Chapter 4: Silver Coin and Black Cat

The final class of the afternoon was usually a self-study period reserved for students to complete homework.

By now, the sky had already darkened considerably.

Several Gray Crystal Lamps inside the classroom had all been lit.

Cheng Han narrowed his eyes as he stared at the elegantly designed Gray Crystal Lamps, his thoughts drifting.

The so-called “Gray Crystal Lamps” were lighting devices powered by “Gray Crystals,” which were special crystals containing small amounts of Origin Energy.

Likewise, the crystal-powered vehicles speeding along the roads and the various machines operating inside factories were all driven by Gray Crystals.

Cheng Han had given such things a collective name—

Crystal Energy Technology.

However, although Gray Crystals were extremely useful, they were also expensive. Only wealthy families could afford to use them.

Qinglin City’s Council Hall treated schools especially generously and covered all school lighting expenses, allowing students to enjoy bright Gray Crystal Lamps free of charge.

Incidentally, electricity did not exist at all in this world.

There was no static electricity in daily life, nor had lightning and thunder ever appeared in the skies.

Cheng Han had once attempted to build a hand-cranked generator, but unfortunately he could not even find a single magnetic object. The people around him did not even know what magnetism was.

At this moment, Qian Qingqing sat beside him, occasionally sneaking glances at his profile.

Sensing her gaze, Cheng Han turned his head and asked,

“Why do you keep looking at me?”

Qian Qingqing’s tone sounded somewhat dreamy.

“The more I think about it, the more I feel that you’re completely different from the other boys in class.”

Cheng Han blinked.

“How am I different?”

Qian Qingqing immediately gave an example.

“Yesterday in history class, the teacher talked about several terrible disasters related to the ‘Three Great Evil Gods,’ saying that the Evil Gods are the source of all calamities.

“But you said that human desire is the real root cause. Even if Evil Gods didn’t exist, as long as humans still possessed greed and similar desires, disasters would never disappear from the world.

“I didn’t believe you at the time, but after dinner yesterday, I brought up your words while chatting with my dad. He said you were absolutely right, and even claimed your insight surpassed many adults.”

Cheng Han merely smiled without saying anything.

On the Blue Planet of his previous life, where were there any Evil Gods?

Yet when one opened the history books, there were countless tyrants and traitors. Extravagant emperors could be found everywhere, while corrupt local tyrants and evil gentry were even more numerous.

Behind the collapse of every dynasty, the root problem was always the same—something had gone terribly wrong with the distribution of benefits and interests. Eventually, the treasury collapsed, and finally the nation itself fell apart.

Ding-ling~

The dismissal bell rang.

The classroom instantly became lively.

Cheng Han quickly packed up his belongings and bid farewell to the little girl.

“See you tomorrow!”

Qian Qingqing responded with a sweet smile.

“See you tomorrow!”

Wen Jie, sitting in the back row, felt another surge of jealousy upon witnessing the scene.

To Cheng Han, exchanging a simple “see you tomorrow” every day was a completely trivial matter.

But to Wen Jie, it was something hopelessly out of reach.

After leaving the teaching building, Cheng Han slipped his right hand into his pocket and grasped a silver coin while silently muttering,

“Deduce places where money can be found.”

This was precisely how he usually “earned” his living expenses.

Based on experience, if he directly performed deductions, he succeeded five times out of ten.

However, if he held a coin while doing so, seven out of ten attempts yielded useful information.

Cheng Han referred to this phenomenon as “correlation.”

That is, when deducing information, possessing an object related to the target greatly increased the success rate.

Very quickly, a phantom image appeared before him.

Beneath shallow soil under a bush, a coin was buried. Perhaps because the skill level was not high enough, the image appeared somewhat blurry, making it difficult to determine the coin’s exact type.

The illusion shifted several times, indicating an approximate route.

His Spirit Value once again decreased by 0.5 points, leaving only 0.6 remaining, though proficiency still did not increase.

Cheng Han felt a slight dizziness.

This was the result of his Spirit Value dropping too low.

He quietly muttered,

“Dongtai Road. I’ll have to take a slight detour.”

At this time, the school gate was extremely lively. Besides large numbers of students, many parents had also come to pick up their children.

Several four-wheeled vehicles were parked along the road. Their appearance resembled automobiles from the 1930s of his previous life. These were the world’s crystal-powered vehicles, each costing over twenty gold coins—something only the wealthy could afford.

Qian Qingqing’s family owned one, and her father drove her to and from school every day.

On the other side was a group of beasts standing nearly two and a half meters tall. Their bodies were covered in thick gray feathers, and they occasionally let out loud cries of “Ang! Ang!”

The instant any person from Blue Planet saw them, they would undoubtedly blurt out one word—

Dinosaurs.

Because the appearance of these beasts was astonishingly similar to the Velociraptors of prehistoric Earth.

They were called “Feather Beasts,” serving a role equivalent to horses. Each cost no less than eight gold coins, and most families with decent finances purchased one as a mount for transportation.

Crystal-powered vehicles were products of industrial civilization, while Feather Beasts carried a savage, primitive aura. Yet the two somehow coexisted together.

Pushing an old bicycle, Cheng Han thought to himself,

“Only a transmigrator could appreciate how surreal this scene is.”

The bicycle was one of the possessions left behind by the original owner of the body. It had at least ten years of history. Whenever it was ridden, it creaked loudly everywhere, as though it might fall apart at any moment.

The original owner had once planned a complete overhaul, but due to poverty, he had never been able to carry it out.

After transmigrating here, Cheng Han repeatedly used his “money-finding technique.” Within the first month, he had already found four silver coins. He used them to purchase a large number of replacement parts, swapped out the severely worn components, and even repainted the bicycle, restoring it to nearly eighty percent new.

The original owner’s long-cherished wish had thus been effortlessly fulfilled.

Fifteen minutes later.

Cheng Han rode his bicycle to Dongtai Road.

This was the factory district. At the moment, there were not many people on the roads, but every factory building on both sides shone brightly with lights.

Factories in this world generally followed an “889” work schedule—

Starting work at eight in the morning, finishing at eight in the evening, and only receiving one day off after working nine consecutive days.

Looking at the scene, Cheng Han could not help muttering,

“I’d rather die than work in a factory in the future.”

After traveling another few dozen meters, he spotted a large patch of bushes beside a wall. Comparing the location with his memories, he nodded.

“This should be the place.”

Cheng Han parked the bicycle, walked over to the bushes, and pulled out a small shovel before beginning to dig into the soil.

After more than ten seconds, a clear metallic sound rang out.

Clink!

The shovel had struck something hard.

Joy immediately appeared on Cheng Han’s face.

“Found it!”

He reached into the dirt and fumbled around for a moment before indeed touching a coin-shaped object. Wiping away the mud coating its surface, a silver-white metallic sheen was revealed.

It was actually a silver coin!

With a cheat ability in hand, making money really was this easy!

Cheng Han grinned.

“The coin was already buried underground, so it was probably lost here a long time ago.”

If the coin still had an identifiable owner, he would naturally return it. But if it had been lost for too long, then with the Omniscient Eye’s current level being insufficient to trace it back, he could only accept it with a smile.

In a good mood, he lightly tossed the silver coin into the air.

“Time to head home.”

“Meow~”

A cat’s cry suddenly sounded nearby.

Cheng Han abruptly turned around toward the wall behind him and saw a black cat crouching atop it. Its pair of eerie green eyes stared directly at him.

After the two sides exchanged gazes for a few moments, the black cat lightly leapt back inside the wall and disappeared from sight.

Cheng Han’s heart suddenly thumped heavily, and an inexplicable sense of unease arose within him.

Unable to help himself, he frowned.

“Was that just my imagination? Or could it really be some kind of bad omen?”

After pondering for a moment, Cheng Han made a decision.

“To be safe, I should probably use the Omniscient Eye for a deduction. But my Spirit Value is almost depleted, so I’ll go home and recover first.”

He mounted the bicycle and quickly rode away.

(End of Chapter)