Chapter 45

Yet here, the buyback price of 240 was already three times the usual rate.

Normally, it was only around 80.

Money had different purchasing power in the two worlds. Forty here was enough to live respectably in the community for a month.

But fragments of memory flashed through Song Xiaozhu's mind.

Li Siyuan had little concept of money. Only an occasional scattered memory showed that she had spent 2,000 on a single meal and had not even enjoyed it.

Song Xiaozhu looked at the mountain of timber and could not help wondering...

How much could it sell for once it was transported into the Fortress?

Definitely not 240, or even just 2,400.

But the refugees living on Garbage Mountain had no way of knowing what things were like in the city.

Weren't the Fortress walls, towering into the clouds, a barrier too?

Qiu Shuyu received her forty, undisguised delight in her eyes. She took Song Xiaozhu's hand and said goodbye to Tian Man and the others.

Tian Man called out, "Let's keep at it tomorrow."

Qiu Shuyu nodded.

Song Xiaozhu felt her joy, and the gloom weighing on her heart dissipated with it. Her eyes curved into a smile too.

Qiu Shuyu said, "I'll buy you some new clothes when we get back!"

Song Xiaozhu said, "Don't waste it. Save it up. In the future..." She paused and left the rest unsaid.

Qiu Shuyu knew what she wanted to say and smiled. "What are you thinking? I don't care about some 'Fairness Card.'"

Since she had brought it up, Song Xiaozhu simply asked, "Sister Shuyu, do 'Fairness Cards' really exist?"

"They do."

"How much is one?"

"Well..."

"I know they're really, really expensive, but if we work hard and save up, we should be able to afford one eventually, right?"

Qiu Shuyu saw the longing in Song Xiaozhu's eyes. She could not bear to shatter her hopes, but she also felt that rather than indulge in such fantasies, it was better to live each day well.

"We can't afford one." Qiu Shuyu's voice was heavy, each word striking Song Xiaozhu's heart. "People in the community couldn't afford a single 'Fairness Card' even if they worked hard for several lifetimes."

Song Xiaozhu asked, "Not even the owners of those little workshops...?"

Qiu Shuyu said, "Six hundred

thousand."

Song Xiaozhu: "..."

Qiu Shuyu really had lived in the city. She had no "Fairness Card." She was not a true citizen, but one of the lower-class people kept penned up.

But she understood the concept of a "Fairness Card" better than anyone in the community.

"To get a 'Fairness Card,' you first have to own property in the Fortress. And even the smallest home on the very outskirts of Ink City, hmm, about thirty square meters, costs six hundred thousand."

Listening to Qiu Shuyu, Song Xiaozhu felt as though a lifetime had passed.

So that was how it worked...

A "Fairness Card" was tied to property in the Fortress.

Twenty thousand per square meter?

And that was the cheapest?

No wonder Qiu Shuyu said the people in the community could never get a "Fairness Card," even in several lifetimes.

Never mind six hundred thousand-even six thousand was an astronomical sum to a scavenger.

Qiu Shuyu saw the disappointment in Song Xiaozhu's eyes and held her hand, comforting her. "The city isn't a good place. Even if you really get a 'Fairness Card,' you'll still... well, you'll still be ostracized and pushed down. Life won't be easy."

Song Xiaozhu understood.

A thirty-square-meter home was the oldest, shabbiest, and smallest of old, shabby, small homes.

Spending several generations' entire savings on a home like that would not bring a peaceful, carefree life, but even deeper suffering and an even clearer sense of what class meant.

"Mm." Song Xiaozhu composed herself and told Qiu Shuyu, "We don't need 'Fairness Cards.' We can still live well."

Qiu Shuyu nodded repeatedly. Still afraid she would feel upset, she brought up the little stone axe. "The axe you made was so useful. I've never used such a good axe."

At that, Song Xiaozhu perked up too and began asking detailed questions. "Really? How did it feel? How well did it work? How much worse was it than an iron axe? Hmm... about how long did you use it? I saw that it cracked."

At the mention of the cracked axe, Qiu Shuyu was distressed. "It was my fault. I let other people use it. All they knew was brute force. They ruined it."

Song Xiaozhu's eyes lit up. "Who else used it? Your friends? What did they think?"

Qiu Shuyu frowned. "Not friends. Just people I know."

Then she explained everything in detail, from how Luo Liuzi had been unable to put it down to how Tian Man had also gotten carried away and chopped with the little stone axe until it cracked.

Qiu Shuyu said regretfully, "I only used it once. Just once, and then... then...

...sigh!"

Her tone made Song Xiaozhu laugh. "It's fine. I'll make you another one when we get back."

Thinking of the little stone axe's "critical hit" attribute, she added, "It might be a little worse, but it should still be pretty handy."

Qiu Shuyu did not stand on ceremony with her. "Okay!"

Still thinking about trading, Song Xiaozhu asked, "Didn't they ask where you got the axe?"

Qiu Shuyu grew serious. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about... well, I didn't mention you to them. I just said I'd found it."

Song Xiaozhu froze at first, then quickly understood-

Qiu Shuyu had hidden it because she was worried about her safety.

Song Xiaozhu had considered this matter very carefully.

She could not expose the existence of the "Synthesizer," but she needed the identity of a "craftsman," and even more, she needed to use that identity to accumulate wealth.

Being cautious did not mean being timid.

If she did nothing but passively hide, all that awaited her would be countless more Shang Baos.

She had no way to develop a strong physique in a short time, and improving her combat ability would also be difficult. What she could do was demonstrate her unique value and use it to establish a foothold.

-No one on Garbage Mountain but her could make tools that good.

That way, those who tried to hurt her would have something to be wary of.