Everything slowed down, the rain froze in mid-air, time seemed to be still.
Xu Xiaoyou didn't know how she caught up with Pigface Woman. When she came to her senses, the opponent's massive body had already fallen in the rain. The dull sound echoed, and the splattered mud stained her small face and body, making the already dirty dress even worse.
Blood dyed the stagnant water red. Xu Xiaoyou kneeled on the ground, tightly gripping the knife embedded in the opponent's chest, the mix of rain and blood washing over her grimy knees and calves, flowing past her ankles filled with tiny wounds.
Amid lightning and thunder, looking at the lifeless corpse before her, her pupils slightly contracted. She leaned down, her hands rummaging through the pockets of the opponent's blazer.
Moments later, Xu Xiaoyou stared at the soaked leather wallet in her hand, her hands trembling increasingly.
She didn't know what her emotions were right now.
Anxious fear, or the joy of surviving a catastrophe?
The fleeting lightning on the horizon illuminated the girl's face, the vagrants witnessed an unforgettable scene.
In the rain, the girl's dazzling golden messy hair soaked, weakly sticking to her face.
She was clearly smiling...
Perhaps even the girl herself didn't realize, she wasn't afraid, nor was she joyful, but rather excited.
Excited by the powerful effect of the Skill Card.
Excited that she no longer had to live in constant fear, drifting about, uncertain of her next meal.
Excited that she now had the startup capital.
Xu Xiaoyou opened the leather wallet, counting the items inside.
A few hundred-credit note bills, Pigface Woman's information card, and a housing card with a specific address written on it!
Judging by the address, it seemed to be in a relatively stable area.
The gains almost made Xu Xiaoyou's head spin, but the cold rain gradually brought her back to composure.
The surrounding vagrants cast fearful glances at the girl, but Xu Xiaoyou paid no mind to them.
She needed to swiftly dispose of the bodies of these three First Tier Cleaners.
However, looking at Pigface Woman's massive corpse lying on the ground, along with the two charred figures whose species couldn't be discerned, Xu Xiaoyou faced a new dilemma.
Even if they were to be disposed of, what place could be better than this garbage dump?
Her mind steadily grew meticulous.
Hyenas, Jackal Wolves, carrion vultures, along with some indiscriminate zombies and ghouls.
Who else could be more suited to handle these three bodies?
"You can have them."
After speaking, the vagrants swarmed in. The girl, carrying Pigface Woman's personal items, quickly vanished into the rain.
...
Memories of the city had grown hazy. Three months later, Xu Xiaoyou returned to the city once more.
Crooked illegal buildings, dense pipeline networks, factories operating day and night, spewing gray-black exhaust.
The shadows cast by street lamps always pointed toward darkness, violence never ceased at the corners of the city.
This place resembled a steel forest, once prosperous, yet now reduced to a primitive wilderness, where the distinction between hunter and prey had long blurred.
To survive in the city, even the most cowardly lamb must grow fangs.
Under the cover of night, Xu Xiaoyou arrived at the address on the housing card.
According to previous administrative divisions, this was Zone Five, under the jurisdiction of Cosmic Heavy Industries, where security was fairly stable.
However, since the east bordered Zone Six, the "Church" faction's territory, violent crimes occasionally occurred in the outskirts.
It was an old three-story residential building, with dilapidated features, peeling walls, exposed pipes, mottled and yellow, and severely rusted stairs leading upwards, with many coarse rust holes that creaked with every step, seemingly ready to break at any touch.
At this hour, some homes in the building still had their lights on.
The flickering yellow incandescent lights projected outward, reflecting the shadows of a couple.
"There's no meat in the house, can't you understand that, you useless piece of trash, always staying home, what's your purpose!"
The fierce argument came from inside, followed by the sounds of smashing, and the man's heavy breathing.
Finally, with a loud roar, the man's shadow enlarged infinitely facing the light from the room.
"You old hag, I'll chop you to death!"
The room soon fell silent.
Xu Xiaoyou lamented the harmonious neighborhood family relations.
Pigmen are naturally short-tempered; who knows how the woman is now.
But she had no interest in the affairs of others.
Using the housing card to open the door, a stale moldy smell rushed out, mixed with a faint metallic scent.
The space inside the room was small and chaotic, with garbage and clothing mixed together, scattered everywhere. As the girl entered the room, countless insects crawled away from the piles of clothes on the floor.
Living alongside these insects, Xu Xiaoyou had long since become accustomed to it; no matter how dirty, messy, or bad it was, it was still far better than the junkyard.
When desperate with hunger, wasn't it just a matter of closing your eyes, it's all protein.
Almost all daily necessities were piled in front of the living room sofa, such as toothbrush cups, hair dryers, and even a lifelike Fox Woman inflatable doll. Xu Xiaoyou frowned slightly as her gaze swept over, noticing an untouched computer in the corner of the living room emitting a dim blue light.
Besides the living room, there were only two sections left of the house, the bathroom and the kitchen.
The faint smell of rust in the air emanated from the kitchen.
Xu Xiaoyou hadn't eaten anything for nearly two days, and her excitement could no longer be contained. She rushed to the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator for food.
Much of the food had already rotted and grown insects, but there was a box of meat products that still looked colorful, which made her eyes brighten slightly.
After taking it out, Xu Xiaoyou's face fell.
It was a box of human eyeballs, a total of six, wrapped in cling film in the box. The preservation box was labeled with the "Fresh Meat Restaurant" logo, and looking at the cartoon thumbs-up on the logo, Xu Xiaoyou felt a bit queasy, silently tossing the box aside.
Finally, she found normal food in the fridge.
A few slices of dry bread, a can of minced meat, and an unopened bag of milk.
Tentatively, the girl took a small bite of the bread, the scent of wheat lingered in her mouth, striking straight at her soul.
Eating, Xu Xiaoyou's nose began to sour, no longer able to hold back tears, months of grievances completely exploded at this moment.
She mashed the dry bread into a ball, stuffing it into her mouth, with barely chewing she reached for the can of minced meat, not caring that this minced meat was actually made of plump white worms from the sewer, stuffing it entirely into her mouth, eventually choking herself. She pounded her chest, wailing, grabbing the milk and gulping it down until the milk went up her nose.
Not long after, Xu Xiaoyou was dry heaving in the bathroom to the point her vision blurred, sitting on the floor and bawling.
She didn't even know why eating this food affected her so much, clearly, before she arrived in this world, this food was just commonplace to her.
Thinking of her tears and snot mixed together now, certainly looking super ridiculous, Xu Xiaoyou let out a rather ugly smile.
What she swallowed wasn't food, but the grievances and pain of the past few months!
She wanted to completely say goodbye to the past!
She was no longer what she used to be. From now on, she wouldn't allow anyone to look down on her, belittle her!
No one was allowed to raise their voice at her anymore!
After venting her emotions, Xu Xiaoyou took the most satisfying bath she'd had in four months.
The girl in the mirror had calm eyes, with a single strand of hair stubbornly sticking up, the face once covered in thick dust now appeared clean and delicate.
Looking at herself in the mirror, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly felt as if a lifetime had passed, she reached out and pinched her face hard.
The pinched spot turned red, almost bringing tears to her eyes.
She had endured too many hardships; she almost forgot what she used to be like.
She found an unopened new suit in the Pigface Woman's room, and after simply cutting it with scissors and thread, it fit perfectly.
Xu Xiaoyou tied her loose blonde hair into a low ponytail, draped a black suit jacket over it, with a white shirt underneath, posing back and forth in front of the mirror. Finally, she slowly pulled down her sunglasses with one hand.
"Xu Xiaoyou, cool!"
No one knows how the trend started, but the crazy people in the city loved wearing suits, and suits had almost become a status symbol, often a decent suit could sell for an outrageous price. How to speak gracefully and cut efficiently was a compulsory course for every suited thug.
Late at night, Xu Xiaoyou discovered quite a few gains in the Pigface Woman's room.
Three photos were pinned to the wall near the computer desk, corresponding to a pig, a rabbit, and a fox.
The photos were also marked with numbers in bright red font: 507, 506, 513.
Judging by this world's calendar, it was the Year 532 of the World Era, so these numbers were likely the birth years of the three people.
Since the Pigface Woman's internet account password just happened to be a nine-digit number, Xu Xiaoyou entered the three dates in sequence, unexpectedly unlocking the other's account.
The account had over two thousand credit points, which was a fortune to her right now.
She found an information card in the drawer under the computer.
The card owner was a young man, presumably already fallen victim to the Pigface Woman.
The youth had long blonde hair, and was just over 1.6 meters tall, and as Xu Xiaoyou looked carefully, she found that he had quite feminine features, somewhat resembling herself!
After inserting the information card into the computer's reader, the youth's information quickly appeared on the page.
The youth's name was Xu Nian.
From birth date to personal history, finally to work experience, Xu Xiaoyou was surprised to find that he was an employee of Cosmic Heavy Industries and had just undergone a position transfer a few days ago, from Zone Nine to the Zone One branch. Looking at the date, it was just the next afternoon by 3 PM that he was to report to the branch.
Due to different powers between city regions, information flow was minimal, coupled with the technological gap and the unexpectedly developed "cosmetic" industry, usually the only means to identify an individual was to scan their information card.
Thus, an information card was often the most important thing on a person.
In other words, if one possessed another's information card, it could, in some sense, mean becoming that person!
Just so, she had also learned voice imitation, and being currently without legal status, troubled by having no identity. Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoyou looked at the youth's identity information on the screen, forming a bold idea in her heart!