Seeing that the robot’s CPU was practically overheating, Shen Guoguo decided to give it a way out of its programming dilemma.
She couldn’t force her way through—if the robot sounded an alarm, she and Huo Tao would be hauled away by the security bots.
“Hey, buddy, is there any rule that says people can’t enter the garbage dump?”
[Beep, no.]
“Then the two of us are people, right? So we can go in?”
[Beep… beep, yes.]
OKK! “Thanks, bro~”
In just three sentences, Shen Guoguo demonstrated what true social intimidation was—she could even socially manipulate a robot.
And so, the two of them swaggered their way into Windsoil City’s garbage dump.
Unlike any landfill she’d ever seen, there was no food waste here. Human waste was processed separately.
The whole place looked more like an abandoned industrial park than a dump.
Shen Guoguo took a few deep breaths—no bad smell at all.
[Beep, radiation detected. Please wear protective gear. Defective humans should not stay for extended periods.]
Her wristband blared an alert.
Damn it!
Way to ruin the mood!
“I know!” Shen Guoguo snapped back fiercely.
She now hated anyone or anything calling her a “defective human.” The wristband wasn’t an exception.
No time to waste—she had to make this trip worthwhile.
Grabbing a steel pipe she found lying around, she started rummaging through the piles of discarded materials.
A large stainless steel basin—slightly dented, but still usable. Could make a great bathtub.
Take it.
A small stainless steel table—perfect for use as a cooking counter. No more squatting on the ground to cook.
Take it.
A small stool with a dented seat—take it.
Oh-ho! An A4-sized mirror fragment—broken but big enough. Take it too.
And plenty of steel bars and iron rods everywhere.
In her previous life, old folks would’ve fought each other over these.
But now? No one even wanted them.
Take them all!
Soon, her little cloth bag was full, and both the space under and across Huo Tao’s wheelchair were piled high with junk.
Huo Tao had no idea what she planned to do with all of it, but he didn’t ask. Anything Shen Guoguo handed him, he took and held carefully—his only priority was to make his girlfriend happy.
“Wait… is that a stamping press?”
A machine half the size of a single bed was half-buried in the pile.
Shen Guoguo immediately recognized it.
When she first started running her greenhouse business in her previous life, she’d lacked both funds and workers—so she’d done all the rebar pressing herself.
With this, she could cut, bend, and punch steel all in one go.
Finding it felt like discovering a treasure chest. She didn’t even care that her protective suit might get dirty—she knelt right down and started dragging the machine out.
It was in great shape, except for the broken solar panel that powered it.
In this wasteland world, the main energy source was solar.
Everything that could be converted to solar had been—including most robots, which ran on solar batteries.
Eagerly, she turned to share her find with Huo Tao, only to realize his wheelchair was completely buried under the things she’d already piled on him.
She scratched her head sheepishly.
“You know how to use that thing?” Huo Tao asked curiously. Normally only mechanics handled equipment like this.
“Piece of cake! The solar panel’s broken, but I can probably fix it.”
Perfect—another skill unlocked.
At this point, Huo Tao felt like he was opening a mystery box every day, discovering a new skill of Shen Guoguo’s.
Chef, mechanic—was there anything she couldn’t do?
If every defective person were like her…
No, only Shen Guoguo could be like this.
“It’s too big. Should we come back for it next time?” Huo Tao began.
Before he finished, Shen Guoguo smacked her forehead, ran to another pile, and dug out a few metal wheels and a rusty wrench.
In a few quick motions, she attached four wheels to the bottom of the stamping press.
“All done!”
Uh…
[Beep, the garbage dump will close in 30 minutes.]
The robot’s voice sounded suddenly.
“What?” Shen Guoguo glanced at her wristband—it was already 4 p.m. They’d been here almost four hours.
“Go, go, go! We’ll come back next time.”
She connected the press to Huo Tao’s wheelchair using a steel pipe and some scrap bolts, then pushed the heavy machine from behind.
As they left the dump, she waved at the robot guard.
“Thanks for the heads-up, brother! We’ll come again in a few days. Bye~”
[Beep…]
In the evening breeze of Windsoil City, the “useless man” Huo Tao sat expressionless in his wheelchair, his lap piled with rusty steel pipes, a small cloth bag hanging from the side filled with miscellaneous junk.
Behind him trundled a filthy, broken machine—pushed by a grinning Shen Guoguo.
“Wow… whose idiot kid is that?”
“I know that guy—that’s Huo Tao. But who’s the girl behind him?”
“You weren’t at the base that day—she’s his newly assigned wife, apparently a defective person too.”
“What? How’d that old saying go?”
“The rope always snaps at its thinnest point, right? One cripple, one defective… how are they supposed to survive?”
“Picking up trash… well, I guess that makes sense. Sigh…”
Huo Tao was long used to such gossip, his expression blank as he passed through the inner city.
He couldn’t see Shen Guoguo’s face, but he imagined she didn’t care.
And indeed, Shen Guoguo couldn’t care less.
Ignorant humans—what did they know?
Her greatest joys were cooking, farming, and tinkering with random things. Conditions didn’t allow for that right now—so she’d start small.
Creating a better life wasn’t shameful!
When they passed a spice shop, Shen Guoguo had Huo Tao buy some seasonings.
Between that and the protective suit earlier, the 5,000 star coins her parents had sent them were already down by nearly 1,000.
It made her heart ache a little.
Under everyone’s stares, they returned to their small hut and unloaded all their treasures at the door.
Passersby peeked inside—seeing piles of metal pipes and junk—and left shaking their heads, sighing that this life was hopeless.
Shen Guoguo ignored them completely.
She turned on the tap, washed her face, then wet a towel and handed it to Huo Tao.
“You’ve worked hard.”
Huo Tao froze for a moment before taking it and quietly wiping his face.
All they’d done was visit the dump together and haul some junk home—Shen Guoguo had done most of the work—yet she still said thank you.
Just three simple words, but they meant a lot.
He thought of how, back in the Huo family, he’d lost his legs for their sake and received nothing but scolding and exploitation in return.
Now, that cold darkness in his heart felt like it had been struck by a tiny pebble—rippling softly with a glimmer of light.
Without contrast, there’s no realization.
“It’s what I should do. Being with me, you’re the one working hard,” Huo Tao said, pushing his wheelchair to wash the towel himself. His broad back faced her.
“We’re a family, you know.”
Looking at this big guy—steady and loyal like a dog—Shen Guoguo couldn’t help but feel deeply satisfied.
Someone willing to go crazy with her, to stand by her side, and on top of that—so good-looking.
So what if he was disabled?
Besides, maybe his legs could be healed someday—once she found the right tools, she’d see to it herself.