Chapter 00250: On the Brink of Bankruptcy
# On the Brink of Bankruptcy
Chapter 250
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 250: On the Brink of Bankruptcy
No one responded.
It seemed as if the "family members" were also weeping for their master's poverty.
The car door opened behind him, and under the soft glow of the lights, there was no sight of luxurious compartments or meticulous service, only an exposed ceiling where wires hung down, flickering with sparks.
On top of the cabin floor, behind broken iron plates, were parts marred with traces of rust.
The floor beneath his feet was still uncovered, revealing a complex structure.
It felt as though he had stepped into the massive workshop of a shipyard, with every sight bringing new problems and troubles.
"How troublesome," Ji Jue sighed, casually hanging his bag on an exposed screw on the wall, and sitting in the tattered cockpit seat as he surveyed the scene before him.
No matter how many times he looked, it sent chills down his spine.
Amid the ticking of his watch, a pop-up appeared, followed by an endless list of damage alerts—[Central Dispatch Center Unresponsive], [Spiritual Fuel Reserves Critical], [Front Transmission Mechanism Unresponsive], [Stellar Navigation System Unresponsive], [Cargo Hold Damage Alert], [Emergency Maintenance Expired Alert]...
Alerts! Alerts! Alerts! All of them were just alerts.
Surprisingly, the only thing in the entire doomsday train that maintained a passing grade was the core Wanxiang Engine—this was a small blessing amid all the misfortune.
But soon after, the watch's reminder chimed in—oh dear, the engine hasn’t been maintained for over two hundred years.
The overload operation mode has been locked and can now only operate at low power.
Oh, don’t worry, because you don’t even have any fuel, ha ha ha.
The fuel tank is empty!
The reports appeared to be formal and straightforward, yet no matter how Ji Jue looked at them, he could feel a mocking tone towards a poor second-hand vehicle owner lurking between the lines.
The final summary displayed on the watch showed: train completeness at forty-one percent.
It had originally been forty percent; this increase of one percent was the result of Ji Jue's relentless effort over the past few days, stitching and patching things together without rest.
At best, he had only crudely patched a few cracks and hung on a few patches, merely surface fixes.
If he truly tried to drive it, just a moment of inattention might send it back into disrepair.
In fact, it might break down even more.
There was no way around it; getting to forty-one percent was only made possible by the president's reckless opening of the warehouse for supplies and emergency repairs during his time in Spring City.
Coupled with Ji Jue’s mechanical prowess and his authority to manipulate resources across all domains, he managed to piece together a functioning framework from a pile of different model parts.
When there were ample resources, permissions, and supplies available, success was inevitable.
But ever since the president had detached this doomsday train from the sky rail for Ji Jue’s personal use, hard times began.
Without unlimited resources, powerful permissions, and precious instruments, Ji Jue had to deal with the aftermath of the hasty emergency repairs and reorganizations from before.
The internal and complex spiritual circuits resembled a labyrinth, and he had only managed to sort out the most superficial conditions; he hadn’t even dared to tackle the deeper issues.
This was a code mess he created when he got carried away after being blessed, with the only advantage being that it was still operational.
Unfortunately, the only drawback was...
Besides operational capability, it had no other merits.
God knows if solving one bug would cause a hundred more to pop up?
His skills weren’t sufficient; he didn’t have the guts to take action.
If the train's spirit had even a slightly worse temper, it might start pointing fingers and cursing: you are the worst conductor I’ve ever seen!
Fortunately, the engine was too kind, even to this extent of damage, it bore no complaints.
Conductor? Good, let’s stick together!
It didn’t matter; even if it was a small partition, it was impressive enough.
Don’t listen to those outside talking nonsense; there’s no rush.
Take it slow, I’ll cook you some noodles.
As long as I can be with you, I’m willing to do anything…
During the brief activation before, it had shut down most of its functions on its own due to lack of adequate spiritual fuel and the absence of a void track, and had downgraded itself to the most energy-efficient train status.
Before the fuel tank was completely drained, it turned itself to dock mode.
This maximized Ji Jue's relief from worries.
In docking mode, the train would lie dormant with nearly no consumption, while the final energy-forming membrane of the engine drew the entire train into an artificial micro-fracture, sealing it off completely to prevent external disturbances and spying.
With Ji Jue’s current spiritual resources accumulated over a long time, he barely managed to secure the docking area within this workshop's underground region.
It was akin to having a separate space carved out in his own basement, guarded by a threefold verification system involving the watch, Feng Gang, and his own soul as the key.
As expected of a treasure from the Sky Rail Group, even shutting down was done in a grand manner.
Ji Jue felt as if he were being drained dry.
From this point onward, the doomsday train had left the Central Dispatch Center and no longer responded to any commands; it had entered an offline cruising state.
The sole master, user, and administrator was now Ji Jue, who had been rapidly promoted to conductor by the president just moments ago in Spring City.
This was the gift the president had bestowed upon Ji Jue.
Even though it had detached from the entire Sky Rail system, the conductor of the doomsday train still possessed permissions, even more so.
Including the hidden reserve spiritual resource pool which he had relied on all along.
Hmm, after careful inspection, meticulous analysis, and solemn research, Ji Jue discovered that…the reserve spiritual resource pool directly linked to his watch was actually the train’s fuel tank!
In other words, when Ji Jue previously tapped into the reserve spiritual resources, it was like he had taken a rubber hose and inserted it into the fuel tank while trying to suck fuel from the outside.
The act of siphoning was indeed a bit too intense.
Now, however, it was convenient because he could sit directly in the cabin and siphon fuel.
At least it looked much better.
Aside from having nothing to suck on, it honestly had no flaws.
But this was the easiest issue to solve; he just needed to save up slowly.
Gradually, perseverance would wear down stone.
Through his calculations, Ji Jue found out that as long as he didn’t excessively waste spiritual energy or squander his reserves, relying on his recovery efficiency, he could probably gather enough resources over a year to run the doomsday train at its lowest consumption mode for...one minute, maybe.
This was how the Sky Rail worked; even a poor player could rely on welfare and grinding to make it work!
But if he were anxious, it was also alright because the engine wouldn’t be picky.
In necessary situations, in addition to pure spiritual energy, it also supported fuel resources.
The formula was in Ji Jue’s hands.
It just required several Upstanding Essence and several materials that would make one’s heart race at a glance, combined with pure fuel as a carrier, after a process of conversion and refinement, and voilà, it could be made into fuel!
Ignoring Ji Jue’s labor and the acquisition of Upstanding Essence, just one liter of refined fuel would cost under eight hundred thousand, truly a bargain!
Unfortunately, the doomsday train wasn’t a mere beast of burden that could operate on chicken legs alone.
If it truly got operational, the consumption of fuel would be calculated by the ton...
Just thinking about it made Ji Jue feel dizzy.
What a dire plan to sink into poverty?!
With such extravagant demands, wouldn’t it be better to burn my blood instead!
But not burning wouldn’t do…
From a mere lackey to an independent operator, he now had to bear his own costs.
Once an omnipotent extractor, its essence was essentially a trivial part of the massive constructs connected by Feng Gang and the authority to manipulate resources across all domains.
Even without the permissions now, it didn’t matter; it was just a requirement for external appearances, while the conductor's control over the train was absolute and essential.
Ji Jue himself was naturally within the train's domain, but to use that authority, he had to activate the engine.
This included his most cherished emergency survival protocol, which was essentially the conductor’s exclusive privilege—when necessary, the Wanxiang Engine would overload, forcibly elevating its tier and effecting a qualitative change in capability.
It also required a significant amount of resources, not a little at all.
Under forced overload, even ignoring the damage to the engine, he wouldn’t dare calculate the cost of the fuel he would consume.
The only upside was that Ji Jue wouldn’t have to slit his own throat anymore…
Apart from this, there was a great deal of features and permissions on the watch that he could currently neither use nor support to activate.
Among these, the one most useful and the easiest to activate right now was the first—[Return Command].
Under necessary circumstances, it would start the engine, trigger the transfer program, warp the membrane, open a void, and help the user instantly return to the train.
One-click return to city.
The cost of fuel only required about ten liters, translating to roughly ten million federal coins.
When Ji Jue realized he was faced with a seven-digit figure, the first thought that flashed through his mind was a thankful sentiment that it was truly cheap, and he knew he would never achieve wealth in this lifetime.
Just not being destitute was already a victory.
Even if he tied up and dragged Tong Zhi and Tong Hanhan to extort a few billion from the Tong family, he could not fill up so many holes!
Over these days, he had nearly invested all the money he earned in Spring City into this bottomless pit, and now he just barely managed to complete the interior repairs.
To outsiders, it seemed that Master Ji held vast amounts of money, splurging recklessly and buying without a second thought.
Even his VIP card at the Bureau of Balance was about to be upgraded to diamond, yet who would have imagined that in just two days, he might end up desperate enough to fall back on loans and become a debtor?
Just to gather fuel, he was nearly driven mad.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have rushed to the North District to pick up odd jobs before his sick leave was over.
Earning more or less didn’t matter; the main goal was to remedy his previous losses, and while at it, take down a few criminals to extract Upstanding Essence through disassociation techniques.
Today’s big deal has indeed solved his urgent need.
Not only did he earn a fair amount of ill-gotten gains, but he also managed to obtain the copper from the first mountain that could be used to patch the engine.
The filthy money left behind by Yue Ting adhered to the principle that everyone needs to be well-fed.
Ji Jue did not hoard it for himself but tossed his share to Hanhan, the plants’ sister, and his own thirty percent had already arrived before he even got home.
In Cliff City, having the Tong family help with money laundering was incredibly convenient; it was fast and efficient, without a fee—transparent and tax-free!
Along with it was an antiquity payment transferred through the Tong family’s channels to the Bureau of Balance for auction.
These days, there were too many wealthy individuals; a dozen or so vases, oil paintings, and clocks from the Eternal Empire period could auction for several million.
Ji Jue looked at the mountain of worthless junk piling up in his warehouse, his eyes turning green with envy.
Unfortunately, releasing too much at once would only crash the market, and more heavyweight collectibles like the Imperial Guards' ceremonious armor needed to be slowly matched with suitable buyers.
For everything else, it would only be released bit by bit, a slow flow.
Ji Jue never thought that one day, after receiving such a huge sum of money in his account, the feeling in his heart would actually be a sense of relief, realizing he wouldn’t starve anytime soon!
But within just a few minutes, all of it turned into materials at the Bureau of Balance, filling the last gap.
Counting his accumulated Upstanding Essence, it should be enough to make around ninety liters of fuel.
In the literal sense, a fortune squandered.
Brother Engine was devoted to him; he couldn’t abandon it.
Even if, for the moment, the doomsday train couldn’t start, and could only serve as a warehouse and return point.
Not to mention whether it could regain its former ability to connect the mortal realm and traverse worlds after repairs, Ji Jue anticipated that once he broke through to the metamorphic level and achieved rebirth, his soul should be able to bear the load brought by the train docking, allowing him to carry it with him.
At that time, for him, it wouldn’t just be a warehouse and an expensive train anymore.
Rather, it would be a mobile workshop!
(End of Chapter)