Seized by the System

A certain sunny day in mid-July, in the third year of Shenyuan.

Turbulent waves powered by swift currents raged around a small island somewhere in the endless Pacific Ocean. From time to time, the waves would rush the island’s shores, showing no sign of being “pacific”.

On the island, a large group of octopuses stood against the waves and repeatedly made “kakaka” sounds, as if communicating with their companions.

“Zhang Da, quickly get your bothers to cover the freshly-dug fish pond with a fishing net so that when the big waves come, the fish won’t be wash away,” shouted the one-eyed octopus loudly.

“Yes, chief.” A large octopus waved its limbs to direct a group of younger octopuses to cover the ponds with fishing nets.

“Ah, rearing fish ourselves is so troublesome. We have to look after them every day, unlike when we were in the sea, where we could just catch them when we wanted to,” complained the one-eyed octopus to the seven-limbed octopus by its side.

“That isn’t so. Although catching fish in the ocean may seem easy, we still eat depending on the sea’s mood. We never know when we’ll be able to eat. A lot of young octopuses have had to starve in the past years, so the survival rate of octopuses is extremely low. We had to resort to giving birth to a lot of offspring, but then we still couldn’t ensure a high survival rate, all because of the fact that food isn’t easy to find,” said the seven-limbed octopus as it shook his head.

“Ugh, you’re right too. Newborn octopuses have bad hunting skills, so starving to death is normal. Besides, we’re able to produce a lot of offspring at one time, and if they all survive, the entire ocean wouldn’t be able to accommodate us all either,” sighed the one-eyed octopus.

“Which is why we can only learn from the humans. Through eugenics and selective breeding, we’ll be able to pick the eggs that are the cream of the crop to fertilize…” said the seven-limbed octopus in a tone that implied as if it knew a lot about the matter.

“Oh, I had no idea about that,” said the one-eyed octopus ignorantly.

As the two octopus leaders conversed, the other octopus monsters suddenly started kicking up a fuss.

“The king is here, the king is here.”

Then, a majestic octopus appeared from within the roaring waves of the sea. It had twelve strong limbs, and one of it was wrapped around a black backpack.

Behind him and before him were two rows of guards, with each row sporting twelve. It was truly an impressive sight.

“Ah, I never would’ve expected that our dutiful Brother Twelve Arms, who became a king after subduing so many big octopus tribes, would also begin to pay attention to showing off too. I’m afraid it’s becoming another Li Zicheng ¹…” sighed the seven-limbed octopus as it shook its head.

“I know, even the words of us elders fall on its deaf ears. I’m so worried about our future,” sighed the one-eyed octopus as well.

“Fortunately, it didn’t try to make its own personal harem in the process of things, so saying it is still possible. The humans have a saying that goes ‘it is easy for the frugal to become extravagant’, and human sayings are always so philosophical.” The seven-limbed octopus was obviously an expert on humans, since it had even mastered the essence of human culture.

Twelve Arms swam towards the island rapidly.

The twelve octopus guards before it, who were all strong and sturdy, opened up a path before it by dragging the onlooking octopuses to the side, leaving an empty path behind.

The twelve octopus guards behind it, on the other hand, scanned the surroundings closely to prevent any trouble.

“The king’s so very impressive… For a man like that, I wonder what kind of wife it desires?” asked a group of female octopuses with a gleam in their eyes.

“Unfortunately, I doubt it’s interested in us.” Soon, they became dispirited, for Twelve Arms did not even glance in their direction.

Twelve Arms merely headed straight for the island where it then went to visit the fish ponds. Once it saw that the fish ponds were covered with fishing nets, it nodded its head in approval.

“Chief Seven Arms, Chief One-eyed, you both did quite well. You both weren’t taking a break under the sea and were instead looking after these fish ponds during my sudden inspection this time. You’re both very honest, and I’m satisfied,” said Twelve Arms seriously.

“Thank you for the compliment, my King…” replied the pair of chief octopuses in a slightly-excited tone. Although the arrival was slightly extravagant, it seemed that the other party was still as diligent as ever.

“Uh, you both continue working hard now. Strive for the day where us octopuses are able to be self-sufficient. A human ancient sage once said that as long as we raise the fish ourselves, we’ll have a limitless amount of fish to eat,” encouraged Twelve Arms.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The two chiefs nodded their heads repeatedly as they spoke.

The octopus tribes began raising their own fish as a sign that they would no longer be sea nomads and would continue living as farmers instead.

This was the true origin of civilization. According to the history of human development, this would bring about a social division of labor.

Part of the labor force would be dedicated to solving the food problem, and if there is a surplus of labor, the other part can then be dedicated to military affairs and the cultural industries.

As octopuses, they possessed unique advantages over humans when it came to fish farming.

One of the greater advantages was that swimming was in their nature…

When the humans wanted to observe the fishes in their fish farms, they not only needed to employ the use of various tools and instruments, they also needed to check water quality and nutritional problems through various indicators…

For the octopuses, these aspects were things that they could check at a glance, all because they could live together with the fishes.

As compared to farmers that had to attend to their crops, they were one level higher, as they could carry out observations all day and every day without worrying about blind angles.

Although humans had hands, they still only ten fingers at their disposal. Octopuses had eight limbs that were all extremely flexible. By controlling two or three limbs at once, not only would they be able to achieve far more flexibility than that of human fingers, they would also have a wider range and greater power as well.

Octopuses could flexibly wield tools around just as well as humans.

Besides, humans had never initiated any embargos towards the octopuses, which meant that the octopuses could easily purchase the various unique tools needed. The main tools that they needed were ones that could resist seawater corrosion and had sufficient firmness.

Now, what was the source for their original capital?

The countless shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea, of course. Octopuses would definitely be found in each and every one of those shipwrecks; they did like to burrow in holes after all. For all these years, octopuses had long occupied these shipwrecks.

Each and every one of these shipwrecks was also a treasure trove.

All these treasures were also quietly flowing into someone’s pocket.

However, this person still had no idea about this matter despite the fact that his butler had already reported it, all because he was too lazy to look at the reports.

That’s right, the precious Heavenly Book that only had its master on its mind had Twelve Arms order the other octopuses to search the shipwrecks after Twelve Arms became king. Any found treasures were then sold to Zheng Dao at a cheap price…

All these things had been carried out without the knowledge of Fang Ning. It was obvious to see from this alone that the Heavenly Book was evolving as it gained more experience, since it now knew what its master lacked.

Of course, there was also genetic factors in play. After all, it was created by a certain someone.

“His Majesty. Instead of raising fish, I think it would be better if we bought fish from humans instead. They’re good at fishing, and we’re not lacking in money either. A few pieces of garbage that we’ve fished up at random would be able to sold to them for high prices…” bravely suggested a green octopus monster.

“Uh, what’s your name?”

“Ah, my name’s Zhang San,” answered the green octopus monster enthusiastically.

“Know one thing; any matters regarding food should not be controlled by humans, we must be self-sufficient. Humans are liars from birth, and there are very few honest people. Agreements only exist to be torn by them. Buying fish from them carries too high a risk. Ordinary octopuses like you didn’t know that we did in fact buy fish from them for a while. However, humans have often disregarded our agreements and cheated us of our money by not sending fish to us after we’ve paid, sending us dead fish and rotten prawns, or sending us bad quality fish posed as good quality ones,” chided Twelve Arms.

No matter how one looked at it, it was obvious that Twelve Arms was speaking like a qualified king. It no longer was the pure and honest octopus it used to be.

The two chiefs nodded their head simultaneously; Twelve Arms had developed a lot and this was clear enough to both of them. It seemed it was more than good enough to be a king for a long time to come, at the very least.

After all, the octopus tribes were still in their primitive tribal stage.

“The king is right. I remember once we ordered a hundred thousand tons of fish from them, but they mixed in sixty thousand tons of shells with the fish. Did they think we didn’t know how to count? I was so angry. Raising the fish ourselves is still the best option,” seethed Seven Arms.

“Yes. Seven Arms is talking about our painful past. Fortunately, the Venerable Dragon God was around, so the money was returned to us. Otherwise, we would’ve suffered a great loss. Ah, humans and fishes have always lacked trust in each other. If only everyone did things honestly, so much effort could be saved,” lamented Twelve Arms.

After lamenting for a while, Twelve Arms went around the island, braving the strong wind and crashing waves to continue its inspection. After boosting morale of the octopuses, it then left.

Shortly after Twelve Arms left, the backpack it carried suddenly shook violently.

A thick book glowing with golden light floated out, said something to it before flying towards the northwest.

“Ah, Heavenly Book is off to its advanced studies again…” wearied Twelve Arms.