Chapter 3: A Piece of Rusty Iron
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Clearwater City, at the garbage dump.
“Kid, you seem younger than 18.” An amiable red-haired uncle looked at Lin Yun mockingly.
“Uncle, my Physical Strength is Level 4, I can do anything. Let me do it. I need money urgently,” Lin Yun explained anxiously.
“I’m kidding. I can tell you’re a student working part-time during the summer vacation. Coincidentally, we’re short of people. Come with me.”
Lin Yun was elated. He followed the red-haired uncle through a long garbage dump belt and into a three square-meters iron house. The red-haired uncle laughed.
“Activate this green button and sort the garbage displayed on the screen. If there is any garbage that you’re not sure how to sort, you can scan it with the scanner. But the scanner is very slow and is a waste of time. You are paid according to the amount of garbage you sort. Hence, try not to use the scanner so much. It’s okay to classify some garbage wrongly.”
With the red-haired uncle’s patient explanation, Lin Yun gradually understood how the garbage station worked. Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, there were all sorts of garbage. What the garbage station had to do was to classify the garbage into metal, plant, mineral, and other types. Different types of garbage would be collected by different garbage disposal departments.
Hence, Lin Yun spent more than a month at the garbage station.
One day before the entrance exam, as the sky became dark, Lin Yun decided to head home after he had sorted the last piece of garbage. He skillfully pressed the transmission button and waited for the garbage to slowly transfer to the camera. In this way, the garbage could be seen on the computer screen.
It was about the size of a baby, its shape was irregular, and it seemed like a piece of rusty metal.
When he saw this, he froze!
With the rapid development of science and technology, iron had long been replaced by a stronger and lighter titanium alloy, which was very rare. However, Lin Yun was not agitated because of the rareness of the rusty iron.
Lin Yun was agitated because the reason why he was unable to increase his Spiritual Strength was because of a piece of rusty iron!
Five years ago, in the meteorite disaster, a piece of rusty iron pierced into Lin Yun’s brain. Although advanced medical technology saved his life, the piece of rusty iron was difficult to remove. Since then, he had been unable to increase his Spiritual Strength. Today, Lin Yun saw a similar piece of rusty iron again. How was it possible for him not to be agitated?
Lin Yun calmed himself down and scanned the piece of rusty iron. After a while, the main composition of the rusty iron was displayed on the screen.
“Classification: Metal.
Main composition: Iron, 90%.
8% iron oxide.”
It was indeed a piece of rusty iron!
Lin Yun instantly jumped off his seat and rushed through the metal door. He ran to the garbage conveyor belt, picked up the piece of rusty iron, and observed it carefully.
This was a one-inch square piece of iron covered with yellow rust. It seemed to be an ordinary piece of rusty iron.
“The rusty iron piece in my brain seems ordinary, but even laser resonance could not remove it. Does this rusty iron piece also have such incredible hardness?”
As he said that, Lin Yun used his right hand to squeeze the piece of iron tightly.
Since he could not improve on his Spiritual Strength, he could only focus on training his physique. His hard work did not let him down. His current Physical Strength was Level 4. At Level 4 Physical Strength, even a piece of steel would deform under his tight grip.
However, no matter how hard Lin Yun tried, the piece of rusty iron remained unchanged.
“This piece of rusty iron has the same hardness and cannot be damaged. Could this piece of rusty iron come from the same place as the one in my brain? If I get someone to study it carefully, will I be able to get rid of that piece of iron in my brain?”
Lin Yun was elated. In his excitement, his right hand clenched unconsciously and was accidentally scratched by it. A trace of blood stained the piece of rusty iron.
“Ah, I was too careless. The entrance exam is tomorrow.”
Lin Yun quickly found a piece of gauze and bandaged his right hand. Then, he kept the piece of rusty iron. He didn’t notice that the piece of rusty iron seemed to absorb a few drops of blood, flashing a faint red light.
The sky had turned dark as he made his way home. His father had already prepared dinner. A few steamed buns and nutritious porridge. Although the taste was average, it was very nutritious.
The father and son sat facing each other and enjoyed their ordinary but warm dinner.
Lin Tianhao looked at Lin Yun lovingly and said gently, “You’re taking the entrance exam tomorrow.”
“En,” Lin Yun had a steamed bun in his mouth as he mumbled a response.
Lin Tianhao wiped the crumbs from the corner of Lin Yun’s mouth and smiled. “I have something on tomorrow. Hence, I won’t be able to accompany you to the entrance exam.”
Lin Yun stopped chewing and looked up. He looked into Lin Tianhao’s eyes. His father’s eyes seem to contain many complicated feelings. Lin Yun did not know what was on his mind, but he nodded slowly.
Although he knew that it would not make a difference whether his father went or not, Lin Yun felt despondent and regretful. He had hoped that his father would be with him when he took the entrance exam.
Lin Yun hurriedly gulped down the nutritious porridge, muttered “I’m full”, and retired to his room.
He stared blankly at the rusty iron piece as he laid on the bed.
“What secrets do you hold? Why does an ordinary piece of rusty iron possess such hardness?”
Lin Yun mumbled to himself and gradually entered dreamland. In his dreams, there seemed to be a sound.
“Host fusion completed, functions are being activated…
Components incomplete, only some functions can be activated…
Activation completed, visual function is improved…
Please gather the components as soon as possible to activate more functions.”
It was already morning as Lin Yun opened his eyes sleepily. He sat up sharply from the bed and looked at the clock.
The clock showed 8:40 AM.
“What’s going on, I actually woke up so late. I usually get up very timely in the morning.” Lin Yun hurriedly put on his clothes and jumped from the second floor to the first floor. He noticed that his father was not in the room.
He did not have time to think so much. He grabbed the admission notice, rushed out of the room, and ran to Clearwater College.
Trying his best to run all the way, Lin Yun sweated through his shirt. If he accidentally missed the entrance exam, how sad would his father be? Thinking of that, Lin Yun ran even faster.
Finally, Lin Yun arrived at the entrance of Clearwater College. He quickly joined the crowd that was slowly entering the college.
Just as Lin Yun followed the crowd into the college, the door slowly closed. He let out a breath of relief. Scanning the crowd in front of him, he saw a green-clothed teenager with an old-fashioned analog watch on his left wrist. The watch displayed: 9:08 AM.
“Eh, why is my eyesight so good?” Lin Yun suddenly realized that he was at least fifty meters away from the green-clothed teenager. Fifty meters apart, how could the thinnest second hand on his watch be seen so clearly?
He looked around again and found that his eyesight had indeed improved. Within 100 meters, everything could be seen clearly. He could even clearly see a fly slowly flying by the window on the 10th floor of Clearwater College!
“How can this situation be similar to what happens when one’s Physical Strength reaches Level 6? My Physical Strength is clearly only Level 4.” Lin Yun was very puzzled and did not understand the reason for his visual improvement.
“No matter what, this is a good thing. Since I can’t figure it out, I should stop thinking about it.”
One had to admit that Lin Yun’s mental capacity was very strong. He followed the crowd slowly and waited for the entrance exam to begin.