So I Became a Digimon?

"Come in." Old Li's voice came through as the Room Door opened, and Feng Xue saw the scene beyond it.

The world behind the door was far larger than it appeared from outside. Excellent lighting from an unknown source made the windowless container interior bright without being harsh.

Old Li was no longer dressed in the brown work clothes from before, but in a smooth, glossy silk set of pajamas. Beneath the container's exterior was a rather modern European-style interior, with only a few furnishings leaning toward an Eastern aesthetic—such as the Black Gold Stone tea tray and full tea set on the coffee table.

But compared to those trivial details, what concerned Feng Xue most was the information he sensed from Old Li through his own Tag—

Occupation: [Corpse Collector]

Tags: [Corpse Collector], [Novice Guide], [Street Loafer], [Hidden Rich]

All right, Feng Xue seemed to understand why Old Li had been so eager to teach him.

Compared to Feng Xue's realization, Old Li, who had been smiling faintly, suddenly fell into shock. Only after a moment did he say blankly:

"How did you already condense a Tag?"

"Doesn't completing the job let you condense a Tag?" Seeing Old Li's expression, Feng Xue was equally baffled. He had simply collected a corpse normally, and then it had condensed.

"It's true that completing a job lets you condense one, but the problem is, that requires..." Old Li trailed off, then shook his head and gestured.

"Forget it. Come in first."

"Okay." Feng Xue nodded. If he had initially been somewhat resistant and suspicious, seeing Old Li's [Novice Guide] Tag had put him much more at ease. Though he still did not understand what Tags meant, it at least showed that Old Li was not some strange character who had appeared out of nowhere just to explain the world to him.

Following Old Li into the room, Feng Xue found the place increasingly unbelievable. The container looked no larger than thirty square meters from outside, yet the Living Room alone exceeded that. Around it stood several doors that were clearly more than mere textures. Through one open door, Feng Xue even saw a large bathroom beyond.

As mentioned before, Feng Xue no longer needed to eat after crossing over, so naturally he did not need to use the toilet either, much less wash up. In other words, such nonessential items were luxuries.

"Have a seat. Want some tea?" Old Li seemed to have finally sorted through his shock and asked. Feng Xue shook his head lightly.

"No need to bother. I'll leave after I ask my questions."

"Fine." Old Li did not insist. He poured himself a cup of tea and waited for Feng Xue's questions. Seeing this, Feng Xue went straight to the point.

"I want to know what exactly these Tags are, what you meant earlier by officially joining the job, and how this work badge is supposed to be used."

"All your questions can actually be summed up as one." Old Li took a sip of tea, straightened his back slightly, and continued.

"To understand those things, you first need to understand a very basic question—what exactly is [Shi]?"

"Currency? Energy? Nutrition?" Upholding the proper conduct of a straight man, Feng Xue offered several answers that were clearly wrong, or rather, incomplete. As expected, Old Li shook his head.

"Those are only surface-level manifestations. Mm... did the world you came from have the internet?"

"Uh, yes!" Although hearing the word "internet" felt out of place, considering the Final Century city walls, Smart Phones, and spatially expanded homes he had already seen, he chose to accept this strange setting.

Old Li clearly did not care about Feng Xue's inner conflict and merely nodded to himself.

"Then it's Easier Said Than Done. In short, you can think of this world as a data world. All matter is composed of data, and [Shi] is the most basic unit of that data. When we absorb [Shi], we are actually sustaining our own existence by consuming data."

Old Li's explanation was concise, but Feng Xue Only Felt as though a great weight had been lifted from his mind. Many things he had struggled to understand since crossing over suddenly seemed to have an explanation. Still, he could not stop himself from issuing a quip.

"Good Guy, so I crossed over and became a Digimon?"

"Digimon? What's that?" A puzzled expression appeared on Old Li's face, and Feng Xue immediately shook his head.

"Nothing. It's a fictional type of information-based lifeform from my world."

"In that case, it's not much different. Come to think of it, 'information' seems more suitable than 'data' for referring to [Shi]." Old Li nodded thoughtfully, updated the newcomer orientation script in his head, and then continued.

"Do you remember the [True Thing] I mentioned before?"

"I do. It's the only edible source of [Shi], right?"

As Feng Xue said this, his expression suddenly stiffened. Seeing his look, Old Li knew he had probably guessed the answer. He revealed an unpleasant smile and nodded.

"You're right. We are not 'true life,' but monsters barely surviving by devouring 'information from the Real World.'"

"Weird Tales?" Feng Xue recalled that when Old Li had spoken of Omens, he had mentioned "malignant Weird Tales." By that logic, were they benign Weird Tales?

"No. We are merely [Nothingness]—the [Nothingness] with no name, no surname, no sense of existence, unknown to all, possessing nothing at all. And because we have nothing, we can only obtain [Shi] from True Things to survive. Do you know why we wake up in a Garbage Dump after crossing over? Because, just like everything else in the Garbage Dump, we are 'garbage' unwanted by other worlds."

Old Li's words carried a bleakness that made Feng Xue's hairs stand on end. Before he could break free from the complicated emotions of suddenly becoming "garbage," he asked an even more crucial question—

"By your reasoning, the Landfill Area we're in isn't a real world?"

"Mm." Old Li nodded, his tone extremely serious.

"Not just the Landfill Area. Infinite City itself is actually a special Weird Tale—a Weird Tale that constantly receives all kinds of 'garbage.'"

Feng Xue frowned upon hearing this. He had seen the name Infinite City in a manga in his previous life, and in that manga, the city had also been made of information. The only difference was that very few people in the manga knew this, whereas in this world, it seemed to be common knowledge...

But in that manga, Infinite City had none of the strange concepts like [Shi], nor were there city walls, Omens, or Weird Tales. That made it difficult for Feng Xue to determine whether this world had any connection to that manga's world.

A quick note here: this Infinite City has absolutely no connection to the Infinite City from The Shining. They merely share similar names. There is no so-called higher world, nor is it some artificially constructed sandbox. This is an original world. Although some items from other works may appear, the worldbuilding and characters are basically original.