The first thing Lin Hao felt was the smell.
Rotting flesh mixed with scorched earth, iron tang of blood, and something sharper—something unnatural, like ozone after lightning but laced with decay. His eyes snapped open to a gray sky choked with smoke. Bodies lay everywhere: twisted limbs, shattered armor, faces frozen in final screams. Some still twitched faintly, divine energy leaking from wounds like glowing smoke.
He tried to sit up, but his body felt wrong—too weak, too small. Memories flooded in, not his own.
This body... Lin Hao, eighteen years old, conscripted scavenger in the Border Legion of the Azure Dawn Empire. Assigned to Remnant Collection Squad 7. Natural lifespan: thirty-two years remaining. Cause of death for most in this job: residual curses, poison miasma, or just plain exhaustion.
He almost laughed. Almost. Because right behind those borrowed memories came his own:
Truck accident. Overworked code push at 3 a.m. Blackout. Then... here.
Reincarnation. Transmigration. Whatever you called it—he was in another world. And judging by the floating blue panel that suddenly appeared in his vision, he wasn't empty-handed.
[Eternal Remnant Harvest System Activated]
[Host: Lin Hao]
[Current Lifespan: 32 years, 147 days]
[Attributes]
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Vitality: 9
Soul Power: 5
Lifespan: 32 years (base)
[First-time Bonus: Touch any remnant to begin harvest. No penalties for low realm.]
Lin Hao stared at the panel. Then at the nearest corpse—a mortal soldier in tattered chainmail, chest caved in by what looked like a claw the size of a man. The body still shimmered faintly with leftover battle aura.
He reached out hesitantly. His fingers brushed cold skin.
[Harvested ordinary mortal remnant]
[+1 Strength]
[+1 Agility]
[+1 Vitality]
[+1 Lifespan]
A warm current surged through him—like drinking hot soup after freezing. Muscles tightened slightly. Breathing felt easier. And in the corner of his vision, the lifespan ticked up: 33 years, 147 days.
One corpse. One year added.
His heart started pounding.
He looked around. The battlefield stretched for miles—hundreds, maybe thousands of bodies. Most mortal grunts like this one. A few glowed brighter: cultivators, perhaps low-realm immortals or elite warriors. In the distance, craters still smoked where something god-like had fallen.
And him? Assigned to clean this up. Drag bodies to mass pits, burn what couldn't be identified, collect "valuable" scraps for the legion quartermasters. The job everyone mocked. The job with the shortest life expectancy because the residual divine energy and curses ate you alive over months.
Lin Hao stood up slowly. His new body—thin, malnourished, callused hands—was trembling, but not from fear.
This is... broken.
He moved to the next corpse. A young archer, arrow still in his own throat. Touch.
[Harvested ordinary mortal remnant]
[+1 Strength]
[+2 Lifespan]
34 years, 147 days.
Another. A spearman missing half his face.
[+1 Vitality]
[+1 Lifespan]
He kept going. Methodical. Like debugging code—one line at a time. Ten corpses later:
[Strength: 12]
[Agility: 10]
[Vitality: 13]
[Lifespan: 42 years, 3 days]
The weakness was fading. He could feel it—muscles denser, senses sharper. The miasma that made his throat burn earlier now felt... ignorable.
A squad of other harvesters trudged past, faces wrapped in rags, dragging a cart piled with limbs.
"Oi, new kid," one grunted. "Don't dawdle. Captain says we clear Sector 4 before dusk or we get lashed. And stay away from the glowy ones—those divine remnants will rot your insides in a week."
Lin Hao nodded meekly, eyes down. Inside, he was grinning like a madman.
Glowy ones... give more?
He waited until the squad moved on. Then he approached a brighter corpse—armor cracked but shimmering with faint silver light. A low-realm cultivator, probably Qi Condensation stage. Sword still clutched in death grip.
He touched the chest plate.
[Harvested low-tier cultivator remnant]
[+8 Strength]
[+6 Agility]
[+10 Vitality]
[+5 Soul Power]
[+45 Lifespan]
[Bonus: First elite harvest – +10% attribute efficiency for 24 hours]
The surge was explosive. Lin Hao staggered, nearly dropping to his knees as power flooded every cell. His vision sharpened; he could see individual motes of residual energy drifting in the air. His arms felt capable of crushing stone.
Lifespan: 87 years, 3 days.
He laughed—quiet, breathless.
Eighty-seven years... from one body. And there are thousands here.
But he forced calm. This world was dangerous. He was still weak compared to real powerhouses. If someone saw him harvesting too fast, or looking too healthy...
Low-key. Farm silently. Pretend to be the same sickly scavenger.
He dragged the cultivator's body toward the cart like the others, but his steps were lighter. Stronger.
As night fell, the battlefield quieted. Distant roars echoed—perhaps void beasts scavenging, or higher-realm fighters still dueling in the sky. Lin Hao found a shadowed crater, sat among a cluster of mortal corpses, and began systematically touching each one.
Touch.
[+1 Strength, +1 Lifespan]
Touch.
[+2 Vitality, +1 Soul Power]
By midnight, he'd cleared thirty ordinary bodies.
[Strength: 28]
[Agility: 22]
[Vitality: 35]
[Soul Power: 12]
[Lifespan: 142 years, 19 days]
He leaned back against a broken shield, staring at the blood-red moon.
In his old life, thirty was the new twenty—endless crunch, no future. Here? He could live forever if he kept this up.
And the war never stopped. New battlefields opened every day. New corpses. New hauls.
This job... Lin Hao thought, a slow smile spreading across his face.
...is paradise.
[System Notification: Daily Harvest Milestone Reached]
[Reward: Minor Miasma Resistance (Lv.1) – Reduces curse buildup by 10%]
He closed his eyes, already planning tomorrow.
Sector 5 had reports of a fallen mid-tier immortal. Brighter glow. Bigger numbers.
Tomorrow, he'd "accidentally" wander there.
After all... someone had to clean up the mess.
And no one would suspect the weakest harvester was quietly becoming eternal.