Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 209 [The Pure Gold Secret Staff] (Bonus chapter for the 'Dead Extra' Alliance Leader)
After Zhai Da, Lu Wei, and Xu Xuejun left to have dinner, the workshop fell silent for a while, and the gate was locked.

But the craft brewery next door was still busy. The brewing team was constantly working, and the delivery team was also helping to unload raw materials, sending bags of malt into the warehouse.

Fortunately, Yue Da Catering strangely offers overtime pay, which is rare in this physically demanding industry. This is why, even though Zhai Da and Wu Yue have not yet revealed their future plans, the staff already have a level of loyalty that exceeds the baseline.

Nobody wants to lose this good job.

"Qin Yang, lend a hand! Quickly!"

Carrying a 50-kilogram bag of malt was difficult no matter how you carried it, so one person ran all the way to have a friend carry it for him.

The man named Qin Yang caught it, used his waist and abdomen to lift it, and threw it onto the pile of goods more than a meter high.

"You're no good anymore, kid. You've only been out of the army for a short time."

Among the ten or so newly recruited people, several seemed to know each other beforehand. Zhai Da was right; five of them had military experience.

They all joined the army early, and their military service was not long. After a few years of military service and a few years of working in society, they were still under 30 years old.

Coincidentally, when Wu Yue was recruiting, he initially only hired Qin Yang. Later, when he was short of people, Qin Yang introduced some of his comrades.

Purely from an ability perspective, he is indeed better than the average person. He has good physical strength, can drive, and has strong execution ability. Don't feel that doing this job is not prestigious. With overtime pay, it is already much higher than similar positions.

The demobilization pay has been paid, but each family has its own situation. Some people have built houses in their hometowns, while others have beds in the city.

After serving in the military for several years, am I supposed to lie down for the rest of my life? People always need to work and live.

Some of my comrades even sell barbecue.

The malt had been moved, and there was no work for the time being, so the group sat at the entrance of the base smoking and chatting. The smoke mixed with the heat from their chests, turning into streaks of smoke.

One person remarked, "I thought the second boss was young enough, but I didn't expect the first boss to be even more impressive. He started a company before graduating from university. What are we doing at our age?"

Qin Yang exhaled a puff of smoke: "They squat to eat in the canteen, stand and sleep at the sentry post, and run around on the playground to avoid the police."

"Indeed, one needs to study to have a future."

Qin Yang smiled and said, "Now you need to be educated to join the army. Every place needs smart people."

"That's true. If you don't study well, you won't be able to serve in the army properly. Modern military doesn't need illiterate people. Anyway, I'll definitely keep a close eye on my son's education."

Qin Yang nodded: "Let's go after we're done. Let's get some barbecue and have a drink with 'tail wine'."

The so-called tail beer is the last bit left in the brewing equipment. It usually has more sediment and does not meet quality control, but it does not affect drinking, and may even have a richer flavor.

It's somewhat useful, but not much. You can drink as much as you want here, but it can only be stored in mineral water bottles.

My comrade said, "Let's waste another twenty minutes, that'll be another hour of overtime pay."

Qin Yang glared at the other person: "You take a high salary and drinks, and then you beg for this little bit of overtime pay? If the employer has any conscience, you're just trying to take advantage of me to death?"

The man scratched his head awkwardly: "Then I'll call them to come along."

Just as Qin Yang and his group were about to set off, a dilapidated car drove up the road.

Few people pass by this road; there are hardly any cars in the entire old neighborhood. Qin Yang took another look.

Finally, it stopped at the license plate. Was it saved by selling it in bulk?

This is a rare sight in Northeast China. I saw two today, the first one being the truck from earlier.

Having previously served in the armed police, he instinctively paid attention, especially when the other party stopped a few meters away at the workshop entrance.

Inside the car, two middle-aged men looked around.

The car reeked of bad breath, cigarette smoke, and even a faint smell of feces and urine.
The two people in the car also looked miserable, with bloodshot eyes and extreme exhaustion, as if they had just gone through a long ordeal.

"Is this here?"

"It must be him. Damn, how come someone from Harbin is involved in the provincial judicial auction of bulk goods?! And then he transported them all the way here? Could he be an insider and have heard of the 'Money Ruler'?"

"They don't seem like experts, but I can't tell what this place is for. The driver must have been here before."

Mentioning the truck driver, the bald man in the driver's seat cursed inwardly: "That guy's a lunatic! Damn it, he drove from the province of bulk cargo to Harbin in two days and one night, eating, drinking, and relieving himself in the truck. Is he in such a hurry to be reborn?"

They suffered a lot on their journey. From the shocking news that the "money ruler" had been bought, to discovering that the item had already been loaded onto a truck and transported, to bribing the logistics company to find out the license plate and destination, they were only three hours late in total.

A small car chased a large truck, but after two days of chasing, it still couldn't catch up!
They didn't dare disturb the driver, only thinking that they would steal the items when the driver rested at a service area or somewhere else.

You wouldn't believe it, the driver didn't rest at all! He barely slept at all!
Where's your mom's cultivation technique?!
The result was that the two of them were stretched to their limits the whole way, forced to eat, drink, and relieve themselves in the car. Even when they took turns driving, they couldn't endure it as long as someone else did alone.
In the end, we didn't make it; the goods had already been signed for by the owner.
Stealing in the city is much riskier than stealing on a long journey, and they're not professionals in that field.
The skinny guy in the passenger seat said, "Do you think it's possible to buy it back? Even the court didn't notice the material of the 'Golden Ruler,' so the person who bought it probably wouldn't have thought of it that way. Maybe he's just a hobbyist. Those novels have been pretty popular these past two years, haven't they? What was that 'Notebook' thing again?"

"The Grave Robbers' Chronicles is so bizarrely written, even I, an expert, feel it's completely off-topic."

"Avoid contact if possible. If we can't stealthily operate, we'll resort to underhanded tactics. The enemy is in the open, we remain in the shadows; we cannot easily reveal our strength."

As they were talking, there was a knock on the car window, and a young man who wasn't very tall but had sharp eyes looked them over from outside.

The two exchanged a glance, and then decided to roll down the car window.

Qin Yang almost fell over from the stench. You two pooped in the car?!
Looking at the mountain of household garbage piled up in the back seat of the car, Qin Yang's gaze became more scrutinizing.

His eyes darted around: "You're here to buy wine, right? How much do you need today? Is one and a half liters enough?"

The two people in the car exchanged glances: "Yes, yes, we're here to buy wine. We've heard your wine is good."

Qin Yang handed over the "tail wine" he had originally intended to share with his comrades, which was contained in a large mineral water bottle: "Same as always, 20." One of them immediately replied, "I remember!"

Then he handed Qin Yang a banknote.

"We're off then~ I'm just craving this, I won't drink from any other place!"

The car sped away.
Qin Yang gazed silently into the distance, his expression grave, and memorized the license plate number.

------

Meanwhile, a kilometer away, in a dark alley.

Zhai Da, wearing a down jacket, stood in the darkness, his expression unusually solemn.

His brows looked so furrowed they seemed to be dripping with water.
Where does this chicken neck come from?

Zhai Da looked around, then looked back and forth.
He remembered that he was halfway through his meal when he went to the restroom, and the restaurant owner said the restroom was a hundred meters away.
How did we end up in this alley?
After a long pause, Zhai Da finally realized what was happening, and his hands, which were in his pockets, tightened.
"Equipment effect 2: When holding this item, your sense of direction will become weaker."

Damn it, it feels like I've been holding the "Desperate Dragon-Seeking Ruler" all along!
Since the item had been confirmed to be [equipment], it couldn't be left in the warehouse, so he put it in his pocket.

The thing was made of some unknown material, and although it wasn't large, it weighed a little over two kilograms. It stretched his down jacket out of shape, and kept bumping into his legs while he was walking. He instinctively reached into his pocket to steady it.
Nothing seemed amiss at the restaurant; as long as he was with Lu Wei and Xu Xuejun, he lowered his guard. He went out to use the restroom.
Can not go back!

Zhai Da pulled out the [Desperate Dragon-Seeking Ruler]. This golden, patina-covered thing was effective even without being fully unfolded?
When will we be able to fast forward to the era of mobile phone maps?
Well, at least there's some good news: he completed the unsealing task in less than two hours, making it the fastest ever.
"Unsealing Quest: With this item in hand, get lost once. Current progress (1/1), unsealing successful."

The special effect of this equipment is that it targets the person with the highest vitality in the vicinity. It's a dark joke for a tomb raider to have it, but in this dark alley, there isn't even a ghost in sight. Targeting a person would at least allow him to ask for directions.
Zhai Da lifted it up and unfolded it, mimicking the way in the movie, allowing the upper part of the dowsing rod to rotate horizontally. Although the object was heavy, his "nimble hands" easily found the balance point.
A few seconds later, the spinning dowsing rod seemed to be guided by something, its speed first increased, and then gradually slowed down, which was quite magical!

Zhai Da was certain that he hadn't applied any force and had held the object perfectly level. Regardless of how effective it had been before, after being transformed into [equipment], it did possess some magical power!
Finally, the magical dowsing rod stopped.
It pointed to Zhai Da himself.

Zhai Da:
Very well, he calls something utterly useless a disgrace to green equipment.

Zhai Da put away the [Desperate Dragon-Seeking Ruler], decided to keep his head down and move forward, no longer touching the Dragon-Seeking Ruler, letting it sway in his pocket, causing his down jacket to sag unevenly.

Five minutes later, Zhai Da stood in front of the dead-end barbed wire fence, finally losing all patience.

Mainly because I was holding in my pee
"Never mind. I was planning to synthesize it today anyway, so let's do it on the spot. Maybe it will have a useful effect."

Zhai Da pulled out the [Young Straight Stick] and the [Painless Knife] from his left sleeve and placed them together with the [Desperate Dragon-Seeking Ruler] in the large pocket of his down jacket.

This is the synthesis path I just discovered using the exhaustive method; I originally planned to study it at home.
Since the [Young Straight Stick] is a component of the "Mystic Code", combining it may result in a loss of its set component count.
In comparison, the [Painless Knife] is an equipment that was weakened by modifications, so it's no big deal if it's gone. It's also unlikely that he'll find an opportunity to actually perform "surgery" on someone, let alone become a "Circle Cutter Warrior".

Ultimately, the exploration of the system must look forward. If we give up synthesizing higher-level equipment because of this risk, we will only gradually stagnate.

"Detecting synthesis path. Path exists, synthesize?"

Zhai Da silently chose "yes".

But I was a little curious whether what was in my pocket counted.
"Environmental conditions detected, synthesis is about to begin. Please do not damage the environment or attempt to observe it without authorization."

"It's shielding off fluctuations, collapsing reality, and cleaning up traces."

I was lucky, probably because the pocket was big enough.
"Synthesis complete."

There were still no sound or light effects, and everything was quiet and unnoticed. Then, with a system notification, it all ended.

But Zhai Da didn't feel his pockets become lighter.
"The host has lost the [Young Straight Stick] set information and equipment information. The information has been updated."

"Set bonus (permanent) → Mysticism, now lost."

Zhai Da's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't panic too much and took out the new item from his pocket.
A golden, cylindrical metal object, about the thickness of a cup.

A three-in-one "equipment". That's it?

"Congratulations, host, you have synthesized a brand new blue equipment, the Pure Gold Secret Staff: The soft, rhythmic sound is the path you came from."

Ownership: Owned, activated.

"Equipment Effect 1: When wielding this staff (in its unfolded state), it greatly enhances your aura, inspiring awe and reverence. This staff is like a symbol of status."

"Equipment Effect 2: When holding this staff (folded state), greatly enhances your persuasive power over anyone of lower status than you. Note: The judgment of status depends on the other party's self-perception. There is a delay between the two effects when switching forms."

"Equipment Effect 3: This staff is exceptionally elegant. When striking others, it causes pain without causing injury or bleeding, and the wear and tear is greatly reduced during use."

"Special Effect → Exploration: Striking this staff will emit radar-like waves to probe the surroundings and create a vague sensation in the mind. The maximum range is 500 meters and is affected by obstacles and geomagnetism."

"Unlock Mission: Wield this staff and hike 10 kilometers in full dress. Current progress (0/10)"

"Note: I don't know if you've noticed, but if you beat someone up and then try to persuade them, their perception of social status might undergo a physical correction."

"The host has successfully synthesized blue equipment for the first time. Reward: Equipment slot +1."

"For more rewards, please explore the system further and discover or synthesize higher-level equipment."

Zhai Da was stunned. This cylindrical object was a cane? A blue-quality item?! And it even came with a valuable equipment slot!
No, no, no. There are even more ridiculous questions!

This object weighs over two kilograms, the same weight as a dowsing rod.
You told me it was pure gold?

　This chapter is sponsored by "The Dead Extra".
　　Thank you so much, Alliance Leader, for your generous support of this chapter!
　　If you're looking for a boyfriend, look for someone who's just a background actor.

　　It's great to have a big boss; it's truly great when everyone is doing well.

　　(Xiao Xin knows she still owes updates and won't renege on her promise.)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)