The Rotten Fish Scientist

Others scavenge trash. I build nuclear bombs.

Su Ming, a former theoretical physicist, wakes up in the body of a dying nobody on Yuanxu, a garbage planet. Radiation, monsters, and gang exploitation are no dead ends. The real dead end is the "reverse entropy" System in his mind: within a year, he must repay the cosmic entropy consumed by an "ancient relic," or he and the planet will be "reset to zero."

The countdown begins. Rusty scrap becomes spare parts; beast glands become fuel. A phase compass in his left hand predicts fortune and misfortune, while the broken pliers in his right hand let him craft divine artifacts.

When the Butcher's gun is pressed to his forehead, he calmly counts down: "Three, two, one... The 'wound qi' is about to erupt. Your engine will melt."

The roar comes right on cue.

He barters knowledge for survival, using the laws of physics to fight the malice of the universe. But when he deciphers the first line of an ancient fragment, he understands: behind the repayment agreement lies an ultimate warning about the very origin of the universe, one that will make every civilization tremble...