Zhao Qiang struggled under the weight of the black box, his arms aching as he finally set it down with a heavy thud. He had never lifted anything so dense—he doubted even a solid gold ingot of the same size would weigh as much.
"Hurry up and dismantle it! The sooner we're done, the sooner we can head home for dumplings," one of the workers urged. A group of men, armed with hammers and crowbars, approached a pile of discarded refrigerators, eager to extract compressors and copper piping. The leftover metal sheets would be sold as scrap.
"Hey, what's that thing he's holding?" A worker pointed at the strange black box Zhao Qiang had just set down. It was roughly the size of an old VCD player, the type that played three discs in sequence, but it lacked a disc tray or any buttons. It wasn't an amplifier either—there were no input or output jacks.
"Forget it. Just smash it open and see what's inside. It's all junk anyway," another worker declared, swinging his hammer. Zhao Qiang was curious but had no say—it wasn't his property. Still, he squatted nearby, eager to see what was hidden within the mysterious box.
Bang!
The hammer struck—and bounced off. The black box remained unscathed.
"What the hell?!" One of the workers rubbed his wrist, stunned. Even hardened steel wouldn't withstand such an impact. The group's curiosity deepened, and they turned their full attention to breaking it open.
With sheer determination and dozens of hammer blows, the box finally cracked. A crowbar was wedged into the gap, and with two men pressing down while another two stomped on the box, it finally shattered with a loud bang.
Their excitement quickly turned to disappointment.
Inside was nothing more than a circuit board.
A strange one, though—shimmering darkly under the bright midday sun. Something about it sent a chill down Zhao Qiang's spine. Unlike the usual cluttered circuit boards filled with resistors and capacitors, this one was minimalistic, its primary features rows of unmarked integrated chips. At its center, a golden chip gleamed, vaguely resembling a CPU.
"What a waste of time," one worker grumbled, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"No copper, no valuable parts… Just scrap." The others shared his frustration. They had dismantled plenty of old electronics before—if this thing had any real worth, their boss wouldn't have tossed it in the junk pile.
Bang!
Another frustrated worker swung his hammer again, shattering the delicate circuits. Zhao Qiang winced. He wasn't sure why, but seeing the destruction bothered him. Something about the components felt… significant.
The workers lost interest and drifted back to their tasks. The black box was forgotten.
Still intrigued, Zhao Qiang stepped forward and pried out the golden chip. It was surprisingly loose, and with a little force, he freed it from the board. Examining it closely, he realized its pin layout resembled an old 478-pin CPU.
A spark of excitement ignited within him.
Glancing around to ensure no one was watching, Zhao Qiang quickly slipped the chip into his pocket. Then, with considerable effort, he lifted the shattered remains of the black box and carried it to the boss.
"Twenty bucks. Take it or leave it," the boss said with a dismissive wave.
Zhao Qiang frowned. He was lucky he had hidden the CPU—otherwise, the boss might have jacked up the price. "Boss, I'm just a poor student. Can't you lower it a bit?"
"Eighteen, final offer."
Zhao Qiang sighed but didn't argue further. He paid, hoisted the heavy metal casing onto his back, and hurried off to work, stopping only to buy a bun for lunch. If he was late, Wang Yidong would dock his pay.
As expected, Wang Yidong showed up right as the afternoon shift began. Spotting Zhao Qiang and Ma Xiaohua at their stations, he turned away, ignoring the fact that Zhang Chunjiang was late yet again.
Even though Zhao Qiang now had a mysterious CPU, he couldn't experiment with it yet. If he got caught tinkering during work hours, the ten-yuan bonus he earned earlier would be clawed back several times over. But he could at least prepare—borrowing a system installation disc, finding a USB CD drive… small steps toward his project.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, an eerie chill clung to his chest.
Each time he touched the pocket where he had stashed the golden chip, he found it unnervingly cold—like a piece of ice that never melted. The late-summer heat did nothing to warm it. If it were winter, he doubted he could stand carrying it at all.
After finishing his shift at 9 PM, Zhao Qiang finally returned to his dormitory at Tunghai University. As expected, the room was empty—his roommates were likely at an internet café. It was the weekend, so the power supply wasn't restricted.
A perfect opportunity.
Zhao Qiang retrieved his scavenged components and the company's screwdriver and pliers—he'd have to return them in the morning to avoid trouble with Wang Yidong.
Placing a broken laptop on the desk, he started disassembling it. He needed to remove the back cover to install the CPU, but no matter how much he pried, it wouldn't budge.
Frustration mounted.
He nearly resorted to brute force before forcing himself to step back, take a deep breath, and rethink. There must be a hidden screw.
Sure enough, after carefully examining the laptop's crevices with a flashlight, he realized he had to remove the keyboard first.
Half an hour later, success.
The CPU slot was exposed. Taking out the golden chip, he measured it against the slot—perfect fit.
Sliding it into place, Zhao Qiang fastened it securely. For a split second, he thought he saw a faint glow ripple across its surface, but