Everything began to slow down; the rain hung suspended in the air as if time itself had frozen.
Xu Xiaoyou didn't know how she had managed to catch up to the pig-faced woman. By the time she snapped back to reality, the woman's massive body had already collapsed into the rain. A dull thud echoed as mud splashed onto her small face and body, making her already filthy dress look even more wretched.
Blood stained the puddles red. Xu Xiaoyou knelt on the ground, her hands tightly gripping the small knife she had plunged into the other's chest. Reddish rainwater washed over her grime-covered knees and calves, flowing past her ankles which were covered in small cuts.
Amidst the flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder, she stared at the lifeless corpse before her. Her pupils constricted slightly as she leaned down, her hands frantically fumbling through the pockets of the woman's suit jacket.
A moment later, Xu Xiaoyou stared at the soaked leather wallet in her hand, her trembling growing more violent.
She didn't know what she was feeling right now.
Was it anxiety and fear, or the joy of surviving a disaster?
A flash of lightning on the horizon illuminated the girl's face, and the vagrants witnessed a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
In the curtain of rain, the girl's dazzling short blonde hair was soaked, clinging limply to her face.
She was clearly smiling...
Perhaps even the girl herself hadn't realized that at this moment, she wasn't afraid, nor was she purely happy; she was excited.
Excited by the overwhelming power of the skill card.
Excited that she would no longer have to live a life of constant fear and displacement, never knowing where her next meal would come from.
Excited that she had obtained her startup capital.
Xu Xiaoyou opened the leather wallet and counted the items inside.
A few bills of hundred-denomination credit points, the pig-faced woman's ID card, and a room keycard with a specific address written on it!
Looking at that address, it seemed to be in an area where public security was relatively stable.
These gains almost made Xu Xiaoyou lose her head, but the cold rain gradually calmed her down.
The surrounding vagrants cast fearful glances at the girl, but Xu Xiaoyou ignored them.
She had to deal with the bodies of these three rank one fixers as quickly as possible.
But looking at the massive frame of the pig-faced woman and the two charred corpses—whose biological species couldn't even be identified anymore—Xu Xiaoyou found herself in a dilemma.
Even if she wanted to dispose of them, was there any place better than this junkyard?
Her thoughts gradually became more meticulous.
Hyenas, jackals, carrion vultures, as well as some non-picky zombie-men and ghouls.
Compared to them, who was more suitable to handle these three?
"They're a reward for you."
As soon as she spoke, the vagrants swarmed forward. Carrying the pig-faced woman's belongings, the girl quickly disappeared into the rainy night.
...
Memories of the city had become blurred. After three months, Xu Xiaoyou had finally returned.
Crooked, illegal buildings, a dense network of pipes, and various factories operating day and night, belching out greyish-black exhaust gas.
The shadows cast by the streetlights always ended in darkness, and violent incidents occurred in the corners of the city at every moment.
It was like a steel forest that had once been prosperous but had now fallen into a primitive state of savagery. In this forest, the relationship between hunter and prey had long since become blurred.
If one wanted to survive in this city, even the most cowardly lamb had to grow fangs.
Under the cover of night, Xu Xiaoyou reached the address on the keycard.
According to the former administrative divisions, this was Sector 5, an area under the jurisdiction of Universal Heavy Industries where security was considered stable.
However, because Sector 6 to the east was within the sphere of influence of the Church, violent crimes still occurred in the border areas from time to time.
It was an old three-story residential building with aging facilities and peeling walls. The exposed pipes were mottled and yellowed, and the stairs leading upward were heavily rusted with many rough holes on the surface. Every step she took made a squeaking sound, as if stepping a little too hard would break them.
At this time of night, a few households in the building still had their lights on.
A flickering incandescent yellow light shone outward, casting the shadows of a couple.
"There's no meat left in the house! Don't you understand, you useless waste? All you do is stay home all day. What good are you!"
A fierce argument drifted from inside the room, followed by the sound of things being smashed and a man's heavy breathing.
Finally, after a loud shout, the man's shadow was magnified infinitely against the light from inside.
"You damn hag, I'll hack you to death!"
The room quickly went silent.
Xu Xiaoyou marveled at the harmony of the neighborhood relationships.
Pig-men were always naturally irritable; she just didn't know how the woman was doing now.
However, she had no interest in other people's family matters.
After opening the door with the keycard, a blast of stale musty air hit her, mixed with a faint smell of rust.
The space inside was small and very messy. Trash and clothes were mixed together and scattered everywhere. As the girl entered the room, countless insects scurried away from the piles of clothing on the floor.
Xu Xiaoyou had long since grown accustomed to living with these insects. No matter how dirty, messy, or poor it was, it was still far better than the junkyard.
When she was starving, it wasn't like she hadn't eaten them before; with your eyes closed, it was all just protein.
Almost all daily necessities were piled in front of the sofa in the living room—things like toothbrushes, cups, and hair dryers. There was even a realistic fox-girl inflatable doll. Xu Xiaoyou's brow furrowed slightly as she scanned the room, noticing a computer in the corner of the living room that hadn't been turned off, emitting a faint blue glow.
Aside from the living room, the house only had two other areas: the bathroom and the kitchen.
The faint smell of rust in the air was coming from the kitchen.
Xu Xiaoyou hadn't eaten for almost two days. She could no longer suppress her inner excitement and rushed into the kitchen to rummage through the refrigerator for food.
Much of the food had already rotted and was infested with bugs. She saw a box of meat products that looked relatively fresh in color, which made her eyes light up slightly.
After taking it out, Xu Xiaoyou's face fell.
It was a box of human eyeballs. There were six in total, wrapped in plastic film inside the container. The box even had a label for the Fresh Meat Restaurant on it. Staring at the cartoon thumbs-up on the label, Xu Xiaoyou felt completely unwell and silently tossed the box aside.
Finally, she found some normal food in the fridge.
A few slices of dry bread, a can of meat mash, and an unopened bag of milk.
The girl took a tentative small bite of the bread. The scent of wheat swirled in her mouth, striking her very soul.
As she ate, the tip of Xu Xiaoyou's nose began to sting. She could no longer hold back her tears, and the grievances of the past few months completely erupted at this moment.
She squeezed the dry bread into a ball and stuffed it into her mouth in large gulps. Before she had even chewed a few times, she reached out to scoop the meat mash from the can. She didn't care that the raw ingredients were actually fat white worms from the sewers; she stuffed it all into her mouth and eventually managed to choke herself. She pounded her chest, wailing, and grabbed the milk to pour it down until it went up her nose.
A short while later, Xu Xiaoyou sat on the bathroom floor, dry-heaving until her vision blurred, crying her heart out.
She didn't know why eating this food made her feel so much emotion; before she came to this world, these foods had been common enough for her.
Thinking about how she must look right now with tears and snot mixed together—super pathetic and ridiculous—Xu Xiaoyou let out a very ugly smile.
What she was swallowing wasn't food; it was the grievances and pain of the past few months!
She was going to bid a complete farewell to the past!
She was no longer the person she used to be. From now on, she would not allow anyone to look down on her or underestimate her!
No one is allowed to speak loudly to me anymore!
After venting her emotions, Xu Xiaoyou took the most satisfying bath she had had in four months.
The girl in the mirror had a peaceful gaze, with a stubborn strand of hair standing defiantly on her head. Her face, which used to be constantly covered in a thick layer of dust, was now clean and looked quite delicate.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly felt as if she were in a different world. She reached out and gave her face a hard pinch.
The pinched area turned red, hurting so much that tears almost fell again.
She had spent so much time living a miserable life that she had almost forgotten what she used to look like.
She found a set of unopened new suits in the pig-faced woman's room. After some simple trimming with scissors and thread, it fit perfectly.
Xu Xiaoyou tied her loose blonde hair into a low ponytail, wore the black suit jacket over a white shirt, and struck several poses in front of the mirror. Finally, she slowly pulled down a pair of sunglasses with one hand.
"Xu Xiaoyou, cool!"
She didn't know how the trend had started, but the lunatics in the city loved wearing suits. A suit had almost become a symbol of status, and a decent suit could often be sold for an astronomical price. Knowing how to speak elegantly and kill efficiently was a compulsory course for every suit-wearing thug.
Late at night, Xu Xiaoyou discovered more loot in the pig-faced woman's room.
Three photos were pasted on the wall near the computer desk, corresponding to the pig, rabbit, and fox trio.
There were also numbers marked in bright red ink on the photos: 507, 506, and 513 respectively.
According to the calendar of this world, this year was the year 532 of the World Calendar. These three numbers were likely the birth years of the three individuals.
Since the password for the pig-faced woman's network account happened to be nine digits, Xu Xiaoyou entered the three dates in order. To her surprise, she actually unlocked the account.
The woman had a balance of over two thousand credit points, which was a huge sum for her right now.
She found an ID card in the drawer under the computer.
The owner of the card was a young man who had likely already fallen victim to the pig-faced woman.
The young man had long blonde hair and was barely over 1.6 meters tall. As Xu Xiaoyou looked closely, she realized the other person looked quite feminine and actually bore some resemblance to her!
After inserting the ID card into the computer's reader, the young man's information was quickly displayed on the screen.
The young man's name was Xu Nian.
From his birth date to his personal history and work experience, Xu Xiaoyou was surprised to find that he was actually an employee of Universal Heavy Industries. Furthermore, he had undergone a job transfer just a few days ago, being reassigned from Sector 9 to a branch in Sector 1. Looking at the date, he was scheduled to report to the branch tomorrow at 3 PM.
Due to the different powers in various city sectors, the flow of information was minimal. Combined with the technological gaps and the unexpectedly developed 'beauty' industry, scanning an ID card was generally the only way to identify an individual.
Therefore, an ID card was often the most important thing a person possessed.
In other words, as long as one held someone else's ID card, they could, in a sense, become that person!
It just so happened that she had learned voice mimicry, and she was currently an undocumented resident, troubled by her lack of identity. Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoyou looked at the young man's identity information on the screen, and a bold idea formed in her mind!
Rate on N.U.
