Chapter One: A World of Monsters

“When awakening the red talent, the Time-Space Ant, I was captured by Sky Island and subjected to all sorts of inhuman torment. In the end, I overloaded the ant’s abilities and escaped from Sky Island.”
“Crossing through space, my body couldn’t withstand it, and I ultimately died.”
“Then I traveled over and became the owner of this body…”
The memories of this body flickered through Lu Sheng’s mind like fragments of a film. He felt no empathy for the body’s past, more like a spectator watching the tragic tale unfold.
Lu Sheng sorted through the chaotic jumble of information in his mind. Though it was immensely tangled, he gleaned some basic facts about this world and his own background.
According to the memories, this was a post-apocalyptic world teeming with fantastical monsters. When monsters descended, a green halo appeared around them—what people called a “dungeon.”
If the monsters inside the dungeon weren’t eliminated within twenty-four hours, everything in the dungeon would spill into reality.
The world’s extraordinary powers originated from cards; everyone could awaken a “life card.” Life cards, and everything else, were divided into six qualities: white, green, blue, purple, orange, and red.
The quality of a life card was essentially predetermined at birth. Improving it later was incredibly difficult. The higher the card’s quality, the stronger its power among those of the same tier.
His predecessor had awakened a red talent never before seen, and was promptly captured by the leader of his faction.
After roughly organizing the complex memories, Lu Sheng knew he had to consider his current situation.
He raised his head, scanning the desolate surroundings, a chill creeping into his heart.
According to the memories, this world was overrun with monsters. In such barren wilderness, he felt no sense of safety at all.
If only he were somewhere humans lived, it might be alright, but here, not even a shadow could be seen. In these wilds, a monster could spring out at any moment and tear him apart.
Before Lu Sheng could dwell further, a chime sounded in his mind.
“Ding! Talent awakened!”
Character: Lu Sheng
Strength: Tier One, Early Stage
Life Card: Time-Space Ant (Quality: White; Status: On the verge of collapse, may break down at any time, urgent repair needed.)
Life Skill: Storage Space (1 cubic meter, will expand as card quality or level increases.)
Card Drops: Every monster you personally kill will drop a card.
Card Fusion: Select a main card (other than the life card) and use other cards as auxiliary. Crush auxiliary cards as nutrients to strengthen the main card. Quality doesn’t change, but level does.
Life Evolution: Use the life card as main, dropped cards as auxiliary. Crush auxiliary cards to nurture the life card. Quality is enhanced, level doesn’t change.
With the chime, a status panel appeared before Lu Sheng.
He looked it over and was overjoyed—this would be the foundation of his survival in this world.
But… why had the Time-Space Ant become white quality?
And it was on the verge of collapse, urgently needing improvement?
Could this be the result of overusing its abilities?
Collapse was out of the question—this was once a red quality life card, and everyone only got one. There was no way he could let the Time-Space Ant break down.

Goodness, I’ve just arrived and already have to clean up a mess…
But…
In this godforsaken wilderness, survival itself was a problem, let alone hunting monsters for cards to repair his life card.
Lu Sheng felt a headache coming on. If he had the strength to kill monsters, he’d at least have a chance of finding some nearby.
But although the injuries on this body had inexplicably vanished, he was still thin and frail, tall and slender like a bamboo stalk.
Just as Lu Sheng was feeling lost, a group appeared in the distance on the horizon, a small black dot slowly growing into a mass of shadowy figures.
Seeing this, Lu Sheng was overjoyed—salvation at last!

“Leader, there seems to be someone up ahead?”
Wang Ziping looked into the distance—toward Lu Sheng’s location.
Li Kuang raised his head: “What’s so strange about that? In this apocalypse, there’s no shortage of unlucky souls abandoned once they’re useless. Bet it’s another cripple missing an arm or a leg…”
Wang Ziping nodded in realization.
Indeed, in this apocalypse, anyone missing limbs would likely be cast out. No settlement would support dead weight.

The group pressed forward, while Lu Sheng hid and watched from the side, noticing elders and children among them.
He could not survive alone in these monster-infested wilds; in his current state, even if he avoided monsters in daylight, he’d likely last only a few days.
He had no choice. Any group that brought along elders and children probably wasn’t made up of brutal thugs.
Having thought it through, Lu Sheng sped up and came to the front of the group.
“Please, could you take me with you?”
Lu Sheng stood before them, hoping for a positive answer.
The group halted.
Li Kuang sized Lu Sheng up: “Not missing any limbs. What abilities does your life card have?”
Lu Sheng had meant to answer immediately, but remembered the trouble his body’s past might bring, and hesitated.
“Um… I haven’t awakened my life card yet.”
Thinking quickly, Lu Sheng offered the only plausible solution.
In this world, life cards awaken between sixteen and eighteen years old; his current body was only sixteen, so not having awakened was normal.
Li Kuang paused: “Wang Ziping, is your Seventh Squad cleaning team still short-handed?”

Wang Ziping was taken aback—was the decision up to him?
He sized up Lu Sheng, and didn’t hesitate. His cleaning team was, in fact, one person short.
“We do need one more. Last time we entered a dungeon, we lost someone.”
“Alright, then recruit him into your cleaning team.”
Wang Ziping nodded: “Come on, don’t just stand there.”
Lu Sheng was overjoyed. Though he still felt uneasy, now that the result was in, he could relax.
Wang Ziping called back: “Wei Liang, come here.”
At his shout, a tall, thin man stepped out from the group, his figure somewhat resembling Lu Sheng’s.
“This is your subordinate now. Take him under your wing and make sure he pulls his weight. We don’t need burdens in the team.”
“Understood, Captain.”
Lu Sheng could tell Wang Ziping was speaking to Wei Liang, and also to him.
He wasn’t about to nitpick; getting into the group was his first priority.
Thus, Lu Sheng entered the group with little fuss.
In the apocalypse, people were a resource in themselves. Someone like Lu Sheng, intact and able-bodied, would be accepted anywhere.
But what happened after acceptance was uncertain.
This group, for now, seemed decent.
He was given a post as soon as he joined.
With Lu Sheng’s matter settled, the group moved on, and Lu Sheng followed.
Now, he walked beside Wei Liang, full of questions, though he didn’t plan to bombard anyone just yet.
Having only just joined, he wasn’t familiar enough; one question would likely be answered without issue, but too many and people would get annoyed.
Lu Sheng stayed silent, but Wei Liang spoke first.
“Do you know what the cleaning team does?”
“Not really…”
“Seriously? I was just being polite—you really don’t know…”
Later, under Wei Liang’s guidance, Lu Sheng finally understood the cleaning team’s purpose.
Simply put, they handled monster corpses. In the apocalypse, food had to be hunted in dungeons.
When they encountered edible monsters, the cleaning team dissected and transported the bodies; if the monsters weren’t quite dead, they finished them off.