"Here we are," Mr. Li's voice ca through as the door opened, and Feng Xue also saw the scene behind it.
The world behind the door was much larger than it seed from the outside; excellent lighting, from an unknown source, made the windowless container interior appear bright without being harsh.
At this ti, Mr. Li was no longer dressed in the simple brown attire he had worn before but in a silky smooth pair of silk pajamas. Beneath the exterior of the container was a modern European-style decoration, with only a few oriental pieces, like the Black Gold Stone tea tray and a complete set of tea ware on the coffee table.
However, more than these minor details, what caught Feng Xue's attention the most was the information he sensed from Mr. Li through his own label—
Occupation: [Corpse Collector]
Labels: [Corpse Collector], [Newbie Guide], [Street Wanderer], [Invisible Rich]
Alright, Feng Xue seed to understand what was going on with Mr. Li's eagerness to ntor.
Compared to Feng Xue's realization, Mr. Li, who had been smiling faintly, suddenly fell into shock. After a mont, he said in a dumbfounded manner,
"How did you condense a label already?"
"Isn't it by completing work that one can condense a label?" Feng Xue saw Mr. Li's expression and was also baffled; he had just collected a corpse normally, and then he had condensed it, right?
"It is true that labels can be condensed by completing work, but the issue is that it requires..." Mr. Li started to say, then shook his head and gestured with his hand:
"Never mind, co in first, and we'll talk."
"Oh," Feng Xue nodded. If at the beginning he had so resistance and doubt, seeing Mr. Li's label of [Newbie Guide], he had already relaxed a lot. Although he still wasn't very clear about what labels ant, at least it showed that the other person wasn't so random character popping out to introduce him to the world view out of the blue.
Following Mr. Li into the room, Feng Xue felt this place was filled with incredibility. The container, which looked at best twenty-nine square ters from the outside, had just this living room that surpassed that space, not to ntion the legitimately designed doors surrounding the living room. Through an open door, Feng Xue even spotted a large bathroom behind.
As previously ntioned, Feng Xue no longer needed to eat after transmigrating; naturally, he didn't need to use the restroom nor did he have any needs regarding washing up. In other words, these items, which were not urgently needed, were luxuries.
"Have a seat. Would you like so tea?" Mr. Li finally seed to have composed himself from the shock and asked. Feng Xue lightly shook his head and said:
"No need to trouble yourself, I'll leave after I ask my questions."
"Alright," Mr. Li didn't insist upon hearing this and simply poured himself a cup of tea, seemingly waiting for Feng Xue's questions. Seeing this, Feng Xue went straight to the point:
"I want to know what exactly this label thing is, also what you ant by formally joining earlier, and lastly, how to use this work badge."
"Your questions, actually, can be boiled down to one question," Mr. Li sipped his tea, straightened his back slightly, then continued:
"To answer these, you first need to understand a very fundantal issue, which is, what exactly is [Identity]?"
"Currency? Energy? Nutrition?" Feng Xue carried on with the righteousness befitting a codic role, throwing out several answers that were clearly wrong or incomplete. Mr. Li naturally shook his head and asked:
"Did your world before transmigration have an internet?"
"Uh, yes!" Although he felt discordant upon hearing the word "internet," considering the End of the Century City Wall, intelligent machines, and spatially expanded residences he had already encountered, he chose to accept this odd premise.
Mr. Li did not seem to care about Feng Xue's confusion and simply nodded to himself:
"Then it's easy to explain. In essence, you can consider this world as a data world, where all matter is made up of data. The so-called [Identity] is the most basic unit of data. When we absorb [Identity], we are actually consuming data to maintain our existence."
Mr. Li's declaration was succinct, but Feng Xue only felt as if a veil had been lifted, making many incomprehensible things since his transmigration seemingly explicable. Yet he still couldn't help but blurt out his sarcasm:
"Damn, so I've transmigrated to beco a Digimon?"
"Digimon? What's that?" Mr. Li's face showed puzzlent, and Feng Xue quickly shook his head:
"Nothing, it's just a fictional digital life form from our world."
"If that's the case, it's actually not far off. Co to think of it, 'information' rather than 'data' seems more suitable to represent [Identity]." Mr. Li nodded thoughtfully, updating the newbie guide script in his mind, before continuing:
"Do you rember that [True Object] I ntioned before?"
"Yes, it's the only source of [Identity] one can consu, right?"
Feng Xue said this, and his expression suddenly froze. Seeing his reaction, Mr. Li knew that he probably guessed the answer and revealed an uneasy smile, nodding:
"You're not wrong. We are not 'real life'; we're monsters that eke out an existence by snatching 'information from the real world'."
"Kaidan?" Feng Xue recalled when Mr. Li spoke of ominous ons and had ntioned "malevolent Kaidan". According to this explanation, were they benign Kaidan?
"No, we are just [Infinite], naless, existenceless, unknown, utterly devoid—the [Infinite] of nothingness. Precisely because we have nothing, we can only maintain survival by obtaining [Identity] from True Objects. Do you know why we woke up in a garbage dump after transmigration? Because, like the other things in the garbage dump, we too are 'trash' discarded by other worlds."
Mr. Li's words were imbued with a desolate feeling, making Feng Xue's skin prickle as he struggled to free himself from the complex emotions of suddenly becoming "trash". He then asked the more critical question—
"By your explanation, the landfill area we're in isn't the real world?"
"Yes," Mr. Li nodded solemnly:
"Not only the landfill, but the entire Infinite City is actually a special Kaidan, a Kaidan that continually receives various 'trash'."
Upon hearing this, Feng Xue furrowed his brow because the na Infinite City was sothing he had co across in a manga in his previous life. In that manga, the city was also composed of information, but very few were aware of that fact. Yet, in this world, it seed to be common knowledge...
However, in that manga, there was nothing like [Identity], nor were there high walls, ons, or concepts like Kaidan. This made Feng Xue unsure if there was any connection between this world and the manga world.
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