The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

The Protective Shield was already shut down. This kind of shield dismantled from an antique mech only kept the main parts; some components that weren’t very important to the shielding function—like the ones used to fix it inside the mech—couldn’t be removed and were therefore discarded by Ji You.

Right now, the energy inside the Protective Shield was almost used up. Ji You glanced at it, feeling a bit regretful, but still picked it up and put it into her own Space Button.

Seeing Shen Sheng looking at her, Ji You said, "Tidy it up a bit and it can still be used."

Shen Sheng’s eyes lit up. "Is this what you call being frugal?"

Ji You: "..."

Ji You definitely wouldn’t call herself stingy. "Frugal" was a much nicer word. So she said with a straight face, "That’s right, it’s called being frugal."

As she spoke, Ji You also pulled out another Protective Shield that had been abused until it was nothing but a pile of wreckage and said, "Don’t be fooled by how useless this looks. The parts on it are actually still fine. You can dismantle them and sell them as scrap. And this energy box—sure, there’s only a tiny bit of energy left. Looks like it’s basically useless, but you can hook up a small light bulb to use as a lamp. A small bulb doesn’t consume much power. With just one abandoned energy box, you can get a month of lighting."

Shen Sheng’s eyes went round. "You can do that?"

"Of course." Ji You was getting more and more smug as she talked, and seeing that Shen Sheng was listening seriously, she enthusiastically shared her life hacks. "We’re both boarders, you know that, right? I live in a single dorm for self-funded students, and stuff like water and electricity bills all have to be paid out of pocket. But thanks to the leftover energy in discarded energy boxes, I hook them up to small light bulbs and have never paid a single credit point in electricity for my everyday lighting."

Shen Sheng: "!!!"

With a face full of admiration, Shen Sheng said sincerely, "Ji You, you’re amazing."

Ji You lifted her chin, looking very proud. "Naturally. When it comes to being frugal, if I rank second, no one dares to claim first."