Once he got into work mode, Li Younan seemed to enter a state of flow, tireless and highly focused, yet feeling refreshed and unaware of the passage of time.
The disassembly and inspection work went very smoothly.
The next day, when Lu Haibo arrived at the shop, he found Li Younan sitting at his workstation, and the damaged Land Cruiser had already been disassembled and sorted.
Each part was organized and neatly placed on the ground, exuding a sense of orderly beauty.
And the parts that obviously needed replacement were also sorted and placed aside.
Lu Haibo looked at the slightly red-eyed Li Younan in shock and said, "Buddy, don't tell me you haven't slept at all?"
Li Younan looked up and smiled, then stood up and stretched lazily. He took out a list he had handwritten the day before and handed it to Lu Haibo, saying, "I need you to do me a favor."
Lu Haibo took the list, which detailed the parts down to specific models.
Li Younan said, "I thoroughly checked yesterday. This car's frame hasn't sustained any damage, and the gearbox has some minor issues that can be easily fixed. Other things like the bumper, headlights, and electrical parts can all be replaced."
Lu Haibo blinked and carefully reviewed the list, saying, "I can help you get all these parts, but there's one issue." He hesitated because the list didn't mention anything about the engine, and he curiously asked, "What about the engine? Don't you need me to get it for you?"
Li Younan said, "Let's leave the engine for now, just help me get these parts first."
Seeing that Li Younan didn't mention the engine, Lu Haibo didn't plan to pursue the question further and nodded, saying, "Alright, just let me know if you need anything else."
Li Younan smiled, "Thank you, sorry for the trouble."
Lu Haibo glared at Li Younan with dissatisfaction, "What kind of talk is this? These things are a piece of cake for me."
After their exchange the previous day, Lu Haibo knew about Li Younan not having a job at the moment. He thought for a moment and asked, "What are your plans next?"
Li Younan looked at the dismantled car, now unrecognizable, and showed a meaningful smile.
While waiting for the parts from Lu Haibo, Li Younan naturally wouldn't stay idle; he had two things to do.
The first was to search online intensively for scrapped vehicles of the same model as his. In China, this wasn't a difficult task, and he quickly found some through various channels.
The second was to complete two more check-in points in this city. In fact, Binhai City deserved the name of the national economic center. After sorting through all the check-in points, Li Younan found that only Kyoto and Binhai City had three check-in points, while most other cities had none or only one.
In comparison, checking in within the city was actually simpler. For example, the first check-in point required staying in a park for 6 hours. The next two check-in points were not very difficult either; one was the famous Bund, and the other was Duoyun Academy.
Actually, Li Younan wouldn't go to these places on his own, having lived here for several years and visited them before. Plus, such pure check-in spots were crowded, and the experience wasn't great. However, to complete the check-in task, it did not matter.
Compared to the first check-in task, the time and scope of the other two were different. The next day, Li Younan went to the Bund, where the check-in time was not specific, but his movement trace had to cover a certain range.
After successfully checking in, he received the second reward, but this reward seemed a bit useless—Piano Performance +1.
After disassembling the car, Li Younan had roughly explored the strength of the system rewards. Don't judge it as just one-point ability value, but Li Younan could confirm that it already reached a professional level.
At present, Li Younan still didn't know if the ability value could continue to stack. If it could continue stacking, what level would ability 2 reach? World-class top level? Then what about 3? Epic legendary level?
The system provided a significant improvement. Although the second reward couldn't make him a historical-level pianist like Lang Lang, it was enough for him to be a professional pianist with ten to twenty years of experience. In other words, he could make a living with this skill. However, the current issue was that for his grand travel plans, this skill had no immediate use.
After all, you can't exactly carry a piano around.
The applicable scenario that Li Younan could think of was encountering public pianos at some places and playing a piece spontaneously. However, if such an opportunity arose, it would be quite thrilling.
He hadn't visited Duoyun Academy yet because the parts he ordered were arriving one after another.
Currently, Li Younan was staying at a hotel, and the daily expenses were considerable. He needed to hurry and get the car fixed. Although the engine was still unaccounted for, work on other areas could already commence.
He replaced whatever could be replaced, repaired what needed repair, did the bodywork and paint job—all done by himself, once again startling Lu Haibo and his workers.
In these few days, Li Younan felt quite fulfilled, getting himself dirty every day without caring a bit.
However, one thing kept bothering him—the dwindling savings. While the car itself cost over twenty thousand yuan, the repair parts weren't cheap, and the engine would require additional funds. Some items needed for the upcoming journey had to be purchased as well, so the money wasn't enough. He had to start budgeting carefully.
The compensation promised by the company had not come through, but he wasn't worried they would default. He understood that the process would take time. However, with only 50,000 yuan left in his bank account, he felt a little urgency to push for it.
However, before he could reach out to the company, they called him first.
The call was from the manager again. The manager on the other end spoke hesitantly, amusing Li Younan, prompting him to ask what it was about, "Manager, if you don't say anything, I'm hanging up."
With some reluctance, the manager finally said, "To be honest, the company wants you back, and they are offering you a 20% pay raise. I'm here to persuade you."
Li Younan paused and asked, "Manager, do you think I'll come back?"
The manager sighed and said, "The company has made concessions. I think you should consider it. After all, it's not easy to find a job these days. Plus, you signed a non-compete agreement with the company. If you refuse, it could be tough for you to find another job."
Li Younan paused for a moment and asked, "When will the compensation be finalized?"
The manager chuckled bitterly and said, "To be honest, Supervisor Cai pushed you out without permission and received criticism from the board. Even his father faced some shareholder dissatisfaction at the meeting, mainly because nobody expected the negative impact of your departure to be this significant."
Amused, Li Younan said, "I'm just an ordinary employee without a position; how can I have such a great impact?"
The manager, helpless, said, "Oh, stop saying that. I'm sure you're aware. The update before you left caused two major bugs that led to a wave of public concern due to swallowing users' recharge amounts."
"The company's technical personnel worked overtime for days to troubleshoot, yet couldn't pinpoint the problem. All technical staff said that if you were still here, even if there was a bug, you'd likely resolve it within a day. I wonder if similar issues will keep appearing after you left."
Instead of continuing the topic, Li Younan simply repeated his question about when the compensation could be finalized.
The manager, bitterly smiling, asked, "Are you really not going to consider coming back at all?"
Li Younan thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Alright, have Supervisor Cai apologize to me, and I'll consider it."
The manager was immediately put in a difficult position, "This..."
Interrupting, Li Younan said, "See, this shows that Supervisor Cai isn't convinced. If I return, I'd still have to deal with her attitude, so don't try to persuade me. Just help me push for the compensation issue."
With no choice, the manager hung up the phone.
Unexpectedly, a few minutes later, an unfamiliar number called him.
When he picked up, it was Cai Mingying.
Taking a deep breath, Cai Mingying said, "Li Younan, I apologize to you! It was indeed wrong of me to treat you that way and underestimate your value. If you're willing to return, I'm prepared to directly increase your salary by 50%."
This offer left Li Younan momentarily stunned, but then he gently chuckled and said, "It's alright, I accept your apology. Just please expedite the compensation payment for me."
Cai Mingying on the other end fell into prolonged silence, ultimately letting out a grunt and disconnecting the call.
Putting down the phone, Li Younan softly laughed.
Soon after, a message appeared on his phone—an account transfer of 110,000 yuan in compensation was credited to his bank card.