Osiris' instructions were clear, leaving no room for negotiation.
The members of Maine's crew looked at each other. Although they all felt a pang of pity for David, the newcomer, having to go to that boundless junkyard alone, no one offered to help.
This was not only because Osiris' decision was hard to change, but also because they all knew this was the path David had chosen himself, the first hurdle he had to overcome alone.
To gain something, one must pay the corresponding price; no one can rely on others forever.
Maine pressed David's shoulder firmly, his voice low: "Since you've chosen it, don't look back."
Dorio silently handed over a well-protective respirator, gently reminding him: "Be careful. Besides trash, that place also has some… unsavory characters."
Rebecca, on the other hand, pouted, dug a small roll of medical bandage from her pocket, and tossed it to David: "Here, take it! It can last a while if you get cut. Don't expect me to come fish you out."
David took the items and quietly said, "Thank you." He understood that this was all the support they could give him.
Without another word, David turned and walked towards his weathered scooter, its paint peeling.
The engine let out a low gasp, carrying him towards the massive landfill.
The closer he got, the stronger the pungent smell in the air—a mix of rotting organic matter, chemical waste, and metal rust—became. Even with a respirator, it was hard to completely block out.
When the full scope of the garbage mountain came into view, David truly understood the difficulty of this task.
It wasn't a "field" at all, but a continuous, boundless mountain range made up of countless piles of garbage.
Discarded vehicle shells, broken home appliances, twisted metal frames, rotting unknown substances… layer upon layer, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Occasionally, he could see some tiny figures moving slowly on the garbage mountain; those were vagrants who made a living by scavenging.
David stood at the edge of the garbage mountain, feeling a wave of dizziness and powerlessness.
Searching for a specific refrigerator in this vast ocean of waste was no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.
He re-examined the file Osiris had given him. It only contained a blurry picture of a refrigerator, an old, expired address, and the refrigerator's model number.
Blindly searching would definitely be a dead end.
David forced himself to calm down. He realized he had to rely on intelligence, not brute force.
He repeatedly checked the file, noticing a nearly overlooked barcode remnant at the end of the document. This might be a clue.
David stood at the edge of the garbage mountain, the mixed stench in the air almost piercing his respirator.
He looked at the boundless wasteland of discarded civilization before him and felt a wave of dizziness.
Blindly searching would definitely be a dead end; he had to seek help.
He dialed Lucy's number.
"Lucy," his voice was a bit dry from tension and fatigue, "Can… you do me a favor? I need to look up a company's internal records regarding the disposal process of a scrapped refrigerator."
Meanwhile, at the outpost in Wasteland Town.
Lucy was leaning back in her seat, resting, when David's voice came through the internal communication. She listened to his request, didn't ask further, and simply responded: "What information?"
David immediately relayed the key information from the file.
"I'll give it a try," Lucy said, then got up from her seat.
She walked to the corner of the room, where a special bathtub was placed.
She skillfully shed her clothes, then lay inside—the bottom of the tub was already covered with a layer of ice, and the biting cold instantly enveloped her body.
This was a standard procedure for netrunners during work, used to combat the immense heat generated when implants ran at full speed.
She took a deep breath, reached for the data port nearby, and plugged the connecting cable into the neural port at the back of her neck.
The next second, her consciousness detached from physical constraints and sank into the vast data network.
The sensations of the real world—cold, gravity—quickly receded.
Before her eyes unfolded a digital landscape composed of light and information.
Like a fish, she easily bypassed the target logistics company's seemingly solid but actually riddled firewall, infiltrating its core database.
Archive records, like glowing data streams, shuttled past her. She precisely captured keywords matching David's description, tracing the digital footprint of that refrigerator: scrap application approval, asset write-off records, clear-out contract number… Finally, she locked onto the information of the vehicle responsible for transport and the data of the driver on duty.
"Found it." Her voice came through the communication, with a barely perceptible hint of fatigue, a trace of consciousness just returning from the deep sea of data: "That refrigerator was declared scrapped a few months ago due to an expired lease and equipment aging. Disposal records show it was taken by a clear-out company and transported to the area where you are. Vehicle and driver information has been sent to you."
At the garbage mountain, David's spirits lifted as he looked at the detailed information received on his terminal.
"Thank you, you've really helped a lot."
"You're welcome." Lucy's voice returned to its usual tone, but she added, "That area is very large, be careful."
The communication cut off. David looked at the garbage mountain before him again. Although the task was still arduous, at least now, he had a clear starting point.
Having obtained the crucial information, David's spirits lifted. He didn't delay and immediately found the garbage truck driver based on the clues.
After some conversation and a little trick to help the driver remember, he finally recalled that the particularly large item, due to a small accident during unloading, had been left at the western edge of the garbage mountain, near the remains of an old crusher.
With this relatively precise location, David once again plunged into the foul-smelling garbage mountain.
He headed in the direction the driver indicated, beginning a new round of searching among the mountains of waste.
With a relatively precise location, David once again plunged into the garbage mountain.
This time, the goal was much clearer.
He walked in the direction the driver indicated, his steps sinking and rising.
The "ground" beneath his feet was soft and dangerous, liable to collapse at any moment.
Rotten liquid soaked his pant legs, and the stench almost penetrated his mask, making him feel nauseous in waves.
He repeatedly searched that area, poking around with a scavenged steel bar.
A day passed, with no results.
The next day, he expanded his search area, almost without sleep.
Sweat mixed with grime, making him look like a true vagrant.
Fatigue and despair constantly assailed him, but whenever he thought of his mother's vacant eyes in the hospital bed, he forced himself to continue.
On the afternoon of the third day, when his steel bar poked an unusually hard piece of metal, and he pushed aside the rotting woven bags and electronic waste covering it, the familiar outline of a refrigerator, covered in rust and scratches, finally emerged.
A surge of immense joy instantly dispersed the fatigue of the past few days. He carefully cleared the garbage around the refrigerator, confirming that its exterior, apart from normal wear and rust, had no obvious structural damage. He tried to push it; the refrigerator didn't budge, its weight astonishing.
He immediately called the outpost to ask if anyone could help with transportation. Fortunately, Falco and Rebecca had just completed a mission in the city and were returning in their off-road vehicle.
A few hours later, Falco's off-road vehicle rattled as it approached the edge of the garbage mountain. Rebecca jumped out, looking at David, who was covered in dirt and emitting an unpleasant smell, and pinched her nose: "Wow, David, you look more like trash than the trash itself now!"
David smiled awkwardly, pointing to the refrigerator he had cleared: "Found it, this is it."
Falco checked the refrigerator's location and the surrounding terrain, frowning: "This big guy won't be easy to get onto the car. Rebe, lend a hand."
The siblings and David, with great effort, using the vehicle's winch and pry bars, finally managed to get the heavy refrigerator onto the bed of the off-road vehicle.
During the process, Rebecca curiously tried to open the refrigerator door several times to see what treasure was inside, but David nervously stopped her: "The boss said not to open it!"
"Hmph, cheapskate." Rebecca pouted but didn't insist further.
On the way back, all three were filled with curiosity about the contents of the refrigerator.
"I say, this refrigerator is so big, it's enough to hide a person, right?" Rebecca sat in the passenger seat, looking back at the secured refrigerator.
David was silent; he, too, was full of questions, but what he cared about more was whether, having completed the mission, he could quickly begin learning the knowledge to heal his mother.