Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 653 - 297 "Bargaining

Chapter 653: Chapter 297 "Bargaining

"How about making an offer?" Liu Ri looked at Doctor Schultz, his tone earnest.

But Doctor Schultz hesitated briefly before he decisively refused, "That won’t be good. That weapon holds significant meaning for our village."

"Significant meaning?" Liu Ri pondered for a moment, "The Busker Snake class assault ship isn’t exactly rare, during the Sublimation Holy War more than two hundred years ago, it was a mainstream assault vessel. There were quite a few that fell to Earth. Although most of these things have been recycled, some still remain scattered across Jianghu... This thing isn’t sacred."

Doctor Schultz shook his head, "It’s not because of that. If it were a matter of resources, we could simply sell it directly to the lords. Pine Eagle Building has a resource recovery site, right?"

In fact, many of the high-end alloy materials have high recovery and re-smelting costs, sometimes even higher than making a new sheet of metal. High-end alloys that are re-smelted with lower industrial standards often turn into waste materials. The reprocessing of composite materials is even more complex. Often, the recovery cost far exceeds "making a new one."

Actually, even in ancient times, many military-grade steels were not recycled but directly discarded. Some superpowers’ retired warships, for example, were towed to specific ocean areas to be used as targets for weapons testing and ultimately exploded and sunk in the sea.

The government recycles these high-end metal resources that are difficult to reprocess not to save, but to prevent heroes from obtaining these high-end materials.

Heroes, much poorer than the government, would try all means to integrate a good material into a prosthetic body—such scavenger spirit is indeed characteristic.

The government officials are even willing to add Metal Heat Agent to spoil these high-end alloys, then bury them.

Of course, controlled nuclear fusion and small-scale nuclear fission are nothing new in this era. A problem that can be solved "by using a bit more electrical power" is not considered "insurmountable"

In the Burrow Dragons, there has even been a special division that "searches for official waste disposal sites." Among the old heroes, some jokingly call them "Tomb Raider Captains."

Of course, no matter how absurd the government gets, it wouldn’t stuff radioactive elements into landfill sites. Thus, the primary target for most Burrow Dragons remains the bit of radioactive fuel left in poor mines.

For a long time, Recycling Station Town has relied on their natural resources and garbage. They have lived through several generally prosperous generations by relying on those relics and trash coming from the city.

Liu Ri chuckled, "The Lords in the government don’t really care about what you submit. They set higher recycling prices for some high-strength materials to prevent those rebels in Jianghu from paying a higher price. The Lords’ pricing may not be reasonable, but their channels are stable. If the recycling prices are similar, ordinary people will naturally choose the Lords."

"But Doctor Schultz, you should know that selling this item to us holds much greater value..."

Liu Ri said, leaning closer and making a cheeky gesture to "insert a storage device"—since there is no physical currency now, in general context, this gesture implies "big money."

Doctor Schultz shook his head, "Not selling. You, young man from the martial arts school, seem sensible. Let me tell you this. For the past three years, we have been using this thing to deter the Green Forest."

Yuki’s mouth fell slightly open. He struggled to suppress his emotions and said, "Doctor, do you really think so?"

Doctor Schultz replied, "Otherwise? The Silver Transmission Shaft died in our town. This weapon is the proof. Showing it off, some from Green Forest dare not come here. It’s very important for us, so there’s no discussing this matter further."

Yuki said, "Who do you think you’re scaring with this thing? Was the Silver Transmission Shaft surrounded and killed by the residents here? Do you think the Green Forest would believe such a thing?"

"Believe it or not, we’ve not encountered the Green Forest for three whole years."

"Green Forest doesn’t show up several times a year anyway!" Yuki blurted out.

Han Zhun grabbed Yuki, "Let it be, let it be, Yuki... let it be!" Then he turned to Doctor Schultz, "Doctor, I think you should visit the city when you have a chance. The default page of the free public network on Pine Eagle City’s Fifth Avenue details the Lords’ accomplishments in combating bandits over the past three years, and they are impressive..."

Doctor Schultz appeared confused. However, since Liu Ri expressed an interest in buying that stick, he took all the young men’s arguments as "haggling." His tone had started to turn slightly hostile, "Gentlemen, we will not discuss it further. Feel free to purchase anything else you want in town, but please refrain from coveting that transmission shaft. You’ve just started the contest. There have been three district-level athletes who have fallen here too."

Yuki stared at Doctor Schultz, feeling the scene’s absurdity turn into something comical.

Three years ago, three athletes were invited by the Town Mayor to help in a fight. Then Lev and an accomplice dispatched two and subdued one, followed by Xiang Shan executing the three, who all suffered severe memory loss.

All of this had nothing to do with the residents of Recycling Station Town.

—Why would Doctor Schultz think martial arts school athletes are not impressive? Why?

By the time Yuki regained his senses, he had already been led out by Liu Ri and Han Zhun.

Liu Ri nudged Yuki, "Hey, snap out of it. What are you thinking now?"

Yuki sighed, first saying to Han Zhun, "Thanks."

Han Zhun hadn’t called out Yuki’s name just now. Yuki realized that it was his oversight. He should have warned Han Zhun in advance.

If Han Zhun had mentioned Yuki’s real name in front of Schultz, it could have caused a big scene.

Luckily, Han Zhun had figured this out on his own.

"You told me it was a return to your hometown, but then you told the townspeople it was from the city, so there must be a reason," Han Zhun cheekily bumped Yuki with his shoulder, "Hey, hey, is it because of ’that’? You know, ’that’?"

Yuki sighed, "Let’s just look around."

Yuki truly couldn’t understand why the townspeople thought the way they did. He distinctly remembered that Doctor Schultz was known far and near for his intelligence, having even tried out to be a Scientific Knight apprentice in his youth. Although he wasn’t successful, he was among the people in the surrounding villages who came closest to the "lords."

Not just Doctor Schultz, but the entire town... the entire town was insane.

—Is this really my hometown? Are these people really those I used to know?