Instance Space

"Hiss... was I hit?" Wang Ji woke up in a small alley, gasping as he clutched his aching head.

Immediately, a surge of memories flooded his mind. Heh! I never expected to join the ranks of the transmigrators. Jiangnan Base City... No. 3 High School of Yian District... Hong and Thunder God... Hiss... This is the Swallowed Star world!!

Wang Ji stumbled out of the alley. On both sides stood oppressive, dozens-of-stories-high buildings, while below lay bustling, hyper-modern streets. It took Wang Ji half an hour of walking before he reached a cramped residential complex.

North Shore Apartments, Building 48, Room 4402.

The unit was only 30 square meters, yet it had been partitioned into two rooms and a living area, showing just how tight the space was.

"Cough, cough! Little Ji is back..." a weak, middle-aged female voice drifted over.

Wang Ji looked up to see his mother leaning against the headboard in the bedroom, her eyes filled with concern. A lump formed in Wang Ji's throat, and a wave of filial affection surged through his heart. He couldn't help but call out, "Mom..."

In this moment, the image of his mother from his previous life, who had passed away years ago, merged with this middle-aged woman on the sickbed. Wang Ji was completely integrated into this world.

Forget about transmigration or whatever else; the version of him from his past life had vanished the moment that truck hit him. In this life, he would start anew in this world of infinite possibilities.

The next day, Wang Ji rose early to head to school with his older sister, Wang Yan. Their household consisted only of Wang Ji, his sister, and their mother. His father had passed away when Wang Ji was young, and his mother had been bedridden for the past two years. Wang Ji and his sister relied entirely on part-time jobs after school to support themselves.

After school, Wang Ji followed his memories, transferring through two bus lines before finally arriving at a dilapidated factory near the city's perimeter wall.

In the distance, a massive, thick reinforced concrete wall, hundreds of meters high, stretched into the distance like a colossal mountain range. Below it lay the crumbling, foul-smelling factory buildings and yards. That's right, this was a waste sorting plant. This was where Wang Ji worked his odd jobs.

For a seventeen-year-old boy with no specialized skills, finding a stable part-time job in the crowded Yangzhou Base City that he could do after school was incredibly difficult. Therefore, he couldn't afford to be picky about the stench or the filth.

Following his memories, Wang Ji skillfully entered the factory's management office.

"Hey! Why didn't you show up yesterday, Wang Ji? I'm marking you as absent! Do you still want this job or not?" The speaker was an oily, chubby youth who glared at Wang Ji with an air of arrogant malice. This was the boss's brother-in-law, the supervisor of this waste sorting plant.

Drawing on the slickness and experience of his past life, Wang Ji smiled and buttered him up with compliments. Half a minute later, he managed to pass the hurdle, with the fatty saying, "I'll let it slide this time! But I'm docking you 100!"

Wang Ji smiled and thanked him, but the moment he turned away, his expression shifted to one of wanting to kill the fatty. Damn it, my daily wage is only 60, and he docks me 100 while acting like he's doing me a favor, you fat pig!

Once inside the workshop, Wang Ji sat by the conveyor belt, greeting his coworkers while skillfully sorting the trash.

Plastic, scrap metal, slimy household waste, and so on—everything had to be sorted and processed.

"Huh?" Wang Ji stared at a broken helmet coming down the conveyor belt. Why was this helmet emitting a faint, clear light? Could it be a treasure? But why did the workers next to him seem not to notice it at all?

Curious, Wang Ji reached out and grabbed the helmet. "Ding! Monster Town dungeon space discovered. Do you wish to enter?"

Damn! A cheat code! Wang Ji's heart leaped with joy.

Since transmigrating yesterday, Wang Ji had tried every method possible, but his cheat code had never appeared.

Wang Ji had been dejected, thinking he didn't have one. After all, who transmigrates without a cheat code?

Who would have thought it was waiting for him here!

Amitabha!

Wang Ji cautiously asked Uncle Yan next to him, "Uncle Yan, look at this helmet."

Uncle Yan raised his eyes. "Oh, looks like a helmet for a martial artist! The material is much tougher than a steel helmet! But it's cracked like this; who knows what happened to the martial artist who wore it..."

"What happened? It's dented in, with two cracks this big—the skull inside must have been smashed to pulp," Cripple Song chimed in, curling his lip.

"You guys didn't see anything else?" Wang Ji asked cautiously.

"See what else?" Cripple Song asked, puzzled.

Wang Ji breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, nothing. I just meant this is probably official martial artist gear; it might be worth a bit of money."

Uncle Yan laughed. "It should be an A1-grade helmet. Since it's broken like this, a new one would be worth tens of thousands, but right now... it's not even worth two or three hundred!"

The issue was that as an A1-grade material, it contained too little Cthulhu alloy. The cost of labor to melt and recover the small amount of alloy might not even be covered by the value of the metal.

Finally waiting until ten at night, Wang Ji finished his shift and couldn't wait to head toward the exit with the damaged helmet. As waste sorters, they were allowed to take home items that were barely usable. They were all poor folk, and many things could be repaired and reused. Of course, taking items cost money; it wasn't free.

"Supervisor, I want this broken helmet!" Wang Ji said to the oily, chubby supervisor with a face full of smiles.

"Hmm? Oh! 400!"

"What? This thing is worth 400?" Wang Ji feigned shock and anger.

Uncle Yan chimed in from the side, "Supervisor, this thing is only worth one or two hundred as scrap! Little Ji has been working here for over half a year!"

"Fine, fine, 200 then!" the fat supervisor waved his hand impatiently.

Wang Ji nodded gratefully to Uncle Yan and, without further ado, pulled out 200 and shoved it into the fatty's hand.

At night, when all was silent, Wang Ji quietly slipped out of his cramped bedroom. After a moment's thought, he took his training saber in hand. Although it was made of special steel, in the current society, it could only be considered a training tool. After all, it wasn't made of Cthulhu alloy and would struggle to even penetrate the hide of a low-level soldier-grade monster.

Closing his bedroom door, Wang Ji touched the damaged helmet again. "Ding! Monster Town dungeon space discovered! Do you wish to enter?"

Wang Ji tried to communicate with it, only to find it completely unresponsive. He confirmed it: this cheat code had no intelligence!

That was fine, too.

With a thought, Wang Ji commanded, "Enter!"

In the blink of an eye, he was transported from his narrow bedroom into a similarly pitch-black, ruined building.

"ROAR!" A beast's roar suddenly erupted outside, scaring Wang Ji so much he nearly wet himself! This roar was far more terrifying than the tigers at the zoo in his past life!

Wang Ji couldn't care about anything else and thought, Exit! Exit! In an instant, Wang Ji reappeared in his bedroom.

"Huff! Huff! That was terrifying!" It took Wang Ji a long time to calm his racing heart. Fortunately, he could return instantly; as long as he wasn't killed in one hit, it was actually quite safe. He just feared dying before he could react.

"But... Monster Town... hmm, it should be the place for the prospective martial artist trial assessment. If I'm not mistaken, the danger is actually manageable!"

Gritting his teeth, Wang Ji silently commanded, "Enter!"

"ROAR!" Wang Ji's heart trembled again, but he managed to suppress his fear.

"Ding! You have entered the Level 1 dungeon space: Monster Town! Mission: Kill at least 3 monsters to complete the assessment!"