Chapter 308 - 298: Blind Box Pop-a-Pair 13

Under normal circumstances, an energy core with its power depleted would just be treated as regular trash and disposed of.

But this time, the delivery was of energy cores damaged on the battlefield, which still contained large amounts of energy.

If these items were to fall into the wrong hands, they could very well be used to create incredibly powerful weapons. That’s why Recyclers were needed to dispose of these dangerous energy cores.

This was the first Moira Lynch had heard of Recyclers serving such a purpose. She had always thought they just collected trash.

Someone had mentioned the military in a previous game as well.

At the time, Moira Lynch hadn’t given it much thought.

’So, skilled Recyclers are basically strategic assets in the interstellar community,’ she thought. ’Then I... wait, no. I’m not a Recycler. I’m just a hauler.’

Because of this sudden notice, Moira Lynch made a last-minute change to her plans for the next day.

Although going to the processing plant could have yielded her a huge haul, her intuition told her that the energy cores were more important.

After a night’s rest, under Patience’s guidance, Moira Lynch arrived at the junkyard bright and early.

When she got to the junkyard, the main gate was already wide open, and a few figures were already busy inside.

Moira Lynch was one of the earliest to arrive.

After confirming Moira Lynch’s identity, the robot at the entrance led her to a place to register.

The so-called registration simply involved placing her badge on a scanner.

After completing her registration, Moira Lynch didn’t start work right away. Instead, she was handed a breakfast meal.

It wasn’t the disgusting nutrient liquid, but two delicious-looking buns and a bottle of fresh milk.

However, Moira Lynch had already eaten before coming and wasn’t very hungry now.

After stowing the items away, Moira Lynch asked the robot, "Does everyone get breakfast?"

The robot shook its head. "Only Recyclers who arrive before six o’clock are provided with breakfast."

Moira Lynch heard this and thought, ’Is this some kind of employee benefit?’

She continued to ask, "How many energy cores arrived this time?"

The robot’s face displayed two question marks, and it then said awkwardly, "I’m not sure about that. I’m just a gatekeeper robot, not responsible for record-keeping."

The robot’s tone was completely flat, like an unfeeling block of wood.

Seeing she wouldn’t get any more answers, she suddenly thought, ’This robot is just like my past self, working overtime without overtime pay.’

’Oh well,’ she thought. ’No point in one former wage slave giving a current one a hard time.’

With that thought, Moira Lynch stepped into the junkyard. What greeted her was a mountain-like pile of energy cores.

Because they were installed in different places, the energy cores varied in size and shape.

Not far off, three or four people were busy at work with their heads down.

Hearing someone’s footsteps, they merely glanced back for a moment before returning to their work.

Moira Lynch bent down and casually picked up a diamond-shaped energy core from the ground.

It was covered in cracks and missing a corner. This was the kind of severe damage that rendered it completely unusable.

Because there were other people around, Moira Lynch couldn’t just sweep up a large area in one go like before.

To avoid attracting attention, Moira Lynch bent over and pretended to work, but she was actually observing the movements of the other few people.

Soon, Moira Lynch noticed that after picking up an energy core, these Recyclers would stuff it into a bag at their waist.

Seeing this, Moira Lynch took out her waist-pouch Space Button and, mimicking the others’ actions, began to pick up energy cores and stuff them inside.

Of course, this was just for show. The energy cores were actually being secretly transferred into her personal space.

Moira Lynch sorted them into several categories based on their different shapes and degrees of damage.

For example, those with intact exteriors but a few cracks on the surface.

These energy cores were still usable, but using them came with a certain degree of risk.

In normal times, this risk might not be a big deal, but in battle, even the slightest danger could lead to very serious consequences.

The second type had small chips or missing pieces, like the one Moira Lynch had seen earlier.

The third type was those that were shattered beyond recognition.

According to Patience, the first type of energy core was still usable but couldn’t be subjected to violent shaking. Since it was already cracked, the slightest tremor could cause it to split open.

The second type of energy core already had missing pieces. To use it again, it would have to be re-cut to bypass all the cracks and chips.

But doing so would inevitably lead to waste.

Moreover, the re-cut energy core would be smaller and could no longer be used to power a Mecha.

Finally, there was the third type: completely shattered and impossible to even re-cut.

For this type of energy core, the solution Patience gave was to grind it down completely and then reprocess it.

As for how to reprocess it, Patience didn’t know. A good interstellar citizen wouldn’t be interested in such things—unless you were an interstellar pirate.

’Oh well, I’ll just leave that for the scientists in Cathaya to figure out,’ she thought. ’Anyway, my only job is to bring the stuff back and provide the general idea.’

After hearing Patience’s explanation, Moira Lynch began to focus on finding the more intact energy cores.

Such energy cores made up only a very small minority of the pile.

Even the second type was quite rare. The vast majority were the third type, which just showed how brutal the fighting on the battlefield must have been.

As time ticked by, more and more Recyclers began to arrive.

Seeing the number of competitors constantly increasing, Moira Lynch couldn’t help but speed up her work.

Fortunately, these Recyclers were very slow.

Collecting these energy cores was no easy task for them; they had to take a break every so often.

Some of them had to rest for a long time after collecting just a few energy cores, which undoubtedly gave Moira Lynch an opportunity.

To avoid being noticed, she changed her location every so often.

Luckily, the junkyard was big enough, and there were more than enough energy cores.

And in just that short amount of time, another batch of energy cores was delivered.

Hearing a Recycler nearby let out a heavy sigh after seeing the vehicle delivering the energy cores, Moira Lynch turned to look and saw "I don’t want to work overtime" written all over the person’s face.

Unlike their utter dejection, Moira Lynch only wanted to race against time. After all, this was the last day of the game. Who knew when the system would send them back?

So, she had to collect as much as she possibly could.

Moira Lynch not only collected them herself, but she also extended her spiritual power. Whenever she sensed an area with no people, she would sweep up all the energy cores there.