When Feng Xue emerged from the changing room, she had already donned a set of canvas clothes, a garb costing a hundred towers with an added temporary storage locker, which was rather uncomfortable to wear but boasted the advantages of being durable and dirt-resistant, making it apt for trash picking.
Carrying a pair of work gloves, Feng Xue returned to the square and saw Old Li standing in front of someone clad in bizarre attire, explaining something.
Seeing this, she didn't approach further but silently shifted her gaze to the massive clock at the entrance of the landfill.
Six fifty-six.
There were still two hours before the landfill would officially open.
"Am I a bit too early?" Feng Xue yawned mightily, feeling very much like those top students who, aiming for half-past seven morning study, arrive at school at five-thirty instead (or possibly to rush their homework), possessing that sort of temperament. However, seeing the gathering crowd around her, she suddenly thought that perhaps this early arrival was the norm.
After all, the waste that appeared in the landfill had its limits, with several hundred thousand people in the entire dumping area, of which no more than ten percent were professionals. The rest survived thanks to the landfill; coming early meant getting a bit ahead when entering and possibly scavenging more, naturally increasing one's chances of staying alive.
One must know that according to Old Li, each trash day, the landfill would welcome tens of thousands of transmigrators, and this week Feng Xue estimated the death toll to be no more than two thousand. Even accounting for the days before her employment, the death toll over ten days wouldn't surpass four thousand. In other words, if this dumping area was maintaining a stable population of several hundred thousand, at least six or seven thousand people would have to die on each trash day.
Just as Feng Xue was contemplating whether to find a place to sit for a while, a jarring buzz suddenly came from above. Her gaze instinctively turned skyward, and her eyes widened in shock—
The cloudless sky, which had seemed to lack any weather changes since her arrival, was now covered with dark clouds. Yet, just a minute before, the sky was as clear and blue as a calm lake's surface.
Amid the thick clouds that seemed intent on dragging the sky back into the night, blue and red flashes of electricity intertwined continuously. Somewhere within them, something that one might hesitate to call a depression was forming.
The clouds, like cotton candy evolving into a doughnut, with the flickering of the dual-colored lightning, slowly transformed into a void. In the pitch black, an invisible storm seemed to be brewing.
Subsequently, a vast—no, a colossal amount—of material fell from the clouds.
This included humans, as well as flowers, plants, and trees; large chunks of soil and sandstone, along with refrigerators, televisions, and other man-made objects; occasionally, even a truck would fall from the sky. However, none of these were the most exaggerated; actually, Feng Xue even saw a partially collapsed apartment building, about five to six stories high, tumbling down as well.
Logically, these falls from thousands, tens of thousands of meters high should have had a massive impact upon hitting the ground, but unexpectedly, even after ten minutes when the dark clouds had thoroughly dispersed, the people outside the landfill felt not a bit of shock.
"Isn't it a grand sight?" Old Li's voice suddenly sounded, but at that moment, Feng Xue had no mind to dwell on these matters and just stared at the once again clear, cloudless sky, murmuring:
"Is this how I also came down initially?"
"Uh-huh, you could say everyone did." Old Li didn't know where he'd gotten a cigarette from but didn't light it, just held it in his mouth with a somewhat weathered tone:
"In Infinite City, human life is just that cheap. No matter how many die, it won't take long before they are replaced because this is the dumping ground for countless worlds. To those vast numbers of worlds, humans really are like trash."
"Tssk..." Feng Xue clicked her tongue, sucking on her teeth. Although she had understood the fact that the population here was sustained by refreshment, witnessing it firsthand still gave her an uneasy sense of unreality.
Just then, the gates of the landfill suddenly opened, and the people surrounding it immediately became restless. But apart from a few hotheaded youngsters, no one charged towards the gate. And those few who did step forward were swiftly brought to the ground before they could reach the gate.
Members of the gang, wearing uniform clothing, took some of their forces to tie up those daring to break the rules on the execution posts outside the landfill. The rest lined up in an orderly fashion and slowly disappeared into the landfill.
"Bang!" With a dull metallic clanging sound, the gates of the landfill closed again, and old Li, who had suddenly fallen silent, then spoke up:
"These gang members will first sift through the trash, collecting most of the True Objects before it's our turn to enter."
Hearing old Li's words, Feng Xue wasn't surprised but simply asked:
"Speaking of which, what kind of trash is more valuable?"
This question wasn't really important for Feng Xue, as she was no longer among those who needed to rummage through trash to survive. However, considering her need for a large amount of recasting base material, she felt it was better to ask—after all, taking Items out of the landfill required paying 1.5 times their appraised value.
Hearing Feng Xue's question, old Li once again revealed a sly smile like that of a cunning merchant. Without waiting for Feng Xue to speak again, he directly quoted a price:
"1000 towers."
"No problem." Feng Xue didn't hesitate and immediately pulled out one thousand towers in paper money from her work badge to hand to old Li. He took the money, smiling with satisfaction:
"Actually, valuation is quite simple, True Objects are definitely the most valuable, but they are also the least likely to slip through the net. Even if you do get one, absorbing it directly is more profitable than handing it over to the gangs.
"Next up would be Items with complete functionality, like bicycles, electric ovens, and the like. As long as the function is intact, the appraisal is usually based on market price. However, it's a matter of luck, and many Electrical Appliances can't be immediately tested on the spot for condition, so it really tests your professional eye and luck.
"If you want to ensure your income, choosing metal trash is definitely the right move. The prices are stable, and there's basically no worry about being unable to sell, but don't expect to make a fortune."
"I see." Feng Xue remembered the old television she swapped for five bricks the time she transmigrated, which must have benefited from being functionally intact. Thinking about it, should she choose some Items that look more damaged? But wouldn't that affect the effectiveness of the recasting?
While Feng Xuexin was silently pondering this, old Li suddenly seemed to remember something and reminded her:
"Oh yes, one last piece of advice. No matter whether Extraordinary Abilities exist in your original World or not, those Items with magical powers become Effectless duds here, unless they can undergo a Transformation into Phantom Objects. But encountering Phantom Objects in the landfill is virtually impossible, after all, those gang members aren't fools. With True Objects, maybe one or two pieces with small Storage might be overlooked, but they definitely won't let a single Phantom Object slip through."