Seized by the System

It took Fang Ning a while before getting all those Foxes to settle down.

Fortunately, Brett volunteered to help him, or else he would not know what to do.

Those Foxes were just overly affectionate. He could not let Sir System hurt them, and the latter was unable to do this sort of thing anyway.

Hence, Fang Ning used the ultimate method, which was to delay things.

Sir System approved of this wholeheartedly. This was his first time realizing that a certified loser still had some use to him. The saying that everyone was good at something rang true, the only difference was that this realization happened earlier for some and later for others.

Despite temporarily delaying the situation, Fang Ning was still concerned. The Spirit Fox clan that the Black Dog and the Yellow Dog were so fond of had now arrived on Earth. This meant that the remaining high-level deities were not far behind.

In human mythology, the Spirit Fox clan was often related to the mighty and powerful gods.

Although the Foxes looked adorable, their arrival was definitely a sign that an invasion from the Upper Realm was imminent.

As he thought of this, Fang Ning knew that his life as a loser had to come to a halt. If he continued lollygagging, Sir System’s words might come true and that would be the end of him.

Therefore, a few days after the Spirit Foxes’ arrival, Fang Ning kept himself busy by sorting his powers at hand.

After much calculations, he came to the sad conclusion that he was unable to handle the current circumstances.

Sir System might be able to vanquish one or two Upper Realm deities, but he could not obliterate all of them. Some sort of accident would eventually occur. As a programmer with more than ten years of experience, he swore that he had never encountered a trouble-free system!

There were ways to upgrade one’s power and they had to be done step-by-step.

Although Sir System had rules that allowed him to conveniently upgrade his power, he still had to obey this regulation. Experience points could not be gathered in a short amount of time, but the large-scale descent of deities and demons could occur at any time.

The Space Control Module could only slow down the process of descending, but it could not stop the process entirely.

Moreover, he predicted that more dangerous situations would arise.

Two days later, in the System Space.

“Ugh, we can only back down and go with the tactic I proposed earlier. Strike a deal with the Upper Realm beings, join forces with one half of them and face off with the other half.” Fang Ning suggested reluctantly.

“What the hell do you mean?!” Sir System was displeased. “I suppose you have a weakness like a ‘Xiaozi’. (TN: “Xiaozi” is a Chinese cultural term that refers to young, urban Chinese people with a taste for a modern, middle-class lifestyle. It’s a Chinese translation of the term “petite bourgeoisie”.) Earth belongs to humans. Whoever comes here must respect and obey our laws. There should be no question about this, plus, no one’s able to defeat me.”

“Don’t be so full of yourself. I see you just want to incite a fight with the Upper Realm deities as if you want to turn them into a big, fat goodie bag.” Fang Ning stroked his chin and spoke intuitively.

“Is there a problem? Those deities don’t even care about human life, so what makes them any different from the demons? They should be struck dead, one by one. They can do whatever they want in their own territory, but once they come to Earth, they should assimilate and respect the local regulations, or else they’ll be severely dealt with!” Sir System remarked defiantly.

Fang Ning did not know how to react. He predicted this sort of situation would happen. He used to store experience points in case the System did not listen to him. After all, this fellow was not even three years old and was still as stubborn as a mule.

Despite the fact that they both shared the same stance and ultimate reward, they had conflicting personalities.

He was not ambitious. He was happy enough with his supply of novels and video games. On the contrary, the System was disciplined and trained diligently without wasting any precious moment.

He even developed ten threads to help with his training.

“You’re wrong. I already have thirteen threads now.” Sir System chuckled.

“So what if you have a hundred of them? Regular folks have 70 billion!”

“What’re you trying to imply?” Sir System asked.

“I mean, the deities and demons won’t be able to defeat you in a fight, but other lives will be sacrificed in the process! You’re blind to the fact that these deities are incredibly vengeful. It’s all stated clearly in the legends.” Fang Ning reprimanded him.

“You’re such a saint! I, a Hero System, didn’t even think of this!” Sir System exclaimed.

“What? Me, a saint?! I’m just thinking for myself. If everyone else is dead, how will I have any more novels to read and games to play? By depending on those folks at the Morality City? They’re all disciplined people and regard games and novels as frivolous activities.” Fang Ning justified.

“Who cares? I’ll smite any deity or demon that does not obey the law!” Sir System growled.

“Aren’t you worried about losing a bunch of Chivalry Points?” Fang Ning had no choice but to whip out his ultimate weapon.

“I won’t lose them. I’m just doing my job. If the deities and demons avenge the fallen, that’s part of their sin and I shall further obliterate them. Judging by your logic, the police shouldn’t arrest criminals, since the criminals will avenge the fallen.” Sir System rebutted.

Damn, he had reached a dead end. Fang Ning’s head throbbed in pain.

He already knew that the System lacked human emotions. He was the one with empathy and compassion. This fellow was the kind of person to go by the book, much to the point of attempting to exploit loopholes for his personal gain.

“I’m such a fool. I’ve always regarded you as a kind System, but I never expected you to be so cold-blooded.” Fang Ning remarked sadly, his spirits low.

As he said, he was no saint. He only wanted to maintain the world’s current state for he had a comfortable life.

That was the truth. Kind people who led a satisfactory life would not wish for doomsday or a restart of human life to occur. It was hard enough getting by in a peaceful era, so what about being one of the last remaining humans in a post-apocalyptic world?

“Hey, you seem mentally unsound. Beware of entering deviatory psychosis.” Sir System cautioned.

Huh? Fang Ning understood now that the System had another fatal weakness.

“Yeah, I’m indeed mentally unsound. Your recklessness and ignorance will only lead both of us to destruction one day, so how can I be in a good mood?” Fang Ning snapped.

“You’re trying to waylay me again, how am I ignorant? You wanted me to make the mistake of yielding, so how can I listen to your advice?” Sir System demanded.

“Fine, I’ll shut up. The truth shall hit you in the face. Hard.” Fang Ning decided to delay things. Reality would prove he was right.

Sir System had already been distracted by the idea of getting a goodie bag with millions of experience points, hence Fang Ning’s words fell on deaf ears.

…

Meanwhile, Brett, who was taking the Spirit Foxes on a tour, ran into big trouble.

They arrived at a lake that was as green as emerald. It was one of the five major lakes in North America.

Brett was naturally familiar with many places on Earth, so he found a nice place in no time.

The water was crystal clear and glimmered under the warm, bright rays of the sun. Fishes and an assortment of other aquatic beings populated the lake’s ecosystem. The surrounding view captivated the hearts of visitors. Tourists and anglers used to swarm this place, making it a particularly crowded and area.

Today, however, not many visitors could be seen around the lake. Even the few remaining tents nearby were torn and tattered.

When the Era of Vitality began, people often summarized and published various tips on avoiding trouble.

One of them was to stay away from rivers, lakes and the sea, as man-eating beasts normally hid beneath the still waters.

The downfall of maritime transport was related to this. Only a handful of important waterways could still be maintained. As for the remaining shipping channels that were not profitable, they had to be shut down.

Some said that the Dragon God patrolled the skies, but he was not God. He could only avenge victims instead of rescuing the innocent, like what usually happened in movies.

Furthermore, a lot of people noticed that the Dragon God loved to seek justice for the weak and deliver punishment to demons, but he did not do so out of a willingness to help others.

He would not interfere with the daily accidents that occurred in the city. This was the main distinction between him and a superhero.

Nevertheless, the public, the media, and the government officials never condemned him for this.

They knew very well that they were lucky enough to have a hero in their midst who rid the world of evil.

Expecting a superhero who helped others in exchange for nothing would be extremely childish.

The officials were not naive. They did not demand too much, or else that would bring negative consequences. Back in those troubled times, such a force that maintained justice and righteousness was nowhere to be found.

There was no one around, which was convenient for Brett and the gang.

A few of the Foxes had fun in the water while some of them played with the fishes. The remaining Foxes chose to admire the mesmerizing scenery instead.

Brett was drooling, but he did not dare to set foot into the water.