Seized by the System

After some thought, Fang Ning reclaimed his body in the midst of Sir System’s cries of “what a loss! What a loss!”, and came to the top of the villa.

He took out the incense burner table from the System Space, placed it on the altar, lit up three incense sticks, and placed the offerings.

A series of procedures for the veneration followed after the broadcast.

The main offering, without question, was the dish shining radiantly with the colors of the rainbow.

After he placed it down, within the blink of an eye, the food disappeared.

“Eh, it really works!” Fang Ning exclaimed.

“What worked, take a closer look and see who ate it, won’t you?” Sir System huffed irately.

Fang Ning looked down and saw the great green insect curled up on the plate, munching away as if it was not satisfied yet.

“Y-you, how could you eat the offering that I had prepared for the Culinary God?” Fang Ning exclaimed helplessly as he pointed at Chong Daqing’s head and said, “I needed it to get access into the Culinary God’s Grotto-Heaven, what am I supposed to do now?”

“First things first, I’m not giving out a second plate for free, you either make it yourself or pay up.” Sir System quickly closed up the loophole.

Fang Ning was speechless, Sir System really knew how to add insult to the injury.

Hearing this, Chong Daqing crossed her forelimbs and spoke, “Do I look like some sort of freeloader insect? I’m perfectly self-reliant now, alright? I know all about the way to enter the Culinary God’s Grotto-Heaven, I’ll tell you right now. Among all the gods in the Upper Realm, he and I were the closest, he always invited me inside his grotto-heaven and enjoy the morsels offered by the mortals. Unfortunately, benevolent Gods are often short-lived, he dedicated everything to food, but had no real power, and died easily…”

Having heard this, Fang Ning came to a realization.

“I get it now, so this is what the Heavenly Axiom really meant.”

“I don’t get it, what’s going on? Does this mean that that idiot Heavenly Axiom, who only played the middle-man, without putting in much effort at all, gets to reap all these benefits?” Sir System said enviously.

“What do you know, this is the advantage of the platform, using the universe as a ginormous platform, the Heavenly Axiom can easily rake in profits from the membership fees of those from the Upper Realm.” Fang Ning understood clearly now.

“Oh, is that so?” Sir System said thoughtfully.

At this time, Chong Daqing’s eyes brightened as she spoke hurriedly, “I’ll tell you later, it seems that the old man’s got another offering.”

Then, the little insect disappeared from the plate.

“You don’t think she’ll forget all about you after eating?” Sir System rubbed it in.

Fang Ning spoke dismissively, “How could she? It’s not the only time she’s eaten our food.”

True enough, the next morning, among the contents of the WeChat message Chong Daqing sent to Vigilante A, was the way of entrance to the Culinary God’s grotto-heaven.

A method Fang Ning seriously suspected Daqing of exploitation.

On the picture shown, was a big green insect eating a bowl of rice, and opening a door… the words behind the door also specifically stated: if the food was not good, do not open the door.

“Dear heavens, it’s only been a few years and even the pure Daqing has been corrupted by this capitalistic society, I can’t believe she’s learned to sell the same thing twice!” Fang Ning sighed woefully.

Still in a lingering state of shock, Sir System spoke, “Yeah, it looks like we can’t underestimate her anymore, it’s true when they say that one’s heart will turn black as one becomes boss.”

“Sigh, what should we do now? I didn’t expect that my words would actually come true, and that she would actually try to con us twice. Sir System, you need to help me out here.” Fang Ning pleaded.

Sir System immediately refused, “You need to learn to stand on your own feet, I can’t always satisfy your needs. If I do that, I’m not helping you, but hurting you, just like those parents of those spoilt kids.”

“…” Fang Ning had no words, he refused to argue with Sir System any longer and instead entered the Alchemy Lab and started cooking with his beginner-level cooking skills.

Half an hour later, a pot of sweet potato corn rice came out piping hot and ready to be served…

After bringing the rice up to the rooftop, Fang Ning sent a text message to Chong Daqing.

Who responded immediately and swallowed the entire dish in a go.

“That’s strange, Big Dragon, I don’t remember your food tasting this bad?” Chong Daqing said morosely, “Did you think that I was trying to cheat you, so you’re getting back at me now?”

Fang Ning said peevishly, “So you do realize you were trying to cheat somebody, you should’ve just done it once and not try to sell me the same thing twice.”

“Uh, this wasn’t originally my idea, it was theirs,” Chong Daqing said sheepishly, “Besides, I picked this up from you humans, didn’t I?”

“Forget it, I can’t say anything this time cause I willingly stepped into it, just hurry up and open the door for me,” Fang Ning ushered.

“Alright, even though your food wasn’t up to standard, it’s still better than most people.” Chong Daqing kept her promise, with a swipe of her claws, a light appeared.

Fang Ning gave a glance, and walked in.

“Not bad, Big Billionaire Host, you still got it, duping Chong Daqing into giving in with only a few words.” Sir System grinned.

“That’s not duping, I was telling the truth, alright? Who are these people who gave Chong Daqing these silly ideas anyway? It can’t be the guys from the Spirit King Association?” Fang Ning wandered curiously.

Sir System could not care in the least and said, “Don’t mind that, what’s important is to get your hands on the bequeathal first.”

In the span of the conversation, the scenery had changed.

What was originally the rooftop of a villa, had now become a lush grassland.

In the grassland, a family of a few dozen wild boars, young and old trotted about.

The adult wild boars all appeared plump and sturdy, one could tell that the quality of its meat was first-rate.

This must be one of the premium ingredients provided by the grotto-heaven.

Nonetheless, Fang Ning had instinctively chose to let them go; after all, the family was living happily together, to just come in and kill them seemed a bit cruel.

“You don’t seem to feel that guilty when you eat.” Sir System pointed out the hypocrisy in his actions.

“Shut up, I’ll do as I like, what’re you going to about it?”

He looked over again and discovered there were plenty of other ingredients on the grassland -a wide variety of mushrooms, wild vegetables, and even some precious rare plants- all top notch ingredients.

“This is a bit troublesome, I think it’s better for Sir System to prepare a vegetarian banquet. We’re heroes after all, let’s try to keep it bloodshed to a minimum around here, so as to not affect our status.” Instructed Fang Ning.

“Sheesh, such a hassle, what use are you?” Sir System mumbled as it took over control of Fang Ning’s body.

Meanwhile, Vigilante A had been digging up every ingredient he could find as he walked, not sparing even the tiniest seedling.

“Eh…I think you’re going overboard there, won’t you even consider letting it grow out again next year? This goes against the concept of sustainability.” Fang Ning reminded him.

“What do you know, this realm’s been falling apart ever since

people started entering, not to say next year, it’ll probably be gone by next month.” Sir System refuted him.

“Eh, why couldn’t I sense this, is this how big the gap is between us? Will I never be able to catch up to you?” Fang Ning said dejectedly.

“At least you still have some self-awareness.” Sir System said triumphantly.

Vigilante A walked over to the wild boars that were prancing about, with a wave of his hand, all of them disappeared…

Since he knew that the realm was doomed to disappear, Fang Ning no longer tried to stop Sir System, as he knew his actions were actually saving the boars’ lives.