Yuzu, an ordinary mortal, worked himself to death on Earth. When he woke up, he discovered that he had ascended to immortality. That would have been fine, except other people were either respectfully welcomed in by an immortal official after accumulating enough merit, or passed the South Heavenly Gate trials with their extraordinary skills. But the moment Yuzu drifted up to the foot of the gate, the guards stopped him and checked the immortal registry over and over again, eight hundred times in all. In the end, they reached a conclusion: "No immortal roots, no karmic connection to immortality, no powerful backers. The household registration system for the Three Realms can't find you. This counts as an 'illegal ascension.'"
The punishment for an illegal ascension was either getting kicked back to the mortal world to be reborn, or staying in Heaven to do the toughest, dirtiest job nobody wanted: collecting scrap.
Yuzu rubbed his growling stomach and swallowed hard. Be reborn? Wouldn't that mean getting caught up in the rat race for another lifetime? Forget it. He'd collect scrap. At least the air in Heaven was full of immortal energy, and one breath could fill his belly. It was still better than working nine to nine, six days a week in the mortal world.
He'd only wanted to collect scrap in peace in Heaven. He never expected to suddenly find himself shouldering the responsibility of saving it...
