Qinhuang Island, inside a very run-down apartment in an old residential complex.
Fang Chenyi, having just gotten off work and made do with a meal of cold rice, dragged his exhausted body onto his simple wooden bed. Although Fang Chenyi had a handsome face, in this society, good looks couldn't pay the bills.
As a graduate of an ordinary, third-rate university, he could only work at a small company for a pitiful salary of just three thousand yuan a month.
Lazing on his bed, for a broke-ass guy who, two years after graduating, still used a six-digit PIN to protect a three-digit bank balance, the most budget-friendly entertainment was undoubtedly scrolling through free short-form videos. It was also the best way for him to relax.
Just like now, Fang Chenyi was scrolling video after video on the phone he'd been using since college. Whenever he came across an interesting clip, he wouldn't hesitate to give it a little red heart—perhaps because those little red hearts were free.
As he kept scrolling, a short video ad for a game suddenly popped up on his screen:
Do you want to be a billionaire?
Do you want to soar to the top and be better than everyone else?
Do you want to reach the pinnacle of life and marry a beautiful, wealthy woman?
What are you waiting for? Click the "Start" button now and begin your journey from a scrap picker to a billionaire tycoon!
Option 1: Start!
Option 2: Don't Start!
Looking at these three brainless questions, Fang Chenyi was speechless. 'Aren't these all rhetorical questions?' he thought. 'These three things are probably everyone's unreachable dream.'
What really left Fang Chenyi speechless was the line that followed: a journey from a scrap picker to a billionaire tycoon. 'What? Did the designer's brain short-circuit or something? Making players pick up scraps... Only someone with a screw loose would play this, right?'
Shaking his head disdainfully, Fang Chenyi flicked his finger, ready to scroll past the video.
But as luck would have it, his finger landed right on the "Start" button. Before he could swipe up, he heard a DING. A mechanical notification immediately sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Start option selected successfully. System is now loading...]
"Holy shit! What the hell was that?!"
The sudden voice startled Fang Chenyi so much that he shot bolt upright. He wasn't overreacting; he had heard it distinctly. The voice had clearly come from inside his own head.
Just as Fang Chenyi was reeling in shock, the mechanical voice sounded again.
[System loaded successfully. Binding to Host... Dispensing items...]
[Items dispensed successfully. Host, please collect them as soon as possible and begin your journey to riches by picking scraps!]
At that moment, as the notification played in his mind, two items suddenly materialized out of thin air by Fang Chenyi's feet.
One was a worn-out, red-and-blue woven bag. The other was a... trash grabber... the kind often used by sanitation workers.
"Holy shit, what's the meaning of this? Don't tell me it really wants me to go pick up trash! And what's this? A System?? Fuck me, I must be hallucinating from reading too many web novels lately!"
He instinctively reached out and touched the trash grabber beside him. A DING immediately sounded in his head once more:
[Host has equipped: Trash Grabber x1. Attributes: Can grab anything, immune to weight; comes with a Purification attribute, which shields against and exterminates all viruses and bacteria, and can expel all harmful pathogens within a two-meter radius of the Host.]
"Holy shit, this is so freaking awesome! Immune to weight and it can kill any virus or bacteria? This thing is a damn fine tool for picking scraps."
As someone who spent every day either scrolling through videos or reading web novels, Fang Chenyi quickly accepted the fact that he now possessed a system. The voice in his head and the two items that had appeared from nowhere left him no choice but to believe.
However, he was a little bummed out. The systems in novels were always ridiculously overpowered. How come when it was his turn, he got one for picking scraps?
But despite his disappointment, Fang Chenyi was still full of anticipation. 'No matter what kind of system it is, it's still a system! And any system is awesome,' he thought. 'Who knows, maybe I really can pick scraps all the way to becoming the richest man in the world.'
With that thought, Fang Chenyi picked up the woven bag. The grabber had attributes, so what about this bag? Would it have them too?
Sure enough, the moment his hand touched the woven bag, a notification just like the previous one appeared in his mind.
[Host has equipped: Trash Bag x1. Attributes: All-Encompassing Collection, contains ten cubic meters of space. Anything except living organisms can be placed inside. Can also block scans from any device and provide corresponding camouflage!]
"Holy shit! Good stuff, this is some seriously good fucking stuff! Is this the legendary storage bag? WAHAHA, I knew it! No matter what kind of system, they're all awesome!"
Witnessing the awesomeness of these two items, Fang Chenyi started to feel a flicker of excitement about this whole scrap-picking business. The three moronic questions from the ad resurfaced in his mind. Of course, in his eyes now, maybe those dreams weren't so impossible after all.
At this thought, Fang Chenyi stopped scrolling through videos. A new surge of energy coursed through him. He slung the woven bag over his shoulder, grabbed the trash picker, and marched out of his room, full of vigor.
"Hey, hey, you stinky brat, where are you off to in such a rush? Have you eaten? I made some stewed meat, and your Uncle Li told me to bring some over for you."
The moment he stepped out, he ran right into his landlady, Aunt Wang, who was bringing him meat. But seeing Fang Chenyi's strange getup, she froze for a second.
"Going to pick up scraps!"
Fang Chenyi's mind was completely fixated on picking scraps, so how could he be bothered to explain things to his landlady? He excitedly tossed out that one line and was already dashing out the building's entrance. As he left, his voice echoed back, "Thanks, Uncle Li and Aunt Wang! Just leave the meat on the table in my room, I'll eat it when I get back!"
"This kid... why is he picking up scraps? Hey, hey, Xiaofang, Auntie's telling you it doesn't have to be this way! If you're really out of money, I'll cut this month's rent in half for you!"
Hearing Fang Chenyi's words, Aunt Wang first froze, then it clicked. She hurriedly shouted after his retreating figure, but by the time she finished, he was long gone.
"Sigh, such a good kid. Not only is he handsome, but he's so sensible too. Why can't he find a good job?"
While Aunt Wang was sighing with a bowl of potato and meat stew in her hands, Fang Chenyi had already run to the trash cans in the complex. His eyes swept the area and landed on a broken toy car discarded next to a bin.
Without a second thought, Fang Chenyi extended the grabber in his right hand and picked it up. With a flick of his left hand, the woven bag opened, and he accurately tossed the broken toy car inside. The motion was so fluid it was as if he had been tempered by practice at countless trash cans.
[Congratulations, Master, for picking up one toy car. As this completes the first task, you are specially awarded a corresponding special item: one Lamborghini Sesto Elemento (valued at 23.12 million, one of only 20 in the world). Also included is a 'Basic Supercar Driving Knowledge' package. As the reward item is too large to fit in the woven bag, it has been parked at the entrance of the residential complex. The car key has been placed in the woven bag for Master to retrieve. The Basic Supercar Driving Knowledge has been automatically deposited into Master's Sea of Consciousness.]
[To be continued...]
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