Chapter 399 My Radio?
Moonlight streamed through the wooden lattice of the window, casting a dappled white pattern on the floor. The scene was both poetic and eerie.
A transistor radio sat quietly on the table, bathed in the moonlight.
Elbert moved forward with effort, the door and table he leaned on creaking under his weight. He glanced at the room next door. Now was the perfect time to verify the old man's identity. If he truly was the 'Hero Savior,' he would surely notice Elbert's sneaky movements. If not, and he continued to snore away, then he was just a regular old man who liked to tell tall tales.
Ten minutes later, Elbert grabbed the radio.
The snoring from the next room continued unabated. Elbert shrugged slightly and started to head back.
Suddenly, there was a noise from the old man's room. He made a strange sound and shifted, turning over in his sleep. Elbert tensed up but relaxed when the snoring resumed. He carefully made his way out of the room.
In the next room, the old man lay with his back to the door, his eyes wide open and glistening with tears. His heart ached. "My radio! Why did you have to go after it? If I stop you, it's disrespectful. If I don't, I lose half my possessions! Damn it!"
Under the moonlight, Elbert crept along the wall through the small courtyard, his heart pounding. Holding the radio, worth at most five dollars, felt more thrilling than earning ten billion.
A noise outside woke Rachel. She opened her window and looked out, seeing nothing unusual. Little did she know, Elbert was crawling beneath her windowsill.
Back in his room, Elbert lit a kerosene lamp. His sense of touch was weak, but he focused and managed to summon a thin strand of liquid metal, barely thicker than a hair. He rubbed his hands together, a thought flashing through his mind. Was this how Dennis felt in the Lab Graveyard, dismantling equipment? Elbert felt a sudden empathy. Everything made sense now; he should support the kid more. After all, except for the limited edition SS454, everything else was just a matter of money.
Elbert nodded to himself and got to work. Soon, he frowned. The radio's batteries were in his hand, two heavily used and deformed batteries covered in bite marks. Elbert was speechless. "Savior, you're really stingy! With these batteries, the radio might not even work, let alone charge a phone!"
Elbert thought quickly. There were no power cables in the mountains. How were the electric curtains powered? Solar? Wind?
He had to investigate further.
Thirty minutes later, the old man had fallen into a deep sleep of sorrow. Suddenly, there was noise in the outer hall. He woke with a start. "Damn it! You're back again!"
"No! My electric curtains, my other half of my possessions!" The old man's body twitched, tears streaming down his face. "I'm doing this to repay your kindness!" He gritted his teeth and pretended to sleep.
Meanwhile, Elbert finally figured out the secret of the electric curtains. Two wires from the motor were connected to a solar panel outside the back window. This was enough to power his phone. Elbert left the wires and motor, taking the solar panel.
Back in his room, with makeshift tools, Elbert spent two hours using the solar panel and the radio's voltage regulator to create a charging device for his phone. Now he just had to wait for sunrise. In about an hour of sunlight, the phone would power on.
At dawn, the eastern sky lightened, and a rooster crowed. The people in the temple woke up promptly, fetching water, washing up, starting fires, and practicing martial arts in an orderly fashion.
Rachel went to Elbert's room and panicked. The bed was empty, and the blanket was cold. Elbert was nowhere to be seen. Rachel was worried. Where could Elbert have gone with such serious injuries? Was he kidnapped? She rushed out to report to her master but stopped in the courtyard, stunned.
On the roof of the tile house, against the backdrop of the red sunrise and drifting morning mist, a man in a dirty white shirt lay on the roof ridge, gazing into the distance. The scene had an indescribable feeling. Though the man wasn't particularly burly, the mountain morning gave him a lazy, unique beauty, like a scene from Eden.
Elbert, who hadn't slept all night, had spent two hours climbing to the roof to ensure the solar panel absorbed the first rays of sunlight. His eyes were dreamy as he looked at the endless, rolling mountains, the dark green pine forest, the mist like sand, the sunrise painting the mountain peaks red, and the occasional white bird soaring. He was unexpectedly captivated by the beauty of the sunrise.
"Elbert! What are you doing up there? How did you get up there?" Rachel's shout brought Elbert back to reality. He looked over to see Rachel frowning, her expression seemingly angry but actually full of concern. Elbert chuckled, "Ms. Nguyen, don't worry. I'm just enjoying the view."
Rachel sighed, "Enjoy it until breakfast. When it's ready, come down." She shook her head and left. Elbert sighed softly. Breakfast? No need. In an hour, he would be gone.
Suddenly, Elbert saw the disheartened old man emerge from the main house. He wandered the courtyard for a moment. "Who took my radio?" The old man seemed to be talking to himself, but Elbert heard him clearly. The old man looked up at Elbert on the roof and said, "Could it be hidden somewhere? I must check up there! But the house is so high, and there's no ladder. What should I do?" The old man thought for a moment, then clapped his hands. The next moment, he lifted his leg slightly and stepped forward, his body rising. It seemed there was an invisible staircase in front of him. The old man, hands behind his back, calmly walked step by step through the air towards Elbert. "Good thing I can control gravity," he muttered to himself.
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