The rain drizzled down.
The grey sky, the unsanctioned overlapping of incomplete buildings, a web of pipes that blocked the sun, toxic fumes, and corpses scattered everywhere.
Decay and rot are the dominant themes of this world.
In the stinking garbage dump, where no one had been to clear it for years, the trash had already piled up like mountains.
Every day, cleanup trucks go in and out, dumping new waste produced within the city.
A slender, just over 155 cm tall blonde girl lay atop a giant pile of garbage. She wore a tattered white dress, now mottled and dirty, and had no shoes on her feet, which were covered in dirt and small cuts. She concentrated on using her hands to search for the items she needed among the trash heap.
"Human hands, chunks of meat, eyeballs, ah... why is it just these things... isn't there anything normal?"
"Wanna eat?"
Gazing at the fly-buzzing, mosaic-covered brown lump suddenly offered to her, the corners of the girl's mouth twitched, and she politely declined.
"Eat your sister, get lost."
Watching the creature, its whole body ulcerated and one eye missing, resembling a zombie, walk away forlornly, the girl sighed, raised her head, and looked up at the sky, her little face utterly gloomy.
This dirty and dusty-faced girl was named Xu Xiaoyou.
She had come to this strange world three months ago.
Monsters ran rampant, the law of the jungle prevailed.
Creatures that only appear in movies roamed all over this world.
From Corpse Eaters, Zombies, and various beast-type aliens to the likes of Slit-Mouth Women, Faceless Men, and Hachishakusama, and all the way to Ancient Evil Gods, a single look at them could drive one mad and twisted.
Humans in this world were just insignificant beings among vast categories of races.
She was currently in a place called Corrupt Nest City, a world accelerating towards decay and ruin following the death of its Commander.
Nest City, as the name suggests, refers to a vast, multi-layered residential and industrial complex.
There are many such Nest Cities, like countless bubbles of worlds, having connections among them. Often, a vast empire or corporation would control several Nest Cities.
They set all survival rules of the Nest Cities, dictating every resident's life from birth to death.
To survive in this strange world,
One must either abide by the rules or break them.
Xu Xiaoyou dragged tens of pounds of picked-up scrap metal back to her home, and calling it a home might be generous since it was just a little nest cobbled together with discarded metal, plastic sheets, and broken planks within the dump.
"Finally, I've waited for this day."
The girl looked at the pile of assorted trash forming a small hill inside her nest, such as scrap metal and plastic bags, even fragments of power armor.
This was perhaps the most exciting day for Xu Xiaoyou since she came to this world.
Some beings descending into this world were given professions.
Such as the common combat professions like Warrior and Assassin or the more functional life professions like Chef, Alchemist.
Her profession was Card Maker.
She thought acquiring this unique hidden profession would take her to the top of life.
Upon thoroughly understanding this profession's abilities, she almost spat out blood.
Simply put, her ability allowed her to gather cards using Card Making Points, summoning people that resonate with her. As the characters in the cards grow and deepen their bond with her, she can also gain feedback and become stronger.
The page for Gathering could only be unlocked when the points reached 14,400, and these points could only be gained by sacrificing one's wealth.
A game-like character development and pay-to-win recharge system!
This initially deemed useless ability made Xu Xiaoyou go through hell.
Chased everywhere by the city's lunatics, unable to take job commissions, living a vagrant life daily, worrying incessantly, feeling that any involvement in faction struggles would end her, and being forced to live pitifully in a dump, scavenging food from trash and sleeping among garbage.
If she hadn't steeled her heart and put on a fierce demeanor to become the Xu Xiaoyou Queen of the dump, making vagrants wary of her, who knows what kind of inhumane experiences she would've had.
But the bitter struggle is over now.
She opened the talent panel.
[Name: Xu Xiaoyou.]
[Grade: Unregistered Cleaner.]
[Profession: Card Maker.]
[Power: 5.]
[Agility: 5.]
[Constitution: 5.]
[Intelligence: 40.]
[Card Making Points: 11,415.]
She waved her hand, and all the junk before her turned into light and blended into her body.
[Converted scrap metal, Card Making Points increased.]
[Converted scrap plastic, Card Making Points increased.]
[Converted power armor fragments, Card Making Points increased significantly.]
[Converted Ghoul body tissue...]
[Converted Bloody Butcher's eyeball...]
[Converted...]
[Card Making Points increased by a total of 2,985.]
[Card Maker Talent 'Gathering' Unlocked!]
Three months of endurance and frustration culminated in this moment!
Tears in her eyes, Xu Xiaoyou opened the Gathering page of her Card Maker talent.
It looked somewhat similar to the gacha games she played before, with the character display area, aesthetically pleasing card pool fonts, and an overall simple UI. Familiar as it was, it also brought back some not-too-pleasant memories.
[Current Card Pool Name: Other Shore White Flower]
[Current 5-Star UP Character: Angelina with increased acquisition probability!]
[Single Gathering costs 160 Card Making Points, ten gathers cost 1,600 Card Making Points.]
The character illustration showed a silver-haired girl, her black velvet cloak with epaulettes blowing in the wind, her eyes firm and sharp, holding a nearly two-meter-long lance, the tip adorned with intricate patterns, standing in a field of blooming Pure White Other Shore Flowers, akin to a proud, beautiful Snowfield Wolf.
The exquisite character illustration captivated Xu Xiaoyou instantly.
The first ten draws, she skipped directly.
Accompanied by the gacha animation, a meteor rose from the turbulent sea into the sky, painting the entire sky a shade of purple.
[Scrap Metal x8]
[Basic Healing Potion Card x1]
[Skill Card Back Alley Stab x1]
"Heh, didn't get it? As expected from Xu Xiaoyou Queen." The girl laughed coldly.
Drawing again, skipped!
[Character Experience Bonus Card x1.]
[Scrap Plastic Bottle x8]
[Basic Stamina Recovery Potion Card x1]
Draw again, skip again!
[Scrap Metal x9]
[Skill Card Fireball Bombardment x1]
Another draw, and skip again!
...
Staring at the draw record of eighty draws, with one more ten-draw securing the ninety-draw guaranteed pull, Xu Xiaoyou was dumbfounded.
But thinking about soon obtaining a character, Xu Xiaoyou straightened up and pressed the button for the final draw!
A golden meteor soared into the sky, turning the gathered sea and the entire sky a bright golden hue.
"Got gold!"
Holding her pounding heart, Xu Xiaoyou chose not to skip this time, flipping through each card one by one.
[Scrap Trash][Scrap Trash][Scrap Trash][Skill Card Bleeding Frenzy x1][...]
Nine consecutive flips showed nothing but blue skies and white clouds, making Xu Xiaoyou internally sigh. Indeed, she hit the guaranteed bottom.
As the scene filled with golden light, for some reason, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly had a bad premonition...
The last card slowly revealed itself.
In the card illustration of a dark cage, a little white-haired girl riddled with scars curled up, her ankle chained in the corner, baring her teeth at a shadow like a frightened little beast.
[5-Star Character, Night Hunting Young Fang - Anya obtained.]
"How could it sway!?"
A cry of despair came from the trash shed.