Master of Kaidan

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Admission

At 9 in the morning, the garbage dump's gate finally opened once again, and as the gang members streamed out, the poor who had already gathered outside the garbage dump at last started moving, surging in. This time, no one tried to stop them.

Even though there were eight entrances to the garbage dump, each one was under the pressure of thousands of people. Almost instantly, more than a dozen people fell to the ground due to instability, and in a place like this, they probably wouldn't have another chance to stand up again.

However, these people didn't need the Corpse Collectors to deal with them, as the garbage dump itself had the function to "clean up garbage". According to Old Li, the garbage dump was like Infinite City's digestive system, digesting and decomposing the garbage, eventually becoming a part of this world.

It is said that Infinite City was originally just a high-tech community, but by digesting garbage from all over the world, the world expanded to its current size.

As for why corpses aren't thrown into the garbage dump on a regular basis... That's because, apart from Garbage Day, the garbage dump is always in a "digesting" state. It's not just about getting in, if you so much as open the gate, those standing at the entrance will be completely decomposed by the coming force.

But it is precisely because of this mechanism that the garbage dump, receiving a vast amount of garbage every ten days, didn't turn into the garbage mountains of the past.

...

Feng Xue had no intention of earning a living, and naturally didn't rush in at the risk of a stampede like those in the front row. Instead, she moved forward slowly following the crowd's movement.

This passive moving didn't last long; after passing through the relatively narrow gate, the vast, trash-filled garbage dump already lay before her. People quickly scattered, some pulling carts and others carrying baskets on their backs, rushing toward the objects that caught their eye.

In this stage, everyone still maintained restraint, as there were still sufficient amounts of garbage. Unless they stumbled upon a True Object, it was better to spend time picking up a few more pieces of scrap metal than to waste time fighting.

Feng Xue wandered in the middle of this frantically moving crowd, occasionally noticing one or two bewildered figures on the roadside, slowly climbing out from among the trash with dazed expressions. Feng Xue immediately understood that these were the "trash people" that fell down with the garbage.

"Pah, pah, pah... That's including myself in the insult!" Feng Xue criticized her own slip of the tongue, then activated her Golden Finger to start scanning the land before her.

It had to be said, the work outfit provided by the changing room was extremely sturdy, especially the work boots. The thick soles wouldn't be penetrated even if they stepped on a sharp blade, which gave Feng Xue great peace of mind as she moved.

Perhaps due to the overwhelming amount of surrounding garbage, a casual sweep of Feng Xue's Golden Finger panel revealed a vast array of terms, forcing her to concentrate her spirit to search for appealing elements amidst the dense text.

"[Beauty], [Entertainment], [Cleaning], [Weapon]... Why is it all trash... Wait a minute? [Weapon]?! Now, that's something good!"

Feng Xue numbly swept through a list of terms, her gaze suddenly sharpening. She slowly moved her head back, scanning back and forth over the area she had just scanned, and finally saw the [Weapon] element enter her view once more.

He didn't delay and immediately bent down to search for the spot he had aimed at. After discarding some broken stones, torn rags, or twisted metal strips, and snapped wooden planks, a short blade only as long as his forearm appeared in his view.

Name: Skinning Short Knife

Elements: [Weapon], [Peeling], [Penetration]...

"This is..." Feng Xue's eyes widened. He quickly picked up the short blade, wrapped its sharp edge with a prepared cloth strip to avoid cutting the container, and then placed it in the high-capacity backpack he had specifically bought for scavenging trash. Despite being just a canvas backpack, without any brand value added, it had cost him five hundred towers!

After a promising start, Feng Xue's enthusiasm for his job increased. Although trash was everywhere, it was often mixed with soil, broken stones, or concrete chunks. This shouldn't have been the case, but gang members, in an effort to improve efficiency in selecting True Objects, would engage in destructive mining, directly smashing buildings and boulders, causing much of the previously separate trash to become buried.

Some experienced scavengers could guess the probability of high-value trash being buried in an area by observing the distribution of the surrounding concrete, sandstone, and soil. However, Feng Xue clearly didn't possess this skill. His Identity ability was limited to the targets he focused on, and without the power to penetrate the earth, he could only repeatedly scan the trash on the surface or pick through the rubbish other scavengers had pulled from the dirt.

As he walked on, Feng Xue saw a fallen tree, its trunk—which was somewhat useful—had already been taken, leaving only a crown and scattered leaves. At a glance, the sight was distressingly desolate.

"[Death], [Withering], [Male]... I've already got quite a few of these entries..." Feng Xue shook his head, prepared to leave when his expression suddenly changed—

"Wait, it makes sense for the tree to have a death entry, but why is there a male entry?" With this thought, Feng Xue followed the entry and found a man's corpse among the tree crown.

Through his learning, Feng Xue had become somewhat proficient in identifying corpses, and he immediately recognized that the man had died from gunshot wounds within the last two days. He was adorned in a Ghillie Suit made of leaves and branches, but it was apparent that someone had rummaged through it, as the firearms and ammo he should have been carrying were gone.

"He must have died before making it here..." Feng Xue muttered to himself, then approached. Although the most valuable items were gone, there was still something on the man that interested him—

The Ghillie Suit. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Name: Ghillie Suit

Element: [Concealment]...

Yes, this rudimentary thing woven from branches and leaves had only one element, the rest was gibberish, but even just the Concealment element made Feng Xue eager.

One must understand that elements are accumulations of information. Outside, it was hard to say, but within Infinite City, even if Feng Xue knew how to weave a Ghillie Suit, it would be very difficult to bestow the corresponding element upon it—unless he could take up a related profession.

Feng Xue folded up the Ghillie Suit approximately, his mood lifted greatly as he resisted the urge to leave right then and continued to delve deeper into the garbage mountain. However, very soon, a roaring sound abruptly filled his ears!