Seized by the System

Since these few matters could be settled together, Fang Ning decided to go meet Black Robe and Zhi Nan.

A moment after making the decision, Sir System helped him to teleport into the living room of Black Robe’s villa…

“Ah, the Venerable One has come without notice. Is there anything important?” Black Robe, who was making tea for his master noticed his sudden appearance and asked.

“Oh, matters are as such. Many are holding the all-purpose bacteria with great importance, so it seems like it’ll be of great use in the future. However, may I know if there are any hidden risks to it?”

Monk Zhi Nan joined his palms together as he sighed deeply. “If it were someone else, I wouldn’t have told them about this. But since it’s the Venerable One asking about this, then I don’t mind saying it. However, I’d like to ask the Venerable One to make an oath not to let a third person hear of this.”

“I’m willing to make that oath,” Fang Ning agreed promptly.

“Hey, I can still hear it,” Sir System reminded.

“You’re not human.” With these words, Fang Ning dismissed Sir System to a corner to draw circles…

Right there and then, Fang Ning made his vow.

“The truth is as such. The all-purpose bacteria has many functions that can bring great benefits to everyone, but it’s also a type of bacteria that’s capable of devouring all beings. However, I’ve completely sealed off its all-devouring mechanism. So as long as others don’t find out about this, no one would be able to break the seal. I haven’t mentioned this to anyone else precisely because I’m afraid it’ll draw the attention of some evil ones,” Zhi Nan slowly explained.

“I see.” Then Fang Ning thought, ‘Now this makes more sense. Just like the mass-energy conversion formula, it can completely solve the energy problem of humanity on the one hand and thoroughly destroy the living environment of human beings on the other.’

Nonetheless, throughout human history, the formula had never been abandoned because of the risk it posed. Instead, various mechanisms were employed to control its harm so that it could be used as safely and peacefully as possible.

Such was the case for the all-purpose bacteria as well. Although it held a huge threat, when faced with all the benefits it brought, this threat would become tolerable.

Fang Ning understood that even if he told Ren Ruofeng about this flaw, the person would not hesitate to use it too.

Given that the other party had been constantly pushing for a population explosion plan, he was well aware that the core of the population plan, which was to use the River of Blood to nurture the population, would require his participation in order for it to be realized.

Once the population increases, the amount of basic necessities would have to keep up with it. This would then cause an exponential rise in the pressure that is placed on the entire ecosystem. Based on the Earth’s current ecosystem carrying capacity, it would be impossible for the planet to carry too many people.

Therefore, this was even more unlikely for an Arcane Realm.

Yet, this strain of bacteria could solve that whole problem.

After clarifying this matter, Fang Ning pretended to ask in an indifferent manner, “When I went to Morality City just now, Yellow Dog asked me about the Red Queen Cloud Computational Center. May I know to where Black Robe has moved it?”

Monk Zhi Nan turned to look at Black Robe.

Black Robe was taken off-guard by the question. Feeling a sudden headache, he stuttered, “I, I can’t remember clearly. I might’ve placed it someplace important.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he met Monk Zhi Nan’s gaze and noticed the two vortexes appearing in his master’s eyes again. They were unusually pitch black and gave off a very strange vibe.

“Nevermind, I won’t force the others to do anything.” Fang Ning had also noticed this. So, his conjecture was verified and with that, he took his leave. “When you remember, you can let me know. I’ll leave first then.”

“Have a safe journey, Venerable One,” said Monk Zhi Nan with his palms joined.

…

On his journey home, Fang Ning said to Sir System, “My guess wasn’t wrong after all. Monk Zhi Nan is planning to return to his original state. Sooner or later, he’ll turn back into a devil. It seems like they’ve already made preparations for it. The only thing missing now is a triggering opportunity.”

“Then, what should we do?” Sir System sounded upset. “It took us so much effort to make them behave. We can’t let them have the chance to cause trouble again.”

“If you go and destroy them, you may trigger their transformation at any time…” Fang Ning was left without a choice. “Let me think of something. Until then, it’s best to just stall their plan for as long as possible. Ugh, no wonder people always say that the return of the prodigal son is worth more than gold. Indeed, it’s easier to turn evil than to remain clear-headed.”

“Yes, now this is more like your usual style…” Sir System commented.

“Oh, I have an idea.” Fang Ning was met with sudden inspiration. “Don’t they have to enlighten all beings? After some time, let’s have them bring the all-purpose bacteria that they developed to that barren planet to open up a new biosphere and make a new path for all beings. With no one there with them, there’ll be no conflict and no one to harm so this can prevent devilish thoughts from recurring.”

“Mr. Rich Boss, you’re so smart… When it comes to ensnaring others, you have so many ideas,” Sir System said. “No wonder I used to be tricked by you all the time.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” Fang Ning did not care how Sir System felt about this.

As the discussion came to an end, Fang Ning put these matters aside and waited patiently for the all-purpose bacteria testing to be completed.

…

Half a month had passed by, but there was still no news on the completion of the all-purpose bacteria testing.

At the present moment, it was already the fourth year and fourth month of Shenyuan. In the warm spring, flowers blossomed profusely; both the cities and the open country were filled with greenery and full of vigor.

However, underneath this vitality, the forces of evil were regaining strength while strange things happened more frequently.

In the news and forums, all kinds of strange topics were nothing new. Compared to the daily car accidents that used to fill the news, these topics seemed to still be on the rise and was appearing more frequently.

“Sir System, I noticed that your devil-fighting business is becoming a little too much to handle these days. You used to complain all the time that there are no monsters to fight. I suppose now you can’t even fight them all,” said Fang Ning all of a sudden this day.

“What can I do? I have no other choice…” Sir System muttered. A sword-energy descended from the sky, purging and purifying a corpse that had just gotten up from the dirty alley.

Its tattered clothing and greasy hair indicated that it used to be the most ordinary tramp before its death.

Perhaps it had died of hunger, of illness, or of cold weather. In any case, its hatred of the living had allowed it to rise again.

“True. Even though you can use teleportation, solving these problems still takes time, and within that period of time you take, there’ll be strange events occurring in some other places. No wonder I have a feeling that your reputation has dropped slightly. I’m afraid that there are quite a few people blaming you behind your back,” Fang Ning said sympathetically.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about that. As the vitality concentration increases day by day, the Mysterious Maxim strengthens. The chances of a potential creature becoming a sprite and creating trouble that was initially one in ten thousand have now increased to one in a hundred. The crucial part is that these were minor threats, and even after killing them, only tens or hundreds of experience points can be gained. However, if they aren’t eliminated, they can actually kill people. More so, they can even do harm to an entire village community. So they must be dealt with when encountered,” Sir System sighed.

“Give me a moment. I’ll go ask Anderson about this.” Still had some conscience, Fang Ning immediately went to the Draconic Penitentiary.

When Anderson heard of this, he quickly explained, “My Lord, this is actually an inevitable stage of natural evolution.”

“Please explain it further,” Fang Ning prompted.

Therefore, Anderson went on, “When a person dies unexpectedly, the resentment and hatred left behind will grow into a source of peculiarities.

“When the Mysterious Maxim used to be weaker, nothing much happened when a person died. No matter how bitter or tragic the person’s death was, it wouldn’t lead to any variations and affect the living.

“However, things are different now. Abnormal deaths, those who died with a sense of unwillingness, and those with the slightest bit of discontent will all become food for the evil. Humans are a weak type of creature. Even old people who die of natural causes are usually unwilling to depart from this word and filled with obsession. As the Mysterious Maxim grows in strength, these obsessions will begin to turn into a strange power that can counteract against the real world.”

After hearing his explanation, Fang Ning finally understood why Sir System was becoming increasingly busy…

Every year, statistics had shown that the number of deaths worldwide was more than 50 million people. With the deaths of so many people, one could easily imagine how great the resulting source of resentment was.

Right now, there were not enough cultivators around the Earth to purify all of them.

“It’s most likely that this is one of the reasons Oldman Ren is so urgently in need of the all-purpose bacteria. It seems like he wants to move all the Chinese people into the Arcane Realm. There, the dead can be managed and purified in a centralized manner, which will be way more convenient,” Fang Ning said to Sir System.

“That’s true. For this outside world, it’ll eventually come to a point where on cultivators can stay in it,” Sir System said with certainty.

“In hindsight, although those gods were always on their high horses and making people uncomfortable, they were right to say that mortals don’t deserve to live on the Earth…” said Fang Ning as he recalled the contract between humans and gods that he once made.

“Indeed, cultivators have the ability to stand up against these strange events and they may even gain quite a lot of benefits from them, so they’ll be able to survive by killing. Although they can’t compete with me, when they kill monsters, at least they can obtain cultivation materials and gain something out of it. However, normal people won’t get the slightest benefit. They’d be considered lucky already if they weren’t scared to death,” Sir System said in agreement.