Seized by the System

The enchanted boundary defense test for the other four planets was completed successfully. There was nothing unusual about the process, just that the defense had only succeeded at the very last point.

After Fang Ning was done with observing the test, he finally went to sleep at ease. The past few days had been tiring for him.

The System obtained 100,000 Merit Points, 30 free usages of formation, and most importantly, a second chance to run the test. Since it was completely satisfied, it did not bother him anymore.

However, this time, as Fang Ning was asleep in the lounge’s bed, he kept twisting and turning. Then, he proceeded to use his left arm to pinch his right arm. Not only was his grasp extremely tight, but he had also been holding it for a really long time.

“What is he up to?” Sir System asked curiously, “Why is he making such a big scene when he’s asleep?”

Fang Ning continued to pinch his arm without responding.

As Sir System remained puzzled, not understanding what was happening, Fang Ning suddenly woke up gasping for air.

Before Sir System could ask questions, he immediately explained, “I had a dream just now. A King Cobra was trying to bite me and I grabbed its head so it couldn’t open its mouth. But the weird thing was that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t strangle it to death.”

“Nonsense, you were just grabbing your own arm, and if you had strangled it dead, you would’ve disabled yourself,” Sir System responded with a scornful look.

“Yeah, but I was dreaming, so obviously, I didn’t know that,” Fang Ning said, still recovering from the shock. “What in the world happened just now? I shouldn’t be having nightmares like this anymore.”

“Well, you did kill a King Cobra a long time ago, but that was just a small boss so it should be long gone by now. It’s impossible for you to still be traumatized by that event.” Sir System was puzzled as well.

“I shouldn’t have told you about the dream. I’m going to see the two gods now and ask.” Fang Ning was clearly very upset about this nightmare. Sleep was a big part of the enjoyment in his life, so what could he do if he was going to have nightmares every night?

Fang Ning was not going to take this lightly. If this happened back in those days where he just pissed around to kill time, he would not have gotten to the bottom of it and probably would have forgotten about it the very next day.

However, now that Sir System had already seized him to its peak, who knew how many people still bore grudges against him. So, he could not afford to be careless at all.

Just like the kings in history, those who were sloppy did not live a long life.

He arrived at the System entertainment room and repeated the story to the two gods who were playing Gomoku.

The Culinary God did not respond immediately.

On the other hand, Death spoke almost immediately, “You don’t have to guess anymore. It means that a certain powerful existence is plotting against you. That’s the only reason you had such a dream.”

“Hmm… I see,” Fang Ning replied as a small notebook appeared in his heart, with all the suspects listed down one by one. “Elder Death, do you mind letting me know who this great existence is?”

“Well, my Divine Power hasn’t completely recovered so it’s hard for me to try to calculate it for you,” Death rejected right away.

With that, Fang Ning finally gave up and returned to the System Cyber Cafe in disappointment.

After pacing up and down for a while, he finally raised his voice at Sir System, “That can’t be it, who would dare to plot against me? Such great existence should not exist on Earth, hurry up and kill it.”

“Are you being a bit overdramatic? You looked nothing like a hero just now, more like an antagonist who just randomly showed up!” Sir System said in astonishment.

“Stop it! What can you possibly benefit from if I die? Come on, just think of something quickly,” Fang Ning said in an upset tone.

“There’s nothing to think about, why not just look for a place to go into hiding?” Sir System offered.

“Hmm, that’d work too. Alright, let’s go see Monk Zhi Nan then. It should be more peaceful over at his place,” Fang Ning said after giving it a thought.

“Eh, the places that you’ve chosen are quite strange. Why can’t you just visit the Bodhisattva Spiring King and ask for shelter? Perhaps he could recite a few verses to calm you down so that you won’t have nightmares anymore?” Sir System asked curiously.

“Oh, what do you know? Chanting scriptures would only numb yourself. The danger’s still here, and Monk Zhi Nan’s still an extremely intelligent master who I’m sure will be able to help me when danger approaches,” Fang Ning said softly.

With that, the Azure Dragon wagged his tail as he made his way through the Land of Sanguinity, towards another planet hundreds of light-years away.

This planet’s environment was relatively harsh. There was almost no water source, and only the area around the equator’s temperature was similar to Earth’s whereas the rest of the place was very cold.

In comparison to the previous planet they had discovered, the contrast between both environments was too huge, let alone comparing it with Earth.

“Venerable One, what a rare visitor, how nice of you to make time to come over,” Monk Zhi Nan said as he made tea.

“Oh, I’m looking for a place to cultivate in isolation and I was wondering if it’s convenient to do it here at Master’s place?” Fang Ning asked politely.

“Of course, it’s very spacious here so you can cultivate in isolation however long you wish, Venerable One,” Monk Zhi Nan agreed happily.

“Sorry for troubling you then.”

With that, Azure Dragon chose a spot where the sun shone brightly before it settled down to rest.

For the next few days, Fang Ning slept soundly without another nightmare. This gave him a slightly vague idea about the situation, and so the list of suspects in his mind shortened.

He just didn’t speak up from his mind. After all, he could not guarantee that this System had its own way of doing things.

…

Turns out, the nightmare episode was temporary. After a peaceful and leisure month, it was already the fifth year and second month of Shenyuan when Black Dog sent a message through the Heavenly Book.

“Master, I’ve heard from someone in God’s Missionary that the Underworld is getting restless and they’re preparing to attack again,” Black Dog said through the Quantum Communication Module.

Ever since the precious Heavenly Book had extorted the Ultra Spatio-temporal Communication Module from Sir System, Fang Ning naturally granted his followers to use it for free.

They need not spend a hundred thousand Justice Points to redeem it like Maxwell.

This was the advantage of having strings to pull.

“Oh, so that information’s obtained from God’s Missionary… no wonder Oldman Ren had always let them do whatever they liked. They’ve already obtained the complete Vitality Transformation Technique earlier on, and now they have confidential information related to the Upper Realm. Seems like this old fellow’s quite far-sighted,” Fang Ning said in admiration.

“Yes Master, turns out we’re not the only ones who have been monitoring God’s Missionary’s powers,” Black Dog responded.

“Yes, you’ve done a good job. Keep up the good work and continue monitoring them,” Fang Ning comforted.

“Thank you, Master, for the compliment. Oh, and before I forget, I still have my annual leave from last year. Is it alright for me to use it now?” Black Dog asked tentatively.

“Eh, annual leave?” Fang Ning’s heart softened, and just when he was about to say yes, the Heavenly Book was snatched away by Sir System.

“Well, one must sustain one’s effort when a task is nearing completion because a task is not done until it is done. This surveillance work requires long-term patience, so how can you request for a break? Working should be 7x24xN, do you understand that? You should learn from me. If you aim to be the best dog, you should learn how to endure the most demanding hardships,” Sir System advised.

“Yes Master, Little Black understands now,” Black Dog said with a dejected voice. Through the Heavenly Book, it could not tell whether it was Sir System or its real master.

“Damn it.” Fang Ning was speechless. “You’re too inhumane, your heart’s darker than those black-hearted boss criticized online!”

“Nonsense, I’m not even human, what would I do with humanity? Moreover, this is for its own good. If you don’t work hard while you’re young, you’ll only regret it at an old age. If it contributes more now, I can still consider promoting it in the future,” Sir System justified itself.

“You can’t even let go of a dog, exploiting it like that,” Fang Ning said helplessly.

“That’s because you’re lazier than a dog!” Sir System retorted.

Black Dog returned to his everlasting surveillance work, and Azure Dragon returned to Earth.

“The World of Spirits and Souls has already benefited from the humans, so it seems that the Underworld doesn’t want to lag behind and they want to make a comeback. Who knows what kind of tricks they have hiding up their sleeves this time around, would it be the same old trick?” Fang Ning guessed.

“Who cares, we’ll just deal with it when it happens — just in time for us to try out that Sun-lock Formation’s powers too,” Sir System said proudly.

“That’s true too, I just hope the people won’t be greatly afflicted,” Fang Ning said pitifully.