I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

As the crisp sound of high-heeled tactical boots striking the ground gradually faded into the distance, the heavy metal door to the basement closed tightly once again.

Quiet returned to the small space.

Yu Yin's tense little body finally relaxed.

She walked to the wheelchair, lowered her head, and rubbed her two small, dusty hands together in a whisper:

"Brother...Ms. Chen is coming after school today, so I couldn't go to the recycling station to sort things..."

Yu Wen reached out and gently ruffled her slightly yellowed hair:

"It's okay if I didn't earn anything today. I just received a payment for my writing, so I won't go hungry for the next couple of days."

Yu Yin nodded obediently.

"By the way," Yu Wen withdrew his hand and casually asked, "How is your teacher, Mr. Chen, treated at school?"

"Teacher Chen is such a kind person."

Yu Yin thought for a moment, then looked up and said seriously, "The other teachers leave after class. Last time, Tie Tou had an upset stomach and was rolling on the ground in pain. Teacher Chen paid for his medicine at the infirmary himself."

Yu Wen nodded: "She's a good teacher. Be good and listen to her at school from now on."

He turned his wheelchair and returned to the old, worn-out computer desk.

Pulling open the drawer, I pulled out a black magnetic stripe card without a chip from the deepest part—this is the most common "offline stored-value card" in the black market of the downtown area.

Yu Wen inserted the prepaid card into the card reader on the computer host and logged into the Weiguang Literature backend.

Click "Withdraw" to directly transfer the 666.6 Star Coins reward into this offline physical card.

"drop."

The screen displays "Write complete".

Then, he took out a small roll of worn-out paper star coins from the corner of the drawer. These were the cash left behind by the original owner. He had spent fifty yuan a couple of days ago to buy inferior medicine for Yu Wen, and now he had one hundred and fifty yuan left.

Yu Wen pulled out his black card and handed it to his sister along with the 150 yuan in cash.

"Yinyin, go to the pharmacy on the corner."

Yu Wen pointed to the black card, "There are more than 600 star coins in this card. Use it to buy two legitimate intermediate-level nerve blockers and three high-purity synthetic protein liquids, the kind that taste like meat."

He then pointed to the roll of cash:

"With the rest of the money, go to a secondhand market and buy two clean blankets. Secondhand markets usually don't have card machines, so pay with cash."

"So much money..."

Yu Yin carefully took the card and cash, her hands trembling slightly.

"Go ahead, walk close to the wall on the road, and don't flaunt your wealth."

"Um!"

Yu Yin carefully stuffed the card and cash into the inside pockets of her coat, covering them tightly, and then ran out of the basement like a nimble kitten.

……

The night in the lower city was starless, with only the muffled roar of the huge exhaust fan overhead and the irregular dripping of water from the crisscrossing metal pipes.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of engine oil and a sour, rotten odor.

Yu Yin shoved her hands into the large pockets of her coat, clutching the money and cards inside tightly, and walked quickly along the base of the wall covered with dark green patches.

Passing through two dimly lit alleys, you'll find the massive building that was converted from the hull of a decommissioned cargo spaceship.

Push open the heavy hatch.

The old blind man remained seated behind the counter, his two crude mechanical prosthetic eyes emitting a murky red light, focusing on Yu Yin as she entered, accompanied by the slight turning of gears.

"Uncle Blind".

Yu Yin tiptoed and leaned over the rusty tin counter:

"I need two vials of intermediate-level nerve blockers and three vials of high-purity synthetic protein liquid...it has to taste like meat."

The old blind man's withered face twitched as he looked at the little girl who had been worrying about fifty yuan worth of inferior medicine just two days ago.

But he, being involved in the black market, was never one to utter a word.

He slowly turned his wheelchair and took out a small metal box and three sealed tubes from the temperature-controlled refrigerator behind him, then pushed them onto the counter.

"Four hundred and fifty."

Yu Yin took out the black prepaid card and handed it over.

The old blind man took the card and swiped it on the old, offline card reader.

Seeing the green confirmation message on the screen, he pushed the card and the items back.

"Keep it safe."

The old blind man's voice was hoarse: "Recently, a few thugs with half their bodies modified with prosthetics have come to these two streets. They specifically target unfamiliar faces, so be careful."

"Thank you, Uncle Xia."

Yu Yin deftly stuffed the metal box containing the nerve blocker and the protein solution into the innermost pocket of her coat, zipped it all the way up, turned around, pushed open the heavy hatch, and stepped back into the cold, dark alley.

They hadn't gone far when a heavy, metallic, grinding sound of footsteps suddenly came from the shadows ahead.

A burly, dark figure blocked their path.

Yu Yin was so frightened that she took half a step back, clutching the zipper on her chest tightly with her hand.

By the dim neon lights, she could make out who it was—most of his left shoulder had been transformed into a crude industrial robotic arm, and there was a hideous burn scar on his face that stretched from the corner of his eye to his chin.

He's the foreman of the third waste disposal station, Uncle Scar.

"Uncle Scar..."

Yu Yin called out timidly.

"I thought you'd been carried off by some stray dog ​​in some alley."

Scarface's hoarse voice echoed through the narrow alley, carrying the smell of cheap tobacco.

His intact right hand was tucked into the oil-stained pocket of his overalls, looking down at Yu Yin:

"There's one less person to work at the station today, and no one asked me for leave."

"Sorry, Uncle Scar, something came up at home today..."

Yu Yin lowered her head and apologized.

"Is your paralyzed brother dying?"

Uncle Scar gave a cold snort.

"No! My brother is perfectly fine!"

Yu Yin grew a little anxious, tilting her head back. "I just came back from buying him his medicine!"

Uncle Scar paused for a moment, but didn't ask any further questions about how a disabled person could earn money in an era where even standing up is difficult.

He simply pulled a slightly wrinkled, flat paper package wrapped in greaseproof paper from his oversized work jacket and casually tossed it into Yu Yin's arms.

"The station gave out leftover scraps at noon. I was originally planning to feed them to the rats in the sewers."

Yu Yin subconsciously caught it.

Through the paper package, she felt out a real synthetic flatbread, about half the size of her palm, still slightly warm.

In the lower part of the city, this small piece of bread is worth as much as five inferior starch tubes.

"Thank you, Uncle Scar..."

"Thanks my ass. Get back here now."

Scarface turned around, and the heavy industrial robotic arm made a grating "click-clack" sound with his movement.

He didn't leave immediately, but walked at a distance, not too close, to the side and behind Yu Yin.

In several corners deep in the alley, a few greedy eyes were originally staring at Yu Yin, the little girl who was alone. But as soon as they heard the sound of Uncle Scar's signature mechanical arm scraping, the scavengers and thugs hiding in the shadows immediately shrank back as if they had encountered a plague god.

When they reached the slightly brighter area near the abandoned transformer box, Uncle Scar stopped, turned around, and walked into another side road without saying another word.

Yu Yin carefully put the half-eaten bread into her pocket and walked quickly to Grandma Wang's secondhand stall.

"Grandma Wang, I need two blankets."

Yu Yin said, panting.

Grandma Wang, with her gray hair, was mending clothes under the dim light. She looked up:

"It's Yinyin. The blankets are in the box on the left. There are sixty-one without any holes. You can choose one yourself."

Yu Yin rummaged through the cardboard box for a while and picked out two thick, gray blankets that smelled faintly of synthetic soap.

She took out the roll of cash, counted out one hundred and twenty dollars, and handed it over.

Carrying two blankets that were almost half her height, Yu Yin returned home.