Mosaic City, located along China's coast, is quite large city sometimes called the Crossroads Between Nations due to its diverse population. While it was once a large tourist spot, the city was placed under a blockade as the military appeared claiming there was a radiation leak. The true hazard, however, is much more sinister.
Curiosities. That's what Pyxis called the items she had picked up. Not junk. Junk was a term humans who saw no use for them used. Granted, Pyxis had no use for many of the curiosities she had picked up either, but she recognized that a use was there, even if she didn't know it. The blonde woman at the edge of the shadow-infested zone would know it, at least. She had said so, and was willing to pay for such items. Pyxis wasn't in desperate need of money. Most of her necessary expenses, such as what few living costs she incurred and the all-important ammunition, were taken care of by the organization. But if nothing else, a little more money for games couldn't hurt.
So, on her last trip, she had decided to give it a try, and came back carrying several of those curiosities to be appraised. She set a couple down upon reaching the 'Junk Dealer', then pulled a couple more from...well, let's not get into where. "Could you appraise these, please?" she asked, mimicking someone who had visited not long before her.
Pyxis had already returned, this time with more curiosities to sell off. Most of them had come from the tower in the shadow-infested zone, ranging from simple business reports and office supplies to abandoned electronics. Some of them even still worked. But since none of those included a game system or anything she could use practically for her mission, there was little she could actually do but sell them. Oh well. More money for games. Or perhaps for upgrades. Pyxis remembered a weapon shop in town where she had bought ammunition from. Maybe he could also reinforce her armor or something. Who knew.
The tower was proving to be a metaphorical gold mine of things to bring back and sell. This time, Pyxis came in hauling an old copy machine behind her. It was still functional, too. It had sustained only minimal damage, and Pyxis had plugged it in and turned it on back in her apartment before bringing it back. Everything seemed to work just fine. Or, at least, everything she could think of that a copier would do. But, since she had no use for such a thing, she brought it back to sell. Along with a bunch of other, less impressive curiosities.
Another week, another good haul of old machinery and other curiosities to sell. While the higher floors of the tower were far from untouched, there was considerably less battle damage on most of them. Which, of course, meant there was more intact machinery to be found that was more likely to survive the trip back. Which, in turn, meant that it was a good thing Pyxis couldn't get tired just from running up and down stairs, seeing as she had now taken multiple trips up to somewhere around the fiftieth floor.
She wasn't entirely sure what to do with the moment she was getting out of it anymore, though. Obviously, the first priority was weapon upgrades, but so far she had found those without ever having to buy them. Maybe it was time to see if there were still any game systems available that she didn't have.
Recovering from a loss was hard. But Pyxis had to try her best and keep moving. And she was doing exactly that. Her last trip into the executive building was probably the last one she would do for awhile, at least until the 'boss' appeared or the next stratum opened up. So, with that in mind, she'd brought back the absolute best things she could find. Electronics tended to sell more than the rest of what she usually found, so she'd focused on those. With a bag containing a couple broken laptops, a scanner, and a few other peripherals in hand, she made her way back to the junk dealer to sell them off yet again.
Getting out of the executive building could only be a good thing. Instead of bringing back the same old bits of office supplies and equipment, Pyxis was now able to bring back brand new bits of supplies and equipment from other places. Like the hospital! This was probably violating some kind of confidentiality regulation, but Pyxis wasn't programmed to know that sort of thing. Yes, that was the excuse she was going with. Besides, she hadn't actually brought back medical records. Just a computer or two that they may or may not have been stored on.
Pyxis made her way back into the Gap dragging a minecart behind her. Yeah, a literal minecart, pulled straight out of the abandoned mines. It had some other salvageable curiosities that she had picked up along the way, from both stops of the tour thus far, but still. Minecart. A very powerful shadow had been lounging in it, one strong enough to force Pyxis to return after just one fight. In its current state, one wouldn't have guessed it though. It was just a banged up minecart. Maybe the metal would be useful, or else someone might want it for a museum.
...One that wasn't currently infested with shadows.
Today's haul came from the very depths of a very...deep...hole. Yeah. It came in three varieties: discarded weapons, ruined remains of what may have been household objects, and shadow remains. The shadow remains were primarily non-functioning parts of a Drive type shadow that had blocked her way into the deepest parts of the hole, but the Tiara type shadow she had fought before had left behind a crown, as well. The discarded weapons were of the same variety as those she found lying around anywhere else: low to mid-level weapons left behind by other Users. Pyxis hadn't found any bodies this time, so hopefully they had just found better weapons and/or had to leave them behind.
The rest, she wasn't even going to begin to try and identify.