Chapter 136: The Search for the Fridge
Joric's command was clear, with no room for negotiation.
Maine's crew exchanged glances. Although they all felt uneasy about sending the rookie David alone into that boundless landfill, no one offered to help.
It wasn't just because Joric's decision was unchangeable. It was because they knew this was the path David had chosen, the first hurdle he had to clear on his own.
If you want something, you pay the price. You can't rely on others forever.
Maine squeezed David's shoulder hard, his voice low. "You chose this. Don't look back."
Dorio silently handed him a high-quality respirator mask, whispering a warning. "Be careful. There's more than trash out there. Some... unfriendly types too."
Rebecca clicked her tongue, fishing a small roll of med-tape from her pocket and tossing it to David. "Here. Take it! If you get cut, it'll hold you together for a bit. Don't expect me to come fish you out."
David caught the items, murmuring a "Thanks." He understood this was all the support they could give.
Without another word, David turned and walked to his beat-up motorcycle, its paint peeling.
The engine sputtered to life with a dull cough, carrying him toward the massive landfill.
The closer he got, the stronger the acrid stench of rotting organics, chemical waste, and rusted metal became. Even with the respirator, it was impossible to fully block out.
When the full scale of the landfill came into view, David truly grasped the enormity of the task.
It wasn't a "field." It was a mountain range—rolling, endless hills composed of uncountable tons of garbage.
Crushed car chassis, shattered appliances, twisted metal frames, rotting unidentifiables...
Layer upon layer, extending to the horizon.
Occasionally, tiny figures could be seen moving slowly on the trash mountains—nomads scavenging for survival.
David stood at the edge, feeling a wave of dizziness and helplessness.
Finding a specific refrigerator in this vast ocean of waste was harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
He checked the file Joric gave him again. Only a blurry picture of a fridge, an invalid old address, and a model code.
Blindly searching would be a dead end.
David forced himself to calm down. He realized he had to rely on wits, not brute force.
He reviewed the file repeatedly, noticing a barely visible barcode fragment at the very bottom. A clue.
Standing on the edge of the trash mountain, the stench nearly penetrating his mask, he looked at the endless wasteland of civilization's refuse and felt dizzy.
Blind searching was death. He needed help.
He dialed Lucy.
"Lucy," his voice was dry with tension and fatigue. "Can you... do me a favor? I need to check a corporate internal record regarding the disposal process of a scrapped refrigerator."
Meanwhile, back at the Badlands bastion.
Lucy was resting in her chair. David's voice came through the internal comms. She listened to his request without question, responding concisely, "What info?"
David immediately read out the key data from the file.
"I'll try," Lucy said, standing up.
She walked to the corner of the room where a specialized tub sat.
She expertly stripped off her clothes and climbed in—the bottom was already lined with ice, and the bone-chilling cold instantly wrapped around her body.
Standard procedure for deep diving, to combat the immense heat generated by her implants running at full capacity.
She took a deep breath, reached for the data-jack, and slotted the cable into the port at the nape of her neck.
The next second, her consciousness detached from physical constraints, sinking into the vast data network.
The sensations of the real world—cold, gravity—faded rapidly.
Before her unfolded a digital landscape of light and information.
Like a fish in water, she effortlessly bypassed the target logistics company's seemingly solid but actually riddled firewall, diving into its core database.
Log records flashed past her like streams of light. She precisely captured keywords matching David's description, tracing the digital footprint of that fridge: scrap application approval, asset deregistration record, haulage contract number...
Finally, she locked onto the transport vehicle's info and the driver on duty.
"Found it." Her voice came through the comms, carrying a trace of exhaustion usually hidden—the mark of consciousness just returning from the deep data-sea. "That fridge was reported for scrap months ago due to lease expiry and aging. Disposal records show it was collected by a haulage company and transported to your sector. Vehicle and driver info sent."
Back at the landfill, David looked at the detailed info on his terminal, his spirit lifting.
"Thanks. Really, big help."
"Don't mention it," Lucy's voice returned to its usual tone, but she added, "That area is huge. Be careful."
The call ended. David looked at the trash mountain again. The task was still daunting, but at least now he had a starting point.
Armed with the key intel, David wasted no time. He tracked down the garbage truck driver based on the leads.
After some conversation—and a little "persuasion" to help the man's memory—the driver finally recalled that the specific big item had been dumped on the western edge of the landfill, near the wreckage of an old crusher, due to a minor unloading accident.
With this relatively precise location, David plunged back into the stench-filled trash mountain.
Heading in the direction the driver indicated, he began a new round of searching through the mountains of waste.
This time, the goal was clearer.
He stumbled forward, the "ground" beneath his feet soft and treacherous, threatening to collapse at any moment.
Rotting fluids soaked his pant legs. The stench nearly pierced his mask, making him gag.
He searched the area repeatedly, poking everywhere with a scavenged rebar.
One day passed. Nothing.
The second day, he expanded the search radius, working almost without sleep.
Sweat mixed with grime, making him look like a true scavenger.
Exhaustion and despair constantly assaulted him, but the thought of his mother's empty eyes staring at the ceiling forced him to continue.
On the afternoon of the third day, his rebar struck something unusually hard. Clearing away the rotting woven bags and electronic waste covering it, the familiar outline of a fridge, covered in rust and scratches, finally emerged.
Immense joy instantly washed away days of fatigue. He carefully cleared the trash around the fridge, confirming the casing had no obvious structural damage aside from normal wear and rust. He tried to push it; the fridge didn't budge. It was incredibly heavy.
He immediately called the bastion, asking for transport help. Luckily, Falco and Rebecca had just finished a job in the city and were driving their off-roader back.
Hours later, Falco's vehicle bumped its way to the edge of the landfill. Rebecca jumped out, looking at the filthy, smelly David, and pinched her nose. "Holy scrap, David, you look more like trash than the trash!"
David smiled sheepishly, pointing to the cleared fridge. "Found it. That's the one."
Falco checked the fridge's position and the surrounding terrain, frowning. "That big boy won't be easy to load. Becca, give us a hand."
The siblings and David, using the vehicle's winch and crowbars, spent considerable effort finally getting the heavy fridge onto the truck bed.
During the process, Rebecca curiously tried to open the door several times to see what treasure was inside, but David stopped her nervously. "Boss said don't open it!"
"Tch, stingy," Rebecca pouted, but didn't insist.
On the way back, all three were filled with curiosity about the fridge's contents.
"Hey, a fridge this big... enough to hide a person, right?" Rebecca sat in the passenger seat, looking back at the secured appliance.
David remained silent. He was full of questions too, but he cared more about whether completing the mission meant he could finally start learning the knowledge to save his mother.
(End of Chapter)