Chapter 17

Chapter 17

In the tin shack at the landfill, Shen Juanjuan felt thirsty and went to the wall to find a half-used enamel cup, which he placed outside. Wrapped in a cotton coat and wearing a cotton hat, he squatted inside the door, watching the rainwater slowly fill the cup.

Once the cup was full, he drank it all in one gulp and then lay back on his bed. The novelty of watching the rain had passed, and his heart began to yearn for the welfare home again.

This longing diluted his fear of Wang Zhusheng's brother and his iron bar, making him ponder whether being stabbed through several times or staying here alone was more painful.

But with the thunderstorm, darkness, and lack of courage, he could not return to the welfare home. He could only hug his one-armed teddy bear and cry under the covers.

"Do you want to leave? I know you want to leave, but I can't let you go. As soon as you step outside that fence, bang, bang, bang, the lightning will strike you. Waaah, if you walk to that big rock, bang, bang, bang, the lightning will strike you again, and you'll lose your arm..."

The door of the tin shack remained open, allowing raindrops and cold wind to pour in, making the ground in front of the door wet and filling the air inside with dampness.

Despite wrapping himself in blankets, Shen Juanjuan felt as if he were lying in an ice cellar, his feet numb and stiff. Sobbing and trembling with fear, he eventually succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep, terrified.

In his dream, he saw Wang Zhusheng's brother, wielding an iron bar and searching the entire landfill for him. Hiding in the tin shack, he dared not go out, only peeking his head out, just as Wang Zhusheng's brother spotted him.

"Turns out you were hiding in the office! I'm going to stab you one, two, three times!" Wang Zhusheng's brother roared, charging over with the iron bar.

Terrified, Shen Juanjuan quickly shut the door and dove under the bed: "Psychic attack, psychic attack..."

But Wang Zhusheng's brother had already reached the tin shack and began pounding on the door.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shen Juanjuan's heart pounded in sync with the noise.

Bang... Bang... Bang...

When the sounds merged into a continuous roar, he screamed in terror and sat up abruptly: "Ahhh!!!"

Bright white light flooded in from the wide-open door, illuminating the small room. Outside, there was a continuous rumbling sound, but it wasn't Wang Zhusheng's brother slamming the metal door.

Realizing it was just a dream, Shen Juanjuan felt a wave of relief and chuckled softly, still clutching the blanket. Curious about the rumbling outside, he got up, put on his shoes, and walked to the door.

Two intense beams of white light shone down, revealing piles of shadows falling from low altitudes. Below the illuminated area, a small mountain of trash had already formed.

The flying vehicle was dumping garbage!!

Shen Juanjuan knew the garbage came by flying vehicle, but he had never seen it happen. Every time he arrived at the landfill, the garbage had already been sifted through by the older students, requiring careful searching for any surprises.

But now, this freshly dumped garbage hadn't been sifted through by the older students! This was treasure-filled garbage! All his garbage!

Overwhelmed with joy, Shen Juanjuan sprinted toward the opposite side of the square. Though it was still midnight, the rain and thunder had stopped, leaving puddles that splashed as he ran.

He dashed between the metal blocks, pointing and shouting enthusiastically: "Put bread over here, bread that hasn't been bitten much! Put canned goods over there, cans filled with lots of stuff!"

Though the flying vehicle was large, its cockpit was only a few square meters, with old instruments and peeling paint. Two drivers in gray uniforms conversed loudly amidst the engine's rumble.

The pilot maneuvered the control stick: "Is the cargo bay door open?"

"It's open; everything has been dumped."

"I shouldn't have played cards. We were supposed to work in the morning, but now we're delayed. If the team leader finds out, we're done for."

"Don't worry, same old trick. I had my friend at the landing field delete our takeoff record. If anyone checks, we left in the morning, not now."

"Good, but we need to get the automated forklifts to start clearing the garbage right away, so it doesn't pile up."

"Alright, I'll adjust the system."

Shen Juanjuan had almost run out of the metal block area, but the flying vehicle didn't leave. He hid behind the nearest metal block, peeking out.

The flying vehicle finally rose slowly, heading toward Cloud Peak. Once the strong light covering the landfill disappeared, Shen Juanjuan rushed toward the garbage mountain, screaming.

"This is my garbage! It's all mine! My cans, my marbles, my treasures. Don't be afraid, I'm here to work, I'm here to collect you..."

The garbage mountain was as tall as a two-story building. Shen Juanjuan looked up, admiring its vastness, tied the earflaps of his cotton hat under his chin, found a useful plastic stick nearby, and started working.

There were countless treasures in the garbage untouched by the older students. Soon, he found a sweater. The adult-sized sweater had holes at the elbows and frayed edges, but its bright yellow color caught his eye. He tried it on, deciding to keep it.

Colorful packaging bags were abundant. He picked up one, then another, quickly accumulating a thick stack.

Faced with such unexpected wealth, Shen Juanjuan didn't know what to do. His hands were full, but he couldn't bear to discard anything, so he grabbed a large bag and stuffed all his treasures inside.

The night was cold, especially after the rain, and his breath condensed into white puffs. But his heart was warm and elated, making him oblivious to the chill.

He squeezed each packaging bag, finding four cookies with cream in one. He took a gentle bite, his eyes lighting up, and quickly pocketed the remaining three.

As he sifted through the garbage, munching on the cookie, he hummed happily.

"Our lives... how happy, our songs... crunch crunch... how loud, angels gather... here, hmm hmm hmm..."

His joy was short-lived when he heard vehicles starting in the adjacent factory. Three automated garbage forklifts emerged slowly.

If certain older students were Shen Juanjuan's most hated people, then the automated garbage forklifts were his most hated vehicles.

These vehicles seemed designed to thwart him. Often, after waiting for the older students to finish and leave, these forklifts would arrive and compete with him.

Usually, only one forklift competed with him, but now there were three.

Shen Juanjuan panicked, no longer humming, and hurriedly sifted through the garbage. He kept an eye on the forklifts, watching their large metal forks plunge deep into the garbage mountain and lift huge loads into their rear compartments.

Shen Juanjuan tried to protect his garbage, running and crawling around helplessly, watching the garbage mountain shrink bit by bit. His heart ached as he poked the ground with his plastic stick and shouted angrily at the forklifts: "Can't you go to sleep? Why are you so shameless? Aren't you supposed to work during the day? Why are you taking my job now?"

With no other options, he could only try to pick up more. To save time, he discarded the plastic stick, focusing on the surface of the garbage mountain, grabbing whatever looked promising and stuffing it into his bag, increasing his speed significantly.

Shen Juanjuan climbed up the garbage mountain on all fours, picking up a few small trinkets along the way and stuffing them into his pockets. He was about to turn back down from the other side when he straightened up and froze.

He saw someone lying motionless between a broken chair and a cracked plastic basin at the top. Suspecting he might be seeing things, he rubbed his eyes and slowly scanned the person, noticing the head, body, hands resting on the abdomen, and legs slightly apart.

This is a person!

But why would there be a person in the garbage?

This, this is a garbage person!

Shen Juanjuan quickly put down his bag and stumbled forward through the garbage, stopping about seven or eight meters away from the person.

He didn't dare to go any closer, only stretching his neck to look. The person's face was covered by the hood of a hoodie, revealing only the chin, as if they were sleeping.

Shen Juanjuan looked around and called out very softly, "Hey, hey."

The person didn’t respond or move, so Shen Juanjuan took a few more steps closer: "Hey, are you sleeping? Hey."

Curious, he observed for a moment, then slowly walked forward and squatted beside the person.

"Are you a garbage person? Are you a garbage person who was thrown away?" he asked cautiously, picking up a chopstick to poke the person’s shoulder. "Wake up, please."

The person remained still, so Shen Juanjuan leaned his head down close to the garbage, trying to see under the hood.

But the face was obscured by the hood, with lips, nose, and chin hidden in shadow, making it impossible to see clearly.

Behind him came a rustling sound. Shen Juanjuan saw that the three forklifts had already come quite close, creating a cliff-like edge on the garbage mountain.

Startled, he poked the lying person harder with the chopstick and raised his voice: "Garbage person, you can't sleep here. The forklifts will take you away. All the garbage gets dumped into a house and crushed; you'll be crushed too."

He poked the person's arm forcefully, causing the arm resting on the abdomen to fall limply onto the garbage.

Staring at the pale hand under the light for a few seconds, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

Is this a dead person?!

Though he had never seen a dead person, he knew the small graves behind the welfare home held the dead, and he had heard countless stories about them.

In those stories circulating among the classes at the welfare home, the dead were always the main characters. They initially lay motionless, but suddenly opened their eyes, grew long teeth and nails, and turned into ghosts. These ghosts roamed the welfare home's backyard and the town of Mi Xin Death, ready to eat any child at any time.

Shen Juanjuan wasn't afraid of daytime ghosts—he could go to the welfare home's backyard alone during the day—but he was terrified of nighttime ghosts, like now.

Things people don't want become garbage, so a garbage person who was thrown away...

Must be a dead person!