Chapter 81: The Fourth Character Card

“All right, let’s begin.” Having completed her divine transformation, Xiao Yuan Zhuang walked up to the pile of old appliances that, at least on the outside, looked intact. She crouched down and pressed her right hand against an electric heater. “Synchronization start. Basic structure—analyzed. Component materials—analyzed. Projection start.”

As she activated her analysis ability, the electric heater seemed to become transparent. Its inner workings unfolded clearly in her mind. “Hmm, the heating wire is broken, and the circuit in the heater is faulty as well. Fortunately, these are all fixable damages. Projection ready. Reset materials. Begin reconstruction. Restoration complete.”

“Okay, it should work now. Let’s give it a try.” She removed her hand from the heater, turned, and fetched a small solar generator she had prepared earlier from her electric vehicle. Taking advantage of the strong afternoon sunlight, she placed it directly under the sun and pulled out an extension cord from the generator.

When she plugged the heater into the extension cord from the solar generator, the heater hummed to life. No longer was it silent and inert as before—it now operated perfectly normally.

“Yes! One down.” She clenched her right fist in celebration at having completed her first repair. Her gaze drifted toward the mountain of battered appliances waiting their turn.

With each appliance quickly restored under Xiao Yuan’s projection ability, time slipped by. When the sun shifted to the westernmost part of the sky and the deep blue was streaked with crimson clouds, she finally let out a sigh of relief. She turned off the washing machine, unplugged it, and began tidying up the solar generator, which, as the sunlight faded, was also beginning to lose power.

After an afternoon of hard work, all the old appliances she had collected in the morning were fixed. Even those with damaged exteriors were now usable, though some of the repairs left visible imperfections, so she set those aside in a separate pile.

“An afternoon’s work—quite a haul. Now comes the most important step.” Packing up the solar generator, Xiao Yuan, still buoyed by the divine energy she had left, began moving the restored appliances. This time, her transformation hadn’t given her much strength, but compared to her ordinary self, her physical abilities were still greatly enhanced.

With a washing machine in her left hand and a refrigerator over her right shoulder, Xiao Yuan effortlessly loaded the two appliances onto her electric vehicle. She made several trips back and forth, piling the refurbished goods onto the cargo rack at the back.

“That should do it. Transformation, release.” In just a few minutes, she had loaded everything onto the vehicle. With a thought, she undid her transformation, reverting to her original appearance as the girl in military uniform.

She didn’t pause to rest. Pulling out the keys, she slid into the driver’s seat, started the vehicle, and headed toward South Street with her cargo of secondhand appliances.

Though South Street wasn’t particularly close to her dormitory, it wasn’t far either—the drive took barely a quarter of an hour. Dusk was settling in, but South Street was still bustling, with crowds of people working energetically.

In the wake of the recent incursion by the evil gods, the shops facing south had suffered severe damage. Now, with the military’s assistance, repairs were underway at full speed. Fortunately, the incident hadn’t resulted in many casualties—most people had only been wounded.

The most serious cases were those possessed by the evil gods. After the event, the divine warriors had managed to purge the evil spirits from their bodies. Those who hadn’t been completely taken over would only need some time to regain their strength. The only fatalities were the few who had fully awakened as evil gods—when the evil gods awaken, their souls are obliterated, and nothing can be done for them.

Driving into South Street, Xiao Yuan didn’t stop at any of the nearby stalls but went straight for her destination. About a third of the way down the street, just before the reconstruction site, she pulled up in front of a shop. She glanced up at the sign hanging over the door: Yuan’s Secondhand Appliance Market.

She opened the car door, jumped down, and strode inside.

“Brother Yuan! Brother Yuan, are you here?” She began calling out even before she’d stepped inside. Xiao Yuan was well-known to most of the shopkeepers on South Street—she’d grown up among them, and there was no need for formalities.

“I’m here, I’m here. Oh, it’s Xiao Yuan!” a young man’s voice replied from the back room. Out stepped a man in his mid-twenties, good-looking and cheerful.

“Brother Yuan, I’ve come to see if the wind might blow a little fortune my way,” she greeted him with a grin.

“Looking for a windfall, are you? Xiao Yuan, you know my business is small-scale. Have mercy.” Seeing her, Brother Yuan broke into a smile as well, joking as he approached.

“Hehe, I may be leaving in half a month, so I’m here to earn some travel money. What do you say? Want to see what I’ve brought you?”

“So you’re leaving soon, eh? Looks like you made it. Congratulations!” Brother Yuan immediately guessed why she was leaving and seemed genuinely happy for her. He’d heard a little about the recent events on South Street. As he congratulated her, he followed her outside to the vehicle and saw the heap of appliances. “You brought all this? I thought you never used any appliances—said it was a waste of money. Quite a few here—did you swipe these from somewhere?”

“Do I look like someone who needs to steal? I collected all these myself. Just answer me, Brother Yuan—will you take them or not? Everything works, you can test them. And these ones with patched-up exteriors are yours for free, as long as you don’t try to fleece me.”

She rolled her eyes at him. Maybe she’d been too polite with these folks—why else would they always suspect her?

“Chui Tou! Chui Tou, get out here and check these appliances for your sister Xiao Yuan!” Brother Yuan didn’t answer her directly. He turned and shouted into the shop, then handed Xiao Yuan a price list. “Here’s the price list. Don’t say I’m cheating you—even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t dare. After all, you’re the little overlord of South Street.”

Yuan’s shop always kept two price lists: one for strangers and one for regulars. The difference was obvious, and the one he handed Xiao Yuan was, without doubt, the regulars’ list—no tricks, no rip-offs.