Seized by the System

In Vigilante A’s farmhouse.

Brett the black dog lifted its new phone smugly and pretended to expose the silver bangle unintentionally as it preened. “Look, Yellow, Master is summoning me.”

Xue Ba the yellow dog stared at the interspatial bangle on the other dog’s foreleg in a mix of envy and jealousy. The black dog had nothing to bring to the table, but it was there for every outstation trip.

Its luck was even better the last time as it met a generous client who gifted it an interspatial equipment. It still did not have anything like that…

‘Did Master forget my reward? I can’t remind him as well, it’s such a dilemma.

‘I need to find a way to highlight my existence. I’ve finally broken through to Lake-level, but I only appeared once during the time at Azure Mountain.’

Unimpressed, Xue Ba quipped, “You’re going to the West this time, you don’t know anybody there, so don’t get caught by whatever angels or devils to become their watchdog…”

“They can’t. Even if the other people don’t know better, wouldn’t we have known? The so-called angels or devils or saints or buddhas were all beings of Upper Realm trying to take the shortcut…”At this point, Brett covered its mouth and looked around to make sure no one else heard it.

Xue Ba said helplessly, “You just say whatever you want, don’t you? Have you seen Master utter even one word like that? I think you’ll be thrown into a dog stew sooner or later.”

“Heh.” Brett did not dare to talk back this time. It pounced at the ground and disappeared.

Xue Ba lamented silently to the sky, ‘Why does this happen to me? Master seldom bring me out anymore, he had included the stupid black dog.

‘Could it be that the saying “Dumb dogs are lovable” is true?’

At that moment, Zheng Dao came outside to get some fresh air. Seeing Xue Ba in a gloomy mood, he asked, “Teacher Xue, is anything bothering you?”

Xue Ba turned its head and gave Zheng Dao a glance before saying, “Nothing. It’s just that even though I’m so successful in cultivation, I couldn’t help Master with anything. With nothing that needs my expertise, I am a little worried.”

Zheng Dao chuckled and comforted the black dog. “Have you heard of the saying, ‘The true face of Mount Lu is lost to my sight, for it is right in this mountain that I reside?’ ” ¹

Xue Ba rolled its eyes and said, “I’m not Blackie, I knew these poems. Zheng Dao, just be forthright with me.”

Zheng Dao grinned. “Actually, it was only with Teacher Xue in the mansion can the Venerable One perform his heroic work without worrying about this place. With you holding the fort down here, it was like having a Sea-calming Divine Cudgel.”

With the flattery, Xue Ba immediately turned joyful. ‘That’s right, I pride myself on being intelligent, but I can be so dumb at times. I have overthought this and misunderstood Master’s intention.

‘That’s right, as a Lake-level powerhouse, I’m much stronger than that black dog. I should be the one staying at home and only go out during emergencies. Blackie is more like a chess pawn while I’m the general…

Satisfied, Xue Ba stood up.

Having years of experience in psychotherapy, Zheng Dao’s method was fast and effective.

Seeing Xue Ba starting to patrol around the farmhouse with gusto, Zheng Dao smiled satisfactorily to himself and returned to his work.

Comforting the hero’s followers and maintaining morale was also part of the butler’s responsibilities.

…

Brett burrowed to the outskirts of Ukraine in the West and met up with its master.

Vigilante A nodded and said, “Good, Brett, just do whatever you did before. Activate the Summon Dragon God ritual, I wanna test its effects outside of China.”

“Yes, Master!” The black dog extended one of its forelegs enthusiastically.

Soon after, a system notification popped up. [Follower of the System, Brett the black dog is currently in a life-threatening situation. Activating the skill Thousand-mile Assistance, the System Map for the area Ukraine will be unveiled for the next 24 hours.]

It was then that Vigilante A flew away in satisfaction.

Three days later.

The System kept spamming the screen.

[The System vanquished an underground demon lair that had lurked for many years.]

[The System vanquished an evil demon’s castle that brought suffering to the land.]

[The System vanquished a wicked witch who had done many evil deeds.]

[The System uncovered many demons that hid among the humans.]

…

[The System obtained 530 million experience points.]

[The System accumulated 5,637,500,000 experience points.]

[The System acquired an astronomical amount of Reputation. The System’s Mythos was increased to 4 points. Once Mythos reached 100 points, the System’s Reputation will be Global Mythical Figure.]

[The System acquired an astronomical amount of Morality. All Morality Bars are fully filled, all backup Morality Bars are fully filled. Morality spilled over to Followers. All Followers who had learned Atmospheric Morality Technique will be granted a buff. Their cultivation speed will increase sharply for a duration of 9 months.]

[The area outside of China, Ukraine, has risen to Friendly.]

[The area outside of China, Ukraine, has risen to Confident.]

[The System Map for Ukraine has been permanently opened.]

[5 Ukrainian people became the System’s ally. The current number of allies is 25 people. The current backup Morality Bars had increased by 1, and the total number of Morality Bars had increased to 55.]

A young, blond, white man was serenading in a pub with his harp.

A young, blond girl stood in front of him, pointing at him with a phone as if she was livestreaming.

“…”

“The new era’s Pharos,

the Eastern hero.

From the blue skies he descended,

landing on the meadows of Ukraine,

and brought peace and light to the people of Ukraine.”

A crowd gathered around him, listening in silence. There were old and young people, ladies with babies in their arms, as well as old men with their walking cane. The only thing that they shared was the emotion in their eyes.

‘Just what kind of heroic spirit is this?’

‘He had no relationship with us, yet he hailed from the Far East to vanquish countless demons and evil beings. What’s more, he didn’t want any of our money. He doesn’t have any speck of secular interests, unlike those priests who would sell holy water.’

‘He who returned our peaceful lives to us. Life was difficult, but at least we could be happy.’

…

The System said, “Hey, Richman, look. Someone’s writing a poem for me… Your plan was good. It does help to get the people to like us first, and now our efficiency is several folds higher.”

Fang Ning’s expression was a mix of envy and jealousy. “That’s right, Sir System. The Eastern hero, the new era’s Pharos, the rhyme sounded pretty good. Someone actually wrote a poem for a non-human like you. I wonder if their jaw would drop if they knew of your true persona?”

The System said, “It doesn’t concern me. Do you want to buy the fame from me? Too bad Zheng Dao doesn’t know anyone from this country, I supposed filing for a reward would prove troublesome.”

Fang Ning rolled his eyes. “No, thank you. The world needs someone like you to save. There’s not much left to do here, they only have petty crimes now. Let’s change place, no one had the power to control for the Extraordinaires like China, so it must have been chaotic.”

The System said, “Billionaire, you’re right. Let’s summon the black dog. Where do you reckon should we go next?”

Fang Ning flipped open the map and pointed seemingly at random. “Here, and here, in that order. You and Brett are both inhumanly fast anyway.”

The System said, “You’re mocking me again, but I don’t mind.”

Fang Ning thought of something after he finished pointing. He asked, “I heard you said Japan was covered with thick hazy fog. It must be a huge demon lair, why don’t you go there to farm?”

The System said, “The System Map there is not revealed yet. Only Brett could open it up for us, but it’s so weak that it would become a dog stew if it went there. The yellow one would be a better fit, but we don’t have a proper Dragon God phone for it. Additionally, I could sense that there weren’t many people left, so it’s impossible to reach Confident in that area.”

Fang Ning sighed as he heard that. ‘China was peaceful, most citizens could earn a living pretty easily, that’s because there is someone else carrying the burden and making progress, just like me… I’m carrying the heavy burden in the form of Sir System.’

…

Japan.

A desolated mountainous road.

Three women and an insect were trekking through the fog.

“Dammit, what is this godforsaken place? We’ve been walking for a few days but there are no humans around at all. No wonder nobody could find anything about this place. I’m hungry.” The great green insect led the team. As it whined, it bobbed in the air with its arms akimbo.

“Insect Prime, please be patient. Lu Er, share your rations with Insect Prime.” Zhu Hongying shot a woman beside her a glare.

Lu Er bowed in subservience and retrieved a stack of dried meat from her interspatial ring. It was lent to her by Elder Gui Er when she was departing for the journey. It was a gift from Bodhisattva.

‘I need to return the ring as soon as the mission is completed. If I had lost it, I wouldn’t be able to afford it even if I sold myself into a lifetime of slavery…’

The great green insect’s eyes sparkled. It swallowed its saliva and said unwillingly, “Forget about it. I can’t eat your food. I can survive in starvation for a few years, but you’d be starved to death within days.”

Lu Er immediately took it back. ‘I don’t even know how long we’re supposed to be here for. Luckily Insect Prime is more rational and more negotiable than big sis. I think I should be able to return this once the mission is accomplished.’

As the few were conversing, the fog shifted and the silhouette of a head peeked out toward the four.

“Hey, I found something, come with me.” The great green insect’s vision was so sharp that it could immediately see the movement. It zoomed toward the head enthusiastically.

The head disappeared immediately.

“Follow it.” Zhu Hongying chased after it, Lu Er and Ma Da following closely after.

Ma Da stayed at the back. She was clever, or she would not have held the leadership for so many years. She thought something was weird, the whole thing felt like a trap.

‘They didn’t appear for a few days so our patience runs out, and then they do something funny…’

Her two other sworn sisters did not think so far ahead, they were just following the great green insect.

She thought, ‘I must warn them, or we might walk into a trap.’

…

Among the fog, some creatures were whispering.

“Another woman. It is a known fact that the Snake God doesn’t eat women.”

“Do you know why that is the case?”

“I hear it’s because of the Snake God’s background.”

“Another batch of deathseekers. These outsiders don’t know how noble the Snake God’s bloodline is. They party like clowns all day and night, not knowing that as soon as the Snake God attacked, the world would revert to the primitive age.”

“Exactly. Let’s go and report this and capture these three women as the reproductive vessels for the new world.”

“What about that insect? It looks like a female too.”

“It looks strong, we can demonize it and let it become an incarnation of fear.”

“Haha, you’re right. We’ll do that and make them submit in their horror.”

The group of demons laughed wickedly as their voices echoed in the desolated mountain range.