On the outskirts of the city lay a sprawling dumpsite, the designated location for all the waste produced by the city's inhabitants.
Giant hover trucks arrived and departed ceaselessly, unloading massive amounts of trash, including advanced electrical waste and expired expensive solutions.
Over time, these discarded materials accumulated into towering mountains of refuse.
Amidst this desolate place, several young men and children could be found rummaging through the trash, their eyes scanning for anything of worth in the sea of decay.
Among the scavengers, one figure stood apart from the rest. Clad in black leather attire, his dark hair tousled by the wind, he scanned the dump with sharp brown eyes.
He move through heave of waste with practiced ease, as if he knows where to exactly where to look. Slung over his shoulder was a bag, already heavy with the remnants of discarded treasures he had carefully salvaged.
His name was Alex, an orphan, and this year he would turn sixteen.
But his held a secret in deep on his heart, that he had been transmigrated from a world much like our own into this strange, sci-fi realm.
In his previous life, he had died at the age of twenty-five, worn down by the endless grind of overwork.
Despite his knowledge and education, the chaotic social hierarchy of this new world left him fully trapped.
Here, he was just another dump collector for the government, scraping by to live a decent life. He had no memory of who his parents were in this world. When he first opened his eyes after transmigrating, he found himself lying in a junkyard, confined inside a square-shaped box.
It was thanks to old man Wei that Alex was still alive today.
Old Man Wei had treated him with kindness and became his guardian.
However, tragedy struck when Alex was only ten years old, as Old Man Wei passed away.
From that moment on, Alex had to navigate life all by himself. Although it was not particularly challenging for someone with the mentality of a twenty-five-year-old but the government's laws banned nomads like him from accessing basic facilities.
Before Alex turned eight, access to electricity was a distant luxury for nomads like him, even in this technologically advanced world. Despite having lived for nearly sixteen years, he still had no idea what the real world beyond the outskirts and dumpsite looked like.
It wasn't until his twelfth birthday that the government finally recognized the nomads as half-citizens, allowing their children to receive basic education.
Alex suspected this change came only through the relentless efforts and sacrifices of citizens and nomads alike, who had fought for freedom and the recognition of their rights. After years of struggle, the government conceded, granting the nomads half-citizen status.
But something is better than nothing, after all.
For their sacrifice, Alex could make a living all by himself, working tirelessly to fill his stomach and pay for his school fees.
But even that wasn't without its own sacrifice.
It wasn't just his struggle—other young orphans shared the burden of him. Alex took care of nomad children and orphans whose parents couldn't work or had passed away.
He made sure they had food three times a day, but nothing came without a price. In the both world kindness is myth. Its all about benefit, at least as far as he saw.
In return of their help, he took all the scavenged good to himself, just for cover his own expenses, including going to school.
In a way, they worked for him, and though he kept them fed and he quietly benefited from their hard work.
He learn it from his former life bosses, he worked for in his previous life, and that's also why he could live normally in this world despite being a nomad.
But they didn't have many options either—Nomads were mostly ineligible for any legitimate work. And working alone often made them easy targets for gangs like his.
So, their only choice is to join a gang and his gang although wasn't that good but it has quite good reputation in this area.
But they didn't have many options either—Nomads were mostly ineligible for any legitimate work. And working alone often made them easy targets to loot for gangs like his.
So, their only real choice was to join a gang. His gang wasn't the best, but it had earned a decent reputation in the area. Moreover, nearly all of its members, including Alex, were orphans, which meant they had no godfather or protector to rely on.
Their only strength was Alex and his clever plans.
Because of that, Alex and his group had no choice but to scrape by, collecting junk and taking on odd jobs wherever they could. That's why they were here with him, amidst the endless heaps of waste, searching for anything salvageable that could still be used or sold.
"Enough for today, I suppose," Alex mumbled silently.
Whistle****Whistle
He blew the whistle, signaling the entire group to wrap up their scavenging activities.
"No serum?" Alex asked, looking at the boy who was arranging their findings. His face was covered by a black dust from the modern dump yard, giving him look of beggar.
"No, boss. today's luck is bad." replied a little boy, around the age of 11, as he scratched his head.
"Oh the gods, bestow upon good upon me." Alex said.
'If things are going like this, there will be huge money problem.' Alex thought.
"Samir, get everyone organized and treated. And for God's sake, don't forget to use antiseptic," Alex instructed.
"Yeah! Yeah! I will do that, you should maintain the financial side properly." Samir replied.
"I promise you whatever happens, there will be no problem of food." Alex replied.
"Food, and liveliness is our motto Alex, if these thing go away even for a day bond of our gang would be weaken." Samir says to Alex while clap his hand.
Clap***Clap
Immediately members of their gang came near them and Samir start to treat them.
By within a second Alex and Samir mumbled silently "Crap"