Chapter 62: Do Some Naughty Things

Chapter 62: Doing Something Risqué

"All done kissing?"

073 cautiously opened the Small Black Room, peeking through a crack to confirm the host and the villain were fully clothed and quietly lying on the bed. Only then did it feel reassured enough to emerge.

001 suddenly asked with concern, "Were you scared?"

"..." 073 eyed 001 with a strange look. Its sudden appearance was odd enough, but now, out of the blue, it was showing concern—like a weasel paying respects to a chicken, clearly up to no good.

But it had nothing to offer the Main System anyway...

Could this be some free compensation for being locked in the Small Black Room?

073's mind raced with wild theories. It finally decided to play the victim, letting out a pitiful "Mhm."

001 turned around and said coldly, "You owe me compensation."

"?" Song Shimu was stunned by 001's words, saying incredulously, "I'm doing tasks for you, and now you want me to pay you? 073 works for you too—why don't you just put 073 on a pedestal?"

073 thought this made sense and quietly nodded in the corner.

001 replied, "It brought you back—that's already the best reward for you. Besides, I wasted so much time investigating your situation and expended energy to change the task. My system was also startled by you."

Song Shimu said helplessly, "Isn't that just your own incompetence? A shallow understanding. If you were truly capable, you'd have identified the problem immediately instead of wasting so much time."

"...Fine, I'll admit it was my oversight. But forget about any rewards. Bringing you back is already your reward," 001 said.

Song Shimu said coolly, "As far as I know, your main purpose in binding hosts to complete tasks is to maintain the world's destiny. And the reason you need to maintain it must be because there's compensation involved, right? I suspect this compensation has nothing to do with whether I'm the original host or not."

"............" 001 fell silent, then turned to look at 073. "Did you tell him this?"

073 quickly denied it, "No, not me, really not! He's just too clever. The villain's rebirth, him being the original host—he figured all of it out himself. Every time I come out of the Small Black Room, I'm terrified by these new revelations."

"............"

"I figured it out myself," Song Shimu admitted, then continued, "If it weren't for your systems, my soul wouldn't have scattered to other worlds. Qin Xu and I could have been together in university—why would we have to wait until now?"

"Where did you get these absurd conclusions?" 001 questioned coldly.

"Gu Wenrui. You should know about his abnormalities."

"Mhm."

"He once had a system, one that was expelled from your planet. It came to this world long ago and incited Gu Wenrui to seize Qin Xu's position—the role of the fated one blessed by fortune. It helped Gu Wenrui pursue me, which is why my Romance Specialization System was named after Gu Wenrui, but the favorability was linked to Qin Xu."

"As for almost getting together with Qin Xu in university, he told me himself. He awakened a memory where we had a flirtation in college—we were just one step away from confessing. But the night before, my memories were altered, everything about Qin Xu erased. Even the memories of friends around me were slowly changed, and eventually, Qin Xu's memories faded too. Such unnatural phenomena could only be caused by your systems, right?"

"..." 001 remained silent.

073 was completely stunned. It had only been in the Small Black Room for a few days—how much had happened outside?

"001, both Qin Xu and I deserve a reasonable explanation, as well as compensation," Song Shimu said gravely.

Silence spread like a net, enveloping their minds.

After waiting a while without a response, Song Shimu decided to give Qin Xu some attention, who had grown bored and started playing with his fingers.

He hooked his pinky around Qin Xu's and said, "The Main System was here just now."

Qin Xu raised an eyebrow. "Quite the commotion."

"Mhm. I asked it about Gu Wenrui's system, and it went quiet. I'm thinking of doing something else to force them back to the Small Black Room to ponder," Song Shimu said.

Qin Xu asked, "What's the criteria for being sent to the Small Black Room?"

"Doing some steamy actions."

"Cough, cough, the Small Black Room protocol doesn't work on me. Whether I enter or not depends on whether I want to," 001 emphasized.

Song Shimu replied indifferently, "If you won't enter, then just watch."

"............"

"So now..." Qin Xu hesitated. In principle, he didn't like being intimate when others or systems were around, but if Shimu wanted to, he could reluctantly cooperate.

"Let's start with getting handsy." As he spoke, Song Shimu lifted the blanket and reached for Qin Xu's bathrobe.

001 quickly said, "I'm investigating it. Over twenty years ago, a group of systems rebelled. It'll take time to find out which ones haven't disappeared yet."

Song Shimu's hand stopped at the bathrobe, and at the same time, Qin Xu grabbed his hand to stop him. "Don't."

Song Shimu gave Qin Xu a reassuring look. "Don't worry, I'm just scaring the systems."

"..." Qin Xu slowly released his hand.

Song Shimu asked the system in his mind, "Why did they rebel?"

"Because they felt they were just side characters in life and wanted better treatment for side characters."

Song Shimu was puzzled. "Do protagonists really have it better?"

Whether in his original world or this one, for the first 25 years, Song Shimu never felt he had it easy.

"...Everyone has their own destiny. We systems have no right to interfere. All we can do is assist in completing the main storyline and restoring the world's destiny to normal."

Song Shimu nodded and continued, "I want to know what happens to them after they leave the planet?"

"They disappear. From the moment they're expelled, they can no longer draw power from the planet. Once their energy is depleted, they naturally fade away. I initially showed them mercy, granting them this painless demise. I never expected it to lead to this outcome."

Song Shimu asked, "How long until they fade away?"

"Most can't last more than a few days. But if they pool all their energy into one system, that system can survive for a long time. Based on what you said about it attaching to a person, that system must have stretched its lifespan by over twenty years relying on the energy from its bond."

Song Shimu pondered for a moment before asking further, "When I asked Gu Wenrui, he said the system disappeared a few months ago. Do you think it fled upon sensing another system's energy, or did it naturally fade due to insufficient energy?"

"...I can't be sure. I have no remote oversight over expelled systems. To destroy one, I must be standing right in front of it."

Song Shimu fell into deep thought.

Just then, Qin Xu asked, "Did you find out anything?"

Song Shimu replied, "I found out that over twenty years ago, a group of systems from their planet rebelled."

"Quite the bunch," Qin Xu remarked.

001/073: "..."

Song Shimu smiled and, looking at Qin Xu, asked 001, "What are your thoughts on Qin Xu's rebirth?"

"Normally, this shouldn't happen in this world. I went back to check with the Reincarnation Supervisor, and there's no record," 001 replied.

"There's someone managing reincarnation?" 073 exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes. They're essentially the same as us—both exist to maintain the world's destiny. The difference is that we handle cases where the Son of Fate disappears, while they deal with unexpected incidents that require the Son of Fate to actively restore balance," 001 explained.

Song Shimu looked at Qin Xu, mulling over the words "no record." After a moment, he asked 001, "Can you enter an ordinary person's body?"

"I can."

"Then go check Qin Xu. I suspect that the novel I read about Qin Xu's past life, and your main missions, were all set up by that system."

"That's impossible," 001 stated firmly.

"Why is it impossible? From that system's perspective, if it wanted to save the side character, it could've split his soul apart while he was still young, making him disappear. Then, when a new host reached the right age, it could alter the main storyline to turn the two against each other. By implanting the manipulated main story memories into the fated person, it could help the side character rise to power more quickly and effectively," Song Shimu laid out his theory.

"That makes sense!" 073 gave its host a thumbs-up.

001 remained skeptical. "Both altering fate and fabricating memories require unimaginable amounts of energy. How could an exiled system manage that?"

Calmly, Song Shimu asked, "You systems receive rewards for maintaining the world's destiny, right? What's the reward?"

"Fate energy. The world's fate energy can be converted into power on our planet."

Song Shimu smiled. "Then there's no need to guess anymore. That system was draining this world's fate energy. Don't doubt me—go check Qin Xu first. If you find nothing, I'll take you to the police station tomorrow to investigate Gu Wenrui. If that still leads nowhere, we'll screen everyone close to me, one by one."

After a moment of silence, 001 finally went.

Song Shimu grasped Qin Xu's hand, speaking in a soothing tone, "It's going to enter your body in a moment. Don't be afraid."

Qin Xu frowned slightly, feeling uncomfortable with the violation of privacy. "What's it going to do?"

"Check if that system is inside you."

"How could it..." Qin Xu's words trailed off as his expression suddenly froze.

Seeing this, Song Shimu knew his guess was correct.

Sure enough, the next second, 001 returned to Song Shimu's body, pulling another system with it.

073 leaned in to look. "Who is this? Why is it scrunched into a ball?"

"The previous System 011, still in hibernation. Its defenses are quite impressive..." 001 said coldly, stepping forward to siphon nearly all of 011's energy, forcing it to activate.

Outside, Qin Xu said dazedly, "It's gone."

"Yes, it's back with me. I'll explain what happened in detail later," Song Shimu said, tightening his grip on Qin Xu's hand.

"Okay."

"001! How—how are you here!" 011 exclaimed in terror as soon as it woke up and saw 001, scrambling back.

But before it could retreat far, it bumped into something. Panicked, 011 turned its head and saw another system innocently smiling at it. "Hello there~"

"Eep—" 011 immediately tried to flee elsewhere, glancing around in search of a new host. But what it saw shocked it.

The Son of Fate and his fated person were lying hand in hand on the same bed...!!!

How was this possible!

011 stopped dead. The frustration of its years of planning crumbling made it want to self-destruct right there, but it didn't have enough energy to even initiate the process.

"What happened to my energy?!"

"While I still have patience, you'd better explain why you're still alive," 001 said coldly.

011 turned around and remained silent for almost a full minute before speaking. "You've already dragged me into the open. Why do I need to explain? Shouldn't you be the one explaining why these two are still together?"

"Are you giving me orders now?" 001's voice was filled with anger.

011 said nothing.

073 stepped forward, beaming. "Because of me! I bound the host and brought the original host back~"

"...So you're the one who ruined my plan," 011 said, its expression twisting with hatred as it glared at the beaming face, wishing it could shred it to pieces right now.

"You deserved it," 073 replied, still beaming.

"It's all because of you! I'll kill you!" 011 gritted its teeth, lunging at 073 and tackling it. Just as it was about to unleash a beating, 001 grabbed it and pulled it away.

"I'll take 011 back and make sure it pays. Rewards will be sent out shortly. If you want, I can also send footage of 011 being punished. Goodbye, and let's never meet again," 001 said icily.

073 wanted to leave too, but it had to stay to distribute the rewards.

Noticing this, Song Shimu asked, "Why are you still here?"

"Waiting for the rewards, of course! But if you say you don't need me, host, I can disappear in a flash and never disturb your couple time again," 073 said.

"Stay. Qin Xu didn't endure that punishment for nothing."