Seized by the System

In the Draconic Herb Garden, Fang Ning stared at Daqing expectantly.

A moment after the insect swallowed the pills and the questions, the silver vortex materialized around its body, as if the entire universe was latched onto it…

Fang Ning gazed at the vortex and descended into a state of awe and wonder.

What was a god in front of this boundless and infinite universe? And what was a saint?

What, then, was a System?

In the blink of an eye, he felt that his entire soul had undergone sublimation. He would not fight over trivial matters again and would not be calculative about benefits.

It was because right now, the whole universe was inside his chest.

“I think you’re about to swell…” Sir System remarked. “You don’t even acknowledge me.”

“Hey, I was about to have an epiphany and you have ruined it! You’ll pay for this!” Fang Ning yelled defiantly.

“Eh, wasn’t the whole universe in your chest just now, and you wouldn’t be calculative about a few benefits? You humans are so capricious.” Sir System sneered.

“…” Fang Ning was speechless. It was true that humans were the most capricious ones. Those who kept their promises were rare, hence the saying that a promise is worth a thousand in gold. If everyone kept his or her promises, it would not be worth so much.

He quickly switched the subject and pointed towards Daqing. “It’s almost ready. Do you think it can reveal something to us?”

“Hmm, my intuition tells me there’s no way of getting back my glowing dish.”

Fang Ning’s eyes widened with disbelief. “Is your intuition that accurate?”

“We shall see.” Sir System was absolutely sure of itself.

A moment passed before Chong Daqing opened its eyes. This time, its stomach did not ache.

However, it winced. “Argh, so sorry, Fang the Cook. I can’t return your favor this time.”

“What do you mean? Are you telling me that you can’t answer me?” Fang Ning went pale.

“It’s not that I can’t answer you, but that fellow doesn’t want to tell me. I think it said that a person related to the aforementioned question is very important to it and it must keep a secret.” Daqing grimaced and lowered its gaze.

It ate the food without completing its task. It still had a conscience, unlike the shameless System.

Fang Ning pressed on. “Who’s the fellow you mentioned?”

“It’s a massive and deep vortex. You humans call it ‘the universe’ or something…” Daqing relayed everything that it knew in order to compensate for Fang Ning’s loss.

“Hmm, I get it now. It’s alright. Next time, if I have any more questions, you’ll answer me for free.” Fang Ning nodded.

“Hey, that’s a good idea. Fine then, I’ll be going.” Chong Daqing exhaled a pent-up breath and began to flee.

“Wait a minute, weren’t you going to advise the old ginseng against becoming a human? Why have you given up so quickly?” Fang Ning reminded the insect.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot. I’ll go get some videos for it to watch and it’ll understand how hard it is to be human…” Daqing gasped.

Fang Ning had a brainwave and offered a suggestion. “I have a right to suggest on this matter. Get those TV series by Chiung Yao and those romantic tragedies about demons and humans, those things with White Fox and The Legend of the White Snake…” ¹

“Eh, those titles sound familiar, but I haven’t watched them.” Daqing looked at him thoughtfully.

“Consider yourself lucky…” Fang Ning winced.

“Perfect, I’ll look for them.”

The two of them parted ways.

Sir System opened his mouth again. “I bet you didn’t get any answer even though you spent half a day talking crap, did you? My intuition was correct, this stupid insect ate my glowing dish for nothing. At least it’s honest enough to answer you for free next time.”

“Hahaha, you’re wrong, I already know the answer.” Fang Ning grinned from ear to ear.

“Impossible, it didn’t tell us anything at all.”

“Wrong, it did tell us, and it told us a lot. Actually, the reason is simple. It’s because that egghead Zhi Nan has already clung to an influential force!” Fang Ning hinted at the System.

“Oh, I see. I can’t believe he did it, but how did he gain recognition from the universe? Can we do the same thing?” Sir System got it now. The presence of the Origin of Time and Space was already stated in the insider information.

Top-level cultivators were aware of this presence.

Earth had the Heavenly Axiom which was the consciousness of the planet.

The universe had the Great Path which was the consciousness of time and space.

Evidently, the universe was in a higher position than the Earth.

Even though we were part of the universe, there were no other signs of intelligent life forms within an observable parameter.

In spite of that, no one dared to conclude Earth was the only planet in the entire universe with intelligent life forms.

Ultimately, the universe was massive and there were countless planets with living conditions similar to that of Earth.

It was probably due to the lack of observation methods that kept humans from discovering other signs of life. Or perhaps, the other life forms faced the same fate as humans, where their technology was locked within the Solar System and it was difficult to be expanded outwards.

Fang Ning cocked his head in confusion when he heard Sir System’s request. He could only predict this one step. As for the detailed method, he was not sure as Daqing did not answer him.

“Only time can tell us the answer to this question. We have to send someone to spy on Zhi Nan, then we can predict the method based on what he’s doing.” Fang Ning gave a sly reply.

Fortunately, Sir System did not complain and agreed to it.

“Ok, we’ll go with this plan. Since the Black Dog is always free, we’ll let it spy on Black Robe, since both of them are black…” Sir System sniggered.

“Black represents health. Don’t make fun of someone else’s physical appearance. That’s very unheroic of you, do you understand?” Fang Ning chided.

“Erm, that was wrong of me.” Sir System admitted truthfully. “We’ll let Brett begin his mission now.”

Fang Ning felt pleased and sent a message to the Black Dog.

Soon, Brett showed up in front of Vigilante A.

His canine face glimmered with happiness and contentment.

Fang Ning raised his eyebrows. Did this Diaosi dog ² actually get to experience happiness after all?

He regained control of the body and asked. “Little Black, what have you been up to these days?”

Brett scratched his head and grimaced. “The White Fox introduced someone to me. We’re currently dating.”

“Hey, I should remind you that marriage is hell. You need to prepare yourself.” Fang Ning said gravely.

“Huh, Mr. Rich Boss, you often complain that I won’t let you get married, so how could you reprimand Brett like that?” Sir System was puzzled.

Fang Ning stressed his point. “What do you understand about this? This is a matter of perspective. Bosses always behave like this, they tell their employees not to be money-minded, yet they love money like how they love life.”

“…” Sir System had nothing to say against his thick-skinned Host, who had developed a charisma of his own.

Did the saying ‘if one laid with dogs, he would get up with fleas’ really come true?

Meanwhile, Brett’s head ached with confusion. “Master, I don’t comprehend the gist of your words. Naturally, this ole’ dog’s gotta find a wife. You can’t expect me to be a single dog ³ for life, can you? This dog’s gonna die of old age soon.”

“Hey, you’re wrong. After you get married, you’re going to have puppies, and when you have puppies, you’ll have mouths to feed and cultivation fees to pay. If they get into trouble one day, you’ll have to vouch for them. Worst case scenario, you’ll be slain by some vigilante…” Fang Ning explained patiently.

Brett’s eyes bulged and it trembled with fear. “Does, does this mean I have to remain single for life? It’s a dishonor to my ancestors!”

Fang Ning immediately consoled it. “I’m not telling you to take the extreme route and stay single forever. I’m just saying that you should be prepared and save money. Before becoming a dog parent, you need to take a course and learn about the basics of parenting. Okay, I’ll give you some books later and you can reconsider marriage after learning those skills…”

Brett nodded and felt grateful. “Thank you, Master. I shall learn them wholeheartedly.”

“Mm, that’s great. I have another task for you.” Fang Ning replied.