After witnessing a bad omen, the following days turned mundane. The woman who had been taken away was never heard from again, and Feng Xue did not entertain any secretive thoughts of exploring this matter. Day after day, he busied himself with corpse collection and refining.
It is worth noting, isn't this a world equipped with a refreshing mechanism? Every day, Feng Xue received at least five to six corpse collection assignments; apart from a few instances where he didn't make it in time due to distance, nearly every time, the death toll exceeded fifty.
Thus counted, in the six days since Feng Xue started his job, nearly two thousand people had died in the landfill area.
However, Feng Xue had no extra sympathy to spare for the dead; he was just tallying up his gains from collecting corpses over these days.
In six days, he had gathered over 100 corpses, refined more than thirty elements, and accumulated over three thousand Tower Coins in his Golden Finger with a personal mark that could not be absorbed.
It's worth mentioning that for each corpse gathered, Infinite City would issue a hundred Tower Coins as salary, equivalent to what the faction gave. These 100 plus corpses thus dramatically increased his reserved consumable "Identity" to an astonishing twenty thousand Tower Coins.
But Feng Xue did not feel like a wealthy person, because tomorrow was an expensive day—
Trash Day.
Feng Xue already had many elements accumulated, and plenty of "Identity" for recasting, but he sorely lacked the most crucial component, the base material.
After all, although recasting focused on "casting," one should not forget that prefix "re." Currently, the only things Feng Xue could potentially recast were his white robe and a dagger for self-defense.
Although he had made a successful start in recasting, Feng Xue could not be certain that the procedure was 100% successful. Thus, before experimenting with the specifics of the Golden Finger, Feng Xue would not use his own items as practice material.
...
As morning arrived, the dimly lit room was automatically illuminated by gentle lighting, and for once, Feng Xue woke up not from a corpse appearing task but on his own.
He stretched heartily, took down his Sleeve Sword, and hid it under the bed. Then, he grabbed a high-capacity backpack that had cost him 500 Tower Coins and left his small nest.
According to the knowledge in the labels, he learned that the employee dormitories boasted phantom-level defense; apart from the owner, only by using a phantom could one forcibly break in.
Though not absolutely safe, until his possession of a phantom was exposed, it was unlikely anyone would bother using one to smash his dormitory.
Perhaps due to these days of corpse collection speeding up his assimilation process or simply adapting to walking, it only took less than five minutes for Feng Xue to reach the west gate of the landfill. At this time, it could be described as teeming with people—there were eight gates to the landfill, but considering that they would accommodate hundreds of thousands from the landfill area, the number seemed insufficient.
"Yo! Isn't that Feng Xue?" A familiar voice came from behind him; Feng Xue turned around and indeed saw Old Li, who was currently waving goodbye to a young man, apparently having just finished guiding a newcomer.
"Good morning," Feng Xue casually greeted, as he waited for Old Li to continue. Generally speaking, when this guy showed up, it was always for a reason, and this time was no exception.
"I remember this is your first Trash Day after crossing over. Do you want some tips?" Old Li had a "wanna bet?" sleazy expression; Feng Xue rolled his eyes and glanced at the label above his head that read "Intelligence Merchant," immediately asking:
"How much?"
"500 Tower Coins." Although Old Li knew Feng Xue had likely earned a decent amount from collecting corpses these days, he didn't demand an exorbitant fee. Feng Xue, upon hearing the amount, didn't say much but took out his ID card and handed Old Li five coins.
"Deal!" Old Li took the coins, then spoke in a rather mysterious tone:
"Do you know about the changing rooms?"
"Changing rooms?" Although this term was familiar to him, clearly, Old Li was referring to more than just a place for changing clothes. Seeing the puzzled expression on Feng Xue's face, Old Li smiled slightly and then pointed to a row of rooms by the landfill's main gate:
"Those are the changing rooms. Because things brought out from the landfill area require payment, and it's impossible to thoroughly search everyone before entering, there are often disputes about what someone had on them. Therefore, most people who come to the landfill wear as little as possible."
As he said this, Old Li glanced around subtly. Only then did Feng Xue notice that over ninety percent of the people gathered around the landfill were dressed very simply, either in shorts and T-shirts or canvas shorts—all emphasizing a complete set with few accessories.
However, because there were also quite a few people dressed in strange attire mixed among them, looking far more conspicuous than those in simple clothes, this was the fundamental reason why Feng Xue did not notice the issue at first.
Now that it had been pointed out, he began to understand, at least to the extent that if he went in dressed as he was, when he came out, faction members could point at his cloak and belt, claiming they were brought out from inside, and he really wouldn't have any evidence to argue against it.
"So the changing room is for people like me who didn't know to change clothes? But why wouldn't they have a billboard or some notification about this? Also, I was wearing this when I crossed over!"
Feng Xue asked in this manner, but Old Li's face showed a mocking smile:
"No, those are not set up by the factions; of course, they won't advertise it. They'd rather everyone pay their dues once! Usually, clothing's valuation isn't too high; it just tricks a hundred or so Tower Coins out of people for a lesson. Of course, if you're really short on money, you could just go out naked...
"As for why you didn't fall for it last time, it's because they could tell you had just crossed over. The landfill's setting considers 'newcomers and their personal items as one entity,' so even if they wanted to trick you, they couldn't strip those clothes off you. But once you leave the landfill, your newbie protection period is over."
"How do I use the changing room?" Feng Xue nodded, not dwelling on this issue, but instead looked at the row of rooms, while Old Li flicked the coin in his hand, emitting a "zing" sound, then finally said:
"100 Tower Coins, you can rent a Storage Box—it contains a disposable set for picking trash. Just put your clothes inside, wear the set, and remember to take the key with you. If you don't, you'll find your clothes gone when you return. But after all, that thing doesn't offer much defense, so it's best not to put any valuables in it."
"Alright then, I'll go change," Feng Xue replied immediately and headed for a changing room. Old Li just waved his hand and then turned to approach another man dressed in strange attire—
The reason he was working so hard, aside from earning those few hundred Tower Coins of intelligence fees, was also due to his hidden profession—
changing Room Promoter.