Being forced to grow like a pig? But I'm immune to the consequences!

Under the blazing sun, a small boat lay capsized in the mud on the riverbank. A group of men, shirtless, pounded on the hull of the boat, their feet sinking into the dark mud. Most of them were lean, their skin tanned a dark yellow, and sweat streamed down their backs.

Ahead stood a high wall, within which several tall buildings could be seen standing quietly. Behind them, the river was wide and calm, and on the opposite bank, a cluster of low, dilapidated shacks could be vaguely seen, like a forgotten ruin.

In the ship repair team, a young man straightened up and wiped the sweat from his brow. He had black hair and black eyes, and his skin was slightly yellowish. He stared blankly at the other side of the wall.

"After finishing this month's work, I'll get another few contribution points," Wu Sheng thought to himself. "Adding the points my father earned with his life, if I work hard for about three more years, I should be able to accumulate enough contribution points to go to the city."

This place is called Yangon. To Wu Sheng—whether he came from another time or suddenly awakened memories of his past life—it was an incredibly strange city. His understanding of it was limited to a few vague concepts: it was dangerous outside, with man-eating monsters; the city was inhabited by nobles, whom he couldn't afford to offend; life there was comfortable, with no worries about food or clothing, and medical care available if one fell ill.

The outer city resembled a vast slum, while the inner city was a well-ordered modern metropolis. Separated only by a river, they seemed like two separate worlds.

For those from outside the city who want to enter the inner city, the best way is to accumulate 100 contribution points and exchange them for a chance to change their fate.

Contribution points are extremely hard to accumulate. Even physically demanding jobs like ship repair only earn a pittance a month. Other odd jobs pay even less, sometimes less than half a point, or even no money at all. Wu Sheng barely managed to keep his job because of his strength. But in the outer city, there's never any stable work. The ship repair job might be gone in two or three months, and then he'd have to find another way to make a living.

Therefore, it often takes a family of three working themselves to the bone for five years to accumulate 100 contribution points—and that's only enough for one person.

Despite the harsh conditions, this path remained open and wasn't completely blocked. This gave Wu Sheng hope, but also a vague sense of doubt.

"Mr. Wu, I heard another batch of garbage has been transported out of the city. Do you want to go pick it up together later?" A young man with thick body hair and dark yellow skin came over and asked.

This is another thing that puzzled Wu Sheng in Yangon: the people here look quite different, as if they come from different places, yet they live together in the same place.

"I'm not going," Wu Sheng shook his head. "I won't find anything good, and I'll have to pay an entrance fee."

"Wu Sheng, you've changed." Mo Han stared at his face, as if trying to see something. "You used to love licking those chicken bones."

Wu Sheng's expression froze.

The "garbage" Mohan referred to was actually waste transported from the inner city; it could include anything, including leftovers. What the outer city dwellers craved most were the gnawed chicken bones—sometimes still with a bit of meat clinging to them, coated in a crispy shell, which they could savor for a long time…

But that was in the past. The current Wu Sheng would never touch those things again. Besides, the garbage-collecting area was controlled by the gang, and you had to pay money to go in and search.

"Mohan, I've heard that eating too much of that stuff can make you sick, so I'd better not."

Mohan nodded: "Alright, then I won't go."

After finishing work, Wu and his group each received twenty yuan, barely enough for their families of three to feed themselves for two days. They squeezed onto a small wooden boat and swayed precariously towards the other side. The cabin was cramped, and everyone had to squat, shoulder to shoulder.

Large passenger ships were passing by on the river, but they were not for them; one needed a certain status and position to ride on them. Wu Sheng and the others could only watch enviously as the well-dressed people on the ships sailed by.

"Wu Sheng, are you going to participate in this year's unified martial arts selection?" Mo Han suddenly asked when the boat was halfway across the water.

"I'm old enough, but I've heard that the unified selection process is very physically demanding and has a low success rate." Wu Sheng looked at the murky river water. "If I save up my contribution points for a few more years, I should be able to exchange them for a chance to enter the city. Even if I can't become a martial artist, at least I can find a decent job there."

Mohan was silent for a moment, then lowered his voice: "I'm seventeen this year, and even if I save for another three years, I still won't have a hundred points. Once I'm over twenty, I won't even be eligible to register... In this outer city, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. So, I want to give it a try."

Wu Sheng did not respond.

Warriors are a privileged class in this city, second only to the nobility, possessing power unimaginable to ordinary people. In such a rigidly class-based place, this path to advancement should be firmly blocked, but in reality, it isn't.

There are two paths to becoming a martial artist: one is to participate in the unified selection, but the process is brutal and will cause irreversible damage to the body, making future advancement difficult; the other is to accumulate 100 contribution points—this path is said to not damage one's foundation and will definitely get one a job in the inner city.

However, in the outer city, most families, like the Mohan family, simply cannot accumulate 100 points in the short span of a few years between the ages of fifteen and twenty.

Wu Sheng felt he had hope because of his father.

Living in the outer city meant not only poverty and natural disasters and diseases, but also monster attacks. Every so often, each settlement had to send one person to assist the inner city's forces in clearing out the monsters. This was almost a suicide mission, but there was no escaping it. Of course, the inner city would also give a large sum of contribution points to the family of each deceased person.

Wu Sheng's father, Wu Yan, was originally an alcoholic and gambling scoundrel who relied on Wu Sheng and his sister, Wu Yu, for support. A while ago, he started coughing up blood. In the outer city, a serious illness was tantamount to a death sentence. And at that time, a new round of conscription was underway. Whether he finally remembered his responsibilities as a father or wanted to leave something for his children, Wu Yan didn't wait for the lottery for the gathering place and volunteered for the task himself.

The result was self-evident. So many days passed, and he never returned.

"The contribution points should be issued in the next couple of days," Wu Sheng thought to himself.

The small boat docked, and everyone jumped off. Mohan walked in another direction, and the two parted ways at the fork in the road.

In order to protect themselves, people in the outer city would gather into small groups based on blood ties, region, or appearance, forming so-called "gathering places." The inner city also tacitly approved of this model—for ease of management.

Yangon has a humid climate with frequent rain, making the roads always muddy and slippery. Piles of rotting garbage lie along the roadside, emitting a pungent, sour stench.

Wu Sheng looked up and saw the settlement he was in—a cluster of shacks made of sheet metal and planks, supported by thin iron frames, hanging precariously above the muddy ground.

He was about to walk forward when he suddenly heard a familiar yet heart-wrenching scream:

"How could you do this? That was left to us by my father!"

Wu Sheng's heart tightened, and he quickened his pace.

The tin shacks in the settlement were piled up haphazardly, and the interiors were extremely cramped. The only place that could be considered spacious was a small patch of open space in the middle where one could barely stand.

At that moment, a group of people were gathered there. In the center of the crowd, a woman whose face resembled Wu Sheng by six or seven points was screaming at the people in front of her in a state of emotional breakdown.

"That was earned with my father's life! Why are you giving it to others? Why?!"

"Wu Yu, don't get agitated..." A middle-aged man, dressed relatively well, earnestly advised him. He was Liu Xuezheng, the head of this gathering place.

Wu Sheng finally managed to squeeze to the front. When the crowd on the periphery saw him, strange expressions appeared on their faces, and murmurs of whispers rose up like the buzzing of mosquitoes.

Wu Sheng's heart sank. He walked straight to a thin, hunchbacked old man who was holding a boy's hand: "Uncle Zhao, what's going on?"

"Brother Sheng, they, they are bullying Sister Yu," the boy said urgently.

The old man, addressed as Uncle Zhao, looked at him and sighed repeatedly, his face full of complex emotions: "Ah Sheng, you... sigh, see for yourself."

Wu Sheng pushed through the crowd. On one side was his sister, Wu Yu, and on the other side were the community leader, Liu Xuezheng, and the Xu family, a prominent family in the community. The Xu family was special because their eldest son had passed the unified martial arts selection a few years ago and entered the inner city.

Upon seeing her younger brother return, tears streamed down Wu Yuqing's beautiful face. Pointing at Liu Xuezheng, her voice trembled with anger and despair: "Young man! They...they swallowed the contribution points that Dad worked so hard for!"

Wu Sheng's head buzzed, and his heart suddenly raced.

Wu Yu choked back tears as she explained, "The contribution points haven't been distributed yet. I went to the Hyena Gang to ask, but they said they were distributed yesterday, collected by the leaders of each settlement! I only found out today... He... he let the Xu family claim the portion that Dad left for you!"

Wu Sheng's chest heaved violently, his icy gaze fixed on Liu Xuezheng.

Liu Xuezheng quickly waved his hand: "Wu siblings, you can't say that. This isn't fraudulent; it's just that the Xu family will receive it first. The contribution points are only fifty. Even if your family gets them, it will take at least three years to accumulate a hundred. But it's different for the Xu family—Xu Fei can accumulate enough to enter the city this year! With his brother's help, becoming a 'quasi-martial artist' will be a piece of cake. Our entire settlement will benefit then, with a year's management fee waived! This is for the greater good!"

For the greater good? Wu Sheng felt a surge of blood rushing to his head. Those contribution points were earned with his father's life, his hope for changing his fate! Without those fifty points, he would never have been able to accumulate enough to enter the city before he turned twenty.

"Give back your contribution points." Wu Sheng stared at Liu Xuezheng and the three members of the Xu family, uttering each word slowly and deliberately.

Liu Xuezheng's face hardened: "The contribution points have already been transferred to Xu Fei, so come back now!"

"I'm going to report you to the Hyena Gang!" Wu Yu's voice was hoarse.

At this point, the onlookers began to offer their advice:

"Sister Wu, you can't do this! The gathering place will be implicated!"

"Yes, Chief Liu is doing this for everyone's good, so don't take it too seriously."

"Our community hasn't treated your family badly over the years, can't you make some contribution to the community?"

Hearing these words, Wu Yu trembled with anger: "Contribution? The contribution points haven't been paid by you, of course you can talk so easily! What benefits has the Xu family given you? Isn't it just that they have a son in the city? Is that enough to make you fawn over them?!"

Caught off guard, everyone's faces darkened, muttering, "What a load of rubbish..."

Xu Fei, the son of the Xu family who was about the same age as Wu Sheng, raised his chin and spoke in a condescending tone: "Isn't it just a little bit of your contribution points? Look at how stingy you are! When I become a martial artist, I'll pay you back tenfold! If that's not enough, my family will compensate you! Seeing that your family can't even afford a decent meal for the New Year, consider this a favor!"

These shameless words enraged Wu Sheng, who had lived two lives. He shouted, "If your family is so powerful, why do you still try to steal my contribution points? If you're so powerful, why don't you move into the inner city? If you're so powerful, why do you act like a beast!"

The Xu family members' faces flushed red and then turned pale. Wu Sheng didn't give them a chance to speak, his gaze sweeping over Liu Xuezheng and the surrounding crowd:

"Chief Liu, what benefits did the Xu family offer you to make you work so hard?"

"And what have you all received from the Xu family? Have they given you food or shit? If they can rob my family today, why can't they rob yours tomorrow?"

Liu Xuezheng's eyes flickered, clearly his thoughts had been exposed—Xu's eldest son had indeed promised that once the two brothers had established themselves in the inner city, he would find a way to get him in.

The onlookers exchanged bewildered glances, none of them responding. They hadn't actually benefited from the situation; it was simply a combination of cowardice, sycophancy, and a desire to curry favor with the Xu family. Some chose silence because it didn't concern them, while others instinctively wanted to please the Xu family.

Seeing that things had come to a head, Liu Xuezheng shouted sternly, "Wu Sheng! If you live in this community, you have to abide by the rules! If you continue to cause trouble, don't blame me for being impolite!"

"Rules?" Wu Sheng sneered. "I'd like to see whether your rules are more important, or the rules set by the inner city!" He grabbed Wu Yu's hand. "Sister, let's go to the gang's headquarters!"

"Mr. Wu," Liu Xuezheng's slow voice came from behind, tinged with mockery, "I'll tell you the truth. The beneficiary registered in your father's will for the transfer of his contribution points was Xu Fei."

Wu Sheng stopped in his tracks and turned around abruptly: "You changed the information?"

Liu Xuezheng sneered: "Who told you that good-for-nothing father of yours to be drunk all the time? His brain is completely muddled! It's all in black and white, so you can't blame anyone else."

Wu Sheng's breath hitched. Beside him, Wu Yu's face was ashen; she gripped her brother's arm tightly, her nails digging almost into his flesh. Their mother had died young, and their father was incompetent; she had always tried to support the family, but now she felt utterly helpless.

Within a few breaths, the anger in Wu Sheng's eyes gradually subsided, settling into a cold, deathly silence. He lowered his head slightly, his left hand subtly reaching into his back pocket—where he concealed a utility knife he always carried for self-defense. The blade was thin, yet sufficient to slice through the fragile human body.

"Oh, so you're not going?" Xu Fei's smug tone was particularly grating. "It's because your good-for-nothing father didn't understand..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wu suddenly sprang up!

Before everyone could see anything, Wu Sheng shot out like an arrow, grabbed Xu Fei by the hair, and slammed him hard onto the dirty tin floor! With a muffled thud, Xu Fei's face was instantly covered in grime.

"Don't move!"

Wu Sheng pressed one knee down on Xu Fei's back, the cold blade of the utility knife popping out and pressing tightly against his neck. Xu Fei froze in fear, and the onlookers gasped and backed away.

"Wu Sheng! What are you doing! Let go of my son!" Mr. Xu's voice trembled.

Wu Sheng ignored him, lightly slicing the blade across Xu Fei's skin, drawing out a thin line of blood. His voice was low and chilling: "Didn't you want to use my contribution points to become a martial artist? Don't you know whether a dead person still needs contribution points?"

Xu Fei was already terrified and could only tremble.

"Ah Sheng, we're all from the same community, how can you do this..." Liu Xuezheng wanted to say something, but was silenced by a glare from Wu Sheng.

Wu Sheng's gaze swept over Liu Xuezheng and Xu's parents: "One point of contribution, I'll give you a hundred yuan. Fifty points, that's five thousand. Hand over the money. Otherwise, I'll send him on his way right now."

As he spoke, he exerted a slight force on his wrist.

"Dad! Mom! Save me! Save me!" Xu screamed like a pig being slaughtered.

"Five thousand yuan? Where would we get that..." Mr. Xu was still hesitating.

Wu Sheng's eyes turned cold, and he suddenly raised his hand holding the knife, stabbing it hard into Xu Fei's shoulder!

"Pfft!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh, accompanied by a piercing scream, sent chills down everyone's spine.

"Take the money, or collect the body." Wu Sheng's voice was completely unwavering. "You can try calling the gang. Let's see if they get here faster, or if my knife is faster."

"I'll take it! I'll go get it right now!" Xu's father completely broke down, scrambling back to his shed and pulling out a stack of crumpled banknotes. But there were only a little over two thousand. He looked pleadingly at Liu Xuezheng.

Liu Xuezheng's face turned deathly pale. He never expected that Wu Sheng, who was usually so quiet, would dare to be so ruthless. Seeing Wu Sheng press the knife tip against Xu Fei's other side of his neck, he gritted his teeth, turned around, and went back into the house to get the money.

Soon, a pile of banknotes of varying denominations was placed in front of Wu Sheng. He quickly counted them, stuffed them into his pocket, and his cold gaze swept over the group one last time:

"Xu family, Liu Jizhang. I'll take my sister to Gathering Point Two next. If you want to report to the gang, you can find me there."

He paused, his tone dripping with threat: "But you'd better think it through—especially you, Chief Liu. Don't end up getting yourself killed before you even get any benefits."

Having said that, he patted Xu Fei's pale face with the flat of his knife and mocked:

"You are nothing."

Wu Sheng stood up and prepared to leave.

"Ah Sheng..." At this moment, Uncle Zhao grabbed Wu Sheng's arm, his face filled with mixed emotions.

Looking at Uncle Zhao, Wu Sheng silently pushed away his hand: "Uncle Zhao, thank you for taking care of me all these years, but everyone in the settlement is like this... I can't stay here any longer. Please take care of yourself."

He took Wu Yu's hand, walked through the silent crowd, and left without looking back.

After a moment of deathly silence on the open ground, Liu Xuezheng waved his hand, trying to appear calm: "Disperse, disperse! Once Xu Fei enters the inner city, our gathering place will have good days!" He then lowered his voice and said to the Xu family, "This matter... don't make a big fuss. If it really gets to the gangs, our operations won't stand up to scrutiny, and then your eldest son will have to find a way to smooth things over."

Xu's father looked at his son's bleeding shoulder, then at the direction where Wu Sheng had disappeared, his eyes filled with resentment, but in the end he didn't dare to say another word.

At the edge of the crowd, Uncle Zhao, who had silently witnessed the entire process, watched the siblings' retreating figures, shook his head with pity, and murmured in an almost inaudible voice:

"The path to chaos..."