Wei Cheng was best at two things: shoving corpses into the cremation furnace and transferring money to his goddess. That is, until Lin Wanwan’s charred corpse, still wearing the bracelet he had given her, tumbled into the furnace he was tending! Then things got even more surreal: a hand pierced the furnace door, grabbed a wisp of black smoke, and stuffed it into the POS machine. “ [Deposit received: 1,000 Pain Coins]! Pain stays fresh for ten years!”
The greasy Netherworld HR rep 003 clapped him on the shoulder. “Brother! You’re a born ‘emotional vulture’! Sign up? We’ll teach you everything you need to know. Your welcome package includes A Guide to Converting Simps’ Pain!”
To uncover the truth behind his goddess’s gruesome death, Wei Cheng signed away his freedom. He joined the Netherworld’s Pain Resource Management Bureau (PRM) and saw the true pain economy for himself:
Ferry service on the River of Forgetfulness suspended? Netherworld banknotes are just scrap paper! Pain Coins are the real hard currency!
Meng Po’s soup diluted with water? The Netherworld is in a deflationary slump, propped up by the tears of lovesick men and women!
The pain he had suffered as a simp for three years had become a futures contract hitting the exchange’s trading limit!
His deceased family members’ files were marked “harvested”!
Once a “hopeless romantic sucker,” he was now a vulture at the top of the Netherworld’s financial food chain!
In his left hand, a crematorium’s fire tongs: he gives scumbags and virtue-signaling overwork peddlers a hands-on send-off.
In his right, the Netherworld’s POS machine: he collects “love debts” and “lasting grudges,” shorting his enemies’ futures!
His partner: greasy Grim Reaper 003, who never stops spouting nonsense and is drowning in a debt of soup.
His teammate: the sharp-tongued top student Zhou Shuting, whose glasses flash as she uses a vase to hack the System.
Their line of work: rooting out emotional scams and psychological exploitation! Helping the “miners” wake up and making the “mine owners” weep as they pay their debts!
When pain has a fixed price, and devotion becomes fuel for KPIs…
