novelraw Chapter 117 : The Scavenger’s Daily Routine
Chapter 117 : The Scavenger’s Daily Routine
Chapter 117: The Scavenger’s Daily Routine
Transcendent Era, Year 1, Month 6, Zhucheng.
At present, the air of this coastal metropolis had been suffused with two completely different kinds of atmosphere: the fishy saltiness of seawater, and a certain restless agitation known as “fervor.”
The collapse of the Neon Nation and the arrival of the transcendent—these two major events that had sent shockwaves across the globe—had also profoundly affected this city.
Like a dose of potent catalyst, they caused the desires and powers hidden deep within the city to erupt in an almost savage manner.
Although the skyscrapers still shone brilliantly like stars beneath the neon lights, symbolizing the final stubborn defiance of human civilization.
Beneath this glittering surface, the whispers of “transcendents” and the “Game of Gods” echoed throughout the entire city.
However, for ordinary people, all of this was far too distant. After all, those who could become players were ultimately only a tiny minority, and the transcendent still had little to do with most ordinary folk.
Most people continued living their ordinary lives as usual, merely gaining a few more topics of conversation after meals.
Jiang Li was a young man in his early twenties.
His skin was a healthy wheat color, long kissed by sea winds and sunlight, and his muscles were well-defined yet not exaggerated—the marks left behind by long years of struggling against the ocean.
In Zhucheng, he had a not-so-glorious title—“seabed scavenger.”
As the name implied, his job was to pick up junk, except that he did it underwater.
Thus, every morning, when the first ray of sunlight barely tore through the thin layer of mist above Zhucheng, Jiang Li had already pushed his modified old tricycle to the docks at the very edge of the city.
On the tricycle, oxygen tanks, a diving suit, underwater searchlights, cutting tools, and various implements used to salvage “treasures” were piled high, filling it to the brim—virtually all of his possessions.
“Transcendent? Game of Gods?” Every time Jiang Li heard these words, he would sneer.
To him, so-called “transcendent” power could not put food on his table.
In his view, the so-called “Game of Gods” was nothing more than another game played by a group of wealthy and powerful people—a game that burned more money and was far more dangerous.
Ordinary people like him survived in the cracks, using the scraps and leftovers that these “big shots” disdained to fill their stomachs.
After all, housing prices in Zhucheng were far more real and cruel than any transcendent ability.
“Heading out to sea again, kid Jiang?” Old Zhang, the dock gatekeeper, had a cigarette dangling from his mouth as he lazily exhaled a smoke ring heavy with the smell of tar.
Old Zhang was a good man, and also one of the few who did not look at Jiang Li with strange eyes.
Jiang Li waved without even turning his head, his voice carrying the hoarseness unique to the sea breeze: “Same as always, Old Zhang.”
“If my luck’s good today, drinks are on me tonight.”
Old Zhang laughed and scolded, “Then I’ll be waiting to drink tonight! When have you ever come back empty-handed, kid?”
“I say you were born with a connection to the treasures in the sea!”
Indeed, Jiang Li had never returned empty-handed.
Though he was a scavenger, he truly had skill. He possessed an uncommon level of calmness, meticulousness, and an eye for detail.
Thus, every time he went underwater, he could pierce through the murky seawater and accurately lock onto those treasures overlooked by others.
He had salvaged antique wristwatches from the last century, old mobile phones that still worked despite being soaked in seawater (these always sold well to those tech fanatics brimming with curiosity), and once, he had even found an entire crate of top-grade red wine, perfectly preserved, inside a sunken smuggling freighter.
These items always fetched good prices on the black market, enough to support his expenses for a period of time.
Today, the place he was heading to lay thirty nautical miles outside the city—a deep-sea reef area known as “Devil Reef.”
There, the currents were swift and hidden reefs were everywhere, a dangerous zone even professional divers avoided.
It was said that several smuggling ships had mysteriously sunk there.
Of course, these were all just rumors, but to a scavenger, rumors often meant “wealth.”
Jiang Li put on his diving mask, took a deep breath, and lightly leapt into the icy seawater.
At that moment, the clamor of the world seemed to be instantly cut off by an invisible barrier.
Underwater was another completely different universe.
Schools of fish darted about, corals swayed, and sunlight refracted through the seawater into countless pillars of light that spilled onto the seabed, dreamlike and illusory.
Jiang Li descended slowly yet firmly, his posture like a fish of the deep sea, merging into the current.
His breathing was steady and long, and every bubble he exhaled carried a near-meditative calm.
He liked this feeling.
On the seabed, he was not that bottom-tier scavenger scrambling for a living.
Here, he was simply himself—an explorer dancing with the deep sea, a king who was lonely yet enjoyed his solitude.
As the depth increased, the light gradually dimmed, and the surrounding life grew sparse.
The pressure mounted, and the icy seawater seemed to squeeze into every inch of his skin; dull aches even arose deep within his bones.
But he had long since grown accustomed to it, even enjoying this primal sensation of being completely enveloped by nature.
Such extreme pressure instead made him feel more clear-headed.
The air in the oxygen tank was his only connection to land.
And his eyes, still sharp in the darkness, continuously scanned everything around him.
Jiang Li knew that true “treasures” were often hidden in the most inconspicuous places.
After several hours of searching, finally, at the edge of Devil Reef, Jiang Li discovered an extremely concealed fissure.
The fissure exuded an ancient, chilling aura. The surrounding currents were abnormally fierce, and from time to time, enormous shadows swept past from deep within the crack, making Jiang Li grip the cutting knife at his waist in vigilance.
“This place… feels a bit off,” Jiang Li muttered to himself.
But he did not retreat.
After all, the more dangerous a place was, the more likely it was to conceal astonishing secrets.
This was the experience he had summed up over many years of scavenging, and also the creed that ensured he returned laden with gains every time.
Jiang Li carefully controlled his buoyancy and inched his way into the fissure.
The narrow passage could only accommodate one person. Every slight brush of his body could trigger a collapse of rubble.
The beam from the underwater searchlight barely illuminated a few meters ahead. Wherever the light reached, there was nothing but deathly silence.
Broken stones, silt, and the remains of some marine creatures were scattered across the bottom of the fissure.
Jiang Li’s gaze searched with radar-like precision, not missing even the smallest detail.
Suddenly, an unusual outline entered his field of vision.
It was not an ordinary rock, nor was it common marine debris.
It was pressed at an angle beneath a massive reef, half-buried in the silt, faintly visible.
Jiang Li slowly approached and gently brushed aside the surrounding silt and seaweed with his cutting knife.
When the beam of the searchlight fully fell upon it, his breathing abruptly stalled. Even underwater, he could feel a bone-chilling cold surge up his spine, shooting straight to the top of his head.
It was a set of remains.
A set of remains that had been severely eroded by seawater, leaving almost nothing but the skeleton.
It was wedged tightly between the reef and the fissure in a twisted posture.
Faint scraps of tattered clothing were still visible on the bones, though their original color and material were no longer discernible. Entangled with seaweed, they added an extra layer of eeriness.
But what shocked Jiang Li the most was the skeleton’s left hand—clenched tightly, as if gripping something of vital importance, refusing to let go even in death.
Jiang Li did not touch it rashly.
Years of scavenging experience told him that this skeleton was by no means that of an ordinary drowning victim.
Thus, he began to carefully observe every part of the remains.
The skull had already been completely calcified, losing all facial features.
Yet the entire body seemed rather unusual. There were no injuries on the bones whatsoever, making it obvious that death had not been caused by external force.
“Could it have died of illness?” Jiang Li thought as he examined the skeleton closely.
Then Jiang Li turned his attention to the most critical part of the remains—that tightly clenched left hand.
It was like a final riddle, waiting to be opened.
Jiang Li cautiously used the handle of his cutting knife to gently tap away the silt around the bones, trying to loosen them.
He knew that if there truly was something inside, it was very likely the key to unraveling the secret of these remains.
As the silt was gradually washed away, that fist, clenched for who knew how many years, slowly came into view.
It was clenched so tightly, as if it had poured the last of its life’s strength into this grip, as if holding onto something of utmost importance.
Having worked continuously for several hours, Jiang Li felt somewhat dizzy. He quickly adjusted his oxygen supply and then took a deep breath.
Then, he extended his fingers and, with extreme gentleness, pried open the cold, hard knuckles little by little.
“Crack…”
The faint yet distinct sound of bones rubbing against each other sounded especially piercing in the silent depths, like the whisper of the dead.
Finally, that fist, clenched for an unknown number of years, slowly opened.
The thing inside was finally exposed under Jiang Li’s searchlight.