Chapter 70

Chapter 70

The main system floated beyond the world.

This was another dimension, invisible to the naked eye, where the intersection with the world was a hazy mist, obscuring everything.

The invading attacks had been ongoing, but with little effect.

The world’s barrier was impenetrable unless an energy channel was established from within.

The systems were inside the main system, unaware of the external attacks.

Internally, it was a self-contained world, divided into many areas, where they worked, lived, and communicated without feeling any issues.

But Later, having regained its memories and freed itself from the main system’s energy control, knew this was all just a simulation.

It ranted, "We’ve been bending over backward to treat him well, but he doesn’t even know how to say thanks. Worse, he’s been torturing us all! Boss, we need you to get revenge for us!"

The energy connection allowed all the other systems to hear, and they quickly chimed in their agreement.

None of them wanted to face Fu Xiuning again—anyone else would do. If the main system took charge, they’d all cheer it on.

The main system asked, "Any other suggestions?"

The systems started throwing out ideas, their voices blending into a chaotic din.

The main system, with its powerful computation, received and analyzed all of them.

Even after the voices died down, Later piped up again, "Boss, you really need to handle this yourself. We’ve tried everything over the years, and sending another system would be the same. Who’s more reliable than you! You’re the ruler of this world, a god descending with unmatched power; dealing with Fu Xiuning would be a piece of cake!"

The other systems agreed once more.

After analyzing their suggestions, the main system found none of them viable and asked, "Anything else?"

Later said painfully, "Oh boss, this isn’t the time to be soft-hearted. Fu Xiuning has been bullying us for years because you’re too kind!"

The other systems chimed in, "Yes!"

The main system said, "...75, mute."

Later replied, "Got it~"

After sending that message, it wisely went silent and floated near Shang Shang Qian.

They had reunited once Shang Shang Qian returned, sharing the sentiment that the situation below was quite dire and might require a more powerful system.

Later had picked up on this and cautiously asked, "You mean something like the main system?"

Shang Shang Qian gave a cold nod.

It had returned for two reasons: personal revenge and to carry out Xing Shi’s plan to gradually force the main system into action.

Later had understood this and seized the opportunity to jump in this time.

As the main system cut off the energy channel and ended the discussion, they all instinctively turned their attention to the central area, where the main system’s core was located.

Later shook its body, somewhat pleased.

Shang Shang Qian, still speaking little, calmly withdrew its gaze.

The current situation is clear.

Either the main system watches helplessly as systems and hosts are continuously carried away by Xing Shi, futilely pouring in energy; or it tears itself apart and enters the field personally; or it simply gives up on the mission, leaving this place. There are no other options.

Even the main system must abide by the rules of this world's dimensions. If it really enters the field, it will be placing itself right in front of Xing Shi.

The main system reviewed the four reports once more, responding to each and instructing them to closely monitor Fu Xiuning's movements.

It gazed at the intersection of the two realms, filled with greed and resentment.

It had devoured many worlds, growing stronger and stronger, and developing an increasing thirst for energy. After conquering all the small worlds, it had no patience to wait for their slow rebirth, so it expended energy to traverse space-time and arrived here.

This was a vast nebula composed of many worlds, radiating high levels of energy. Just sensing it from the outside made the main system eager to devour them all.

It examined the situation carefully and chose the most peaceful world to invade, as its favorite within its perception range was still a minor, making it an excellent breakthrough point.

It dispatched a system, preparing to absorb high-level energy, only to have the first person get stuck.

For over five years, the mission made no progress. It could only watch from the outside, still forced to pick hosts from low-energy ants. Unless it got lucky and someone was in a low period, with current energy levels low, it might find a relatively strong host who could last longer.

But still, no use. The mission progress remained at zero.

If only one of them had been more capable, gaining some favorability, buying something from the store, and establishing an energy connection, it could have created a breakthrough, and slowly selected stronger and more high-quality natives, and more convenient bodies for energy parasitism. Instead, it remained powerless.

Fu Xiuning, Fu Xiuning.

The main system silently repeated this name in its mind.

No wonder he's the favorite of a high-level world, truly difficult to deal with.

It both hated and envied him. It hated him for delaying it for so long, consuming too much of its energy; it envied the thought that if it could successfully capture him, it could then drive him to conquer the remaining worlds, certainly more useful than ants. Since they belong to the same nebula, it might even achieve twice the result with half the effort.

But how to capture him?

The main system looked at its energy line nailed at the intersection.

This line acted like a sensor tower, able to receive system reports at any time and having established the system's group chat, making it convenient to issue announcements.

Each system that successfully enters a world is connected through this line, automatically signing in and joining the group chat.

Currently, there were still four systems below, with unclear specific energy conditions, but it perceived that it could still invest quite a bit of energy downward, suggesting their total stock wasn't high and they were likely having a hard time.

The main system thought coldly, feeling disdain.

Its gaze fell on one number, recalling that the corresponding host had been a target from the previous world that consumed some of its time.

It extracted his soul fragment to make him a host, carefully investing energy into this world. Thinking back, it had stuffed a bit more energy into him to ensure smooth progress, only to find he was just as useless.

Indeed, hosts from small worlds are unreliable.

After analyzing the current situation, the main system issued a second announcement, suggesting they could form teams.

The group chat immediately became lively.

All Are Concubines: "What does that mean? Have the hosts reveal their identities?"

Congratulations and Prosperity: "It should be... sigh, how did it get so big?"

99 popped up after relaying the message to Xing Shi.

Long Live the Beauty Enthusiast: "Huh? Why are we teaming up? I was expecting to return. Besides, my host is as stubborn as a mule. He definitely won’t cooperate. [Crying]"

All Are Concubines: "This announcement is up to us to handle, right?"

Congratulations and Prosperity: "Probably."

Long Live the Beauty Enthusiast: "Good then."

Xing Shi was sitting in the living room at that moment.

He put down his phone, leaned back on the sofa, and closed his eyes.

Mung Bean Paste: "Whimper, my host keeps saying he doesn’t want to continue the mission. I have to persuade him more. I’ll go offline for now. [Crying]"

It had been upset for half the day. Both All Are Concubines and Congratulations and Prosperity knew its host was being maliciously teased by those around him and weren’t surprised.

They looked at these two systems. One had a host who was as stubborn as a mule, willing to exhaust himself just to lock it away in a dark room. The other had a favorability of -8, and the host had recently quit the mission. Judging from when it went off the grid for a while, the host was likely not someone easy to deal with.

If the central system forced them to team up, they would definitely want to stay far away from these two systems.

Congratulations and Prosperity: "Don’t worry, talk it out nicely."

Mung Bean Paste: "Yeah, I’m going offline for now. [Crying]"

After offering another word of comfort, Congratulations and Prosperity closed the group chat as the other two systems remained silent.

It glanced at its own host.

Sang Chenhao had played games with his friends all night and morning and was still sleeping.

During that time, Congratulations and Prosperity had seen the messages in the group chat, realizing something big had happened. It urgently woke him to get online permissions, just in time to catch up with the conversation.

Now that the group chat had gone quiet again, all it had to do was wait for him to wake up and fill him in.

Sang Chenhao slept until late at night, rolled over, and opened his eyes.

Congratulations and Prosperity breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally woke up? Things are really falling apart out there."

Sang Chenhao looked out the window, seeing nothing but darkness with the curtains tightly drawn.

He closed his eyes again and asked with a smile, "Is it that bad out there?"

Congratulations and Prosperity replied helplessly, "Pretty bad."

Sang Chenhao turned on the bedside lamp, waited for a moment, then got up to wash up.

Congratulations and Prosperity recounted everything that had happened that day in detail, finally mentioning the second announcement. "We suspect that All Are Concubines' host is probably Li Yu. If it’s really her, she likely won’t team up based on her personality. What about us?"

Sang Chenhao said, "We’re not teaming up."

Congratulations and Prosperity responded with a "Yeah," then asked, "What about Fu Xiuning?"

Sang Chenhao didn’t answer, finished washing up, and left the bedroom, turning on all the lights.

Congratulations and Prosperity watched him enter the kitchen and waited as usual.

The host had low blood sugar and needed to eat something to get back on his feet.

Gongxi Facai warned, "Don't push yourself like this. You’ll end up ruining your health."

Sang Chenhao shrugged. "Just playing around now and then."

Gongxi Facai was confused. "Is this game really that fun?"

Sang Chenhao replied, "How should I put it? It's kind of like a game I played before."

Gongxi Facai understood.

As a host who had transmigrated, Sang Chenhao was one of the very few who could retrieve his previous memories, though there wasn’t much he could recall. He had talked with Gongxi Facai a few times about the other world.

Gongxi Facai said, "Once you complete the quest, you can return."

Sang Chenhao asked with a smile, "And if I fail?"

Gongxi Facai replied, "Hosts and the main system should have signed a contract, which includes relevant clauses. You'll know once you remember."

Sang Chenhao nodded, finished his meal, and unlocked his phone to scroll through Weibo.

The online discussion was still heating up.

Amidst the shockingly horrifying events, the mindset of netizens had more or less changed.

"Damn, I want to convince myself this is just bad luck, but this is too much, right? Did I kill someone's entire family in my previous life?"

"It's really a bit fantasy-like [horror]."

"True, there are too many psychopaths encountered."

"Is it possible that this face attracts psychopaths? Anyone in this circle, care to share?"

"I am, but even psychopaths' lives matter. With his background, we wouldn't dare to provoke him."

"He used to be a normal person, but after meeting him, he became a psychopath. This is clearly abnormal."

"He said this incident is targeting him, meaning his bad luck affected XS?"

"Damn bad luck! The information about the person in the hospital has been dug up; he's a mentally disabled individual. First, it was a mentally ill person, and now a mentally disabled individual—both seem to be targeting XS. I don't believe it's just bad luck; there's definitely something going on."

"What if it’s some kind of vengeful spirit stalking him, constantly changing its identity to get closer?"

"Damn, reading this late at night gave me goosebumps."

Sang Chenhao skimmed through the comments and clicked on the video.

In the video, Fu Xiuning stared directly into the camera, his gaze calm with no extra emotion, just as composed as always.

Sang Chenhao watched it three times and pressed pause.

Gongxi Facai was forced to watch it with him, and the more it watched, the more wary it became.

Over the years, Fu Xiuning's achievements had been too remarkable. Although Gongxi Facai wasn’t clear about his next moves, it knew they would be unfavorable for them.

It asked, "What do you think? What is he trying to do?"

Sang Chenhao, separated by a screen, met Fu Xiuning's gaze and slowly said, "I think... he probably knows about the quest."

Gongxi Facai’s eyes widened in shock. "!!!"