Just then, a line of glowing text suddenly appeared in Shiranui Itsuki's mind:
Beginner Quest (Stage Mission): Escape the Dumpster.
Quest Details: Because of the heartless boss, Tsuruta, the young you has been thrown into a garbage bin. The night here is bone-chilling. If you don't want to freeze to death, you'd better escape within three hours!
Quest Reward: Basic Kunai Throwing (Beginner).Time Limit: Three hours.
Escape the dumpster in three hours—simple to say, impossible to do.
Itsuki studied his prison carefully. The bin was a monster: two meters long, a meter tall, with slick iron walls offering no foothold. At his current height—barely half a meter—it might as well have been a fortress.
"Tsuruta, huh…?"
He crouched low, groping around in the filth for anything useful.
"What a nasty trick you've set for me."
After searching for a long while, all he managed to find was a giant fish bone.
Not even worth trying.
Even stacked with his small body, the bone didn't reach a meter. No chance of climbing out.
"So… relying on my own strength is pointless."
That was exactly why Tsuruta had dumped him here so confidently.
Itsuki tossed the useless bone aside and sat down, conserving what little energy he had left. Freezing nights devoured strength faster than hunger.
"Well then…"
With a flick of thought, he summoned the system's wooden starter chest. His only hope was that it held something useful for escape.
The lid creaked open, light spilling into the darkness.
Lowest-Rank Treasure: (Auto-Recall Kunai of Space-Time)
Character: Shiranui ItsukiItem: Auto-Recall Kunai of Space-Time (sharper than an ordinary kunai, with a mysterious power that recalls it automatically).Chakra: None.Ninjutsu: None.
Itsuki gripped the black-glowing kunai and sighed. "Great weapon… but useless right now."
Sharp as it was, his tiny hands lacked the strength to cut through thick iron.
And worse—the cold was already gnawing at his limbs. Without realizing it, two hours had slipped by.
"That means… if I don't escape within the next hour, I'll freeze to death!?"
Panic surged through him. Forgetting stealth, he slammed his tiny fists against the metal walls.
"Help! Somebody, help me!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In the silence of the alley, the muffled blows echoed faintly. Itsuki tilted his head back, arms aching, pounding again and again on the iron. The last hour was nearly gone, and his body was already failing him.
Even though he had rationed his strength, shouting drained him. His breaths grew weaker, shallower.
"Somebody… anyone…"
Heat leaked from his chest, his fragile one-year-old body no stronger than a stray kitten's. Soon, he'd freeze solid and be carted off by some worker, tossed into a roaring furnace like common trash.
"Please… save me…"
Summoning every last ounce of strength, Itsuki hurled himself against the iron wall one final time—
Clang!
The sound rang out, desperate and raw, as the darkness began to close in…