Seized by the System

“On what grounds can he forbid me from attending this? How could he!”

In a mansion at a suburban area near Ji City, China, a storm was brewing low. An ashen-looking young man paced erratically within the opulent halls of the mansion, his sunken, dark eyes painting the long, sleepless nights.

In the living room, luxurious gold fishes that swam in the aquarium now hid motionlessly within the artificial mountains. An expensive royal pedigree lay firmly in the corner, too afraid to whine or twitch.

The young man scrunched a pale gold notice in his grasp, fuming in anger.

“I can let it slide when Qiao Zishan is let through, everyone knows that he’s the most capable among the younger generation anyway. What about the rest, then? Xu Rui, Xue Feng, Hai Cheng, on what basis were they included in the list? We are all Pond-levels!

“Vigilante A! Why would he have the authority to select the participants? On what basis does he give orders to us!

“Appraised to be of a good moral character, huh? How did the likes of Xu Rui be relevant to that? He’s just a pampered bourgeois with his nose pinned firmly in the air, he’s nothing without that granduncle of his, Principal Xu!

“Even Qi Ye is in this? He’s the President of the Qi Group in Qi City! That’s such a rural area, and it’s Vigilante A’s hometown! He’s not even Pond-level, but even he could be benched as a sub-in?

“Fairness? Justice? Pharos of the East? All I can see is someone who operates through cronyism!”

This pale gentleman paced in the halls, his anger hung tensely in the air. A butler-looking elder approached him with wary steps. The man looked around 70 years old, donned in a magua. The elder’s expression was one of undescribed distress.

With a low voice, the elder tried to advise the young man. “There is no need to be agitated, Young Master Pan. Vigilante A is as blind as a bat. Despite obtaining a mysterious ability last year and achieving the peak of the Pond-level, you’ve continued to lay low. It’s astonishing of him to fail to recognize your talent. He’s nothing but a fraud, Young Master, nothing of significance…”

“Scram! Stop annoying me!”

Before the elder butler could end his sentence, a powerful intangible force appeared out of nowhere with a wave of Young Master Pan’s hand, and landed right on his torso. The elder immediately flew backward out of the living room from the impact and shattered the revolving door. With a loud crashing ‘wham’, he crashed into the emerald-lined floor of the courtyard.

With a spit of blood, the elder’s face paled. His heart grew cold. With a master like this, even flattery could cost him his life!

Pan Liang, a vindictive and cunning man who knew how to stay inconspicuous. There were so many people similar to him in China.

The elder butler slowly got up to his feet. What else could he do? Quit? Mr. Pan here had a catalog full of ways to torture his family without spilling a drop of blood on his hands. His family would live in a literal hell, then. With just one look or a whisper of a hint, Sir Pan could rally a roomful of followers to finish his family!

Who would avenge them then? Who would seek justice for them?

Vigilante A, the Pharos of the East?

Hah, that man is always moving above everyone, picking only sins that float on the surface, easily spotted crimes. How could he have the time to deal with the darkness that hid in the corners of the heart?

Besides, the man was exhausted enough anyways; Vigilante A works around the clock. Without Vigilante A, Sir Pan would probably not have a stable and safe environment to cultivate without alerting others.

However, when his own interests were compromised due to Vigilante A, would Sir Pan, this master of his, remember that he was actually benefiting from Vigilante A all this while?

That’s impossible. Almost absurd to even consider.

As the butler staggered to his feet, his thoughts rambled on in his head.

He did not even wipe the blood from his lips before he walked slowly towards the living room again. This time, he stood in a corner. He could not keep his distance. There would only be more trouble if he left.

After Sir Pan vented his frustrations, his eyes once again landed on the pale gold notice, hesitating before finally deciding to not tear it up. Instead, he slammed the notice onto the table. An earth-shattering wham was heard once again.

“Hmph, I’d really want to see if those chosen by Vigilante A are of any use!”

Fuming, he returned to his bedroom. Then, a woman was cruelly tossed into the living room, her hair an absolute mess. She slammed into the hard surface of a marble table and lost her consciousness.

The elder butler hurried over, bending down to check her breath. She was still breathing, so that was an emergency evaded. With a complicated expression, the butler carried the woman before walking towards the shattered door of the living room.

Heaving a sigh, he lamented, ‘This is already the least that could happen because that Pharos is around. If he wasn’t…’

He shook his head. He could imagine how he and the woman would die consequently in the hands of a raging Pond-level.

Unfortunately, there was only one Vigilante A in this whole, wide world.

With the woman in tow, the elder man made a few turns to arrive at a parking lot. There, he found a middle-aged driver.

“Same old. Give her $300,000 and send her home. Don’t ever let her take even half a step near here. Also, tell her to stay quiet,” mumbled the old butler.

“Understood, Butler Liu.” The middle-aged driver looked undisturbed by the blood by the elder’s lips, as if it was a common occurrence. There was no shock when he quietly took the woman from the elder’s hands and placed her safely in the car.

‘This old butler must’ve gone through a lot with that cruel and irritable master of his.’

That was the thought that went through his head when he drove the car away from the mansion.

///

Meanwhile, at the Headquarter Base of the Truth Department.

Eighteen candidates gathered in a spacious hall to the East. Everyone present were Pond-level powerhouses. They stood heroic, enthusiastic and majestic. All of them were under 30 years old, a few years younger than Fang Ning.

No matter their background, abilities, or talents, they were definitely the cream of the crop among the millions of people around. Of course, there were also those that dID not have any background initially, but gained support with their abilities and talents…

One year had passed, and the Will of the Heavens had officially developed in the Heavenly Axioms with the increasing speed of vitality recovery. Now, achieving Pond-level seemed to be easier than ever. Most people have accepted the reasoning that Pond-level signifies the start of one’s cultivation path, equivalent to the Innate Stage in cultivation.

Only Pond-level experts and above were able to actually hold some water in them. Only they were qualified to comprehend the laws of nature and accept the unique blessings given by the heaven and earth, just like how a pond could fill itself up during a rain.

Anything before Pond-level, such as Basins and Buckets would only waste a good rain. They were too small to contain anything…

Fang Ning sat on the rostrum, swelling with pride as he scanned the surroundings in the hall.

Everyone in here was chosen under his approval…

Sir System could not be bothered with the matters of selection. It gave Fang Ning full control on the subject matter, thus allowing the latter to obtain another opportunity to gloat. Once the decision to gloat was made, no talks of failure are allowed.

Fang Ning took the name list, going through every entry by asking Sir System and repeatedly checking the System Map. If Sir System do not have multithreading, it would probably have died of sheer annoyance…

For this, Fang Ning had another one of his sleepless nights, lest the candidate he chose happened to not be able to garner respect from the public.

It was common knowledge that the entity named ‘judges’ were easy targets of hate and jealousy, especially from those who did not make the cut. After all, those who could remember their own shortcomings are the rarest species around. The most common thing to do was to point their spears to their judges.

With great power came great responsibility indeed.

Fang Ning knew all that. If he wanted to escape from responsibility, he would naturally need to stay away from power. Since he wanted to gloat and enjoy the power in his hands while ‘being a manly man’, it would be necessary for him to take up the responsibility to select the correct people for the job.

How would he handle the responsibility, you ask? Cheating!

Through the System Map, he checked if these yellow dots had any red in them. The darker the red, the heavier the sin. Once it surpassed a certain threshold, his Obsession will be activated, causing it will turn completely red and open for farming.

Among the yellow, the single white dot stood out. Qiao Zishan passed the examination almost immediately.

Those that were not chosen would have hints of red in them. This meant that they did some evil in the past, but what they did was not too significant.

Even though some of those who made the list were prideful or maintained a high profile, Fang Ning made sure to check the System Map that all of them were yellow, entirely free of red-causing sins.

They were not so powerful — um, mere Pond-levels, in fact — that it was not very possible for them to be capable of any hidden sins that will elude the System Map.

Then, Fang Ning remembered Claus, who looked entirely ordinary. Fang Ning only managed to realize something was wrong because he paid attention to the tiniest clues. Claus was not highly capable either, he thought, and that destroyed whatever confidence Fang Ning had before.

“Sir System, help me do a thorough scan on these people before us. If any one of them is a sinner, inform me.”

“No need for your nonsense reminders. If there was a sinner, I would’ve long farmed him,” chided the System.

Uh, Fang Ning had to admit that what he said was indeed nonsensical.

When Fang Ning was at a loss of words, Ren Ruofeng, who was sitting at the middle of the rostrum, started to speak.

“You, the warriors of China, we will be the bosses from now on!”

Ren Ruofeng’s call was entirely unrefined, but it immediately elicited understanding and support from everyone present.

The resounding applause was thunderous, and it had no signs of stopping.

How long had it been? To always be lower than others, constantly oppressed, never a way to express their dissatisfaction! There always had been those who stood on a pedestal and pointed at China, criticizing and nitpicking left and right!

Constructive criticisms were okay; after all, nobody was perfect, and improvements could only happen more efficiently if one were willing to accept comments. However, some of them had no intentions of helping. They were not looking on pointing out mistakes for rectification and improvements. Instead, they had ulterior motives and were intentional in leading them down a wrong path!

Never have they imagined that China would stay unshaken, and gradually rise until today. They never once contemplated whether they could clone this miraculous feat…

Qiao Zishan looked visibly affected. He looked at everyone that was on the platform. Today is the day when China will officially rise from the ashes!

Danger was imminent, but with great risk came greater rewards. This was the first step China was to unite the world! Not a dark void shielded under a sheep’s skin that trampled on all established rules, but a just world rejoicing with life.

Xue Feng still looked as stoic as ever. His eyes, however, shone a simmering determination and zeal within. The sword in his arms, though, swung left and right with vigor, vibrating non-stop while whirring in an undertone. What made it so excited anyway?

All of the team members, no matter if it were the starting lineup or the alternates, were filled with emotions.

The Cultivation Era had arrived. Even though cultivation itself does not distinguish from nationality and race, every cultivator would always have their roots!

Ren Ruofeng continued with a smile, “Each clan will have 10 places to climb the Ladder to Heaven. We, the people of China, must be willing to take the initiative and do the hard work without excuse. We will take up 8 places. Of course, we will only discuss this among ourselves, we will market this differently to the external parties.”

After they heard this, everyone in the hall looked at each other and smiled. No words needed to be exchanged for mutual understanding to be achieved.

8 places. 18 people; 8 starters, 10 alternates. There would still be an opportunity to compete for their placings. This opportunity was big enough for anything to be possible!

These were not known facts to other countries, either. They had an information advantage here. The cake would have already been made when the other countries finally realized what was going on. Then, they would have to suffer the same losses that China had faced in the past.

Finally, it was time for us to be the bosses. Finally, it is our turn to cut the cake!

In the future, we would need to serve them some chicken soup for their soul, that being at a disadvantage is actually a blessing in disguise…