Chapter 61: Has the System Already Been Unlucky?

Chapter 61: Has a system already met its doom?

In fact, it was possible.

Sheng Qingquan gazed at the ruby in his hand, nearly bursting with excitement, as it transformed into a small button.

Even without further explanation.

But the moment he saw the button, Sheng Qingquan was sure.

"This is the hidden complaint button!"

"Or rather, it's identical to the hidden complaint button!"

At first, everyone was glued to the projection. Some recorded for archives, while others took notes on game clues. Hearing Sheng Qingquan's thoughts, everyone's attention shifted.

A complaint button? Seriously?

Though it couldn't file complaints, everyone grasped its importance.

Sometimes, perception is everything.

Everyone caught on to Sheng Qingquan's plan and silently rooted for him.

Sheng Qingquan stashed the novel, shut his cheat tool, and openly toyed with the complaint button.

Without the cheat tool's influence, the system, though focused on the dungeon, instantly noticed the object in Sheng Qingquan's hand.

!!!

The System Orb stared in shock at the tiny button in Sheng Qingquan's hand, its shape warping slightly from the shock.

How... how can this be?!

Didn't I hide the complaint button? How did he get it?

The System Orb peeked at the button's original spot, only to find its own button still there.

Then where did his button come from?

How did he get the complaint button?

Considering the mecha the host shouldn't have, his use of genetic fluid, and his superior fitness. And the powerful, unknown forces within him.

Does he have a replication ability?

Did he copy the button?

No, no, the system suddenly realized something terrifying.

"Ho... host, where did you get that button?" The System Orb tried hard to suppress its fear, but its mechanical voice still stuttered as it asked, "Did you report another system before me?"

"Is this the last system's complaint button?"

No wonder Sheng Qingquan's strength is extraordinary; it must have been obtained from the previous system.

No wonder the people of Tianlan Star are so familiar with my past misdeeds. It must be that I'm not the only system that has done this; the previous one also fell into their hands. They have experience, having seen it firsthand, so of course they know.

At that time, the still weak Sheng Qingquan, after using that system to become stronger, took advantage of the system's unpreparedness to find the hidden complaint button and reported the system.

Since the situation was verified, after the report was successful and the unbinding went smoothly, as compensation, the higher-ups allowed Sheng Qingquan to keep his gains, unlike other hosts who chose to unbind and had their powers taken away.

At this thought, the System Orb shivered, reluctantly using the energy it had just harvested to perform a more detailed scan of Tianlan Star.

Previously limited by a lack of energy, it had only scanned the current province, only getting a brief understanding of the current situation without expanding the scope.

This time, after scanning again, the system immediately discovered some items that clearly didn't match Tianlan Star's existing technology.

Although they had found some excuses, using the seemingly legitimate reason of Tianlan Star establishing diplomatic relations with aliens to cover it up.

But what kind of being is it?! It is a creation of the gods.

Upon scanning, the system found that the aliens had arrived too suddenly, with no previous contact between the two sides, and suddenly announced diplomatic relations. Clearly, it was a deliberate fabrication to deceive people.

Fooling those gullible ordinary people is one thing, but it can't fool me!

There's only one source for these things.

That is, they were all taken by Sheng Qingquan from the previous system.

This explains why Tianlan Star's officials paid such bizarre attention and placed special emphasis on Sheng Qingquan.

Tianlan Star's officials had deliberately kept some information about Sheng Qingquan, with important details not recorded in computers, only a few paper documents, and the rest mostly relying on people's memories.

Originally considered an unnecessary move, it actually served its purpose.

The more the System Orb thought about it, the more frightened it became.

If what it had done were reported, it would definitely be completely destroyed, not even a part left.

The person in front of it was ruthless.

He not only had the determination and the ability to act, but most terrifyingly, he also had successful cases and real reporting channels.

If he wanted to, he really would do it and could do it.

The System Orb didn't want to follow in its colleagues' footsteps, especially when it saw Sheng Qingquan seemingly casually placing his finger on the button.

As if caressing, or as if about to press the button.

"Don't press it!"

"Host, calm down!" The System Orb panicked, hurriedly trying to stop him.

Without waiting for Sheng Qingquan to speak, it proactively said, "Host, I have just carefully considered it and found that the current energy distribution is still somewhat unreasonable."

"After all, I am just a tool to assist the host, and keeping enough energy to maintain the system's operation is sufficient, the rest is completely unnecessary to take."

"Rather than giving it to me, it's better to leave it to you, Host. Your strength is the most important."

Sheng Qingquan originally just wanted the system to think he had a complaint channel, to have some respect and know the limits, not to mess around. He didn't expect the system to imagine so much.

But since the direction of imagination was beneficial to him, Sheng Qingquan, not being stupid, of course wouldn't explain.

Hearing this, seeing this, he was not in a hurry to speak, just continued to stare at it with a half-smile.

The System Orb was stared at and became somewhat flustered: "I admit I still took a little bit of energy, but really just a little bit. I have to earn some hard-earned money, the system also needs to upgrade."

The other party had a system before, it shouldn't have taken this chance.

However, the System Orb whispered emphatically, "I've already taken much less than originally planned. The system must be upgraded to unlock more dungeons and bind more players to it."

This time, it was telling the truth.

Considering that it couldn't push the other party to the brink, and that official training indeed required more venues and participant slots, plus the fact that it had already gained more than it had anticipated—it hadn't expected this bonus—Sheng Qingquan nodded, effectively putting this issue behind him.

Although somewhat reluctantly, moving on was good, moving on was good. The System Orb thought, relieved.

It had no idea that Sheng Qingquan, who appeared to have everything under control, was actually somewhat worried at the beginning, afraid of being found out. If it weren't worth the gamble, and he still had the host identity as a safety net, he really wouldn't have dared to do this.

After all, this button was created from an in-game item.

As a system, it should have been aware of this item and its effects.

Fortunately, the first batch of players hadn't yet completed the dungeon, and although the store was open and Sheng Qingquan had looked through it, he hadn't bought any items from start to finish.

Moreover, although this item was available in the store, it wasn't something that current hosts or players could afford to buy.

Without any way to obtain it or any purchase history, the System Orb hadn't even considered this possibility.

After confirming that the button indeed belonged to their system's reporting function, it was completely panicked.

After successfully calming the host, the system was only concerned with feeling relieved and didn't think much further. Even if it later reconsidered, as long as the button wasn't handed to it and wasn't actually pressed, there was no way to discover the issue.

Most importantly, people naturally trust their own analysis (or imagination) more than others' words.

Sheng Qingquan hadn't said anything; all this information was cleverly deduced and analyzed by the System Orb itself.

Therefore, the chance of being suspected was even lower.

After figuring all this out, Sheng Qingquan felt even more at ease.

His confident demeanor made the secretly observing System Orb even more relieved that it had given in quickly.

So, when Sheng Qingquan said he was too lazy to handle things and wanted to open secondary permissions to others, having it follow the official personnel and assist with their actions, the System Orb, feeling unusually guilty, didn't even dare to cause trouble. Instead, it quickly agreed.

As long as there was no reporting, everything could be worked out.

Moreover, the secondary permissions in the system were specifically set up to allow hosts to delegate trivial matters to subordinates and focus on becoming stronger.

Sheng Qingquan's request wasn't out of line; it was quite reasonable. It didn't require any rule-breaking operations.

However, the host was really so adept!

Completely unaware that Sheng Qingquan was truly overwhelmed and felt he lacked management experience, certainly not as suitable as professionals. Plus, to maximize benefits, he chose to hand over the secondary permissions he had figured out. Seeing this, the system became even more convinced that Sheng Qingquan had more than one system.

After completing all this, Sheng Qingquan turned his attention back to the projection.

In the game, the fastest team was nearing the end.

Three minutes later, in the [Visiting] dungeon, the first team of players all exited the dungeon, returning to reality in a sorry state.

Out of the five who came out, only four had successfully cleared the dungeon; the remaining one had failed. If it weren't for the fact that the game had changed, allowing players to be revived with energy after dying in the game, he wouldn't be alive and kicking now—he would have come out as a corpse.

"It's just ridiculous. The mission required us to visit an NPC's home, be good guests, and only after gaining the NPC's acknowledgment could we complete the task."

"I thought, isn't this simple? Being a good guest, just being polite and not causing trouble for the host should suffice."

They teleported us directly to the doorsteps of various NPCs, with the doors slightly ajar.

We assumed the hosts had already opened the doors for us, so we thought we could just walk in. Who knew the right way was to jot down the house numbers, leave the building, buy gifts outside the neighborhood, and then visit?

At this point, the male player couldn't help but vent his frustration: "That's so underhanded!"

"The worst part is that just having gifts isn't enough; they have to be tailored to the NPC's personality," others chimed in with complaints.

"The NPC I got was really stingy and greedy. Simply bringing fruits or milk would anger them. I had to bring pricey gifts. If I hadn't acted fast and slipped the gold bracelet I was wearing into the milk box, I might've been done for."

"And me, since we were dropped right at their doorsteps, I thought it was all set. But the NPC I visited was very particular about etiquette. They were really mad that I showed up unannounced, didn't apologize for barging in, and nearly kicked me out."

"I took their experiences to heart and paid attention to every detail. I even put up with the NPC gushing over their lazy, useless son like he was some kind of treasure."

"I made myself nod along with their praises and even acted a bit envious, giving them all the emotional validation they wanted," a female player said, her voice filled with resentment.

"But then the NPC suggested that since their son was still single and I seemed like a good fit, they wanted me to date him."

"The patronizing tone, like they were doing me a favor, made me lose it. My face must've given me away, and the NPC got mad right away."

...

As soon as the players got out of the dungeon, they couldn't help but let off steam.

Sheng Qingquan, who hadn't paid much attention to the projections earlier, was wide-eyed. Was life really this full of traps?

After letting off some steam, the players were taken by staff for detailed questioning and recording. After all, just watching the projections, which had a very fixed and limited perspective, didn't provide a clear picture of everything.

One by one, the players came out, with heavy losses.

This was after they'd dialed down the difficulty. In the [Visiting] dungeon, if they hadn't lowered the difficulty, players wouldn't even start with any money. They'd have to figure out how to make money to buy gifts.

Forget buying gifts; without making money, they might not even have enough to eat. Some might even think that visiting meant the host would treat them to a meal, and all they had to do was compliment the food and help with the dishes afterward.

No wonder the players were used up like disposable items in the storyline.

Sheng Qingquan couldn't do much. After watching for a few days, he saw that the official setup was well-organized and everything was running smoothly. Though most of the energy from the early rewards went to revivals, and the rest had to be saved for emergencies, so they couldn't just blow it on props. So, the gains weren't huge, but overall, the energy was steadily growing.

Plus, besides energy, players who cleared the dungeon also got various prop rewards based on how they did.

Even if they were just low-level props.

Like the [Fruit Plate], which automatically generates a plate of fruit every day.

Or the [One-time Universal Key], which can open any door.

Things that are useful, indeed very useful, but also somewhat trivial.

However, as the dungeon levels increase in the future, the rewards will naturally improve.

Even the current rewards, if not used for clearing dungeons, are very valuable for research.

In short, everything is going well, steadily progressing. Sheng Qingquan felt at ease and decided to step back.

Rather than focusing on these matters, after freeing himself from the system, Sheng Qingquan wanted to enjoy some good food and fun.

Returning to his neighborhood, as he went upstairs, he saw a neighbor's elementary school kid holding a big kite, ready to go out. It dawned on Sheng Qingquan that it was kite-flying season!

Thinking about the weather outside—clear and crisp autumn skies with just the right amount of wind, not too strong to blow people away—it really was perfect for flying kites.

"Otherwise, should I also buy a kite and go downstairs to play?!"

Sheng Qingquan, who hadn't flown a kite in many years, suddenly felt a burst of childlike excitement. He couldn't help but glance at the beautiful kite in the child's hand.

"Such a beautiful kite, it's too childish for kids, but perfect for adults."

"Ask her where she bought it so I can get one too. I hope it's not online, or else I won't get to play with it for days."

"Maybe I can place an order and have it not shipped, then fly over with my machine to pick it up?"

Sheng Qingquan was lost in thought.

Just as the student was about to tell him the kite was bought at a stall at Central Park's entrance—two for thirty yuan—he suddenly heard Sheng Qingquan's inner voice again.

"Not now, right?"

Now?

The student, familiar with this big brother, glanced at the spot in front of Sheng Qingquan where the book of prophecies might appear.

What's coming? Could it be another new apocalypse?!