Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 136 Searching for the Refrigerator (Sixth Update)
Chen Yu's instructions were clear, leaving no room for negotiation.

The members of Mann's team looked at each other. Although they all felt a little sorry for David, a rookie, having to go to that endless junkyard alone, no one offered to help.

This is not only because Chen Yu's decision is hard to change, but also because they all know that this is the path David chose himself, and it is the first hurdle he must overcome alone.

If you want something, you have to pay the corresponding price; no one can rely on others forever.

Mann pressed hard on David's shoulder, his voice low: "Since you've made your choice, don't look back."

Dorio silently handed over a respirator with good protective performance and whispered a reminder: "Be careful, besides the trash, there are some... troublesome guys in that place."

Rebecca curled her lip, pulled a small roll of medical bandage from her pocket, and tossed it to David: "Here, take this! It'll hold you off for a while if you get cut. Don't expect me to come and get you."

David took the things and whispered "thank you." He understood that this was all the support they could give him.

Without saying anything more, David turned and walked toward his weathered, peeling motorcycle.

The engine groaned as it carried him toward the massive landfill.

The closer you get, the stronger the pungent smell in the air becomes, a mixture of rotting organic matter, chemical waste, and metal corrosion, which is difficult to completely block even with a breathing mask.

When the entire garbage mountain came into view, David truly realized how daunting the task was.

That wasn't a "field" at all, but a continuous, endless mountain range made up of countless piles of garbage.

Abandoned vehicle shells, broken household appliances, twisted metal frames, rotting unknown objects...

Layer upon layer, stretching all the way to the edge of sight.

Occasionally, you can see tiny figures moving slowly on the garbage mountain; those are homeless people who make a living by scavenging.

David stood on the edge of the garbage mountain, feeling dizzy and weak.

Finding a specific refrigerator in this vast ocean of waste is no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

He looked at the document Chen Yu had given him again. It contained only a blurry picture of a refrigerator, an old and invalid address, and the refrigerator's model number.

Blindly going in to search is a sure way to get yourself killed.

David forced himself to calm down, realizing that he had to rely on wisdom, not brute force.

He examined the document repeatedly and noticed a nearly invisible barcode trail at the end. This might be a clue.

David stood at the edge of the garbage mountain, the stench in the air almost piercing through his breathing mask.

He looked at the endless wasteland before him, composed of remnants of civilization, and felt a wave of dizziness.

Blindly searching is a dead end; he must seek help.

He dialed Lucy's number.

“Lucy,” his voice was a little hoarse from tension and exhaustion, “could you… do me a favor? I need to check a company’s internal records about the disposal process for a scrapped refrigerator.”

Meanwhile, in the outpost of the abandoned town.

Lucy was resting in her seat when David's voice came through the intercom. After hearing his request, she didn't ask any further questions, simply replying, "What message?"

David immediately relayed the key information from the document.

“I’ll give it a try,” Lucy said, and then got up from her seat.

She walked to the corner of the room, where a specially made bathtub was placed.

She skillfully removed her clothes and lay down inside—the bottom of the bathtub was already covered with ice, and the biting cold instantly enveloped her body.

This is standard procedure for hackers to combat the enormous heat generated when the implant is running at full speed.

She took a deep breath, reached for the data interface beside her, and plugged the cable into the nerve port behind her neck.

The next second, her consciousness broke free from physical constraints and sank into a vast data network.

The sensations of the real world—coldness, gravity—rapidly faded away.

Before her unfolded a digital landscape of light and information. Like a fish swimming, she easily bypassed the target logistics company's seemingly robust but actually vulnerable firewall and infiltrated its core database.

The records flowed past her like luminous streams of data. She precisely identified keywords that matched David's description, tracing the refrigerator's digital footprint: scrapping application approval, asset deregistration record, disposal contract number...

Ultimately, she managed to locate the information on the vehicle responsible for the transport and the details of the driver on duty.

“Found it.” Her voice came through the communicator, carrying a hint of weariness that was barely perceptible, a trace of her consciousness returning to reality from the depths of data: “That refrigerator was declared scrapped a few months ago due to the expiration of its lease and the aging of the equipment. The disposal records show that it was taken away by a cleaning company and transported to your area. I’ve sent you the vehicle and driver information.”

On the garbage mountain, David looked at the detailed information received on his terminal and his spirits lifted.

"Thank you, you've really been a great help."

"You're welcome." Lucy's voice returned to its usual tone, but she added, "That area is quite large, so be careful."

Communication was cut off. David looked at the mountain of garbage before him again. Although the task remained arduous, at least now he had a clear starting point.

Having obtained the crucial information, David's spirits lifted. Without delay, he immediately followed the clues and located the garbage truck driver.

After some conversation, and with a little help to help the other party recall, the driver finally remembered that the particularly large machine had been thrown away by him on the western edge of the garbage dump, near the wreckage of an old shredder, because of a minor accident during unloading.

Having obtained this relatively precise location, David once again plunged headlong into the stench-filled garbage mountain.

He began a new round of searching through the mountains of waste, following the direction indicated by the driver.

With a relatively precise location, David plunged headlong into the garbage mountain once again.

This time, the goals were much clearer.

He walked forward, stumbling along the path the driver had indicated.

The ground beneath their feet was soft and dangerous, and could collapse at any moment.

The rotting liquid soaked his trouser legs, and the stench almost penetrated his mask, making him nauseous.

He searched the area repeatedly, probing around with a steel bar he had found.

A day has passed, and nothing has been gained.

The next day, he expanded the search area and worked almost non-stop.

Sweat mixed with grime made him look like a real homeless man.

Exhaustion and despair kept creeping over him, but the thought of his mother lying in the hospital bed with her empty eyes forced him to keep going.

On the afternoon of the third day, when his steel bar struck an unusually hard piece of metal, and after clearing away the rotten woven bags and electronic waste covering it, the familiar outline of a refrigerator covered in rust and scratches finally came into view.

A surge of joy instantly washed away the fatigue of the past few days. He carefully cleared away the trash around the refrigerator, confirming that apart from normal wear and rust, there was no obvious structural damage to the refrigerator's exterior. He tried to push it, but the refrigerator wouldn't budge; its weight was astonishing.

He immediately called the outpost to ask if anyone could help with the transport. Fortunately, Falco and Rebecca had just finished a mission in the city and were driving their SUV back.

A few hours later, Falco's SUV bumped its way to the edge of the garbage mountain. Rebecca jumped out, looked at David, who was covered in dirt and reeked of a foul odor, and pinched her nose: "Damn, David, you're more like garbage than garbage now!"

David smiled sheepishly and pointed to the refrigerator he had cleared out: "Found it, this is it."

Falco inspected the location of the refrigerator and the surrounding terrain, then frowned: "This big thing won't be easy to get into the car. Rebecca, give me a hand."

Together with David, the brother and sister struggled to get the heavy refrigerator onto the back of the SUV using the vehicle's winch and crowbars.

During the process, Rebecca repeatedly tried to open the refrigerator door out of curiosity to see what treasures were inside, but David stopped her each time with a tense expression: "The boss said we can't open it!"

"Tch, stingy." Rebecca pouted, but didn't insist any further.

On the way back, all three of them were filled with curiosity about the contents of the refrigerator.

“I’m saying, this refrigerator is so big, it could probably hide a person, right?” Rebecca sat in the passenger seat and looked back at the refrigerator that had been secured.

David remained silent, his mind filled with questions, but he was more concerned about whether he could begin learning how to heal his mother as soon as possible after completing his task.

(End of this chapter)