After a quick glance at the scan results, Jing Mingqiu reached for a screwdriver, preparing to dismantle the large appliance before him. Just then, the mocking voices of the surrounding crowd reached his ears again.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," a tall man, setting down his tools, glanced at Jing Mingqiu and sneered with disdain, "Kid, you don't think the bigger the item, the more valuable its dismantled parts, do you?"
Another gaunt man chimed in, "Kid, don't waste your effort. I've already checked that refrigerator. The compressor and the cooling unit are completely broken. There are no valuable parts left."
"Hahahaha!"
Jing Mingqiu remained unfazed by their mockery, even feeling a slight urge to laugh. After the system upgrade, while more advanced equipment didn't provide modification plans, it could now point out problems within the devices.
With a thought, Jing Mingqiu reopened the system interface and examined the scan results of the three-door refrigerator before him.
[Name: Large Intelligent Nantianmen Refrigerator]
[Refrigerator Main Frame: Severely damaged, dual doors missing, requires supplemental upgrade]
[Cooling System: Core component of the cooling unit missing, compressor lost, requires supplemental upgrade]
[Control System: Motherboard largely intact, but some chips missing, replacement recommended.]
[...]
[Scan Result: Target product severely damaged, and it is a B-class household appliance, exceeding modification scope]
[Please host to upgrade system level as soon as possible]
Jing Mingqiu already knew the most valuable cooling system was mostly scrapped, but what did that have to do with him? He wasn't here to dismantle parts for money; he was here to find electronic components as raw materials for modifications.
Side panel, back panel, insulation layer, drain pipe…
Under Jing Mingqiu's hands, the giant double-door refrigerator was peeled back layer by layer like an onion, revealing its core motherboard.
Whether due to water leakage or years of disrepair, several screws inside this refrigerator were severely rusted. The grooves on their heads were completely smoothed out, making them impossible to remove with a screwdriver.
The tall man noticed this and called out to his companions. The group, who were dismantling parts nearby, temporarily put down their work and gathered around, ready to watch Jing Mingqiu make a fool of himself.
Smoothed-out screw heads were nothing for Jing Mingqiu, who had already attained the level of an Eighth-Grade Mechanic.
Poke, tap, grind, strike…
After a series of fluid operations, those severely rusted screws popped off the refrigerator.
At this point, the outer insulating casing of the refrigerator was completely removed, revealing the cooling system hidden within.
"This kid's got good skills. But," the tall man continued his mockery, "what good is it after taking it apart? The cooling system of this unit is already ruined. You're just wasting your effort."
The others, unwilling to admit they had misjudged, chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. They can't even tell if it's good or bad, wasting such good skills."
Jing Mingqiu's expression remained as usual. He continued wielding his screwdriver. Compressor, condenser coil, evaporator—as the entire cooling system was dismantled, the control system, hidden in the deepest part, finally revealed its true form.
Thermostat, computer controller, defrost thermostat… Seeing these motherboards embedded with a multitude of chips, Jing Mingqiu's face lit up with joy. He eagerly dismantled and collected them all.
The tall man and his group were very confused seeing Jing Mingqiu treat these scrapped motherboards like treasures. Just as they were about to step forward to question him, and perhaps mock him further, the old janitor at the entrance, who had been watching, beat them to it and walked over.
"Young man, these motherboards are scrapped. What are you collecting them for?"
"These motherboards can still function normally; they haven't reached the point of being scrapped. It's just that most people wouldn't use them."
After a casual explanation, Jing Mingqiu, without looking up, headed towards his next target.
Hearing this, the old man's eyes instantly lit up. He took a step forward, blocked Jing Mingqiu's path, and pulled a radio from his pocket, handing it over.
"Young man, my radio is broken. If you can fix it for me, I can authorize a discount. You'll only have to pay eight yuan per jin for parts."
Jing Mingqiu thought about it. He needed to buy a lot of parts here. Motherboard chips were indeed not heavy, but engines, batteries, bearings – these things would weigh at least twenty to thirty jin, and over a hundred jin wasn't uncommon.
Two yuan cheaper per jin, two hundred yuan for a hundred jin, twenty thousand yuan for ten thousand jin. Every little bit counts, and this deal was very worthwhile. There was no reason not to agree.
"No problem."
Jing Mingqiu took the janitor's radio and casually scanned it.
No major issues, just two communication chips were broken. Jing Mingqiu found a staff member nearby, handed over a hundred yuan, borrowed his desoldering iron, and removed the damaged chips.
Next, Jing Mingqiu quickly rummaged through the pile of discarded appliances and found a radio with intact chips. He removed its chips and installed them into the old man's radio, also fine-tuning the radio's speaker.
Finally, he reassembled all the parts, inserted the batteries, and turned on the switch. Jing Mingqiu habitually tuned it to the channel his grandfather often listened to, and then, the melodious strains of traditional opera began to play.
The system prompt also popped up.
[Congratulations to the host for completing the modification of a small wireless radio and obtaining one technology point.]
[Current upgrade progress: 76/200]
The tall man standing nearby, seeing Jing Mingqiu so easily fix a radio by replacing chips, couldn't help but widen his eyes.
To avoid losing face in front of his companions, he deliberately put on a mocking expression, "Kid, you've been tricked. He's just a gatekeeper; he has no authority to give discounts!"
Jing Mingqiu ignored such people. He held up the radio and handed it to the old man, "Sir, I've fixed it. Here you go."
The old man took the radio from Jing Mingqiu, held it close to his ear, and after listening carefully, his eyes suddenly brightened, "Young man, what did you do? Why has my radio's sound quality suddenly improved?"
"There are many reasons for speaker noise. For your radio's speaker, sir, there are mainly two reasons. One is thermal noise, caused by poor contact due to dust accumulation and wear between the potentiometer's metal brush and the diaphragm. This just needs cleaning."
"The other is more troublesome: there's a crack on the magnet, causing the sound to be muddy…"
As Jing Mingqiu was explaining, the tall man suddenly shouted again, "What nonsense are you talking! Improved sound quality? I don't hear any! The old man must have bad hearing and misunderstood!"
The old man was listening happily when he was suddenly interrupted. Infuriated, he waved his hand behind him. The staff members who were watching the commotion unhesitatingly rushed over…