Morning, in the trash pits of Old Zemo district.
The boy woke up with traces of tears all around his face. Yawning, he rubbed his face thoroughly and stood up when he was startled with a message.
[Congratulations! You have been selected as the host of the exchange system!]
The boy nearly fell over after hearing this message. The boy squinted and thought for a long while.
*System? What's that?*
[Ding! Enter host's name:______]
The boy did not reply. In fact, he did not know what his own name was.
[Auto generating name: Zheng Li!]
[Host, If you have any questions, feel free to ask now!]
Zheng Li asked in a tender tone, "What is the exchange system?"
[Ding! The exchange system is a system that can be used to exchange anything in order for anything else! It's that simple! There are some rules for exchanging, but the most important one is that the thing to be exchanged must be owned by you.]
[This includes exchanging with things acquired through buying, trading and killing.]
[There are seven tiers of exchange available, and you only have access to the first tier.]
[Would you like to give it a try?]
Zheng Li was a smart boy. He took the an empty plastic bottle off the ground and asked, "Can I exchange this?"
[Yes, you can, as nobody wants it and thus belongs to no one, so the host can exchange it. Would you like to exchange it?]
"Yes.", Zheng Li confirmed.
[Ding! Exchanging empty 1L plastic bottle for....0.001 points!]
Zheng Li opened the interface in his mind and saw that his points increased to 0.001.
[As a reward for first time exchange, newbie gift pack has been sent to inbox!], a monotonous voice sounded out again.
Zheng Li hurriedly checked the interface and searched for the inbox. It took him a while before he clicked on the mail icon.
[Claim Newbie gift pack?]
"Confirm.", Zheng Li spoke.
[Ding! You have received 1x Basic Cultivation Manual- Seven Tides Manual, 3x Qi Pellets, 100x Tenars and 50 points.]
[Host may collect rewards from the system on completing achievements and occasional quests.", the voice said before it turned quiet again.]
The silence helped Zheng Li to gather his thoughts. Though he was matured beyond his age, he was still a kid after all. Though he was not completely sure what this all was, he had a feeling this would greatly help him.
"Hey system, can I exchange for information?", Zheng Li asked.
[Yes, you can. Host can exchange for anything as long as you have points.]
"Give me information on my birthday.", Zheng Li asked.
[Ding! Information will cost 0.05 Points! Exchange?]
"Confirm."
[Ding! Host, Zheng Li, 11 years old, was born on July 22, 2553. 0.05 points deducted.]
"Holy heck, this is real!", thought Zheng Li.
Inspired by this, Zheng Li began to pick up random trash. "System, exchange this! exchange this too! and this one as well....."
[Ding! A total of 0.56 points credited to your account.]
Zheng Li was elated and continued on exchanging items until night fell.
"Phew. System, please show me the total."
[Host currently has 55.2 points.]
Zheng Li finally remembered that he received the martial arts manual. He read through it thoroughly and cultivated according to the instructions.
"Breathe in..... breathe out. Let the qi pass through the veins, let it circulate.....", the boy chanted repeatedly.
After an hour of doing this, Zheng Li felt tired and stopped. He waved his arms around and felt that he had become almost twice as strong as he was in the beginning.
The boy smiled and begun gathering trash again, feeling it was much easier than before.
---
Back in the old decrepit inn.
"Boss, are you really going to let that boy get away like this?", asked a thin henchman to the fat tattoed boss sitting with an air of dominance.
"Hehehe....", snickered the boss.
After blowing off a cloud of smoke, he replied, "When have we ever let anyone go? Just treat him like a grass growing slowly, and we'll naturally harvest him when the time comes."
"Ahaha! Boss is smart as always.", praised a henchman.
"Enough with the praises.", laughed off the fat boss.
"Ah yes boss....Earlier, when I was walking by the slums, I heard people saying that the district magistrate was going to come by sometime next week.", said a small pock marked guy.
"Let him come if he wants to come! After living for so long, we all know our areas, he won't cross the line if he's smart!", replied the boss.
A man with a gun strapped to his shoulder stood up and said, "Well, boss, it's time for me to make the daily rounds again. I'll be going now."
The boss didn't deign to reply and just waved his hands.
---
Back at the trash pits, a filthy and smelly boy could be seen diving into piles of garbage.
"Phew! This one brings the total up to 83.2", murmured Zheng Li to himself as he wiped his forehead.
He looked up to the same old black night. There was never a second of the yellow sun, or the blue sky that he'd heard of. Apart from the regulating bright lights that would switch on for eight hours from 8 AM to 3 PM, it was always the same black night that kept Zheng Li company.
"Hey system.", whispered Zheng Li.
[Ding! Yes, host?]
"Could you tone down your enthusiasm?"
[Ding! No problem, host.]
"Sigh..forget it. As long as the purchase is under 1 point in the future, please don't notify me."
[Ding! No problem, host.]
Zheng Li woke up early the next morning and started his round of training again.
"Breathe in, breathe out."
After a while, Zheng Li could feel the bottleneck loosen up a bit. Taking advantage of this, he opened up a small pill bottle and took a Qi Pellet.
The Qi rushed through his whole body like a flood. Cultivating according to the instructions from the manual, Zheng Li persevered.
[Ding! Congrats to the host for reaching the first level of Body Refining!], an announcement came from the system.
Zheng Li took a while to get used to his newfound strength. With one hand, he could now...lift up a six stack of heavy newspapers.
Hey! It's an incredible feat for an 11 year old to do that, okay?
Zheng Li continued to pick up trash until 3 in the evening, when he decided to take a break.
"Hey system, bring up my stats."
[Ding! Bringing up host's stats.]
[Strength - 14
Speed - 12
Vitality - 9
Intelligence - 10
Qi - 17
[Average stats for a grown man is 10]
Martial skills - None.
Cultivation method - Seven tides manual.
Cultivation - 1st stage Qi Refining.
Points - 87.5
Tenars - 62.8]
The menu was simplistic and wasn't cluttered with unnecessary information.
Zheng Li closed the stats info and got up, lifting two big baskets of trash with him.
Of course, he chose to recycle the trash that wasn't valuable to the system.
Walking along the same path back to the recycle centre, he began to think to himself.
"I'm not strong enough to deal with the gangsters at the moment, so I should reserve my strength until I can exchange enough items to increase my cultivation. Then one day, I can finally break out of here."
Lost in his thoughts, Zheng Li bumped into a fat and balding old man, and almost lost his footing.
"Hmm?!", grunted the man as he turned back to see who had the guts to provoke him.
Almost immediately, his face turned pleasant.
"Get up, young boy.", he spoke as he put his thick fingers around Zheng Li's waist.
Zheng Li tried to push the man back as he exclaimed, "Let me go! What do you want?"
The folds of fat on his cheek jiggled as the old man smiled.
"Now, now, don't be in a hurry. I haven't chosen to pursue the matter of you running into me yet. What do you say, spend a night in my house and I'll forgive you?"
Zheng Li's face turned unsightly but he did not scream out for help, because he knew nobody would help him. Instead, he struggled some more.
"You're quite strong!", the old man exclaimed.
"But no match for my cultivation. Stop struggling and come to terms with reality."
Zheng Li spat on the man's face and bit his arm.
"Enough!", the man yelled and slapped Zheng Li on the cheek.
Pulling Zheng Li by the collar, he said, "I'll have a taste of you tonight no matter what happens."
Zheng Li didn't stop trying to pry away from the iron vice-like grip of this old man, but it did not help at all. No one cared enough to look at the young boy being pulled by the big old man.
Well, even if they did, they did not dare to do anything. They knew the significance of a fat man in a place where people often die of hunger.
The fat old man called his chauffeur over and put Zheng Li in the back seat.
"Where to, Lord Magistrate?", asked the prim and sharply dressed driver.
"Back to the mansion, of course. Business is done for the day. Get going.", replied the man as he shut the door of the limousine.
"Very well, sir."
-----
The black limousine stopped in front of an impressive double storeyed mansion.
The driver got out of the door and opened the door for the Magistrate.
The fat man grabbed Zheng Li by the neck and headed inside the mansion, greeted by a host of maids.
"Welcome back, Lord Magistrate.", they all bowed in unison.
"Hm.", grunted the man.
He threw Zheng Li on the ground and said, "Get this runt fed, washed and clothed, and bring him to me."
The maid close to Zheng Li looked at him with some pity but bowed her head and said, "Yes, Lord Magistrate."
Zheng Li looked around for an escape but was quickly grabbed by the maid who whispered into his ears, "Don't make this tough for both of us. Come with me."
Grabbing him by the hand, the maid bowed towards the Magistrate and headed to the bath.
After washing all the filth and dirt off of Zheng Li, the maid exclaimed, "How pretty. I can see why the Lord selected you from this dirty place."
Zheng Li looked around and made one final attempt at escaping through the window but was quickly pushed down to the ground by the maid.
"Quite rare to see a 1st Qi Refining child like you in this place. But I suggest you give up resistance and listen to the Lord Magistrate or else you won't have a good time.", the maid spoke indifferently.
Zheng Li still did not say anything. After getting clothed, he kept his head lowered, as he walked towards the Dining hall.
While he slowly ate a scrumptious meal prepared by the team of chefs working in the background, he tried to communicate with the system.
"Hey system, how much does a dart laced with enough poison to kill the old bastard cost?"
[Ding! Calculating....]
[Ding! Found 8 million possible matches, tuning down to find the most cost effective item.]
[Ding! The system recommends the host to purchase a bamboo needle coated with 2 milligrams of the Vinseed Whalesbane, roughly enough to immobilise and kill a person in the 9th Qi Refining within 10 seconds.]
[Would you like to purchase with points or with Tenars?]
"Points.", Zheng Li confirmed.
[It costs 61.2 Points with the 10% Newbie Discount. Purchase?]
"Purchase.", Zheng Li confirmed through gritted teeth.
[Ding! Confirmed purchase, 61.2 Points deducted. Item deposited in system inventory. You now have 26.3 Points remaining.]
On the way to the Master Chamber, Zheng Li silently equipped the needle in his left hand and covered it up with his sleeve without alerting the maid.
"Lord Magistrate, the boy is here.", announced the maid with a knock.
---