The room, more akin to ruins with its four sides exposed to the wind and a large hole in the roof, housed Feng Xue. Dressed in Assassin's Creed-style white robes, he leaned against the relatively solid wall, clutching a Short Blade in his hand as cold sweat continuously trickled down his forehead.

Just outside the ineffective wooden door, the terrifying sounds of killing and screams rose and fell, painting a gruesome picture merely by their noises.

Luckily, Feng Xue was neither a victim nor a perpetrator in these killings.

Unfortunately, he couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be dragged into it next.

Having been transported to this bizarre world only three days ago, Feng Xue hadn't even begun to grasp the basic situation of this world, let alone fully understand the capabilities of his "Golden Finger."

Although he could drink water, he wouldn't feel thirsty even if he didn't drink for three days; he could eat, but not eating for three days wouldn't make him feel hungry. In that sense, it wouldn't be wrong to say he wasn't quite alive anymore.

Even so, Feng Xue sometimes wondered if his excessive freedom in his past life had led to his punishment in this hellish place after death!

Yes, hell, that was his most direct perception of this world.

From the moment he unknowingly crossed into a garbage dump where a rag-picker had told him, "What's so strange about crossing over? Just get lost!", he had been enveloped in confusion.

He only knew this place was called a landfill area, but didn't know if that term referred to just the garbage dump, the surrounding slum, the city where the slum was located, or if the entire world was known as the landfill area.

But what he did know was that merely two hours after crossing over, he had witnessed people killing each other over a piece of dog feces uncovered from the garbage heap, with only one survivor out of a dozen.

The dog feces weren't metaphorical—they were real, although Feng Xue couldn't exactly say what creature had excreted it.

Later, he picked up some seemingly useless items and traded them for five wheat bran bricks that were harder than actual bricks. Risking almost shattering his teeth, he swallowed a few bites only to find out that the locals didn't eat with their mouths. And to obtain this piece of information, he was tricked by someone willing to demonstrate "how to eat," costing him a brick...

The awkward part was, the "nutrition" that one brick could provide was only enough to maintain his presence in this world for a day, and now, it was already the third day.

This meant that if he didn't find a way to earn something tomorrow, he would disappear completely due to the lack of replenishment—Feng Xue had the dubious honor on his second day to witness the entire process of a person vanishing on an Execution podium outside the garbage mountain.

The terribly mournful howls and the sight of the body gradually withering, collapsing, and ultimately turning into dust that vanished made Feng Xue, who lived in modern society, unable to sleep all night.

"Maybe tomorrow, I will be forced to make a final stand like the people outside for my own survival," he thought.

Feng Xue glanced at the icon in the upper left corner of his vision and sighed helplessly. Although he indeed possessed a "Golden Finger" that came with his crossing over, he hadn't yet gotten a complete hold on its functions.

This interface, similar to a game setup, neither stored items nor issued tasks; it had no achievements or other similar features and lacked even the most basic instructions.

Though a passive capability resembling a game's Identification Skill was given, the information provided was only two lines—one for the Item[Name]and another called[Element]listing terms like[Weapon], [Tool], [Food], and a string of gibberish.

He did have two active abilities, one named[Refining]and the other[Reforge], but the former required an energy called[Identity], while the latter only featured a central crosshair, a grid interface resembling a game backpack which couldn't hold anything, and an unselectable grey [Confirm] button, leaving Feng Xue clueless about what it might consume.

As for[Identity], this energy… it was simply the type of "nutrition" needed for survival in this world.

The unit for "Identity" is "Tower," which is also the basic currency unit in this world. A person consumes 100 Towers of "Identity" per day, while each "Refining" costs 5 Towers, meaning each Refining consumes 72 minutes of lifespan.

Despite the pain, Feng Xue still decided to use 5 Towers to activate the ability, but he did not get the desired answer as Golden Finger told him —

"Refining failed."

Although he wanted to convince himself that this failure was just a matter of probability, his current "Identity" reserves did not allow him any leeway to squander.

Just as Feng Xue was wallowing in self-pity over his circumstances, the cries of battle and pain in the streets gradually ceased, and the streets had seemingly returned to silence.

However, just when he thought about leaning against the wall to catch some sleep, suddenly a series of knocks echoed from the somewhat decayed wooden door.

A tight feeling gripped Feng Xue's heart. He immediately grabbed his Short Blade, but in the next moment, he hid the blade behind him.

His current dwelling had virtually no defensive capabilities. Pretending that no one was home or barring the door were akin to sticking one's head in the sand. Being someone untrained in martial arts from a peaceful era, he had no choice but to prepare for the worst while forcibly comforting himself with the thought that at least the person at the door had the decency to knock.

"Screech—"

A disturbing sound of rotting wood accompanied the opening of the door, revealing a middle-aged man of average build and slightly mature appearance. He glanced at Feng Xue and said, emotionlessly,

"Come out and help collect corpses, 100 Towers per corpse!"

"Is there such good fortune?" Feng Xue didn't catch on immediately, but after the man had spoken, he turned around and walked away, with similar knocking sounds occasionally erupting nearby.

Uncertain of the situation, he didn't immediately go outside but looked out onto the street and saw about five or six people coming out from the surrounding dilapidated houses—of course, more people pretended not to hear.

The faces of those who came out were filled with fear and struggle, causing a bit of unease in Feng Xue's heart, but with only one day of life remaining, he seemed to lack the capital to refuse.

After a brief moment of hesitation, he eventually decided to go out and joined the few with complicated expressions, walking onto the blood-stained street. Meanwhile, an impatient voice came from not far away—

"Move faster, don't dawdle. If you delay, nobody will benefit!"

It was a man holding a large machete. Behind him was a table with familiar Wheat Bran Bricks on it.

Apparently, the words of the machete-holding man had an effect. The paupers, who were previously dawdling, quickly approached the variously positioned corpses and transported them to the carts provided by the machete holder.

Feng Xue noticed that the process did not seem technically challenging, immediately stepped forward, and despite the pungent smell mixed with the scent of blood and decaying innards, he dragged what appeared to be a fairly intact corpse onto the cart.

Although his body had undergone mysterious changes after crossing worlds, overall, he was no Hercules. Let alone pulling a three-hundred-stone Strong Bow, even dragging a corpse left him somewhat breathless.

Fortunately, there were about forty corpses, and with him included, there were only nine Corpse Collectors summoned. By the time Feng Xue dragged the third corpse toward the cart, the others had already started lining up at the table with their carts.

Watching the first person to receive Wheat Bran Bricks pulling the cart and hurriedly walking towards the distance, Feng Xue realized that this job obviously didn't end with just throwing the corpses onto the carts.