The Oppressive World

"This world is simply terrifying..."

Stepping out of the house and breathing in the morning air tinged with the faint smell of cow dung, Tao Yu could not help but sigh again.

He had thought being a corporate drone in his previous life had been miserable enough, but compared to the people of this world, he could only stare at the sky in speechless disbelief. How the hell had he survived here before?

Every day, he fed the cows, cleaned up cow dung, milked them, trimmed their hooves, weeded the farm, and handled all sorts of agricultural work.

All his spare time went into practicing survival and combat skills for Awakening Day. Even now, he still could not recognize all the writing in this world. He was basically half-illiterate.

The farm they worked so hard to maintain had nothing to do with them when it came to the harvest. Everything was periodically collected by the company, which then left them a little food to scrape by on as an "act of grace."

If his parents' jobs had not been relatively stable, bringing in a combined three hundred units of Willpower a month to help support the household...

Then relying on just himself, Third Brother, his sister-in-law, and his younger brother, they would struggle to support the family even if they worked day and night.

Not to mention saving up equipment and supplies for Awakening Day.

On top of that, his parents had to find ways to constantly raise their own cannon-fodder weighting, using every method possible to escape the company's cannon-fodder conscription.

And once he turned eighteen, he too would be included in that category. He would likewise have to find ways to keep increasing that weighting—unless something "good" happened to him, like it had to Third Brother...

Under the invisible threat hanging over their lives, the rat race here had already reached absurd heights.

Looking into the distance, he saw a gray, murky wall of mist sealing off the entire perimeter. The gray fog was incredibly dense and churned without end, while all kinds of dark shadows seemed to flicker within it.

A faint, hazy blue-green glow kept the gray mist outside.

Behind him stood the towering, weathered walls of the Inner City.

The walls also seemed to have been pieced together from all kinds of materials—various metals and concrete structures—with patches and repairs everywhere. Numerous bunkers and machine-gun towers were visible atop them.

Through the walls, he could vaguely make out some of the Inner City's towering buildings, their exaggerated neon signs flickering, along with rooftops that carried the same cobbled-together feel.

They had some of the style and technological feel of twenty-first-century architecture from his memories, yet also the stark contrast of something built from a garbage heap.

Looking up again, he could see the massive foundation of a city floating in the sky. The blue-green radiance blocking the gray mist seemed to descend from that Floating City, sheltering the land below.

Beneath the foundation of that magnificent Floating City, greasy transport pipelines connected the Inner City and Outer City in every direction, carrying all kinds of supplies upward for the bigshots in the city to enjoy.

The Floating City, Inner City, Outer City, and the gray mist beyond the perimeter were sharply divided, representing entirely different living environments.

When Tao Yu turned back to look at his home—a ramshackle little farmhouse mainly pieced together from asbestos panels, metal sheets, and compressed boards, with a few bricks mixed in—along with the farm outside that did not belong to them but still required their care, he felt a wave of oppression wash over him.

On the roof sat a rugged machine-gun turret carrying the faint smell of rust and engine oil. It occasionally turned on its own with a creaking rattle.

This autonomous machine-gun turret was the most valuable and expensive thing in their home. It could distinguish Gray Mist Demonic Creatures at short range and attack automatically. It was a Willpower-enhanced item, not something every household could afford.

Although the Outer City was also protected by the Flame of Civilization from the Floating City, monsters still occasionally attacked from the gray mist.

Tao Yu remembered hearing the roar of autonomous machine-gun turrets seven or eight times every year at night.

That was how often monsters made it past the Night Watchers on the perimeter and every sentry tower that could have intercepted them along the way before reaching the farms.

Fortunately, only weak fry usually left the gray mist and entered the protected zone of the Flame of Civilization.

Will-o'-the-Wisp defended against unseen filthy things, while the machine-gun turret physically defended against anything that slipped through. That was one reason they had managed to survive peacefully these past years.

Just as Tao Yu was spacing out, another creak came from inside the house. A lean, weathered man with a face full of wrinkles and graying hair emerged from the room, followed by an ordinary-looking woman with short hair.

They were Tao Yu's parents in this life.

The parents who had sheltered him through such a harsh environment until he reached eighteen.

Although the dreams of memories from his previous life had left him somewhat dazed by the blending of his memories, a smile still appeared on his face when he saw the two elders.

"Dad, Mom, weren't you supposed to come back at noon?"

When Tao Long saw his son, the wrinkles on his face squeezed into a kind smile as well.

"Why is Seventh up already? The survival rate for Awakening Day may have gone up now, but you still need to conserve your strength and give it everything you've got."

Eldest and Second had both died on Awakening Day, leaving Tao Long and his wife with PTSD over this day that supposedly had a sixty percent survival rate.

That was why they made thorough preparations for each of their later children. They would rather live frugally on ordinary days than fail to save enough supplies for their children to use on Awakening Day.

At the very least, since Second's accident, no such tragedy had happened again on Awakening Day.

"I can't sleep."

Tao Yu answered frankly. Sometimes, the more he forced himself to sleep, the harder it became to fall asleep. There was nothing to be done about it.

"Then come with us."

Hearing that, Father Tao did not press the matter and casually made arrangements instead.

"We found your Uncle Hu at the camp before. He's an instructor now. If we say the word, he can take charge of your batch. Let's go pay him a visit together."

The company had built its own settlement at the Abyss rift, where many production and combat jobs were located.

Although Tao Yu's parents had just come out of the room, they had actually only just returned from another world, one whose time ran in complete sync with this one.

Aside from the compulsory half-month survival adaptation period during Awakening Day, everyone who made it through Awakening Day could travel between the two places after meditating for around fifteen minutes.

Afterward, aside from needing to visit the Abyss rift regularly to avoid going mad, the minimum interval between returns was reduced to five days.

If one could reach the settlement, then apart from the cannon-fodder missions assigned by the company, survival pressure would actually lessen.

"Uncle Hu became an instructor? I remember his hand was severed, and he left the combat ranks, didn't he?"

Tao Yu was somewhat surprised. Although Tao Hu and Tao Long sounded like brothers, they were actually just cousins. Under the damned living pressures of the Outer City, names were generally casual, and duplicate names were common.

"He got lucky and met a benefactor. He underwent mechanical augmentation, and not only did his strength not decline, it actually increased."

A trace of envy appeared in Tao Long's eyes. Third Brother's talent was not bad either, but unfortunately, he simply did not have that kind of luck. Otherwise, what would be wrong with selling his life to a benefactor?

"Alright, let's head over. He should have just returned too."

Hong Xia emerged from the kitchen carrying a large chunk of smoked meat. After scrubbing clean several blackened patches with a brush, she stepped outside as well.

Seeing that smoked meat, the skinny Tao Yu could not help swallowing. What a sin. There really were people in this world who could not afford meat.

Thinking back to the delicacies of his previous life, even though his family conditions back then had been ordinary, as an only child, he had at least enjoyed complete freedom to eat meat. Yet in this world, they could only eat meat on days when they were improving their meals.

In the Outer City, that even counted as decent living conditions!

Tao Yu had no objection to visiting a distant relative, nor did he have the inexplicable arrogance of a transmigrator. After living in this world for eighteen years, any pride would have been ground away long ago.

His parents had survived in this world for decades. At least for now, following their advice could not be wrong.

Besides, Tao Yu had a good impression of his cousin-uncle Tao Hu. He possessed the C-rank talent Precognitive Eye, which granted extremely strong predictive abilities.

This ability was far stronger than Dynamic Vision of the same rank. In terms of value, a C-rank Precognitive Eye could rival B-rank Dynamic Vision.

He had once been the most successful among their relatives. After leaving the combat ranks due to his injury, their families had continued visiting each other over the years, and their relationship remained fairly good.

Before getting injured, he had taught Third Brother. Afterward, Tao Yu's family had in turn helped his family. They had supported each other.

That made them closer than several of Tao Yu's blood-related uncles, aunts, and maternal relatives.

Tao Yu had even relied on Uncle Hu's connections for his shooting practice, saving quite a bit on ammunition costs.

For Tao Yu, who had lived in a peaceful era in his previous life, he naturally needed to prepare as thoroughly as possible for an Awakening Day with only a sixty percent survival rate!

A sixty percent survival rate did not mean everyone had a sixty percent chance of coming back alive. It was an average dragged up by those who were well prepared and had high survival rates. Tao Yu did not want to become one of the Numbers being averaged away...

"Haha, Brother Long, why are you still being so polite? A'Yu is so skinny. He needs to eat more meat and build up his strength."

Uncle Hu was a dark-skinned, short, sturdy, and capable-looking man. When Tao Yu saw him again, the place where his arm had once been severed had been replaced with a punk-style mechanical arm. Even half of his left shoulder had been fully mechanized because of it.

Although the mechanical arm reeked of engine oil and had been polished to a glossy shine, it still bore visible signs of wear. Since it had not been replaced long ago, it was probably at least secondhand. It merely happened to fit Tao Hu's build well.

After accepting the smoked meat, Uncle Hu used his oil-scented mechanical arm to squeeze Tao Yu's shoulder, then said,

"People awaken every day. It won't be a problem for me to put in a word and move you to today."

At that, Uncle Hu paused before continuing.

"But I heard that two bigshots' children will also be participating today, so there are some things I need to tell you in advance..."