2: Three years have passed in the blink of an eye

Sea Vortex City has no pity, just as the major metropolises have no room for tears.

Three years passed in a blink...

In the first three months after leaving the orphanage, Chen Jun truly understood the meaning of those words.

That 50-credit transition fund was only enough for him to stay in the cheapest 'capsule hotel' for ten nights.

On the eleventh day, because he couldn't pay the fees, he was unceremoniously kicked out by the robot manager. The white plastic pod, which barely fit a person, was soon occupied by another young man with the same dazed look in his eyes.

Finding work was even harder.

'Hiring warehouse organizer. Requirements: Energy affinity Grade C or above, proficient in operating small transport mechs.'

'Sorry, I'm Grade F.'

'Hiring restaurant waiter. Requirements: Good appearance, good stamina, Grade B affinity preferred.'

'...Is Grade F not okay?'

'Sorry, the pace gets very fast when we're busy, and those below Grade B probably won't be able to handle it.'

He even went to 'Gray Rat Alley' that A-Kai mentioned. The air there was foul, the lighting dim and ambiguous, and everywhere were people with shifty eyes, smelling of low-quality energy potions.

A man with a scorpion tattooed on his arm sized him up, squeezed his arm, and sneered:

'A Grade F Trash? Soft and tender, no strength to carry bags, and no Aura to guard the place. Get lost, don't get in the way.'

In the end, he found a temporary job in a sewer maintenance area far from the city center.

The work involved using a high-pressure water gun to wash away accumulated grease and Trash from the filter screens.

The environment was foul-smelling, damp, and cold, with no protective gear whatsoever. He worked fourteen hours a day for a reward of 12 credits.

Every night, dragging his body that felt like it was falling apart, he would return to a 'communal dormitory' converted from a discarded shipping container, packed with over twenty people. A massive wave of exhaustion and despair would drown him.

He lay on the top bunk of the creaking iron bed, listening to the snoring and sleep-talking of his roommates below, staring at the eerie reflection of the city's neon lights filtering through the gaps in the container's metal roof.

A strong sense of absurdity and shame gnawed at his heart.

'Damn it... I've lost face for all my fellow Transmigrators...'

That's right!

Chen Jun was a Transmigrator, having come from Blue Star through Transmigration.

He remembered the novels he had read in his previous life.

Others went through Transmigration and either had a System or were born with extraordinary talent; at the very least, they were an illegitimate child of a noble.

They would punch through nursing homes and kick through kindergartens, with all sorts of beauties throwing themselves into their arms and enemies kowtowing and begging for mercy.

But what about him?

Hit by a dump truck, died on the spot, body Transmigration, turned straight into a baby, and spent eighteen years waiting to be fed in an orphanage.

After finally growing up, he held a Grade F Trash template, washing sewage in the dirtiest sewers of the interstellar era, and sleeping in a container that was like a Trash heap at night.

If this were written as a novel, it would probably be hard to even get signed, right? Readers would definitely curse:

'The protagonist is being tortured too much! Refund!'

He even remembered how he got here: a runaway dump truck, the screeching of brakes, and then, darkness.

When he woke up, he was already an infant abandoned at the door of an orphanage.

'Brother driving the dump truck, your professional skills are lacking... You already hit me, why didn't you give me a cheat?'

He silently mocked himself at the air, his smile uglier than crying.

Three years.

He had struggled like this for three years amidst the stench of the sewer and the crowding of the container.

The last bit of light in his eyes was almost extinguished.

Until he met Lin Wei.

That was at a relief station that provided free nutrient paste for low-level Grade F personnel.

The line was very long, and people were waiting numbly.

In front of Chen Jun was a thin girl. When it was her turn, the food-dispensing robot suddenly glitched for a moment, squeezing an extra scoop of paste into her bowl.

The girl was stunned for a moment, then, like a startled fawn, subconsciously looked left and right, trying to quickly scrape that extra scoop back.

'It's fine, you keep it.'

Chen Jun, who was behind her, said in a low voice on an impulse.

The girl was startled and turned around abruptly. Seeing it was Chen Jun, a trace of panic and embarrassment flashed across her face.

Her energy affinity was clearly also Grade F, and her complexion was pale from long-term malnutrition, but her eyes were large and clear.

'I... I didn't...'

She wanted to explain something.

'I know.'

Chen Jun interrupted her, pulling out a tired smile,

'Life at Grade F is never easy.'

Because of this one sentence, the girl was stunned for a moment, then revealed a shallow, bitter, yet understanding smile.

Since then, they often bumped into each other at the relief station and sometimes chatted in low voices.

Chen Jun learned her name was Lin Wei. She worked in a laundry factory, manually ironing countless sheets and covers every day. The steam made people dizzy, the wages were meager, and she also lived in a communal dormitory with poor conditions.

They were fellow lost souls.

Two specks of dust crushed under the giant wheel of the interstellar era, they naturally drew closer because of their similarly humble circumstances, drawing a little bit of pitiful warmth from each other.

On their days off, they would sit together on a park bench, sharing a cheap energy bar, watching the magnificent flying cars whizzing through the sky in silence.

They would complain to each other about the hardship of work, the harsh foremen, and the next month's rent that they could never seem to save enough for.

They rarely talked about the future because, for them at Grade F, the future was pitch black, with no hope in sight.

Just staying alive had already exhausted all their strength.

One night, when walking Lin Wei back to the female dormitory building that was no better than a shipping container, the weather was very cold.

Lin Wei kept her head down and whispered:

'Upstairs... someone stole things again... It's so cold...'

Chen Jun looked at her thin back, and a chord in his heart was struck.

An impulse born of shared misfortune made him blurt out:

'How about... we share a place? Find a cheaper small room, at least... it'll be warmer.'

Lin Wei raised her head abruptly, her eyes flickering with surprise, hesitation, and a faint glimmer of light.

After a long silence, in the cold night wind, she nodded gently.

There was no romantic confession, no sweet vows.

Like two vines about to wither, at the edge of a desperate cliff, they instinctively twined together, trying to draw a little bit of moisture to survive from each other.

They found a single room in a shanty area on the edge of the industrial zone, less than ten square meters in size.

The rent was one-third of their combined wages.

Today was their first day moving in. The room was empty, with only an old mattress and a scavenged table.

That night, they squeezed onto that single mattress, listening to the distant city noise outside the window, but felt a long-lost, insignificant sense of security.

In this cold and vast interstellar era, these two specks of dust had finally found another companion to huddle with for warmth.

Even though the future remained a blur.