Gray Earth: A Wasteland Scavenger’s Guide

Qin Ye, a 28-year-old stock clerk, is driven to desperation by an employer who refuses to pay his wages. With just five days to scrape together rent and his younger sister's tuition, he shoulders a secondhand full-dive pod taken in lieu of payment and plunges into the wasteland survival game Ashen Earth to earn money and stay alive. He thought he was just a low-level scavenger, but his eight years of experience estimating value at a glance awaken a golden finger in the game. His eyes can make anything unclaimed shine, and the more valuable it is, the brighter it glows. No overlooked treasure in the city's ruins can escape his notice. But light can't be exchanged for money directly. In this brutal wasteland, where death means dropping all your supplies, every cent must be carried out of danger by hand, one trip at a time. Beyond the mutated monsters, there are smiling tycoons who monopolize the trading houses and raider gangs lurking in the deep zones, preying on anyone they can. While everyone else fights over scraps in the shallow zones, Qin Ye follows the light into places teeming with riches. Just how much can these eyes be worth in this wasteland?

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.