Seized by the System

In a plaza somewhere in the middle of Qi City, the true form of the alien slowly revealed itself to the combat-ready personnel of the Special Affairs Department.

A humongous, spider-like monster gradually materialized in midair. It was surrounded by seven floating heads, all of which bore a human face. Each face showed a different expression – happiness, anger, worry, deep thought, sadness, fear and shock. It was a hair-raising sight.

Its heads spun around its entire body one after another, and each time one of the heads completed a circle, its body materialized even further.

Although the monster’s form was strange, Mo Xing felt oddly nervous and excited. He could now accurately determine the monster’s strength; it was a Grade C+ monster, which was completely within the entire team’s counterbalance range. As long as they remained calm and faced it properly, their sacrifices would be minimal.

He was partly squatting on the floor, checking his battle preparations again and again while he confirmed various details with his personnel. Once he was sure that everything was identical to his plan, he felt a small wave of relief wash over him.

He suddenly thought of someone then, and immediately called the nearby correspondent.

“Check Vigilant A’s current position, I don’t want him to appear suddenly and throw everything into chaos.”

In actuality, after realizing that the monster wasn’t as strong as expected, Mo Xing couldn’t help but be selfish about it.

He’s worried that halfway through fighting the monster, that jobless Vigilante A that only knew to run around serving justice would appear suddenly to butt in. Not only would that mean the operation wouldn’t be perfect, he would also have to endure people badmouthing him by saying that he was riding on some citizen knight’s coattails.

People aren’t stupid, what he did before – letting people follow after Vigilante A to pick up after him, had plenty of advantages, and he not only did he not have to sacrifice his own people, it was also extremely efficient. However, with advantages come disadvantages as well; the Special Affairs Departments from other cities that were their rivals used the situation to attack him, and said that although he couldn’t fight battles. He sure was good at calculation.

Mo Xing had sacrificial spirit, but he wanted to be able to occupy a high position to bring even more of his ambitions into his reach. It was this that caused him to have heavy thoughts and many faces; while in the military, he spoke like the military, when with knowledgeable elders he spoke in parables. People with the proper eye would call him cunning and calculative.

The success of this first battle immediately decided how fast he would rise in the future; he didn’t want to stay the Director of some lower second-tier city’s Special Affairs Department forever. If this battle were to fail, he would be stuck in his position until retirement, which was a common thing. Moreover, his position was strongly coveted after by many 50-somethings.

He was only 35 years old, but this would not be his end-destination.

While Mo Xing was lost in his thoughts, the correspondent answered, “Vigilante A’s current position is Fang’s Delicious Food’s old restaurant. According to the monitoring personnel stationed there, he’s been eating for more than three hours.”

Mo Xing was dumbfounded, so he had worried for nothing. “Is he a pig or something, how can he eat so much? Could it be he’s acquired some high-maintenance martial art? Whatever, as long as he’s eating peacefully and not causing trouble. Everyone maintain a ten-minute-pre-battle status!”

Time ticked along slowly as everyone nervously looked on at the spider alien, suspended in mid-air.

Suddenly, the head that showed happiness stopped spinning around the spider monster!

Fear tugged at everyone’s heartstrings.

Its gaze shifted towards everyone beneath it, the smile on its face growing wider and wider in the process.

Mo Xing looked at the strange situation unfolding before his eyes, worry slowly clawed its way into his heart.

…

Fang’s Delicious Food’s old restaurant.

With the spirit of keeping one’s goodies within the family, the System always picked Fang Ning’s restaurant every time they needed to eat food as Vigilante A. It also gave them a chance to spend the cash they earned from serving justice, which in turn would become the restaurant’s liquid income.

Fang Ning spoke up, “That monster’s about to appear soon. We should be leaving, Sir System.”

The System answered, “I see it, but don’t rush. The last dish isn’t here yet. But did you notice something weird about the place where the monster is appearing? There’s a whole bunch of yellow dots squatting there, and they’re divided into eight positions. Wonder what they’re doing? I’ve never seen these yellow dots before so I can’t tell who they are, but I do recognize one that belongs to that guy called Lu Er. Who do you think the rest are?”

Instead of answering the question, Fang Ning asked one of his own, “Sir System, could it be that after you meet anyone for the first time, you’re able to recognize their indicator once it turns yellow or red?”

“Yes, it’s quite simple actually. Unless they experienced any sudden changes, their indicators on the System Map usually maintain the same size and color level. The indicators for every person differ ever so slightly from one to the other. Their sizes may be about the same, but no two people will ever have the same color. As long as you cross-check the indicators’ sizes and colors with the people you know, the next time you see an indicator, you’ll be able to know who it belongs to.”

Being an ex-programmer, Fang Ning knew just how difficult that whole process was. He exclaimed in shock, “You’re awesome. It’s no wonder you’re Sir System, I would never be able to do that. As for who those people are, I’m guessing they’re from the city’s Special Affairs Department. They were formed to deal with special affairs, and what could be more special that the arrival of a massive monster? The fact that Lu Er is there confirms this, he must’ve been sent for rehabilitation by the department after we farmed him. He’s probably there for fieldwork.”

The System was stunned for a while before it regained itself to speed out of the restaurant, “That’s bad. They’re there to steal the kill! We have to go!”

The manager, Zhao Ying, who had purposely stayed past her office hours to grow closer to her savior by sending him his dishes, was carrying the final dish to his table only to see her savior speed off, to which she could only watch in astonishment.

A worker that went over to clean up spoke up softly, “That hero hasn’t paid yet, I think.”

Zhao Ying’s eyebrows creased, “What did you say? A savior would never dine and dash. How much was it? I’ll pay.”

The worker answered quietly, “380,232 Yuan.”

“That’s so much!”

The worker couldn’t help but roll their eyes; they knew their Manager Beauty only had eyes for the hero and definitely didn’t pay attention to anything else, and so purposely spoke up, “You served all the dishes yourself, so you should just how expensive they all were. We’re the best restaurant in Qi City, you know.”

Zhao Ying gritted her teeth as she said, “Swipe my newly-applied Advanced Platinum Credit Card…”

…

At the same time, the personnel of Qi City’s Special Affairs Department were in a terrible situation, or more specifically, they were being farmed by the monster instead.

“Hehe, why are you not laughing? Is it because I’m not funny? That won’t do, we’re all here to laugh, don’t you humans believe that laughing extends your lifespan by five seconds? Whoever isn’t laughing now will have their life cut short by five seconds!”

The face with happiness etched into its expression drifted around a bunch of people with their backs against each other, laughter emitting constantly from its mouth.

“Boohoo, why are you not crying? Such a sad sight, you humans are so pitiful that even I’m crying for you. None of you have any idea what you’re facing; you’re like lost lambs walking past a tiger waiting in ambush. How saddening, so you lot better cry now. I just might let whoever cries go…”

Opposite them, a face with tear streaks was drifting in a similar manner around another group of people while it provoked them non-stop.

The remaining five groups were in similar situations. All seven groups involved in the Jade Dragon Battle Array were stuck.

The backup team was in a far more dangerous situation…

They were facing the giant spider-like monster…

Mo Xing had long activated the power that he obtained through cultivation, causing a barrier of ice to separate the two parties.

The spider seemed unfazed by the barrier as it continued staring at them, its gaze like that of a cat that had cornered a mouse, ready for the hunt.

Just like what Mo Xing had said before, a bunch of Cultivators and superpowered individuals were far more enticing to the spider that the ants in the distance.

Mo Xing thought back to what had just happened; their battle formation proved useless. In the instant the monster had appeared, everyone had been struck by a weird attack that caused them all to burst into non-stop laughter. Their formation was gone in a second.

Once they had calmed down from the extreme happiness, they realized they had been separated and surrounded, rendering their battle formation useless.

“I thought that it wouldn’t be easy to replenish my power after arriving, but who knew that you lot would’ve prepared such a splendid meal for me. They all have such potential, and are all such strong men. Killing them quickly would be such a waste. But look at you lot, emotionless like puppets, how terrible to look at. Let’s start with fear this time, because it seems that I would have to kill one first…”

Mo Xing’s heart tugged tightly upon hearing those words. He knew at least one person would have to be sacrificed this time, but he didn’t know who it would be.

While Mo Xing was struggling nervously, he didn’t realize that somebody next to him had been wrapped with the spider’s webs. That person was dragged out immediately. His ice barrier was useless!

Mo Xing’s heart dropped, but what he didn’t know was that one of the spider’s faces had lit up at the same time.

Lu Er, who was by his side, felt immediate relief. The spider’s web was aimed right at him but he had activated his ability in the nick of time, allowing him to evade it swiftly. The author, Shao Han, who was behind him, became the victim instead.

The spider glanced at him and smirked, but didn’t say anything, as it grabbed Shao Han with one of its claws.

“Wait, before I die, let me do one last thing!”

Everyone knew the monster wouldn’t answer. It was so cruel and strange, why would it interact with people?

What they didn’t expect was the monster laughing before saying, “Alright, tell me your wish…”

“There’s Internet here, so let me upload my drafts. I’m the author of the novel <<XXXXXXX>>…

The spider monster cackled, “Haha, I can’t let you do that…”

It responded as everyone expected, and they could only look at Shao Han with pity in their eyes.

Suddenly, the sharp claw started tightening around Shao Han’s stomach!

Shao Han’s eyes went wide in pain, but he grabbed his phone and started typing away…

While everyone else thought that he was definitely going to die, a male voice full of authority and force sounded from a distance,

“Put that damned eunuch down!!”