"Ha!"
With a soft clang, a metal blade, roughly as long as a palm, stuck into a wooden plank. Gazing at the crudely circled target drawn with mud, Feng Xue mockingly said, "At least it hit the target," before stepping forward to pull it out and retracted it back into the Sleeve Sword.
After being reforged, the Suffocation Blade's range, accuracy, and penetration had improved considerably compared to the original low-quality toy; however, correspondingly, the complexity of the mechanical expansion operation also increased.
Including how to pop out the blade, how to unfold the crossbow arms, or how to launch the blade—all required a level of precision far beyond the original toy. Nevertheless, Feng Xue didn't mind; after all, compared to the original toy, which at worst would cause a minor pain if accidentally triggered, the device now was a lethal weapon.
After spending a night researching, he had somewhat figured out some traits of what he called "phantom items," the most fundamental being their lack of wear.
It sounded a bit absolute, but at least from what Feng Xue concluded that was the case for now. Last night, due to unskilled operation, he had shot the blade towards a brick wall. Though the blade was deflected, it did not even bear a single scratch.
He also tried experiments like sharpening the blade and ultimately confirmed that neither stone nor brick could leave a mark on the blade.
The thing seemed like a game tool without a durability setting; it would not change due to reasons unrelated to its function.
However, since it was all he had, he did not attempt destructive experiments, like cutting bowstrings.
But at least for now, the durability of the so-called phantom items seemed assured.
As sunlight filtered through the holes in the ceiling and into his room, Feng Xue straightened his clothes and stretched lazily, preparing to head out.
Despite not having slept all night, he didn't show much fatigue. Or rather, for him now, sleep was more of a mental need than a physical necessity.
"It really doesn't feel human anymore!" Feeling the three remaining days of his life, Feng Xue once again stepped out of his house.
The area he lived in, known as the landfill area, bore some resemblance to the garbage mountains in Southeast Asia before his transition—a slum centered around a large garbage dump almost as big as a city block before his transition. It was filled with shanties of all sizes, and scavenging was the main source of livelihood for most residents.
Unlike the famous garbage mountains from before his transition, this place had extremely strict regulations.
Not only were there rules for the operating hours of the dump and entry and exit times, but there were also personnel specifically assigned to valuation. All items taken from the dump could only be exchanged for one-tenth of their assessed value with the area manager. If someone wanted to keep an item they found, they had to pay a price 1.5 times its assessed value.
Anyone who violated the rules faced severe punishment. The person Feng Xue had seen being executed with a "Death Sentence" at the execution grounds was said to have been caught hiding items.
There were seven days until the next opening of the dump, but Feng Xue had only three days' worth of Identity remaining. This meant he needed to earn four hundred Tars within these three days; otherwise, he would completely vanish.
Of course, he could also risk it all and attack the local manager's warehouse like those who had turned into corpses last night. However, given last night's tragic scene, this clearly wasn't an easy task.
Or rather, if it had been possible to snatch items from the local ruling gang, they wouldn't be facing death due to a lack of Identity.
Walking along a small path trodden by human activity, with the high-walled dump at the center—though called high, the wall's technological content was incomparable to the one seen yesterday that separated the wilderness; frankly, it was just constructed with bricks, something even an ordinary person could build.
The entire landfill area was an irregular circle, roughly equivalent to the size of a small city district before his transition, surrounded by walls that seemed higher but whose technology content was frighteningly high. Only the wall on the northeast seemed to stretch straight into the distance; that was the stronghold of the gang managing the landfill area, and he clearly had no right to approach there.
It's worth mentioning that the gang managing this landfill area had no intentions of recruitment. Feng Xue had asked around, but all he had received was a mocking smile.
Although it was a slum, it still contained various professions, ranging from blacksmiths, tailors, to doctors who healed the injured and helped the sick. After all, even if Feng Xue always said the people in this world didn't resemble humans, they still retained concepts of injury, illness, and death—only they didn't require eating or sleeping.
Although Feng Xue had been wandering in circles during the daytime for the past few days, today was a bit different, as he finally had a destination—
It was a small single-story house near the garbage dump, not very big in area, but it shone with a brightness unlike the surrounding houses, feeling like a classical sculpture from the Renaissance era placed amidst a bunch of postmodern art pieces.
And in front of this building, there was a line, not too long, with people constantly coming out of the building, some with smiles on their faces, others with expressions of dejection. If it weren't for the sign that read "Job Center," one might mistake it for a clinic.
Feng Xue naturally joined the queue, waiting for it to gradually shorten.
Despite the presence of a job center, work was hard to find. Since his arrival in this world, Feng Xue had come here four times, but the previous three had yielded no results.
"Next!"
A somewhat lazy voice called out from inside the house, and Feng Xue immediately walked in. The small house was equally modest, with only an office desk, a row of cabinets resembling those found in a traditional medicine shop, and a young woman who was good-looking but appeared very indolent.
"What would you like to do?"
The young woman propped her chin with the end of a pen and issued the short question, which despite consisting of only five simple words, carried a lot of implications.
The first time he had come, Feng Xue had said he could do anything and was promptly expelled. The second time, he expressed his desire to become a gang member and received a scornful smile. The third time, he came well-prepared, having researched the occupational ecosystem and mentioned transporting, but the answer he received was—
"You are not qualified."
Who knew why you needed qualifications to transport, especially since he had seen puny teenagers carrying bricks on a construction site in the west!
In fact, if it weren't for some obviously weak individuals getting jobs here, he would suspect that this front desk was like the job center in "Hunter x Hunter," with some hidden conditions!
However, considering the imminent threat of death, Feng Xue took a deep breath and then uttered his reply:
"Corpse Collector."
As soon as he spoke, the indolent woman immediately lifted her head, scrutinized him for a moment, and then nodded:
"Are you sure?"
"Huh? That's it?" Feng Xue asked, somewhat astonished. The woman didn't intend to respond but only repeated:
"I'm asking if you're sure!"
"Yes, I want to be a Corpse Collector." Feng Xue didn't dare hesitate and hurriedly nodded in confirmation. The woman, hearing this, immediately stood up, turned to the cabinet resembling one in a traditional medicine shop, and from one of the drawers, she took out a palm-sized badge and handed it to Feng Xue:
"This is your employment badge, please keep it safe."