Seized by the System

If what Fang Ning had done was discovered by the Upper Realm, there would have been no escape from the accusation of profanation.

However, this was very common in modern civilization. The experts and scholars who studied the gods from the Upper Realm were secretly distributed in different underground organizations, and there were at least eight thousand of them.

The analysis that Fang Ning was working on was not groundless, it was based on all sorts of data. A large part of this data came from the research of other experts and scholars.

The preferences, physiological structures, social forms, living conditions of the gods… One by one they began to generalize, conclude and deduce.

Humans no longer had to visualize the gods. They no longer had to fantasize them as almighty beings, or even imagine them as complete fools.

After all, they had witnessed the prestige and capability of the gods with their own eyes.

The System interrupted Fang Ning before he could continue his analysis.

“There’s something going on with Hook, the Red Queen seems to have fast-forwarded to billions of years later…”

“Did you record everything that just happened?” Fang Ning was frustrated because his impatience had caused him to miss out on certain things. Fortunately, he had the System as his camcorder.

“Of course. I’ll play back everything to you later,” the System immediately responded. Fang Ning stopped what he was doing and looked through the System View. The scene that was playing in his study had left him in complete shock.

He finally understood what the System meant by fast-forwarding!

The 3-D scene took place in the Gobi Desert, covered with yellow sand. Amidst the stone pillars that were scattered all over the desert, there was an old man with long unkempt white hair. His face looked blank and his eyes were dull. He was seen muttering to a stone pillar.

“Who am I? Where am I from? Where do I go?”

“Richie, what’s wrong with him? Why does he look empty-headed?” the System was curious.

Fang Ning lamented, “He must’ve lost himself in the endless years.”

“There was no one to beat him nor plot against him, but he was defeated by time itself.”

“Time is man’s worst enemy. It could turn wise men into fools, youth into old age, beauty into bones…The bright orb on Hook might be everlasting, but he himself couldn’t withstand the test of time.”

Fang Ning sighed deeply. Time would always be the ultimate enemy of every single living being. You could conquer everything including yourself, but you could never conquer time.

You could be a smart academic, you could wield absolute power in a district, you could have a blissful family, you could also be lucky in love… But ever since humans were born, no one had been able to conquer time.

Even sages and powerhouses had to bow before time.

“What’s the big deal about that? You made it sound really bad. As long as I’ve got malevolent spirits to gain my experience points, I don’t care how much time has passed,” Sir System was not concerned.

Fang Ning was at a loss for words. He rolled his eyes and said, “You’re not even a regular living thing, you’re similar to a piece of rock. Of course you won’t care about this.”

“What? A piece of rock? Anyhow, I’m still regarded as a breath of fresh air in the world of systems,” the System was proud.

“Well, you’re kind of the odd one,” Fang Ning said.

The prediction of Black Robe was right, Hook did not succeed.

The plan of Black Robe getting revenge was wrecked because Hook had already turned into a different person and was no longer his old self.

His old self had dissipated along the course of earth’s long history and what was left of him now was just an empty shell.

“He was an ambitious warlord once, not even a place like the Land of Sanguinity could destroy him. Now he’s just a pawn that the gods and deities of the Upper Realm used to test the Heavenly Axiom, depleted and abandoned eventually,” Fang Ning said.

“He got lucky, at least Axiom Daddy was kind enough to not blow him up.”

“Why do you think so?” Fang Ning wondered.

The System said plausibly, “That’s simple. Just like the plot in novels, a person’s head would explode if too much knowledge is instilled suddenly…”

Just after the System finished his sentence, the image in front of them suddenly changed.

“Bam!” the old man burst into pieces, his shattered pieces slowly turned into smoke before touching the ground.

“You really jinxed it…” Fang Ning was so stunned that he stared at it with his eyes fixed and mouth agape. He certainly did not sympathize with the death of Hook, who died not because of his stupidity but because of his conceit and greed.

He was too careless. He should have known that his cultivation base and mental state were not strong enough to deal with someone who had already possessed the enormous Heavenly Axiom of Earth.

On the contrary, Fang Ning was aware of the extent of his own capabilities. Although he had been cultivating for a few years, he would never go to the battlefield and fight a war in person. At most he would occasionally use his Absolute Strength to suppress his opponent.

“You’re wrong. It’s one of the gifts from my strong intuition,” the System was proud.

“What are you so proud of? You only look at what’s in front of you. Hook’s death has no effect on the gods and deities of the Upper Realm at all. It’ll only make their next move more inscrutable and difficult for us to grasp, which is a disadvantage to us,” Fang Ning frowned.

“I don’t understand. Why can’t I be happy now that the bad guy’s dead?” the System was frustrated. He did not understand Fang Ning’s strange logic.

“Of course you should be happy when a bad guy dies, but if the bad guy’s egoistic and a fool, you shouldn’t be happy because there’ll always be someone wiser to take over. The people in China know this best.”

Fang Ning recalled one of the wars of the peninsula in the last century, everyone celebrated the death of the American general. However, his successor was someone smart with an agile mind. He conducted a thorough investigation and found out his opponents’ weaknesses. His opponents had suffered a huge loss because of that.

The painful history taught us that it was a good thing to have someone witless as an opponent. Not only that assassinating him was not an option, but you also had to help maintain his position.

Hook was not entirely stupid, but he was selfish enough to take the wrong stand.

Due to his own safety and his fear towards Vigilante A, he did not go too far with his actions. Now that the person in charge of the American Investigation Bureau had changed, things were not going to be easy for them.

Fang Ning had no time to worry about this since he had more important matters to deal with.

“Alright. Let’s go. Our trip this time was fruitful. At least we know that the Heavenly Axiom was strong enough and can’t be messed with easily by the gods and deities from the Upper Realm. We can finally breathe a sigh of relief and slowly deal with it. I need to think of a meticulous foolproof plan to tackle them,” Fang Ning said solemnly.

The System responded bitterly,” Yes, when your plan’s out, I’m going to be the one running all the errands for you…”

“Buddy, that’s the whole point of your existence!” Fang Ning said justly.

“…I’m in a bad mood and I don’t want to talk to you,” the System pretended not to hear Fang Ning.

Fang Ning appeased the System, “Rest assured that every time when you run errands, there’ll be a huge monster for you to farm.”

“Well, only Richie knows me best. I’ll accept this difficult challenge then,” the System was over the moon.

“Now I believe that you’re still the honest and innocent system that I know,” Fang Ning nodded.