"You have to work hard, little Tai, only then will there be food to eat," his mother often admonished.

In Wang Tai's memory, she never had a moment to herself. She cleaned for the wealthy, polishing their floors spotless, wiping their windows crystal clear, and washing their clothes until they were squeaky clean. Everyone liked her a lot.

After his father died in the mines, his mother worked even harder.

Then one day, as she was scrubbing the floor, she suddenly collapsed and was unable to straighten her back again; she could only lay in bed.

The doctor said she had suffered nerve paralysis due to overwork, with severe damage throughout her body that was beyond recovery.

From that day on, his mother began a lengthy period of rest.

Wang Tai worked in the mines. In Steel Refining City, as long as one was willing to exert strength, a miner could always earn enough for a meal.

Sometimes, as he looked at the dust-covered mountains, the grimy men and women swinging their pickaxes, and the endless black smoke billowing from the chimneys, he thought to himself, how hard everyone worked.

Why must everyone toil so hard day and night, suffering backaches and pains, even becoming disabled?

Different people had different answers.

"Of course, it's to earn more money for drinking. That's life, you know, a bit of drink makes everything better."

"Find women, find women!"

"I just had a child, I've got to raise him properly, so he won't end up like me."

"To get a better place to live in, so we're not surrounded by people urinating and defecating everywhere, stepping out only to smell excrement."

"Just living, there's no other way."

...

Wang Tai could not find an answer.

One day, his mother suddenly said, "Don't overexert yourself. It's enough to stay alive; don't ruin your body."

Wang Tai nodded.

However, when he returned to the stinking room, he found his mother had committed suicide with a piece of broken pottery.

Wang Tai became all alone in the world.

He could almost see his own future unfolding before him, either ending up like his father, dead in the mines, or like his mother, suddenly unable to move.

Wang Tai drifted listlessly for quite some time, becoming increasingly lazy, as if something inside himself had snapped.

Until one day, the miners began talking about something.

"Now we've formed an alliance with Shell City, Sand Port City, and Wasteland Development Company. It's called the Development Alliance, all part of our own group."

"Why not go and try our luck at the company? I've heard they pay well."

"It's said to be tough to get in, right? With tens of thousands in Sand Port City waiting for their chance, how could it come around to us?"

"You also have to take a boat to get there, and the fare isn't cheap. With that money, you might as well buy more firewood and beans."

...

Everyone had their reservations, but Wang Tai went straight there.

He was tired of the mining area.

Taking a boat, he arrived at the harbor of Sand Port City and walked from Guangtai Dam to Jade City with his backpack.

Along the way, he saw shuttle buses coming and going, the Breeding Platform standing tall over the Dead Sea like a giant vessel, many Mushroom People scurrying about; they farmed shells and fish, but unfortunately, they weren't hiring.

As the miners had said, it had been a long time since Guangtai Dam was hiring.

Wang Tai set up a shack outside of Jade City to live in, with a little pocket change, he wasn't going to starve.

During this time without work, he felt particularly relaxed and at ease.

He slept until he woke naturally and then took a stroll, taking in the flowers and plants, or listening to the locals at the food stalls outside Jade City spin tales and chat. The people here spoke in a pleasant way, all spirited and cheerful, unlike the miners who always looked worried and unhappy.

The only problem was that the money in his pocket was dwindling.

Every day, sleeping outside Jade City, he got plenty of firsthand information when food vendors cooked their dishes, and local workers discussed the latest company developments.

One piece of information was particularly important.

The express center of Wasteland Development Company was growing rapidly, recruiting a large number of people to work there and to be dispatched to various city stations. But for the time being, they were only hiring internally from the Guangtai workers, not externally.

Some workers moved to the express center with better benefits, so job vacancies appeared.

Wang Tai went to the Guangtai Dam every day, where a cabin would post the latest information about the dam.

Sure enough.

The next day, the people in the cabin announced that they were hiring another batch of Guangtai workers.

Thanks to his proximity and quick access to information, Wang Tai secured a spot.

A Guangtai worker's monthly salary was 6000 mushrooms. There were no particular restrictions on working hours; the main evaluation was the quantity of Light Soot Sand collected. If you met the quota, you could come in for a day and it would be fine. If you didn't, working every day would still mean a deduction in pay.

Used to the high intensity of the mines, working here Wang Tai found it to be too easy.

However, he soon encountered a troublesome issue.

He had become a lazy person.

Not incapable of working, just simply delaying and disinclined.

Even though he could earn far more than before, and live in a luxurious apartment in Jade City for free, he still didn't want to work. Sitting at his workstation by the dam's window, he always found himself involuntarily slacking off and daydreaming.

The more comfortable the environment, the less he wanted to work.

He kept struggling with himself internally.

I must get serious tomorrow!

It's such a pity today.

I need to pull myself together, can't keep being lazy!

Gathering the Light Soot Sand is so troublesome...

Next time, definitely next time.

...

This way, he muddled through to the end of the month.

Naturally, the amount of Light Soot Sand Wang Tai had collected was far from the quota.

As a newcomer at the dam, failing to reach the baseline amount could mean potential dismissal.

Wang Tai panicked then.

He racked his brains, thinking about how he could possibly meet the quota. But the dam had strict rules against private trading, and getting caught would result in being banned from employment by the company forever, so no one dared to cross that line.

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