The rain pattered incessantly.
A murky grey sky, illegally built derelict buildings stacked atop one another, a network of pipes obscuring the sun, toxic fumes, and corpses scattered everywhere.
Decay and rot were the primary colors of this world.
In a foul-smelling garbage dump, trash had long since piled into mountains due to a lack of organized cleaning for years.
Every day, disposal trucks transported trash in and out, dumping the newly produced waste from the city below.
A petite girl, barely 155 centimeters tall with blonde hair, was crouched amidst the massive pile of refuse. She wore a tattered white dress, the fabric long since stained and mottled. She was barefoot, her mud-caked feet covered in small cuts. She was currently focused on searching the garbage mountain for items she needed.
"Severed hands, minced meat, eyeballs... Ugh, why is it all this stuff? Isn't there anything normal?"
"Want a bite?"
Looking at the suddenly offered lump of fly-infested, pixelated, brownish-tan unidentified matter, the girl's lips twitched slightly as she politely declined.
"Eat your sister! Get the hell away from me."
After watching the zombie-like creature—whose body was covered in sores and who was missing an eyeball—walk away dejectedly, the girl sighed and looked up at the sky, her face clouded with gloom.
This dirty-faced, soot-covered girl was named Xu Xiaoyou.
She had arrived in this world of weird tales three months ago.
Monsters roamed freely, and the law of the jungle prevailed.
Creatures that only appeared in movies wandered everywhere in this world.
From heteromorphs like saprophages, zombies, and various beastmen, to urban legends like the Slit-mouthed Woman, the Faceless Man, and Lady Hachishaku, and finally to the Outer Gods whose mere presence could drive one to madness and distortion.
In this world, humans were merely a minuscule entity among a vast array of species.
The place where she currently resided was called the Corrupt Hive City, a world accelerating in decay and self-destruction due to the death of its ruler.
A Hive City, as the name implied, referred to a massive, multi-layered residential and industrial complex.
There were many such Hive Cities, existing like countless world bubbles with certain connections between them. Usually, a vast empire or corporation would be the master of several Hive Cities.
They dictated all the rules of survival within the Hive City, dominating the lives of every resident from birth to death.
To survive in this world of weird tales...
You either followed the rules, or you broke them.
Xu Xiaoyou dragged dozens of pounds of scavenged scrap metal back to her home. Calling it a home was a stretch; it was merely a small shack built from discarded metal sheets, plastic tarps, and broken wooden planks in the middle of the garbage dump.
"Finally, I've waited for this day."
The girl looked at the mountain of miscellaneous trash in her shack—discarded metal, plastic bags, and even broken parts of power armor.
This was probably the most exciting day for Xu Xiaoyou since arriving in this world.
Some creatures that descended into this world were granted professions.
For example, the most common combat professions like warriors and assassins, or utility-focused life professions like chefs, pharmacists, and alchemists.
And her profession was a card maker.
She originally thought that getting such a unique, hidden profession would lead her to the pinnacle of life.
After carefully understanding the abilities of this profession, she almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
To put it simply, she could use card maker points to condense cards and summon characters she resonated with. As the characters in the cards grew and her resonance bond with them deepened, she could receive feedback and become stronger herself.
However, the Condense page would only unlock once her card maker points reached 14,400, and these points could only be obtained by sacrificing her own wealth.
A goddamn character progression and pay-to-win system!
This ability, which was virtually useless in the early stages, had caused Xu Xiaoyou a great deal of suffering.
She had been chased by lunatics in the city, couldn't accept mission commissions, and lived as a vagrant. She lived in constant fear every day; any involvement in a gang struggle would mean the end of her life. In the end, out of desperation, she could only live miserably in the garbage dump, scavenging for food and sleeping on trash every day.
If she hadn't hardened her heart, acted fierce, and become the "Great King Xu Xiaoyou" of the garbage dump to keep the vagrants at a distance, who knows what inhuman atrocities she would have suffered.
But the history of bitter struggle was over.
She opened her talent panel.
【Name: Xu Xiaoyou.】
【Rank: Unregistered fixer.】
【Class: card maker.】
【Strength: 5.】
【Agility: 5.】
【Constitution: 5.】
【Intelligence: 40.】
【Card maker points: 11,415.】
With a wave of her hand, all the scrap in front of her turned into light and merged into her body.
【Converting scrap metal, card maker points increased.】
【Converting waste plastic, card maker points increased.】
【Converting power armor remnants! Card maker points significantly increased.】
【Converting ghoul tissue...】
【Converting Bloody Butcher eyeball...】
【Converting...】
【Total card maker points increased by 2,985.】
【Card maker talent 'Condense' unlocked!】
Three months of endurance and frustration were all for this moment!
The girl opened the Condense page of her card maker talent with tears in her eyes.
It looked somewhat similar to the gacha games she had played before: a character display area, beautiful font for the card pool, and an overall simple UI. While it was familiar, it also brought back some rather unpleasant memories.
【Current Banner Name: White Spider Lily of the Other Shore】
【Current 5-Star Rate-Up Character: Angelina acquisition probability increased!】
【Single Condense costs 160 card maker points, Ten-fold Condense costs 1,600 card maker points.】
The girl in the illustration had long silver hair and a pitch-black fur-collared coat fluttering in the wind. Her gaze was resolute and sharp, and she held a cavalry spear nearly two meters long, its tip adorned with delicate patterns. On the ground where her long boots stepped, pure white spider lilies bloomed in clusters. She looked like a proud and beautiful tundra wolf.
The exquisite character illustration immediately went to Xu Xiaoyou's head.
The first ten-pull, skip.
In the summoning animation, a shooting star rose from a surging sea toward the high sky, rendering the entire heaven a shade of purple.
【Scrap Metal x8】
【Basic Healing Potion Card x1】
【Skill Card: Back Alley Thrust! x1】
"Heh, it didn't come home? Exactly as Great King Xu Xiaoyou predicted," the girl sneered.
Condense, skip!
【Character XP Bonus Card x1.】
【Discarded Plastic Bottles x8】
【Basic Stamina Recovery Potion Card x1】
Condense again, skip!
【Scrap Metal x9】
【Skill Card: Fireball Blast x1】
Keep condensing, skip!
...
Looking at the pull history of eighty pulls—where one more ten-pull would reach the ninety-pull hard pity—Xu Xiaoyou was dumbfounded.
But thinking that she was about to pull a character, Xu Xiaoyou straightened her back and clicked on the final pull!
A golden meteor shrieked as it rose into the sky, painting both the condensed sea and the entire firmament in a brilliant golden hue.
"It's gold!"
Suppressing her pounding heart, Xu Xiaoyou didn't choose to skip this time. Instead, she flipped through them one by one.
【Scrap Trash】【Scrap Trash】【Scrap Trash】【Skill Card: Bleeding Onslaught x1】【......】
After flipping nine cards and seeing only blue skies and white clouds, Xu Xiaoyou sighed inwardly. As expected, she had to hit hard pity.
As the screen was filled with golden light, for some reason, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly had a faint, ominous premonition...
The final card slowly revealed itself.
The card's illustration showed a dark prison cage. A little white-haired girl, her body covered in scars, was curled up in a corner. Her ankle was bound to a chain, and like a bristling little beast, she bared her fangs at the dark figure before her.
【5-Star Character, Young Fangs of the Night Hunt - Anya, obtained.】
"How can I still lose the 50/50!?"
A despairing wail echoed from the garbage shack.
Rate on N.U.
