The hiring process was simple.

She filled out a form, signed a liability waiver, and that was it.

I voluntarily accept the position of corpse incinerator and agree to assume all risks associated with the job.

Signature: Ivy

Date: March 22nd, 233

A concise statement with a bright red signature and thumbprint.

“In my past life, a liability waiver would at least outline the risks involved. Here, they don’t even bother explaining. No, wait, ‘all risks’ covers it all, haha,” Ivy muttered, glancing at Wang Jian, who still seemed oblivious to anything amiss.

This was the enlightenment of a void citizen.

“Besides pollution and disease, what other risks are there to incinerating bodies?” Ivy didn’t ask Wang Jian. She felt he wouldn't know either.

“Whatever. Besides, who knew that you could get Iron Fragments of Evil and Resentment from burning evil corpses? A little bit of the unknown isn't something to be afraid of,” Ivy decided, putting the thought aside for now.

Wang Jian was thrilled to have Ivy as a workmate. He took her on a tour of the facility.

“The plant is divided into nine areas, numbered one through nine. Areas one and two are for corpse incineration. Area three is the corpse storage. Areas four through six are for contaminated materials. Area seven is the quarantine zone. I don’t know what areas eight and nine are for.”

Wang Jian rattled off the information.

“Basically, our daily job is to transport corpses from area three to the incinerators in areas one or two.”

“The other areas are off-limits to us.”

Ivy listened quietly, a growing suspicion forming in her mind. It’s just an incinerator. Why are the rules so strict, like a military facility?

Of course, she was only suspicious, not curious, and had no intention of investigating.

Burning corpses was purely physical labor, requiring no special skills. Wearing a mask was sufficient.

They burned three bodies that morning.

Each body was different. One had a head that had split open like a flower, another had a fleshy tumor on its back, and another had a human-like face on its sunken chest.

The commonality was that they all vaguely resembled human forms and yielded no black beads, only ash.

Disappointment crossed both Ivy and Wang Jian’s faces.

“Usually, you get one black bead out of ten evil corpses. Depending on the quality, you can sell them for anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred on the black market. Don’t worry, I’ll take you there next time we get one,” Wang Jian said.

Ivy nodded and collected the ashes.

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The ashes needed to be collected and placed in special bags, then put in a steel container at the entrance. Workers from areas four through six would come to collect and process them in the afternoon.

They couldn’t just scatter the ashes.

She asked, “Why do people on the black market collect these black beads? Do they have any special use?”

Wang Jian pulled down his mask and took a drag of his cigarette. “I don’t know. They just pay for them, that’s all.”

Ivy shrugged and smiled. “That’s true enough.”

At lunchtime in the cafeteria, the food was bland and the ingredients cheap, but filling. Ivy ate five bowls.

She had to hold her breath; the smell in the air was overwhelming.

Wang Jian only ate half a bowl and stared at Ivy in astonishment, a look of admiration on his face.

During lunch, they ran into Wang Jian’s father, a gaunt, taciturn man who worked in Area Five.

“Why didn’t you go to the class reunion yesterday?” Wang Jian asked while washing dishes.

Ivy paused, then seemed to remember something, giving a wry smile. “I’ve been sleeping like a log these past few days. I completely forgot it was the weekend yesterday.”

She had planned her week meticulously—disposing of the bodies and training—and had finally rested yesterday. She genuinely forgot about the class reunion.

Wang Jian didn’t think much of it and turned on the radio. “Everyone’s changed so much. Dong Ni got a tattoo. Tao Fei can’t find a job and is thinking of joining a gang. La Tap joined the outpost and is going on a mission into the unexplored zones this weekend; no one knows if he’ll come back alive.”

“La Tap paid for the meal, saying that if someone dies, the money will be useless anyway.”

“Oh, right, here.”

Wang Jian pulled a small, folded knife from his pocket and handed it to Ivy. “La Tap prepared a gift for everyone. He joked that if he didn’t come back, we should burn some money for him in the afterlife.”

Seeing Ivy hesitate, Wang Jian shoved the knife into her pocket, laughing, “Take it. Everyone got one. We all agreed that if La Tap doesn’t return, we’ll burn offerings for him next year.”

Ivy took the knife silently.

It was a gift, and also a memento. It was a joke, and also a farewell.

In her three years since arriving in this world, this was the first gift Ivy had received. The giver couldn’t exactly be called a friend. They hadn’t exchanged many words before. Yesterday might have been their last meeting, and she had missed it.

A knife as a gift was strange in her old life, but perfectly normal in this world.

What better gift could there be for a void citizen than a knife? Especially from a void citizen heading towards his death.

Ivy felt a strange mix of emotions—not sadness or grief, but a kind of… anger.

Ivy muttered under her breath, “This damn world!”

Wang Jian didn’t hear clearly. “What was that?”

In the afternoon.

Two more corpses arrived.

This time, a black bead, the size of a large red apple seed, was found. It was better quality than the one Ivy had received earlier.

Ivy gave the black bead to Wang Jian, in keeping with their agreement to share any future finds. They would take turns, and the quality would depend on their luck.

Wang Jian readily agreed and then lent Ivy 300.

“Thank you. I’ll pay you back next month when I get paid,” Ivy said gratefully.

Wang Jian looked at the black bead in his hand, then at his almost empty wallet, a complex expression on his face.

There were still two hours until the end of their shift.

Ivy, having nothing better to do, practiced basic boxing techniques during the downtime.

She didn’t train in physical exercises because she didn’t have any iron left in her stomach. It was pointless. But with the knife in her pocket, she suddenly felt like practicing her boxing.

Why not knife techniques?

Knife techniques were weapons training, an optional class at school, which Ivy hadn’t taken.

Basic boxing, like physical training, was a free class.

Basic boxing was quite simple. Even with Ivy’s constitution, she could perform the movements flawlessly, without even needing the video. Each movement was ingrained in her muscle memory.

Wang Jian forgot to exhale his smoke, staring at Ivy in disbelief, his mind filled with questions.

Wait, we both dropped out of school and gave up on the exam, what are you doing?

“First move, straight punch.”

“Second move, double punch.”

“Third move, elbow strike.”

“Fourth move, short thorn.”

Ivy executed the moves precisely, just as she had in the past, dry and devoid of spirit. But she could feel something different.