Yi Ni lowered her head and looked at the thing in the boy's hand. It was a transparent plastic display box that was covered with various scratches. Inside the box was an old camera whose shell was somewhat damaged, revealing the motherboard inside.

"Menshu CTX-50?"

Yi Ni looked at the camera and was stunned for a moment, then looked surprised.

"Hey, do you know this?"

The boy opened the box and took out the camera inside.

"Of course, the Menshu CTX-50 was the top camera ten years ago, a classic of the Menshu Group,"

Yi Ni looked at the camera in the boy's hand and nodded, "Back then, this camera was sold for tens of thousands of federal coins. Now that the federal second-hand market is in better condition, it can be sold for five or six hundred federal coins. Where do you get it?"

Did you get to this? Second-hand market?"

"I bought it from the garbage disposal station. A scavenger prepared to sell it to me for ten federal coins. I negotiated the price to six federal coins."

The boy turned on the camera, and with a burst of blurry startup icons, the entire camera slowly turned on. He showed the camera monitor screen to Yi Ni and said, "I originally thought this thing couldn't be used, but it turned out that the capacitor was broken. I went directly to find it."

I connected a wire to the motherboard and skipped the capacitor, but I didn't expect it to still turn on."

Yi Ni couldn't understand what the boy meant when he said the capacitor was damaged and the jumper was connected, but she could understand that the boy bought something worth hundreds of federal coins for six federal coins, and nodded in admiration, "You are so lucky, your ability

Also strong."

"It's just good luck."

The boy glanced at the camera screen, which had a blurry screen. At this moment, the screen was still showing the blurry startup interface. "This camera is a bit stuck when it starts up. Please wait for me."

After saying that, the boy passed by Yi Ni and walked to the other side of the house.

"good."

Yi Ni nodded, turned sideways, and made way for the boy.

Then she saw the boy put the camera on a small cabinet at the door, and then took out a small paper box from under the cabinet, which contained pieces of black, shapeless and lumpy objects.

The boy carried the small paper box to his mother's bedside, and then pulled out a small iron basin from the pile of debris.

"This is?"

Yi Ni watched the boy put the long object into the iron basin. After a little doubt, she asked in a low voice, "Charcoal?"

She had seen these in the news and books. It was said that real animal meat grilled over charcoal would be more fragrant than electric grilled. This kind of barbecue was very popular among the upper echelons of the federation.

But generally only high-end restaurants and wealthy people can afford charcoal and animal meat for barbecue. Yi Ni has only heard of it, but has never seen it.

"Um,"

The boy nodded slightly, placed a gap between the charcoal, took out an electric fire starter, and stuffed some plastic bags under the charcoal, lit the plastic bag, and slowly ignited the charcoal.

"The garbage pulled from the east will contain these things. Many of the boxes have just been unpacked and a few pieces have not been used. They seem to have been a little damp or out of shape, so they were thrown away, and the garbage treatment plant will be low.

They sell these to us at a very low price. There is no electricity or heater here, so we have to rely on these things."

The boy turned deep into the house, picked up a kettle still filled with water, and a homemade iron stand. He hung the kettle on the iron stand and placed it on the brazier to boil water.

He himself dug out a set of clothes from the alley beside the bed, looked up at Yi Ni, turned around, opened the door, and walked outside.

The charcoal flame was burning brightly, and the wind outside the window blew past the poster sealing the window, making a thumping sound.

"Sit down."

The woman sitting on the bed took out a round plastic stool from the other side of the bed and handed it to Yi Ni.

"Ahhhh, okay."

Yi Ni quickly took the stool and sat on the edge of the bed, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Jelin hasn't introduced himself to you yet? This kid is a little reckless sometimes,"

The woman leaning against the wall held a thermos cup in her hand and said with a gentle smile, "My name is Zhaojia, and that guy's name is Jielin."

"My name is Yi Ni."

Yi Ni quickly replied with some restraint, then she raised her head and looked around, and asked softly, "Have you always lived here?"

"Yini, a very nice name,"

Zhaojia raised his head and looked at the poster on the fluttering window, "I haven't always been here. Before I got sick, I was in a low-cost apartment in the middle of Ningweis District. Later I got sick and was dismissed from the company.

I was fired, my credit card was blocked because it was overdue, and I couldn't afford the rent for the apartment, so I had no choice but to bring Jielin here."

"that···"

Yi Ni opened her mouth but stopped talking.

"Are you asking about Jielin's father? He died when Jielin was nine years old."

Zhaojia took a sip of hot water and sighed lightly, "He used to work as a miner in Copes Mining. A large part of the mining machine collapsed. He and several nearby workers were crushed to death before they had time to run."

"Feel sorry."

Yi Ni spoke slowly.

"fine,"

Zhaojia responded gently, holding the water glass and speaking in a slightly lower voice, "In a sense, he is actually lucky. At least he left without any pain."

"Didn't you get any compensation?"

Yi Ni lowered her head and asked carefully.

"One person paid 300 federal dollars for funeral expenses, and it took him half a year to pay us."

Zhaojia sighed softly, "A few family members felt that the money was too little and wanted more. They were beaten up by gang members on the way, and then they did not dare to ask for money."

After hearing this answer, Yi Ni was silent for a moment.

The charcoal flames were burning brightly, reflecting on the woman's profile, and the room seemed a little quiet.

Finally, Yi Ni glanced at the unlabeled medicine on the bedside table and slowly broke the silence, "What is your disease...?"

"Malignant neoplasm,"

Zhaojia smiled, took a look at the medicine,

"The doctor said I needed an operation. I used to work as a waiter in a fast food chain. I didn't have medical insurance and couldn't afford the operation fee. Then I came here and met a few underground doctors. They prescribed me some analgesics and pain relievers.

Medicine, no matter how expensive it is, we can’t afford it,”

She paused, looked at Yi Ni, and said with a smile, "We won't talk about this topic anymore. Jielin said, are you here to buy photos today? Can photos still be sold for money?"

"Not quite,"

Yi Ni paused and explained slowly, "I'm here to collect information about the mayor's assassination. Just last night, the mayor was assassinated near here. Jie Lin said that he had photos of the mayor's battle at that time.

, there are mechas, and aerial fighters.”

"The mayor was assassinated?"

After hearing Yi Ni's words, Zhaojia was stunned for a moment. The two terms 'mayor' and 'assassination' seemed to be particularly far away from her. She never expected that her child would be related to this matter.

, she looked at Yi Ni with some doubts, "Last night?"

"Um,"

Yi Ni nodded, "It is said to be this time."

Sitting on the bed, Zhaojia recalled for a moment, "I remembered, I seemed to have heard a lot of loud roars last night. I couldn't see the scene outside. I thought it was thunder. Jielin did go out to see

He even brought his camera with him. So it turned out that the mayor was assassinated?"

She looked at Yi Ni and sighed,

"I'm afraid it was very dangerous last night. This kid Jielin won't tell me anything now.

"I originally wanted to send him to school, but my health is getting worse and worse. I can't take care of him and can't afford his tuition. Instead, I asked him to take care of me."

She looked at Yi Ni with sincere eyes, "Jie Lin is under a lot of pressure and may be a little impulsive in doing things. If I say something bad, please don't pay attention."

"Will not,"

Yi Ni waved her hands quickly, "He is actually... quite easy to talk to."

boom--

At this time, the door was pushed open. The boy who had changed his clothes glanced at Yi Ni, put the wet clothes by the fire to bake, then walked back to the cabinet at the back, took out the camera, and looked at Yi Ni.

ni,

"It's on."

He quickly operated and handed the camera to Yi Ni, "I clicked into the photo album, take a look."

Yi Ni took the camera, and after a slightly long wait for loading, a picture filled with flames appeared in front of Yi Ni through the somewhat blurry screen.

In this photo, you can vaguely see the blurry flying fighter planes, the mechas flying in the distance, and the flames blooming in the sky.

However, this photo was not taken well. The ineffective flames took up most of the entire photo frame, while the core mechas and aerial fighters only took up a small part, and the photo was not very clear.

"I took continuous shots, and there are more later."

The boy behind her said quickly.
To be continued...