Seized by the System

“That Daqing is truly someone who obeys anyone who gives it food,” Fang Ning sighed in amazement as he watched this scene.

“Hmm, in that case, shouldn’t it be calling me Dad too? After all, I’m the one who’s been providing it food nowadays,” Sir System said thoughtfully.

“…” Fang Ning could not continue this conversation with that second-rate good.

Meanwhile, after Lady Luo Xia had recomposed herself from the shock, she had no choice but to say, “Never mind then. It may be better for you not to meet. This may be a better arrangement too, since you’ll still be going back down again.”

“That’s settled then. I still have to carry on with my job. See you later, my sisters.” Chong Daqing finished the light refreshments from the fairies and flew back onto the dragon horn.

“Your job?” Lady Luo Xia said in confusion.

“It’s to be the Azure Dragon’s guide. For every day I give it directions, I’ll receive a day’s meal. It also told me that I have to learn to be self-sufficient as an insect. I should not be a swindler, much less a bully,” the great green insect said, sounding very proud of itself.

“No wonder…” Lady Luo Xia immediately realized why her youngest sister refused to go home.

When she was planning to let another younger sister help to give directions to the Supreme Venerable One just now, was it not as if they were trying to steal her job?

‘Ah, I can’t believe that our Celestial Clan has fallen to such a state…’

‘No, wait a moment. Back then, when our clan used to do better, we never managed to fill this younger sister’s stomach in the first place. No wonder she harbors such great resentment toward Father.’

As Lady Luo Xia reached this thought, she nodded and said, “In this case, we’ll excuse ourselves first then. Father’s still awaiting our news. Supreme Venerable One, I shall take my leave now.”

“Go then, go then…” Sir System waved its claws while broadcasting again an audio clip of the Water Faucet’s final words from before.

The ancient voice sounded old and distant.

When the fairies heard this, a great sense of awe and reverence sprang up within them.

If judging only by its voice, there might not be much of a difference between this unfamiliar True Dragon and the Guardian Dragons from ancient times.

This one would at least be older than the True Dragons they had met before.

The reunion between these old friends came to an end as both parties went their separate ways.

…

After the fairies of the Celestial Clan left and had flown quite some distance away.

The second sister of the great green insect, Lady Zi Yu, could not help asking, “Big Sis, we could’ve sent one of us back to convey the news. Why must we all go back? If we could follow that True Dragon to go and meet a Guardian Dragon, it would’ve been the greatest opportunity for us.”

“No, the journey to meet the Earth Dragon will be filled with all kinds of dangers. If we went along, we would be a burden to the Venerable One and lose its favor for no reason. Anyway, we only need one person to be its guide,” Lady Luo Xia said while shaking her head.

“I see.” The fairies nodded in comprehension.

“Nonetheless, after not having seen Little Sis for years, her power has, in fact, increased so rapidly. Those three Near-God-level dragon monsters couldn’t even stand against her appetite. Our power, on the other hand, has been declining way too fast.” Lady Zi Yu sighed.

“Indeed. That’s why we can’t waste any more time. Previously, we all thought that it would be best for us to go down after the Order of the Lower Realm completes its transformation, but now, it seems like going down there in advance has its advantages too. Since we have the example of Little Sis who has already gone ahead of us, the risk of us going there won’t be as high as before,” Lady Luo Xia said.

The fairies all nodded at this. Then, together, they flew away without another word.

…

The Azure Dragon brought the great green insect along with it as it continued to fly toward the deepest parts of the desert.

Halfway through their journey, Sir System came to a sudden realization.

“Aren’t I foolish? I should’ve asked one of those fairies to stay and give us some directions since this little insect has already mentioned before that it’s not familiar with the western region.”

“You’re not foolish (傻), but stupid (蠢),” Fang Ning said.

“Is there a difference between these two words?” Sir System was puzzled.

“Yes, there is. The latter ideographically signifies that your IQ is at the same level as the great green insect on your head,” Fang Ning explained patiently.   ¹

As a matter of fact, in this desert that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see, the great green insect soon lost its sense of direction, and could only lie facedown on the dragon’s head like a carcass…

Even though Sir System threatened to deduct its wage, it was still unable to point them in the correct direction.

If it were someone in this situation, that person would most likely be at a loss for ideas.

However, Sir System was a system that could create a real-time memory of all the routes they had taken, and it would never go off course if it was supposed to fly in a straight line.

On top of that, its Khorium Ore Spirit Gaze allowed it to have a vision that could reach as far as tens of thousands of miles. As it went on traveling straight west, it finally detected a massive sand whirl at the region near the limit of the desert.

With such an obvious sign, the three of them agreed at once that this had to be where the Earth Dragon dwelled.

“This is weird. It’s been pretty easy flying all the way here. Why couldn’t the great green insect and its family find this place?” Sir System scorned.

” Uh, this is just like the story of the little horse crossing the river. ¹ Those other people are all the squirrel. As for you, Sir System…” Fang Ning trailed off.

“I’m that old horse,” Sir System said happily.

“No, you’re a crow. You can just fly across the river, so it doesn’t matter how deep the water is anyway,” Fang Ning said in all seriousness.

“Oh, I see.” Sir System came to a realization. “Then should I give a loud roar and get it to come out?”

“Let me check the topographical features first.” Fang Ning looked out through the System View and studied the whirlwind of sand before them.

The sand was slowly rotating layer by layer, yet it contained an unparalleled power, as if it was a cosmic black hole of the universe.

Fang Ning believed that if anything fell into this sand whirl, it would absolutely be incapable of getting out.

This was probably the reason for the lack of living creatures around the area.

“Okay, you can roar now.” Fang Ning was certain that their surroundings would not be affected.

“Argh…” came a dragon’s roar.

However, for the longest time, there was no response.

“Argh…” came its second roar.

There was still no response.

“Hey, how can this be?” After much thought, Sir System was still puzzled and became frustrated. “Could it be that the Earth Dragon has an arrogant personality, and just doesn’t want to meet us?”

“Let me think.” Fang Ning also felt that something was simply not adding up. “Since we’ve already managed to roar those two Ancient Dragons — the Water Dragon and the Wind Dragon — out of hiding, it means that there shouldn’t be any problem with this method of us calling at the door.”

“What’s the reason then?” Sir System huffed.

Fang Ning could not pinpoint the real reason for this unexpected turn of events as well, not because he was at a loss for ideas, but because there were too many possible reasons.

For instance, the other party might not be in the mood for a visitor, or it might not be at home…

The other possibility was that this huge whirlwind before them was, in fact, not the Earth Dragon’s dwelling place.

He started to sense that he was very close to figuring out the truth of the situation.

Then, the great green insect that had been lying lifelessly on the dragon’s head suddenly said, “Hey, Great Azure Dragon, it seems like you’re having trouble inviting this dragon out. Would you like my help?”

“Right, what ideas do you have?” Sir System asked impatiently. It doubted that this gluttonous little insect could give them an answer.

“Wait a moment, Daqing may actually know something. Have you forgotten its talent of swallowing down a problem and spitting out an answer?” Fang Ning urged.

“Um, of course, I haven’t forgotten that,” Sir System said grumpily. “That’s why I’m trying not to waste our food resources.”

“You can hardly expect the insect to accomplish anything big if you’re not willing to sacrifice some of your food. At least give it something to eat,” Fang Ning suggested.

A huge egg pancake with a question mark carved into it was delivered to Daqing’s mouth.

“Hey, nice, you know me very well.” The great green insect gulped it down and closed its eyes. After a while, it suddenly opened its mouth and said, “Oh, I know. The Earth Dragon and Water Dragon are married, so the Earth Dragon is back at the house of the Water Dragon that we’ve met earlier.”

“Uh…”

“Uh…”

Both Fang Ning and Sir System were dumbfounded.

“Damn it, I could’ve thought of that myself.” Fang Ning shook his head and sighed. “Ah, even the wise are not always free from error. Actually, that Water Faucet has already given us a hint when it told us it had a six-billion-year-old wife.”

“Right, since they’re a couple, they were already being very courteous when one of them came out to meet us. Of course, there would no need for the both of them to come out together,” Sir System said gloomily.

“Indeed, even a True God wouldn’t deserve the honor of being received by both the husband and the wife,” Fang Ning said in understanding.

“How offensive. I’ve been flying so long for nothing. I’ve even wasted my precious food ingredients.” Sir System became rather morose.

It would never work for free, much less stand having its time wasted.

“Humph, I can’t let this trip go to waste…” Sir System muttered as it controlled the Azure Dragon to fly toward the enormous sand whirl.

“Hey, hey, have you gotten tired of living?” Fang Ning shouted in fear.

“What can you do to stop me?”

The Azure Dragon entered into the massive whirlwind of sand.