Seized by the System

Right then, the fishermen chief shook his head and said, ” Mr. Taoist priest, I’m sorry but we’re relying on the fishes for survival. The water has to be pumped every day, and we just really don’t have the time to listen to you right now.”

“Hehe, if my words can lead you to get more fish, would all of you hear me out?” Fang Ning responded confidently.

“We must listen then,” several fishermen were suddenly interested and quickly urged, “Taoist priest, are you going to teach us your magic and show us how to fish?”

“Hehe, haven’t you heard of a saying? Instead of accepting others’ fishes, you should give others the fishes you catch. If one rares his fishes, one will never run out of stock,” Fang Ning said softly.

“Oh, I’ve never heard of that,” the fishermen immediately drooped.

Fang Ning was not about to teach them about trawling or whatever advanced technology that could aid them. After the test in his world, in addition to his previous experiences, he had truly experienced the evil of human nature. They would fish out all the fishes from the sea and drain all aquatic creatures completely. Their viciousness could not be blamed either. After all, the root of the cause was that the wild fishes had no rights, they belonged to whoever who got their hands on them first.

In this case, under the competition, all the fishes would be caught first before deciding what to do with them.

Although fishing was considered seasonal on Earth and constantly monitored, the fishery resources were still gradually declining as time went by. Nobody knew exactly how many coastal areas had already dried up.

He thought of a method of rearing fish. After all, he had the Heavenly Book in his hands right now, therefore, the knowledge he at hand at the moment was boundless.

“Look, I’d like to show you this magic mulberry fish pond…”¹

However, before he even started, the fishermen broke up in an uproar.

“What is this? This isn’t a spell!”

“What difference is there? Don’t we still have to do all the manual labor work? We’re letting Old Master Wang off a bit too easy, aren’t we?”

Several fishermen, including the chief, then dispersed and went on fishing.

Only the thinnest one stayed behind, staring eagerly at Fang Ning.

“Eh, why haven’t you left?” Fang Ning asked patiently.

“Master, since you’re a Taoist priest and this is your profession, I believe you have a thorough plan. It’s impossible that you’ll teach us a way to rear fish, but not bother about the results,” the fisherman of spare frame said.

“That’s true, go and deal with that Old Master Wang that you all mentioned first then,” Fang Ning said softly, “Lead the way.”

The thin fisherman withdrew his fishing net right away and boarded an old boat, then brought Fang Ning along as he rowed toward the northern part of the river.

“Sigh, where did you come from?” Fang Ning asked casually.

“Master, we come from a village called Wang Village. We’ve migrated here from the Sky River county five or six years ago. Back then, government officials forced everyone to migrate. Out of ten people that migrated, four or five of them were not able to survive,” the thin fisherman said with a heavy sigh, “My parents died in the process of it all.”

“Sigh, that’s because this world’s Heavenly Axiom lacks the Path of Humanity and Kindness, and so everyone has to suffer because of this,” Fang Ning said in a feigned manner.

“Master, what do you mean by that? Aren’t the people like us powerless because the government’s too powerful?” It was evident that this thin fisherman had plenty of ideas and opinions, which showed that he was born in a bigger place.

“Hehe, if you became someone of great power, how would you do it?” Fang Ning asked in reply.

“In that case, I’m more or less just like the government officials then. There aren’t many people in the Sky River county, but nobody wants to exploit this wilderness either. Therefore, the only way is forced migration,” the thin fisherman answered.

“Why is that so?”

“Once a wasteland is opened up, it’ll mature into cultivated land. Ultimately, it’ll belong to the old masters and not in the hands of the people, so it’s better to just stay at home,” the thin fisherman responded.

“Therefore, my Path of Humanity and Kindness aims to promote love and care among people, to fill the world with justice. With that, nobody will rob others of their fruits of labor, and everyone will happily bring wastelands under cultivation,” Fang Ning said.

“Old Master, I’m not joking around. Many people don’t even care for their parents, let alone others.” The thin fisherman said in disdain, “For example, when Old Master Wang’s father passed away, he rather give offerings to the monks and Taoist priests than buy a coffin.”

“Do you believe that I can turn that overbearing Old Master Wang of yours to become a person filled with love and care?” Fang Ning asked.

“Yes, a hundred thousand times yes. Master, you have great Spiritual Ascension. Just cast a spell and I’m sure Old Master Wang will be so terrified he’ll just obey anyway,” the thin fisherman said, seemingly eager to please Fang Ning.

“You’re quite a smart one.” Fang Ning felt slightly helpless. He was unable to even pretend to be someone else in front of a local Aborigine. How terrible!

There was no mistake at all. He had wanted to use the Heavenly Book’s alliance’s system platform to force Old Master Wang to become a kindhearted person. However, he had no means to truly reform Old Master Wang.

Reforming a person was incredibly difficult. After all, he had read novels in the past…

After a short chit-chat, Fang Ning followed the thin fisherman to a large village that seemed to be occupied by thousands of villagers.

Fang Ning was shocked. Turns out this world’s development was not as slow as he thought it to be. It had only been a short while, but the human population had increased quite a lot.

The human population was the foundation of all change. Without it, even the best production relationships were useless.

These Saints were smart b*tches indeed, waiting for their world to be perfect before moving over.

D*mn it, he had to deceive this world first.

However, for the ordinary people, each of their paths was truly the better path to take.

After all, the civilians only craved a world that was stable, disease-free and disaster-free. They yearned for warmth and comfort, and also for the ancestral line to be carried on. Of course, the last demand had already declined in the new age.

The Saints and their needs were inconsistent with the needs of the Heaven and Earth, and this was where they should start from.

The thin fisherman led Fang Ning into the village and took him into the largest house that had a five-way courtyard next to the village road.

“Butler Wang, a Taoist priest just came from the mountains. He’s incredibly powerful and has great magic powers, you must give me more money as my reward,” the thin fisherman reported quietly as he came to one of the side rooms.

“Oh, is that so? You’d better not be lying to me! Even if you are, it’s alright to lie to me, but if you lie to Master, be careful or he might just take back your land and you won’t be able to fish anymore,” an old man hobbled out of the room.

When he saw Fang Ning, he immediately believed the fisherman’s words. It had nothing to do with his appearance or how he looked, but just a glance at the black dog at his feet was enough to know that it was no ordinary dog.

Other dogs had bones to grind their teeth, but this black dog currently seemed bored to death, gnawing on a slate. Several bite marks could already be seen on the slate.

He immediately bowed down, “Immortal, the Master of the house loves to worship all of great sanctity. Please, come in with me.”

“That’s good. I’m here this time to rescue the Master of your house,” Fang Ning stated softly.

Not long after, Fang Ning came out of the yard.

Three days later, Old Master Wang announced that all rental will drop to seventy percent rent. Aside from that, he would group everyone up to open up a mulberry fish pond and rare fishes.

At the same time, they were opening an old folk’s home in the village to take care of the elderly and orphans.

These tasks were entrusted to the thin fisherman, which made him feel like the second dog of the Wang household, being promoted to the second butler of the house.

The villagers turned heads at the sight of the newcomer. Those who had seen Fang Ning earlier on deeply regretted their actions. If only they had known of the other person’s abilities, they would have followed him and learn his footsteps.

At least they could still be a servant in the Wang family.

There was no point in regretting though. Opportunities only came once, and if one was able to seize it, one would be able to flip around. On the other hand, if one did not grasp it, one would lay low forever.

After all, this was not Fang Ning’s world, so naturally, he had no means of reforming the past society, but of course, it was necessary for him to correct it by cheating.

At that moment, Old Master Wang’s name appeared on the alliance’s platform subvolume.

The other party had also seen the usage of those Justice Points. Although immortality might be impossible, one could still exchange the points for some pills that could ward off diseases.

The condition was that he had to do good deeds and treat people with love.

“Master, do you only know how to play with cheats?” System Incarnation suddenly asked.

Fang Ning immediately became furious, “Hey! If I’m able to cheat, why should I still limit myself? I think you’ve learned too much from your System Daddy, how dare you imply that!”

“Master, I’m at fault. I wasn’t trying to imply anything, it was just an honest and simple question,” System Incarnation replied earnestly.

“I won’t fuss over this with you seeing that you’re still young, but you must remember to take advantage of the potential, as that’s the way of a king. If you bind your hands and feet together, what’s the sense of pursuing the challenge anymore? You’d just be committing an immature and childish mistake,” Fang Ning advised.

“I understand now, I’ll give full play to my potential,” System Incarnation said.

“Do you know what’s your potential then?”

“Acting stupid.”