Chapter One: The Cross-Boundary Worker

“Sigh…”
Xu Gaoxiang stood under the sun, his face clouded with worry, and turned to look back at the tallest skyscraper in the city.
His expression was filled with loss and regret; after months of hard work, it all amounted to nothing. Clearly, he wasn’t cut out for this line of work.
Xu Gaoxiang raised his hand to shade his brow. “The waters run too deep here; I just can’t handle it!”
“Forget it, I won’t dwell on these troubles. Better go submit some more resumes!” Shaking his head, Xu Gaoxiang pushed aside his frustrations and strode toward his rented apartment.
Once back in his tiny temporary home, he wasted no time in opening a job search website. “People must look ahead—the east may be dark, but the west is bright! Let’s go!”
The motivational self-talk worked wonders; Xu Gaoxiang smiled brightly, brimming with renewed vigor as he sent out his resume.
“Time for a chicken drumstick to celebrate,” he said, ordering delivery to fill his empty stomach.
As he focused on his phone to place his order, a flash in the corner of his eye caught his attention; a message had appeared on his computer screen.
Instinctively, he glanced up, surprised. “That fast? Did it even take five minutes after I sent out my resume?”
Without much thought, Xu Gaoxiang clicked the message with delight.
That single click spelled disaster! Catastrophe! The computer screen went black, and countless strange symbols began to flood the display.
While Xu Gaoxiang stared at the screen, dumbfounded, the room suddenly crackled with electric currents and blinding flashes.
Terrified, Xu Gaoxiang shielded himself with his arms and curled up into a ball. “Who is transcending here? This is way too frightening!”
The light reached its peak, then suddenly extinguished. The room fell silent once more, the computer returned to normal—but Xu Gaoxiang was gone.

Somewhere on an unknown peak in the Taihang Mountains.
On a low ridge stood several twisted old pagoda trees. By one of them, currents appeared out of thin air, followed by a flash of light, and a screaming Xu Gaoxiang materialized, landing squarely on his backside.
“Ouch! My poor behind! Who stole my chair?” he grumbled, rubbing his sore hips and leaning on the ancient tree to stand up.
“What the—wait, where on earth am I?” Xu Gaoxiang was about to curse, but realized something was wrong.
He examined the tree he was holding, looked up at the sky, then turned to survey his surroundings. Shivering, he mechanically opened his mouth and nodded, “It’s so cold. This really is wilderness!”

“Where’s my phone?” Xu Gaoxiang searched himself, but after a while his face fell. He remembered he had left his phone on the table while ordering food!
“Damn it!” He slapped his forehead in frustration.
At that slap, a blue light shot from his forehead and coalesced into a floating interface before him.
Xu Gaoxiang was suddenly enlightened. “So I really have crossed over! Is this my golden finger?”
He immediately began to investigate. “Peace Forgers Industrial Group Sales Platform… No way, could it really be?” Reading the description, his heart raced, recalling his submitted resume.
He hurriedly opened his personal information. Seeing “Junior Trader” next to his name, Xu Gaoxiang felt like crying.
“So even after crossing worlds, I’m still a wage slave? As a salesman? …Forget it, let’s see what’s in this shop.”
Heart heavy, he clicked into the marketplace to check what he’d be selling.
A dazzling array of products appeared, and Xu Gaoxiang was stunned into silence.
What did he see? “Stellar Destroyer? Antimatter-powered mechs? What the… two-dimensional foil?”
“So, I’m now a cross-universe arms dealer selling military products?!” Xu Gaoxiang never expected his new job to be so extreme.
He browsed casually, overwhelmed by the variety of weapons.
“With a job this wild, surely the salary is high!” Xu Gaoxiang focused on the essentials, immediately researching his potential earnings.
After a long investigation, he finally found what he was looking for under his title of Junior Trader.
Junior Trader: The lowest rank in the group; monthly trade quota is one hundred tons.
The group only accepts various metal currencies (metals and their creations also apply), which can be exchanged for trading points to purchase goods.
“Well now! How bold can a person be? How great can the profits get?”
After pondering, Xu Gaoxiang discovered the key: product prices in the shop were fixed, and the exchange rate for metal currency to trading points was also fixed.
In other words, “I can decide how much to sell!” Xu Gaoxiang grinned, having grasped the secret to wealth.
He chuckled for some time, then remembered something and began searching his pockets.
“Ah, here it is!” Xu Gaoxiang triumphantly pulled out a black Swiss Army knife.
It was an original Swiss Champion, bought for a team-building event at his previous company, but never used. He’d regretted buying such an expensive knife, since he hardly needed it.

“I recall the blade is made from top-grade stainless steel, with chromium. Hope it’s genuine!”
Xu Gaoxiang weighed the knife in his hand and then opened the trading interface, confirming the transaction.
Before his eyes, the Swiss Army knife dissolved into points of light and vanished. The system promptly notified him:
“One multifunctional tool knife uploaded. Material: excellent; craftsmanship: superb; no added value. Exchange for 20 trading points. Please confirm!”
Seeing the transaction completed, Xu Gaoxiang immediately checked his account, and was overjoyed at the balance.
“Haha, is there such a perk?”
It turned out he not only had the 20 points just earned, but the platform also granted every new Junior Trader a starting fund of 100 points.
“Incredible! Step by step, guiding people onto this path.”
To be honest, at this moment Xu Gaoxiang was reluctant; he had no idea what kind of world he had landed in, and in any normal society, private arms trading was illegal.
Unable to decide, Xu Gaoxiang frowned and slowly sat down by the tree, unconsciously browsing the marketplace.
For reasons unknown, his finger pressed the purchase button, startling him. “Hey, hey, don’t let me actually buy anything!”
When he saw that the purchase failed, Xu Gaoxiang relaxed and exhaled. “Whew, false alarm! Hmm? What’s this?”
He noticed something odd—he’d just tried to buy a Beretta 92F pistol for 50 points, which he could afford, but—
“Purchase limit exceeded! There’s a restriction? What kind of limit?”
He hadn’t noticed any restrictions before, so he quickly tried several other weapons, but all exceeded the purchase limit.
“No way!”
Worry crept in; a sense of foreboding took hold.
He quickly found the platform’s guidelines and began to study them carefully.