The Legendary Junkmaster

Jason's expression turned ugly due to his disappointment when he cast his sights on the building that they had to enter. 'We've been here before!' Jason groaned as he recognised the building. It was only an hour away from the safety of Highrise, so it was still in the safe zone!

Jason began to have doubts about his Gramps's claims as he stared at the rundown industrial building. He knew that place once held a bunch of clothing that the scavengers of Highrise had stripped bare long ago.

There were a few machines left inside that were inoperable and too bulky to recover. 'Did he just imagine it? I doubt that anything could stay hidden in here!' Jason's doubts were written all across his face as his Gramps burst out into laughter!

"I know what you're thinking, boy. Trust me, I didn't expect to find anything here either!" Harry's laughter was loud and hearty as a broad grin crept across his face. "But that's the beauty of this place! Nobody expects anything to be here, so the scavengers don't bother with it anymore!"

Jason frowned at that statement. It did indeed make some sense when Harry put it that way. However, that did not mean that there would be anything valuable within the hidden room! 'Whatever, we're here now, so taking a look can't hurt.'

Jason felt dejected as he followed his Gramps inside. The place was just as desolate as he remembered. Which only served to make his doubts more prominent in his mind. Jason sighed heavily as he glanced around. 'I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.'

Jason cursed internally as he continued to follow Harry into one of the rear rooms. The room had obviously been an office at some point as old broken furniture littered the room.

"Well? What do you think?" Harry said with an optimistic tone.

"Think about what? There's nothing here." Jason began to scowl as he glanced at the broken furniture with disdain.

"Haha! See! They hid it well! But your Gramps found it!" Harry continued with his broad smile as he moved to a corner of the room.

Jason's expression became curious as he watched Harry get down on his knees and pull up an edge of the worn carpet. His hand disappeared underneath it for a little bit before a loud mechanical clanking noise rang out in the room.

Jason was startled as he felt the floor vibrating beneath him. 'What the hell is this!' Jason's eyes went wide as a section of the floor disappeared beneath the ground to reveal a staircase!

"This is incredible!" Jason blurted out as his eyes went wide. There had been no signs at all that something was wrong with that section of the floor!

'What would need them to be so secretive?' Jason had a bunch of questions running through his mind right now. No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason that something like this should exist in this building.

'Wait! Did this whole place exist just to camouflage this?' Jason's jaw almost hit the floor. He knew that the old world had been incredibly advanced than what he was used to, but Jason struggled to understand why the ancient humans would come up with something as elaborate as this!

"Are you coming or what?" Harry asked with a mocking voice before disappearing down the stairs.

Jason gulped down a lump of saliva before following behind him excitedly. After he had crossed quite a few stairs, the mechanical clunking noise returned, and Jason stared in horror as the floor sealed up behind him!

The only thing that stopped him from panicking was that Harry showed no reaction to it! 'I guess I can consider that as normal! Even if this place is a bust, it will be perfect for my workshop. I just have to convince Gramps that there's no point in returning here after today.'

As Jason was having those thoughts, he rummaged around in the bag he had brought and pulled out the torch he had made. He could hear Harry struggling to ignite a cloth torch that they usually used for dark places a little ahead of himself. Jason chuckled as he flicked the switch to turn on the light!

Harry yelped as a bright beam of light crossed his face, momentarily blinding him. "What the hell is that!"

"A new kind of torch I created recently." Jason shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal under Harry's angry gaze.

"Why aren't we selling it then! Think of all the money this could make us!" Harry sounded aggrieved as if Jason had wronged him somehow.

'Of course, his first thoughts would be about money. Jason sighed as he wandered down a few more steps to stand right behind his grandfather. "Come on, I'm eager to see this door of yours now!"

Harry grumbled to himself about the potential losses from not selling the torch for a few seconds before continuing his descent. The pair continued in silence with only the thud of their footsteps on the stairs to keep them company. 'How far down does this go?' Jason wondered as he stared at the concrete walls on either side that showed visible signs of ageing.

He soon got his answer as the light from his torch was suddenly reflected off of something. A large, sturdy steel door like those that would be found on a bank's vault came into view. 'Seems like the old geezer was right!'

Jason's excitement hit new levels as the pair rushed down the few remaining steps to study the door. However, the more he looked at it, the more dismayed Jason began to feel. The bolts and screws that fixed it in place were in rough shape. He doubted the MT-E would even be able to grip them so that they could be removed!

Jason took a few steps back with a frown on his face as he analysed the metal. It was evident that his Gramps had underestimated the difficulty of the task in front of them!

"Well? What do you think?" Harry asked with a nervous tone…