The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Can’t Afford This Gold Swallowing Beast Anymore

”Iron Plate?”

”Bro?”

”Old Iron?”

”Since you’re on the job, why not come out and chat a bit?”

Silence—

Stillness—

Dead silence—

”Hehe...” Ji You gave an awkward smile, paused for a moment, and said: ”—Golden Finger bro, since you don’t like to chat, that’s fine, but could you come out for a bit... Just so we can meet and greet, get to know each other a little, huh?”

The dark starlight sprinkled down from the rooftop, the room was vast and utterly quiet.

Ji You raised her hand to rub between her eyebrows.

As expected—

No chance.

Trying to get this Iron Plate bro to talk, seems like there’s no chance.

At the same time, Ji You vaguely felt that the Iron Plate was just an object without consciousness, not the systems, artificial intelligences, or spirit devices... that she imagined from novels.

Maybe—

It’s just an inanimate object.

But—

If it’s an inanimate object, why did the Iron Plate actively save her?

That doesn’t make sense!

Also—

The Iron Plate has now become rusty, does this indicate that its energy has been overused? Simply put, is it out of power and needs charging to come online?

Ji You’s mind was in chaos; she pushed aside other issues and focused on two main things.

First: The Iron Plate can save lives in critical moments. This means if she faces life-threatening danger later, it’s her lifesaver! —But when will the Iron Plate actively save her life?

Is it only when her life is at immediate risk?

Or, just whenever she gets injured?

Regarding this, Ji You found it simple to confirm; she didn’t chatter, directly went into the storeroom, pulled out her metal dagger, and slashed her arm.

Slash—

Just a crisp sound from the dagger, and suddenly—Bright red blood spurted out.

”Ah!”

”Forget to tell everyone—”

”I am actually a werewolf!”

Bearing the severe pain, she teased herself harshly and then grimaced and shouted: ”Old Iron, I’m hurt, it’s time for you to work.”

...

However—

The surroundings were silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

...

”Looks like it doesn’t work.” After waiting a few minutes without any response from the Iron Plate, Ji You covered her face with her hands, sobbing and crying: ”It hurts so much!”

”It’s killing me.”

”Wuu wuu wuu... how could I be so stupid.”

”It hurts so much...”

”I thought I was a king, but actually, I’m just a bronze.”

”Yingyingying...”

Ji You babbled while sobbing, and hurriedly fetched the household treatment instrument from home to clean up the wound on her arm.

Although Ji You had been seriously foolish once, it at least confirmed one thing: minor injuries wouldn’t make the Iron Plate show up. She often got minor scrapes while gathering in the wild, but the Iron Plate never bothered about them.

So—

The Iron Plate can save lives, but it might only do so in extremely dire situations.

Second: Does the Iron Plate need charging?

Regarding this matter, Ji You felt there was absolutely no need for practical verification, because the Iron Plate had already consumed Butterfly Honey before, and after eating the Butterfly Honey, it became glossier, indicating that the Iron Plate needs to be charged.

Ji You was only worried about one thing: how to charge it?

What kind of energy does the Iron Plate need?

Just Butterfly Honey?

Or—something else?

”Aaaaah...”

”My head is going to explode!”

”This Golden Finger of yours, it isn’t defective, right?”

”In other novels, Golden Fingers would introduce themselves, issue tasks, and communicate actively with the Master... Old Iron, isn’t that how it is? Tell me, am I wronging you?”

”Why are you so tricky?”

”At least, you should give me a user manual...”

”Ah!”

Everything has to be figured out by oneself, verified...

Balding!

Last time there were just a few grams of Butterfly Honey left, Ji You didn’t dare to eat it, thinking of using it at the critical moment when her spiritual power would level up, but now, thinking that the Iron Plate saved her life, and has become rusty and can’t even manifest itself anymore, she couldn’t just ignore the Iron Plate.

So, Ji You took out her treasured Butterfly Honey and drank it in one go.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

...

Ji You closed her eyes and quietly waited.

After about five minutes, the much-anticipated figure finally appeared. In the depths of her mind, the clunky figure of the Iron Plate gradually manifested, its body bare, with only patchy rust stains, the previously primitive and beautiful patterns were almost indistinguishable—

This appearance was even worse than when she first saw the Iron Plate.

Sigh!

Ji You felt very apologetic.

It’s all her fault that the energy of the Golden Finger was drained.

A few seconds later, the Iron Plate couldn’t maintain its form and disappeared suddenly.

But—

Enough.

This proved that Butterfly Honey can charge the Iron Plate.

Then—

The problem comes again.

Where does she get Butterfly Honey?

Online shopping?

What about the money?

Ji You bit her lip, her smile becoming increasingly stiff, and after a while, she complained bitterly: ”Ah! This isn’t a Golden Finger, this is a Gold Swallowing Beast I’ve raised.”

The Butterfly Honey-eating Gold Swallowing Beast.

Bitter!

...

Ji You hurriedly went onto Star Network and searched for Butterfly Honey, quickly, numerous messages popped up.

[Buying Butterfly Honey, Middle Grade and above, negotiable prices!]

[Buying large amounts of Butterfly Honey, any grade, bulk discount!!]

[High-price buying High-quality Butterfly Honey, contact **** available anytime.]

The search results were mostly purchase requests, rather than sales, showing that such Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures are always scarce.

Then—

There were sales listings, and the vendors selling Butterfly Honey were mainly large stores, hardly any small vendors.

[Butterfly Honey: Originating from Wolf Star-Desert North Mountain Area, Grade: Middle Grade, Weight: 50 grams, Price: 600,000, Remaining stock: 10 pieces.]

[Butterfly Honey: Originating from Barnes Star-Yajia Mountain. Grade: Low-grade, Weight: 100 grams. Price: 100,000, Remaining stock: 2 pieces.]

[Butterfly Honey: Originating from Dongtai Star-Dongni Forest, Grade: High-grade, Weight: 10 grams, Price: 500,000, Remaining stock: 0 pieces.]

...

Hiss—

Ji You gasped, although she was mentally prepared for the prices of Butterfly Honey, after seeing the actual sales prices, waves of despair surged in her heart. The Low-grade ones usually start selling from 100 grams.

The Middle Grade ones start from 50 grams and sell for 600,000!

What about High-grade? Starts from 10 grams, priced at 500,000, meaning 100 grams would cost 5,000,000!

Yingyingying~

Defeated.

Defeated.

Defeated.

Can’t handle it.

Can’t afford it.

Can’t buy it.

She chose to shutdown and perish!

...

After a while, Ji You climbed out of a river of sadness. She checked her mailbox, her eyes suddenly fixed:

The messages had increased a lot.

Has the blocking period expired?

Ji You checked the time, found it hadn’t, but it turned out that right before she had the system block her mailbox, a burst of messages had come through all at once.

Ji You found it strange.