The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 814 This is the only life we ​​can sacrifice.

"I do not know."

"I dug myself out of the mud."

"The Dragon Palace issued an order for all kinds of ironware, so I went through my collection..."

A yellow eel—correction, more than half a yellow eel—with a small portion resembling a human head on top, wiggled in front of the phone video, answering somewhat bewilderedly.

Their attitude was good; they answered every question, but none of their answers contained any useful information. Shen Le's head was throbbing with pain; he could only sigh silently and thank Qing Li again.
"Thank you, and thank you to General Eel, you've been a great help. Could you please also search for any other ironware of this type and bring it all to test?"

This was a trivial matter for the Dragon Palace. Qing Li casually uttered a few words, and the shrimp soldiers and crab generals busied themselves, instantly gathering a cart full of scrap iron pieces, which they then delivered to Shen Le.

Unfortunately, Shen Le's luck in the lottery was not good this time. He was so upset that he sent the huge cartload of iron sheets into the old house. He tried every single piece on the rotten iron but failed to elicit any reaction from it.

Left with no other choice, Shen Le packed the scrap metal into a box, placed it in his backpack, and then decorated the box with spirit jade as a makeshift spirit-gathering array. Then he wandered around, searching everywhere.
Taking a stroll around the campus was pointless; the rotten iron block indicated it wasn't interested in any metal that came near it.

Whether it's a door frame, a railing, the shell of a car parked on the roadside, or even a flagpole in a stadium...

Its spirit remained completely still, showing no sign of desire whatsoever.

Shen Le carried it around five universities, three parks, and seven or eight scenic spots. Poor thing, his legs got so thin from all the walking. The Great Wall, Fragrant Hills, the Forbidden City—it was all useless, absolutely useless.

Those streetlights, those subways, those overpasses, all sorts of facilities—the rotten iron lump ignores them, pretends not to see them, not to feel them, and doesn't care.

He even used his connections to visit the research institute where the alloy expert worked, placing all sorts of imaginable metal formulas right under his nose—

"What does it want to eat? What is it that can replenish its body, or rather, give it the desire to eat?"

The alloy tycoon followed closely behind Shen Le, his face dark as if he had been burning in a metal powder smelting furnace for half a day.

He patted his stomach, his face contorted, his bulging belly rippling like flowing water. It swelled, contracted, swelled again, contracted again. After a few strange rises and falls, he suddenly opened his mouth:

Bang, bang, bang! Three shimmering, richly colored metal ingots spewed from his mouth and landed on the ground.

"Take it! Try it!" he said angrily, pointing to the ground.

“I just don’t believe it!!!”

Wow, this guy really went all out—this must be one of his prized possessions, right?
It was a precious alloy created by painstakingly selecting the finest metals, storing them within its body, and nurturing them with its flesh and spiritual energy, right? And then it was just thrown out like that—

So, if you throw this thing on the ground, what do you do when you want to swallow it back later? Do you wash it or wipe it?

Shen Le smiled broadly, thanking the alloy tycoon repeatedly, almost bowing to him. He then picked up the metal ingot, carefully pushed it into the safe, and placed it next to the scrap metal.

Then, close the safe's door, activate the energy-gathering array, and provide power to the scrap metal. After craning their necks and waiting for a long time, the safe was filled with shimmering light, but the scrap metal remained motionless…

"Ah this..."

Shen Le hesitantly offered one piece, then another. After exchanging all three, she still hadn't succeeded, so she could only cautiously comfort the alloy expert:
"I think it might not be because of the metal material; it probably wants something else... Let me think? Let me try a few different places?"

With things having come to this, even the alloy expert had no good options and could only watch as Shen Le walked out of the research institute with his bag on his back and wandered aimlessly through the streets.

Shen Le walked down one street, then another, swaying and staggering until he was completely exhausted. As darkness fell and the streets emptied, he gritted his teeth, a wicked thought rising within him:

Let's just spend the night in the heart of our motherland!

Let's go watch the flag-raising ceremony!!!

Going there to watch the flag-raising ceremony required some preparation from Shen Le. As a cultivator, he had to completely conceal his aura and firmly suppress his power within his body;
You can't use magic, and you can't even concentrate your spiritual power in your eyes to look around randomly—Shen Le had learned this the hard way before.

While watching the military parade, he recklessly used a little bit of his spiritual power and almost got blinded by the sheer brilliance.

That magnificent, vast, and profound aura!

If he hadn't been quick to stop, and if he hadn't at least been on the "people's" side, he would have been pinned to the ground!

Shen Le carried his bag and strode forward, adjusting his breathing and concealing his aura as he walked.

By the time we reached the heart of our motherland, we had disguised ourselves as ordinary people, covered in dust and dirt, our clothes and shoes all grime.

If it weren't for his scholarly air, he would look no different from a migrant worker; now he could only be described as a college student on a budget trip in the style of a special forces soldier.

However, Shen Le, who was carrying a backpack and walking until she reached the Jinshui Bridge, feeling dizzy and disoriented, suddenly had a jolt:
Backpack!

Inside the backpack!

That rotten lump of iron began to vibrate; it conveyed an extremely intense longing!
"You can't eat this, sir!!!" Shen Le wrapped the backpack around his chest, changing from carrying it on his back to hugging it, and dragged it with all his might towards an open space.

Drag a few steps, bend over, drag a few more steps, push off the ground with each step, drag a few more steps, and change from leaning forward to leaning backward:

"That one in front won't work either, sir!!!"

That's the flagpole for the national flag!
It's a flagpole!
This isn't your food supply!!!

Oh no, the things here are so attractive to it... No, no, no, there's nothing here that I can touch!
You need to control yourself!

Shen Le dragged, pulled, and carried Shen Le around the square, leaving him breathless and drawing wary glances from the patrolling guards.

The good news is that, based on the amplitude of the trembling of the scrap metal, he can roughly figure out what this thing wants to eat. In short, apart from the decorations on the open ground, it wants to eat whatever metal it sees.
The bad news is that it can't touch any metal here; even missing a nail on the ground would be a disaster...

"No! That's the National Museum! We can't go there!!!"

Shen Le finally gave up the idea of ​​waiting until dawn to watch the flag-raising ceremony before leaving. He turned left with his backpack, headed west, and started walking again.

Only after he walked out of the square and away from the surrounding buildings did he finally let out a long sigh of relief, his body covered in sweat.
"Oh dear, I finally escaped... If I hadn't escaped, this old man would have dragged me to my death..."

He let out a long breath and continued on his way in the darkness. He walked for over an hour, and as the first rays of dawn began to fall, the old man in the backpack started making a fuss again:
It yanked violently to the right with surprising force, causing Shen Le to stumble. If Shen Le hadn't reacted quickly, he would have been pulled against the railing.
Eat it!

I want to eat it! That stuff inside!!!
Shen Le blinked hard, looking to the side in the dim light. The scrap metal lump showed a longing that matched, and perhaps even surpassed, its previous eagerness in the square:
What's in there?
What delicious thing is it? What is it that it desperately wants to eat, that it's so eager to be launched at that moment, that it wishes it could be a cannonball?

Ah, so this is where it is...

In the morning light, Shen Le saw a majestic and solemn building, with outstretched wings, a central tower rising high, and a five-pointed star atop it. He quickly pulled out his phone:

"Ah, so this is the place... Let me see, do I need to make a reservation? Hopefully they're not all booked yet, and I hope I can get in today!"

Luckily, it was a weekday, so she was able to get an appointment. Shen Le patiently waited until nine o'clock, queued up to enter the museum, and immediately plunged into the ancient and modern artifacts exhibition area:

"What? You're not interested in the General Weiyuan Cannon?"

"Even bronze crossbows won't work?"

"You're not even interested in the Zhenyuan warship's anchor? What's going on?!"

The spirit within the backpack was still throbbing frantically, almost pulling Shen Le's feet off the ground. Helpless, Shen Le could only follow its senses, ascending layer by layer:

Walking past each display case and each exhibit, my overall impression was that I had absolutely no interest in or desire for the non-metallic exhibits, especially the large iron lump.

It seemed to be carefully sensing and appreciating the metal exhibits. Shen Le thought it would be interested in many of them, but after sensing them briefly, it retracted its antennae.

No.

No.

Or not.

Not to my taste...

Shen Le even felt that she could hear it muttering and complaining, expressing all sorts of dissatisfaction and criticism.

As he walked past the rows of display cases and exhibition rooms, he gradually relaxed his guard and focused most of his energy on viewing the exhibition itself...

"Ouch!!!"

He almost crashed into the glass, but luckily, at the crucial moment, he pushed off with his front leg and bent his back leg, managing to pull himself up in a reverse lunge.

The backpack bounced violently, emanating a scalding heat that seemed impatient. Shen Le clutched the backpack tightly, looking up at the display case in front of him:
Rows of military knives.

Some are long, some are short; some are heavy, some are light; some are exquisitely decorated, some are simple and unadorned, and it is clear at a glance that they were made for the battlefield.

However, the rotten iron lumps showed disdain and even extreme contempt for most of the military knives, urging Shen Le to hurry up and leave as if they were standing by a latrine.

The object it desperately, even greedily desires to merge with is a row of dull, even rusty, broadswords:

A large cleaver.

A large iron cleaver.

The blade is thick and heavy, with a sharp front and a sloping back. The blade tip is wide and the thickness is uniform from front to back. There are two shallow grooves on the blade, one shorter at the top and one longer at the bottom.

The tang is fixed to the wooden handle on both sides, and is densely wrapped with strips of cloth, including the end ring, for anti-slip and rust prevention. At the base of the blade, four large characters, "Silver Hook Iron Brush," are inscribed, exuding a menacing aura.
Kill the Japanese pirates and eliminate the traitors!
Shen Le stood in front of the glass display case, his breath caught in his throat, his entire being stunned by the blade.

In a daze, he seemed to hear the humming of the blade, the fierce bugle call to charge, and the soldiers leaping out of the trenches one after another, brandishing their swords and roaring:

"kill!!!"

Each soldier had only three bullets, and an entire squad had only one rifle. With such weapons, even if each shot killed an enemy, it wouldn't be enough to wipe out the Japanese invaders and reclaim our land.

The only way is to charge forward with swords, to fight the enemy with flesh and blood and cold weapons. With the country destroyed, the family ruined, and the land shattered, we only have one life left. We must fight with our lives to see the sun break through the clouds!
Given the situation, this is the only thing we can sacrifice: our lives!
The villagers dismantled their door hinges, collected nails and rakes, handed over scissors, and gave up every inch of copper and iron in their homes to forge this battle sword. How could we, as warriors, fail them?!
Kill them all!!!
Shen Le suddenly realized. He clutched the backpack tightly, feeling the surging urgency within, and finally understood what this piece of junk wanted:
What it wants is this kind of resonance, this kind of feeling, the feeling of fighting with everything you have, risking your life to kill the enemy when your country is destroyed and your family is destroyed, even if you can't kill them, you will still bite off a piece of their flesh!

Of course, this guy is very picky. He won't accept anything that has been used by his own people, anything made abroad, anything bought, or anything captured.
It doesn't care about anything that's not used on a specific battlefield;

Those firearms... firearms might be too complex, or perhaps they haven't been directly exposed to enemy blood, so it can't detect them. It's better to avoid them...

and so……

"So get out of here!!!"

Shen Le clutched his backpack, taking one step at a time, kicking the floor with every step, desperately trying to walk out, almost kicking holes in the floorboards.

The rotten iron lump vibrated incessantly inside the backpack, almost as if it were making a huge fuss and rolling around on the ground—if its power could extend countless tentacles, it could really grow suction cups and stick to the display case and not let go.

In fact, given the current situation, Shen Le had to pull it out of the museum by pulling up a radish. Catching his breath, he immediately answered Gu Yulin's call:
"Hey, it's me... I need your help with something, to collect some things for me... It doesn't have to be too precious, it doesn't even have to be complete, broken or rotten is fine, as long as it meets these conditions..."

Once it's used up, there might not be any left, so please make sure to pick out the broken or rotten pieces and give them to me first!

Gu Yulin: "..."

All I can say is that with a large and powerful organization, even the most bizarre requests can be found by searching through a large pool of data.

The Special Affairs Bureau dispatched large numbers of personnel to venture into mountain valleys and villages, interviewing local villagers and listening to the elders recount their stories.

In just three to five days, they scavenged all sorts of scrap metal from various village committees, memorial halls, and privately run exhibition halls, piled a whole box of it in front of Shen Le:

"Here, see if it works?"

To be honest, these things look like the kind that you'd have to haggle over even if you threw them into a recycling center.

But Shen Le's eyes shone with extreme joy:
"No problem, no problem! Oh, you guys have been a huge help!"

Within the dazzling white light of the Spirit Gathering Array, the lumps of scrap iron devoured the junk, rapidly increasing in size.

(End of this chapter)