Chen Lin steadied his breathing and sank his awareness into his mind.
The Foundation Establishment Lovesick Butterfly from last week still cast a vivid shadow over his heart.
He had no desire to experience the agony of being consumed by butterfly fire a second time.
Would there be another "stowaway" today?
On his guard, he confirmed the activation.
Dim light swirled, and the familiar black portal opened in the center of his bedroom.
Chen Lin stepped through.
The sight before him was as familiar and overwhelming as ever. Mountains of assorted garbage threatened to burst the entire space apart.
This time, he did not rush to hunt for treasure.
Chen Lin stood still, closed his eyes, and pushed his Qi Refinement Fourth Layer senses to their limits.
His hearing spread like spilled mercury, instantly covering every corner within sixty meters, carefully picking out even the faintest unusual sound deep within the garbage mountains.
Time ticked by.
Throughout the garbage station, there were no signs of life, only the soft rustling of garbage being automatically sorted.
Ten minutes later, Chen Lin opened his eyes, and his taut vigilance slowly eased.
Looks like it's safe today.
With a flicker of movement, he darted toward the preliminarily sorted piles and began his daily work.
His luck seemed particularly poor today, however.
He rummaged through the wood pile for ages, only to find loose-grained [mortal wood: water willow], so badly damaged that it would take up too much space even as firewood.
The metal pile was likewise full of rusty mortal iron. He could not find even one decent piece of refined iron.
Chen Lin searched several areas in succession, with much the same results.
Finally, he turned his gaze toward the nearby pile of corpses.
There were few corpses today, just a dozen