to take turns resting instead of resting together.
Their precious little axe was a lost cause.
Luo Liuzi couldn't even muster any enthusiasm for work.
Tian Man told Qiu Shuyu again, "Don't worry, Xiao Qiu. Once we're back, I'll get you an iron axe."
Those weren't empty words.
Although people around Garbage Mountain generally had low moral standards, Tian Man had made a decent name for himself at the logging grounds by standing by his friends.
Once they finished this order and returned to the community, he would immediately buy a new axe and deliver it to Qiu Shuyu.
Qiu Shuyu said nothing more. She picked up Luo Liuzi's iron axe and was the first to get back to work.
Tian Man swung his axe too. Holding the axe he had used for so long, all he could think about was that little stone axe... Luo Liu had been right. Once you'd had a taste of that... you really didn't even want to chop trees anymore!
Remembering how he had looked down on that crappy little axe earlier...
Tian Man really wanted to slap himself.
Come to think of it, he had even hoped never to see that consumptive girl again, and now he had to show up at her door to deliver an axe.
Wait...
Hadn't that stone axe belonged to the consumptive girl?
Song Xiaozhu knew the axe she had made was good, and she had anticipated that it would tempt the loggers. She had even started gathering [raw material] in advance, planning to make three as soon as she got back-Qiu Shuyu had three friends.
Yet, while she had foreseen the beginning, she had never expected the ending-Qiu Shuyu had concealed the axe's origins to protect her, nearly letting a sure thing slip away.
Of course, it couldn't slip away.
It was already in the bag. At most, she would reap the rewards a little later.
While Qiu Shuyu was busy chopping trees, Song Xiaozhu was busy too. She hadn't even
had time to eat lunch, spending all her time exploring how to synthesize [raw material].
The three [raw material] recipes she had currently unlocked all had success rates of 1-99%. At first, Song Xiaozhu had thought this exaggerated range depended on the raw ingredients. For example, scrap wood had an extremely low success rate, while quality timber had a success rate as high as 90%...
Now Song Xiaozhu had discovered a new pattern. It turned out that the success rate was also related to quantity.
Two branches had a far higher success rate than one. One plus one was far greater than two.
There was an upper limit to the quantity, though. The number she could place on it varied according to the quality and volume of the raw ingredients.
For branches, the maximum was three.
For stones, it ranged from five to ten, depending on their size.
Medicinal ingredients were about the same as stones.
After Song Xiaozhu worked out the detailed patterns, her synthesis became much more efficient. She soon accumulated 6 units of [raw wood material], 7 units of [raw stone material], and 3 units of [medicinal raw material].
Her stock of [raw stone material] surpassed her [raw wood material] for the first time...
Unlucky Song's heart ached as she thought of the mistake she had made.
Wood could at least be rotten or sound. There was no such distinction with stones.
Even the stones from Garbage Mountain were genuinely no different in quality, apart from being a little smaller.