Finding Work

Thunk!

With a soft sound, a metal blade about the length of a palm embedded itself in the wooden board. Looking at the crooked bullseye outlined in dirt, Feng Xue mocked himself, "At least it hit the target," then stepped forward, pulled it out, and loaded it back into the Sleeve Blade.

After being reforged, the Blade of Suffocation far surpassed the original shoddy toy in range, accuracy, and penetration. In exchange, however, its complex mechanical operation had become considerably more difficult.

Whether it was releasing the blade, unfolding the crossbow arms, or firing the blade, every action required far greater precision than the original toy. Feng Xue did not think that was unreasonable, though. Compared to a cosplay toy that would only hurt a little even if triggered by accident, this thing was now a lethal weapon.

After spending the entire night studying it, he had more or less figured out some of the characteristics of these so-called Phantom Objects. The most basic one was that they did not wear out.

That might have sounded a little absolute, but at least that was Feng Xue's current conclusion. Last night, due to his unfamiliarity with the mechanism, he had fired the blade into a brick wall. It had ricocheted away, yet there had not been the slightest chip or mark on it.

He had also tried experiments such as sharpening it, eventually confirming that neither stones nor bricks could leave even a scratch on the blade.

It was like a game item with no durability setting, completely unaffected by anything beyond its intended functions.

However, since this was all he owned, he had not attempted any destructive tests, such as cutting bowstrings.

Still, at least for now, the durability of Phantom Objects seemed guaranteed.

As sunlight streamed into the room through the hole in the ceiling, Feng Xue tidied his clothes, stretched, and prepared to head out.

Though he had not slept all night, he did not show much fatigue. Or rather, for him now, sleep was a mental need rather than a physical necessity.

"I really don't seem human at all anymore!" Feeling the three days of life he had left, Feng Xue stepped out of his home once more.

The area he lived in, known as the Landfill Area, was a slum somewhat similar to the Garbage Mountains of Southeast Asia before his transmigration. Centered around a massive Garbage Dump nearly the size of a city block from his former world, the entire district was filled with large and small shacks. Scavenging garbage was also the source of livelihood for most of its residents.

But unlike those famous Garbage Mountains from before his transmigration, this place had rules strict enough to be called harsh.

Not only were there regulations concerning the Garbage Dump's opening hours and entry times, there were also people specifically responsible for appraising items. Everything taken out of the Garbage Dump had to be handed over to the area's administrators, in exchange for only one-tenth of its appraised value. If someone wanted to keep an item they had found, they had to pay one and a half times its appraised value.

Anyone who defied the rules would receive extremely severe punishment. The man Feng Xue had seen at the execution ground, sentenced to Death-Waiting Punishment, was said to have been caught hiding items.

There were still seven days until the next Garbage Dump opening day, while Feng Xue only had enough [Shi] left for three days. That meant he had to earn at least four hundred Ta within those three days, or he would disappear completely.

Of course, like the people who had become corpses last night, he could also take a desperate gamble and attack the local administrators' warehouse. But judging from last night's brutal scene, that clearly would not be easy.

Or rather, if someone could seize goods from the gang that ruled this place, they would not be on the verge of death because they could not obtain enough [Shi].

Following a narrow path worn down entirely by human activity, Feng Xue moved around the Garbage Dump enclosed by high walls. Though they were called high walls, they could not compare at all with the wall he had seen yesterday separating the so-called wilderness. To put it simply, they were merely brick structures that even an Ordinary Person could build.

The entire Landfill Area formed a rather irregular circle, roughly the size of a small urban district from before his transmigration. It was surrounded by those walls that looked merely a little tall but possessed terrifyingly advanced technology. Only the wall to the northeast appeared to stretch straight into the distance. However, that was the gang's headquarters, and he clearly had no right to go near it.

Worth mentioning was that the gang managing the Landfill Area had no recruitment process whatsoever. Feng Xue had specifically asked around before, only to receive mocking smiles in response.

Though it was a slum, the place was not lacking in all sorts of professions. There were productive trades such as blacksmiths and tailors, as well as doctors who healed the wounded and saved the dying. After all, even if Feng Xue often said the people of this world did not seem human, they still understood injury, illness, and death. They simply did not need food or sleep.

Although Feng Xue had spent his days wandering in circles these past few days, today was different. After all, he had a destination—

It was a small, single-story house near the Garbage Dump. It did not occupy much land, yet it was far more polished and bright than the surrounding buildings. If he had to describe it, it was like placing a classic Renaissance sculpture amid a pile of postmodern artworks.

A not-too-long queue had already formed outside the building. People emerged from it every so often, some smiling while others wore dejected expressions. Were it not for the sign bearing the three large characters, "Employment Agency," one might have mistaken it for a clinic.

Feng Xue naturally joined the back of the line and waited for it to gradually shorten.

Though there was an Employment Agency, jobs here were not easy to find. This was already his fourth visit since coming to this world, yet he had gotten no results from the first three.

"Next!"

A somewhat lazy voice came from inside. Feng Xue immediately entered the building. The small house was equally simple inside, containing only a desk, a row of cabinets resembling those used for medicinal materials in a Chinese pharmacy, and a pretty young woman who looked thoroughly lethargic.

"What do you want to do?"

The young woman pressed the end of a pen against her chin and asked the brief question. Though it was only five words, it carried many implications.

The first time he came, Feng Xue had said he could do anything, and had been thrown out. The second time, he said he wanted to join the gang, earning a disdainful smile. The third time, he had come fully prepared, investigated the job market in the area, and answered that he wanted to be a porter. Yet her response had been—

"You're not qualified."

Who the hell knew why even being a porter required qualifications? If it was because he was not strong enough, he had seen scrawny thirteen- or fourteen-year-old child laborers hauling bricks at the construction site to the west!

In truth, if not for the fact that some people who looked like complete weaklings had found jobs here, he would have suspected that this receptionist had some hidden rules, Similar To the Employment Agency in Hunter × Hunter!

But considering the threat of death looming over him, Feng Xue took a deep breath before giving his answer:

"Corpse Collector."

The moment the words left his mouth, the lazy woman immediately raised her head. After examining him for a moment, she finally nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Huh? That's enough?" Feng Xue asked in surprise. The woman had no intention of answering, merely repeating herself.

"I asked whether you're sure!"

"I'm sure. I want to be a Corpse Collector." How could Feng Xue dare hesitate? He hurriedly nodded in confirmation. Hearing this, the woman immediately stood, turned toward the cabinet behind her that resembled a Chinese pharmacy's medicinal materials drawers, took out a palm-sized plaque from one drawer, and handed it to Feng Xue.

"This is your employment certificate. Please keep it safe."

A brief explanation: although, from the Protagonist's perspective, everyone in this world speaks Chinese Language and writes Chinese characters, that is not actually the case. If someone who used English, French, or even Namekian came here, what they saw and heard would still be in their own language. As for why, that would be explained later. The reason it was mentioned here was simply to prevent people from calling it a last-minute patch when it came up afterward.