The True Garbage Mountain

"Knock knock knock..."

Three rhythmic knocks sounded from outside the door. The middle-aged man who was reviewing documents at his desk looked up and said:

Come in.

"Click..."

After the sound of the doorknob turning, a young man with a ramrod-like posture and a military bearing entered the room. He carried a document wrapped in brown paper and said solemnly:

"Report: The results of the first round of comparison are in."

"Is there a problem?" The middle-aged man took the file bag, first checked the seal, and after confirming that there was no problem, he opened it, took out the documents inside, and asked as he flipped through them.

"No problems have occurred so far, and the conditions in all three control groups are stable. I don't know the specific data."

Although he answered "I don't know," the young man's answer was still full of confidence.

The middle-aged man nodded and said, "I understand, you can go back now."

"Yes!"

After the young man left the office, the middle-aged man opened the document in his hand. The title above was "Comparative Experimental Observation of the <Golden Bell Shield> Manual".

If it weren't for the gleaming stamp on it, most people would think it was just some kind of prank prop, but the middle-aged man knew very well the importance of this document.

After noticing the document in a package from Colombia, the Supernatural Tale Countermeasures Bureau and relevant departments took it very seriously. After establishing a special project and conducting discussions, and confirming that there was no apparent danger, various research and experiments were put on the agenda.

The first round of experiments selected thirty volunteers to practice, forming three control groups: one group practiced only internal skills, one group practiced only External Martial Arts, and the other group practiced both internal and external skills. Each group was also divided into two subgroups: one group used auxiliary drugs, while the other group did not.

And now, it is the first month since they began their cultivation.

During this month, in addition to having these volunteers practice, the research team affiliated with the Supernatural Tale Countermeasures Bureau was also busy. They drew experts from the official talent pool in the fields of traditional Chinese medicine and biology to conduct a detailed analysis of this secret manual. However, apart from confirming that the external medicine had relatively good effects in promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis, strengthening bones and muscles, and that the toxic side effects were within the scope of conventional medicine, they gained almost nothing.

At least for now, even experienced traditional Chinese medicine practitioners skilled in acupuncture and massage cannot quickly determine whether there are problems with the Breathing Technique and meridian-clearing techniques in this set of secret manuals.

"In the first control group, three people in the drug group experienced Qi Sensation, and there were no other significant changes besides pain relief. No one in the non-drug group experienced Qi Sensation."

"In the second control group, the skin color of the drug group changed slightly, and their resistance to impact increased significantly, while the resistance to impact in the non-drug group increased only slightly."

"In the third control group, all members of the drug group experienced Qi Sensation, their resistance to blows increased, and their strength also increased. Their skin color changed slightly when they channeled their Qi. In the non-drug group, one person experienced Qi Sensation, and their resistance to blows increased slightly..."

Looking at the report in his hand, the man's expression remained unchanged. He simply put it back into the brown paper bag, then picked up a pen and wrote a few lines in his notebook before picking up the phone and dialing a number.

"Old Zhang, you're calling now? Have the results come out yet?" The moment the call connected, the other end asked first. The middle-aged man, whose mouth was already half-open, paused slightly before replying:

"Well, it seems there shouldn't be any problems for now, but that's only for now."

"Oh, so you're saying someone has already developed Qi Sensation?" The voice on the other end of the phone became noticeably excited, and the middle-aged man, referred to as Old Zhang, responded affirmatively:

"There were nine people in total, six of whom belonged to the third control group."

"Hiss--As expected of the technique that the Weird Tale calls 'even a fool can practice.' Most of those who studied <Bu Tiange> haven't even understood the General Outline yet! This thing has extremely high requirements for mathematics and astronomy, and it's written in classical Chinese. However, based on Xiao Sun's results, this thing does have some tricks up its sleeve... It's funny, before the observatory could even help complete the technique, they optimized their algorithm first..."

"We can discuss this in the meeting later. The question now is, should we continue?" Old Zhang interrupted the conversation on the other end of the phone, which had started to veer off course. The other person paused slightly, then said:

"Why not? Wasn't it already decided in the previous meeting? If there are no problems after the initial confirmation, we can tell the cultivators the name of the creator of the cultivation technique. After all, in a sense, he is their master..."

Give me five large bundles and ten medium bundles.

Six months after her transmigration, and in her second month in South District, Feng Xue finally stopped her daily routine of copying books and exercising, and returned to Xiao's shop, where she auctioned off a "huge sum" of 45 million.

For a month, Feng Xue lived a life of extreme self-discipline—copying books, practicing swordsmanship, and Reforge. This not only allowed him to accumulate considerable wealth, but also consumed a large amount of resources.

Although he still has a lot of items in his inventory, most of them are descriptions of death, including [Death]. He has completely used up even the most commonly used [items] and [weapons].

Although most of them are black balls or useless comedic props, there are still some that are somewhat usable.

"Did you strike it rich, young man?" Without a filter, Feng Xue looked at the middle-aged man with the disheveled, spiky hair and had a fleeting urge to pull out a filter and "beautify" the world. However, considering his mental health, he restrained himself and smiled slightly at the man.

"Not bad, I made a little Xiao Qian. Next, I plan to go for a trip in the mountains."

"I see..." Uncle Xiao nodded, took out fifteen wrappings from the counter, totaling five large and ten small, and placed them on the table. However, he did not immediately take the Tower Coins that looked more like a check than a banknote, but waited for Feng Xue to inspect the goods one by one.

However, Feng Xue didn't need to go through the trouble of trying them one by one. He could see the properties of each wrapping with just a glance.

After confirming there were no problems, he used a large bundle to pack the remaining cloth bundles together, stuffed them into his Storage Bag, and was about to turn and leave when he heard Xiao speak behind him:

"If you're planning to go to the Garbage Mountain, be careful of those Slaver Team. They don't care if you just transmigrated or came to the mountains to scavenge. Also, those 'residents' in the mountains aren't as weak as they look."

"Thank you for the reminder." Feng Xue turned around, glanced at the man who had inexplicably conveyed goodwill, and then turned and left the shop.

His eagerness to enter the mountains stemmed not only from his depletion of resources, but also from the fact that he discovered a change in his [Demon] Tag.

It's not that it has been transformed into Supernatural Tale Entry, but rather that the way [knowledge] is provided has changed.

When he first obtained this Tag, he gained [knowledge] in segments, each time several hundred or even thousands, but it was extremely unstable. However, in the last few days, this Tag has been receiving income almost every moment, but each time the income is very small. If you had to make an analogy, it used to be like filling a water tank with buckets of water, but now it's like connecting a thin water pipe.

Although it seemed like a steady, gradual process, Feng Xue had no idea what it truly meant.

It could symbolize increased fame, but it could also mean that those who remembered him are gradually losing interest and starting to forget him.

This change made him feel a sense of unease that he couldn't help but feel.

But he also knew that his current strength was not that great. Not to Weird Tale, he couldn't even beat the "Gemstone Knight" from the Cross Sword Guild back then.

The fastest way for him to become stronger right now is not to continue refining Phantom Object, but... to kill.