Making money is nothing—pulling all-nighters? Qi Xu used to write articles and could stay up for three straight days when inspiration struck.
The catch was, readers might not even appreciate it. After months of hard work, you might only earn a few pennies from those who truly loved your work.
But now, things were different. Every piece of scrap could be instantly cashed in!
The Worker Monkey could see it in this human player’s eyes—she genuinely loved working...
It couldn’t help but swallow hard. "Uh... go ahead," it said before turning and leaving without another word.
Qi Xu kept sorting through the scrap. She had originally hoped to find some new treasures, but the warehouse only had "kitchen waste" and "scrap metal."
By the next morning, she had cleared out the entire warehouse.
The amount of scrap metal was impressive—enough to gather "66 types of metal" for thirty or forty people!
Once the first wave of players started upgrading to Level 6, she was going to make a killing!
The robot that arrived next immediately tried to flee.
"I ain't cut out for this!"
Qi Xu couldn’t help but laugh. After calming down, she took off her work uniform and went to find the Worker Monkey. It was slacking off, sitting stiffly by the entrance, eyes shut tight.
But the moment it heard footsteps, its eyes snapped open.
Seeing it was Qi Xu, it relaxed slightly. "Finally going to rest?"
Qi Xu replied, "I want to grab breakfast first. Want to come?"
The Worker Monkey checked the time. "I can’t leave my post yet. Go ahead—here’s my meal card. You can use it at the senior staff cafeteria."
"Thanks. I’ve finished clearing the warehouse. I’d like to settle the items in the space stone and transfer them to my backpack, or I won’t have room for anything today."
The Worker Monkey was stunned. "You finished already?!"
Qi Xu nodded.
The Worker Monkey took a deep breath. "Alright, I’ll report it. Go eat, then come back. I’ll take you to a new work area."
"Got it."
Hearing there was more work, Qi Xu finally felt at ease—she was just afraid of running out of tasks.
With the Worker Monkey’s ID, Qi Xu headed to the cafeteria.
Passing the junior cafeteria, she saw it was packed. On their first day, many players had lost resources, but it was still within tolerance. Now, they were drowning their sorrows in food, vowing to eat their losses back!
Qi Xu walked straight to the senior cafeteria but was abruptly stopped by a man in his forties.
"Players aren’t allowed in there. Good thing I warned you, or you’d lose resources. But I can’t help for free—after the dungeon, compensate me. Let’s sign an agreement first..."
Qi Xu didn’t even pause, sidestepping him and entering. The meal card on her triggered an automatic scan.
The man froze. Could anyone just walk into the senior cafeteria? Yesterday, someone had been stopped!
Peeking inside, his eyes widened—it was like pre-game times, with everything imaginable for sale!
He took a step forward.
A guard monster immediately rushed over. "What do you think you’re doing? A newbie daring to enter the senior cafeteria? Bold!"
The man protested, "Then how’d she get in?!"
"She has a meal card. Security! Toss this defective human out!"
[Public disturbance—disrupting staff duties. Penalty: 5% resource deduction.]
Hearing the announcement, the man fumed. Some people were just selfish—why not explain things properly?!
Qi Xu leisurely ate breakfast—simple fare: boiled eggs, scallion pancakes, milk. The only regret was not running into the Chinese Master Chef. Maybe he’d switched shifts or wasn’t on duty yet.
Still, it was good, especially the milk, which boosted health points. Qi Xu downed three large glasses.
[Congratulations, player Invincible Black Whirlwind! For your efficient first-day work, your hourly wage has increased to 20 Survival Coins.]
Qi Xu grinned. Having credentials was great—even raises were generous.
When she returned, the Worker Monkey was accompanied by another—the Monkey Boss.
The two chattered in a language Qi Xu couldn’t understand.
The Worker Monkey explained, "This is our Monkey Boss. Show us the items you’ve sorted for recycling, and he’ll set the price."
Qi Xu clicked her tongue, a little disappointed. She’d hoped the Worker Monkey would handle pricing—looked like she couldn’t exploit that advantage. The Monkey Boss seemed hard to negotiate with.
Playing it straight, Qi Xu handed over the space stone without any bribes. The original Worker Monkey visibly relaxed.
Qi Xu instantly understood—she’d guessed right. Bribing now could backfire.
"Alright, confirmed. This is indeed our discarded material. Name your price."
Qi Xu was puzzled but kept a straight face.
I name the price?
After a moment’s thought, it made sense—when selling scrap, the buyer sets the rate.
You can’t just demand any price for junk, right? Even when Qi Xu recycled old vehicles, the system determined the value.
She mentally tallied the haul: 2,763 pieces of metal and a box of nearly expired instant noodles.
Pretending to inspect the junk, she stalled until the Monkey Boss grew impatient. "Hurry up."
Qi Xu decided to gamble. "Eight..."
"Deal."
She bit her tongue hard, swallowing the unspoken "hundred."
With a smile, she said, "Great, done."
Then she handed over eight Survival Coins.
The Monkey Boss pocketed them swiftly, muttered something to the Worker Monkey, and left, looking disgusted—as if he’d touched something filthy.
Qi Xu smirked. Seriously? Occupational discrimination?
Still, it didn’t ruin her high opinion of him. No haggling—what class!
"Still working? You’ve only got two hours left of your eight-hour shift. With your promotion, you can now choose your own hours."
Qi Xu shook her head. "No, just take me to the new work area."
"Alright. The boss said your pricing was fair, so I’m to take you to the B-grade warehouse. Here’s an advanced space stone—store everything you need in it. Tomorrow, the Monkey Boss will settle the account again."
Qi Xu nodded eagerly. Her pricing was fair—all that rare metal for just eight Survival Coins? Beyond fair.
Following the Worker Monkey, she arrived at a warehouse even larger than yesterday’s.
.........
