Seized by the System

Fang Ning advanced up the building as his momentary encounter with the family of three ended. This experience, although short, had opened his eyes.

The invention of the management chip had made him understand something. In the past, the power from the summit had shriveled from the ground up, so they had to rely on the common folk.

In the new era, though, the summit had directly administered their power onto every single person.

A method of management of this range had its pros, such that it had made it easy to utilize every source of power they can. However, its setback was that everyone’s personal privacy was lost. The so-called protection of privacy was completely at the discretion of the summit.

However, in this era of peril, only the former could be prioritized. The latter would have to wait for the future.

“That’s why order can be enforced in a society with density this high. Aside from cultivators, the civilians have no way at all of fighting against the management chips in their bodies. One electrical pulse can induce serious pain. Not to mention that they could seize the human body… This is shocking,” Fang Ning exclaimed.

“Uh, this flimsy chip can seize people too? I don’t believe this. It must be fake,” Sir System said gloomily.

While the conversation between the man and the system went on, the elevator suddenly stopped on the 22nd floor. The door opened.

A middle-aged man dashed into the elevator, yelling.

“Let me out! I’m gonna be suffocated to death!”

He wanted to press the button to the 1st floor, but his hands did not heed his wishes.

“Warning: You have already reached the limit of times in which you can exit the floor. Please return to your room. You can choose to use the VR system to relax,” the familiar mechanical voice spoke.

“F*ck the VR! I want to go to the real world out there!” The middle-aged man’s arms covered his head while he screamed madly.

“Your actions have already alarmed officials with higher clearance. You are now under forced silence, and your body will be forcibly seized for 24 hours while undergoing the conditioning process,” the mechanical voice uttered coldly.

“You’re dictators! Nazis! I want freedom!” the middle-aged man opened his mouth wide and yelled his last words.

Then, he stopped abruptly and pressed a button, opening the door of the elevator. He walked out the door slowly, like a puppet with strings.

“Uh, this is what they call ‘seizing’?” Sir System said with scorn. “The targets are like string puppets. What can they even do? They’re shit compared to me.”

“At least this can prevent criminal activity and rule-breaking,” Fang Ning drawled. “You’ll have a lot fewer people to exercise your chivalry on.”

“Tsk, who now even cares about that infinitesimal morsel of experience? They can’t even fill a teaspoon of mine,” Sir System scorned.

“This wasn’t what you said then. You said that the richer one is, the more vigilant he should be and that the more vigilant he is, the richer he will be…”

“Uh, I think I really did say something like that before,” Sir System admitted. “We didn’t have an agriculture industry with such high efficiency before though, did we? Now that we have one, it’s understandable that we won’t need to concern ourselves with something as inefficient as hunting.”

“Stop rambling. Let’s tail this man and see what happens,” Fang Ning commanded.

“What do you want to do? Are you going to toss your acts of kindness everywhere again?” Sir System was stumped.

“I’m not that benevolent. I want to see how people live in these buildings. Not all people can stand living in such a small space. This might cause all kinds of mental disorders too,” Fang Ning said, thoughtful.

“Why do you worry so much for? Mind your own business,” Sir System snapped.

“What do you know? We can’t grasp the big picture if we don’t know every tiny detail. The trend of every era is demonstrated by the small things,” Fang Ning shot back.

“I don’t understand. With great strength comes the power to set the trend. Without power, you can only follow along while being held down by power,” Sir System said righteously.

Fang Ning did not respond to it. He took his body back and tailed the hobbling man.

As he walked out from the elevator, a spacious hall welcomed him.

The hall was enormous, with hundreds of square meters in area.

All sorts of rare flora, a small fountain and noiseless sports equipment together made up a small recreation courtyard.

Around the courtyard were walls with doors — and door numbers — on them. This seemed like where the living units were in.

The courtyard was lavishly decorated. In Fang Ning’s time, this would be something only seen in high-class expensive houses.

Now, they were a standard feature on every floor.

Judging only from material production, this seemingly perilous era fared way better than their predecessors.

Some people were sitting in the courtyard, some reading but more of them cultivating while sitting cross-legged.

Some were discussing some topics, with enigmatic words like “acupoint” and “meridian” appearing intermittently in conversations.

In the past, those were all unverifiable matters that were only used for the purpose of acupuncture and not acknowledged by formal scientific study.

Now, they were being practiced to transport vitality for cultivation purposes.

The middle-aged man that went mad was hobbling through the garden expressionlessly. He walked towards a flower vase and to the door behind it, seemingly leading to his own house.

“Look, isn’t that Uncle Long?”

“Yeah, it seems like he’s gone crazy again. Luckily there’s the management chip in place that was able to seize him. If not, what are we going to do with him?’ someone muttered.

“Yes, those mental patients that were unmanageable in the past can be strung along after implanting the management chip. We don’t need to worry if they’ll hurt someone, and their family wouldn’t need to worry about him. The management chip won’t feel fatigued or bored, and it can ensure his safety too.” Others were glad.

People ducked away from where the man named Uncle Long walked by as if he were the plague.

The people exhaled in relief when Uncle Long entered his house at last.

“Really, it’s not that bad when he’s got a place to settle down in.”

“Yes, ungrateful people are everywhere. If he really went outside, where spirits run amok, he’ll come back complaining about everything!” someone jeered.

“Exactly. In our current situation, we have sustenance and work, we can cultivate, and we can play games and watch movies when we’re bored. You have to know that it’s practically the Apocalypse now! There are lots of spirits outside; we can’t possibly inconvenience the officials.”

“Yes, yes.”

“It seems like reasonable people really are the majority,” Fang Ning said appreciatively to Sir System.

“In your dreams,” Sir System said. “Want to hear his real thoughts?”

Fang Ning was shocked. “Is it not enough that you’re invading my mind all the damn time that now you can listen to other people’s thoughts too?”

“Haha, I can’t listen to everyone, of course. Most of the people here had cultivated their spirits, and their mental activity will be broadcasted outwards as a form of spiritual thought. Also, they haven’t entered the beginner level of cultivation, so they don’t know how to rein their spirit in. Now we’re beside them, so I can catch their thoughts with ease. Thanks to my frequent listening to your thoughts, I have already concocted an effective method to distinguish one’s spirit from another,” Sir System boasted.

“Let me see your skill this instant.” Fang Ning did not bother to shower this shameless system with scorn, but instead, he asked, “Will your doing so go against your chivalrous ideals?”

Everyone had an interest in knowing other people’s dirty secrets. If not so, gossip and rumors would not have spread that fast.

Fang Ning knew his limits and so he would not act recklessly.

“Look at you. How is this as serious as you say? I’m doing so to prevent danger, and I won’t show their secrets for everyone to see,” Sir System argued.

“Fine then. Look for a target and let me see his thoughts.” Fang Ning tossed his morals away immediately.

“Whose do you want to see?” Sir System asked.

Fang Ning chose a man who spoke the most and pointed at him. “Him then. What he said just now was the most astute.”

“Okay, I’ll let you read his thoughts,” Sir System agreed readily.

Very soon after Fang Ning could see sentences floating on the man’s head.

“Uh, Manager, my performance just now wasn’t bad, yeah? How many can you give me this time?”

“Resident No. XXXXXX, you have successfully placated 32 people and gained 5 points. I hope that you will continue your efforts…”

“So stingy! I’ll have to gain 10000 points before I can go up a floor. I have to work harder!”