Chapter 00225: Share the Blessings Together
# Share the Blessings Together
Chapter 225
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 225: Share the Blessings Together
In the brief stillness of the corner, Sun Ci’s gaze gradually sharpened, piercing like a knife, ready to puncture that shattered face before him.
“Speak.”
“My teacher taught me some techniques. I need some spirit essence supplements, purified mercury, and materials…” Ji Jue forced a bitter smile, “If all goes well, the efficiency could improve a lot.”
“How much more?” Sun Ci pressed.
Ji Jue pondered for a moment—mainly calculating how much work he could take on without being seen as a freak: “If luck is on my side, I can handle seventy dissections and cleanings on my own.”
Almost half...
Sun Ci inhaled sharply, nearly surprised, but quickly stifled his excitement and asked directly, “Why help me? With that ability, wouldn’t it be better to flatter the new management?”
“What can a seller of gutters do once they become management, other than exploit others to amass capital?” Ji Jue smiled bitterly, his scarred face seeping blood, “As a cripple, I can’t expect a team leader to take care of me. Should I depend on someone like that?”
“…” Sun Ci fell silent, pondering for a long while before asking, “What do you want?”
“I only hope that if you ever have the chance to leave this place, you can lend me a helping hand.” Ji Jue patted the two crutches supporting him, his tone tinged with bitterness, “I fear I won’t last much longer.”
Sun Ci paused, looking at Ji Jue, as if seeing another, more miserable version of himself.
Finally, he made up his mind.
“If I fail, I might end up being dragged away tomorrow, and worse off than you.”
“I know.”
“But even if I’m dragged away tomorrow, today I am still your management. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Of course.”
Ji Jue nodded.
If I die, don’t think you will have it easy; you had better come up with a plan.
“As long as you can help me, I am open to anything.” Sun Ci extended his hand, “From now on, we share the blessings.”
Ji Jue also smiled, blood seeping from his face as he grasped Sun Ci’s hand, their meaning profound:
“Let’s bear the hardships together.”
With this second lifeline firmly grasped, Sun Ci dared not hesitate.
As a manager, he certainly received some preferential treatment compared to ordinary workers.
Not long after, the spirit essence supplements, mercury, and numerous materials Ji Jue requested were delivered to him.
Mainly, these were either common consumables or ordinary materials that weren’t difficult to obtain; it was just that the apprentices lacked channels.
Sun Ci negotiated with a friend from higher up, pleading with tears in his eyes, exhausting all goodwill, and finally managed to gather them all.
Next, it was Ji Jue’s turn.
And it wasn’t just him who was watching.
Everyone in the group was quietly observing—eager to see if the newcomer, who boasted he could solve half the problem, truly had the skill to back it up.
Ji Jue, however, was unfazed.
Holding the supplement bottle, he skillfully knocked it against the corner of the table.
After removing the cap, he poured the contents into his mouth, swallowing five or six at once.
After experiencing serious injuries and being drained all day, his nearly parched spirit essence finally returned to full strength.
In truth, this was merely for show.
With his cousin’s help, Ji Jue hadn’t even touched his own reserve of spirit essence.
Now, he was simply trying to convince others that his techniques demanded a lot of spirit essence.
After that, he picked up the processing tools on the table and skillfully began working on the materials before him.
Soon, a steel arm skeleton wrapped in tendons appeared on his desk.
He picked it up, tossed it into the mercury vat, and when he withdrew it, a new arm was in his hand.
He then commanded Sun Ci to make a bloody incision on his own back that was completely unnecessary.
Amidst the “agonizing screams” and “painful convulsions,” he forcibly attached the toxic arm.
Then another, and then another.
Before long, four arms had emerged from his back.
Seeing Ji Jue’s methods so unorthodox, Sun Ci’s eyes lit up increasingly—everyone knew that the remnants didn’t fear the bizarre; sometimes, the more outlandish the technique, the more impressive the results.
Watching Ji Jue pay such a heavy price while those four arms were so nimble, he finally sighed in relief, his heart settling.
And when a literal storm erupted from the workstation, he could no longer contain himself, bursting into wild laughter!!!
With six arms in motion, working in perfect harmony, could it merely triple their output?
What was now consistently being delivered was the cursed spikes from the frontline.
Towering like an ordinary person, these massive iron stakes, once embedded in the earth's veins, would forcefully trigger all malevolence, spreading deadly toxins.
The contamination they held was even more significant.
For these past few days, simply dealing with these discarded items had consumed a countless number of apprentices.
Even Ji Jue’s predecessor at that position had opted for suicide under such immense pressure.
Yet, when such complex matters fell into Ji Jue’s hands, they seemed like children’s toys, easily dismantled, processed, cleaned, and maintained.
Flowing like clouds, highly pleasing to the eye.
The loss rate was astonishingly low; just a little rework, followed by the installation of new cores, and they could be utilized again immediately.
Truly, a craftsperson’s personally trained apprentice—this level of skill and experience was something the wild apprentices could hardly match.
However, such techniques brought with them considerable pressure.
Ji Jue’s expression continuously twitched and distorted, as if enduring torment.
In reality… Ji Jue was on the verge of throwing up.
It felt like eating at the Red Stone.
Like indulging in fine delicacies, only to suddenly encounter a mouthful of curry tasting like dog excrement, even a mechanical deity would begin to consider quitting.
—What manner of waste and garbage is all this?
Everything was a mess, relying on spirit essence to patch things up.
The structures conflicted with each other, maintained through wicked mutations, producing deformed products; no wonder the scrap rate was so high!
To keep all these useless individuals around must be exhausting!
Yet, though they were trash, some of the arcane techniques refined through aberrations were not without merit… at least many skills could be applied to the ordinary apprentices.
If he could trigger the power within the dragon’s blood, perhaps he could even add a fire-breathing feature?
Without needing to painstakingly dismantle for recovery, Ji Jue began his research.
……
After observing for a while, Sun Ci turned and left, his smile vanishing, replaced by an icy visage, urging those few apprentices trying to slacken their pace to improve their efficiency.
The seventy machines Ji Jue claimed were no empty words.
But if others faltered, he feared he wouldn’t be able to endure this ordeal.
Using carrots as bait, supplemented with the cracking of a little whip, the apprentices exerted their utmost effort once more, afraid to slack off.
Time trickled by second by second, and the impressive efficiency and output caught the attention of the entire underground workshop, with nearly every group looking up in curiosity.
Seeing the finished components being packed into boxes, piling into a small mountain.
At last, they arrived at the office.
Before the supervisor.
The total count was one hundred fifty-nine.
Nine extra beyond that.
“…”
In the long silence, the supervisor’s expression shifted, darkening or turning cold, until he forced a smile.
“Very good, excellent! Truly commendable!”
He reached out, vigorously patting Sun Ci’s shoulder, his eyes turning to Ji Jue behind him, looking “exhausted” and “haggard,” slowly nodding: “As expected of a student personally taught by a craftsman; the efficiency is indeed extraordinary.”
“You better keep it up, Old Sun.”
The supervisor glanced at Sun Ci, his meaning clear: “Don’t let those beneath you surpass you.”
“Like the rivers behind the Yangtze, pushing the waves forward.”
Sun Ci maintained his smile, clearly unfazed by the tactic.
At a moment like this, would he let his greatest supporter create internal conflict? This supervisor was likely grinning so widely it was hard to close his legs.
Without giving the supervisor a chance to interrupt or shirk his responsibilities, he directly asked, “Look, everything is here. If you could sign off once the inspection is complete, I’ll take my leave.”
The supervisor paused for a moment.
He looked deeply at Sun Ci.
Abruptly, he reached out, yanked the clipboards toward him, signed the inspection document, tossed the clipboard back, and turned to leave.
Nearby, of course, the workers were busy sorting the completed parts, ready for overall transport.
However, upon returning to the office and shutting the door, the smile on the supervisor’s face vanished without a trace.
What replaced it was only a fierce and sullen expression.
Standing before the window, gazing out at the nearby furnace and the mountain of parts, his demeanor gradually calmed, leaving only a trace of coldness slowly surfacing.
“The new cripple truly is a calamity…”
He murmured softly, “Thankfully, calamities do not live long.”
His hands clasped tightly behind his back, making a resolute decision—having maintained safe production for so long, it was about time for an accident, wasn’t it? Losing a few people was inevitable…
In that moment, he seemed to see something squirming atop the pile of parts, crawling out.
Like a worm.
He squinted to look closer, yet saw nothing.
Then, he saw nothing at all.
Boom!!!!!!
From the deafening roar, the entire underground workshop shook violently, flames spreading, thick smoke billowing, and a gust of air sweeping through, as massive amounts of fuel poured like fiery rain.
Screams and cries rang out.
Everyone saw it—right beside the supervisor’s office… that immense furnace connecting all the workstations, erupted with a thunderous bang!!!
“Supervisor! Supervisor!!!”
The delicate apprentice, as if bereaved of parents, instinctively rushed toward the office, amid the flames, searching.
But then, his expression changed suddenly; he instinctively tried to turn and flee.
Unfortunately, it was already too late…
Amidst the flames, a partially burned corpse, wrapped in thick, viscous blackness, suddenly stirred.
On its charred face, a ravenous smile emerged.
A massive blood-red eye opened up from its chest, while black tendrils emerged from the cracks, entwining around the metal, tugging it closer, reassembling itself; in an instant, it fused into a towering monstrosity, several meters high, using crushed flesh and blood as the adhesive.
Suddenly striking out, it caught the apprentice, crushing him to pieces.
Ravenous consumption.
The piercing alarm blared, becoming increasingly urgent, loud, and shrill.
Making everyone’s faces turn in horror.
That was not a fire alarm; it was an even more perilous major accident: contamination leak, aberrant amalgamation!
—[Residual Aberration]!
Amidst the shrill alarms, Ji Jue lifted a rusted cup to his lips, took a sip, and began to hum softly.
One day, the originally peaceful workshop was suddenly besieged by an unknown parasitic life form…
Thus, everything became lively.
Ah, it’s the last day of the month.
Please give me a monthly ticket, woo woo woo woo.
(End of Chapter)