The Universal Recycler

Shen Zhou spent seven years collecting scrap before he came across an old television.

When he plugged it in, the TV showed footage from three hours in the future. In it, he was lying motionless in the courtyard of his own home.

That same day, a book appeared in his mind: The Reclamation Registry.

Discarded old things, voided contracts, erased names, abandoned opportunities, forsaken misfortune: as long as their owners truly wanted to let them go, he could collect them. Each item he collected gave him an ability and burdened him with an obsession.

His father, who had disappeared seven years ago, had his name listed on the final page of the registry. Status: Intent to abandon unconfirmed.

Then a group of people in blue work uniforms knocked on his door and said, "We don't collect junk. We collect people."

His father had left him only one sentence: "Don't take that job."

Which job?