Factory Worker's Safety Helmet

Uesugi Tetsu sat up on the dim lawn, clutching his head with a slight tremor.

Suddenly having another head on his neck made his body feel rather unaccustomed to it.

Uesugi Tetsu had likely died naturally.

However, before being smashed to pieces, he had activated his deathrattle and taken down two sturdy farmers, harvesting a full 60 Soul Ash. He had already won big.

As for why he didn't harvest 90 Soul Ash?

--A fully charged iron hoe from behind had directly caused the head Uesugi Tetsu had latched onto the other farmer's neck to explode, leaving him sitting there savoring the lingering sensation.

"Painful, damn painful."

Uesugi Tetsu carefully touched his neck and breathed a sigh of relief upon finding it still in its original, 99% new condition.

He was terrified the thing attached to it might suddenly explode.

However, after this death, his Soul Ash reserves had reached 135, enough for a ten-pull with some left over.

Not only that.

[You experienced combat, Ki-ai Technique (Fragment) Proficiency +6!]

[You experienced combat, Tennen Rishin-ryū Proficiency +3!]

After the final deathmatch with the three farmers, the proficiency of both skills had increased significantly. It could be considered a fruitful harvest.

The upgrade progress for Laughing Brahma had now reached 20%. In less than a day, Uesugi Tetsu felt his future had become a scene of burgeoning prosperity.

"Let's do a gacha pull first."

After a simple single pull, Uesugi Tetsu happily received +1 Soul Soothing Incense Ash.

However, he had come for the Soul Soothing Incense Ash in the first place, and now it had become a consumable for practicing Tennen Rishin-ryū.

As for why he couldn't use it when practicing Ki-ai Technique, Uesugi Tetsu didn't understand the principle, attributing it to the Ki-ai Technique (Fragment) being too low-level and not meeting the usage requirements.

His next revival wouldn't be available for another ten hours.

Uesugi Tetsu decided to go home, eat a meal, and then sleep soundly until he woke up naturally.

"Dad, I'm home."

After greeting his father, who was still watching a ball game, Uesugi Tetsu thought that it was fortunate his father wasn't a fan of his hometown team, otherwise, how could he watch the game so quietly? He would have already been red-faced with anger.

Without receiving a reply from his father, Uesugi Tetsu didn't mind. He directly took out the thousand-yen pork cutlet bento from the convenience store and wolfed it down.

After dinner, Uesugi Tetsu took out the Nanjō doll from his school bag and hung it on his bedroom door.

Staring at the slightly exaggerated doll, Uesugi Tetsu zoned out a little.

Normally, he shouldn't remember such a trivial matter so clearly. Why today did he remember to take the doll out of his bag and hang it up?

"Strange..."

Uesugi Tetsu looked at the doll a couple more times. Was it exerting a mental influence on him?

Facing this abnormal situation, Uesugi Tetsu didn't intend to ponder it alone. He directly typed on LINE to Nanjō Emi.

[Moon Sand-chan: Nanjō-sis, does the doll you gave me exert mental influence on me?]

After waiting for a long time without even a "read" receipt, Uesugi Tetsu shook his head. Nanjō Emi was probably still busy with work and didn't have time to take out her phone.

"It is what it is. I'll sleep now."

After a night's sleep, he should be able to see Nanjō-sis's reply, as well as the reply from the netizen "Work can die."

The time spent in deep sleep passed like the blink of an eye.

If Uesugi Tetsu hadn't confirmed the time on his phone that it was already the next morning, he would have continued to sleep.

Waking up in the early morning, groggy.

Naturally, he had to enter Tokoyo, using the smell of straw and sulfur to wake himself up.

After putting on the Laughing Brahma mask, Uesugi Tetsu immediately took a lungful of air and shouted:

"Refreshing!"

With the dual help of Tokoyo and Laughing Brahma, he successfully "booted up" in about ten seconds, which was much quicker than being tormented by the alarm clock three or four times before getting up.

For this life, Uesugi Tetsu decided to temporarily change his exploration strategy.

Instead of exchanging his life for Soul Ash, he would try to map out as much of Arakawa Ghost Village as possible while trying to stay alive, preferably encountering a few NPCs he could communicate with.

Since Tokoyo had no sun in the conventional sense, Uesugi Tetsu couldn't determine directions by time.

Moreover, the side quest mentioned "a Ksitigarbha statue south of the village." To complete the quest, he at least needed to find the quest location.

"I'll head towards the factory first."

Uesugi Tetsu's guess was that since the map contained "Corrupted Farmers," there should also be demons and monsters related to "industry."

And the more industrialized the place, the higher the possibility of encountering beings he could communicate with...

Not.

Uesugi Tetsu stood in the shadows of a narrow townhouse, looking at the two Exploited Factory Workers clad in "tsutsusode haori" who were roaring and wrestling nearby. He sighed.

He listened for a long time but couldn't understand what language these two were speaking.

Uesugi Tetsu gripped his wood-chopping knife.

In that case, you'll just have to turn into Soul Ash that's useful to me.

After observing for a while longer, it seemed both workers were exhausted. They let go of each other and collapsed onto the gravel ground, but they continued to stare at each other "affectionately," still looking unconvinced.

Uesugi Tetsu knew the opportunity had arrived.

The pale yellow aura floating above both workers' heads had now turned into thin white mist, meaning they could barely pose a threat to him anymore.

He adjusted his line of sight, held his breath, and crept closer.

When the distance closed to about ten meters, Uesugi Tetsu deliberately kicked a pebble with his toe, causing both workers' gazes to snap towards him.

Then, the smile maintained by the Laughing Brahma took effect.

Immediately after, Uesugi Tetsu unleashed the Ki-ai Technique with all his might, finding an angle where both heads were in a straight line, and sent his wood-chopping knife flying.

A viscous sensation traveled up the blade.

However, the worker monsters were clearly not as resilient as the farmer monsters; one strike sent both monsters away together.

"The knife is too dull."

Uesugi Tetsu shook his head. If he hadn't used his full power without regard for the consequences, the blade might have gotten stuck in the first worker monster's skull.

[You have killed the scattered wandering soul "Exploited Factory Worker" and obtained 10 Soul Ash.]

[You have killed the scattered wandering soul "Exploited Factory Worker" and obtained 12 Soul Ash.]

[You have obtained "Factory Worker's Safety Helmet (Damaged)".]

"Too bad the skill proficiency didn't increase."

Sighing, but with no trace of regret on his face, Uesugi Tetsu opened the stats of the newly dropped equipment.

[Factory Worker's Safety Helmet]

[Quality: Damaged]

[Effect: None]

[--One of the factory worker's uniforms. Besides this, there are also a top, pants, and boots.]

A piece of junk with no stat bonuses. If this were real life, no one would want it even if it were given to them.

But for now, he'd keep it. Who knows when it might come in handy.

He glanced again at the bustling factory and Uesugi Tetsu decided to retreat for now.

It was a joke. He could see dozens of factory workers at a glance. Entering now would only result in being smashed into a pulp.

If this were truly a game, it would probably say, "The level of the area ahead is too high. Please explore it later."

Uesugi Tetsu specifically chose a different route to return than the one he came by.

After walking for a while, just as he was about to look for a large field and "white scarecrows," Uesugi Tetsu unexpectedly heard a "thump thump thump" sound.

He turned his gaze and found that the sound was coming from a finely decorated townhouse.