ã€ŠReincarnated As The Diabolic Systemã€‹


 Chapter 1 Prologue

    "Let me tell you a story," said a granny. Her eyes softened as she nced at her bald grandson.

    Thetter jumped up on the bed and nodded eagerly, "Yay, granny! Storytime!"

    "Little Ed, lie on the bed and close your eyes, okay?"

    The little guy nodded as he followed her orders obediently. When he didn''t hear anything, he opened one of his eyes and nced at her face, "Granny, story."

    The old woman chuckled as she rubbed the little guy''s cheeks and said, "Once upon a time, there was aplete Absolute Being. The Absolute Being was the source of all power, and one day, he divided that absolute and supreme power into two parts, sending them each to create the Karmic and Celestial realms, respectively."

    "Karmic realm? Celestial realm? What''s that?"

    "Have you seen a tree?"

    The little guy tilted his head. He couldn''t understand why a tree came in between the story. Still, he opened his mouth and answered, "Yes."

    "The tree that gives us fruits to fill our stomachs and make us all happy is like the Celestial world. Everyone is happy and content there, without any dark emotions or war. It''s a beautiful ce filled with divine power and love. That''s the Celestial world."

    The little bald guy''s eyes started glowing after hearing those words, "I want to go there with granny!"

    "Sure," the old woman chuckled. "We''ll go there someday."

    "But Granny, what about the Karmic realm?"

    "Have you ever seen the reflection of that tree?" The granny patted the young guy''s shoulders and pointed her finger outside the window. There, the moon and many stars in the sky were shining brightly. A tree blossomed in the house''s courtyard as a small pond filled with water beside the tree seemed calm as a sea.

    The moonlight made it possible for them to see the reflection of the giant tree, "Look there, Ed. There''s the reflection."

    The little guy poked his head outside the window and gasped in surprise, "It''s an upside-down tree!"

    "That''s right. Our world is also like that. It is called the karmic world for a reason. Without doing some karma, you can''t achieve anything. It''s a ce opposite to the original Celestial realm."

    "I don''t want to live here."

    "Baby, we will go there, to the Celestial realm. I promise."

    "What about the story?!" The little guy was satisfied by the promise as hey down on the bed again.<sub> </sub>

    "So after the Absolute Being created the Celestial and karmic realms, he gave the two types of different power names: divine and dark cosmic energy. Guess where the empowered being of theplete divine cosmic energy lives?"

    "In the Celestial world?"

    "That''s true," the old woman patted the little guy''s head with affection in her eyes, "You''re so smart."

    If the little guy had a tail, he would have wagged it at the moment, being so happy about the praise.

    The woman continued the story:

    "He neveres down, only managing the Celestial world under the direct order of the Absolute Entity, but the empowered dark cosmic being, darkness himself, wasn''t satisfied with his position. When a long time had passed since he was created in the karmic realm, he rebelled against the authority of the Absolute Being.

    "It was said that the empowered divine energy, the King of Divinity, sent out his power to help the needy people climb into the Celestial world. Everyone was allowed but the empowered dark being. The King of Darkness was said to have rebelled because he wanted to use underhanded means to head there."

    "I don''t like him," the little bald guy crossed his arms.

    "Of course, you don''t. No one does," the old woman looked outside the window. "He triggered a war that went on for thousands of years between the King of Darkness and the bright entities, faithful to the King of Divinity. Several universes were destroyed, and the karmic realm became a mess. The Absolute Being stepped in as he handled everything, punishing the King of Darkness gravely."

    "What''s his name?"

    "Who?"

    "The King of Darkness."

    The old woman thought for a while before shaking her head, "No one knows, but it''s said that he was punished by stripping him of his status and abilities, sending him to the lowest depths of hell. He''s still said to be suffering down there for eternity."

    "That''s a sad story, granny."

    "Little guy, what did you want to hear?"

    "You can''t just send someone to hell for eternity," the little Ed pouted, "What if it was all a misunderstanding?"

    "Then the poor guy must have suffered unjustly," the old woman patted the little bald guy''s head, "Sleep. We''re all safe for now. We''ll have to go to your school tomorrow for the parent-teacher conference, right?"

    Ed nodded and closed his eyes.

 Chapter 2 1. Reincarnated

    [System 12254801, wake up.]

    A young boy heard thismand deep inside his mind. He frowned, ''What''s this strange voice?''

    When he didn''t hear it anymore, he fell asleep again. Just then, themanding tone got heavier this time.

    [WAKE THE F*CK UP, OR I''LL ANNOUNCE YOU DEAD!]

    The youth opened his eyes. He stared at the white screen while lying on a cold surface. That voice, though¡­.

    Was it just his imagination?

    ''What? What is this?'' he thought and got up from the ground as he looked around. Everything was white: walls, ceiling, the floor, and even the cold, hard bed.

    This should be a hospital¡­.

    ''But why does it feel weird?'' he thought.

    The youth frowned as he looked around. His heart twisted, bing uneasy, ''How the f*ck did I end up in a room without a door?! I was just walking down a dark, cold alley!''

    He opened his mouth and called, "What''s going on?"

    His voice was hoarse, making him feel like he hadn''t spoken for a long time. He remembered falling into the ground filled with water with a bare electrical wire floating on the side and being electrocuted.

    That event didn''t put him in aa, did it?

    "No, where the hell am I?" That''s when he heard the same female voice again.

    [System 12254801, I''m d you asked that question. You''re in the system world, called Imperium, between the heavenly realm and mortal ne.]

    "What the heck? What''s the system world?" The youth had a bad premonition in his heart.

    ''I didn''t transmigrate into a fantasy world, did I?'' he thought as he licked his lips, ''No, could it be I got kidnapped? But why would someone kidnap me? Dad isn''t that rich.''

    He shook his head to eliminate unnatural thoughts as he focused on the room in front of him, trying to find some clues. From childhood to adulthood, he had been prodigious at everything he did. Whether it was sports or other studies, he excelled at all.

    That made him a bit arrogant. It didn''t help that he was an extrovert, famous among his peers. He was the kind of guy everyone would be envious of just by ncing at his face.

    So now, even though his palms were sweaty and millions of dark thoughts shed through his head at the fastest speed possible, the first thing he thought of was getting out of this situation rather than screaming and yelling like other people.

    Just then, he heard the system''s voice in his head.

    [It''s a world full of systems.]

    "Can you be more specific?" Although the youth had a vague idea about what was happening, he still wanted to get as much information as possible.

    [It''s a world full of systems.]

    Just as he thought, he really dide into a fantasy world. He asked, "No, but what''s up with the systems?"

    [The beings that live in this world.]

    The youth got a headache. He rubbed his forehead as he asked a crucial question, "Am I dead?"

    [Yes.]

    This confirmed the youth''s thinking. He was dead and ended uping to a system world, "Aren''t you supposed to say at this time, like all other mangas and novels, that you''ll give me a second chance to live if I pass a mission or something?"

    [We don''t give unrealistic rewards. Please, ask a logical question.]

    The youth rolled his eyes. This ce itself was illogical. He grumbled, "Fine. What am I supposed to do here?"

    [Be a system.]

    "You want to infuriate me to death, don''t you?" The youth chuckled darkly as veins popped up on his head. Traces of fear lessened in his heart. He took a deep breath and asked, "Why should I be a system? What will I gain?"

    [You''ll get to survive and transcend.]

    ''Transcend?'' he mumbled those words in his head as he frowned. If it was survival, he could be a system, but it was easy for this robotic voice to say, ''F*ck! How the heck do you be a system?''

    Most importantly, he wanted to know if he could return to living again. If that were possible, it might be the best.

    Even though he thought like this, his face remained cold and expressionless. He looked up and asked, "What if I don''t want to survive in this f*cking system world?"

    [You''ll be sent to reincarnate into the mortal ne.]

    The youth finally caught some clues, "So if I stay here, I''ll get to rise to the heavenly realm?"

    [Yes, probably.]

    The youth frowned. This was new to him, and he didn''t know whether going to the heavens was a good thing or not. He raised his head and asked, "Will I reincarnate as how I was?"

    [No. We don''t hold the authority to turn back time, and you can''te back to life since you''ve already died.]

    "So I got electrocuted to death," he mumbled as he sighed.

    [No, you were still alive but unconscious.]

    "Really?" The youth was curious about how he died as he propped up his chin and asked, "Tell me, how did I die?"

    [Your body was taken onto an ambnce, but that ambnce had an ident on the bridge.]

    "So I died by getting hit by a truck or something?"

    [No, the entire ambnce fell off the bride, into the river, but you still managed to survive as a few doctors escaped with you, but by the time you made it onto the shore, you were the only one alive but unconscious. They all died trying to save your life.]

    "So, how did I die in the end?"

    [You died of a lightning strike. Your body got to an ind where lightning would often strike during the rainy season.]

    "So, in the end, I really got electrocuted to death."

    [In a way, yes. We also have a video. Do you want to watch it?]<sub> </sub>

    "...." The youth shook his head instantly, "No. I don''t want to watch that."

    He took deep breaths to calm himself down.

    Since he died, he couldn''t go back to his past life even if he wanted to. Then, he could only continue to try and survive with all that he had. He took a deep breath to suppress the fear in his heart as the screen disappeared. He opened his mouth and asked one more question.

    "What''s up with the reincarnation then?" It wasn''t that the youth wanted to reincarnate, but he might as well get information about other options. He wanted to be sure that the way he chose could promise survival.

    [You''ll have to pass through the reincarnation river in the hellish realm and forget about your current life. You''ll be born in the mortal realm as a new person.]

    In short, the youth would forget about who he was! It wasn''t a pleasant feeling, so to speak. He was silent for a moment before his lips parted, "Can I still go and reincarnate if I don''t want to be a system anymore?"

    [We''re working on this aspect. Please, have patience.]

    The youth wanted to ask another question when the cold voice interrupted.

    [You''re out of time. Please proceed.]

    ''Proceed? Where to? It''s not like this room has a door,'' the youth wanted to re at the owner of this cold voice, but he couldn''t. So he red at the hard, white floor instead.

    Just then, a door appeared just adjacent to him, making him jump in surprise. He stared at that door that had a dark corridor beyond it. His heartbeat increased as his palms became sweaty.

    He was indeed scared, but being frightened didn''t mean he couldn''t get more information about his situation. After all, he was more scared of forgetting his identity after reincarnating than surviving in this strange world. Of course, he would choose to stay here because he didn''t want to reincarnate in another world as a newborn baby without any memories of his past.

    ''What if I end up bing an animal or something?''

    [Don''t worry, you won''t be an animal.]

    "Holy crap! You can read minds?!"

    [No, I know what kind of thoughts you will have from my database.]

    This strange robotic female voice seemed to have made sarcastic jokes about him. Heh, good one. The youth suppressed the mixed emotions brewing in his heart as he walked toward the dark corridor.

    Since he had already decided, he could only walk into the darkness. After all, nothing could be worse than dying.

    Or so he thought.

    At this time, he never imagined that his future would be a rollercoaster filled with different emotions, adventures, and even deaths. It was probably a good idea to choose to reincarnate. He wouldn''t have to face everything he did after entering the system world.

    ***

    There was a white hall filled with hundreds of doors that appeared out of the blue. One after another, youths, both males and females, wearing white robes continued to enter this space without speaking. Everyone''s eyes were filled with confusion.

    The only color seen at this ce were the varied eyes and hair colors that made the hall a little more alive, but no one talked even a bit.

    Except for one person.

    The same youth who had started this story earlier in this chapter entered the hall. His silky reddish-brown hair fell on his forehead as he nced around with his emerald green eyes. In front of him stood a blond youth.

    Without thinking twice, he tapped the shoulders of that person. The man didn''t move.

    "Hey, can I ask you something?" The youth asked the blond guy while tapping his shoulders annoyingly. When the man didn''t reply or turn back to face the youth, thetter spoke again, irritating the blond guy, "I''m Shane Cooper. What''s your name?"

    No reply.

    <o>,m Shane sighed and stopped disturbing the other youth. He turned to his side and looked at the frightened people, "Why are you all afraid?"</o>

    "Are you not?" The blond guy couldn''t take it anymore and talk to this overly expressive youth.

    Shane shrugged, "I am, but it doesn''t mean I can''t talk. It''s therapy for me."

    "You''re weird," muttered a girl standing beside him.

    [Hello, systems. Wee to Imperium. You have been selected meticulously after considering your positive karma energy, but you have not been officially hired as a system. You''ll have to go through a test. Those who don''t want to participate can exit from this door.]

    An opened door suddenly appeared. A few people hesitated before walking toward it. In the end, half the hallway emptied before it closed again as the cold voice spoke again:

    [Now then, we wish you the best of luck. Try not to die.]

    "What the heck? What are we supposed to do?"

    "Can''t they make things clear?!"

    "I want to go home!"

    "I think we are supposed to survive. Didn''t you hear thest sentence that that voice spoke?"

    Shane didn''t say anything, but inwardly, he was cursing the female voice to death, ''This goddamn system! What the heck is wrong with this female voice? Can it try not to be sarcastic all the time? I''m going to climb to the top and f*cking teach this thing a lesson!''

    Only after cursing the robotic voice did he calm down. While everyone else was hesitating, he was the first to walk toward the door, beyond which was nothing but darkness.

    The blond guy stopped him and asked, "Are you not afraid?"

    Shane turned to see the man''s face pale. He smiled as he ced his hand in his pockets in a calm manner, "What''s the point of being afraid? You could have entered that reincarnation door. We have all already died in the most embarrassing way possible. What could be worse than that?"

    Of course, he was afraid, but he wouldn''t tell this anyone else. For a prodigy, their image in front of others is the most important thing. Shane was the same. He didn''t want others to look at his vulnerable state, so he''d deliberately try to act as though he were some cool and arrogant guy at all times.

    ''Let others imagine that I''m cool and handsome. Hehe,'' he thought inwardly.

    Sure enough, the blond guy was stunned after hearing those words. Thus, he became the second person who left the room without hesitation.

    Everyone was motivated after hearing Shane''s words. They suppressed their fear to the depths of their hearts and walked towards the door.

    But Shane was so wrong. He regretted not choosing the reincarnation door at this time as he stood on the rough and infertile ground filled with dried trees. Above was a sky filled with blood-red clouds. But none of these things were scarier than what he saw in front of his eyes.

    A sea of giant hairy monsters with sharp and big teething out of their chapped lips covered with blood.

    This was their test.

    ''Wasn''t I supposed to be some system?! Can somebody exin the situation?!'' Shane wailed in his heart.

 Chapter 3 2. Viewers

    [The viewers have arrived. They''ll sponsor each survivor with Crana. Please do your best.]

    Shane noticed this sentence popping up on a transparent screen above everyone else. He tilted his head in confusion. The traces of fear hadn''t disappeared when this screen appeared out of the blue. Their faces were pale as they continued to stare above their heads.

    ''What the hell is this?'' Shane could only think of one thing, "It seems like a live stream or something."

    A familiar cold voice echoed in the background.

    [System 12254801, you''re right, but this live stream is meant to entertain all systems living in this realm. If you do good, you can earn more Crana for your survival by bing a broker.]

    Everyone had question marks on their heads after hearing some new terms.

    Live stream?

    Entertain?

    Crana?

    Brokers?

    Okay, some of them could understand this, at least. Shane looked at the hoard of monsters as a thought popped up in his head.

    ''Could it be? I entered the novel Omniscient Reader''s Viewpoint?''

    As if reading his mind¡­.

    [No, you have entered the world, Imperium. We wish you all good luck.]

    The voice and the screen above their heads vanished. The only thing that remained was a small digit at the right corner of their vision. In Shane''s eyes, the number was 02.

    He patted the shoulders of the man beside him, "Hey, what''s your number?"

    "05," Frank paused and spoke again, "It''s 06 now."

    "I have 07," another person said.

    "01."

    "Those are supposed to be viewers¡­." Shane realized something as he looked at Frank in shock, "Man, why do you have five viewers?! I''m better looking than you!"

    "Shut up."

    "Is this something a person should be focusing on?!" One of the people standing in front of Shane spoke with a trace of anger in his voice.

    Just then, the monsters roared at the top of their lungs.

    Everything was silent for a while. No one said a word as they kept staring at the monsters in vignce. It almost felt like they would make a run for it if the monsters were to step forward, but they didn''t.

    Those giant things were almost ten stories taller than the people, but they only stared at Shane and the other people who had just entered through the door with drops of saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths.

    Thest man who came through the door was so scared that as soon as he entered and saw monsters, he turned back and was about to dash through when his nose hit a dark wall.

    "O!" The man wanted to cry. He shouldn''t have listened to that youth at all! He nced around, and his gaze stopped when he spotted the man himself.

    He walked over and grabbed the man''s cor, "You f*cker! This is all your fault! Why did you tell us to enter that door?!"

    "Yes! It''s this man who spoke such motivating words! Now, look what happened!"

    Others also agreed and surrounded Shane.

    Thetter just had a headache. He chuckled and replied, "Did I tell you to listen to me? You walked through that door out of your own free will."

    "But we could have been saved!"

    "That''s right! If not for this man''s words, we wouldn''t have entered this door without this man''s words!"

    "Really?" Shane nced at thedy who just spoke and smiled, "You think staying locked up in that white hall was a better solution?"

    Everyone frowned upon hearing those words. Indeed, staying inside that hall also wasn''t absolution. Then they should have stepped inside the reincarnation portal.

    While they were busy thinking about their ability to make a good choice, Shane looked around the ce. He tried to sneak a peek beyond the monsters, but he couldn''t see anything. It almost felt like those monsters were trying their best to hide what was beyond.

    Shane''s eyes narrowed as he nced back. Everyone else was so frightened that none of them noticed this. They could all see a hoard of monsters trying to eat them up, but these disgusting things could be protecting something.

    But heading toward the monsters like this¡­.<sub> </sub>

    His palms turned sweaty at the thought, but he didn''t have another choice other than going towards the hoard of monsters to go beyond them, straight toward the thing they were hiding. He knew it was a leap of faith, but it was the best solution. He didn''t know why, but he felt staying here was probably equally dangerous.

    He had never doubted his intuition. So he might as well take this leap of faith.

    He tapped the shoulders of the blond youth standing beside him with a nk expression on his face and said, "Let''s go."

    Thetter nced at Shane with a cold expression and tilted his head, ".....Go where?"

    "There," Shane pointed toward the monsters.

    "Are you mad?!" Another person spoke up in anger, "You want to die, don''t you? Then go ahead! Don''t involve us anymore!"

    "Yeah, why do you have to drag us everywhere?!" A girl butted in since she couldn''t stand Shane''s arrogant behavior, "The voice never said anything about going ahead! We have to survive, and since those monsters aren''t crossing some invisible line toe close to us, we''re all temporarily safe!"

    Shane rolled his eyes as he thought, ''Are these people kindergarten students? I have to exin everything to them!''

    Even after thinking like that, his expression remained the same. He sighed as if he was a retired teacher who was forced to give a lecture, "Are any of you top students? They not only study what the University provides them but also make sure to cover all the areas rted to their subjects. If they end up with questions outside the sybus, they''d be able to solve it no matter what."

    He noticed at the right corner only to see that his viewers had suddenly increased to 55. Heh, they seemed to like the ones who acted cool.

    None of the people understood what Shane was talking about. The girl arguing with him felt her head exploding as she continued to hear the boy''s nonsense. Even though he was handsome and cool, at the moment of life and death, her veins popped up upon seeing his face.

    She said, "Oi, shut the f*ck up! What does it have anything to do with this situation?!"

    "Because," Shane nced at the monsters and smiled, "I''m a top student, and I can see this is an out-of-sybus question."

    The girl was speechless as she red at him. She had never seen someone so narcissistic in her life who kept showing off like this. She turned her head and stopped talking.

    The blond youth, on the other hand, tapped his finger against his chin as if in deep thought and nced at the hoard of monsters as he spoke, "Are they stopping us from going beyond?"

    "Exactly!" Shane looked back at the blond youth and patted the man''s shoulders, "Blondy, I''ve acknowledged you as my peer."

    "Frank Allen."

    "Cool."

    Others behind them couldn''t help but re at those two people who walked toward the monsters without hesitation. Shane stopped his steps as he turned back and smiled, "Do you want toe?"

    None of the people around replied. They even turned their heads away as if Shane didn''t exist in the first ce.

    The boy shook his head and said, "Let''s go, Frank. They don''t appreciate a prodigy like me anymore."

    The blond youth said nothing, but his steps quickened as if he was tired of hearing someone talking like this about himself.

    As soon as they crossed an invisible wall, the monsters rushed at the duo without hesitation. If someone were to ask Shane why he decided to rush toward the monsters like this, he would say it was his prodigy intuition. He could tell that the test shouldn''t be so easy as to make the people stand inside an invisible wall to pass the test.

    Something was wrong with the entire situation. He couldn''t help but remember a certain Netflix TV series at this time, as he had watched it recently before dying, Squid Game. He couldn''t help but wonder if the others would be killed if they stayed there in one ce.

    But these thoughts vanished in thin air as the monsters rushed toward Shane.

    Frank, for the first time, spoke on his own ord, "You have a n?"

    "What n?" Shane dodged a monster''s paw that looked disgusting enough to make him want to vomit. The sharp nails were stained with blood and mucus, "I only think we have to reach there."

    "You think?"

    Shane shrugged, "You can always turn back. I never asked you to follow me into this pit."

    He had always been the type of guy who considered all the crossroads before finding a proper solution, and except for this, he didn''t think there was anything else to do.

    The blond man was silent for a while as he also rushed and dodged the monsters'' attacks, "You''re a strange guy."

    Before Shane could reply, he saw a dirty paw with sharp nails closing in on Frank at the fastest speed possible.

    ''No! Move, damn it! You''ll die!'' he thought, but sadly, the other person couldn''t read his thoughts.

    By the time he even opened his mouth, the monster had already touched Frank''s back, striking straight into the left shoulder! Blood oozed from the injury as Frank''s entire body froze.

    Shane''s viewers: 169

    Frank''s viewers: 203

 Chapter 4 3. A Horrifying Scene

    Shane''s body reacted automatically without hesitation. He reached out to the nails that dug deeper into the flesh and pulled them out. For some reason, his body had extraordinary strength that he had never had, but he didn''t have time to be surprised. He instantly threw Frank''s limp body onto his back and ran towards the other side of the ce.

    It was open ground, but there had to be another door beyond the group of monsters.

    Beads of sweat formed on Shane''s forehead as he carried the man on his back.

    ''Dang it, why did I have to react so fast and help someone I don''t even know?'' he thought as he cursed himself in his heart. It wasn''t that he could have left the other person dying on the ground, but he automatically reacted to the situation as if it was ingrained deeper in his soul.

    As if he would save the man on his back with his eyes closed¡­.

    This was strange. He had never been sopassionate and helpful.

    Shane didn''t overthink it since he was already struggling with saving his own life. A couple of monsters surrounded him as they directed their sharp paws toward him.

    "F*ck! You better be thankful to me for saving your a** this time!"

    Frank, who had been silently observing his surroundings for a while, spoke in a tired tone, "To your left."

    Shane dodged an attack from his left as he nced at the monster with its two legs standing in front of him. He moved to his right and ran from the gap between the monster''s legs.

    All of a sudden, a foul odor surrounded them as they crossed the monster. Shane''s nose wrinkled, "Holy crap. What''s that smell?"

    "Monster''s sh*t," Frank spoke without any emotions in his voice.

    Acidic liquid climbed up Shane''s throat, aiming to jump from his mouth in the form of vomit, but he gulped it down as he ran.

    ''I can''t puke now! I have to run!''

    "Right," Frank noticed another paw closing in on them.

    Shane nodded and dodged again, but in the process, his arm was attacked. A strip of injury appeared on that area as the white sleeves tore because of the attack. He flinched and cursed under his breath, but he continued to rush.

    The two continued to work together with great coordination. No one could tell they met for the first time in their lives.

    Dried trees surrounded the open ground, and Shane could see a dark opening as they came closer and closer. Shane was already tired. He just wanted to dump the person he was carrying on the ground and rush away alone.

    As if realizing what Shane was thinking, Frank, threatened, "If you dare put me down, I''ll kill you."

    "How the f*ck do you know what I was thinking?!"

    "I don''t know," Frank frowned.<sub> </sub>

    A paw suddenly got so close that it would attack Shane''s head. Frank saw thising, so he pushed the man''s head forward, causing thetter to lose his bnce and fall to the ground on his face.

    "The heck you''re doing?!"

    "Saving your life."

    "Can''t you do it gently?"

    "Are you a girl?!"

    "Don''t f*cking say I''m a girl! Otherwise, I''ll throw you right here!"

    "Be my guest," Frank shut his mouth. He didn''t even know why he was wasting his time bickering with the other man.

    Shane also frowned after realizing that. He cleared his throat and said, "Let''s go."

    As soon as he uttered those words, he nced in front of him only to have his body frozen in one ce. It was an enclosed white room simr to the one they had woken up in, without any door. This time, the room was so short that it could only contain two people at once.

    It almost felt as if the voice in his head probably knew how many people would survive this round. Shane felt a shiver down his spine as he nced around with squinted eyes.

    At the same time, he felt a tap on his shoulders. He turned back only to see Frank''s terrified and pale face as he pointed toward the open ground outside the enclosed room. Shane nced in that direction only to find his own eyes widening.

    The scene outside had changedpletely when they entered this room. For some reason, the monsters didn''t continue to rush after the duo. One of the paws could have been inserted into this small space from the outside easily, but they didn''t. Instead, the monsters turned back to rush toward the group of people still standing back on the other side of the open ground.

    p By the time Shane and Frank had looked at that ce, the hairy monsters had already grabbed two people from the group. After that, the beast holding the two people looked at the humans in his paws, crying their eyes out. The faces of those people were pale as a string of saliva continued to drop from the corners of the monster''s opened mouth.</anda>

    Those two people were already injured to the point that Shane found it difficult to identify them.

    Then, he heard an ear-piercing scream when the monster put the entire being into its mouth as if he were chewing chicken or something. The beast tore the whole person into two pieces. The torso was still in his hand; blood dripped down on the ground, staining it red.

    Unfortunately, this wasn''t the only monster that had been doing this. People ran here and there as they tried to head over to the other side of the open ground. Now that all the monsters had scattered away, they could clearly see a small, dark opening where Shane had entered. Although they couldn''t see the scene inside the dark door, they knew that Shane and that blond guy had entered that ce.

    Now, they all regretted not listening to Shane, but it was toote.

    The monsters were agile as they continued to eat one person after another. A few of them, in their bloody state, managed toe across, hitting the door, but it was shut with an invisible wall. They couldn''t enter at all!

    Then Shane watched another horrifying scene.

    A monster came and grabbed the people hitting the invisible wall and ate them right in front of Shane and Frank.

 Chapter 5 4. What Are You Doing Here?!

    Shane felt his stomach churning as acidic liquid climbed up his throat again, urging him to be released from his mouth. He stumbled back only to hit the cold wall behind him as he stared at the horrifying scene outside the door. He covered his mouth with his hand as if it would stop him from feeling nauseous.

    "What the heck¡­.. That might have been us!"

    Even Frank wasn''t calm. After a few seconds, he couldn''t handle it anymore and threw up in the corner of the room.

    These two people were just youths who, for some reason, felt a special connection with one another. Even though they often watched horror movies filled with gore, this was the first time they saw something like this.

    Both of them had their faces pale as they turned their heads, unable to watch any longer. But the sound of chewing something crisp and hard entered their ears, making it hard to stop their minds from imagining anything.

    Shane took deep breaths, and a mixed smell of Frank''s vomit, blood, and dust entered his nose. It made him feel on edge.

    No, he couldn''t stay here any longer. He would have to escape as soon as possible!

    Frank was also done with puking his guts out, but he still felt ufortable all over his body. He leaned against the wall as he took in deep breaths and wiped his mouth with the back of his hands.

    He wished there was some water here.

    A screen appeared above their heads:

    [System 12254801, you have been offered 2,000 Crana]

    [System 12254799, you have been offered 3,669 Crana]

    Just then, a familiar female voice rang in their ears.

    [Live stream has ended. Congrattions, system 12254801 and 12254799, for surviving this ordeal. You can pass through the continent Septo through this portal behind you for further instructions. My work is done here. Have a happy journey. Try not to die this time.]

    Shane and Frank tilted their heads as they nced behind them. A portal had opened at an unknown time where Shane had hit his back. It was a round space with a whirlpool of thunder going inside. Except for the thunder, everything else was dark.

    "What the¡­. We have to enter this?!" Shane eximed, but even then, something in his heart told him to enter this portal as soon as possible. Since he was a guy who would listen to his intuition a lot, he took a deep breath and suppressed a surge of emotions in his chest as he stepped forward.

    Frank turned toward Shane and followed the man without hesitation as if he were the former''s underling.

    They felt their bodies pass through a stream of water as they passed through the portal. Other than that, none of them felt any pain.

    Shane was the first one to open his eyes. As soon as he did, he first saw the dust-covered ground. It almost felt like he had somehownded in the desert. He stood like that with Frank beside him on the street filled with people wearing old, ragged, ancient western robes. Except that thedies also wore shirts and pants.

    On both sides of the street, they could see shops selling God knows what. They only saw a few people standing on the other side of different counters, but none of those shops had items to be sold.

    All of a sudden, one of the men with ragged robes approached a shop closer to Shane and said, "Give me a bear."

    "Five Crana," replied the shopkeeper.

    Crana again¡­.

    Shane frowned after hearing this.

    "F*ck, so expensive?!" The buyer spoke as a frustrated expression appeared on his face.

    "In Meridio, five crana means nothing," replied the shopkeeper with a stern look.

    The man hesitated for a while before he said, "Fine! You better give me something good because I''ve got a lot on my shoulders!"<sub> </sub>

    After saying that, he muttered, "Menu." Under his breath. To Shane''s surprise, he saw a screen appearing in front of the man''s eyes, but the items inside were blurred so that Shane and Frank couldn''t see anything inside.

    The shopkeeper also opened a simr transparent window as they both clicked on something Shane couldn''t understand. After that, the man walked away with his hands in his pockets.

    Shane watched this scene with his eyebrows raised, "Are we inside a game or something?"

    "No. You''re in the system world, Imperium," spoke a soft female voice out of the blue.

    Shane instantly nced at the owner of this voice only to see a girl, wearing robes simr to lolis in games, standing in front of him with a smile. Her silky pink hair waved behind her back as she smiled sweetly while staring at him through her ocean blue eyes.

    Any guy would fall in love with her cuteness if they happened to stare at her for a long time. She almost looked as innocent as a small baby, but for some reason, Shane felt a trace of vignce in his heart. He frowned as he opened his mouth, "This is the second time I''m hearing this word. What''s Imperium?"

    Since his intuition told him that this little girl wasn''t good, he would stay away from her.

    "This world is between the mortal and heavenly realm, just like Earth. We have ess to the cosmic energy that can be supplied to the mortal realm for repairing several disappearing worlds with the help of hosts."

    "What is a broker?" Shane suddenly remembered this word from before.

    "Brokers guide the hosts, dead people of different mortal worlds, toplete their missions. Viewers will also arrive at their profiles, and every action of the hosts will be live-streamed publically. You can act as a viewer and gift Cranas to your favorite broker, but livestreams aren''t limited to that. You can evene live whenever you''re doing something exciting to earn Crana."

    "So basically," Shane pondered for a while, catching up to the loli''s words quickly, as his eyes squinted, "We''re supposed to be a system of different hosts, help them finish missions, and increase viewers of our livestreams. But, what will the broker get if the amount of viewers is increased?"

    "Crana, the coin system of this world."

    "Then-"

    "Please follow me. You''ll learn everything in the institute."

    "Come."

    The three of them continued to walk down the street. Shane took his time observing his surroundings as he continued to follow the loli. There were a few houses, but they were all shabby as if he had entered a slum area. Even with the clean street, everything else made the scene look poor and old.

    They stopped when they came across a huge school-like building with multiple floors. Shane frowned. It almost felt as if he had arrived in a military institute. In front of them was an iron gate with ''The Imperium Institute'' written there in bold letters. This building made the entire slum area feel like it was in a different dimension altogether.

    The loli stopped and said, "Let''s enter this ce. We have to get you guys registered as new systems."

    "What the hell is up with the system? No one told us about it."

    The loli smiled as she pushed open the door. An invisible wall seemed to have been removed the moment she opened the door. She turned and said, "You''ll learn everything in this ce. Please, follow me."

    As they continued to walk through the street, toward the main building, a few people wearing dark blue shirts and pants of ancient style, but the luxurious type, on the yground doing God knows what stopped their practice and nced at the neers. Shane could swear they were doing something with their hands. He had seen something shining at that time when they had just entered the gate.

    ''They should have a torch, right?'' he thought to himself as he continued to walk.

    Just as he was following the loli, someone rushed from the building and directly collided with Shane''s body, making him fall t on the ground. A wave of pain appeared in the muscles of his back.

    "F*ck, can''t you see¡­." Shane couldn''t say anymore as he swallowed the rest of his words when he saw the person above him who had also fallen because of the impact.

    It was a beautiful girl wearing the same school uniform with her red hair scattered all over the ce. She also stared at Shane with her eyes widened as she opened her mouth, "Brother, what the f*ck! Did you end up dying too?!"

    "Tess¡­." the name blurted out of the young man''s mouth as hey there in a trance.

 Chapter 6 5. A Bald Instructor

    That was the same question Shane wanted to ask her. He could tell that he had died unjustly, but Tess¡­

    ''What the heck happened to her? Wasn''t she in her high-school back in his hometown?'' he thought,pletely stunned.

    No, if she died, then their parents must be left behind. That can''t be! He instantly pushed her off him and asked in a voiceced with anxiety, "What the heck happened?!"

    The girl was shorter than him by a head as she rubbed the back of her neck in an awkward way, "Well, we went on a long trip in the mountains. Had an ident."

    "Who else died?" Shane felt his heartbeat rising as he held the shoulders of his sister.

    Thetter nced away as her eyes turned red. It seemed That she was suppressing her emotions, "Well, our parents. I think the three of us died at the same time."

    Shane''s heart thumped upon hearing that. He felt like his entire world crumbled. He had been fine with dying himself, but the fact that his parents ended up like him¡­.

    He couldn''t take it at all. His body trembled as he stared at his sister, who was on the verge of tears, and asked, "You¡­. Are you telling me the truth?"

    "Why would I die, bro?!" Tess finally shed some tears as she raised her head. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, "You have any idea how I managed to survive?! Do you know what my emotional state was when I woke up all alone only to be told that my parents didn''t survive and were sent to the reincarnation portal just because they didn''t have enough karmic energy?!

    "I wanted to die too! And you doubt my words?!"

    Shane also felt a hot teardrop trickling down his right cheek. It was fine if they died, but their parents¡­..

    ''Why did it have to be them?'' He took a deep breath as he calmed himself down.

    If they were still alive, he would be fine with it as long as they could breathe and remember him even after death, but now that they had died, Shane didn''t want them to just die like this. His eyes turned red at this thought, but he took deep breaths to suppress his emotions.

    He nced at his sister as he put his hand on her head, "I''m still here, aren''t I?"

    Tess sniffed and nodded. A momentter, she realized something was on her head as she hit the youth''s hands and red at him, "Am I a puppy to you?"

    ''No, you''re the only family I have left,'' he thought, but he wouldn''t dare say these words out loud. So he opened his mouth as he rubbed her hair furiously, "That''s right, little dog. Bark on my order."

    Veins popped out on her forehead. She seemed to have forgotten everything about their parents'' death as she red at her brother and turned her head away while crossing her arms on her chest, "You''ll never change, will you?"

    That was when Shane noticed the dress she was wearing. He had nced around earlier and seen that normal girls would wear an outer robe to cover up their bodies and make themselves look decent, but his troublesome sister didn''t do that. She only rushed about in her sky blue shirt with a ck tie that made her breasts pop out.

    Anger filled his heart, "Can''t you dress properly?"

    "Who are you to tell me what to do?"

    "Your brother!"

    "So act like one!" Tess was also angry as she firmly stood on her ground, "You''re not my mom!"<sub> </sub>

    Shane''s aura cooled down in an instant. Sure, he wasn''t their mom, but he was still her superior. He hated it when she acted like a spoiled brat, but they were in public, and he didn''t want to teach her a lesson in front of everyone else.

    His fingers curled up in a fist as he coughed and pulled out his jacket before throwing it at her chest, "Cover up yourself if you don''t want to be strangled."

    Tess seemed to have realized that things had gone out of her hands as she pouted but listened to her brother.

    That was when someone cleared his throat. The brother-sister duo turned their heads only to see a man standing in front of their eyes with a bald head. His height was enormous, and he looked somewhat simr to Dwayne Johnson.

    It was just that he wore an ancient western outfit resembling a teacher''s. He looked like a proper schr while holding an invisible notepad in his hands and a pen.

    He looked at Shane, "Number?"

    Number?

    What number?

    Shane''s head tilted when his sister whispered in his ears, "The system number. Everyone has one. None of these guys converse with names. It''s the numbers."

    The youth realized as he uttered the number he had memorized just in passing, "12254801."

    The bald man nodded and turned toward Frank, who opened his mouth and closed it. Then he frowned as if he were thinking about something deeply.

    Shane rolled his eyes. He could tell what was going on, "12254799."

    The bald man jotted down on the transparent pad as he ced it in his pockets and looked coldly at the two neers, "Rest today. We will start by tomorrow."

    "Start what? At least give us some introduction!" Shane spoke without thinking twice.

    That was when he felt his sister nudging his side as he flinched and red at her, "Hey, what was that for?"

    "I''ll tell you everything. Don''t trouble him. He''s bald for nothing. He stresses over every small thing."

    The bald man cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at the girl, "Miss 12254712, I hope you act like a proper student from tomorrow onwards. Otherwise, we have punishment centers to teach brats a good lesson. You''ll clean the dining room today, twice as punishment for speaking ill of your future instructors."

    "WHAT?! NOOO, DON''T DO THIS TO ME!!!!"

    "Pfft," Shane burst outughing, but when he received his sister''s re, he shut his mouth and pretended he didn''t hear anything.

    The bald man ignored the girl''s whining as he ordered his men standing behind him dressed as ancient guards to take her away. Then he turned toward Shane and Frank, "Now that we have twelve newbies, we can start the sses tomorrow. Be ready. Have some sleep and recover your stamina. The servant behind me will guide you to your rooms."

 Chapter 7 6. Lets See What Youve Got!

    Shane might have acted like he was cool and had ovee the event of his parent''s death, but his heart had still died a little on the inside. The smile on his face had fooled everybody throughout the day as he ate and chatted without hesitation, but when nightfall came as he went to his room and shut the door behind him, the smile disappeared.

    He had been living a pleasant life filled with friends and loved ones. He would meet his parents twice a month on the weekends, and the previous weekend before his death was the only time he could not reach his parents because he had joined extra sses for the annual exam.

    Now, he couldn''t see them even if he wanted to!

    When he died, he was fine with it. It wasn''t that he could change anything, but he could feel his shoulders rxed, thinking at least his loved ones were there to remember him. If possible, he would find a way to reach them.

    But now¡­.

    His entire life seemed to have crumbled to dust.

    p ''I''ll never see my mom bursting out in anger just because I failed to eat a sd every morning. I wish I had spent more time with them¡­ just one more second¡­.''</anda>

    The light in his eyes dimmed as he thought of past days. Too much had happened in one day, making him feel as if his entire body was weighed down with an endless amount of weight. His shoulders hung as he looked all gloomy with a terrible aura around his body.

    ''Why did I have to die? Why did fate take Tess away? She had so much to do¡­.'' he thought as he staggered over to his bed.

    The room was fairly normal, simr to a mediocre hotel room with all the modern facilities. Except for a TV, everything was there. He turned off the light and buried his face into the pillow, clutching it on both sides. White knuckles were visible as he tried to suppress the mixture of anger and depression in his heart.

    He wanted to kill the person who made this ident happen, but he couldn''t. He wanted to hate the destiny that destroyed his entire life, but that still wouldn''t satisfy his heart.

    At this point, he was helpless.

    ''What should I do next? Survive? But for whom?'' he thought as if he had lost all his will to live. He looked at the ceiling above him, ''It''s not like I hadn''t died before. I think I can handle the second time.''

    Just as this thought came, he shook his head, ''No! I have to stay alive for my sister! She still needs me! Both of us will try our best to survive!''

    As he determined his goal, his eyes automatically closed on their own, and he fell asleep.

    The next day when he woke up, he found a blue uniform ced neatly on the desk beside his bed. He got ready and walked out of the room.

    All the students were ordered to gather around the training ground Shane had seen on his right while entering the institute. They had already eaten as they made their way toward the open ground.

    A few people were assembled when Shane, Tess, and Frank walked over. The former looked around as he frowned. His eyes stuck on two people with ck hair standing on the ground, staring at him with a hint of vignce in their eyes. After a moment, their vignce changed into confusion as if they were thinking about something.

    ''Why do I feel like I have seen these people? It''s kinda like Deja Vu,'' he thought to himself as his frown deepened. He couldn''t shake this feeling away as he noticed changes in their expressions, ''Did they also feel that?''

    Shane didn''t talk to these two people this time as he walked over with his group and stood on the side. They waited, waited, and waited, but the instructor still didn''t arrive. He tapped on his arm while crossing them on his chest as he nced around in a bored manner.<sub> </sub>

    The students around him talked about useless things, so he didn''t even listen clearly until¡ª

    "You got a hundred thousand crana?! Dude, that''s like a lot!" A blond guy eximed as his eyes widened.

    A purple-haired guy waved his hand, "Yeah. I can easily afford a one-room apartment for at least a few months!"

    "Can I room in with you?"

    "You gotta wash my clothes."

    Shane frowned. He had thought that two thousand crana was a lot, but he was wrong. And what the heck was up with renting apartments? Weren''t they supposed to stay in the institute?

    As he kept thinking about it, he heard a voice echoing in the background, "Everyone, assemble here."

    He raised his head only to see a huge guy with a bald head and darkplexion, wearing nothing but the armor on his chest, staring at everyone standing on the ground. There was a scar on his face that made him look even more dangerous.

    Even his cold nce was enough to scare anyone for eternity.

    Shane pursed his lips as he pressed down the waves of difort in his heart. He took a deep breath and nudged his sister, "What''s up with that guy?"

    "That''s the instructor, System 28369," Tess moved closer as she tried to hide behind her brother while speaking, "I''ve heard that this guy had killed those monsters we all saw during the first so-called test. All of them. With his bare hands! He''s that ruthless! And he has a record of obtaining the highest number of crana through the viewers."

    Shane raised his brows, "Then he must be powerful. What''s he doing being an instructor?"

    "He hates the System God, and people say he''s secretly rebelling."

    "System God?" Shane wanted to ask more questions when a long stick hit their heads with suppressed strength. Even then, their heads turned dizzy as a gush of pain appeared throughout their heads, making them stunned at that ce.

    "You like to talk too much about me, don''t you?" The bald guy snickered, "Come aside. Fight me as a punishment."

    Tess''s face paled as she stared at the man with widened eyes. Her entire body trembled under the man''s gaze. At that instant, Shane suddenly came in front of her and blocked the instructor''s gaze.

    "Don''t f*cking involve her. It was my fault," Shane''s eyes turned cold as he stared at the huge man in front of him in anger. It seemed a ck aura surrounded his entire being as he continued to stare coldly at the bald man.

    All the students around them could feel the atmosphere turning colder. The more time passed, the more everyone trembled. Neither of them had expected a newbie system who had just arrived here to have such a dark aura around his body. They were all stunned, and even the instructor showed a surprised expression on his face momentarily.

    The next second, he turned back to normal as he smirked, "Yeah? Let''s see what you''ve got."

 Chapter 8 7. The Fight!

    "Menu," the bald man spoke as a transparent window appeared in front of his eyes. Even though everything was blurred to everyone else, they could still tell why this man opened the menu this time, "Inventory."

    After that, he used his hand to select two points on the screen and looked at Shane, "I''ll lend you a sword-" he paused dramatically before frowning, "Do you even know how to use one?"

    Shane''s fingers curled up to form a fist as he red at the man standing in front of his eyes. Even though he had to tilt his head up, the level of anger in his heart didn''t falter. He could feel a burning sensation eating up his heart as he continued to stare.

    ''How dare this man underestimate me like this?! I''ll show him who''s the boss here!'' This was what he had thought when he saw an amusing nce from the instructor.

    But he was so wrong.

    The moment he grabbed the sword, his entire body trembled as the weapon became heavier. He had to use two hands to lift it and point it toward the bald man. Even then, it shook all the way.

    "You can''t even lift the weapon, and you dare to fight?" One of the students spoke as he snickered, "If it were me, I''d have shown a good show."

    "Right? How did he even manage to pass?"

    A familiar female voice rang in their heads:

    [System 28369''s live stream is on]

    [10456429 viewers are online]

    [You have been given 5,000 crana]

    [You have been given 655,421 crana]

    [You have been given 584 crana]

    [You have been given 96,544 crana]

    [You have been given 5,00 crana]

    Everyone''s eyes widened after hearing that amount. Aftering into this world, they had all learned about crana being the official virtual money with a symbol of C having a cross right in the middle. To rent a single house of two bedrooms, the systems would have to spend about ten thousand cranes in a month.

    So they all knew the value of money, and they were so shocked after hearing this that they all stood stunned.

    At the same time, the bald man spoke with an irritated voice, "Mute all."

    Only then did the female robotic voice stop. The bald man rubbed his forehead in annoyance, "I hate when the system does it. I should stop using Livestreams."

    The menu was still on that showed himments from various people. He rolled his eyes after seeing them whine. He sighed and said, "Alright. I''ll give you a good show today."

    The man turned toward Shane and said, "Fight."

    Shane gritted his teeth as he used up all of his muscle power. He remembered that his body had too much strength while running and killing those monsters. Then why couldn''t he use his strength at all?

    Where did that superhuman strength go?

    As soon as he thought of it, he felt a wave of warm energy flooding straight from his heart to the entire body. His muscles were empowered as he felt the pain from lifting the heavy sword vanishing into thin air. After a few seconds, he lifted the whole sword without any difficulty.

    His eyes widened. It turned out that he just had to think to use that superhuman strength. Huh.

    Even the bald man was shocked after seeing such a huge development before they started to fight. This weapon was level ten, and only systems on the same level and above could lift it properly.

    How could a newbie who had just started as a system lift this weapon with such ease?! This man couldn''t lift it until a while ago, but how did this happen?!<sub> </sub>

    A frown crossed the bald man''s forehead before a glint appeared in his eyes. He opened his mouth, "Hah, interesting! Very interesting! Since you can lift it easily, attack. Here are the rules: if you can hit me even once, you win, but you only have one chance. I won''t use any weapon and only act defensively. But if you can''tnd a hit on any part of my body within ten minutes, I win, and you''ll have to be my host for the hardest world."

    Shane looked at the instructor confusedly for a moment. He wanted to ask about systems and hosts, but he shook his head. This wasn''t the time to ask questions. This person just threatened his sister. He would have to teach this instructor a lesson!

    His grip on the sword increased as white knuckles appeared. He red at the bald man and said, "Let''s start."

    The bald man also didn''t say anything as he said, "Now that we have finalized everything," he raised his head and looked into Shane''s eyes, "Go."

    Shane''s body rushed toward the instructor with the sword at an awkward angle. He didn''t know how to fight. He was a damned basketball yer and an expert in the IT field, but in this magical world, his skills were of no use. His eyes became focused as he swung the sword at the bald man.

    The instructor folded his hands on his chest and easily evaded the attack by jumping to the side.

    This was expected. Shane didn''t lose his cool as he raised his sword again and shed it toward the bald man''s waist.

    Swish!

    The man dodged again. Shane could only hit the air as he gritted his teeth. Even though he was new to this, his speed wasn''t slow. After his muscles were strengthened, he could move the heavy sword as if it were created out of wood. It was just that despite being fast enough, his movements were awkward.

    He kept shing air here and there, but he couldn''t touch even the hair on the bald man''s body.

    The instructor smirked as he said, "How long are you going to continue this? You''re obviously weak despite having superhuman strength. Give up."

    "Never!" Shane''s anger fueled that sentence, "I''ll never give up!"

    "Don''t act like those protagonists in crazy system novels. You''re not one," said the instructor as he easily dodged another attack. His hands behind his back as he mockingly looked at the young boy, "You''re nothing but an ant for me. I can crush you in a minute."

    "Can you just shut up?" Shane felt his chest getting heavy because of anger. Thebination of anger and frustration turned him so mad that he really wanted to kill the man in front of him.

    ''Why''s this person mocking me like this?!'' he thought as he made another failed attempt at hitting the man.

    Finally, the countdown that the instructor had started was close to ending. A warning tone red by the passing second. The timing glowed in red on the screen that was visible to everyone.

    [0:30]

    [0:29]

    [0:28]

    [0:27]

    [0:26]

    A drop of sweat appeared on Shane''s forehead. He nced at the counter only to feel his heart gripped with anxiety.

    What to do?

    How to attack the instructor?!

    As he was thinking about it, he heard the bald man''s rough voice again, "What? Gave up already? I told you this fight is out of your league. It looks like I''m the dered winner."

    Twenty seconds were remaining! The bald man wasn''t the winner yet!

    Shane''s body was exhausted, but he could feel a burst of energy spreading throughout his body.

 Chapter 9 8. Dark Aura

    Shane''s entire body was engulfed with a rarely seen dark cosmic energy. A ck and red aura leaked out of his body as his eyes shone in the darkness. It seemed as if his eyes had turned into the abyss itself. The longer you stared into them, the more you would feel yourself drawn inside them, making you tremble in fright.

    That''s exactly what everyone was feeling at the moment. Even Tess, who had been chewing her nails in anxiety, couldn''t help but take a step back. The dark cosmic energy was so powerful that she trembled and fell to the ground on her knees.

    Since she was the closest, she was the most affected as her face paled.

    "Brother¡­." She finally opened her mouth, "You¡­."

    The students standing around were stunned as they stared at the young man who stood there surrounded by ck and red waves. It was just that Shane himself had no idea that something strange was pouring out of his body.

    He just felt that the amount of fatigue in his body had vanished into thin air as he thought about bing powerful with ultimate focus. He raised his hand and attacked the bald man, who had also be stunned at this point after watching such a scene in front of his eyes.

    The instructor instantly came back to himself when the sword was an inch away, and he dodged the attack as fast as possible, but it still struck him.

    A small injury appeared on his stomach as he raised his hand, "You win."

    Shane stopped as the ck, and red aura disappeared out of the blue as if it had never been there. It almost felt like it was everyone''s imagination.

    But their bodies were still filled with sweat after being in the presence of the dark cosmic energy.

    Shane''s face was filled with a grin as he turned to look at Tess, who had a frightened expression on her face. He frowned, "What''s wrong?"

    "You¡­." Tess finally managed to open her mouth, "Why do you have dark cosmic energy?"

    "Dark cosmic energy?"

    What''s that?

    Shane had question marks over his head. He nced toward the instructor as if seeking information.

    The bald guy rubbed his head and signed, "Originally, the total cosmic energying from the Absolute God was divided into two, divine and dark cosmic energy. The divine cosmic energy was used to create the celestial realm, and dark cosmic energy was used to develop the Karmic realm, where we all live. This karmic realm is filled with many parallel universes, and the reason why we have so much darkness is because of that dark cosmic energy surrounding everyone else.

    "The good thing is, the Absolute God decided to send out sparks of divine cosmic energy everywhere in the karmic realm to help needy people reach out to the celestial realm. Now, here''s where the situation turns tricky.

    "A long time ago, the empowered being, darkness himself, king of all dark cosmic energy, rebelled against the Absolute God, and all the Heavenly Emperors from parallel universes joined hands to deal with that person. Originally, the king was supposed to protect and manage the karmic realm under the direct order of the Absolute God. He used to keep everything bnced, making the karmic realm quite peaceful.<sub> </sub>

    "But¡­." The bald man sighed, "The war was big. It destroyed many universes, but in the end, the King of Darkness was pushed down from his throne with his people and punished under the strict order of the Absolute God. Now, he''s locked in a hellish prison with utmost security under the order of the God of Death, and that dark cosmic energy remaining in the entirety of the universe is his energy spread throughout the realm. Only demons can have ess to the dark cosmic energy. Why and how? No one knows. Ever since the king''s downfall of darkness, the demons became more and more powerful, destroying the peace in the karmic realm.

    "To think this young man can have ess to this dark cosmic energy¡­."

    Everyone shivered after hearing those words. Shane stared at the bald man in confusion as everyone else looked at him with a hint of fear in their eyes. He nced around and then stopped at the instructor as he pointed his finger at his face, "You don''t mean it to be me, do you?"

    "Yes. You have a dark aura around your body. It has never happened before." The instructor frowned as he nced around, "The systems who have arrived here could only ess divine cosmic energy because of their karma. It was because of good karma that they could enter this system world. So the demons can''t reach here like this. How did youe here?"

    The instructor''s body brightened with cosmic energy all of a sudden. A bright aura surrounded him as his eyes turned colder and colder, making Shane''s face pale. He took a step back, "Wh-What are you talking about? I-I''m a human!"

    "I don''t believe you," said the man as he sneered. "Demons are always found to be lying all the time."

    At this point, Tess immediately walked forward and stood in front of her brother with tears in her eyes, "Instructor, he''s right. He''s not a demon, and even if he was, how could he still leave everyone alive? Demons are known to be aggressive enough to kill anyone and everyone just by ncing at them, but he didn''t!

    "He''s my brother! I know it! You can check our memories!"

    The bald man frowned as he looked at two people standing before him. Only then did he realize that the Livestream was still on. He turned his sharp eyes toward the screen as he opened his mouth, "Good work, everyone. It was a good performance. Let''s entertain the world tomorrow at the same time, and let''s create a new storyline for the next day. That''s all for today, bye-bye."

    He spoke those words in a nd tone as if he were bored while talking, but his words pacified the audience. After ncing at Shane''s body, everyone online had be so frightened that they stared at their screens without moving. Then they all started sting randomments about Shane being a demon who infiltrated into Imperium.

    This hadn''t happened. Ever.

    But when the instructor uttered that it was all a y meant to entertain everyone else, they all calmed down. Wasn''t the man supposed to give them all a good show?

    Perhaps that was what he meant by putting up a good drama performance. The acting was top-notch!

    By the time the Livestream ended, everyone had forgotten about Shane being able to ess dark cosmic energy and began discussing his abilities at being an entertainer.

    The bald man turned his sharp nce at the students gathered and narrowed his eyes, "Keep this a secret until I figure out the real story. If a word of this goes out, you''re all dead."

    He was damn serious since his entire body was covered with a cold aura that made everyone shiver. After warning everyone else, he looked at Shane and Tess standing in front of him, "Come with me."

 Chapter 10 9. Lightning Bond!

    The trio entered the building as they climbed the stairs right in front of the open door and kept walking along the first-floor corridor. Tess and Shane were behind the huge, bald guy, terrified out of their minds.

    Of course, they had managed to act boldly just a while ago on the ground. Even though they didn''t know how they managed to act boldly a while ago, now that everything had been settled, they seemed to havee back to their senses.

    The two youths trembled as they continued to walk, not even daring to even breathe loudly.

    "How did you manage to fight such a huge guy?" Tess didn''t remember the dark aura anymore that had surrounded her brother. She only looked at the huge guy in front of her and felt a trace of fear engulfing her heart, "He''s so huge and scary."

    "I have no f*cking idea."

    "You know, I can hear you, right?" The instructor said all of a sudden, making the two people standing behind the bald man jump in shock.

    Shane gulped as he chuckled nervously, "You''re not going to kill us, are you?"

    "What do you think?" The bald man spoke sarcastically, "You guys have created a huge trouble for me. You better behave until we reach the destination."

    "Where are you taking us?"

    The bald guy turned toward the left in an intersection and red at Shane from the corner of his eyes, "To hell."

    Shane and Tess shivered. They shut their mouths; they couldn''t tell whether this huge guy was just bluffing or telling the truth. They were too scared to speak as if they hadn''t been the ones to speak in front of the man before.

    Soon, they all ended up stopping at a dark dead end with only a door on the other side. It was shrouded in darkness as it gave an eerie feeling to the two youngsters behind. They couldn''t help but stare at the wooden door that looked like it hadn''t been cleaned for a long time, filled with dust and fungus.

    It looked exactly like a dooring out of a horror movie. The two siblings trembled as they huddled together.

    The bald man rolled his eyes as he said, "Follow me."

    After that, he pulled out a key from his pocket and inserted it inside the lock, as he nced behind with his cold gaze, "Be careful. I haven''t used this room for a long time. It might have be rusty."

    As soon as the door opened, an empty, white room appeared, simr to the one Shane had woken up in, but this time, the room had a bed, table, and even a television attached to the wall. Everything was white except for the colorful scenes on the TV. Shane''s eyes nced at the scene ying on the TV.

    It was a very familiar scene of the instructor and him fighting on the ground.

    The corners of his lips twitched. Why were the ''viewers'' of this world so keen on watching his embarrassing moments?

    He shook his head and looked at the person who waszing on the bed while eating popcorn.

    Shane tilted his head as he thought, ''This is what the instructor called a rusty room?''

    But on second thought, as he stared at the young ten-year-old boy with his skin peeling off from his face and other limbs, revealing a robotic build on the inside, Shane understood what the instructor meant. It turned out, this thing was a robot.

    When the robot saw the instructor entering inside, he waved his hand and said, "Yo, master, did the sun arise in the West today? Why do I hallucinate you actually entering my domain?"<sub> </sub>

    "Dirt,e here."

    "Nope."

    "I''m warning you onest time. Otherwise, you''ll be dismantled."

    "h h h. I have heard this many times, but you still haven''t acted out on it."

    Anger erupted on the instructor''s face. The muscles on his face contorted as his bald appearance looked even more frightening. He raised his hand as he looked coldly at the robot and said with a trace of light shing in his eyes, "Inventory."

    "W-Wait¡­why are you using your inventory?" The robot suddenly showed a frightened expression as he jumped off of the bed. He made a gesture full of vignce as he squinted his eyes at the bald man, "Don''te closer!"

    "Toote," said the bald man as he pulled out a binding rope and made it float in the air as lightning sparked around it.

    Shane''s eyes went wide as he looked at the scene in front of his eyes. He felt as if he had entered a fantasy anime or something.

    After that, the bald man uttered a word: "Lightning Bond."

    As soon as he said those words, it seemed to have activated the weapon. The rope instantly flew toward the robot and wrapped around its body while sending shock waves every few seconds.

    "AAHHHHHHH...."

    The entire body of the robot trembled as all its hairs danced with the waves of electricity. He screamed so loud that Shane and Tess felt like their eardrums were about to explode.

    After five minutes, the rope untied the robot as thetter''s body fell limp on the ground and the rope returned to the instructor. The bald man muttered, "Vanish."

    Then, the weapon disappeared without a trace as the instructor looked coldly at the robot on the ground and said, "I have told you many times that I''m your master, and you have to treat me as one."

    The robot looked at the bald man with a pitiful look on his face, "Look, even more skin has peeled off."

    "And whose fault was that? Behave!"

    "Fine. what can I do for you?" The robot, Dirt, pulled himself up and sat on the ground while leaning against the cab behind his back.

    "Check their memories," said the bald man as he pointed to the two people who were supposed to be standing behind his back.

    The robot''s eyes became even more confused, "Who?"

    "Newbies¡­." The instructor turned around only to see that there was no one in sight. He could hear the sound of hurried footsteps slowly disappearing into the corridor.

    The bald man chuckled all of a sudden, "It seems everyone wants to piss me off today. Good. Very good!"

 Chapter 11 10. Memories

    Shane and Tess didn''t even dare to turn back and stop. They didn''t want to run away at first, but after seeing the bald man''s magic, they couldn''t stop themselves from rushing out. The girl was the first one to bolt as Shane also stumbled back and ran away.

    After running through the corridors for a while, Shane felt like he had lost his way as he pulled his sister''s hand and stopped her. The two of them leaned against the wall as they gasped for air. Then Shane turned toward the girl and red at her, "What the heck?!"

    "Don''t yell at me! You ran too!"

    There was a hint of embarrassment on Shane''s face, "That''s because I wanted to catch up with you!"

    "Keep making excuses."

    "You''re the one making excuses! I''m your elder brother. Show some respect!"

    "Did you ever act like an elder in front of me? Tell me a single example."

    Shane thought seriously about it this time since he wanted to win in front of his sister. All he could remember was how he would often pick his nose, scratch his back, liezily on the couch while ying games, stay awake throughout the night, and have a messy hair and dressing style at home all day long¡­.

    Okay, he didn''t even act like a human. Shane coughed as he red at her, "I came to the parent-teacher meeting once when mom and dad weren''t there!"

    "Really?" Tess smirked as she put her hands on her waist, "Then why did my friends ask for your number not even an hour before I died? You went to school to flirt with my friends, didn''t you?"

    "Eh? You call that flirting? I was casually talking."

    Just as the two were talking, they heard a cold, chilling voice echoing into the dark corridor, "Lightning Bond. Minimum voltage."

    All of a sudden, a familiar rope wrapped around their bodies as it sparked. Even though the electricity wasn''t as high as they had seen earlier, it entered their bones, making their bodies tremble and hover above the ground. The ear-piercing screams of the two people echoed in the background. Only after a few rounds did they fall on the floor with a thud and nced weakly at the bald man who walked forward and showed his face.

    The corridor also had a window on the other side that illuminated everything, but it wasn''t enough to brighten up the entire body of the bald man. Only half of his face appeared clearly, making Shane and Tess tremble even more.

    After that, they heard the man''s voice, "This is the academy, not your house. Or, do you want to get killed and go to the reincarnation pool? Your choice."

    "I''m sorry."

    "It''s all his fault!"

    The two siblings saidpletely different things. Shane twisted his head and red at the girl, "How is it my fault?!"

    "Who told you to start fighting with the instructor?"

    "For whom did I do that?!" Shane gritted his teeth, "You''re so f*cking dead!"

    "Strike."

    They both felt a sudden gush of electrical power surging throughout their bodies. After that, they both stopped talking nonsense and nced at the instructor''s face with fear in their eyes.

    The bald man rubbed his head and said, "Why do you two have to give me a hard time? Let''s get done with this, shall we?" He nced at the ropes and spoke as if ordering his weapons, "Carry."

    The ropes tightened around the people and dragged them in the air. The two people were pulled toward the bald man as he walked down the dark corridor.<sub> </sub>

    No one conversed at the moment as they continued to walk. Shane and Tess were silent as if they were obedient uni students. In no time, the three returned to the room with the robot. The bald man nced at the robot and said, "Initiate the sequence."

    Dirt, who was lying on the ground, got up on his feet as he sighed, "It might hurt. I apologize in advance."

    After saying that, he closed his eyes and put his right hand in front of his chest with two fingers in a prayer position as he opened his mouth, "Analyze memory."

    The tips of those two fingers started glowing. Then he opened his eyes as his fingers touched the heads of Shane and Tess, respectively.

    As soon as those fingers touched the surface, a burst of energy entered the bodies of two newbies. This time, the power entering them had so much force that both Shane and Tess felt as if their bodies were being ripped apart by a sharp de again and again.

    Shane''s eyes became bloodshot as he cursed under his breath. His mind went nk as he gasped in shock. This was too much! Even though the robot had warned him, the pain was too much!

    This was worse than dying! At least, he didn''t have a memory of it.

    The horrific pain continued to flood throughout his body. Shane didn''t know what had happened to his sister¡­.

    Wait, Tess!

    He turned his bloodshot eyes toward the girl only to find that thetter had fallen unconscious at an unknown time. Her head hung down as her hair scattered about, hiding her face.

    The two were still tied up with the rope, hovering in the air.

    Only when the radiant energy transferred back to the robot did the pain vanish into thin air. Shane''s body was filled with sweat drops as he gasped. He struggled immediately as he nced at his sister.

    "Untie me, you motherf*ckers!"

    The bald man ignored the newbie as he stared at the robot and spoke, "Report."

    As soon as he spoke, a trace of energy entered his body. The man frowned as he closed his eyes for a while. After a few minutes, he opened them. His brows furrowed deeper.

    It seemed like he was thinking about something while ignoring Shane''s cursing in the background. The young man''s voice went higher and higher, "You son of a b*tch! Leave me! I''ll kill you! Why do you have to tie me up like this? How about we have another match right here? I''ll show you who''s the boss! F*cking untie me!"

    After a while, the bald man raised his eyes to nce at Shane with a stern look, "Untie and vanish."

    The rope disappeared into thin air the moment he spoke. The two bodies fell to the ground with a thud. Shane gasped in shock as he red at the instructor with a hint of hatred floating in his eyes. His aura was yet again turning darker at this time, indicating that he was infuriated.

    "You have the nerve to treat my sister this way!"

    "Shut up!" The bald man had a headache dealing with the youths. He rubbed his aching temples and said, "You''re no longer humans, don''t you know? Normal injuries that used to hurt you like hell won''t even make you frown! If so, you''d have died when shocked by my ropes."

    "But that doesn''t mean you can treat my sister and me like ves! I''m a f*cking person!"

    "Really? Fine. Go out and survive alone. I won''t help you even in my dreams!" After saying that, he grabbed Shane''s cor and Tess by her robes as he threw them outside the corridor window.

 Chapter 12 11. The Punishment Area

    The bald man continued to stare at that area without any expression on his face. He felt someone tugging his shirt as he nced back.

    The young robot looked up with an innocent-looking expression on his face, "Did you just throw them into the punishment center?"

    "Yes."

    "Isn''t that too much? I mean, they''re still young and new to this world¡­.."

    "Shut it. You''re my robot, not theirwyer."

    Dirt said nothing as he walked back and sat in thefort of his cough, not saying anything. His expression looked like that of a pouting child who was wronged. He crossed his arms on his chest as he stared at the TV screen without saying another word.

    The bald man ignored his stupid robot and walked out as he nced at the scene outside the window. Even though it was excessive, he still needed to ensure that these two were truly humans.

    Demons also had the ability to mess with memories. So he didn''t want to believe anyone so easily. But there was a situation where the demons would show their true personality¡ª when they were in a drastic position.

    The bald man wanted to see what these people were and what they could do when cornered. Of course, he wouldn''t let them die so quickly. If they were demons, he would torture them with his own hands.

    But if they turned out to be humans¡­..

    The bald man frowned. He didn''t know how to deal with this situation, but if the young man were someone who was wronged somehow because of the dark cosmic energy, he would definitely extend a hand and help find a solution.

    It all depended on how the youth would react to the situation.

    The two youths didn''t know what the instructor was thinking. They didn''t even get another chance to think anymore as they fell from the first floor directly to the ground filled with grass and trees. When they fell with a thud, their bodies were covered with scratches, twigs, branches, and even leaves on their bodies.

    Despite this, neither of them felt a trace of pain in their bodies. Shane touched a scratch on his face and flinched. It only pained when he touched it. If he had fallen off from such a height in his world, he would have surely broken his bones.

    He looked at Tess, and only after making sure that she was still alright did he rx his shoulders, "Where are we?"

    "The heck I know! I was doing just fine until you came along!"

    "Hah, says the girl who can''t even properly cover her chest in my absence."

    Tess red at her brother and fixed her clothes, "That''s just because we fell in an awkward position."

    Shane didn''t bother arguing with her anymore. Getting out of here was more of a crucial point.

    Tess also realized that they weren''t in a good situation. So she didn''t bother anymore with her brother as she looked around with a cautious gaze. Then she opened her mouth, "I don''t know many things about this world, but here''s the thing you should know. This ce is called the Orient continent, and we have three more. The one we came from was called Septo, the continent full of darkness and abyss. No one is allowed there without a special permit from the government, and monsters are also very powerful. They say the monsters are of the third level."

    "Let me guess, third is the highest?"

    "Yes, the monsters we witnessed back then during our trials were all babies."

    Babies? Shane''s lips twitched. If those were babies, he wondered what the parents would look like. It was good that he didn''t end up witnessing a group of huge parents rushing after their kids.<sub> </sub>

    "So, what do we have here?"

    "All I have heard about Orient is that it''s the most backward of all with all poor systems living here having a low level. There are indeed people who don''t want to continue to level up. They can find odd jobs such as opening a shop, cleaning duties, bing soldiers, etc. You have seen many such people, even our instructor."

    Shane''s face had a trace of anger at thest word, "Don''t remind me of that bald guy."

    Just as Tess was about to open her mouth, the two heard a roar echoing in the background. The two of them froze as they stared in the direction from where the sound wasing. It didn''t seem like the monster that made the noise just now was far away.

    Another roar sounded.

    It was closer!

    Shane rushed toward Tess and pushed the girl behind him as he nced around. The girl became even more confused after seeing such action as she voiced her thoughts in aining tone, "Brother, I can fight too."

    "Shh. Silence," Shane put his finger on his lips, "Did you hear that?"

    "You mean the roar?"

    "No. The footsteps."

    When Tess focused on the background, she could feel the ground shaking beneath her feet as the low sound of footsteps came closer and closer. Her eyes widened as she felt cold sweat on her back. She opened her mouth and asked, "What should we do?"

    p "Hide behind me."</anda>

    "But I can really fight."

    "I said no!"

    "Brother!"

    "Tess! Do as I say!" Shane yelled at the girl and pushed her behind a tree. Then he turned toward the sound as he stared at the scene in front of his eyes with a cautious gaze.

    Even though he was scared, he had someone to protect. He couldn''t care less about his emotions. He firmly pped his cheeks and took a deep breath.

    What did the bald man say after the fight? He had dark cosmic energy inside him that only the demons could ess. He wondered if he could use his power to intimidate the monsters since these monsters should have a trace of the same energy running through their veins.

    Soon enough, the monster arrived. It was as big as the height of an average-looking tree. That was why when it was stomping its feet toward Shane, many trees fell on the ground, making its way clear.

    When the monster finally stood in front of Shane, thetter realized how naive he had been, to think that he could intimidate a beast like this.

    It had the mouth of a goblin with sharp canines poking out of his lips. Its huge eyes filled with red lines made the monster look even more horrible. A blood and mucus stench wasing out of the beast that made Shane wrinkle his nose. The entire green body was covered with mud, blood, and mucus as it walked on its two feet.

    The monster raised its hand filled with dirty and sharp nails toward Shane and rushed at the young man with the fastest speed possible!

 Chapter 13 12. Lets Start!

    Two people were standing frozen as they stared at the monster standing in front of their eyes. At this moment, Shane frowned as he said, "Is this a joke?"

    "What?" Tess secretly picked up a branch fallen on the ground and waved her hand as if she wanted to try fighting, but since she hadn''t practiced, her moves were full of awkwardness. Her face seemed confident, making it look like she knew a secret to fight against the monster.

    "Is this the monster we''re supposed to fight?" Shane''s eyes squinted as he continued to stare at the monster in front of his eyes, "It''s just half the size of the beasts I saw during the trials."

    Tess also frowned.

    "That reminds me, how did you pass the trials without getting killed? From what I remember, you''re not someone who even liked to kill a mosquito."

    Tess remained silent as a bloody scene appeared in her mind. She had died just a few hours before Shane and got a chance to enter this ce earlier. The ce where she had an ident was in the middle of a forest, where it was difficult to find any help.

    If help had arrived on time, perhaps she could still have lived. It was just that the area had no cellphonework, and even if it had, neither Tess nor anyone else could have picked it up because she was knocked out the moment the ident happened.

    Only after entering the white room did she see how she died and learn the bitter truth about her mom and dad. That day, she cried a lot, at least for half an hour, before heading outside the room. The only relief was that her brother was still alive.

    It was just that she had a trace of sadness in her eyes, thinking she couldn''t see the guy anymore.  But all the thoughts of her family vanished without a trace after seeing giant monsters in front of her eyes.

    Originally, neither of the groups she was in had the thought of rushing toward the monsters and didn''t even wonder if they were all hiding something behind their backs. They were all afraid and wanted to find a way out of there.

    One of the people in their group just happened to have stepped outside the safe boundary as the monstersunched onto that person instantly. They all witnessed the scene of a human getting torn apart like a piece of meat. That was a scene she would never forget in her life. Her eyes widened as her entire body paled.

    That was when she realized that without her brother''s, mom''s, and dad''s protection, she was nothing but a spoiled brat who didn''t do anything but yell at them all day long just to fulfill her wishes. Now, when she was alone amid so many monsters, she didn''t know whom to rely on anymore.

    That was when she started to wonder what her brother would think at this time, and she instantly rushed toward the monsters because Tess knew exactly what would be going on in Shane''s mind.

    She lost her arm, one of her eyes, and her entire body became nothing she had ever known, but she managed to survive the ordeal. It was just that she had to witness the scene of everyone getting killed brutally, and she was the only one who made it out alive. Even the good news of her body healing and getting her arm and eye back didn''t make her happy.

    That entire event made Tess unexpectedly mature, but she didn''t want this.

    She looked up at her brother, who stood in front of her like a wall, protecting her from the danger as her eyes moistened. Then she lowered her head and took a deep breath, "Let''s fight these things. These things are nothing in my eyes!"

    For a moment, Shane paused, thinking if he had just heard some kind of emotion from the girl''s voice, but he didn''t say anything as he narrowed his eyes.

    Just how did he end up using that dark cosmic energy back then? Right, he had to think about it for the moment.

    Dark cosmic energy

    Dark cosmic energy

    Dark cosmic energy

    F*cking dark cosmic energy!

    What the heck!!!<sub> </sub>

    Shane''s eyes couldn''t help but widen. He couldn''t ess that energy at all. How did he manage to pull it off? He had been extremely emotional back then, so it might be because he could trigger it somehow because of that, but now¡­.

    He couldn''t help but cuss in his mind.

    No worries. He had managed to survive those monsters. He would do this as well. After all, it was just one.

    But then, he heard the sound of footstepsing closer and closer. The ground trembled even more as if something huge wasing. After a while, Goblins of the same height surrounded them with spears and knives in their hands.

    Then, he heard a familiar voice echoing from above, "Why are you two still chitchatting? Isn''t this dangerous enough?"

    Shane and Tess looked up instantly only to see the bald man standing behind the door from where they were thrown as if they were potato sacks. Anger flooded Shane''s veins, "What the heck is this!? Why did you do this to us?!"

    The bald man had pulled out a cigar from somewhere as he sucked on it with a deep breath and said while exhaling the smoke into the air, "This is my punishment area. The two of you have managed to attract my attention, and it''s my duty to test you firmly before epting you as disciples."

    "Who the f*ck wants to be your disciples?!"

    The bald man ignored thatment as he went on exining, "If you want to live under me, just do one thing: survive for an hour. That''s it."

    Shane''s ears perked up as he asked, "We''ll be free after that?"

    "I''ll help you hide your identity only on the premise that you be my disciples."

    The robot standing behind the bald man was horrified after hearing those words. Just now, they were discussing how Shane and Tess were actually demons who entered the system realm. And now this man was talking about making them his disciples. What the heck was this person thinking?!

    He instantly whispered hurriedly, "Master, this isn''t a good choice¡­."

    The bald man ignored his robot and said loudly, "Oh, by the way, you cannot ess your powers. This is a no-power zone. Of course, the same goes for the monsters as well, but these Goblins are naturally more powerful than you guys even after having system bodies. So, the chances of your survival are pretty small."

    Shane''s eyes were fueled with anger as he red at the bald man. If looks could kill, the bald man would have died already a million times! But then, he had to think rationally. Of course, there was no way he would end up bing that bald man''s disciple, but the ''one-hour'' thing would save him and his sister. At this time, he didn''t have much power, and he didn''t even know anything about this world. So he would have to survive no matter what!

    After thinking about it, he looked up and said, "Fine. Let''s start."

    Then the bald man smiled and said, "In five minutes, I''llmand these monsters to attack you. Until then, you can rest and think of a proper solution."

    When the bald man turned around, the robot jumped in, "Master! What the hell are you doing?!"

    "Stupid robot. I don''t have to exin everything to you," said the bald man as he stood there, watching the scene beneath him.

    His thought process was simple. This area wasn''t a no-power zone, as he just said, but if Shane and Tess were new to the energy system, they wouldn''t know how to use powers at all. What had happened earlier was just an ident, and luck wouldn''t be on your side at all times.

    He knew that for survival, the demons would shed all their garbs and reveal their true selves amid the danger. He was waiting for the time to see whether these two were telling him the truth or not.

    After all, if they were really innocent, he could save them any minute, but if there were a little bit of a suspicious element, he wouldn''t hesitate to kill them right here, right now.

 Chapter 14 13. Hes In Trouble!

    Shane didn''t know what the man was thinking. He could only grit his teeth and stare at the scene in front of him with a hint of hatred ming in his eyes.

    Tess opened her mouth, "How are we going to fight these things?"

    "Didn''t we manage to survive that trial? This is nothing!"

    "But we had a ce we could go, but here¡­." Tess frowned as she asked, "Bro, do you have any ideas?"

    Shane frowned. He said nothing after that. ording to the rules, he just had to survive no matter what. If only he could ess his powers¡­.

    Let''s try again.

    He closed his eyes and focused on the feelings that he had back then. At that time, all of his senses concentrated only on that emotion and the feeling that he wanted to have something awakened to protect himself. He had directed all his feelings of desperation toward the thought that he wanted to protect his sister.

    Maybe he could use the same method in a desperate situation to save them both, but did it have to be a near-death experience to use his dark cosmic energy powers?

    Shane groaned internally as he kept thinking, but no matter what, he didn''t find any feasible solutions. Slowly, the timer went off. At this time, a familiar female robotic voice echoed in the background:

    [System 28369''s live stream is on.]

    [11878563 viewers are online]

    [You have been given 10,000 crana]

    [You have been given 200,000 crana]

    "Mute all," said the bald man as he smiled out into the air, "Now then, the session has started. I''m going to show y''all an exciting event. Bring out your popcorn. These two here are going to survive in the world without magic."

    He read through somements and muttered to the camera, "No, this is yet again another made-up show. Nothing''s serious. Everything is under supervision, and whatever you''ll see is made through my robot like before. It''s all holographic. So enjoy it. No one''s getting killed here."

    Shane red at the man above as he saw a Goblin finally stepping forward. Here he was facing a life and death situation, and this damned bald instructor was having fun and earning money! What a creepy dude!

    Soon, he didn''t get enough time to even think about anything. One after another, the Goblins thrashed their huge weapons towards the duo. Of course, the knives was smaller aspared to a spear, but for Shane and Tess, it was bigger than the two of thembined!

    Shane pulled the girl behind him as he dodged the attack at the same time. The moment he moved, the Goblin''s spear hit the ground with a thud. The floor trembled from the impact as there seemed to be a crack at the ce where it hit.

    He instantly rushed away from Tess after making sure she hid behind the bushes. He was a little worried if these things could smell humans¡ªer systems, or whatever they were, but his worries were useless. Once he ran toward the Goblins, directly entering the group by running between a monster''s legs, he could see that everything else had ignored Tess''s presence totally, now running after him.

    His shoulders rxed as he continued to run and dodged attacks. It was good that his sporting skills were top-notch, or else he wouldn''t be this agile.

    Even after reaching his highest speed, it wasn''t always possible to keep avoiding the brutal attacks. One of the attacks hit his back, throwing Shane off guard. He became imbnced as blood crawled up his throat and puked out of his mouth. His entire body, especially the ce on his back where that spear hit him, was covered with spike injuries.

    Blood spurted out of the wound constantly as he felt dizzy after a few minutes. He looked back at Tess''s hiding ce and gritted his teeth.

    He couldn''t stop here. Not when his sister was in danger! If he happened to die here, these things might end up heading toward the girl in an instant!

    No, he would have to keep himself alive no matter what!<sub> </sub>

    But how?!

    He couldn''t think of anything. At this time, he felt that almost all the Goblins got closer to him. If it weren''t for his running ability, he would have died already under the feet of these monsters.

    As he continued, sweat drops started piling up on his forehead, making him curse under his breath. His body was also on the verge of giving up. With no healing and medication, his body lost too much blood from that one single attack just now.

    He didn''t know how long he could continue to manage to do this until the end.

    He turned to nce back at the monsters as he noticed they wereing closer.

    Closer.

    Even closer than before.

    There was only a foot''s distance between the two of them.

    At this point, Shane couldn''t continue running anymore. His body had be too tired to move. He found it hrious, though. His body that couldn''t be injured after jumping from the first floor ended up bleeding because of a Goblin''s attack. Perhaps these beings were more powerful than he imagined.

    If they had hit him in his human body, perhaps they might have just crushed his body in an instant with their strength.

    And these things weren''t even using magic! It was pure raw strength of muscles!

    Shane''s body swayed at this time as he struggled to focus. The more he ran, the more his body weakened.

    No.

    He couldn''t sleep.

    He would not let his sister be alone anymore.

    No!!!!

    In the end, he couldn''t continue walking forward anymore. His body gave up soon as he fell t on the ground with a thud. His cheek was against the grass as he opened his half-closed eyes to nce at the scene onest time.

    Just then, he saw someone''s figure standing in front of him. That person gave him a familiar feeling for some reason, but he couldn''t tell who it was!

    He could make out that the figure of that person was that of a human, but since his eyelids were heavy, he couldn''t see the appearance. All he could see was someone covered in a ck hood, raising their hands toward the Goblins. A bright light shone from those hands as a sword appeared that aimed at the monsters heading toward Shane.

    Thetter felt a warm current of energy flooding his veins at the same time that calmed the throbbing pain on his back.

    Sofortable.

    Shane closed his eyes and fell unconscious.

 Chapter 15 14. Hes Here!

    Shane heard the noise of someone sobbing beside him the moment he came back to himself. This voice was so familiar that he could recognize that it was his sister with his eyes closed.

    "Sob sob. Bro, why are you like this?! At least, give me your powers before you die!"

    Yup, that was definitely his sister. She didn''t cry for him, but for losing his powers.

    Shane couldn''t help but feel his head aching at that. His fingers unconsciously moved as if they were trying to massage his head.

    Just then, he heard the girl''s ear-piercing scream, "BROTHER! YOU''RE AWAKE!"

    A groan escaped his lips, "Stop yelling. I think I''m having a hangover."

    "You didn''t even drink."

    "But it feels exactly like that," Shane pushed himself up only to find that he was already in his room. He rubbed his head in a helpless manner, "What happened?"

    "The bald¡ª" she coughed in embarrassment after saying that word, "¡ªI mean the instructor called it off after you fell unconscious. He saved us both from the Goblins."

    "Eh? He did?" Shane frowned as if he was trying to remember something, but forgot about it for some reason. His brows furrowed, but in the end, he couldn''t remember anything at all. But in his heart, why did he feel ufortable after hearing that it was the bald man who had saved them back then?

    Just as he was thinking about it, he felt a stinging pain throbbing in his head that made his headache worse than before. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against his head. When he stopped thinking about it, his headache was gone.

    Since he couldn''t remember a thing, he might as well be thankful, but to be thankful to that person¡­.

    He scoffed as he crossed his arms on his chest, "It''s his duty to save us. He didn''t do anything excessive."

    "He did," a voice echoed in the background, making them both stunned. They turned their heads in that direction only to find a certain familiar robot sitting on the window with its legs dangling inside. There was a piece of branch that he kept chewing on as he wore western fantasy robes that made him look like a young prince or something with blond hair and blue eyes.

    This robot didn''t seem like a robot, but Tess and Shane weren''t fooled by this thing''s appearance. Even this robot''s name was ''Dirt'' given by his own master.

    Shane''s eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here?"

    "Carrying out a menial order from my master," Dirt paused as he made a disgusted expression on his face, "Why did he make me do this? I''m the prince of all robots, and yet he named me Dirt! Can you believe it? I was supposed to live a luxurious life filled with fame! But who exactly remembers me anymore? Sigh."

    Shane and Tess were staring at the robot with nk expressions on their faces. They didn''t even know what this robot was talking about.<sub> </sub>

    Dirt coughed awkwardly and said, "I was ordered to keep an eye on you guys."

    "Why?" Shane was even more confused at this point. Since they had passed the weird test somehow, they should be out of any kind of suspicion. Then why was that bald man still keeping an eye on him? Did something happen when Shane fell unconscious?

    "Now that he''s awake, go back. Your work is over," Tess waved her hand in a dissatisfied manner.

    "Hey, girl! Do you have any idea whom you''re talking to?" Dirt pointed his finger at himself, "I''m the legendary Royal 2IOX robot! There''s only one simr to me in existence, but I''m not allowed to fight that damned robot, otherwise, we would know who is more powerful among us!"

    "What''s he talking about?" Shane finally leaned toward his sister and whispered, "He has gone mad, it seems."

    "I guess he''s been overworking these days. I had no idea he had been keeping an eye on us the entire time! You were only unconscious for three days straight, and this robot kept staring through the window without saying a word. Talk about being creepy."

    "Hey, I''m still here, and my ears have superhuman capabilities!" The robot rubbed his forehead in a frustrated manner and said, "Forget it. Let''s go. Master asked me to bring you with me whenever you''re awake."

    p Tess was about to stand up but Dirt stopped her, "Not you. Only Shane."</anda>

    The guy was still sitting on the bed as he frowned, "But I haven''t even freshened up. Can''t you wait for a while?"

    Dirt moved his fingers as bright energy gathered at the top of his finger to form a bright white ball as he directed it toward Shane''s body, which started sparkling after touching him. When the light subsided, Shane''s body had a new set of robes and his entire body smelt like roses with a mix of a wine scent. Even his stomach seemed to be empty at this point.

    While he was still surprised, Dirt spoke, "Humph, dirty humans¡­Er systems. And they say my name is Dirt. Come with me."

    With nothing to refute the robot''s words, Shane pulled himself up to his feet and started dragging his body after the robot. They walked through the corridor before ending up in a familiar pathway. The two of them continued walking ahead without saying another word. Shane was bored, but he didn''t dare ck off. He knew how powerful that bald person was, and if he was the one who had saved him and his sister, he couldn''t just ignore that man out of rudeness.

    He didn''t like epting someone''s help without paying them back. So even if he didn''t like the man, he would have to s*ck it up and meet that bald man.

    This time, they didn''t turn in the direction where Dirt''s room was there. Instead, they headed over in the opposite direction which had several rooms that seemed as if they were modern ssrooms with chairs and a podium.

    Dirt stopped in front of one of the ssrooms as he yawned and said, "Master, he''s here."

    Shane looked inside awkwardly.

    Many youths whom he had seen and hadn''t that day were sitting here like ordinary students. He even saw Frank who he hadn''t seen for a long time as his eyes lit up. He was about to call out to the stern-looking youth when the bald man standing behind the podium cleared his throat and said, "Let''s check you up first."

 Chapter 16 15. My Disciple!

    "What?" Shane was confused as he nced at the bald man. He wanted to have face-to-face chit chat with this person enough to make him understand what had happened after he fell unconscious and how did the instructor manage to save him and his sister, but looking at the ss filled with people¡­.

    Shane pursed his lips. It was better for the ss to end before he could talk about it. For now, he would justply with whatever this man was speaking about. So without asking any more questions, he raised his head and said, "Let''s do it."

    Even if he didn''t know what this man was going to do with him.

    The bald man sighed as if he could read the young man''s thoughts, but he didn''t say anything and waved his hand toward Dirt, "Take it out."

    The robot pulled out a round orb from thin air that looked transparent. He raised his hands as the orb flew at his fingertips while he walked into the ssroom as he stood right next to the podium.

    The bald man then looked at Shane and said, "Come inside and put your hands on the orb."

    Shane walked inside as he raised his hand and did exactly what the man said as if he were an obedient student. Even the bald man didn''t expect this kind of reaction. He probably thought that the young man had a few screws loose and would end up arguing.

    ? Shane could feel the instructor''s surprised gaze as he gritted his teeth and suppressed his desire to question the man as he took a deep breath and stood like that in that position.

    One minute passed.

    Two minutes passed.

    Five minutes passed.

    Ten minutes passed.

    Nothing happened.

    Shane scratched his head with another hand and asked, "It should have changed, right?"

    "Yeah, since it didn''t, you''re no more than an ordinary human," said the bald man as the orb remained transparent. He narrowed his eyes as a hint of interest shed in them for a moment before it disappeared, "Okay. That''s it. As you can see, this young man doesn''t have any power in his veins. So I''ll just deem him a powerless system."

    The entire ssroom erupted at that statement. A system without power? That was unheard of! Every system had his own power in this world, and when a host was unable to take up a challenge, it was usually the responsibility of the system to solve the issue with their own power. But what would happen if such a person encountered an extremely difficult world that had a lot of cosmic energy?

    Every single one of the students stared in Shane''s direction withplicated emotions. Some felt gloated, thinking there was one lesspetitor, while others felt sympathy in their hearts, but Shane was the only one whose eyes grew wide in surprise.

    In front of everyone, he looked at Dirt and asked, "Can I have one more go?"

    The robot nced at the bald man who nodded. Only then did he turn toward the young man and showed him the orb.<sub> </sub>

    Shane put his hands on it for a full fifteen minutes this time, giving everyone a headache. Most of the students put their heads on the table and went off to sleep. Several others started chitchatting with each other in a low voice for fear of the bald man, but since the instructor wasn''t saying anything, the students became bolder and started talking loudly.

    By the time Shane put his hand away after seeing the same result in front of his eyes, the ssroom had already turned into a marketce with loud voices echoing around him. No one paid attention to his expressions as he thought back to the time when he had fought with the bald man.

    He indeed had some power running through his veins. He had felt it, and the instructor even called it the dark cosmic energy. Then what just happened? How could he witness such a strange result at this time?

    Then his mind drifted back to the feeling that he had in his head when he had just woken up. At that time, when he had heard about how the bald man had saved him, he had felt something strange in his heart. As if he was missing something¡­.

    But no matter what, he couldn''t remember anything about how he ended up falling unconscious. He just remembered feeling something warm around his body, and nothing else. What was that feeling?

    The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. Did this bald man suck away his powers and made him useless? He sharply turned toward the bald only who stood there with his stern face looking calmly at the talkative ssroom as Shane averted his eyes.

    He closed his eyes and focused on his powers, but since he had no idea how to use that technique to bring the power hidden inside his veins out to use, he ended up failing, again. Frustrated, he opened his eyes and pursed his lips.

    What should he do?

    If he was a useless system, how would it be possible for him to protect Tess and survive in this strange world?

    As he kept thinking about it, a sudden loud noise from the podium made him jump. He turned toward an angry-looking bald man who red at his ss, "Fifty rounds. Get outside on the ground. Right now!"

    "NO!!!!!!"

    "That''s not fair! What could we do when this useless piece of sh*t was double-checking his results? This is all his fault! We were talking because of him!"

    "Yes, make him do fifty rounds instead!"

    Fifty rounds¡­. If Shane guessed correctly, the punishment should probably be to sprint fifty times around that open ground downstairs. He looked around with an expressionless face as he waited to see what would happen.

    "Silence!" The bald man continued to look at the students with a stern face, "A hundred rounds for those who don''t get out right now!"

    After that, no one dared to stay inside the ssroom anymore. Since Shane had questions, he didn''t nce around even when Frank passed by. He continued to stand inside the ssroom and after everyone left, the bald man raised his head and said, "Come with me."

    Shane nodded and heard the instructor speaking again, "You''re my disciple from now on."

    Eh? When the heck did that happen?

 Chapter 17 16. Ed Hudson

    Shane looked at the bald man as if speaking ''are you crazy?'' through his nce. The bald man ignored that look and continued speaking, "From now on, you''ll be calling me master, even in front of the others. Got it?"

    "Okay," Shane finally spoke after thinking for a while. Since he was useless, being a student of this ''master'' would undoubtedly help him, but¡­. "I want you to take in Tess too."

    The bald man didn''t care, "We''ll see about that in the future depending on how she performs."

    "Wait, what exactly happened that day?" Shane couldn''t help but ask, "It wasn''t you who saved me, was it?"

    The instructor was silent for a while as he raised his hand and gestured to the robot to do something. Thetter nodded as divine energy again sparkled at the fingertips of the robot that spread across the room. Then he turned at the young man and said, "This room is soundproof. Now, what do you remember from that day?"

    Shane frowned as he thought seriously, but as long as he thought deeply about that day, he would get a headache simr to that of a hangover. He stopped thinking about it and said, "I feltfortable as if something warm was entering my body and healed my pain."

    The bald instructor frowned after hearing this. Then he opened his mouth and exined truthfully, "I had my live stream watch over you guys since I couldn''t interfere with the punishment center directly, but then I noticed a distortion in the stream as if someone had hacked into the system. This had happened for the first time. So I rushed over there, and by the time I reached¡­."

    "I was already out," Shane couldn''t help but frown at this point, "then who was the one who saved me?"

    "I have no idea, but whoever it was, he also put a spell on you. I can''t feel any energy in your veins anymore," the bald man muttered under his breath, "Dirt, show him."

    Dirt nodded as he raised his hands. Divine energy sparkled as it created a holographic image of Shane''s internal body. He opened his mouth, "This is what your entire body looked like when I essed your memories for the first time."

    Shane looked over only to see a ck and red waveing out of his body. He couldn''t see the face, but the structure of the body seemed simr to his. He also noticed the same thing running through his veins.

    "That was before, and now see this," Dirt showed another holographic image of a body simr to before, but it didn''t have any dark and red energy. "See this? We were unable to see anything after I checked your body when you were unconscious. It almost seems like it was a hallucination before, but I know what I saw, and I can''t deny it."

    Shane couldn''t help but frown. This entire system world was strange in itself. The thing about him essing dark energy made him even more nervous, and now, there was someone who not only saved him, but also put a restriction on his body to hide his powers from others. So did it mean he also couldn''t ess his powers anymore?

    It didn''t matter, but those powers were a necessity if he wanted to save Tess¡­.

    His heart couldn''t help but feel like it was being torn apart. He had never felt so helpless before, except for the time he had died.

    When the instructor saw Shane''s frown deepening, he opened his mouth, "Let me teach you how to ess your powers for the time being."

    Shane nodded as the bald man took back the soundproofing spell and said, "Come with me."

    The three of them walked out as the bald man spoke, "By the way, I also have a name."

    Eh? This bald and muscr guy had a name? Was this person also like him who had arrived from Earth? Just as Shane was about mutter out his doubts, he heard the man speaking again:

    "Ed Hudson, and you''ll call me Master Ed from now on."

    Shane wanted to refute, but when he thought of theplexity of his powers, he shut his mouth and became obedient. In any case, he had to give his and his sister''s survival the first priority.

    The instructor kept talking, "Also, no one from that day remembers anything. So don''t worry about the info leak."

    "Why are you talking so much today? That''s not like you at all, Master Ed," Shane spoke nonsense again while walking through the corridor.<sub> </sub>

    "Keep talking, and you can see what happens."

    Shane shut his mouth. This muscr bald man was probably among the few people who ever managed to shut him up like this. He could only remember his own university teacher, parents, and the old neighbor when he was on Earth who had done this.

    A hint of nostalgia appeared in Shane''s eyes at this time.

    Soon enough, they reached the open ground where everyone was still running. Shane could see Frank at the end of everyone, trying to catch up, but couldn''t, because of his weak body. He finally stopped and leaned on his legs while taking deep breaths.

    Shane''s eyes lit up. He hadn''t messed with Frank for a long time. Just as he was about to take off, Ed grabbed his cor and looked coldly at his disciple, "Rule number one. Don''t even breathe loudly without my permission."

    "What the f*ck is wrong with you?"

    "If you want to be thrown among the goblins, go ahead and curse me again."

    Shane shut his mouth at this time and didn''t dare to even nce at the instructor.

    Thetter nodded in satisfaction as he pushed his disciple away and nced at the people running as he yelled at the top of his voice, "Punishment''s over. Come back."

    When the students heard that voice, they all stopped and cried tears of happiness as they looked at the bald man with happy smiles on their faces.

    "Instructor, you have finally decided to forgive us!"

    "You''re so good. We will never go against you."

    Ed looked around as he spoke with an expressionless face, "Lesson number one. How to ess your powers. Gather in formation."

    Everyone else groaned as the men stood on the left while the girls stood on the right. Shane also walked over and stood among the men as he noticed Tess ncing at him with a worried expression on her face.

    Shane nodded and smiled, "I''m fine."

    "Wait, what the f*ck are you doing here?" One of the boys standing behind him eximed.

    "Yeah, this guy doesn''t have any power. So it''s not fair! He''s just going to be a nuisance for the rest of us," the boy made a disgusted expression while looking at Shane''s face, "I say, instructor, we should kick him out."

    The bald man rubbed his forehead and said, "You, after ss, you''ll run fifty rounds again."

    The student wailed, but Ed didn''t even look at him this time as he nced around, "When you''re sessfully able to ess your divine energy, you''ll be given a student system ID, and you can participate in the examination using it."

    "Does it mean we will get hosts?" One of the girls spoke with an excited expression on her face.

    "Yes, and you''ll have three exams. If you pass them all, you can pass through the portal and head over to ident."

 Chapter 18 17. The Menu

    Everyone was all more confused about the situation. What was ident? And what the heck were these three exams?

    The only thing they could understand was that they could learn how to use the divine energy running through their veins. Shane wasn''t the only one who had felt covered by a powerful divine aura. It was just that Shane had used dark cosmic energy.

    At this time, the instructor was exining these topics, "You all have heard about dark and divine energies. I have described briefly about it before, but here''s theplete picture. Dark energy isn''t like what is shown in several anime and novels. It didn''t emerge from negative emotions like we all think it did. It''s just the opposite energy of the divine.

    "As you know, everything in this world has a shadow that cannot be separated from the source. This dark energy is simrly a shadow of the divine. You can''t separate it and turn it evil just because the demons and monsters use it. They can use it because it''s easy to ess. Since this energy had a hand in creating this karmic realm, the beings who don''t deserve to gain divine energy through orthodox methods use underhanded means to be powerful.

    "Of course," Ed squinted his eyes while looking at Shane, "There are still some people who can use it without any idea of how they ended up using it. It might be because they had probably used underhanded methods in one of their past reincarnations."

    "Instructor," a student raised his hand, "If dark energy is everywhere, we should be able to ess it easily, simr to divine energy. But why can''t we without using cruel methods?"

    "Good question," Ed turned around as he walked over to the ce where he could see his shadowpletely and raised his hand, "Is my shadow raising his hand with me?"

    "Yes."

    "Can it be the other way around?"

    Everyone understood immediately. They could use divine energy because that was how it should be, and that was a natural process, just like moving hands and legs, but they couldn''t use dark energy directly because it was just a shadow. But that didn''t mean the dark energy was idle, doing nothing. Just as divine energy was moving around, creating universes, and managing everything in the cosmic realm, the dark energy was just repeating those actions simr to a shadow.

    It wasn''t bad energy, but no one could use unorthodox methods to force the shadow to move his hands and legs without the help of divine energy. These two energies moved hand-in-hand, but once someone separated them, it would go against nature and have severe consequences on both him and the people around him.

    "And that''s why the demons should be killed, and the dark energy should be released from their bodies so that it can go to its origin. Since they''re doing something against nature, they should be dealt with before they end up destroying everything by the force of nature.

    "Remember," Ed turned around sharply as he stared at the crowd of people, especially Shane, "If you take something away from anyone, even nature, you have to give it back multiple folds. It''s thew of karma. If you do something good, you''ll have a good fate, but it can also be the other way around. Got it?"

    "But how does the King of Darkness fit into these things?" This time, it was Shane who asked this question. He understood that today''s lecture was especially for him. His cheap master was staring at him at all times, making it clearly obvious. So he should also use this chance to get more information about it, "You had said that he''s the empowered being of dark cosmic energy. If so, shouldn''t he also be a bad person like those demons and monsters?"<sub> </sub>

    Ed smiled, but his smiling face made everyone feel even more afraid. They all felt a chill down their spines when they saw this kind of expression on his bald face, "Because he''s a shadow himself of the King of the Cosmic Realm, but independent, not simr to the shadow we usually see. Our shadows don''t have the ability to make choices, but here the King of Darkness is an independent individual who doesn''t have any contact with the King of the Cosmic Realm.

    "At the same time, the two have to exist at the same time to maintain the bnce of the entire creation. The King is the darkness himself who was empowered to protect everyone else and stop the demons from misusing this energy. When he was still here, no demons would dare to use unorthodox methods for fear of being discovered.

    "Those who did were all killed brutally," Ed paused as he sighed and looked at the sky, "Of course, this was before things got out of hand, and he rebelled, destroying the bnce. Since he''s being punished, all the demons and monsters used this chance to wreak havoc across the Karmic realm."

    "So, he''ll be back after finishing his punishment, right?" Shane asked again as he looked curious.

    "Of course, but this time, he''ll be monitored."

    "When will he be back?"

    "No one knows," Ed was silent for a while as he looked around, "He has been locked in the hell of the current universe we live in, and after this universe is destroyed, his soul would be transferred to another universe to continue the punishment. So he''s in our universe, for now, locked in the prison, as the Heavenly Emperor says, but¡­.. It has been so long that people even say this is a rumor, and nothing like this ever happened."

    "Then, did it happen or not?" Shane tilted his head.

    Ed said nothing about that topic anymore. He cleared his throat and said, "The storytime is over for now. I''ll teach you how to ess your inventory first since everyone alive should use the inventory," he paused and said as he looked at his students, "Close your eyes and focus into your minds. See a stream of power flowing through your veins. Imagine it flowing peacefully, and then imagine it going toward your mind, not your brain. Mind you, your mind and brain are two different things.

    "You don''t have to imagine a form of mind. Just imagine the energy of your body heading toward a dark space called mind. I''ll exinter what''s and where''s this ''mind'' in your body, but for now, imagine a dark space that''s getting full of your energy. Now say, inventory."

    "Menu!" All the students called out that name, but no one was able to do it except for one person.

    Shane.

 Chapter 19 18. Lets Start!

    Shane was astonished after seeing this scene in front of his eyes. He could see a transparent blue window as his dashboard appeared in front of his eyes, indicating his current bodily stats. Everyone around him was so shocked that they continued to stare at Shane withplex emotions.

    "How the heck did he do it?"

    "Didn''t he have no energy?"

    "Why?! Why the heck we didn''t do it, but he could?!"

    At normal times, Shane could have arrogantly shown off, but this time, even he was confused. But this time, he was bewildered after staring at his stats.

    [Level: 0

    Exp: 0

    Job: Null

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: ???/100 (Cosmic Energy)

    Attribute: Darkness

    Strength: 5

    Agility: 5

    Stamina: 6

    Intelligence: 5

    Vitality: 0

    Attack: 5

    Skill: 0

    Weapons: 0

    Physical Resistance: 3

    CE Resistance: 3

    Luck: 20

    Overall status: A Beginner.]

    Above these items mentioned, he could see different tabs of things such as inventory, skills, weapons, shop, crana, etc. His eyes wandered around and stopped the ''attribute: darkness'' part. He raised his head as he nced at Tess and asked, "What''s your attribute?"

    "It says fire¡­.." said the girl with a confused expression. Then she looked at her brother, "What the f*ck is this?"

    "Looks like stats simr to a game."

    "Hey, you!" A guy spoke loudly, looking at Shane with an arrogant expression, "What''s your attribute?"

    "Yeah, tell us."

    "It shouldn''t be empty, should it?"

    "I''m also curious about the stats of a non-energy system."

    "Oh wait, can he even call the inventory out? He doesn''t even have cosmic energy."

    Shane''s eyes squinted as he took a deep breath and ignored the people around him. He continued to look at the window in front of him.

    Just what did these question marks mean in front of maxCE? And his attribute clearly indicated that he had dark energy flowing through his veins, but he was curious. Would a demon''s stats also look like this?

    He raised his head and asked, "Can demons and monsters also use inventory?"<sub> </sub>

    "Only intelligent demons can. Monsters can''t even speak," Ed was silent as he waited for the students to adjust to the inventory. Then he red at other students and said, "By the way, he can use the inventory despite not being able to use cosmic energy. The inventory doesn''t require you to use divine energy.

    "Everyone is a soul thates from the Absolute Being and has some power that helps them keep their bodies running. Just like electricity," Ed''s words calmed down the crowd, "So even mortals can use it, but we don''t teach mortals this because it''d create havoc there on the mortal ne. Only beings in the higher ne are allowed to use the inventory."

    Everyone silenced and stopped pointing fingers at Shane. Ed continued, "Let''s start today''s schedule."

    ***

    A few hourster, after dinner.

    Shane and Tess dragged their feet towards his room and stered their bodies on the bed as if they had been thrown there by someone. Today, it was basic sword fighting skill practice without any power. It was so tiring that despite having a strengthened body, they were all tired and every part of their limbs pained.

    The two of them couldn''t move at this point. They even had to eat with stiff hands.

    Even though the students were all newbies who had gathered within two days, none of them talked to one another in front of Ed, and by the time they all made it to the dining hall, they were so tired that none of them opened their mouths.

    That waswhy Shane and Frank still weren''t able to talk. They didn''t meet another friend or enemy.

    Shane mumbled, "Hey, go to your room and sleep. I want to lie properly."

    "Carry me there."

    "Are you a f*cking doll? Go away."

    "Ahem," thefamiliar voice of Dirt echoed in the room, "Mr. 12254801, you''re needed. You can''t sleep yet. It''s time for your night sses."

    "W-What?!" Shane''s body instantly shot up, only to feel a wave of pain throbbing throughout his limbs. He flinched and red at Dirt, who was hanging on the window, "Can''t you enter through the door? And I have a name! It''s Shane Cooper!"

    "12254801."

    "Shane."

    "12254801."

    "Are you a robot? Repeating the same thing again and again?" Shane paused when he realized what he had just said, "Oh right, you''re a robot," he shook his head and continued, "Forget it. I shouldn''t expect anything from a thing like you."

    Dirt''s expression turned dark as he said, "Mr. Cooper, you better watch out. Someday, I''ll be the one to save you!"

    Shane waved his hand and got up to his feet. He more like pushed himself up, despite the throbbing pain throughout his body. Even though he didn''t want to, he also wanted answers. So he raised his head and said arrogantly, "Let''s go."

    After a few minutes, the two arrived at the open ground. When Shane reached there, as Ed stood beneath the starry sky filled with a moon and dark clouds, the bald man turned around and put up a restriction around him, "What''s your attribute?"

    "It says darkness."

    He watched Ed''s eyes narrowing. Even he was confused about it, especially after hearing what the instructor had said about having dark energy. It could mean that Shane had ended up gaining ess to this energy somehow using unorthodox methods by mistake, but that didn''t exin why he couldn''t use it when he was on Earth.

    Also, even if he had it inside his body, howe he was able to use it the moment he entered the system world?

    Would it affect Tess?

    And most importantly, would he end up facing severe consequences because of having dark energy? Shane gulped as negative thoughts appeared in his head as he looked up, "What''s going to happen to me?"

    Ed frowned, "Don''t worry. Let''s learn how to use your powers first. Tell me everything about your stats. Don''t leave out anything."

    Shane nodded as he started telling the instructor without hiding anything. After he was done, Ed''s brows furrowed deeper, "It doesn''t say that you don''t have magical powers, but you have a question mark. It means the extent of your magic is unknown. Okay, now try using your powers."

    ".....how do you use powers?"

    "Didn''t you use it before?"

    "It was an ident," Shane pursed his lips as he felt embarrassed about it. He should have figured it out already, but he didn''t even after thinking about it, but he could tell one thing, "It has something to do with focus, right?"

    Ed nodded, "Just as you did. You have to imagine your powers travelling through your body. Everytime you gain experience and break through levels, your magical powers will expand, and you can be even more powerful. But in your case¡­. Let''s start."

 Chapter 20 19. Diabolic System

    Shane got busy for a few days, so much so that he didn''t even notice when Tess and Frank got close. Indeed, he learned how to channel the energy through his veins and how to inject it into a sword while fighting, but that was all. He couldn''t even use his powers in front of others unless he wanted to tell everyone else about his darkness attribute secret.

    Ok, on the other hand, he became even more confused about his friend''s and sister''s rtionship.

    He first noticed the interaction between the two while having breakfast in the hall on the first floor after a few days of his exhausting schedule. Tess would usuallye and sit beside him while ignoring everyone else, but tonight, she sat beside Frank and even teased the man on her own ord, "Yo! Shouldn''t you greet a beautiful girl like me?"

    Shane sighed. This girl! She was still a teenager. How could he forget that? Just as he was about to open his mouth and stop Tess from messing with his friend, he heard Frank''s words, "Good night."

    After saying that, Frank stood up with his half-finished food and walked over to the kitchen counter. He ced them in the washing area and walked out after cleaning his hands with an expressionless face.

    Tess sneered, "You dare to ignore me like this! Just wait! I''ll teach you a lesson!"

    Why did Shane feel like his sister had turned into a bully? He felt bad for Frank at this time, but he didn''t want to interrupt. Since Frank was ignoring her, he would let his sister do whatever she wanted.

    Only, he didn''t know his sister would cross the limits¡­.

    "Yo, Frank!" Tess grabbed the man''s arms ruthlessly and even twisted it behind his back and said in an arrogant tone, "Apologize, or I''ll never leave you!"

    "Let go," Frank''s eyes turned dark as he red at the girl who dared to disturb his peace.

    "What if I don''t?"

    "You''ll regret it!"

    "Eh? This is the first time I''m hearing you talk back! I should do this more often!"

    Everyone else around watched this good show as they all snickered one after another. Shane had a dark expression on his face. This girl was making a fool out of herself in front of others! Just as he was about to get up to teach her a lesson, he heard even more shocking words spouting nonsense from her mouth!

    "You just want me to stick to you, don''t you? I just knew all men were b*stards!"

    "Tess!" Shane finally called her out and red at her. He walked over and peeled her off as he said, "Behave! I''m still here, ain''t I?"

    The girl, "Humph! Go away!"

    After saying that, she went back to the table and started eating her food.

    Shane only nced at Frank as an awkward silence descended between them. He then chuckled nervously and said, "I apologize on her behalf."

    "Keep her in control. She''s your sister."

    "I know, I know," Shane moved his hand in a surrendering gesture and continued, "Forget about it. Let''s go together. We''re about to get our first virtual license as systems! How cool is that?!"

    Frank''s expression eased when he also thought about it. He nodded at Shane and said, "Let''s go."<sub> </sub>

    ***

    The institute had several buildings, and one of them was dedicated to the virtual learning function. Bing a system wasn''t a joke, and this was why this virtual learning building was created to give the newbies better facilities before they could take up a job.

    But before that, they would all be assigned a permanent job by the chief instructor based on their attributes.

    "What the heck is an attribute though?" One of the students asked as they all gathered in the corridor of the first floor of the virtual learning building.

    Even Shane had this question. He looked up as he stood among the line of boys.

    Ed nced at the students expressionlessly and said, "Every living being has an innate talent they''re born with, depending on their previous karma. After crossing the border of the mortal realm, this innate talent will wake up within our bodies, and this innate talent is what we call an attribute."

    "You''ll fight through the attribute you''ve got. If your attribute is ice, your magic, weapons, and spells are likely to revolve around ice only. Ice formation, ice gun, and ice gears are a few examples of that. You can purchase different fighting techniques from the store, but in this institute, you''ll all learn the basics of using your powers.

    "We will provide you with basic fighting and defense techniques based on your attributes, and you''ll also learn about how to do your job and handle hosts," Ed moved and opened the door to his left as he nced at the crowd of students without any expression on his face, "Get ready. We''ll give you guys a job first."

    Shane''s eyes lit up, before dimming once again. What the heck was he getting excited for?! His attribute was darkness! F*cking darkness! How would he even think of purchasing weapons of an attribute that wasn''t even supposed to exist in this system world?!

    It was probably that except for a sword, he couldn''t use any defense and offensive attacks!

    What the heck was he supposed to do now?!

    While he was frowning, he felt Tess tapping his shoulders, "Brother, don''t worry about anything. Let''s believe in the bald master."

    Shane nodded.

    "Everyone," Ed turned on the light as a white hall brightened up around everyone. It was simr to the ce they had all woken up in, except for the fact that this room was overlyrge with a round transparent orb hovering in the center. Dirt was there as he kept staring at the orb in a creepy way while leaning against the wall.

    Shane could tell that this robot was probably the one who was making this orb fly like this.

    Ed immediately said, "Shane, walk forward and put your hands on this orb."

    Shane did as the bald man said only to find that the entire orb had turned dark. The expression on Dirt''s face changed. He nced at Ed and grimaced, "It''s not good."

    "What is it?"

    "He got a job as a diabolic system."

    Even Ed''s expression changed after hearing that. Only Shane and other students remained clueless as to what the heck it actually was!

 Chapter 21 20. Whatâ€™s A Diabolic System?

    Shane turned to look at his master, who averted his eyes and said, "Let''s get this going. Next!"

    "Are you not going to exin to me what the hell is a ''diabolic'' system?" Shane squinted his eyes. Master Ed and Dirt were acting suspicious, "Is it something bad?"

    "We''ll talkter. You can stand aside."

    Shane had to listen to the bald man as he sighed and walked back to stand beside Dirt with a bored expression on his face. He watched as people kept getting cool systems one after another. His sister and Frank both got amazing jobs: Fire Summoning and Death systems. These two sounded so alluring that Shane almost wanted to change his job with them.

    As if reading his thoughts, Dirt turned his head one eighty degrees as he red at the boy, "You only get one job, and you''re very unlucky to get diabolic!"

    "Can you just shut up? I''m already confused."

    "I don''t want to talk about it."

    After that, neither Dirt nor Ed even spared a nce at his face. They all continued to act until the job assigning session ended after half an hour. When all the students got their jobs, they all walked out of the white room after Ed and his robot and stood in the same positions in two lines.

    Ed turned toward everyone as he gave a quick nce at the youngsters, pausing for a microsecond on Shane''s face before averting his eyes. If one looked carefully, one would end up seeing a hint of anxiety in his eyes while ncing at Shane just now.

    Too bad, students here weren''t too familiar with him at the moment. So none of them could figure it out.

    Once they all stood there silently, Ed opened his mouth, "Let''s go to your first experience as a system. I''ll randomly assign you a world and a virtual host in groups of two based on your jobs. This session is important since it''ll start granting you experience points and will help you level up. Remember, the experience points obtained from hosting are ten times more than from killing monsters.

    "So do your best."

    Shane couldn''t help but feel a little excited. Even though his luck wasn''t good enough until now, he didn''t believe he would continue to face drastic situations at all times. He was optimistic since this was his only chance to save himself and his sister in this strange world.

    Just then, a student raised his hand and asked, "Instructor, when do we start getting Crana?"

    "The moment you pass the academy, you''ll be awarded Crana based on your level. For example, those who reached level ten will get up to ten thousand Crana. Below ten and above five will receive five thousand, and the below fives will receive five hundred Crana only," Ed paused and asked, "Any more questions?"

    "Yes," another student raised his hand and nced at Shane as he asked with a smirk on his face, "What''s a diabolic system? It couldn''t be something that can be used with power, could it?"<sub> </sub>

    "I bet it''s simply a worthless job that''ll probably give him less experience."

    "Oh, then none of us will have to see his face anymore since we''re all going to head to ident. He can stay here for as long as he likes!" Another female student snickered.

    ident was another continent, just simr to Orient, the current continent with a system''s academy. It was said that when the students graduate from this institute, their future was decided based on whether they could reach level ten or not. If they could, they would all be sent to ident, and if not, they would continue to live in Orient in poverty.

    Why would they be surrounded by poverty? Simple, It was because the systems living here would get the worst of all the jobs as systems, or little experience points, and even Crana obtained would be so little that even after years of struggling, none of them would be able to get out of Orient.

    Normally, a student could escape this continent by leveling up to ten, but an average resident would have to pay about two hundred thousand Crana to use the portal once. There were even cases where the systems would be rejected for being ''too weak'' to enter ident and would end up losing all their hard-earned money.

    So basically, staying back in Orient was a bad idea, and that was what they had all learned all these days. They were fired up to escape this hell-hole as soon as possible.

    Shane heard all the usations and red at the people behind him. He had ignored thosements thinking they were all beneath him, and that they weren''t worth it, but these days, they all seemed to have gotten bolder and bolder with their words. He opened his mouth and said, "Oh? You think you can go to ident so easily? Let''s make a bet then."

    "Who''s afraid of whom? I''m ready for the bet!"

    "Are you guys not afraid of me anymore?" Veins popped up on Ed''s forehead as he red at Shane and the other student, "I''m still standing here, ain''t I?"

    Everyone else fell into silence at this point, as they stared at the instructor, who cleared his throat, "Let''s go."

    Ed walked ahead without looking back, as Dirt also walked beside him. The two people, one robot and one man, walked, but they looked strange together. While Ed''s build was huge with broad shoulders and a toned stomach, his robot looked more like a child in front of him, a cute one.

    Shane lowered his eyes as he thought about his future while going through the corridor. If this virtual hosting thing could be sessful, he might have a hope to survive here. His fingers curled up to form a fist as a hint of confidence appeared in his eyes.

    Ed stopped in front of a room with a bold name above it: "Virtual Portal". He looked at the students and said, "I''ll call you out one-by-one, and go inside. Dirt will handle all the formalities."

    About ten minutester, everyone else went inside under the instruction of Ed, and only Shane was standing at the end. He knew that his cheap master wanted to talk about something. So he said nothing as he crossed his arms on his chest and stared at the bald man with squinted eyes, "Now tell me. What''s this diabolic system all about?"

 Chapter 22 21. Which One Will You Choose?

    Ed''s body stiffened as he heard those words. It seemed as if he didn''t want to reveal this thing, but he also hesitated because if he wouldn''t reveal it, his disciple might suffer even more. In the end, he sighed and rubbed his forehead in dismay, "It''s a system meant to demonize your host."

    "What does that mean¡­.?" For some reason, Shane didn''t have a good feeling about this. He swallowed a lump of saliva as he stared at the person in front of him nervously.

    Ed became irritated by that kind of gaze. He said, "Thest time someone got this job, that system ended up bing mentally insane because of the intensity and need of the job."

    "Mentally insane?" Shane mumbled those words.

    "That was a hundred years ago, and the system who was given this job didn''t have any magic in his veins, and he died out of sickness and poverty in Orient."

    Shane''s eyes widened, "Why would there be such a system job in existence that can make someone insane to the point of dying?!"

    "This type of job¡­." Ed sighed and exined, "It''s necessary whenever there is a need to destroy an entire world in the mortal realm."

    "D-Destroy¡­." Shane''s mind buzzed as he thought of something, "Y-You don''t mean¡­. I-I have to destroy an entire world?"

    "No," When Ed said that, Shane''s shoulders rxed as if he had been unburdened, only to freeze again after hearing the next words: "You have to destroy worlds."

    Shane''s face paled upon hearing that. His entire body trembled as he stood there, at a loss of words. He was just a normal young man studying at the university, alwaysing out on top. Even though he wasn''t a bad person, he couldn''t be purely a good two-shoes.

    He had his share of fights, and being a prodigy, he had to face rivals on a daily basis during his days as a student, but never ever had he thought back then that he would end up being the cause to destroy several worlds. Why did this have to happen to him? He didn''t know. But at the moment, his spirit had turned extremely low to the point that his face turned darker and darker as he continued to think about his situation.

    He clearly didn''t do anything wrong, then why did he have to suffer like this? He refused to choose what fate had designed for him! He might as well write his own fate!

    Well, he sounded just like the protagonists of several heroic animes.

    When Ed saw Shane''s expressions changing so much, he ced his hand on the young man''s shoulders and said in a gentle voice, "You don''t have to take up the responsibility to destroy those worlds. It won''t be your fault. Those people ended uping together due to karma in their current life. Those people have likelymitted severe crimes in their past lives and were bound to be dead and punished in hell for a decade beforeing back to reincarnate.

    "So, you''re basically a medium, nothing else. Don''t worry about taking up the responsibility."

    "Can I change my job?"

    "This¡­." Ed cleared his throat after thinking for a while, "I haven''t heard of a system changing his job. It''s assigned based on your karma and innate nature."

    "So you mean my innate nature is to destroy everything?!"

    "I''m not saying that," Ed sighed as he rubbed his forehead, "You got this job because you have dark energy flowing through your veins."

    This sentence triggered the inner rebellious being inside Shane. His fingers curled up in a fist as he looked at Ed with a sharp gaze, "Is it my fault that I''m like this?! I''ve always been a gentleman all my life! Why did this have to happen to me? I don''t f*cking have the freedom to make a choice!

    "Destroy worlds just because of karma? Sure, go ahead, but I''m sorry, I''m out¡ª"

    "Shane, that''s not how you talk to your master."

    "What? You want me to be obedient as a fool?!" Shane was so angry that his entire face had turned red, "Why didn''t you think your words sounded ridiculous just now? You''re asking a normal mortal to destroy millions of lives. Why don''t you do it yourself?!"

    "Then, we''ll assign you worlds with demons and monsters, okay?"

    "But¡ª"<sub> </sub>

    "System 12254801, you don''t want to follow orders anymore?" Ed''s expression suddenly turned dark as he stared at his disciple with an angry and cold gaze that was enough to make anyone shiver from head to toe, "I can kill you right here and send you off to reincarnate anytime if you don''t want to be a system anymore, but I can''t guarantee your sister''s life anymore."

    Shane''s mouth shut as he averted his eyes and turned toward the door. He reached out slowly and opened it without saying another word as he entered the room.

    It was simrly white except for the central part. There was a vortex thing that moved round and round as if waiting for someone to put a stop, "That''s the energy field created by the system God, and it sends you to another dimension temporarily. You''ll only be able toe back through your menu after clicking on exit.

    "Remember, if you exit without finishing your mission, you''ll be punished severely. You won''t even have a chance before you will be sent off to the punishment center directly from the system dimension."

    Shane nodded as he stared at the vortex for a while before walking over and putting his hand in the center. A tingling feeling appeared at that ce. Shane pursed his lips as he turned back and said, "I''ll be going, Master Ed."

    The bald man said nothing as he continued to stare at Shane with his dark and cold gaze.

    Shane turned away awkwardly and entered space through the vortex without looking back. His entire body tingled as he passed through that thing. When he opened his eyes the next moment, he was already inside a dark space. He couldn''t see anyone or anything at the moment. Suddenly, a pop-up appeared in front of his eyes:

    [Initialising¡­.]

    [Calcting karma¡­.]

    [Calcting stats¡­.]

    [Analysing protocol¡­.]

    [Analyzing the system''s job¡­.]

    [Selecting a host through the random protocol¡­.]

    [System 12254801, choose the type of host you want:

    1. Virtual

    2. Real]

    Shane''s brows rose as he nced at that. It meant that choosing virtual meant that the host and the world wouldn''t be real. He clicked on the virtual tab without hesitation.

    Another pop-up appeared in front of him.

    [This choice won''t give you Crana and Exp points more than ten. You get only three virtual tries after which the learning system will disappear. Are you sure?]

    He clicked yes. Since the virtual system was meant for learning, he knew he wouldn''t be able to get more Exp, but he had entered this space for learning, not anything else.

    [Congrattions, System 12254801. We have found two worlds for you. Which one will you choose?]

    Eh? He could choose? That was first. He clicked on the next option and saw two simple worlds¡ª

    [1. Vampire world

    2. Battle world]

 Chapter 23 22. The Host!

    Shane squinted his eyes at the screen in front of him. Since he would have to destroy an entire world, he could safely assume that he might face the worst-case scenario. He nced at the first option.

    Vampires were meant to suck away your blood, and since it was a world filled with those beings, he could tell what kind of situation he might end upnding in¡ª

    No humans or animals would be alive.

    Massive war-like conditions for food.

    Killing one another.

    No way. He didn''t want his host to be hungry at all times and feel the same excessive hunger himself. He might as well directly go out for a battle world. At least, he knew it was an ongoing battle. It was better than feeling hungry and drinking blood.

    Without hesitation, he clicked on the second option. As soon as he clicked, the window disappeared with a sh and another pop-up appeared.

    [Initializing¡­.]

    [Please wait¡­.]

    [Ready to enter¡­.]

    [Please, click enter]

    Shane clicked that tab as his entire body disappeared from that ce. The next moment, he opened his eyes in a tattered house made out of wooden blocks and dried grass. The body he was in slept curled up against the cold floor wearing thin robes. It seemed as if the person was thin and skinny enough to feel bones as the body looked down.

    Then Shane heard a few words in his mind¡­.

    "Where the hell am I?!"

    "What''s going on?"

    "Wasn''t I sleeping in my bedroom after finishing my homework?!"

    Shane got a headache after listening to that confusing voice of a teenager. He wanted to press his forehead only to realize that he couldn''t touch it. It took him a moment to remember the details he had learned about the system job earlier a few days ago.

    Master Ed had mentioned to him and the other students that after entering this dimension and choosing a world, the systems would be sent inside the body where the host would also enter at the same time. The only problem was that Shane wouldn''t be the one in control of the body. He would only sit back in his mind and experience everything that the host would.

    This would be like he was locked inside a body while a soul had possessed it, rendering him useless. This situation was no less than that of a prison. Earlier when he had heard of this, he didn''t think much of it.

    Now that he experienced it firsthand, he couldn''t help but want to gulp. If he still had his body, he would have sweated and his face would have turned pale as well, but since he was inside a body that wasn''t his own, he couldn''t do a f*cking thing!

    Shane''s anxiety rose to the point that he wanted to exit right at this moment, but when he remembered the punishment thing, he suppressed his emotions and focused on the task.

    He could still hear the host''s thoughts well as if someone was speaking close to his ears. The only relieving thing in this situation was that this host and the world he had entered weren''t real.

    Then a pop-up appeared in front of his eyes¡ª

    [Do you want to block useless thoughts of the host?]

    Shane thought for a while then pressed no. If he couldn''t hear the host''s thoughts, how would he end up conversing with this person? He was told that he would have to ''talk'' to the hosts through his mind. The only difference was that Shane could control what the host would hear. A wave of relief washed over his mental body inside the host.

    So he cleared his throat and said what was taught to him earlier, "Host, I''m system 12254801, and you''ve been given a second chance at living."

    "F*cking hell! When did I die?" The teenager''s high-pitched voice echoed in Shane''s mind, making him want to hit the host''s head, but he curbed his emotions.

    "Host, please don''t think so loudly. I''m still in your mind."<sub> </sub>

    "So you mean you can hear my thoughts."

    Shane hummed, "That''s right. And you died for sure," at least, that''s what Shane assumed. He hadn''t even checked the host''s personal data. So he opened his mouth and muttered some nonsense, "Please wait. I''m calcting the data."

    What calcting data? Shane just wanted to check out the world''s and host''s information before saying another word. Even though this job wasn''t as good and unique as he had imagined, he still wanted to do it better. Secondly, he was afraid of this unknown punishment that was hovering above his head as if it were nothing but a sharp sword.

    So he blocked his voice from the host from the pop-up that appeared in his mind and said, "Menu."

    A familiar interface appeared in his head as he nced at the dashboard. He could see that his own stats had increased after practicing fighting skills for so many days. Strength, stamina, agility, attack, and CE resistance all rose by one. Shane couldn''t help narrow his mental eyes. Only by one? That was too little!

    Right above his stats, he could see various tabs that he had recently gone through, including tasks, skills, weapons, forum, inventory, shop, Crana PayWorld, browser, report, and help. The first one was the job.

    This was the only option he couldn''t click unless he had started doing his job. Other items such as his bodily and Crana stats would be updated every time he finished a task. Even if he didn''t take up a task, his stats would be updated at the end of the day.

    But this time, he didn''t nce at other tabs and directly clicked on the ''job'' option above. His interface changed and a page simr to the dashboard appeared in his mind. It was just that this window showed the stats of the host and his basic detail.

    [Level: 0

    Exp: 0

    Job: Null

    MaxHP: 20/100

    MaxCE: 005/100 (Cosmic Energy)

    Attribute: Earth

    Strength: 0

    Agility: 0

    Stamina: 0

    Intelligence: 5

    Vitality: 0

    Attack: 0

    Skill: 0

    Weapons: 0

    Physical Resistance: 0

    CE Resistance: 3

    Luck: -20

    Overall status: A Beginner.]

    Wait, luck was minus twenty? What the f*ck did this mean?! Shane couldn''t help but stare at that aspect for a long while. He sighed and then clicked at the world setting tab above. Soon after that, the interface changed and the information about this world finally appeared in front of Shane''s eyes.

 Chapter 24 23. Im Going Off!

    While Shane was busy going through the world setting and storyline in another dimension, Ed and Dirt sat on the floor in the white room, waiting for the students. After five minutes, the bald man turned toward his robot and asked, "See how they''re all doing," he paused as if he thought of something just now, "Review Shane''s situation first."

    Dirt nodded and opened up a window in front of his eyes. He did something on the screen and even typed a few words before confirming it. Right after that, the live situation of the system appeared on the screen. It didn''t show him the actual footage of what was happening inside. Rather, they could see the type of world Shane had gotten this time ording to his choices, and a prediction after calcting the overall stats.

    [Difficulty: Severe]

    [Winning Percentage: -10000%]

    Dirt''s eyes widened as he saw the situation. He remembered setting up the difficulty to an easy one since this was the first time they got inside the portal. He had been watching the entire scene with keen eyes. Just how did the difficulty of Shane''s portal change all of a sudden?

    It was normal for this and any other virtual portal to have difficulty ranges. When the system would be on the job, they would set the difficulties on their own with respect to the level they would be in, and everything would be under the eyes of the seniors who handled the portal to see whether anything would go wrong or not.

    If there were glitches in the portal, the missions would be canceled before the systems could select the world. In any case, if a system happened to choose a world despite having glitches, the portal handler would be punished by kicking him out of his job and filing apensation of a thousand Crana.

    But the rules in the academy were different. The difficulty was always set to easy throughout the first three practicals. Since no one even touched the difficulty tab in the interface, Dirt had even forgotten that it even existed until today.

    Moreover, only the portal handler knew how to change the difficulty¡­.

    That meant only he and Ed had the permission to change it. But even the robot knew that he and his boss were outside, and he had even double-checked everything, including the difficulty before sending off the other students before Shane.

    It was set to easy mode at that time. Then howe the difficulty altered during Shane''s time?

    The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. He instantly checked the other students'' difficulties, only to find that they were all on easy mode. Some of them were even close to solving their first mission, but on Shane''s side, he hadn''t even started selecting a task yet!

    After checking everything again, Dirt came to the conclusion that something or someone from the outside must have influenced this change. He nced at his master and said, "There''s something wrong with Shane''s world."

    Ed nced at the screen and immediately understood, but he wasn''t as anxious as his robot here. He waved his hand and squinted his eyes at the portal, "Someone must have hacked into the system."

    "How did youe to that conclusion?!"

    Ed snorted, "You''re just a freakin robot, but I know these people. They were humans once, and whether they''re in the mortal or higher ne, their desire to use others as adder won''t ever change."<sub> </sub>

    "But what about Shane¡­." Dirt frowned when he thought of it, "This is a level which not even top system''s can dare apply for! They''re always using moderate worlds to work as systems and kill monsters in their free time to earn enough experience and Crana for a living! How can we expect aplete newbie to outperform those people! This is simply inhuman!"

    "It is, indeed, but¡­." Ed didn''t say anything after this. Since he knew about Shane''s cosmic energy situation, he wasn''t very worried. That newbie had easily defeated him using his powers. What to speak of high grade monsters? Unless there was a surprise, he was sure that Shane''s unnatural power would help hime out alive.

    Shane was capable of surpassing his limits, and Ed had no doubt that the youth would do anything to survive even in drastic situations. That boy was overly optimistic in every situation, and even Ed wasn''t like that when he was young.

    Even if that person only had a breath left after arriving here, Ed could save him.

    He took a deep breath and said, "That''s not the important point. We should think about finding that hacker first. I have a feeling things won''t be good if we lose them."

    Dirt immediately went to his work. He first opened his interface and started typing something. After five minutes, he raised his head and said, "None of the students are suspicious."

    "Hmm¡­." Ed frowned, ''If not the students, should he search the staff? But it couldn''t be his fellow colleagues because they all had a clean background and were clearly loyal to him. Still, to be sure¡­..''

    "Search the staff."

    Dirt nodded and started his work. After a while, his hands paused as he frowned, "Not even the staff did anything. They''re also clean."

    "Then that hacker must be good at hiding," Ed''s lips stretched to form a smirk, "It has been so long since I''ve gotten a worthy opponent!"

    Dirt, despite not having any emotions, knew there was something wrong with that smile of his master. He shivered and stopped saying anything.

    Ed finally got up and said, "I''m going off. Keep an eye on the situation here, and if there''s even a slight glitch, contact me."

    After saying that, the bald man walked out of the room with his hands in his pockets.

    Dirt shook his head and sat while leaning on the wall. At this time, he was still worried about the only disciple of his master because no matter what, he believed in the statistics, which said that the chances of dying were too high for that boy. Should he do something about it?

    After thinking for a while, Dirt opened his interface and started typing something. Soon after that, he secretly saved a weapon into Shane''s inventory and closed his interface. This was the least he could do from here. He just hoped that boy could use this to save himself.

 Chapter 25 24. Run!

    Shane had no idea what was going on outside. He had just opened the world setting tab when he got a pop-up all of a sudden:

    [Do you want to create your imaginary self inside the host''s mind to operate the interface better?]

    Shane clicked the yes button, and soon after that, his body appeared in the darkness. Shane''s body was illuminated by a stage light that came from above. He blinked as he looked around. To his surprise, he could move his limbs well, but he couldn''t walk. He stretched his neck and nced at the interface in front of his eyes.

    "This is way better!"

    [If you want to continue to operate using this means, you can click the option below:

    Stage view.

    If you want to go back to your previous perspective, choose the option below:

    First-person view

    Description: You can see everything that that host is seeing through the interface window, but you can still feel all the host''s senses. If you want to block feeling senses, click the option below:

    Block senses.

    You''ll find this option again in the tool section]

    Shane''s body rxed as he clicked the stage view option, but he didn''t choose the blocking option since he wanted to continue feeling the surroundings. It might give him more clues about the situation. After this, he received another prompt.

    [System 12254801, kindly turn on your livestream in ordance with your job profile]

    Shane was stunned when he realized that he had forgotten about the livestream section. He quickly went back and turned it on. soon enough, he started getting viewers.

    [You have 10 viewers]

    [You have 15 viewers]

    [You have 20 viewers]

    "Mute all," Shane muttered as he sighed in relief. He didn''t want to constantly hear that female voice in his head while he was focusing on the task at hand. He only got silent notifications about how many viewers he had, and he could also see them at the top.

    The numbers were increasing.

    Shane raised his brows. The livestreams were popr for a reason in this world. The more famous a system was among their peers, the higher the chances of earning more money. There wasn''t an entertainment world here for people. These systems only watched livestreams more often to get rid of boredom.

    That was probably why Ed could be more powerful and even purchase a high-end robot like Dirt. So if Shane wanted to get stronger, he would have to be popr as well.

    He shook his head and decided to read the world setting already. He had wasted enough time. Just as he was about to read, he heard the host''s familiar voice in his head, "What''s taking you so long? Aren''t systems supposed to be ready with the world setting and give me information instantly?"

    "I''m sorry I couldn''t act like your ideal system," Shane''s sarcastic words poured out of his mouth as he red at whatever was visible in front of his eyes since he couldn''t see the host anyway, "You can find a recement if you want. Goodbye."

    The host immediately sobered up and said. "Fine! I''m sorry! Can you send me the details?"

    Shane pursed his lips and decided to forward the information to the host while reading at the same. In any case, that was what he was supposed to do anyways as mentioned by the bald instructor. He immediately copied the information and sent it to the host through the chat section, "Read it."

    After saying that, Shane didn''t say another word, as he started reading the world setting.

    [Name: Witspidom

    Living organisms found: Witches, Wizards, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans.]<sub> </sub>

    Shane frowned. Could it be that there was a war between all of these speciesbined? He shook his head and continued reading onward.

    [Geography: All the first four species live on the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western continents]

    No ce for humans? Shane could already tell what was going on here. Humans might have been enved and they retaliate, which would probably lead to the world''s destruction. So in this situation, his host might be a human.

    [History of the world: The world was mostly peaceful during the 21st century when humans became greedy for power and magic. So they initiated a massacre and killed several innocents of different species, bing the most powerful beings across the Witspidom. Two centuriester, human technology was destroyed and the other species retaliated and took back what belonged to them, but things never remained peaceful after that. Slowly, the humans'' existence ceased with only a handful remaining, and they were hated to the point that if spotted on either continent, they would be killed on the spot.]

    Shane raised his brows at this time. Up until now, things were almost predictable. It seemed his master had made things easier for him. He couldn''t help but feel relieved. That bald man finally showed some care for his only disciple!

    [The host: Noah Webster, a high school student.

    Characteristic: A backbencher, childish fellow.

    Mission: Be the most powerful being and destroy all the enemies

    Rewards: the host can return to life]

    Giving such a mission to a backbencher? Shane''s brows jumped in surprise. He wasn''t really against the backbenchers because some of those he knew from his ss were smart enough topete with him, but they just were toozy to study. It was just that when he read the term: childish fellow¡­. Things didn''t look optimistic anymore.

    Shane took a deep breath. He knew this host wasn''t a real person but created out of data using his stats, but why did they have to send him a childish teenager? He couldn''t help but feel disappointed at this.

    In any case, he would have to be there to handle any situation just in case. After that, he continued to read through the information on the page.

    [Tasks:

    1. Find a weapon]

    That was it. The first task was given by default, and Shane was responsible for choosing the tasks for the host every time the previous one waspleted. He stared at the information for a while before he frowned.

    Why the f*ck did he need to find a weapon when he could buy it easily from the shop? Then he went to the host dashboard only to find out that he contained only a hundred Crana, which wasn''t enough to even buy him enough meals for an entire day.

    Shane immediately searched the shop and found something worthwhile:

    A magic stealing bracelet!

    His eyes lit up, but when he noticed how much it cost, he curbed his emotions and asked his host, "What do you want to do?"

    "Do I have a f*cking choice? I have to finish this stupid task if I want to live again."

    "Then let''s go. We have to start searching for the weapon," Shane muttered under his breath as he opened the tools tab opened on the screen. There was a scanning thing that was the only option that could be used unlimitedly for free. He could scan the surrounding area of the host to avoid entering a difficult situation.

    He immediately pressed that tab and waited for a few seconds before receiving a report. It was presented in the form of radar with the host being at the central most part. He could see several red dots surrounding him about fifty meters away. His heart jumped in an instant.

    Just what was this situation? As soon as he entered this world, enemies came right at his door!

    "Host! We are surrounded!"

    Suddenly, the body''s heartbeat rose as well. Shane felt the host''s anxiety rising to an unprecedented degree as he opened his mouth and asked in a frantic manner, "No way! You''re kidding, right? That''s absolutely not possible! You''re the system! Do something!"

    "Do you think I''m a God? Get your a** up and run!" Shane was also worried about his situation as he looked at the radar carefully, "I''ll tell you the directions."

 Chapter 26 25. What Just Happened?!

    "Look around the room first."

    The host agreed as he nced around the shabby ce. He frowned, "It looks like I''m in a horse''s stable or something. Don''t I get the body''s memories or something?"

    Shane nced at the interface that had appeared in his mind and opened the help tab outside from the dashboard of the job section. He immediately found this same query and clicked it open. It described memories as follows:

    [If the system has chosen an easy world, the host would get the benefit of using all the memories of the body. During a moderate session, the host can get half of the memories of the body. But when the world is at severe difficulty, the host won''t get anything and will have to figure out everything themselves]

    Shane''s brows furrowed after reading this. It couldn''t be that this world was harder than anything else, right? He knew his master wouldn''t deliberately choose such a world for him despite constantly yelling at him.

    But if this world really was a hard level¡­.

    He might as well prepare himself mentally, just in case¡­.

    As for the host, he opened his mouth and said, "I didn''t find an option here. Please, rest assured. I''ll help you with everything. Now, can you continue ncing at the room?"

    If the host wasn''t looking through, how could Shane find a way out of this situation? Indeed, he could find a way out using an item in the tool section, but he really didn''t want to spend money when he could easily do that by looking around carefully.

    Everywhere, there was dried grass spread around the room with smelly animal shit and other tools. That was why this room had such a mixed odor that was enough to make anyone puke their guts out. The entire shelter was created out of wooden nks that seemed old and broken with water leaking from the roof. It appeared that it was raining outside. Wait, there was something in one corner!

    Before Shane could say something, he noticed the red dotsing closer and closer. He opened his mouth and said, "Go north! There''s an opening."

    "Are you sure there are no enemies in that direction?"

    Shane nced at the radar and spoke, "Yep. You''re safe to go."

    The host didn''t waste any minute before crawling out of that small hole at a slow pace. His entire body was trembling.

    The red dots were close enough at this point, and if the host didn''t quicken his pace, they would be caught in a short while! Shane''s heart jumped at that thought. Bing a system wasn''t as easy as it seemed!

    "Faster! The enemies are close enough!"

    "I''m trying!" said the host, being the most afraid and irritated, "I''m just a damned high school student! Can''t you see that?"

    Shane shut his mouth at this time. He was also a ''damned'' university student, suddenly thrown among giant monsters blocking the escape door! He didn''tin back then because he knew that he was probably on his own! At least this virtual host was lucky enough to have a ''system'' to me.

    He pursed his imaginary lips inside the host''s mind and said, "If you don''t hurry, we both are going to die!"

    "Hah, don''t joke. Can systems really die? Aren''t they supposed to be created out of data or something?"

    ? ''Dude, you''re the one that''s made out of data!'' Shane almost blurted this out, but he stopped himself on time and took a deep breath. This host was a virtual, fake person, and also a childish one at that. Why was he wasting time chit-chatting here?

    He spoke in a cold voice, "Run straight as fast as you can."<sub> </sub>

    The boy grumbled as he got up from the ground, covered in mud from head to toe. He brushed it off of his body and asked, "Should I still run ahead?"

    "Host, do you not understand humannguage?" Shane was irritated after hearing those words from the boy''s mouth, "I said, run! If you won''t, they''ll catch up with us."

    "My name is Noah! NOAH! Should I just spell it out for you?! It''s N-O-A-H!"

    Shane scoffed and said nothing. Then he heard another sentence from the boy that infuriated him to death¡ª

    "Ah, so a system like you is also programmed to scoff. How innovative!"

    Shane took a deep break as he red at the screen in front of his eyes. This was his job. He would have to force himself to work despite finding himself a client that gave him a headache every now and then.

    After hypnotizing himself to work, he opened his eyes and nced at the radar. The enemies were still close enough. So he said after seeing the radar, "Continue running and turn right. There should be a cave up ahead."

    Noah said nothing as he continued to use the entire strength of his body to run, but unfortunately, his body was so weak that after a few seconds, he was already exhausted enough to die. He wanted to stop, but he heard the sounds of horses gallopinging closer behind him.

    There was nothing more frightening than this. Even Shane was getting anxious as he heard Noah thinking, ''Doesn''t this stupid system have any boosting thing? I can''t run anymore! This stupid system! Why is it even there? It didn''t even tell me its name!"

    Shane was again infuriated after hearing him being called ''it'' by a mere teenager. He opened his mouth and uttered in a cold voice, "I''m a he! HE! Should I spell it out for you?! H-E!"

    "So you also know how to copy me!"

    "Shut up! Continue running!" Shane observed the situation. If this continued, he might as well be as good as dead. He would have to take things in his hands, "Host, I apologize for what I''m going to do now."

    "Huh?"

    Before Noah could respond, he felt his control over the body slipping away slowly. It almost felt as if someone was running through his hands and legs as he became a bystander. Noah stared at the scene in front of his eyes in a daze.

    He could still feel his arms and legs feeling pain from exercising so much, but he couldn''t control his body anymore. He finally opened his mouth, "System, is it you?"

    "Of course, it''s me! You''re useless!"

    "Then¡­. Are you controlling my body?"

    "Yes, but only for ten seconds, and it has a resting time of an hour."

    "But¡­." Noah had just opened his mouth when he felt a gush of cold energy flooding throughout his body that made him shiver from head to toe. If there wasn''t a lock present in Shane''s ethereal body that blocked other people from seeing his powers, the body which Shane was in would have leaked dark cosmic energy already.

    Slowly, lethargically, the pain vanished without a trace as Shane continued to rush through the forest and shrubs. Soon, he reached the cave as he entered there and hid behind a pir; everything came back to normal. The control of the body automatically slipped to the host once again.

    Noah was still sitting there in a daze, thinking, ''What just happened?''

 Chapter 27 26. A Portal!

    Shane observed the situation outside the cave carefully for a while as he ignored the stunned host. The radar showed that the red dots were walking away at a slow pace as if they were trying to search for something in the woods. Only when they disappearedpletely from the radar did Shane sigh in relief and said, "You''re safe for now."

    Noah snapped out of his daze and stood up, "What the heck was that just now?"

    "I took control of this body temporarily," Shane stated the fact as if he was just saying something casual.

    "But how can you do that without my permission? You could have at least given me a heads-up!"

    "Didn''t I apologize to you?"

    "It was too shocking at that moment! How could I react?!"

    Shane sighed and said, "Noah, if you don''t want me to take control of your body anymore, just keep getting stronger!"

    "Show me the stats."

    Shane clicked at the stats window of the host in his menu and tapped on the prompt tab as he clicked the options mentioned there by default. He could see the show stats window there at the top. As soon as he clicked it, a stats window appeared in front of the host that showed everything, including his luck being negative twenty.

    Noah''s eyes widened, "What the f*ck does that mean? How can I be so unlucky?!"

    ''If I knew what it meant, I would have found a way to increase it already!'' Shane grumbled under his breath and made a note to ask his master about it after going out. For now, he could only post a query in the report section and hope that Dirt would answer it quickly.

    So he opened the report section in his menu and wrote down his query as he said, "I asked my seniors about this. Don''t worry. Let''s think about how to get you a weapon and increase Crana for you."

    "Yeah, what''s Crana though?" Noah sounded genuinely confused as he looked at his stats window.

    "It''s a heavenly currency system."

    Noah said nothing as he continued to study his stats. After half an hour of asking the system questions, he learned everything he needed to in the stats window. When he closed the window, a question suddenly popped up in his head, "Oh yeah, system, you never told me your name. Don''t systems usually have those?"

    Shane grimaced. If only this stupid host hadn''t asked that¡­. He didn''t want to tell the name of the type of job he had been assigned for like eternity. The poor human would probably end up fainting out of fear. He sighed and lied, "I don''t have a name."

    "Really?" Poor Noah believed him and nodded, "Show me directions. Where should I go?"

    Shane got a headache at this time as he pressed his fingers against his forehead. He was merely a system, not some host ve! Why did this youth continue to treat him as such? He opened his mouth and said without changing his expression, "I''m not obliged to answer that. Please, find a weapon on your own. On the contrary, if there''s a dungeon nearby, I''ll let you know."<sub> </sub>

    Before Noah could even open his mouth, Shane interrupted and added, "Also, I''m calcting the stats. Please, don''t disturb me for a while."

    Shane didn''t want to answer questions anymore and wanted to be quiet. It was already too much hearing the host''s thoughts now and then.

    After that, he heard the host uttering a series of cusses in his mind, which Shane ignored as usual. He simply opened the radar and stared at it intently.

    This window was very helpful. It not only showed the positions of enemies for free but it could also be used to locate dungeons and other treasure hunting ces nearby. It was just that a hint could tell him where exactly he should go to find a weapon of a higher grade. If a particr dungeon didn''t have anything worthwhile, they would just end up wasting their time.

    Since this world was of severe difficulty, Shane could only assume that finding a weapon would itself be a tedious task. So he didn''t want to miss out on an opportunity no matter how difficult it may seem.

    He could see that Noah had already started to walk outside the cave after taking every step carefully. The youth still seemed to be shocked after facing such a life and death situation. This time, he walked at a slow pace and stopped by a tree. His eyes narrowed at the tree branch.

    ''A branch could also be a weapon, right?'' Noah''s thoughts continued to pour into Shane''s mind.

    At this moment, Shane immediately understood what the host wanted to do, but he didn''t stop the young, naive man. He also wanted to know whether picking up a random branch would suffice. If not, he might as well just use the hint option after paying up a fifty Crana. He probably would have gotten enough already from the livestream until now.

    He opened the Crana option and was shocked to see his ount had close to five thousand Crana. Didn''t he have about two thousandst time? Howe his ie increased so much? Had he be famous already at this moment?

    He opened the livestream section and nced around. After a while, he immediately understood while reading through thements that people liked the part where he took control of the host, and they especially liked how he managed to shut Noah up just like that.

    So in short, they seemed to like when he acted cool.

    Shane sneered. They better like it because he would not care even if it was otherwise.

    Just then, he heard the host calling him out, "Hey, system, why isn''t the task finished? Is there a glitch in you?"

    "You didn''t find a weapon yet," Shane nced at the branch and said, "Can you really kill a berserk elf with this branch?"

    Nosh pursed his lips and sighed. He threw the branch and continued walking through the forest. Just as he was walking, he heard Shane''s voice in his head, "I can locate a dungeon in a nearby cave. Turn to your left."

    The young man continued walking in the direction while wearing his tattered robes until he reached the entrance of the cave. A light blue portal appeared there, lightning sparking rapidly, waiting for someone to enter. Noah''s eyes lit up at that. He immediately entered the cave without thinking. After ncing at the color of the portal, he understood that the level should be easy.

    So even Shane was rxed as he watched the youth entering through the dungeon portal. What they both didn''t know was that as soon as Noah entered, the color of the portal changed into dark blue color as a dark aura poured out of that portal continuously.

 Chapter 28 27. How To Use A Sword?

    Shane observed the radar and opened the menu section. Since he was safe for now, he should buy some weapons for himself. He had seen how the power level of the body itself had arisen when he took control of it. It means that he could use his own weapons for a few seconds every hour if needed.

    Of course, he couldn''t give his weapons to the host. Otherwise, the first task would have been so easy already. Shane opened the inventory thinking he might as well see how much space he had to buy items only to be stunned.

    Originally, he hadn''t purchased anything except for a few protective robes and other daily usage items since hecked money. But now that he saw the inventory¡­.

    Just when did he buy a weapon? He could clearly see a sword lying there at the top. He clicked on it and the information appeared in front of his eyes.

    [Name: Kinyer

    Level: 50]

    Wait, did he just see it right?! A fifty-level weapon was lying in his inventory?!

    How?

    Why?

    Shane blinked as he pinched his arms, but the scene in front of his eyes remained the same. He took a deep breath and continued to read.

    [CE: 20

    Attribute: lightning

    Strength: 50

    Attack: 50

    Physical Resistance: 50

    CE Resistance: 50

    Luck: 47]

    He stared at the inventory with a doubtful gaze. First, he got a hard level for the first time he entered the system space, and now he suddenly got a powerful, Godly weapon to solve all his issues. Was he dreaming or something?

    Shane shook his head and closed the window. He only bought a few healing potions and nothing else. All the weapons he had thought of buying seemed to buy small toys in front of this sword. He would have to ask Master Ed after returning.

    He looked at the scene in front of his eyes through the host''s screen. It seemed that they had arrived at a deserted castle. He said, "Host, it has been an hour. Let me try something when a monster appears."

    Ed had taught him something about the weapons. Shane remembered that he would have to infuse his life energy into the weapon to connect it with his soul. That way, no matter what attributes the weapon contained, the yielder could use it without hesitation, but only for a while.<sub> </sub>

    Since this weapon would suck away the life energy, the user might end up getting tired faster. But if the person levels up, his life force also continues to unlock, making them yield it for a long time. The higher the level of the user was, the more he could use the weapon. So at his current level¡­.

    Shane looked at his stats that stated zero. Even if he could hold it for a few seconds in an hour, he would consider it a blessing. In any case, he should try it out to test the vitality of this weapon.

    He opened his mouth and said, "I want to try something. Don''t go any further."

    "Wha---" before Noah could even exim, the control body was taken away from him as Shane flexed the arms and legs as if he hadn''t done it for a long time. He stretched his neck and said, "Phew. I have wanted to do this for a long time. Since I have a weapon now, I''ll try it."

    He opened the inventory as Noah sat inside the mind and stared at everything that had been happening in front of his eyes. Soon, a dashing silver sword adorned with gold and other colorful gems appeared in the hands out of nowhere. His eyes widened as his soul grew angrier, "What the heck?! If you had a weapon, why did you make me walk so much through the forest?!"

    "Shut up!" Shane didn''t want to exin anything, but when he continued to hear thoughts that constantly med him again and again, veins popped on his forehead, "Didn''t I tell you not to think too loud?! And again, I don''t have the power to send you the weapon. If I had, I would have given it to you already."

    ''Liar! You just want to see me suffer!'' Noah''s mental voice echoed in Shane''s mind.

    Shane: "...."

    He sighed and ignored the host as he closed his eyes and concentrated fully on the sword in his hand. Since he had practiced it with a normal sword back while practicing, he knew how to inside his life force into any weapon.

    So after a while, a colorless energy shield connected to the sword in his hand. Now, even thought was enough to make Shane use the weapon even without his hands. He lowered his hand and tried to imagine that it was flying in front of him, pointing at the front door of the castle.

    Noah was shocked after seeing this scene in front of his eyes. He was a normal youth studying in the highschool before entering this strange world. So when he saw a sword practically flying in the air, his eyes widened as he stared at the scene in shock.

    Even Shane was no different from the host. He was also amon youth, but after entering the system world, he had indeed seen many things these past few days. Still, this was the first time he was able to do something like this ok his own.

    His eyes couldn''t help but feel a trace of delight. His fingers curled up in a fist as he stared at the flying sword with a hint of anticipation in his heart, "This is it! This is what I wanted!"

    ''Let''s see who dares to mess with me now!''

    With this weapon, perhaps he could protect his sister and have hope to live peacefully in this world!

    But soon after this, he felt his energy draining at an rming rate. His eyes widened as he immediately took back his power and grabbed the sword as he stared down at it. He sighed, "So I can only use it for five seconds. I should have known. Still, it''s rather a blessing I can use it."

    "Why?" Noah asked as he heard his system muttering those words. Soon enough, control was transferred to him as he heard Shane''s voice.

    "Ahem. You don''t need to worry about it."

    Noah''s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

    Shane sighed in relief. There was no way he would tell this stupid and childish host that he was at level zero and this was his first time. In any case, this host was a fake. There was no need to be afraid of getting this person killed anymore.

 Chapter 29 28. The Starters Package

    Shane didn''t say another word after that. He immediately clicked on the shopping button and scanned through the weapons section. He filtered and chose his attribute-based weapons and searched again.

    No results were found.

    Shane stared at that screen as veins popped on his forehead, "What the heck?!"

    "What happened?" Noah also eximed as he walked down the dark corridor, slightly shivering from cold and darkness.

    Shane took a deep breath and waved his hand, "Nothing. You should continue doing your work. I''m just reading something here."

    "You have the audacity to read useless things when I''m busy working my a** off?!" Noah red at the floor as he crossed his arms on his chest, "Take control of the body right now and you do it in my stead!"

    "Shut up!" Shane rubbed his forehead as he continued to buy some low-grade weapons of different attributes, "I''m doing something I cannot tell you about. It''s confidential!"

    "Ah, okay," Noah didn''t ask any more about this as he continued to walk through the never-ending corridor filled with darkness. He rubbed his frozen arms and asked, "System, do you have a torch?"

    "You can buy it in the shop."

    "Damn it! I don''t have Crana!"

    "Wait, let me check something," Shane had forgotten that simr to himself, the livestream viewers were also entitled to send Crana to the hosts too! Several moments had passed, and he believed that the viewers would have given a decent amount to his host until now.

    Thinking like this, he opened the job section instantly and looked at the host''s stats only to be shocked. His host had a thousand Crana in his ount!

    His eyes widened as he stared at that number. It seemed that he would have to go through the livestream notification soon. He opened his mouth and said, "You''ve got a thousand Crana through the livestream service."

    "Wait, what?" Noah''s steps paused as he frowned. "What''s the livestream service? Wait, you don''t have to tell me about it. Let me guess, it''s where other people watch me act like aplete idiot and send me money?"

    "That''s exactly it."

    "You get something out of it too, don''t you?"

    "Eh, only ten percentmission," Shane spoke as he rubbed his nose. He would never admit that aside from this, the viewers would also send him money if they wanted. He already had close to six thousand Crana now even after buying some stuff.

    "That''s a shame. You''re poorer than I thought."

    Shane nced at his dashboard and said nothing. He had six times more money aspared to his host, but this was still enough. The weapons he ended up buying were all useless. He sighed and asked, "Do you want my help buying you weapons?"

    "Yes, rmend me the best weapon at this rate."

    "Host, I''d rmend you to buy both the weapons and the healing potions," Shane spoke generously as he opened the shop section on the job window. Here, he could see the host''s shop and select the items the host could buy. Not only that, he could also choose what the host might see in his shop window.

    He selected a few items and said, "This is the Starter''s Pack. Ites with both the weapons of different sses, but of a lower grade and potions to heal your wounds. The total amount would be a thousand Crana."<sub> </sub>

    Of course, there was no such thing as a starter''s pack. Shane was just bluffing because he didn''t want to exin too much.

    Noah''s eyes widened as he rubbed his hands together, "Is there a torch?"

    Shane looked at the weapons section and silently deleted one of the useless weapons and chose a torch that ran on a battery made out of divine energy. It could be used for a few days depending on the user.

    Then he said, "Yes."

    "Cool!" Noah''s eyes practically glowed at the moment. "Show it to me!"

    "Just open your menu and see."

    "Menu!" Noah almost screamed out his guts due to his excitement. Shane rubbed his ears and sighed.

    He never liked the protagonists who would scream all the time for small issues, but those animes were still so good because of the plot and other aspects. So he could only ignore the unpleasant screams of the main characters and watch them.

    But, this wasn''t an anime anymore. It was a brutal reality, and the host, even though fictional, was real enough for Shane. He didn''t want to fail at this stage. So he immediately said in an irritated voice, "If you continue screaming, I''ll take back the Starter''s Pack and even grab all your money!"

    "You can do that?!" Noah was genuinely afraid at this point.

    Of course not, but¡­. "Yes," Shane said shamelessly as he nodded with a righteous expression on his face, "So don''t you dare offend me in the future."

    Just as Noah was about to speak, Shane''s notification rang as he silenced Noah, "Shh. I need to work. I''ve sent the Starter''s Pack to your inbox. Check it out."

    Only then did the host go silent. Shane sighed and opened the text notification only to find a message from Dirt. He remembered he had asked the robot about the ''luck'' thing in the stats.

    Now that he thought about it, he could have messaged his friends too, but it was a rule that he couldn''t contact anyone other than the ones avable at the help desk outside the portal.

    He opened the message and read it out loud:

    "Luck is the result of your karma. For instance, if you were a demon, had killed millions of people and tortured them to death, your luck factor would be a million in the negatives. If you have it positive, you might have done something good."

    "Just see your own luck factor. You must have done something good to obtain twenty luck in the positives. It means you won''t face any difficulty in this current life, and you''ll also face good situations in the future. It is also true for the negatives. Their lives will be filled with thorns. If you do more good things in this life, your luck percentage will increase in the next."

    Shane read the exnation and nodded as he turned off the window without replying. Since the host''s luck factor was in the negatives, it meant the difficulty level might end up getting higher and they would face hazardous situations.

    But he was a system, not a host. He couldn''t just grab control of the body at all times. Was there anything he could use to increase the luck factor? He immediately opened the job section and went directly to the shopping area of the host.

    The result made the corners of his mouth twitch.

 Chapter 30 29. Five Hundred Crana?!

    He found a potion to increase luck, but it only had one drop, which was extremely costly. The description said that the probability of increasing luck depended on luck itself. If the ratings were below zero, the luck would only be able to reach a stable value, and after that, the person was responsible for their destiny.

    So typically, even if his host invests a lot of Crana, he might only reach zero, and things would not be fruitful. Shane wanted tough and cry at the same time after reading this. He sighed and closed the tab. If his host had that much Crana to waste, he might have suggested this, but seeing the luck factor already negative, he didn''t think that day woulde anytime soon where his host would have money to waste.

    So he discarded this idea and opened his mouth, "Ahem, did you buy it?"

    "Yes!" Noah was particrly excited as he raised his hand, holding a sword. "This weapon is so cool! I never thought I would end up holding a sword one day! Am I looking like those protagonists?"

    The host waved it slightly up and down as the smile on his face widened., "This is pretty light! I used to think the weapons would be heavier than this."

    Shane ignored his gullible host and opened the radar section. Just then, the expression on his face changed abruptly as he spoke, "Careful! Behind you!"

    Noah tilted his head and turned around slowly, only to see a giant paw with sharp nails flinging at his body. His entire body froze as the sword fell to the ground. Before waking up from his frozen state, his whole body was thrown to the other side of the corridor. Even though it was Noah''s great fortune that he didn''t hit a wall, he still suffered from a severe blow.

    He could hear his bones cracking as his body fell to the ground. Shane was also not stable at this moment as he felt severe pain in his chest as if it were his bones that had cracked all of a sudden. His body fell to his knees in the dark space as he covered his chest with his hand. His face was covered with cold sweat as he took deep breaths.

    Then he opened his mouth as a strained voice filled Noah''s ears, "Host, drink the healing potion and pick up the damn sword!"

    Noah groaned as he turned his face toward the monster that had attacked him from behind. It was a big wolf-like animal that walked on his two hind legs, almost like a human being covered with fur and sharp nails with a big wolf head.

    "W-What the¡­." Noah only stared at the monster, frozen in shock. He couldn''t move his limbs as the monster walked slowly and stood right in front of him, staring at him with hungry eyes.

    Shane''s heart gripped with anxiety. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, "I cannot take control of your body for forty minutes more. So please, do me a favor and get up!"

    Noah seemed like he hadn''t heard it. Rather, he almost looked like a dead person with his face as pale as a white sheet of paper. Shane couldn''t help but curse under his breath. He opened the tools section and nced at the avable options that he could use to save his stupid host.

    He finally ended up noticing something worthwhile.

    He could even purchase the tool to control his host''s body, but at five hundred Crana peruse. So, he would have to invest so much money for a mere ten seconds of control.<sub> </sub>

    Shane gritted his teeth and paid the money to purchase the tool. A prompt appeared in front of his eyes,

    [Do you want to use the purchased tool?]

    He didn''t think twice before selecting the yes option. After all, if he didn''t act quickly, this frozen host would get killed, and he might have to face severe punishmentter. He had no curiosity to know what was stored for him if he were to fail this task.

    After purchasing the package, he felt his consciousness covering up the entire body as he moved his hands. The monster was about to attack with his giant paws again as Shane dodged it. He then carefully looked at the monster in front of his eyes.

    This thing was no more than two heads higher than him, but it was still smaller aspared to the monsters he had seen in the past. To be honest, this monster wasn''t even a little bit frightening. Shane had seen a lot of scary beings in herds at that.

    He stared at the monster for half a second before he pulled out a lower-grade sword from his inventory. He didn''t even bother seeing the name of the weapon he was using as he flung it toward the monster while dodging the paw attack at the same time.

    The sword hit the wolf''s head simultaneously, severing it from the body. It rolled to the ground until it reached Shane''s feet. He stared at that thing for a while before putting his sword in his inventory as the control returned to his host.

    The first thing that Noah did was yell at his system, "You could have left that treasure of the sword for me! I wouldn''t have to go through so much trouble in this dungeon."

    He paused, "Wait a minute. I already have a weapon from the store! Why didn''t you notify me of the task being finished?!

    Shane''s headache worsened as he took a deep breath and said, "You have to find the weapon for yourself from the outside. It should be added to your karma, not mine! Plus, even if I left the weapon here, you can''t pass this task until you find the treasure yourself!

    "I can only help you locate the ce of that weapon! Any more questions?"

    Noah said nothing as he grumbled under his breath. He gave his system a million curses in his mind as he walked forward without looking back.

    Shane shook his head and looked at the radar, only to watch the screen with widened eyes. He opened his mouth and said in a strained tone, "Host, there''s a herd of monsters twenty steps away. What do you want to do?"

 Chapter 31 30. The Eyeballs!

    Noah''s steps paused at this moment as his face paled. He had seen how his system had ended up killing a monster just like that. He would never be able to do it in his lifetime!

    And now, he was told there was a herd of those beings?! He quit!

    He was not ying this game anymore!

    Noah''s Adam''s Apple bobbled as his lips parted, "System, do you have any suggestions?"

    Shane thought for a moment as he nced at the radar. There was no way he was going to spend another five hundred Crana for killing those monsters. He would only use that method unless and until it was a life and death scene.

    At this moment, if they could save themselves easily, Shane wouldn''t have to worry about anything. He opened his mouth and said, "Run in the opposite direction."

    Noah didn''t have to be reminded before he turned around and sprinted. He tried not to nce at the corpse of the monster, but how could he not take a peak when there was a headless monster lying in front of him with all of its blood and vessels visible to the naked eye?

    At this time, Shane could also feel his host''s emotions that were spreading around his body. A feeling of nausea climbed up his throat, struggling to get out and fall to the ground. Just then, he gritted his teeth and said, "What are you waiting for? Do you want to be trampled by those monsters?!"

    That''s when Noah woke up from a daze and nodded, still sweating. A stench of blood permeated the surrounding at this time as his nose wrinkled. He finally gathered his courage and crossed the corpse and ran for his life. His face was still pale, but he managed to run as fast as he could.

    Sure enough. The life and death situation often made people do things they wouldn''t do. Shane could almost tell that this was probably the first time his host had run so fast. When the host stopped, he was already standing in a dark hall filled with brick color walls, dark red carpet, and a circr staircase leading upstairs. There was a closed door in the middle of the staircase on both sides. Shane saw as his host tilted his head to look up only to see a few floors above.

    The topmost one seemed to be the smallest with only one room. Shane''s eyes narrowed at that. Could it be simr to a tower game where they would have to climb above to pass through the level?

    Since they didn''t have any other choice, it was a better option to just go ahead with the current n. In any case, they would probably end up getting more hints at this moment. Shane didn''t think much of it as he said, "Walk upstairs. I guess we have to pass through three towers before reaching the topmost room. We can safely assume that it will be the boss room."

    Noah nodded, "I also agree with you. This seems more like a game. So I''ll get my weapon there?"

    ? "Probably," Shane didn''t want to promise anything at this moment. He felt like things were too simple until now, but then again, this was their first dungeon. He didn''t know anything about the level, but he had learned about what kind of dangers he would face in portals of varied colors.

    For instance, light blue portals would have a boss of level five, which might be easily killed with the help of his ultimate weapon. Shane pursed his lips thinking of it. He would have to practice using it more because, at his level, just a swing would drain his life force and cosmic energy bothpletely.

    He should save it as an emergency weapon then. He nced at his inventory. All the weapons he obtained were powerful enough to kill the monsters and giants above level five. So, Shane was confident that even if his host wasn''t able to finish his mission, he could take over the host''s body and do it in his stead.

    At this moment, he didn''t know the dangers that had been waiting for him and Noah in the boss room. Since the color of the dungeon changed from light blue to dark blue, in an instant, he would face a monster of a higher power than himself.

    But right now, Shane was unaware of these changes, and he naively believed that he could solve this dungeon and get out of this world without any life-threatening moments.<sub> </sub>

    The two people were pumped up as they climbed upstairs. As soon as they reached that ce, darkness spread all across the ce. A sense of foreboding spread across Shane''s heart as he stared at the screen with squinted eyes.

    As Noah took his first step, they both heard the crisp sound of something cracking beneath the boy''s feet. The sound echoed in the background, making him shiver. Shane continued to stare at the scene and also nced at the radar at the same time.

    Nothing changed.

    Noah took another step forward. Another crisp sound was heard. This time, the host waspletely scared. He gulped and asked, "System, what''s beneath my foot?"

    "Don''t you have a torch? Use it."

    The host nodded, but for some reason, the silence on this level made him feel nervous. His hands trembled as he opened his menu and pulled out the torch. As soon as he turned it on and looked down, his entire body froze.

    Whaty beneath his feet were two human eyes broken into multiple pieces. It could be said that these two eyes were just now crushed by his feet, and the inside of these eyes seemed to be hollow with nothing inside. But that wasn''t the creepy thing.

    The torchlight moved around the room only to find millions of simr eyeballs lying on the ground, staring at Noah''s face. The pupils seemed to have been stationed at his face, and the eyeballs that weren''t facing him originally turned toward him in a creepy way, making a small creaking sound.

    A room filled with strange eyeballs, staring at you in a ghastly manner¡­.

    No matter how strong one was, they couldn''t help but feel a chill down their spines. Shane was also the same. His heartbeat quickened as he stared at the strangeness of this current tower.

    Was this supposed to be the easy level?

    His host had already broken two of the eyeballs. Would something happen if they continued to break some more?

    As he was continuing to think about it, the broken parts of two eyeballs gathered together and merged into one another, forming a bigger eyeball that fell on the ground with a thud.

    A few small eyeballs broke from the impact as their pieces merged into the bigger ball, increasing the size of that creepy thing.

    Shane and Noah were stunned and frightened as they stared at the horrific scene in front of their eyes. None of them wanted to imagine what the monster would look like if all the small balls would transfer into the bigger one!

    No! Shane looked at the scene anxiously. He would have to stop the bigger ball from breaking other eyes. He had a feeling that thest form of this monster wouldn''t be something he wanted to see.

 Chapter 32 31. Just Run!

    Before he could react, he felt Noah''s hands moving as thetter pulled out a sword. Shane''s eyes widened as he spoke, "What the f*ck are you doing?!"

    "Shut it, stupid system! This is the first time I''ve tried to save the situation!" Noah''s forehead was full of cold sweat as he gritted his teeth, "Don''t you get involved!"

    p "You just saw what happened when the eyeballs broke, didn''t you? Is your mind in the gutter?" Shane was also angry at this point since this host couldn''t understand a simple point. No wonder this boy''s luck was in the negatives.</anda>

    "Then what other choice do you have?" Noah red at the eyeball as he said, "I''m gonna destroy this f*cking ball until nothing remained! Let''s see if it can still grow after that!"

    "No! Don¡ª" Shane''s voice stopped abruptly when he saw Noah had alreadyunched at the enemy with his sword, even though the action was filled with clumsy aspects.

    He nced at the radar in a hurry as if trying to find a way out. Since this was a tower, there should be a staircase leading them upward. He could even tell that every tower should have different small realms hidden inside, just like this one. So, finding the staircase wouldn''t be an easy task.

    As soon as he saw the screen, he noticed everywhere around them had faint red dots that kept sparkling, and the ce where the bigger eyeball was, there was a red color with a darker shade.

    Just then, Noah''s sword pierced the eyeball into two pieces. He swung the weapon while holding it in two hands in every possible direction as if he had gone berserk. The result, the bigger eyeball was crushed into a fine powder before it could even touch the ground.

    Even Shane was amazed at this sudden outburst. Sure enough, moments of life and death could force one to do things they''d never even think of on normal days. He watched the screen from Noah''s perspective as everything went calm after the attack.

    The host wiped his forehead and stared at the powder falling on the ground one after another. At first, nothing happened, and he felt that he had made a good choice for the first time in his life. His smile widened as he said, "See? What did I tell you? You have to take things into your own hands sometimes to¡ª"

    Before he could even continue speaking, every eyeball that touched the fine powder cracked and broke apart. Shane''s eyes squinted. He had an idea that this might happen. That was why he didn''t want his host to go berserk like that, but¡­.

    Nevermind. This wasn''t the time to think of what-ifs anymore. He quickly nced at the radar and spoke to his host in a cold tone, "Head over to North. You can find a ce to hide there."

    That was the only ce in the entire area that didn''t have any eyeballs around. For some reason, beyond the eyeballs, everything was dark and they couldn''t see the end of this scenario. Just that small space at the distance was the only thing that didn''t have glowing dots at the moment.

    But Shane also knew that even that ce could be filled with danger, otherwise, there wouldn''t be something that could stop these eyeballs from infiltrating every piece ofnd.

    Noah also realized that his mistake had caused the situation to worsen. He gulped as he put the sword back into his inventory as his hands trembled.

    He took deep breaths as he licked his lips and said, "I-I''m sorry!"

    "Save it!" Shane suppressed his anger and said, "If you don''t want to die, just run."<sub> </sub>

    Noah didn''t wait any more seconds as he rushed forward without hesitation. He tried to not step onto those eyeballs, but it couldn''t be avoided because they were everywhere. After a while, the feeling of frustration grew stronger in his heart.

    A momentter, he stopped caring about the eyeballs and brazenly rushed onward toward the North. Shane watched everything, but he said nothing. He also knew that they couldn''t avoid stepping onto those things. So they might as well rush forward at their full speed.

    Soon enough, the eyeball grew bigger and bigger to the point that it almost looked like a two-story building. Being stared at by such a big eyeball gave Noah the creeps. He gulped and ran with all his strength.

    He could feel that eye staring intently at him as he spoke, "System, don''t you have something like an invisibility cloak?"

    "Let me see," even though he could tell that there wouldn''t be anything like that at a cheaper rate, he still wanted to search for it. It wasn''t very appropriate to take control of the host''s body by spending Crana like this. He might probably end up bing bankrupt at this speed.

    He also wanted his host to be independent so that the boy could learn to aplish the tasks without needing his help in any way.

    As Shane nced at the shopping center inside the job section, he noticed there was a potion that could make one invisible for a moment, but it was too costly, and not worth it. It only had three drops and could only make one visible for a few seconds.

    If one was in a situation of life and death, they could buy it to save their life. Shane could have thought about purchasing it, but his host didn''t have that kind of money. He sighed and said, "It''s too costly."

    "Can you lend me money?"

    "I don''t have that kind of money!" Shane nced at the radar that showed the color of the monster had almost turned red. As he remembered, this shade of red never showed up in the radar until now. It was pure, blood red that sparkled now and then, as if it were blinking.

    As he was watching, the field gradually came closer and closer until they saw a white mountain-like thing in the distance, sparkling at the same time. Anyone would sigh in relief after seeing this scene. It was simr to seeing a shade and ake amidst the desert.

    Noah was simrly happy. He smiled as his shoulders rxed. His feet ran faster and faster at this time.

    It was just that Shane could feel something off. He narrowed his eyes on the mountain. This was the floor of darkness, and he couldn''t even see the sky. So how would a mountain appear at this ce out of nowhere?

    Just as they came closer, the appearance of the mountain became clearer. After seeing it closely, both Noah''s and Shane''s eyes widened as they stared at the scene with widened eyes.

    This mountain really wasn''t something they had expected!

 Chapter 33 32. Throwing Bones

    The view in front of Noah was so shocking that he stood there without moving. This mountain was actually made out of bones! Pure, white human bones!

    "Why are these so clean¡­.." Noah muttered, as if he was wondering about this, but deep down, even he knew the answer to this question. He nced back at the eyeball approaching him at the fastest speed possible.

    Then it disappeared suddenly and reappeared right in front of his eyes, at a distance of one centimeter. Noah was frozen as he stared into the big eye in front of him. It was so big that he couldn''t help but tremble at the spot.

    The ck orb stared at the host in a creepy manner.

    Shane was the first among them to wake up from his daze. He turned the camera of the screen toward the bones as he narrowed his eyes.

    He could safely assume that these bones were thrown here after eating up other humans before Shane entered this ce. So many people died here because of this eyeball¡­.

    The only strange thing was that none of the eyeballs seemed to be closing in on those bones. Shane frowned as he thought about it.

    This strange eyeball seemed to have eaten those people, and because it didn''t like bones, it spat it out in piles. So the reason that it wasn''t going anywhere near that thing was probably becaus it hated these bones.

    As soon as he figured it out, he instantly opened his mouth and said, "Noah, climb to the top of this mountain. Hurry."

    The host blinked as he stepped back, but he couldn''t move. He stayed frozen in ce without moving, as if he was scared silly.

    Shane gritted his teeth and nced at the tool section. The free usage was again made avable. It seemed an hour had passed ever since he hadst used this tool. Good. He could now use it for his benefit.

    He instantly clicked that tool as the control of the body was slowly transferred to him. The next moment he opened his eyes, he saw a giant eyeball staring intently at his face as if it wanted to eat him alive that instant.

    Before Shane could react, the eyeball''s ck orbs split into two halves as big, pointy teeth appeared. The mouth kept getting bigger as a lot of small eyeballs continued to merge into this giant thing.

    At that time, he abandoned the idea of climbing at the top of the mountain. He feared that the eyeball would probably eat him alive considering the thing''s size.

    Only one thing could be done at the moment¡ª

    He turned around and grabbed a pile of bones and started throwing them at the eyeball. As expected, the giant eye dodged the bones and made a disgusted expression. The corners of the giant lips of the monster curled down as if it were dissatisfied with the situation.

    Shane didn''t turn around as he took a lot of bones in his hands, as many as he could, and said, "Host, save these in your inventory. It''lle in handy."

    After that, he handed the control of the body to Noah, who was still surprised after seeing the sudden changes in his surroundings. At that moment, he was a littlete in throwing the bones at the eyeball''s face. As a result, the huge mouth came closer and bit two fingers off of Noah''s hand.

    "Ahhhhh!"<sub> </sub>

    Thetter''s eyes widened as a flush of pain centered around his hands, reaching his brain in no time. All the bones he was carrying fell to the ground as the eyeball''s giant mouth came closer. It was now only a little bit away from the host''s head.

    Shane had never felt so angry before. He never knew he would get such a useless host the first time he practiced his new job. He hadn''t even graduated from the system university, and he was already getting a headache.

    Even his university days on Earth weren''t so frustrating!

    He immediately paid five hundred Crana and took control of the body again. This was a special tool that was avable for free with a reset period of an hour, but if there was an emergency, the systems could buy it at five hundred Crana for a few seconds of control.

    The reset time would count from the free usage tool. Shane had already figured out how it worked. So he didn''t think twice before purchasing it.

    He then picked up the bones and kept throwing them at the eyeball''s face as he scolded his host, "You f*cker! Do you have any idea how many Crana you''re making me lose by your stupidity?!"

    "I-I''m sorry!" Noah stuttered in a low voice inside the body''s mind.

    Shane said nothing at this time as he focused on running as fast as possible within these few seconds. These bones were really helpful as they helped him stay a little away from the eyeball, making thetter distracted.

    Soon enough, the control of the body went back to the host as the boy kept running for his life. At this time, Shane nced at the radar option and narrowed his eyes.

    He could see another empty space in the distance. If they continued running at this pace, maybe they would end up reaching there unscathed. Still, he wanted to be sure of his survival.

    "Host, take out your sword."

    Even though Shane knew that they couldn''t kill this eyeball of a monster, they could still dy it until reaching that distance. He could tell that the space this time would probably be the exit from this floor of the tower.

    But¡­.

    He nced at the right hand of the boy that was missing two fingers and sighed. This stupid host had iting. He said, "Use health potions. Otherwise, you''ll keep losing blood."

    "Yeah, I do feel dizzy," Noah staggered on his feet as he struggled to increase his pace. He frowned as he pursed his lips, trying hard to suppress the urge to scream from pain. He knew that he had already made so much trouble for his system, and he knew that he had be so useless. So he didn''t want to cause too much trouble anymore.

    At this time, he took out a sword he had purchased earlier along with one health potion bottle. He drank it all in one go as the bleeding stopped. He seemed to have gained energy all of a sudden, and the pain that was throbbing in his hands lessened at this time.

    But before he could sigh in relief, the eyeball that had grown bigger than a ten-story building closed in on him.

 Chapter 34 33. A Bigger Eyeball

    Noah stood there without moving as he blinked and took a deep breath. Fear crept up in his heart, gripping him, and making him frozen like before. All of a sudden, he pped his cheeks and shook his head, "No, I can''t continue to be a burden on you anymore! System, just see how dashing I''ll look!"

    "Eh?" Shane had just opened his mouth when he saw his host swinging the sword in a random direction. Rather than being cool, this boy looked more like an irritated drunkard who couldn''t even walk in a straight line but still managed to act in a violent manner.

    Shane was surprised to see such a scene. He didn''t think the character development of this stupid host would happen so soon. He had made up his mind to scold his host a few times before forcing the boy to perform the tasks, but it seemed he wouldn''t have to take everything on his shoulders this time around.

    He watched as the eyeball fell to the ground and scattered around, breaking other small eyeballs at the same time. This indeed gained them a few more seconds to run off. So, Noah wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and smiled, "Did I do it right?"

    Shane sighed and said, "Instead of asking for praise like a little kid, you better run now. Or you would have to repeat what you just did."

    Noah cursed under his breath and said, "You have a knack for ruining the moment for me!"

    As he said this, he turned around in an instant and dashed towards the Northern direction without looking back. He knew for sure that this time, the size of that eyeball thing would grow much bigger than he could handle. So he couldn''t waste any more time here.

    His speed grew more and more as he got exhausted from running so fast, but Noah didn''t stop.

    Shane could feel the emotions of his host through the sense perception and he was amazed after seeing this scene. It was too bad that this person was a fake human created by the virtual portal. He sighed as he watched his host running at full speed. Meanwhile, he nced at the radar only to see that the space was getting closer.

    Up at a distance, he could see a staircase covered by shadows. Only the first few steps could be seen faintly with railings. Noah''s voice echoed in the background, "What the heck? We found it so soon?"

    "Talk less. Just head over to the staircase before that eyeball catches up."

    As soon as he said this, the eyeball that had finally be a bigger thing vanished and reappeared in front of Noah, stopping him in his steps. The eye was so big that there was no end to it. Just the orbs were enough to make Noah feel like the entire ce was shrouded by darkness. The ck orb seemed like a sky above his head.

    His face paled as his body trembled, "Ho-How the heck am I supposed to defeat that?"

    "Don''t think of defeating it," even Shane didn''t feel good after watching the eyeball be so giant. He gritted his teeth and suppressed traces of fear deeper into his veins as he said, "I said run, SO RUN, damn it!"

    Noah was woken up from that scolding as he dashed forward. Even though his limbs were weakened, he still ran forward.

    A sticky substance fell on the top of his head, making his entire body wet. A stinky smell wafted around him as he wrinkled his nose, "What is this?"

    Shane knew what was happening. The eyeball had probably opened up his mouth to swallow the host entirely. If Noah were to tilt his head up to nce at the eyeball now, Shane knew that his host had a chance of fainting. Even he didn''t want to see a giant mouth hanging up above his head. So he said, "Don''t think about it. Just go to the staircase."

    Noah was frightened to death, and he even knew that the sticky thing might not be good, but he still listened to his system as he rushed forward without speaking. Soon after this, he walked over to the first step. The killing intent instantly vanished without a trace as if it were covered up by some invisible wall.

    Only then did Noah turn back to nce at the scene.<sub> </sub>

    The giant eyeball that had covered up the entire sky had opened up its mouth as two tongues fell out, close to where Noah was standing just now. At that moment, he felt that the tongue wanted to press forward, but it couldn''t because it was constantly hitting an invisible wall in front of him.

    Noah fell to the ground as he stared at the scene with his widened eyes.

    Never had he imagined in his mind that eyes could be so scary!

    Shane didn''t react as badly as Noah, probably because he had expected this to happen. But still, the thing had turned out to be bigger than what he had originally expected. There were still a few small eyeballs scattered around the floor. If they were to be broken and merged, he wondered how much bigger this thing could get.

    He shook his head and said, "Let''s get out of here. We have two more floors and a boss room to get the weapon."

    "C-Can I rest for a while?"

    Since there was no time limit, Shane nodded, "Do you want to watch something?"

    He had just noticed an entertainment option in the tool section just now. And it was also avable for free. So they could watch anything and everything for however long they wanted.

    Of course, the livestream was still on. So Shane knew that he couldn''t afford to waste time sleeping here. Otherwise, he might not get as many Crana as he was getting now. His ount had already reached arge ten thousand Crana, and the numbers were still increasing.

    Good. Keep giving gifts. This was basically money given to him to go through misery. He nced at the host''s dashboard that showed five thousand Crana in the boy''s ount.

    At this time, Noah said, "Can you find me an anime movie? I want to watch it while resting."

    "Take a healing potion. Your Crana has increased. You might as well make a few purchases."

    "Okay!" Noah instantly opened his menu as he turned his face away. He even climbed a few steps to get away from the tongue. That creepy thing still scared him every time its tongue hit that wall.

    Shane watched as the host got busy as he frowned. This dungeon was supposed to be easy. He had watched all the monsters and knew that the ones below level five should have been simr to that wolf he had killed in the corridor.

    Then howe the difficulty suddenly increased?

    He remembered how he would often read about dungeon difficulties changing abruptly in the middle, and realized what had happened. For some unknown reason, the monster level seemed to be higher than ever.

    That creepy eyeball was a never dying monster that grew bigger and bigger every time it was attacked. Something was definitely wrong here.

    So he opened the help section and asked this to Dirt. He also mentioned the sword, Kinyer, which he had identally obtained a while ago. He hoped his intuition was wrong. Otherwise, he was in big trouble.

 Chapter 35 34. Woman Holding A Pipa

    Noah spent no less than two hours resting and watching a movie. Only after he felt well rested did he get up on his feet and started climbing stairs. Meanwhile, Shane had also purchased everything that he needed, such as low-grade weapons, healing pills, potions, herbs for emergencies, and even a body armor of level five. He knew that, since he had to face monsters of higher levels, he might as well be ready to perform his tasks and kill these monsters.

    One sword and skill he had purchased was the coolest among all.

    [Name: Ice Sword:

    Level: 0

    CE: 5

    Attribute: Ice

    Strength: 5

    Attack: 6

    Physical Resistance: 10

    CE Resistance: 5

    Luck: 15]

    And¡­.

    [Name: Freezing skill

    Level: 5

    CE: 2

    Attribute: ice

    Strength: 10

    Attack: 8

    Physical Resistance: 2

    CE Resistance: 20

    Luck: 12]

    Shane nodded in satisfaction. He felt that these two things would be enough to save his host from danger.

    After reaching the next floor, Noah''s steps paused at the entrance as Shane nced at the radar first. There was only one red dot in the middle. He raised his eyes to nce at the scene that his host was observing.

    There was a beautiful woman wearing ancient robes, looking like a beauty that came straight out of an ancient era-themed movie. She was holding a Pipa in her hands while ying a soft tune. Her straight hair waved behind her as she swayed with the music, performing an elegant dance. Even her eyes were closed.

    She seemed to be immersed in the music.

    Shane''s eyes squinted. He couldn''t tell if this woman was a monster or not. She looked fairly normal, enchanting at that. If he were any normal teenager, he would have be absorbed in watching that woman moving around, disying her beauty like this.

    But Shane was Shane, after all. He wouldn''t be a genius if he didn''t have a suspicion about the current scenario. He knew that the things that looked least dangerous were perhaps the most dreadful things in the entire world.

    He opened his mouth and said, "Host, be careful. Don''t stare at her for too long."<sub> </sub>

    The boy remained silent. Shane had a bad premonition in his heart. He frowned and called out, "Host? Noah?"

    He didn''t hear the boy''s words. Even he could feel Noah''s breathing had calmed. The scene outside was too calm, making Shane anxious.

    He pursed his lips and warned, "If you don''t respond in two seconds, I''lle out and kill you with my two hands!"

    No response.

    "F*ck!" Shane should have been cautious ever since entering the floor. Why didn''t he learn anything from the previous experience? If they hadn''t crushed a single eyeball, none of those things would have happened.

    Now, they were making the same mistake again! Shane took a deep breath and suppressed the feeling of anxiety in the depths of his heart. There was no point thinking about this now.

    He would have to find a perfect solution to this.

    As he was thinking, the dancing woman slowly came closer to Noah. Even the voice sounding from the Pipa continued to enhance her as if it were waiting to be heard. When the sound kept increasing, Shane could feel through his shared senses that it was putting a strain on the host''s ears, making him feel as if he had turned on a sound system.

    He frowned and ignored the woman for the time being. If she was a monster, she would surely do something to attack. So for now, he might as well try to find the staircase.

    This floor wasn''t as dark as the one beneath. It looked so beautiful that one would want to continue to stay here without any intention of moving forward. A giant tree was visible behind the dancing woman with a pipa. That tree was full of green and pink colors with flower petals falling on the top of that woman.

    Around the tree, there were small flower nts that made the entire area look elegant. It was clearly an enchanting scene, but Shane felt nothing but a chill down his spine. He could see the color of this monster was blood red this time on the radar, simr to the giant eyeball he had seen previously.

    Would she also increase in size, likest time? He shook his head. Since this woman was a monster, it was a better idea to just kill her when she wasn''t looking. He couldn''t waste any more time and wait for the monster to attack him first.

    But something might go wrong if he attacked first. He remembered how a broken eyeball would berger if it were attacked. So Shane would have to be careful and look for the woman''s weakness before choosing something.

    As he was thinking about it, he felt Noah''s hands rising. At first, he didn''t think of anything as he continued to nce at the radar. But then, those hands reached out to the body''s neck and started squeezing tightly.

    Shane was stunned as he nced at the scene. Through shared senses, he could feel the host choking for breath.

    So that was the case. It seemed that the monster had taken the first step. The woman shouldn''t me him for killing her!

    He instantly purchased earbuds that could block the normal human range of sound entering the ears. Then he took over the control of the body through the free usage method in the tool section and put the earbuds in his ears at the same time.

    Only then did he sigh in relief. It seemed that even his host had woken up from his slumber.

    "Eh? What just happened?"

    "You were choking yourself to death."

    "What the f*ck?!" Noah''s eyes widened as he nced at the fairly like woman and felt his body tremble from inside the body, "No wonder they say women are dangerous. What are you going to do now?"

    "Let''s search for the exit. I don''t want to repeat the previous floor''s misery by attacking her."

    Noah nodded and said nothing. He also obediently stayed like that and continued to watch the scene through their shared senses.

    Just as Shane took the first step inside the second floor, the entire scene changed. The beautiful flowers changed into tentacles growing out from the ground with sharp teeth at the top, facing toward his body. The giant tree also transformed into a big tree-like monster. Flower petals became mud-like powder that fell on the top of thedy.

    The most shocking thing was the woman. Her beautiful appearance changed into that of an old woman filled with wrinkles. The Pipa in her hands altered into an animal with strings having a deformed face.

    The entire scene had such a shocking change that Shane and Noah were stunned and frozen. Just then, the old woman nced in the direction where Shane was standing and met his eyes. After that, the corners of her lip stretched to form a nasty grin.

 Chapter 36 35. This Is Just My Theory!

    A loud tune echoed in the background without stopping. It was still enchanting to the ears even in such an amplified echo a while ago. The problem was that as the old witch kepting closer, the sound kept increasing. Now, Noah''s ears had already started bleeding because of such music.

    Shane stood there for a few seconds, stunned, and by the time he regained control of himself, the control of his body was already transferred to the host. He felt a wave of pain in his ears. Even though his body was alright, he could still feel tremendous pain through their shared senses. He took a deep breath and said, "I''ll find you better earplugs."

    "Pl-Please do. I can''t take it anymore!"

    "But you don''t have money."

    "Then take control of my body."

    "Should I just continue to take control of your body and waste my money?" Shane didn''t even feel ashamed when he sounded selfish, "I''m not that selfless."

    "Ah! But it''s hurting me!"

    "As long as we walk away, it won''t hurt anymore," Shane nced at the radar and said, "Let''s try walking again."

    After saying that, Noah took one step forward only to repeat the previous scenario. He frowned after seeing this situation as he said, "Looks like we have to deal with this woman first."

    "Don''t do anything reckless," Shane could tell what the boy was thinking about. "We don''t have to kill her to pass this floor. After all, the staircase could also be hidden with an illusion created by thisdy."

    "Then what are we supposed to do? Wait and watch? Nope!" Noah pulled out amon sword as he red at the woman, "Let me at least try to knock her out."

    Before Shane could say anything, Noah had already lifted the sword, pointing the hilt at the woman''s head. He hit that part with a force that made the old witch stumble back with a shocked expression on her face, but she didn''t fall down.

    ? Shane watched the young boy rebelling like this and sighed. Sometimes even he would forget that his host was a teenager before dying. At least, that was the setting of Noah on this virtual trial.

    Just then, the sound echoed louder than ever as the grin on the old witch''s face widened. She almost looked like a masochist who liked being beaten to derive pleasure. Shane''s eyes narrowed.

    So he could conclude that if he tried to kill this person, things might get even worse. But he didn''t have time to be concerned about this.

    His host''s ear-piercing scream sounded in the background. The sound was way too loud!

    "F*ck! I''m gonna die!"

    Shane frowned as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He was also finding it hard to control himself. Even though it wasn''t his ears that bled because of such a loud sound, he still shared senses with his host.

    He might end up dying from pain at this rate.

    "Use a healing potion," said Shane as he pulled out his own healing potion and drank it all in one go. Outside, even Noah was doing the same. The pain eased for a moment, but the loud music made it worse all over again, making Noah''s ears bleed.

    "I''m never going to rebel like this. It''s not worth it!"

    "You only realized that now?" Shane sighed as he continued, "Let''s wrack our brains on how to deal with this strange monster. What did we do to pass through the previous floor?"<sub> </sub>

    "We ran?"

    "Exactly, but we could have solved it in an easier manner," Shane exined everything that he hade up with while watching the movie with his host, "What''s the thing that an eye would do?"

    "It stares¡­." the lightbulb in Noah''s head sparked up as he grew excited, "So we could have blocked that eyeball''s vision?"

    "This is just my theory, but it could have happened," Shane looked at the old woman grinning in front of him, "Let''s try to break her weapon."

    He squinted his eyes at the strange weapon monster in the world woman''s hands. The way she was holding it almost looked like she was protecting it as if it were her dear child¡­.

    An idea shed in his mind. Perhaps it could be this strange weapon that was doing these things. If not, what else would be the reason behind her protection? He didn''t believe monsters had a heart. They were low-level creatures who didn''t even have any brains to speak of!

    How could they learn how to feel?

    In this world, the beings had several levels of existence. One was at the soul level that could only be achieved after they be eligible to transgress this karmic realm to head over to the cosmic realm with merits. The soul would grow through trials and tribtions enough to be spiritually, mentally, and emotionally stronger.

    The second was the astral body that''s made out of the mind. This body was made out of threeponents¡ªvital energy, or lifeforce. Some people also called it a vital breath that was necessary for living. Once this energy left the body, one couldn''t live.

    The other twoponents were the mind and intellect, which helps one define the form of their body and their love in the world. They also had chakras and spiritual veins in their body. It was this body that connected the souls with the outer world in all aspects, making them feel and sense clearly.

    All the beings in the mortal realm and the heavens had this kind of body, even including systems. It was just that the mortals were called mortals for a reason. They had a covering of a physical body consisting of a few elements. It covered the astral senses so that one would be able to perceive what they shouldn''t. Shane blinked out of his daze as he raised his head.

    The monsters didn''t have this astral body. They only had a physical body that hampered their mental, emotional, and intellectual growth, leaving them with nothing but bodies without the ability to think and feel. These monsters wouldn''t be able to see the heavenly beings, but they all do for one reason¡ªdark cosmic energy.

    It helped them perceive things that they shouldn''t be able to, growing an astral connection with the help of darkness. Of course, the higher a monster had this power, the more perceptive they were! It was just that this power didn''t grow any emotional aspect within them.

    So Shane absolutely didn''t believe that this monster had any affection for the weapon. Instead, he knew that there must be a reason why thisdy was trying to hide it in her bossom with all her heart.

    "Attack the strings," the longer Shane stared at those strings, the more he felt like there was something wrong with them. They didn''t look normal. Instead, it seemed like they were created out of some ck energy or something.

    What else but dark cosmic energy was dark in color?

    Noah didn''t understand what was going on, but since his system said so, he would do it without thinking twice. He raised his hand and attacked the strings with a thud, but before he could hit it, his entire body was forced back, and he stood at the entrance of the floor once again.

    The scene changed, making it look like a beautiful view from a fantasy anime with a clear sky. Even the woman changed into a beautiful dress.

    The music yed once again. This time, Noah and Shane both got stunned and enchanted. The music seemed to have reached their astral body, taking control of their mind and emotions at the same time.

    Noah''s body froze as he stared at the womaning closer and closer. His ears started bleeding as the level of pain enhanced to the point that the blood couldn''t stop spurting out, but he didn''t move. Shane didn''t scold his host this time because the hypnotic energy had reached the astral body, where he was temporarily residing.

    He was also affected as he stared at the screen, almost without blinking.

 Chapter 37 36. Lady Pipa

    It was a very dangerous situation for both of them. The woman finally felt like she had captured everyone with her tune and grinned. She swayed happily in the music and danced as if she were a mere butterfly that had descended from the heavens.

    Noah and Shane stared at her as if they had never seen a beauty with full breasts and an elegant dress. Every curve of her body was visible as her long dress waved in the air.

    This was an enchanting scene, and even if it was an illusion, it looked surreal.

    Just then, the tune changed. It transformed from something melodious to a more fine-tuned, dangerous sound. The tune altered so naturally that none of them could tell what had changed.

    This tune would have sounded familiar to Shane because it had echoed when Noah was about to choke himself to death back then. But at this point, even Shane was out of his mind.

    Their ears continued to bleed.

    The music continued to sound louder and louder, making Noah even more ufortable, but he didn''t even frown. He continued to stare at thedy as if he were watching his lover performing an elegant dance.

    His hands raised toward his neck and gripped it. Simultaneously, Shane also repeated the motion, capturing his neck in his palms. After that, the duo started putting up the pressure that made them choke up for air, but they didn''t stop.

    Things didn''t seem better at this point for both of them.

    Even though Shane had an astral body, it still had lifeforce or vital breath that needed one to breath properly to have a well maintained body. If he failed to breathe, he might even die simr to how mortals would do.

    His lifeforce might end up getting exhausted without regting it at all times with breathing. The good thing about having a free astral body without physical covering was that one could breathe and regte the vital force of the body automatically.

    They wouldn''t need to meditate like mortals to be spiritually energized with cosmic powers.

    So Shane was having a difficult time because it wasn''t getting regted, and the remaining lifeforce was getting used up slowly, making his body weak and limp.

    Ting.

    A familiar notification rang in the background. Shane blinked as he came back to his senses. He nced at the menu notification as he realized what had just happened. His eyes widened at that.

    Not only did he fall into the trap of that olddy, but he was also on the verge of death! He cursed under his breath as he used the tool to control the body and quickly pulled out an ice attribute sword to freeze thedy and the pipa. After that, he stepped forward and rushed ahead without looking back.

    Only after running for a while, when Noah got the body back, did he sigh and said, "Keep running. I''ll check for the exit."

    "That was dangerous."

    "Yes, so don''t stare at thedy for too long," after saying that, Shane nced at the notification.

    It was a message from Dirt. Never had he thought that the robot would save his life in such a situation. He sighed in relief as he felt gratitude from the bottom of his heart.

    He opened the text and read it in his mind¡ª

    "I have three things to tell you in response to your queries. First, yes, someone has hacked into the system and turned your world into a severe mode of difficulty. The difficulty can''t change, but in return for the inconvenience, I will offer you my help."

    "The second answer is rted to that. I gave you Kinyer, created specifically by the boss! How''s it?! Isn''t it wonderful?! It took him so many months to fill it with so much luck through pills and other stuff I cannot tell you about."<sub> </sub>

    "And third, topensate you, I''ve updated your radar system. Now, you can locate the direction of the exit. You don''t have to keep searching for it every time you run into a difficult situation. How does it work?"

    "It works automatically ording to your current condition. If you want to find a treasure and exit at the same time, it''ll locate both the things on the radar, simr to how a gaming map would do. Ain''t I great? C''mon, praise me!"

    For the first time, Shane found the robot pleasing to the eye. He nodded and typed a small reply, "Thanks."

    He didn''t have time to exin too much. So he quickly closed it and opened the updated radar function.

    This time, it showed the direction where the exit was located. The red dot was still there, but there was a small text written at the bottom and the level of the monster¡ª

    Lady Pipa

    Lv. 10

    He stared at that for a long time.

    F*ck! Howe the level was enhanced so much?! No wonder he couldn''t kill the monster! He was still at level zero, and he was already being forced to fight off with a level ten monster?

    Damn, he wanted out!

    Shane took in deep breaths to suppress the anxiety in his heart. This wasn''t the time to cry like this! He had to think of a solution to escape!

    At this time, the ice that had covered thedy melted away. She instantly teleported in front of him and smiled creepily. Wrinkles on her face were visible at this time as the tune echoed once again.

    "I''m done with this monster. I''d never be able to listen to music after today!" Noah red at thedy and prepared to pull out a weapon from his inventory when Shane stopped him.

    "Wait, I have an idea."

    "What is it?"

    "How about we pluck out the strings with bare hands?"

    "Really? Do you want me to lose my hands and die of pain? Just look at how thedy is holding that pipa dearly!" Noah pointed at the old woman''s hands that secured the monster weapon in her arms, "I feel like if I raise my hands toward her, she might kill me!"

    It was possible, but¡­.

    "We don''t have another choice. Or do you want to attack her again? That''s even more dangerous," Shane reminded his host of what had happened just now, "She will probably end up controlling us both in the blink of an eye."

    "Then find me a better earplug!"

    "You don''t have that kind of money. I already bought the ones using the Crana you got from the viewers," Shane sighed, "Don''t you remember? I can''t share my money with you."

    "Useless system!" Noah took a deep breath and raised his hands, "You betterpensate me after this."

 Chapter 38 37. I Wasted Too Much Energy!

    Before thedy could do anything, Noah''s hands reached out for the string. Even though he was fearful, he didn''t want to continue repeating the previous instances. So he had to do as the system said despite the dangers. This could at least ensure that they were dealing with this pipa monster through and through.

    Just as he touched the ck strings that seemed to have been leaking out a dark aura, his skin started burning to the point that he wanted to take his hand back, but he couldn''t. He was stunned in ce, not moving, and not even knowing what to do anymore.

    In his mind, he was cursing his system like heck.

    ''This f*cking system! I''ll kill him for suggesting this to me!''

    ''It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts!''

    ''Noo! Please, someone help me. I don''t want to do this!''

    ''Damn this system! He shoulde out and do this instead!''

    Shane, who was being forced to read his host''s thoughts, rubbed his forehead in irritation as his heart grew even more frustrated. He didn''t want to hear the innermost thoughts of this person at all!

    He nced at the tool section and confirmed that the reset time wasn''t over yet. It had only been a few minutes ever since he had taken control over the body the previous time.

    He couldn''t continue to forcefully take control of this body by paying Crana, could he? If he did, he might as well waste all the money in his hands at this moment!

    After hearing that Noah''s thoughts became more and more poisonous in the split of a millisecond, Shane spoke harshly, "Why are youining? I don''t think you want to live. There are many cruel systems who let the hosts die without caring about them."

    Of course, that was true, but Shane lied shamelessly, "So you better buckle up and do everything yourself. Otherwise, I''ll take my exit, leaving you all alone!"

    Noah seemed to have suffered a blow after being scolded like this. He felt like this system always treated him like a kid. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

    Since he was angry, he didn''t care about what was happening around him. If he had acted instantly, he might have had a chance to pluck up the strings, but at this point, the olddy grinned and kicked the host back, sending him to the starting point once again.

    Shane looked at the entire scene without changing the expression on his face and said through his gritted teeth, "I had told you this would happen, hadn''t I?"

    Noah was stunned. A moment ago, he was still holding the strings, but now, he was again at the ce that had tried to kill him twice! Just then, the beautifuldy appeared in front of him as a sweet and melodious tune yed in the background without stopping.

    "Don''t look at her this time! Pluck the strings now!" Shane''s voice echoed with a touch of anxiety this time. He had determined that if his host continued to be useless, he might as well purchase the tool and do it himself!

    Noah swallowed and reached out for the strings once again. This time, the woman had grown agile as she dodged gracefully while dancing at the same time. She smiled sweetly at him as if she were just a little girl who was at her lover.<sub> </sub>

    This time, her expressions made Noah frightened. His face grew pale. It was such an expression that had made him hypnotizedst time! No, he couldn''t continue to make mistakes, but before he could think about it, he was already in a daze, staring at the woman with an admiring look on his face.

    Veins popped on Shane''s forehead. He just knew this would happen! He took a deep breath and silently purchased the tool before the woman could reach out to him within the host''s mind. He instantly grabbed the string and plucked it without hesitation.

    The music stopped as the entire floor trembled, but Shane didn''t pause as he stepped and froze to watch the scene. He could see that things around him changed once again to darkness as the tentacles started to grow more and more.

    He had a bad premonition in his heart. He turned to see the olddy throwing the pipa to the ground as her body became more and more deformed. A giant mouth appeared on her neck. She had more arms than Shane could count as the monster growled.

    The color of its skin had turned muddy green at this time as she growled at Shane once more. The tentacles flew towards Shane at once. He cursed under his breath and paid five hundred Crana once again.

    He knew everything would be a mess if he gave the control back to his host. So he pulled out his ice sword and struck it into the ground. This sword''s attribute was ice, and since he wasn''t sharing the attribute, he couldn''t use it for more than a few minutes.

    Still, he didn''t have to be pressured to use it because of its low level. It froze all its targets instantly for a few seconds. He just had to focus on the targets in his mind while directing his energy into the weapon.

    After that, the entire ce turned into ice sculptures as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. This time he didn''t run back as usual. He ran forward, toward thedy monster and raised his sword.

    He transferred all his energy into that hit so as to destroy the sculpture in one go. So when the sword finally hit the surface, a crack developed first. It expanded slowly in all directions as the monster''s ice sculpture was destroyed.

    He nced at the tentacles and ignored them while heading toward the exit. He sweated as he ran toward that area to the South.

    ''Damn it, I wasted too much energy,'' he thought as he wiped the corners of his mouth. The control was gradually transferred to Noah who was stunned, but he still continued to run with all his strength.

    The ice also melted away, and for some reason, the tentacles weren''t affected despite how their master had been killed just now. They rose from the ground and rushed toward Noah''s direction.

    Thetter was already sweating while rushing at all his speed, but as those tentacles closed in on him, his face went pale. He had never thought that the tentacles that would seem harmless and even enjoyable in several anime he watched in the past would actually be so horrific in reality.

    It was true when they said how experiencing certain stuff would make you realize how devastating it actually was!

    Just as the tentacles with giant mouths were about to bite off his head, he had reached the stairs and fell to the ground only after climbing three steps. He stared at the horrific scene in front of him as big mouths of tentacles with pointed teeth hit an invisible wall.

    He shivered after seeing that scene in front of his eyes.

 Chapter 39 38. Where Did They Go?!

    Noah was too tired, but he didn''t want to stay in this dungeon any longer. He wiped his face and said, "Let''s go."

    "Don''t you want to rest for a while?" Shane was also surprised by the outburst.

    "I want to!" Noah eximed and covered his face while wailing at the same time, "Why is this world so hard?! How am I going to survive?"

    Shane was really amazed after seeing how realistic this human was! It almost felt as if Noah was really there. He sighed and said, "Take a healing potion."

    Noah drank it while sitting on the staircase silently for a while, staring at the tentacles nkly. Then he chuckled and said, "You know, I never killed even a single mosquito when I was still alive. I was a spoiled brat who always needed his mum''s help."

    "Aftering here I realized what it means to be alone. If you''re left alone in a world like this, you''d never be able to survive."

    Shane was silent at those words. He knew how his host might be feeling because, not too long ago, even he was in the same situation. Now, he had managed to survive solely by depending on himself.

    When there wasn''t anyone behind a person, they would either outgrow themselves or fall deeper into depression. This was a critical point for Noah, but Shane couldn''t speak anyforting words since he knew it would be useless no matter what he said.

    Then he heard his host''sugh all of a sudden, "Why am I asking you this? You might be doing the world''s best job. You only have to sit behind a desk and order me around."

    "Who said that?" Shane shook his head and sat inside the nk space of Noah''s astral body, "I might just be doing the hardest job ever. You never know."

    "Why should I believe you?" Noah snorted, "Let''s get going. I want to be out as soon as possible."

    "Sure thing," Shane didn''t try to persuade his host to rest for a while. He also opened the radar and stared at it without blinking.

    Soon, they reached the next floor. This was thest one before they could encounter the boss. Only one more to go. Shane said, "Be careful. This might be the hardest one among the two we have already faced."

    Noah nodded and stepped forward, standing at the entrance for a while. Just as he nced ahead, he saw a group of mannequins standing in front of him. None of them had eyes, nose, mouths, or ears, and they seemed to be mannequins.

    But that wasn''t the worst of all aspects¡ª

    "Why are there so many in number?" Noah eximed as he stared at the scene in front of him with widened eyes, "Hey system, can you tell me how powerful they are?"

    Shane nced at the radar only to see zero levels written beneath the reddish white dots. It could only mean one thing: they were at a simr level as him.

    It would have been fine if there was only one mannequin, but dealing with so many of them at the same time was even hard for Shane. He frowned after thinking of this.

    "Not so powerful, but they are too many in number. I can''t even count."

    "All I can see are mannequins as far as my eyesight can travel," Noah gulped, "I almost don''t want to go ahead."

    ''Do you think I enjoy these situations?'' Shane thought sarcastically, but he didn''t say those words.

    "What should we do?" Noah finally asked as he stared at the scene in front of his eyes.

    "Take the most powerful sword you possess and get ready. Once you step out, you have to fight and rush toward the North East direction. There''s an exit there."

    The host nodded as he took out a katana he had purchased earlier. Its stats weren''t awesome, but it was enough for him at the moment.

    [Name: Low-grade katana

    Level: 2

    CE use: 0

    Attribute: physical strength

    Strength: 15

    Attack: 11

    Physical Resistance: 12

    CE Resistance: 0<sub> </sub>

    Luck: 2]

    He gripped it firmly with his fingers. After taking deep breaths, he walked forward and ran toward the exit with all his power. He had just taken a few steps outside when he was forced to stop once again.

    The mannequins who were supposed to stand without moving gathered in front of him in the blink of an eye, stopping him from moving in that direction.

    "Holy crap! Why are these things so creepy?" Noah red at the mannequins, "They should act like normal beings!"

    "Don''t fight them yet," Shane warned. He could tell that if Noah were to attack these things, they might do something in defense. It was better to take another longer route to go ahead. He told his host to do the same thing.

    "Are you sure it''ll work?"

    p "Nope, but we don''t have another choice."</anda>

    "Fine," Noah turned around and started heading over in the East direction. Just as he had taken a few steps, the mannequins gathered and stopped his pace again, "That''s not fair!"

    Shane also got a headache at this time. What kind of a monster are the mannequins? So many at that? "Looks like you have to kill them."

    The boy stared at the scene with a pale face and asked, "Don''t you have something like a skill set? I want to buy it!"

    Shane searched the shop instantly and found something interesting:

    [Name: Swordmaster skill

    Level: 3

    CE use: 0

    Attribute: physical strength

    Strength: 19

    Attack: 17

    Physical Resistance: 20

    CE Resistance: 0

    Luck: 9]

    He forwarded it to the host and said, "I have just sent you the sword and skill. Use it and fight them."

    Noah got excited as he clicked the skill. His entire body was engulfed with divine cosmic energy as he jumped and shed his katana at the closest mannequin, splitting it in half.

    "Woah! I''m awesome!"

    Shane nodded. He had also purchased simr skills, but he couldn''t use them for more than a few seconds because practically all of them belonged to different attributes. For instance, he could use the ice attack previously with the help of the freezing skill he had purchased a while back.

    Once purchased, he could use it with an hour of reset time. It was just that the attack period would only be of a few seconds as it would drain Shane''s energy at a faster rate. At this time, he could see that the sword master''s skill matched the host''s attribute, which was physical strength.

    So Noah could use it unlimited times. Shane had a look of envy in his eyes as he stared at the beautiful scene of mannequins being split apart in a fantastic manner with skillful mastery of the katana.

    But something was wrong. It had been a while, but none of the mannequins fought back. They only stood in one ce and let themselves be ''killed'' by Noah. He instantly asked, "Turn around and see if those mannequins are still there."

    Noah nodded and nced back only to have his eyes widen.

    Not a single mannequin he had killed was behind him. He remembered splitting the mannequins apart, but now, he couldn''t see even a single one of them!

    What was happening? Where did they go?!

 Chapter 40 39. Mannequins!

    There was an endless supply of mannequins at this time. Noah kept fighting against the monsters one after another without a hint of stopping. His body kept losing energy and it felt as if he had turned into an emotionless robot who killed everyone and everything without any emotions on his face except for frowning.

    In his mind, though, everything was different. Heined so much that Shane had a headache.

    ''My hands!''

    ''Someone, help me!''

    ''No, I can''t feel my hands anymore! Why? Why is this happening to me?''

    ''I don''t want to do this anymore!''

    Shane got a headache as he pressed his fingers on his forehead, "Host, can you stop being a drama queen?"

    ? "Who''s being a drama queen?! I''m silently attacking the mannequins!" Noah shed another group of monsters and wiped the sweat from his neck.

    "Your thoughts are clearly showing that you were being a drama queen."

    "I hate it when you read my mind."

    "I don''t have another choice. I''m being forced to read your mind."

    Noah was too tired at this time. So he couldn''t kill so many mannequins at once. Monsters kept piling above him one after another, making him harder to deal with the crowd. After failing several times, he backed away and stood at the entrance while taking deep breaths.

    His exhausted gaze stared at the group of mannequins that stood in their positions just like obedient robots as if they weren''t the ones who had just gathered around and blocked Noah''s path.

    "Why is it so hard? I can''t fight even with fighting skills!"

    Shane was silent at the boy''s outburst as he continued to stare at the mannequins with his eyes squinted. There was something off about this situation that he couldn''t tell. These mannequins'' actions seemed almost robotic as if someone was controlling them from a remote or something.

    This idea made his eyes widen as he spoke instantly, "Fight them again."

    "What? Are you crazy? I''m not jumping into that pit anytime soon!" Noah red at the row of mannequins standing in front of him like statues.

    "I want to see something. Quick!" Shane wanted to find the controller as soon as possible if his theory was right. Otherwise, they were doomed.

    Noah groaned as he pulled out a potion and drank it all in one go. After wiping his lips, he said, "You better find me a solution, or your death will be the first murder I''ll evermit in my life!"

    Shane didn''t care about it. His eyes narrowed when Noah stepped out of the entrance and started hitting the mannequins with his katana just like before. His face was filled with anger and frustration, and it felt as if he were venting out his emotions on these monsters.

    Still, no matter how many he destroyed multiple times, the number kept on increasing.<sub> </sub>

    "Are you done?" Noah finally asked impatiently.

    "Yup," said Shane as the corners of his lips curved up to form a pleasant arc, "These are just puppets of something."

    "Puppets?" Noah''s hands paused for a moment. The mannequins piled in front of him one after another in just a second before he came back to his senses and started thrashing his katana against the monsters and immediately withdrew, standing at the entrance once again, "What do you mean by puppets?"

    "Exactly what it sounds like. Someone is controlling them behind the scenes."

    "Who?"

    "That''s what we have to figure out. Look above them closely. There''s a thread hanging over every one of their heads," Shane pointed it out as he stared at the screen with a calm voice.

    Noah looked at the mannequins and tilted his head, "I cannot see it at all."

    "Of course," said Shane. "You can''t. Even I can''t see them when they''re all standing still. I was only able to watch them when they were all moving up and down a while ago."

    "Fight longer. This time, I want to locate the controller behind them."

    Noah didn''t act like a drama queen this time. He obediently used the katana in his hand and started attacking the mannequins immediately without stopping. Earlier, he didn''t have another choice but to be frustrated after repeating the same thing every time he jumped into the field.

    But this time, his situation was different since his system promised him to find a solution as soon as possible. So after keeping his faith in Shane, he started fighting with all he had at the moment.

    One after another, the mannequins started falling to the ground, lifeless.

    Shane wasn''t sitting idle. He stared at the screen intently while his host was fighting at the same time. If he were the one fighting those puppets, he would have never noticed a thin thread connected to every mannequin''s head. The thread reached above and disappeared into the distance. He wanted to find out where exactly it went!

    One of the mannequins moved, showing the thread on its head. He immediately followed the trail, and before he could find the source, Noah had already shed it into several parts.

    Shane frowned as if he was angry, but he didn''t know who to vent to. So he silently pulled out a scrap stic coin he had randomly purchased and started flipping it in between his fingers to ease his anxiety.

    After a while, he finally managed to notice a string reaching toward the tree on Noah''s left, hiding in between the bushes. He immediately opened his mouth and said, "Attack the tree on your left."

    Along with the mannequins, there were several trees and a normal evening sky above. They could asionally hear the sounds of chirping in the background. It was just that the mannequins covered the face of the Earth that made it difficult to witness this scene with a normal nce.

    Noah immediately turned to his left and shed his katana without thinking much. Just as he was about to reach the bushes above, the mannequins suddenly changed their movements and grabbed Noah''s hands out of nowhere. Then they threw him as far away from the tree as possible.

    At that moment, the power level of the mannequins had changed from whitish red to blood red momentarily, as if the color flickered for some reason, disappearing into white again.

    Noah groaned as he stood up and rubbed his back. Then he broke out intoughter, "So that''s where the enemy is!"

 Chapter 41 40. Let Me Kill The Monster!

    "Good. Now that you have located the enemy, fight him!"

    "Why don''t youe out and do it in my stead?" Noah had been meaning to ask this question because his system had been ordering him around all this time, doing nothing.

    Shane let out a chuckle, "You think my job is easy, think again! You can take my ce any minute. I wee you with all my heart!"

    Noah shut his mouth as he dashed forward while fighting with the mannequins at the same time. At this time, he didn''t fight the puppets like he usually would. He dodged every single one of them as he directly jumped on their heads and dashed straight towards the bushes. His speed was so fast that even Shane was stunned.

    "Wow, I''m so cool!" Noah grinned as he used the sword master skill to the full extent.

    "Kill the enemy before boasting. Idiot."

    "Who are you calling an idiot?" Noah shed two more mannequins on the way and was just about to touch the bushes when his arms were grabbed once again, and his body was thrown back in a simr way, "F*ck! Don''t these monsters have another attack other than throwing me like this at all times?!"

    "Would you mind being killed the next time?"

    "Ahem," Noah stood there as he stared at the mannequins who seemed to have gathered around the tree, standing in an erect position to protect something, "You do have a n, don''t you?"

    "Yes," Shane did have a n, and it could definitely kill the monster. He stared at the tree with an indifferent nce and said, "I can, but you''ll have to excuse me for a moment."

    He had seen that an hour of reset time had ended. So he immediately used the controlling tool and took over the body without any hesitation. Then he opened his mouth and said, "My n depends on your full cooperation with me. Are you ready?"

    "What do I have to do?" For some reason, Noah became worried after hearing that tone of his system.

    Shane smiled as he pulled out the ice sword, "Just listen to me punctually."

    He struck it to the ground and froze the mannequins as he rushed to the tree at a fast pace. In the blink of an eye, he jumped toward the bush and suddenly transferred the control back to Noah, who got scared sh*tless.

    Noah: "What the- Why did you give me control in the middle of the air? What should I do?"

    "Take your katana. Since you have sword master skill, the probability of you killing the monster is higher than mine," Shane spoke, knowing he was dumping all the responsibilities on his host''s shoulders. He could have solved it himself by purchasing a sword master skill himself, but he didn''t want to because his attribute wasn''t physical strength like Noah''s. So even if he could, he would probably be able to use it for a few seconds.

    It was a risky job. So it was better if Noah would perform the task since thetter was a better fighter than him at present.

    The host said nothing as he attacked that ce. As the pointed tip of the katana pierced something hard. After a moment, something fell from the branch to the ground, making a thud echo. Shane nced at the ground only to see a small mannequin-like little faceless boy. The katana had pierced right in the middle of the face. Blood seeped out of the wound as the hands and legs fell limply to the ground.

    The monster seemed to have died.

    Noah started at the scene in shock. He nced at the katana in his hand and grinned, "Did you see what I just did?!"

    "Good job. Now, head over to the East-" But, before he could say anything else, the entire ground beneath them started to tremble as if they had just ended up witnessing an Earthquake. Shane''s expression changed as he said, "Quick! Move over to the exit!"

    Noah also felt like something was off. He immediately started running in that direction, but before he could continue to rush, a mountain started growing from the bottom of his feet and rose higher and higher to the point that by the time Noah stopped, he was already standing on a cliff.

    The tree seemed small and he couldn''t even see that little boy anymore. Wait, what just happened? Didn''t he just kill the controller?<sub> </sub>

    Shane also frowned as he nced in the direction where the boy fell. He immediately pulled out the recording of the past five minutes and started to watch it keenly. Just then, he noticed something strange.

    A thin thread sparked up from the top of the little boy''s head and went straight into the ground, merging beneath.

    His eyes widened when he realized what was happening. The real monster who was controlling the mannequins wasn''t that faceless boy but the ground itself! How could he have mistaken this small thing?

    He took a deep breath to calm himself down as he said, "I might have to find a flying skill for you."

    But he doubted he could get anything because his host''s skills were rted to physical strength, not air. The shop of the host worked in a different manner. All the hosts could only see the weapons and skills to purchase rted to their attributes, unlike the systems.

    So at this time, Shane wanted to find a pair of feathers that could be used with thebined skill of flying like a bird. He immediately opened the shop before the ground monster could do something worse.

    After searching, he finally found what he was looking for when he forwarded it to Noah and said, "Host, I have found something for you. Purchase and use them immediately."

    "Wait, system¡­. What''s that?" There was a hint of anxiety in Noah''s tone as Shane looked up.

    The ground on which the cliff was standing cracked open as a monster with deformed face crawled up. Its hands and legs were in the ces where they shouldn''t be. Its eyes wererge with a hint of redness appearing in them.

    They moved restlessly before stopping at Noah''s face before it opened its mouth at the bottom and roared at the loudest voice possible.

    Noah''s eyes widened. He was just about to speak when the monster jumped up and appeared right in front of Noah in a split second. With its hands that were above at the ce of its head, it attacked Noah with all its force.

    Thetter''s body was thrown back as he hit the trunk of a tree, breaking it into two halves. Blood vomited from Noah''s mouth as he worked to open his eyes.

    Shane nced at the radar, which indicated that the monster this time was of level fifteen. He was shocked after seeing this. No wonder this monster looked and attacked like this.

    He knew he couldn''t deal with this, "Host don''t even think of finishing it off. You-"

    "You have got to be kidding me, right?" Noah wanted to shake his system''s shoulders. "Wake up! If we don''t fight this, how are we going to go ahead? And plus, I have been wanting to test my skills and find out what''s better? This monster or the skill?"

    "You don''t have to do it! Just listen to me-"

    "Shut up!" Noah wasn''t listening anymore. He raised his katana and pointed it at the deformed monster, "Just look at how cool I''d look!"

    Shane was the most anxious at this time. He knew that he shouldn''t have trusted this stupid, highschooler at a time like this, but he also knew he couldn''t use any flying skill himself because none of them would help him shorten the distance between himself and the exit in the matter of a few seconds.

    Should he try a teleportation skill?

    He wanted to search for it, but there was no time. So he could only grit his teeth and said, "Fine. Let me f*cking kill it this time!"

    He immediately purchased the controlling tool and took out the kinyer from his Inventory.

 Chapter 42 41. My Dear Brother

    He rushed toward the deformed monster and attacked as he shed the crooked hands first. Then, he aimed for the legs that formed in strange directions, making them walk awkwardly. The monster fell to the ground, having lost his support.

    It growled angrily and red in Shane''s direction beforeunching at his face. Even though it didn''t have hands, it could still use its mouth to deal with the human!

    Shane scoffed as if he could tell what the monster was thinking and took a deep breath, "Get ready to run. I probably won''t be awake for a while. You better wait for me to wake up. If I wake up and find you in trouble, I''ll kill you first."

    "Why?" Noah asked. "Are you going to sleep?"

    Shane didn''t answer that question. He could feel his body''s limitations being challenged with every second that passed. He should have put down his sword, but the monster wasn''t dead yet. So he jumped and shed the monster into two pieces at an easy pace.

    Everything happened within a few seconds, and since Shane had overused the weapon just now, the body fell to the ground. He nced at the monster sleepily and closed his eyes, wondering how long he would be unconscious amid such a critical task.

    He could only hope his host would not do something ridiculous again. Otherwise, he would be doomed for sure.

    As he was about to sleep away, his mind drifted off to Dirt sitting outside and his master. They would surely have been disappointed by how he handled things after entering this ce. He didn''t want to disappoint his master¡­.

    He fell unconscious as the control of the body went to Noah again.

    Thetter stood there, confused out of his mind. He stared nkly at the dead monster in front of him. The thing that had made him feel afraid died so easily with the help of his system. He genuinely felt grateful for his powerful system at this point.

    With this thought, he rushed toward the exit.

    ***

    The master Shane was thinking about was in a call with Dirt outside the portal. It was the robot that had initiated the call to inform the bald man of the current situation.

    "So you''re saying," the bald man''s low voice echoed in the background, "While everyone has passed seventy-five percent of their missions, Shane is still stuck on his first task?"

    "Yup."

    "That''s too bad," the bald man sighed, "I had expected more from him."

    "You can''t me him. It''s still an unmatchable feat for him to reach twenty percent in such a short time!" Dirt''s voice was especially righteous, "It''s my fault that put him in such a situation."

    "Well, I¡ª" the bald man''s voice stopped all of a sudden before he whispered in an extremely low tone, "Will talk to youter."

    And then, Ed directly hung up the call without listening to what Dirt was saying. Thetter stared at the screen in front of him for a while. He blinked several times as veins popped up on his forehead.

    "If he weren''t my master, I''d have grabbed his ears and dragged him back to the institute!" He turned toward the portal and sighed, "Let me just do my work. I''ll continue to secure the portal more for assurance."<sub> </sub>

    Meanwhile, Ed was nearly caught from the ce he was hiding: a giant tree in a garden. He was sitting on a branch on his tiptoes as he sat there like a statue without moving.

    Not even a leaf twirled in his presence as he even lowered his breathing noise, but his target suddenly showed up in the garden, walking outside her elegant pce filled with fruits, nts, trees, and even ake.

    That''s right. He was spying on someone, and not just anyone, it was the Oracle Queen, the person who was the only robot alive under the direct control of the System God to control this continent¡ªLuna.

    Her pink hair waved behind her back as she stood there beneath the same tree where Ed was hiding. She tilted her head as her face was shown clearly to the bald man.

    The girl was the same loli who had met Shane and his group before she guided them to the institute. She would never indulge herself in the newbies'' matters, but this time, she had made an exception and taken Shane inside the institute with his friends.

    When Ed found out about this matter, he almost couldn''t believe it. That was why he was so concerned about her intentions. And what was behind those intentions, he shouldn''t have to research it.

    It would, of course, be that ipetent System God who was controlling these robots behind the scenes. When Ed thought about how Shane''s power was unique, he frowned.

    Could it be that System God knew about this and deliberately used Luna to find out more about Shane''s situation? The more Ed thought about it, the more he felt something

    Just then, Luna tilted her head and stared dead at Ed''s eyes with an emotionless face, "You didn''t have toe, Ed Hudson."

    Ed was stunned for a while then he chuckled. This wasn''t the loli talking, but the System God. He jumped down as he leaned against the tree and smiled, "It''s been a long time."

    "It has indeed been a long time," said Luna as she turned toward him with her hands behind her back, "What brings you here? Don''t tell me you want something from the garden. We aren''t kids anymore."

    Ed sneered, "Then you should remember this fact in the same manner. Why don''t you act like an actual controller of this realm rather than some hidden viin like small kids? What do you want with Shane?"

    "Oh? You''re jumping on the topic in an instant?" Luna smiled, "That''s more like the Ed I know."

    "Shut the f*ck up." Ed red at the loli, "Tell me, what do you want?"

    "You''re still the same, caring about irrelevant things. That''s why you couldn''t take my ce back then," said the loli in her sweet voice, "Ed, if time were to rewind, would you regret letting me live?"

    Ed stood there and said nothing. No one knew what he was thinking as he stared at the loli without blinking and silently opened his inventory. He raised his chin, "Let''s have a dual."

    "Are you sure you can win?" Luna smiled and took out her weapon. Its hilt was pink and decorated withces. Even the size of the sword was pitifully small, making it seem like it was childbor to urge her to fight against a big, bald man like Ed.

    But the bald man knew what kind of thing Luna was¡ªa robot as advanced as Dirt. He couldn''t take the loli casually. He narrowed his eyes and said, "It''s not you and even if it were you, I''d win. After all, I used to always be at the top, my dear brother."

 Chapter 43 42. Im Just Making Money

    The weapon Ed used wasn''t a simple one. First and foremost, he was a weapon creator and had made all of his weapons himself. Secondly, his own stats crossed all limits.

    It was said that there were only two people at a hundred level with full stats and a higher level of luck. One was the System God and another was Ed Hudson, but they both were real, blood brothers with a bad rtionship between them.

    So now that Ed had challenged the System God''s robot, Luna, he pulled out his most famous and one of the most powerful weapons against an enemy at closebat:

    [Name: Crescent Luck

    Level: 100

    CE: 52

    Attribute: Electrical

    Strength: 100

    Attack: 93

    Physical Resistance: 100

    CE Resistance: 43

    Luck: 90]

    The stats window appeared as soon as Ed loaded the sword from the inventory and pulled it out. He nced at the pinkish sword in the robot''s hand and sneered, "Are you sure you can make do with this?"

    Luna smiled and tilted her head innocently, "Brother, did you forget how powerful Luna is?"

    Of course, Ed didn''t forget, but to actually turn a robot into a puppet without giving her a shred of freedom was simply too inhuman. But then again, his brother didn''t have a heart in the first ce. He had been long disgusted by that man, and it had turned their rtionship intoplete ruins.

    Now that Ed faced off against this person after such a long time¡­. He sighed.

    If it weren''t for his only disciple, he would have never stepped foot inside this pce.

    He nced at the pink sword in the robot''s hand and grimaced. Even though his level was higher, this kind of weapon was hard to deal with! It was good that Luna''s stats weren''t even close to his.

    He nced at the pink loli and used a secret skill to view the stats. This skill was also created by him, and the System God was the only other person who could use it effectively. Otherwise, no one was allowed to sneak a peek into another person''s stats like this.

    The Robot''s full information appeared in front of Ed in a window.

    [Level: 59

    Exp: 8,582,624

    Job: Robot

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: 62/100

    Attribute: Fire

    Strength: 62

    Agility: 96

    Stamina: 66

    Intelligence: 59

    Vitality: 65

    Attack: 70

    Skill: ---

    Weapons: ---

    Physical Resistance: 45

    CE Resistance: 67

    Luck: 20

    Overall status: Advanced]

    Ed closed the window instantly. She had leveled up quite a lot since thest time he saw her. The skills and weapons tab still remained nil. He knew the reason why it was nil. The robots were allowed to purchase weapons from the system store because they weren''t systems, to begin with!

    But the robots were special since they could use all weapons or skills belonging to that attribute. Since Luna was of fire attribute, she could use all the weapons and skills.

    Then he nced at the pink sword in her hand. He didn''t need to see the stats of that thing because the level of the sword couldn''t exceed that of Luna''s current level and strength since it was created out of her own body.<sub> </sub>

    His mere stats were enough to defeat her. After that, he closed the window and said, "Let''s start. What are you waiting for?"

    "Weren''t you seeing Luna''s stats?" The robot tilted her head innocently.

    "Tch. You know me so well," Ed flicked the sword in his hand as he mumbled, "Petrification."

    As soon as he said that, a window instantly appeared in front of him.

    [Skill name: Petrification

    Level: 100

    CE: 32

    Attribute: Electrical

    Strength: 100

    Attack: 100

    Physical Resistance: 100

    CE Resistance: 30

    Luck: 62

    Description: This skill will freeze your opponent for a while depending on the user level and electrocute them the entire time.

    Do you want to use this skill?]

    "Yes, but only when I say it."

    [As you wish. To turn it on, just say the word]

    "Good," said Ed as the window disappeared and an electrical power covered up in his sword. He nced at the robot, "You better be careful."

    "Same to you," Luna changed her stance into that of fighting as she injected her energy into the sword. Thetter changed its form all of a sudden. The strong de slowly became wobbly and waved as it grew longer and longer.

    The entire de transformed into a mace thing that grew long enough to make five circles around her body, above her head. It continued to grow.

    "I hate this damned weapon," Ed mumbled under his breath, "If Dirt was here, I would''ve admired Dancemaster''s skills."

    The pink sword turned into a longce was called Dancemaster, a special fire attribute weapon that was supposed to be deadly against the enemies. It would wrap around the opponent, burning them to death, and wouldn''t leave until the person was no longer breathing.

    Of course, this was the reason why Ed hated it because Dancemaster wouldn''t be too much trouble for him. His stats were higher aspared to Luna''s. So even if he was captured, he would be able to leave immediately.

    As expected the pointed tip of the mace suddenly turned toward him as if it were alive. If it had a face, it would be ring at Ed and growling at him like some monster. Then it dashed toward him at the fastest speed.

    Ed smiled. He dodged and hit the weapon, electrocuting it a little.

    Luna red at Ed, "Why aren''t you freezing me? You used the petrification skill, didn''t you?"

    This time, the tone of her voice was different. It seemed his brother had stopped controlling the robot.

    Thece and the electrical sword danced around the open ground surrounded by trees. A pce could be visible at a distance which made this entire scene enchanting. But Ed knew that this pce was the only area that was filled with greenery. Everything else was either desert or filled with driednd.

    Ed seemed to be enjoying himself too much as he continued to dodge with a calm face. It even seemed like he wasn''t even making an effort and this entire thing was just meant to entertain him. Just then, a thought urred in his head as he turned on his livestream.

    The same number of viewers appeared at once as before. Soon, money started flowing into his ount as usual.

    Then, shockingments from the viewers also appeared on his screen.

    [Woah, what the f*ck am I seeing? Luna against Ed? Does she want to die?]

    [She''s a damned robot. How can she die?]

    [Perhaps she wants to get dismantled]

    [This is legendary! Let''s save this video!!!]

    [Ahhhh! I can finally see the legendary brothers fighting again!!!!! My life is finally meaningful!]

    Ed focused on dodging thece while continuing to read thements. This made Luna infuriated as she said with an angry face, "Can''t you fight properly?"

    "You''re not him anymore. So you don''t interest me," Ed spoke as if he didn''t want to continue talking with a robot. He dodged again as he inserted a little more energy into his sword. Its electrical aura increased even more, and when it touched thece this time around, the electricity sparked up as it trembled.

    The electrical power then transferred from the tip of thece to the hilt, and ultimately to Luna''s body. The robot stopped dancing along with thece as she stood there without moving. Her entire body trembled as she chuckled, "You''re just ying with me, aren''t you?"

    "I don''t have time to y with children," Ed stood back at his ce, unscathed. "I''m just making money."

 Chapter 44 43. Blackfire

    Luna''s face flushed as she fumed in anger. She stared at the man as she changed her dancing style. This time, her movements seemed a bit more striking. Combined with a sharp expression, it seemed that she was going to dance to her death.

    Thece also became agitated at this time, instantly surrounding Ed with a fierce attitude. It seemed that she wanted to capture him by hook or by crook. Now, Ed couldn''t continue to dodge anymore.

    "You want to die, don''t you?" Ed chuckled in amusement, "It''s amusing seeing you try so hard."

    "The probability of winning against you is almost zero. So I know what I''m doing," Luna also smiled while dancing, "I''m just collecting data for my master."

    "Oh? So ruthless?" Ed dodged and attacked thence, making it tremble to the point that it stopped dancing around for a second before regaining itsposure.

    Luna gritted her teeth and continued dancing, but no matter how many times she twisted her body and turned, thece couldn''t even get close to Ed''s body. She started to get frustrated as she stopped her attack and stood on her side, staring nkly at her opponent, "I''m going to update my data on you. It seems you have gotten stronger."

    "Sure," Ed waved his free hand as if he hadn''t heard what she just said. "I did level-up."

    The truth was, he never showed his real power level to anyone, not even his brother. He had reached level one hundred long back when he was still in Meridio, with his brother, but he never showed his true strength, hiding it from everyone else.

    If he did, he might end up indirectly challenging his brother at any time. At present, he was using a level eighty strength to fight back. He would just let the System God think that he had upgraded to level eighty.

    When Luna saw this expression, she frowned as if she just thought of something, but shook her head. It seemed she couldn''t continue the line of thought for some reason as she turned thece back into a sword as it disappeared into her body, "In that case, Dancemaster wouldn''t be useful against you anymore."

    "Ah, so you were measuring my level by Dancemaster," Ed genuinely praised the girl, "And here I thought you were fighting seriously."

    Luna''s weapon changed all of a sudden. Two axes appeared in her hands with a brown hilt, but the only strangeness was that instead of an iron de, there was a triangle-shaped ck fire flickering at the top of both the weapons. She held it in her two hands and raised her head, "I''ll fight for real now."

    After she said this, sheunched an attack on the bald man.

    Ed frowned when he saw those axes. This was a legendary ax weapon, ckfire, that would only be used by rich systems above level ny. Of course, lower-level systems could also grab it if they had that much money, but they might end up getting tired too soon while using this weapon.

    There was a reason why ckfire was one of the strongest weapons of the fire attribute¡ªit had a ck fireing straight from hell. This fire would be used to destroy the bad karmas of the criminals by burning them within the ck fire for a period before releasing them into the reincarnation pool.

    The ck fire was famous for being never-ending even in hell. If someone were to summon it, it would burn the enemy and torture their soul, inflicting innate damage so much so that the poor soul would probably take a long time before bing a human again.

    The most dangerous thing was that it would continue to burn away until it was extinguished by the user. If they wouldn''t extinguish it, the fire might end up destroying the entire, ultimately turning the entire Universe into charcoal.<sub> </sub>

    Now that Ed saw the girl using this weapon¡­. He smiled. There was a spark of interest appearing in his eyes as he stared at those axes, "Now you''re talking! This is what I call a fight!"

    The viewers''ment section became even more excited after seeing the scene.

    [What the heck am I seeing? Is that ckfire?! The legendary weapon? Ahhhh! I''m breathing and I can see that weapon with my own eyes! My life''s purpose has been fulfilled!!!!]

    [Oh my God! That''s ckfire! It''s as good as I saw in the pictures!]

    [I want that! I F*CKING WANT IT RIGHT NOW!]

    [Oh, I love Ed Hudson! He''s the most handsome bachelor of all! I want to get married to him!]

    [The above girl, please stop. He has many fan wives here. If you start, they''ll also join, and we action lovers won''t have a chance at chatting at all!]

    After that, thement section went off in another direction. Of course, this had nothing to do with Ed.

    He and Luna were busy fighting one another to death. They both attacked one another and dodged, but Ed still didn''t use his skill until the end.

    He smiled and said, "You''re getting better at fighting."

    "I learn from the best," Luna attacked again, but the ax in her right hand ended up hitting the tree. She frowned when she saw the ck fire burning the entire tree down, "Tch. I hate it when this weapon does it. It''s destroying my garden."

    Ed ignored thatment and continued to fight. Even though this was a ck fire, he wasn''t afraid for one reason¡ªthe power level of this weapon was greatly reduced because of Luna''s low stats.

    Even though robots were basically OP and could create fake versions of all the weapons and skills through their bodies within their attributes, they couldn''t use a higher-level weapon. Even if they created a fake version, the power potency of that weapon would be reduced to that of their current level.

    Despite that, the fire was still real. Only the attack and CE had changed, and everything else about the fire damage remained the same. The most damaging thing was that there were two ckfires. Ed knew he had to be careful. He grinned as he continued to fight, "I''ve never had so much fun in years. Let''s do this again!"

    "I''m sorry, I''m the Queen of Orient. I can''t waste my time fighting a mere teacher," said Luna while she summoned back the ckfire from the tree and continued to fight.

    "Oh? Then let''s end it," Ed said, he raised his weapon and pointed the top toward the loli and said with a smile, "Petrification."

 Chapter 45 44. Please, Forgive Us!

    As soon as he said that, an electric spark more powerful than earlier flew from his body and dashed straight toward Luna. Thetter dodged, but the ball of electrical energy turned and twisted toward her, entering her body. At that moment, Luna''s entire body froze as if someone had pressed a pause button as it trembled because of being shocked constantly.

    Her widened eyes stared at Ed in a terrified manner as she had the urge to speak, but couldn''t because power was forcing her to stand erect without moving. It was just that her nce said it all. She didn''t even have to open her mouth to speak out her grievance.

    Ed spoke while walking toward the girl, "Tsk, you fell just with one skill attack," despite hiding his power. Ed didn''t say those words out loud as he reached toward her and patted her head like an affectionate father and said, "Don''t f*ck with me and my little disciple. Get it?"

    After that, he didn''t continue to linger any longer and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Luna continued to stand in her garden for two minutes, getting electrocuted. When she finally regained control of her body as the electricity stopped making her tremble, she fell to her knees and raised her head, staring at the ce where Ed was standing not too long ago.

    Her fingers curled into a fist as she chuckled darkly, "You and your disciple better be careful from now on."

    ***

    In the institute.

    As soon as Ed returned to the virtual portal building and went to the same floor, he saw a group of students standing there in the corridor. They were chit-chatting among themselves. His shoulders rxed as he nced around only to find that his little disciple was missing.

    Well, he had expected that¡­.

    After all, it would be hard even for a high-level system to pass that level. If Shane had passed it easily, it would''ve been a serious matter. He nced at Dirt, who was shaking his head indicating Shane still hadn''te out.

    Just what the heck was happening there?

    What none of them knew was that Shane had lost his consciousness by using all of his vital force to run the weapon. Noah already waited for several hours on the stairs, but his system didn''te online. He was getting bored at this time.

    He had already slept for several hours, and now, he wouldn''t want any longer. So he stood up and started to walk upstairs. In any case, he could still turn on the menu. He would be fine even without the system.

    Didn''t he stay alive even after facing so many life and death situations? Noah motivated himself like this as he walked. Just as he reached the topmost floor, he was stopped by a closed door right in front of the staircase. He stared at the door as a feeling of nervousness appeared in his heart.

    For some reason, his intuition told him not to go inside, but¡­..

    "Ahh, f*ck it! I''ll just enter. I''ll see what happens after thatter," he mumbled to himself and pushed open the door decorated with strange carvings of animals, ears, eyes, and even limbs all around the ce, revealing a dark room inside.

    He had seen enough until now. So that strange door didn''t scare him anymore. His eyes sparkled at the thought, "Did I be strong or something? If I go back to my world, I might end up shocking everyone else!"

    "If only you can get back," a voice echoed from the darkness, scaring Noah to death.

    Thetter stopped his feet as he took deep breaths to calm himself down. His entire body trembled from the impact of that voice.

    ''Howe even the voice of this person is so powerful?! I better defeat the boss and get out of here,'' he thought, but he said nothing. He silently took out his katana and turned on the swordmaster skill from the inventory and said, "Y-You get away from me! I came here to defeat the boss!"

    A chuckle echoed into the dark that surrounded Noah at once, "Really, you amuse me, Noah."

    "How do you know my name?!" The boy was terrified to the extreme now. He couldn''t move as his hands holding his katana trembled.<sub> </sub>

    "I even know your system and I nned to bring him here. Tsk, he is so ipetent, falling unconscious so soon. I couldn''t even have a chat with him," the voice sounded as if the person in the dark was really sad, "I''ll just kill you now."

    "No, Get the heck out of here! I''m not afraid of you!" Noah gripped the katana tightly as he raised his head despite being afraid. He knew that if he didn''t fight back, he might end up dying.

    "Oh?" The voice echoed an amusement as a guest of wind flowed toward the boy all of a sudden. Its force continued to increase until Noah couldn''t take it anymore. He covered up his face first.

    "What do you want?!"

    "I won''t tell you," said the voice slowly as the gust of wind slowly turned into wind des, shing Noah''s body into fine pieces. An ear-piercing voice sounded from the dark room as it slowly turned down. After that, only the sound of shing something could be heard that would make anyone feel a chill down their spines.

    Too bad. No one was present to witness this scene.

    The voice in the dark scoffed after looking at the mess, "What a pity! I thought I''d get to meet Shane today. I was told he was the only system with dark cosmic energy in his veins. I wanted to get him on our side."

    Shane, who was being remembered at this time by several people, finally opened his eyes only to find himself standing in the middle of a desert. He stared at the scene with the sun scorching above his head and frowned.

    Where was this?

    He soon got his answer in the form of a popup window.

    [Host, you failed your mission. Your punishment starts now. You have to survive in this desert for four days. The time outside will be measured as 10 days in the punishment realm equals one day outside. We hope you can survive. Best of luck!]

    What the heck? How did he fail? He had clearly told his host to stay back until he arrived! Why did that damned boy have to head upstairs?!

    The boss must have killed Noah brutally.

    He pressed his forehead and nced around. There wasn''t something he could find termed as shelter. It was good that he still had his boots, or else he might end up burning his feet with the hot sand beneath.

    For a moment, he felt sad about his host. Even though that boy was useless and virtual, he was still his first host. He didn''t want that person to die. He sighed and took off his shirt, wearing it over his head.

    Four days, right? He would definitely survive!

    "Menu!" He spoke, but nothing came out. He frowned and called out in a louder voice, "MENU!"

    Another window popped up in front of his eyes.

    [Menu and inventory won''t work until your punishment is fulfilled. Please, forgive us for the inconvenience]

    Forgive whom?! What the f*ck was wrong with this entire system world?!

 Chapter 46 45. He Will Have To

    The students assembled in the corridor and started murmuring amongst themselves. The noise of their chit-chat echoed in the background.

    "You''re a pet system, right? What exactly did you do in the portal?"

    "I helped my host take care of his pet," one of the students spoke as he rolled his eyes and wrinkled his nose, "It was a bad experience."

    "Huh? Why? Wasn''t it just taking care of your dog?"

    "It was an insect! A giant, ugly-looking insect!" the student made a vomiting gesture as he shook his head, "I had a hard time controlling myself there."

    "I got lucky, I guess," said another girl with ck hair tied above her head. "I had to sell healing potions to the host during the war. That''s it."

    "I''m so jealous of you, I got the job to feed the host," a boy sighed as he said, "It''s a good thing my host didn''t die of overeating."

    "Don''t you think someone''s missing here?"

    "Oh yeah, that boy, Shane isn''t here," a girl snickered as she remembered Ed calling him by that name. It wasn''t necessary to use their system numbers. It was simr to the official names everyone had, but for unofficial purposes, everyone would usually use their past life''s names. "He had iting."

    Just then, someone kicked her calf, making her yell, "Hey, who dared to kick me?"

    "I did!" Tess red at the girl as she waved her hair behind her and said, "If you dare to say another word about my brother, I''ll kick your a**."

    "Why shouldn''t I say anything? He''s simply a freak in our system world," said the girl, and the others also nodded, "Everyone knows that it''s difficult to survive in this ce without cosmic energy. He''s basically a mortal! Even if you did, you would end up living in the desert area!"

    Orient was already a poor continent, and the poorest area where the lower level systems rented houses for a hundred Crana a week was in the desert that was situated between the Imperium Institute and the Castle of the Queen of Orient, Luna. So if a person wasn''t doing well and couldn''t level up, he wouldn''t be able to grab more opportunities for entering the portal itself.

    These people would be forced to enter dangerous dungeons for tiny bits of money. Some of them even lost their lives in the process, just for the sake of living in the worst conditions of life. After entering this world for a few days, every one of the students had figured out how important it was to level up and earn money through the livestreams.

    It was just that since everyone had a livestream, it was even more difficult to attract the attention of the viewers. The situation was basically like YouTube where everyone could go live, but only rarely, fortunate people could trend.

    Was there another way to earn money? Of course, there was! A system could either take up the job and get a regr sry and a regr amount of experience points after passing through different worlds, but for this, they would have to pay a little money to enter the portal every time. So the poor people would still find it difficult to even nce at the virtual portals. What to speak of entering worlds?

    That was why most of the below-average system families living in the Orient would usually depend on killing monsters and hunting for treasures in dungeons to earn scrap. Since Shane was found to have no energy in his veins, they all assumed that he might end up facing the worst-case scenario. None of them knew about the fact that only his world was in severe difficulty.<sub> </sub>

    Tess red in anger as she red at the group of students standing in front of her. She felt someone''s hands on her shoulders as a familiar cold voice spoke, "Ignore them. These people are useless."

    "You''re right, Frank," Tess took a deep breath and turned toward the cold boy standing behind her, "Let''s go wait for him."

    Just as they were discussing, Ed walked out of the portal room with his hands crossed behind his back. He nced at the students in the corridor and said, "You can go and rest. ss is dismissed."

    Tess bit her lips anxiously. Her brother was still inside. How could she calm down? "Where''s Shane?"

    "He''s noting back anytime soon," Dirt answered for his boss as he pulled up Shane''s data on his screen and said, "He failed his assignment, and he was sent to the punishment world to spend four days. Remember what I told you about how ten days in the system world equals one day outside?

    "So don''t expect him toe out anytime soon," Dirt closed the window and said, "Don''t worry. He can survive. I suggest you all take your time resting because you will have two exams in the future, I would suggest you use the remaining free chances to study for the two of your exams because the final test will take ce in the real world, though it''s still in a few days-"

    "What Dirt means is that," Ed took a deep breath and waved his robot to stop thetter from speaking anymore, "You should go back and rest. Focus on your exams while we take care of the rest. The first exam will be hard."

    Everyone murmured and made fun of Shane for a while before wandering off to the dorms. Only Tess and Frank still stood at that ce without moving.

    Ed sighed and said, "See, I care about Shane too. So go back and rest. I''ll stay here."

    Tess''s eyes moistened, but she didn''t cry. She took a deep breath and nodded as Frank patted her shoulders and dragged her away. When everyone was gone, Ed''s expression became serious as he nced back at the room and asked, "Did you track the person who did this?"

    "It was¡­." Dirt hesitated before speaking, "Luna."

    Ed sneered, "So my brother is really after Shane. Very good. They must have figured out that he can use dark cosmic energy despite having it blocked. We have to find a way to unlock his powers so that he can at least fight monsters and find himself a weapon."

    Dirt was surprised when he heard this, "Didn''t you say he can still use his powers?"

    Ed shook his head and walked inside the virtual portal, "Not to his fullest extent. Whoever locked it, we have no idea if that person was a friend or an enemy. To be on the safe side, we have to unlock it. In any case, Shane won''t have to take the attribute test again. So his secret won''t be out."

    "Can Shane really survive that?"

    "He will have to," Ed stared at the portal with a cold face, "Otherwise, he wouldn''t be my disciple."

 Chapter 47 46. Leave It To Me

    While everyone was waiting for a certain someone, a little away in the desert area, people were walking across the market area, especially a restaurant filled with poor peopleing here for a cup of tea. That was all they could afford at the moment while staying here.

    At one table, two people wearing hoods sat there without speaking to anyone else. Their waists had costly belts that made them the odd men out. The waiter who noticed them sitting smiled and walked over, "May I help you, sirs?"

    The hooded person on the waiter''s right said, "Bring a coffee for me and an ice cream for thedy."

    The waiter sneaked a nce at the other hooded person and smiled, "Sure."

    ''That''s a girl? I didn''t see iting. She doesn''t look like a girl,'' he thought.

    The girl in the hood hit the table with anger in her voice, "You dare."

    "Well, what do you expect from me?" The guy shrugged and sat back. None of their faces were visible at the moment. It seemed there was a fog-like thing in front of their faces that hid them from others.

    The two of them didn''t converse anymore. They sat there without speaking as the guy opened his mouth first, "So, what are your orders?"

    The woman spoke nothing as she waited for the waiter to arrive there with their orders. She picked up the spoon and ate the ice cream quietly, "You already know what my orders are, don''t you?"

    "I still want to confirm," said the hooded guy, as he frowned, his voice full of doubts, "Why are you after him? Are you sure he is¡­"

    "Just do what you''re told," thedy gulped the entire ice cream in one go and stood up, "We''re done talking. I don''t want to hear that you have failed ever again."

    After that, the girl vanished from that ce without a trace. The guy grimaced, "She should have paid first."

    ***

    ? A few hourster¡­.

    Dirt was still standing inside the portal room. Ed had gone to rest a while ago, leaving him to take care of Shane when thetter arrived. Since Dirt was a robot, he didn''t have any concept of getting bored. He sighed as he stood there, staring at the portal nkly.

    He nced at the watch on his wrist and shook his head as he muttered under his breath, "What''s taking him so much time?"

    Just then, the entire portal started shaking slightly as if it were about to spit something. Dirt''s expressions changed as he immediately walked over and stared at the portal with a serious face. He texted his boss about the changes in the portal and stood there without moving an inch.

    A body suddenly spat out of the portal''s mouth,nding on Dirt headfirst. Thetter was thrown back from the impact as his eyes widened. Even Dirt hadn''t expected this to happen. He had assumed that the boy would juste walking through the portal, but why was this guy''s body thrown outside the punishment area?

    Just what exactly did he do to end up like this?

    Dirt pushed Shane off of him and examined the body only to realize that the boy had fallen unconscious at an unknown time. His clothes were tattered and every part of his body was covered with either blood or dust. Injuries formed on every part of his body, making Shane look even more pitiful.

    Dirt didn''t waste any more time before initiating the healing process. Since his attribute wasn''t healing, he could only use another method to heal the boy fully.

    His attribute was so unique that everyone wanted their hands on him when he was created, but his boss got him first and stole him from right under the System God''s nose, and thetter couldn''t do a thing about it.

    But still, Dirt couldn''t use this healing technique frequently since it used too much of his energy. As long as Shane wasn''t in danger, Dirt would just leave it to nature to heal the boy, but at the present moment, it looked like the boy would end up dying any minute if he backed away.

    So he had no choice but to save him since he was also his boss''s first ever disciple.

    He finished the healing process as Shane woke up with a jolt. Thetter blinked as if he were trying to clear his vision as he got up. He rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "I came back¡­."<sub> </sub>

    "What did you do inside the punishment area?"

    Shane was in a dazed condition for a while before he turned toward Dirt as he took a deep breath, "Never ever send me to that punishment area with a desert and the flying insects ever again. It''s a pain in the a**."

    Ah, so it was that world. No wonder Shane looked too broken to the point of dying. Dirt shook his head and got up, "Boss is waiting for you. Get up."

    Shane nodded. Even though he had many questions, he had just survived through two dangerous worlds one after another. He was both mentally and emotionally exhausted despite having his body healed. He wanted to just let his body fall on the bed and close his eyes for a few hours.

    The two of them walked out of the building one after another. Just then, someone bumped them, making Shane stumble back a few steps. He raised his head, and before he could see the person, thetter hugged him, sping him firmly in an embrace.

    "Brother!" The girl released him and punched him in the stomach, "If you dare do that ever again, I''ll kill you with my own two hands!"

    Shane, who had just been healed, felt pain as his stomach churned up from the impact. He groaned and rubbed his stomach and asked, "Why are you stronger than me?"

    "My stats have risen," Tess flipped her hair back as she looked at him smugly, "Unlike a certain someone."

    Shane swallowed back the words he was going to say as he stood speechless at that ce. So now basically everyone around him managed to upgrade their stats only leaving him behind the ss. Great!

    He shook his head, "I''ll see youter. I have to see my master."

    Before anyone could interrupt, Dirt directly brought him to the staff room, inside Ed''s cabin. Everyone had their own cabins with their names. Even though Shane hadn''t met other teachers yet, they were still present at the moment as he passed by several cabins and entered Ed''s.

    They gave him a strange look when he was entering and murmured amongst themselves, making him feel even stranger. They were surely talking about him, weren''t they? Well, he was Ed''s first disciple and a failure one at that. People were gossipy in nature.

    It wasn''t that he hadn''t expected this.

    He just wondered whom these teachers taught since all the students were currently under Ed for now. He shrugged and pushed open the door.

    Ed was flipping through a book while on his seat behind the desk. The room was still the same with boring pictures hanging on the wall about him receiving various awards. There were even photos of Ed teaching students how to fight.

    Shane didn''t spare them a nce and sat in the chair in front of the desk and asked frankly, "What''s going on?"

    "You don''t need to worry about it," Ed closed the book and stared at Shane, "You need an attribute weapon."

    "Duh," Shane rolled his eyes, "Tell me something I don''t know."

    "I have booked a dungeon for you. There''s a chance that you''ll find your weapon there, but you have to take someone with you," Shane was going to open his mouth when Ed raised his hand, "Not me or Dirt. We don''t have time. Take someone from the students."

    "But boss¡­." Dirt opened his mouth, "He can''t use his power to the highest extent. That strange power has blocked 80% of his powers, making him rather useless."

    Shane tilted his head and nodded. That was true. When he had managed to defeat Ed back then, he could still use power, and his body had unexinable power that made him stronger. If he still had that amount of energy in his veins, perhaps he wouldn''t have failed in the previous world.

    "Let''s unlock your power first, shall we?" Ed nced at Dirt, "I''m sure you can manage this."

    "Leave it to me," said Dirt as he smiled.

 Chapter 48 47. Who Are You?

    The first thing Dirt did was putting up a barrier around the room before ncing at Shane. He spoke something under his breath that Shane assumed would be a skill name, as the robot raised his fingers again, pointing them toward Shane''s body.

    Soon, energy sparked from his fingers and entered Shane''s body, making Shane freeze. He even felt his breathing pausing for a second. He couldn''t even blink as the divine energy engulfed his body.

    The next moment, the energy vanished without a trace as if it weren''t there in the first ce. After that, Shane felt his body bing energetic all of a sudden. His veins filled with some energy as he realized what he had been missing this entire time.

    His energy indeed had been sealed inside his body, but thanks to that, he hadn''t attracted much attention during the attribute test. It was just that he couldn''t continue being a useless fe.

    Back when his powers were sealed, everyone thought that it was a seal to stop his identity from being revealed. But after the recent phenomenon of someone changing the difficulty of the virtual portal during his time, Shane didn''t think so, especially after realizing his powers themselves were sealed.

    He felt as if someone behind the scene was trying to push him in a certain direction, rendering him useless. Things were changing faster than Shane could think. He felt a trace of lingering fear in his heart after that incident.

    That was why he wanted to get stronger. Unsealing his powers was the first step toward it.

    Soon enough, Shane opened his eyes and looked around. He firmly curled his fingers in a fist and grinned, "It feels great! How did you do it?"

    Dirt smiled smugly and said, "I won''t tell you."

    Ed rolled his eyes and crossed his hands on his chest, "Now that your powers have unsealed, don''t expect my useless robot to help you at all times. You still have to return that sword to me after finding something better."

    Shane stiffened for a moment before heughed, "Why?"

    "Because," Ed narrowed his eyes, "Kinyer is mine. You can''t even use it properly. It has the best effect on one of my skills."

    Shane groaned, "Can''t I just keep using it? I''m your disciple ain''t I?"

    "It doesn''t mean I''ll give you anything. You will get what you deserve. Now, you''re dismissed."

    "Cheapskate," Shane muttered under his breath and walked away.

    When he was gone, Dirt turned toward his boss and frowned, "Why did you ask for your sword? You don''t even need it anymore."

    Ed shook his head and smiled as if he were thinking of something and said, "You won''t understand."

    "Why?"

    "Because you don''t have the burden of being a master."

    Dirt looked at his boss and sighed, "You have be old."

    "Get out."

    ***

    At this time, Shane walked toward his dorm with a frown on his forehead. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something, but he didn''t know what to do anymore. So there was a helpless emotion floating within his eyes. Just then, he saw a familiar girling toward him as he walked down the corridor.<sub> </sub>

    "Brother, you''re free now, right?"

    Shane nodded before remembering something and shook his head, "I have to find people to create a group."

    "For what?"

    "I have been assigned to go to a dungeon for a weapon," Shane sighed in a helpless manner, "My cheapskate of a master even wanted the weapon back that his robot handed over to me."

    Tess narrowed her eyes, "Dungeon, you say? Count me in."

    "You''re noting!" Shane replied instantly as he red at her. He walked past her, directly heading toward the boys'' dorm area. This building was meant for the students to live on different floors for both males and females. Thetter got the first two floors while the remaining boys were left upstairs.

    So he reached the staircase and started climbing upstairs without turning back. He instantly heard footsteps following behind him.

    "Shane! I''m going! I''m your sister!"

    "That''s why I''m stopping you. Go back to your floor. This area belongs to the boys," Shane remembered something and turned around, "You''re noting here wearing that."

    He pointed at Tess''s chest which looked puffy and firm, making the girl look even more beautiful. She red at her brother and flipped back her hair, "Why do you always care about what I wear? You should focus on your own dress code. You look like some nerd from my school."

    Shane indeed looked like one with his hair falling on his forehead, covering half of his left eye. Back when he was still alive, he would use gel and other hair essories to make himself look even more handsome, but ever since he arrived, he hadn''t been able to do anything in terms of representing himself, making him look worse than the regr boys at his university.

    He pulled back his hair and said, "I''ll purchase some hair gel before going to the dungeon."

    "This is why everyone''s been onto you. Even your power level is in the negatives. What else do you expect from others?" Tess looked at her brother in a disappointed manner and crossed her arms over her chest, making her chest firmer, "They have always been onto the weaker generation. You are giving others an option to go against you."

    "Looks aren''t everything, Tess," Shane''s brows furrowed when he realized she deliberately changed the topic and red at her, "You''re still not going."

    "Aww, c''mon!" Tess stared at the boy with starry eyes and stood in a praying position, "Pretty please? I''m stronger than you, and I even have some cool weapons!"

    The students walking past them nced at the two of them and made strange expressions while walking past Shane. Thetter coughed and pressed his sister''s hands, "Fine. Find someone with you."

    "Easy!" Tess instantly opened her menu and contacted someone and grinned before announcing, "Frank''sing!"

    Shane was speechless as he stared at his sister, "Wait, when did you send him a friend request? No, why didn''t you ept my request yet?"

    The menu interface acted simr to modern-day Facebook with a friend request system. Only friends could text one another through the chatting function. Shane sighed and was about to say something when he felt someone tapping his shoulders. He turned around to see a strange, smiling boy standing in front of him, one step above him on the stairs.

    It seemed that his height was simr to Shane''s and that was why he looked even taller at the moment. The boy''s wavy brown hair moved as a gust of wind passed by them while thetter stared at Shane with his ck eyes and asked, "Ahem, I''m sorry for eavesdropping, but I heard you guys are forming a group for a dungeon. May I join?"

    "Who are you?"

 Chapter 49 48. Dirts Stats~

    "Jake Fowler," replied the boy with a lingering smile on his face that felt creepy to the siblings standing in front of him. "I have always been in the ss behind you."

    Shane tilted his head as he tried to remember this guy, but he couldn''t. He had never focused on anyone else other than Tess and Frank in the first ce, and since others were used to making fun of him, he never even tried to socialize with them.

    ? Now this guy in front of him was trying toe with him. Shane narrowed his eyes, "Do you think I''m a fool? I haven''t been able to ovee the shock of failing the first world I ever entered as a system, and now you''re forcibly inserting yourself in my talk with my sister. Nope, you''re not invited."

    "But-"

    "If you keep saying another word, I''ll suspect you''re after my sister," Shane stared at the boy rudely and said, "F*ck off."

    After that, Shane didn''t linger around there even a second before storming off with Tess towed behind him. After reaching his room, Tess rudely stopped in front of his door and stopped him, "That was rude of you."

    "Then hang me to death," Shane pushed her away as he entered his room and said, "You''re wee here if you want to see my underwear lying around on the couch."

    "Ew¡­" Tess made a disgusted expression on her face as she red at the boy and said, "Clean up the room, and I''m going with you! Let me talk to master Ed!"

    "He''s not your master, yet¡­ forget it."

    Shane pressed his fingers onto his forehead and massaged it a bit before lying on the bed. Too much had happened recently, and now that he was finally alone, it all came down on him like a thunderstorm.

    It was true that he didn''t like Noah, but it didn''t mean he wanted that boy dead. He was a high schooler! These guys should be expected to act in a ridiculous manner as Noah did! So Shane wasn''t too angry with his first virtual host.

    It was a good thing that it was a virtual world, not a real one. Otherwise, he wouldn''t want to see someone dying right in front of his eyes like that. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

    When he woke up, it was already the next day. He rubbed his stomach as he groaned and pushed his body to wash up before walking out of his room. He happened to see Frank alsoing out of the room adjacent to him and so he greeted the boy, "Good morning."

    Frank nodded, "We''re going, right?"

    "Going where?" For a moment, Shane had forgotten what was going on as he tilted his head before suddenly remembering. He sighed, "Okay, maybe you''re talking about the dungeon. Fine, but you have to take care of my sister since my stats aren''t really that great."

    As they were walking downstairs, a certain brown-haired boy stared at Shane''s back with a calm expression before he smiled and followed them.

    Shane received the group member list soon enough the moment he entered his ssroom. Ed said while facing his ss, "Get ready. I''ll give you a day off considering your duty for today. The systems I''m calling out, kindly go with him to the dungeon. Dirt will guide you there. 12254712, 12254799, and 12254767. You others, follow me to the grounds. We are going to have practicals today."

    Shane only remembered his number, so he just shrugged and walked out without thinking. He knew for sure that his sister would follow behind and since he knew Frank''s number, he heard it crystal clear from his master''s mouth. So he wasn''t surprised except for thest one.

    He frowned as he turned around, and was just about to speak when he noticed a certain brown-haired boy following Tess and Frank behind with a calm smile on his face. Shane gave the boy an irritated look, "So you are the one forcing yourself into my group. Didn''t I tell you I don''t want you in? Can''t you understand humannguage?"

    "No, I''m not a human anymore," said the boy, still smiling.

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead as he red at the boy and was just about to say something when someone coughed. He looked over to find Dirt standing in front of them in the corridor who nodded expressionlessly at the new boy and said, "He filled out the form after Tess and Frank, and since the boss didn''t want more than four people this time, he passed Jake on the firste first serve basis. Now, follow me."

    Shane rolled his eyes and decided to ignore a certain brown-haired boy''s presence from now on. As they were walking down the corridor and reached the stairs, Dirt tilted his head and nced at Shane from the corner of his eyes, "Boss has sent a gift for you. You''ll like it for sure."

    "Really?" Shane raised his brows as he checked his message box. He found a text from Ed, and he immediately opened it.

    There was no exnation and just a file in the attachment section. He immediately opened it up and nced at the contents.

    [Skill: Stats reader

    Level: 100

    CE: 0

    Attribute: ---

    Strength: ---<sub> </sub>

    Attack: ---

    Physical Resistance: ---

    CE Resistance: ---

    Luck: 84]

    Below this, he could see a question asking him whether he wanted to save this skill or not. His eyes stuck on the description area of the skill box.

    [It can read the stats of the level mentioned and below. To read the stats of the people above the mentioned level, please upgrade]

    What the- He could use this skill to read other people''s stats! His eyes widened as he immediately used it on Dirt.

    [Level: 95

    Exp: 9,993,875

    Job: Robot

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: 100/100

    Attribute: Time

    Strength: 87

    Agility: 98

    Stamina: 89

    Intelligence: 97

    Vitality: 95

    Attack: 99

    Skill: ---

    Weapons: ---

    Physical Resistance: 75

    CE Resistance: 86

    Luck: 82

    Overall status: Experienced]

    A window showing the above things popped up in front of Shane, making him feel like he had been blinded by sheer power level. What the heck was this about time being an attribute? He tilted his head as he nced at Dirt with a new perception.

    Shane had no idea that this damned robot was so powerful.

 Chapter 50 49. A Hotel Lobby!

    It took them a few minutes to reach the dungeon thanks to Dirt''s extraordinary teleportation skill. Even though Shane could see his stats, he still found it marvelous when the robot used that skill for the first time, and Shane identally managed to open the stats info of the skill.

    [Name: Teleportation Skill

    Level: 100

    CE: 20

    Attribute: time

    Strength: 100

    Attack: 0

    Physical Resistance: 100

    CE Resistance: 100

    Luck: 89

    Description: Uses a time warp to transfer one or more bodies to another ce at the quickest speed. You can''t move more than ten bodies at the current level]

    "Woah, your skill is awesome!" Those words automatically burst through Shane''s mouth when they reached their destination. The five of them were just standing in the corridor a moment ago, and when they blinked, they were already standing surrounded by trees, in front of a cave.

    Tess raised her brows, "You can see his skill window?"

    Shane stiffened. He nced at Frank and Jake beside his sister and frantically shook his head. Even though they were his group mates, he still felt strange sharing his powers with others. After the previous experience, he wanted to be cautious around the people he knew.

    He would exin this to Tess on another day when they were alone. At this time, he just wanted to keep the ability to see other people''s stats to himself. After all, it was still strange to be able to peek at other people''s powers.

    No one wanted their powers to be revealed like him. So for now, it was better for him to hide his abilities, especially the dark energy thing. Still, he felt bad for not telling Frank about it.

    So he opened his mouth and said, "Of course not. Do you think I''m a God?"

    Tess scoffed and ignored her brother as she nced at the mouth of the cave. There was a round portal of light blue color. Electric energy flickered now and then, making it look like a wormhole.

    The portal was all too familiar. Shane narrowed his gaze as he stared at the round thing at the mouth of the cave entrance. He had a bad feeling in his heart when he nced at it.

    Last time too, something like this had appeared, but the color immediately changed that time without being noticed. So this time, Shane didn''t want to be tricked by the little blue color again. He wanted to be ready to face any challenges thrown at his face.

    After thinking like this, he took a deep breath and said, "Get your weapons ready. We are going in."

    None of the people had any other thoughts. Dirt opened his mouth and said, "I''ll be staying here and monitoring you guys from the outside. If I find any issues, I''ll immediately teleport for help."

    Shane didn''t say another word this time. When he didn''t know anything about Dirt''s stats, he used to treat the robot really like some dirt ced on the ground that he didn''t need to focus too much on, but now¡­.<sub> </sub>

    Things had changed. He couldn''t take that robot for granted. He deliberately ignored Dirt as he started walking toward the portal. Thetter could tell what was going on as he saw the boy walking stiffly. He smirked and said, "I''m powerful, ain''t I?"

    "Shut up!" Shane nced at Tess and said, "Let''s go."

    After that, the four of them entered the dungeon without hesitation. Dirt sighed as he shook his head and stood in front of the portal. He pulled out a window as he started typing something.

    He looked exactly like a hacker who had too much work at hand while typing continuously with the help of a holographic keyboard that hovered in the air below the window.

    Inside the portal, as soon as they entered, they ended uping across a hotel lobby filled with different people. Some of the tourists had colorful dresses on their bodies as they entered the lobby after Shane and his group with their backpacks while heading toward the receptionist in front of them.

    The lobby looked exactly like that of a costly ce filled with new and exquisite furniture. Everything was either in steel gray or in white color with shades of ck. It was just that thenguage that the people spoke couldn''t be understood easily.

    Everyone was stunned. Even though Shane couldn''t be called poor, his family wasn''t that rich to afford to book a room at such a posh hotel. This was the first time he had entered such a ce despite being a social butterfly in his past life.

    Tess whistled as she leaned toward her brother, "This is a dungeon?"

    Shane shook his head, "I don''t know. It should have been a dungeon."

    "Let''s go and see what happens," Jake spoke, all of a sudden.

    Shane instantly turned around and red at the neer, "I don''t need to ask you for that. I was going to head over to the receptionist."

    Jake shrugged, "I was just saying we don''t have much of a choice."

    "Shut it," Shane finally turned and walked toward the receptionist. As soon as he reached the desk, the beautifuldy raised her head and the smile on her face froze. Her eyes widened when she nced at Shane and his team as she stood up to her feet.

    Then she yelled unknown words at the top of her voice as if she had been frightened to death.

    Shane looked at the scene in front of him and tilted his head. He nced around only to find that all the tourists who were chit-chatting a while ago froze and stared at the group without blinking their eyelids.

    The scene was so creepy that Shane felt a chill down his spine as he took a deep breath, "I need a room."

    It was just an excuse. He wanted to see what was going on here by trying to make an excuse.

    Sure enough, the receptionist trembled after hearing his voice. Suddenly, her eyes turned red as ck veins started to appear on her face. Her hands cracked and split into many handsing out from her elbows, making her look extremely strange and horrific. Her tongue grew further and split simr to that of a snake''s tongue.

    Hair scattered all over her head as she growled at Shane and his group.

    Shane turned around only to find that everyone else had gone through a simr change. They transformed into strange creatures with snake tongues and several hands, looking horrific and disgusting at the same time.

    "W-What the heck is this¡­.?" Tess was the first one among them to break the silence as she huddled closer to her brother. Strange creatures surrounded them on all sides.

 Chapter 51 50. Freeze Them!!!

    "Take out your weapons," Shane ordered his group as he brought out the ice weapon. He knew that since it wasn''t his attribute, he couldn''t continue to use it for a long time, but he could still use these weapons for a few seconds to buy his group some time.

    He gritted his teeth, thrust his sword into the ground, and said, "Freeze!"

    This was a freezing skill that would turn on as long as he spoke the word. At that moment, ice power emerged from the sword and traveled to every monster that he aimed at, covering them with ice. Soon enough, all the slithering monsters froze on the ice.

    It was unfortunate that Shane couldn''t cover many areas. Only the monsters around him managed to get frozen in the ice, but the monsters beyond, on the outskirts of the lobby and around the elevator area, were still intact. They growled even louder as they opened their mouths and released a fire breath, aiming at the ice.

    Shane watched in horror as the ice melted and the monsters stood intact around him and his group, ring at him. Okay, he seemed to have managed to make them even angrier. He silently put his weapon back in his inventory and asked, "Any ideas?"

    "Let me use a fire weapon," said Tess as she pulled out a sword. Of course, her attribute was fire, but she hadn''t reached the level of Luna to get a shot at an amazing weapon. The sword brightened up as she said, "I can sh them up."

    Shane was surprised to see that his sister was suddenly taking charge of the situation, only to see her hands trembling. There was a thinyer of sweat on Tess''s forehead, but the girl stood there stubbornly without moving, "F*ck it! I''ll kill them all!"

    After that, she closed her eyes and started swinging her sword left and right. The monsters got shed and dropped to the ground with just one hit, and everyone thought they could finally walk away easily.

    Shane frowned when he saw this. Even though this dungeon was a light blue level, it shouldn''t be this easy to ovee the hurdles. Something was wrong. He immediately pulled out a regr knife that didn''t require any cosmic energy as he stared at the scene in front of his eyes.

    A few seconds after the first few monsters were shed to death with one hit, they healed in the blink of an eye automatically. Their injuries were covered up with a thinyer of dark energy before revealing aplete form. They got up on their feet and some even crawled toward Tess, who was facing her back to those monsters, killing monsters with great enthusiasm.

    Shane quickly opened his mouth, "Tess, look behind you!"

    The girl turned around as her eyes went wide in horror, "I had just killed them! What''s going on?"

    "No time to think about it," Shane gripped his knife tightly and said, "There''s no need to kill either of them ording to my experience. Let''s just go upstairs."

    All of them turned to look at the ce where there was an elevator. This ce was without any staircase, so that gave them only one route: the elevator. It was just that Shane and his group would have to cross a sea of a lot of monsters to reach that ce.<sub> </sub>

    He narrowed his eyes. It seemed that they were trying to protect the door to the next level. He immediately turned to Frank and said, "Yours is Earth, right? Can you do something about it?"

    Frank nodded, but then shook his head, "I have a skill that can create an Earthquake, but it''s not worth it. We will also be in danger."

    Shane nodded as he pursed his lips. He didn''t want to ask Jake for help. He didn''t even want to talk to that guy in the first ce, ignoring the boy''s existence. But now, things in this ce didn''t give him the freedom to do as he pleased.

    Just as he was about to let go of his awkwardness, he heard the boy himself speaking first, "I can help you with it, but all of you would have to contribute."

    Everyone nced at Jake who was still smiling as he pulled out a sword from his inventory, "I didn''t purchase as many skills as you guys, I only have one, but it''s costly. So bear with me for a while. I''ll try not to hurt you."

    After saying this, he moved the sword as he muttered a word under his breath. Right after that, the entire sword was covered with a thinyer of tornado-like air, circling around the silver de. Just then, he said, "Step back, everyone."

    The wind started to blow around everyone as Jake swung the sword at the group of monsters standing close to him, who was about to attack Tess. When Shane saw this situation, he forgot all about his past awkwardness and dragged Tess and Frank away, standing behind Jake. Then, thetter swung the sword toward the group of monsters as they were thrown far away as if they were hit by a wind de.

    The entire group scattered soon enough as he turned toward Shane, "Freeze them. Now!"

    Shane nodded as he took out his freezing sword and did exactly as he was told. The path to the elevator cleared up in an instant as the four of them ran toward that area without thinking twice. They entered the elevator and pressed the first-floor button. Just then, the ice melted away and the monsters started crawling back to the elevator door.

    The scene was creepy because the speed of these monsters was quite high as they slithered every now and then, giving Shane and his group chills. Only Jake seemed to be calm and collected. If there wasn''t a thinyer of sweat on the boy''s forehead, Shane would have thought Jake was really calm.

    Tess wiped her face as she cursed under her breath, "F*ck! Why isn''t this door closing soon?"

    The monsters had almost reached the door at this time. Their tongues slithered inside the door, and just then, the door shut, chopping their tongues off. Blood sttered around the elevator''s back wall without sparing the people inside. Shane and his group''s clothes were covered with blood.

    They stared at the shed tongues on the ground that jumped up and down as if they were still alive.

 Chapter 52 51. Somethings Mouth

    ? "What the heck is this thing?" Tess cursed under her breath as she shed those disgusting tongues with her fire sword and said, "There''s no end to these things."

    The elevator soon stopped on the first floor and opened up. The entire corridor was shrouded in darkness as the fog lifted into the corridor in front of the elevator door. Shane wiped the blood off his face and said, "Let''s get done with this. I don''t like the smell of blood."

    "Me neither," Jake frowned as he pulled out a handkerchief from his inventory and started wiping his body with it. Then he wiped his sword and said, "This level is strange. There''s no monster here. This should be a hotel dungeon, right? I had assumed we would end up entering the guest rooms."

    "This is a monster dungeon. What do you expect a monster hotel to look like?" Shane sighed when he realized he had just started talking to Jake as he scratched the back of his neck, "I was going to ignore you, but since you helped me, I''ll forgive you."

    "I''m d we are on the same level," Jake smiled as he took his step toward the darkness into the corridor.

    "Um, no we aren''t," Shane tilted his head as he couldn''t help but ask curiously, "Why did you offer to go with us? Seeing your power, you could have made many friends, but everyone else in the institute seems to hate me. Why would you choose us?"

    He had been curious about this question ever since Jake showed up for the first time. He just didn''t want the reason to be Tess. If he hade to pursue her¡­.

    Shane squinted his eyes as he looked closely at Jake''s face.

    Thetter chuckled nervously, "It has nothing to do with my feelings for Tess if you''re wondering."

    "So you do have feelings for her."

    "No¡­." Jake looked like he didn''t know how to exin this, "I just genuinely feel pity for you. I just didn''t get why everyone else hates you to that level and got curious."

    "Why do I find it hard to ept this?" Shane narrowed his eyes.

    "Guys, focus," Frank spoke as he walked forward, ahead of everyone else. He turned toward Tess and said, "Use your sword to brighten up the area."

    Tess nodded and walked toward Frank as she raised her sword. The surroundings instantly cleared up.

    The corridor''s walls were filled with some dark, sticky substance that made it look like the mouth of something. The ground was filled with soft round stones that were also covered with a sticky substance.

    Shane had a bad feeling in his heart, "Why do I feel as if this is¡­."

    "Something''s mouth," Jake finished his words as he frowned.

    "I want to go back," Tess immediately announced. "The virtual portal wasn''t as difficult as this dungeon. I just had to burn a few empty houses to pass the level, but¡­ this is on apletely different level!"

    Shane said nothing. If he told her about what he had encountered, he wondered how she would react. The first level just now was nothingpared to the things he had seen back then. He took a deep breath as he tried not to think too much about it.

    He still felt his heartbeat jumping just thinking about the things he had ended up encountering. He took a deep breath to calm himself as he narrowed his gaze. Soon enough, the tunnel-like thing seemed to have a bright end as they continued walking.

    Shane didn''t feel good about this, "Maybe we should turn around and enter the elevator."<sub> </sub>

    After saying this, he remembered that the elevator didn''t have a second-floor option there. He shut his mouth as they kept walking. They would have to find another elevator to go higher.

    As soon as they entered the brighter part and passed through the dark tunnel-like thing covered with something sticky, they all squinted their eyes. When their vision got normal, they all stared at the scene in front of them in horror.

    There was a room before their eyes that looked more like a cave. White spikes grew from the ceiling of the cave and simr spikes were there on the ground. The ceiling seemed to be moving down as Shane and his group stood there without moving.

    "This¡­. This is the mouth of a monster!" Tess was the first one to react. She gulped and said, "We should run."

    There was thankfully an exit beyond the spikes, but the ceiling and the floor got closer and closer. Shane frowned. Even if they ran, they wouldn''t be able to make it. So he opened his mouth and suggested, "How about we enter the tunnel-" he turned around only to stare at the wall with widened eyes, "Where did the tunnel go?"

    "Looks like we have no choice," Jake used his sword to hit the spikes that were shaped like canines. It almost felt like the monster was trying to chew them alive. As soon as his sword hit it, the spike was shed in half as blood seeped from the wound as a roar echoed from the exit.

    For some reason, Shane didn''t want to choose that door as his exit. After entering the mouth, the opened and narrow pathway could only look simr to an esophagus, leading to the stomach. He didn''t want to be digested inside some unknown monster.

    They had no time to figure out why they ended up entering the mouth of a monster instead of going to the higher level. Shane narrowed his gaze and said, "The elevator door should be somewhere here."

    "What if there isn''t?" asked Tess as she wrinkled her nose. A strange odor spread around their bodies.

    "Then it only means one thing," Shane felt like it was the most possible answer, "We would have to find the excretion area of this monster and get out."

    "Ew!" Tess''s facial muscles distorted, "I''m not doing that!"

    "Hadn''t I told you to stay put? Why did youe with me if you feel so disgusted?!"

    Tess pouted as she started hitting one canine after another, "I didn''t know things would be this dangerous."

    "Learn to listen to me first," he started to hit the sticky walls, but couldn''t find the door. So he wiped his face that was covered with God knows what and said, "We don''t have time. Looks like we will have to find the excretion area."

    Jake frowned, "Wait, what if we found the lips? While chewing, our mouths are closed. As long as we can find it, we might be able to get out and search for the elevator."

    "Then what are we waiting for?" Tess raised her sword and thrust it to the ground, "Let''s burn this thing alive! It will definitely open its mouth!"

    The ceiling was getting closer and closer, but the sword covered with fire seemed to have burned that area. She pulled it out and thrust it deep into the ground over and over again. She continued to do this until a roar echoed from the opened door.

    Suddenly, a narrow opening appeared right in front of the already opened door as if something was opening its mouth. The opening got bigger and bigger, taking the shape of a door.

    Shane nodded toward Tess and the four of them rushed toward the opening.

 Chapter 53 52. Welcome To My Theater

    While Shane and his group were trying to pass through different floors, somewhere at the top, there was a dark room with a small, round table at the center. A bowl filled with popcorn was ced at the center as two sets of hands continued to take one piece after another to stuff it into their mouths. It seemed that there was a stage light being ced at the table that only highlighted their hands.

    The faces of these two people were hidden in the dark.

    In front of the table, facing the two people sitting side by side, a huge screen showed Shane''s and his group''s current status. At this time, they had just entered the next floor after passing through the monster''s mouth level.

    The man on the right scoffed, "Why isn''t he using it?"

    Another man''s voice echoed in the dark room, "He will. After all, you have prepared so much for him while managing to keep the level of this dungeon easy. You have done a good job."

    This person''s voice was very familiar because he was the same person who had killed Noah back then. He picked up another two pieces of popcorn from the bowl and yed with them for a while, using his fingers as he leaned forward. His smile was visible as the light shone slightly on the lower half of his face. His sharp jaw became visible for a moment as he opened his mouth:

    "I''ll finally get to witness this power that I''ve been told about," a smile yed on his lips, "That person raised my expectations of Shane. It would be a shame to do all of these things if he doesn''t live up to my expectations."

    They both saw Shane fighting with the monsters on another floor with the ice sword. This time, huge frogs even bigger than that of a human being were surrounding the youths on the screen. They all used their individual powers, but Shane still didn''t use his dark powers.

    Soon, they were able to walk through the sea of huge frogs into a big hall and found an elevator without any effort. The man on the left leaned back again as his lips hid in the darkness as he sneered, "Let''s see how he can continue to keep up with this."

    "But the question is," the right man voiced out his confusion, "Shane is being secretive. Why?"

    "Might be because of the presence of Jake," the man on the left frowned, "No, that''s not it. From what I have heard of him, Shane isn''t a goody two shoes. As long as it benefits him, he will save others, but that person seemed to know him well. If something goes against Shane''s benefits, he would rather save himself first. So it doesn''t make sense that he isn''t using his powers at all."

    All of a sudden, he smiled and leaned forward again. This time, his smile was filled with amusement, "Don''t tell me he still doesn''t know how to use his powers," he chuckled and hit the table as it trembled and a few popcorn kernels flew out of the bowl, "Interesting!"

    "You''re wasting my food! Why are you here though?" The man on the right finally couldn''t take it anymore, "I, as your subordinate, am already doing my duty. You ordered me to test out Shane and force him to use his powers, and I''m on it! Why are you disturbing me like this?"

    "I want to personally witness this scene," the guy on the left made a grave face as he stared at the screen deeply, "He cannot be the King of Darkness because I have seen for myself his soul getting destroyed in the depths of hell. This fact was hidden from everyone, and not even the higher worlds know about it. That person doesn''t exist anymore. So howe Shane out of all the people in this world got to use that power? How? I''m just curious."

    The man on the right felt a chill down his spine as he took a deep breath and said, "Should I increase the difficulty?"

    "No way," the other person leaned back again and started chewing the popcorn, "Shane would himself be bored if we continued to repeat the same thing. Let''s make things interesting. Lower the level even more. Send easier monsters out there. I want him to climb up here faster than ever."<sub> </sub>

    They silently continued to watch as the man on the right gave his consent and moved his hand, sending a message to his subordinates. After that, they continued to watch the screen in silence.

    Shane and his group passed the fourth floor after half an hour easily, without any difficulty. It even seemed that the dungeon had be easier at this point, so much so that Shane didn''t use any powerful weapons anymore. He just had to use his regr knife to attack the monsters, and they would die right in front of him with one strike.

    He stared at the monsters of varied forms lying in front of his eyes on the ground with a confusion-filled nce, "Hey, isn''t it strange? This is way too easy for a light blue dungeon."

    Everyone frowned upon seeing this. Tess opened the elevator after killing all the monsters. They were getting quite ustomed to killing at this point. At least, her hands weren''t trembling as before. Shane was also not feeling a tiny bit of guilt while shing his sword against the monsters'' bodies.

    Tess entered the elevator as she nced at the button that would lead them upstairs only to stare at the board with her eyes widened.

    Boss room.

    "It''s here!"

    Shane nced at that ce and quietly pressed the button when everyone entered the small elevator. He wiped his face. He was sure he smelt of blood and sweat, and he yearned to take a shower, but he couldn''t.

    He desperately wanted a weapon, especially after knowing he casually couldn''t continue to use other attribute weapons at all times since it made him lose his energy at a faster rate. At the same time, he also couldn''t use his powers because he didn''t possess any skills that could be fused with dark cosmic energy within his body.

    Other skills would instead use his lifeforce instead of dark energy and that made him exhausted at a faster rate. Should he try to create a st of dark cosmic energy by pouring it out of his body like before? It seemed to have made his attack stronger back then when he had fought with Ed for the first time.

    Shane nced at Jake and stopped thinking about it. He didn''t want to reveal his powers yet. He had to make sure he and his sister would stay out of danger. So the fewer people knew about his powers, the better it was for the two of them to survive. He hadn''t even told Frank about it yet!

    The elevator opened soon, revealing a dark room. The round table was visible as someone sat beyond it. There was a bowl filled with popcorn as a screen came into view that showed Shane and his group entering.

    At this time, the other man who had killed Noah seemed to have disappeared, leaving his subordinate behind. The man sitting on the chair wasn''t visible since only the table was highlighted with the lighting from above.

    He suddenly let out a chuckle, "Wee to my theater."

 Chapter 54 53. Letâ€™s Do Some Fun!

    The four of them paused in their steps as they felt a fierce aura spreading around them. The man sitting behind the table seemed to have been leaking certain dark energy that pressed down on the people who had just entered, making them tremble in fear.

    It almost felt as if the dark power was crawling deep inside the mere bones and cells of the people standing at the door, attacking the organs of their bodies. The pressure was suffocating and painful. Everyone else was on the verge of giving up, except for Shane.

    He stood there, staring at the man with a frown on his face, he tilted his head and wondered what was going on. This person hadn''t said a word for a while and just continued to sit there without moving. He even felt that human-like monster''s stare that was directed at Shane, making thetter even more ufortable.

    Shane''s brows furrowed deeper as he turned toward Tess, only to find her breathing heavily. Her forehead was covered with a thinyer of sweat as she stared at the man behind the round table in horror. The others behind her also had simr expressions on their faces. They looked like they wanted to take a step back, but they couldn''t.

    Shane''s confusion increased. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the monster''s voice echoing in the background, "Wondering what''s happening to your friends, Mr. Shane Cooper?"

    The boy turned toward the monster and said nothing. He pursed his lips and continued to stand there, narrowing his eyes at the other man. He had no intention to converse with a monster.

    The monster chuckled as he stood up on his feet, "They are just feeling the greatness of dark cosmic energy. You''re quite familiar with it, aren''t you?"

    Shane''s eyes widened at this time. He couldn''t continue to stand back and say nothing after this. It seemed that his powers were somehow revealed by someone. He suddenly remembered the hacker who seemed to have changed the difficulty level of his first virtual portal.

    He felt a chill down his spine.

    Someone seemed to be onto him. But who? He was new to this system world. Was it just because he could use dark cosmic energy?

    Shane didn''t know. So he finally opened his mouth and said, "I don''t know what you''re talking about."

    If he continued to deny that he could use dark cosmic energy, nothing would be revealed. After all, Ed had managed to destroy the memory of him using dark energy from everyone''s minds. How could it be possible for the student systems to hack the system and even remember to tell a monster of a dungeon about it?

    So, if he didn''t say anything, he wouldn''t have to reveal himself either. At this time, he couldn''t trust anyone, and revealing everything would probably put his sister in danger.

    Of course, he also cared about Frank, but not to the extent of sharing this life secret. The hacking event taught him to be cautious of everything. So it wasn''t harmful to hide a few things from his friends.

    So if none of his friends knew, who revealed his powers? It couldn''t be Ed, could it?

    Shane frowned and shook his head. No, Ed''s personality dangled around righteousness. He would definitely not do this after epting Shane as his only disciple. Of course, that bald man would also sometimes give his sister one-on-one lessons, but that was because he had made an agreement with Shane earlier that he would only ept Ed as his master if thetter taught Tess.<sub> </sub>

    The bald man indeed taught her, but she still wasn''t his disciple. Shane had said nothing about it and continued to ignore it. As long as Tess was getting stronger, he couldn''tin.

    So even Ed could be ruled out of this.

    Then what went wrong? Did Shane reveal his powers identally?

    All the events of the past few weeks ever since he woke up in the white room shed in front of his eyes, but he still couldn''t make sense of it. The only thing that he could think of was that someone must have known about Shane''s existence. It could also exin why Shane suddenly started using dark cosmic energy.

    If everything was a viin''s n, they could also manage to make him use dark cosmic energy. Otherwise, who could exin why he used dark cosmic energy, the power of the demons? Also, no one seemed to have exined anything about this dark cosmic energy. He just knew the story about the origin of the entire creation, how the King of Darkness ruled and fell down because of one mistake, and how the dark power was merely the opposite of the divine.

    He could understand everything, but he still felt something was missing here.

    Just as Shane was busy thinking, the monster walked over. He could finally see what he looked like¡­. A normal man wearing ck robes.

    It was even a turtle-neck shirt, and the man looked like he had jumped out of a fashion magazine with his hair styled properly.

    He stopped when sensing Shane''s gaze and asked, "What? Is this not a proper appearance that can attract humans? Should I change it?"

    He flicked his fingers and was transformed into a beautifuldy with a huge chest. Her wavy brown hair was so long that it covered up her entire body. It could be said that the thing that covered up her body was her long hair. She chuckled, "How about this?"

    Shane''s expression distorted, "What the f*ck do you want?"

    "Aw, you don''t like this too," the woman flicked her fingers and turned back into the turtle-neck shirt man. "I could have pleased you, you know?"

    Shane silently pulled out the kinyer and raised his head, "If you want to fight, just say so. Why go in a roundabout manner like this?"

    The monster chuckled again and pressed the sword down, "Why are you in a hurry to fight? Let''s do some fun, shall we?"

    Before Shane could even react, the demon flicked his fingers as dark energy surrounded them at once. Tess, Frank, and Jake were frozen in their previous ces, and they couldn''t move.

 Chapter 55 54. I Want Your Soul!

    As soon as the demon flicked his fingers, dark energy poured out of his body and created circles above everyone''s heads. Shane looked at theplicated circle around his head that made him feel as if it were geometry art or something.

    He tilted his head as the circle changed its color from red to ck and shone brightly. Then it circled round and round at the fastest speed. He continued to stare at the circle silently, but after waiting for a while, nothing happened.

    He blinked several times and turned around, only to see his teammates frozen in their ces. Their eyes widened in horror as if they had seen somethingpletely strange. Shane frowned, "Tess? Frank? Are you guys okay?"

    They didn''t respond, and blinked. They stood there with their eyes turning red. Shane could even see red veins appearing in their eyes as they stared at the nk space in horror.

    He nced at the demon, only to see that the turtle-neck shirt man was also having a simr expression to his.

    The demon scratched the back of his neck and muttered, "The array should have been perfect. So what happened? Why¡­."

    He even stretched his fingers and made a few gestures. Dark energy flew out of his body and emerged into the array that started wheeling faster, but still, nothing happened. Shane still had a strange expression on his face. If anything, thetter almost felt as if his entire body was being filled with some unknown energy. He raised his head casually as he narrowed his eyes at the array.

    A thought appeared in his head, ''Am I sucking in its energy?''

    Then he shook his head vigorously. It wasn''t impossible, but he had never done that in the presence of other demons.

    Shane frowned as he thought of something else. No demon had ever used an array on his body. They only used spells indiscriminately and attacked him through weapons and other things. Plus, his powers were sealed in his body. So his body never absorbed the power.

    His frown deepened. Ever since he entered this dungeon, for some reason, he had started feeling his body getting more and more energetic. He had ignored this fact, thinking he might be feeling like this because his energy was unsealed and it roamed around in his veins. But now that he thought carefully, it could be that he was indeed sucking away its powers.

    Shane turned his head toward the demon who kept twisting his finger as his expressions twisted more and more, "What the f*ck! Where is my power going?!"

    Shane stood there, stunned out of his mind. His body felt even more energetic now, to the point that he could wantonly jump around without doing anything exclusive. He nced down at Kinyer as he put it back into his inventory and pulled out a normal steel sword.

    Since he had so much energy in his body now, he could try to expand it to his sword and fight. After all, none of his team members seemed to be in the right state of mind to care about what he was doing.

    A smile formed on the corners of Shane''s lips. A cold, dark energy poured out of his body and entered the sword, covering it entirely with that power. It started glowing in glistening ck energy as if there was a ck fire around the de.

    Sess!

    It seemed that Shane could use his powers without any need of magical spells, arrays, or other special weapons, but he still wasn''t sure. His intuition told him that he could definitely use his powers without any spells.<sub> </sub>

    Shane frowned as he nced at the demon who was getting more and more frustrated. Then, he stopped attacking the red-haired system in front of him and cursed, "Hah, you''re actually using something to suck on my powers, aren''t you?"

    "Nope," Shane said and thought to himself, ''I''m not doing anything at all.''

    His reply made the demon even more frustrated. After a while, he suddenly let out augh as he walked closer. He stood in front of Tess and raised his finger as he touched the girl''s fair and red cheeks, "I''ll just make this girl see what real hell means."

    As soon as he said that, he flicked his finger as dark energy poured into the array above Tess''s head. The girl''s eyes widened even more. Sweat profusely dropped down her temples as her body trembled.

    Shane''s expressions turned serious as he raised his sword and put it on the demon''s neck, "Take back your power, or I''ll kill you."

    "Go ahead," the demon bowed to the young man and even grinned, "You can try."

    Shane didn''t think too much about it as he raised his hand and attacked the demon. This wouldn''t be his first time killing a demon, but this was the first time he had ever raised his sword against a human looking monster. His hands trembled for a bit, but he reminded himself that this wasn''t a human being, rather a monster!

    If he failed to kill him, Tess would be dead! This thought stopped Shane''s hands from trembling. He gripped the hilt tightly as he shed the demon''s body, only to see that it passed through the grinning monster.

    Shane''s eyes widened as he stared at the scene.

    Why did he feel like this was something like a hologram?

    The demon chuckled seeing Shane''s expressions and said, "Well, if I were here, you could have killed me, but sadly, I''m not, but I can definitely kill these minions and leave you broken hearted for sure. How''s that for revenge?"

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead as a great sense of dread filled his heart. Even after getting his powers back, he was still useless! He red at the demon standing in front of him and continued to sh his sword through the hologram thing, but nothing happened.

    Instead, the demon''s smile widened more and more. After a while, he flicked his finger as dark energy poured out of his body and entered Tess''s, making thetter tremble even more. The girl fell to her knees as sweat dropped down her body. Her body seemed to be terrified to the extremes.

    "Stop it!" Shane''s grip tightened around his sword, "What do you want?"

    "Now you''re talking!" The demon pped his hands and said, "I want your soul. Can you die for them?"

 Chapter 56 55. Get Lost, You Freak!

    In the dark, close to where the hologram of the demon and Shane were conversing, two people stood in the dark. This time, there wasn''t a round table there. They just stood there, hiding in the dark as they stared at the scene in the spotlight.

    One of them said: "You''re useless."

    The other demon''s face turned red, "Then why don''t you do it, boss?"

    The man beside him was the same person who had killed Noah. he smiled and said, "I don''t want to bloody my hands."

    "F*ck you!" the demon took a deep breath as if he were trying to calm himself down and said, "Get lost, you freak!"

    The boss chuckled, but said nothing. They continued to stare at Shane, who was trembling with anger, but he didn''t raise his sword anymore. He even retracted his energy and turned his weapon into a normal sword.

    Then he raised his head and said, "Fine. Kill me, but only on one condition."

    The demon hologram suddenly chuckled as he walked closer. He stood right in front of Shane and said, "You''re in no position to negotiate."

    After saying this, he flicked his fingers as both Frank and Jake fell to their knees, filled with sweat and fear in their eyes. When Shane saw this, his heartbeat increased. He had never been so nervous in his whole life.

    If only he could find this demon''s real body¡­.

    Shane''s grip tightened on his sword, "I want to fight you head-on."

    p "Really?" the demon raised his brows, "There''s no difference between me and this hologram. Do you know how I did it? I''m the master of illusions and shows. I entertain people, and I don''t need livestreams to see what others are doing. And now, I''m showing your dearrades the most horrific scene ever. I doubt whether they''d managed to stay sane aftering out of this¡­. If they ever made it out alive, that is."</anda>

    Shane''s fingers curled into a fist as he stared coldly. He said nothing as he stared at the demon with anger in his eyes. He wished he could cut off this demon''s head, but he couldn''t unless he found this person''s real body. He secretly nced around, but he could only find darkness beyond the spotlight.

    He frowned. Maybe he should try walking into the dark. He remembered he had also purchased a torch back then. So he immediately pulled out a torch from his inventory and dashed into the dark without waiting for the demon''s words.

    As soon as Shane entered the darkness, he heard the demon cursing under his breath and running after him. Footsteps echoed in the darkness soon enough behind Shane, but he didn''t get flustered. He continued to wave his sword in random directions to find the real body of the demon.

    Soon¡­.

    He would find the real demon and kill him. His sister would be fine. He pressed down the anxiety in his heart and continued to repeat his movements, but at this moment, he found nothing. His heart grew more and more frustrated as he moved forward.

    Then, a voice echoed behind him, "Mr. Shane Cooper, where are you?"

    Shane pursed his lips as a thinyer of sweat formed on his forehead. He took a deep breath as he continued to move forward. He didn''t believe that he couldn''t find the demon.<sub> </sub>

    Far away, the boss and real body of the demon saw this scene and somehow felt it wasical. The boss chuckled as he patted his subordinate''s shoulders, "Killing him was a simple task. You just had to draw the array and transfer his power into it. And here you are, ying a cat and mouse game."

    "Shut up!" The demon''s face was entirely ck. He didn''t want this, but the red-haired system was being stubborn. He would have to do something to frighten that person into submission.

    He chuckled and said, "Let''s make things interesting."

    As soon as he said it, Shane heard his sister''s ear piercing scream that stopped him in his footsteps. He nced back as a trace of fear swept past his eyes.

    The demon must have done something. As if to confirm his suspicion, he heard the demon saying, "That''s what you get for running away. By default, you chose to kill your teammates to save your a**. Good, good! You''re more of a demon than I am!"

    Shane''s anger rose to a higher degree as the hand that gripped his sword trembled. He only wanted to save his people as soon as possible, but he ended up making trouble for them, especially his sister.

    He had never felt so helpless before. Even while dying in his previous life, he didn''t even get enough time to feel helpless when he was electrocuted and fell unconscious. Even when he was with Noah, he had been sure that he would definitely find a way out of that situation. Even when he failed and had to seek the punishment, he faced it head-on, but now¡­.

    If it were him being impacted, he wouldn''t be so emotional. He took a deep breath as his emotions spiraled in his mind.

    Just then, a sense of feeling shed past his brain, making him pause for a second. He couldn''t tell what this feeling was, but he frowned. All the emotions that he had been feeling a while ago stopped spiraling. His mind didn''t show him any horror movie about his sister dying in millions of ways.

    Only one thought remained in his mind that shed only for a quarter of one hundredth millionth part of a second¡ª

    This has happened before.

    But before Shane could catch this train of thought, it disappeared out of the blue, making him frown deeper. He tilted his head.

    What was he thinking just now?

    Shane shook his head as if he were trying to force that thought to pop-up again, but no matter how much he focused, his brain was still empty.

    "What? Scared enough to freeze?" The demon had already reached Shane at this time, "I had expected too many things from you."

    Shane nced at the demon and came back to the present situation.

    His sister.

    His expressions turned serious in an instant as he threw that strange thought to the back of his mind. He took a deep breath and said, "You''re wrong. I was waiting for you."

 Chapter 57 56. What Should He Do?

    Shane moved his sword and quickly thrust it into the ground. His eyes glowed with dark energy as he stared coldly at the demon standing in front of him. For some reason, even though he couldn''t see anything, he could still make out where the demon was standing through his intuition.

    He could feel the demon''s powers being directed at his friends. It almost felt like he could ''see'' all the circuits for some reason that transferred the demonic power from the demon''s body to Tess and the others standing at the entrance of this room. Shane blinked as he tilted his head. The vision disappeared, but he could still feel the demon''s power surging in front of him, making Shane aware of every moment the other was making.

    Just when did Shane get this ability?

    He was stunned for a moment as he blinked and even pinched himself, but his powers remained the same. Then he narrowed his eyes and directed his focus toward the ce where his friends were standing.

    Since he was able to suck the demonic power through an array, he should be able to do the same with other arrays too! Even though he didn''t know how he managed to suck the power, he could at least try to direct his focus toward the arrays in the distance, his first target being Tess.

    Soon, cold, dark energy flowed out of his body and thrust into the ground through the sword. It quickly went toward Tess''s direction in the blink of an eye. It didn''t touch the girl. Rather, the energy jumped toward the array at such a fast speed that everything happened within a few milliseconds.

    The demon didn''t even get enough time to react when all of his powers started getting sucked away. He was stunned at this time as he stood there without moving. Then he moved his hands as he destroyed the arrays one after another and chuckled, "Good. I''ve finally gotten a worthy opponent after all these years!"

    Soon after this, the demon pulled out a weapon instead of using arrays again and again. He knew that if he ended up using all his powers, he might end up getting emptied. Even if he couldn''t use his powers, he still had other tools that could be useful against this peony system.

    Thetter didn''t focus on his group mates, who had just woken up from a daze and were in a disorderly mental state after witnessing a horrific scene. They all fell to the ground and gasped loudly.

    Shane took a deep breath and directed his indifferent nce toward the demon in front of him. Ah, if it weren''t for the fact that he could feel the presence of the demon, he might not have been confident in his ability to defeat this thing.

    Now, he had destroyed those arrayspletely by sucking away all of its energy, but he still didn''t know how to defeat this demon. The good thing was that this monster''s powers wouldn''t work on him anymore, but he couldn''t say the same about physical attacks.

    This was the first time he was able to feel the other''s demonic powers. Was it because he spread his focus around him? He hadn''t done this thing before.

    His eyes narrowed at this time as he took a deep breath. Perhaps, there would be more things he could do with his powers. He might as well use this chance to explore his energy.

    But before he could make a move and think more about it, he heard the other demon speaking, "Let''s fight head-on without using skills. I challenge you."

    Shane''s body stiffened. What kind of nonsense was this demon talking about? Fighting without power? Like he would believe in the words of a demon!

    The demon chuckled as if he could understand what Shane was thinking, "You don''t have to believe me. I can just go and sh your friends with my sword. My speed is faster than you, whether you believe it or not. I''ll kill them before you can even blink. Are you up for the challenge?"<sub> </sub>

    Shane''s hands gripped the hilt of his sword and raised his head, urately meeting the demon''s eyes. For a moment, thetter was shocked, standing in his frozen state for a few seconds before he shook the strange feeling off, "Let''s go!"

    Before Shane could even respond, the demon''s flexible body moved and shed in front of his eyes. He could see the face of this demon clearly, even if it was a fake body, Shane wouldn''t be intimidated. He knew it was a demon, not a human being.

    Shane raised his sword and circted his power within his body to make himself stronger. He had long seen in many novels that protagonists would use their energies to strengthen their bodies. He didn''t believe he couldn''t do it too.

    As soon as he thought of making himself stronger with his energy, the energy within his body worked at a faster rate as it entered every single cell in his body. His body became harder and stronger at the same time. The dark energy turned his body into iron with the strength of ten thousand elephants, as he thought of this in his head.

    This happened in the blink of an eye as he raised his sword to block the attack.

    The two swords collided with one another as sparks flew between them one after another. They stared at one another as a trace of surprise shed within the demon''s head.

    What just happened? He was one of the strongest demons here, belonging to level fifty! How could this little system that was level zero block his attack so brazenly like this?

    He stared at the scene in front of him with widened eyes as his expression became serious. He chuckled lightly and said, "Let''s have some fun. It looks like you''re hiding more secrets than I thought."

    Shane thought inwardly, ''It''s not secrets. I''ve just read too many fantasy novels.''

    But it''s not like he would say these words to the demon in front of him. He stayed silent and tried to make himself look cool and indifferent, but he failed desperately. His expressions became awkward to the point that even the demon tilted his head and asked, "What are you staring at?!"

    Shane lowered his head and cleared his throat, "Nothing¡­."

    Subsequently, he backed up and attacked again. The two people then didn''t exchange any pleasantries and continued to fight in what could be described as a beautiful dance. Even though they were fighting, their moves were filled with grace. If one looked carefully at Shane''s sword fighting skills, they would realize how awkward he actually was!

    Still, the two stayed on the same level. It was just that Shane felt his energy draining in the blink of an eye. Sure enough, being at level zero could only give him momentary benefits. It had just been a few seconds, but all of his powers were sucked away by his body as soon as he raised his sword against this demon! Damn it!

    He wiped his forehead as he tried to hide a hint of anxiety in his eyes.

    What should he do?

 Chapter 58 57. Blasted

    ? Unfortunately for Shane, the demon seemed to have realized that something was off with Shane''s power level. He frowned as he attacked with a full force. Soon enough, he realized what was wrong. As soon as he attacked, Shane backed away, not being able to block the attack any longer. A line of blood dropped from the corners of his lips as he wiped with the back of his hands.

    Shane looked at the demon with a scornful attitude, "Aren''t you fighting?"

    The demonughed, "You want to fight in this state?"

    "Yes," Shane looked confident, but, inside, his body was withering at a fast speed. It was just that he didn''t want the demon to find out about his situation. He raised his chin to make himself look a little intimidating, "There''s nothing wrong with me."

    "Really?" The demon didn''t believe it as he raised his sword and attacked with full force, "Then try to block this attack."

    This time, the demon used all his energy to attack, so much so that Shane could barely block it. His breathing went erratic as he wiped the drop of blood that started flowing again from the corners of his mouth.

    He couldn''t take it anymore. He would have to kill this demon before his body ended up getting sucked up and exhausted. His eyes nced around the darkness as he tried to make ns.

    Should he use his powers against this demon? As soon as this thought arrived, he shook his head. No, he had promised not to use his powers, even though he was using it indirectly. He couldn''t let the demon know about it.

    Just then, he remembered he could see the status of the other person. He immediately used the skill as the stats window of the demon appeared in front of his eyes.

    [Level: 50

    Exp: 1,098,009

    Job: Demon

    MaxHP: 50/100

    MaxCE: 50/100

    Attribute: Darkness

    Strength: 45

    Agility: 33

    Stamina: 23

    Intelligence: 53

    Vitality: 23

    Attack: 24

    Skill: 1

    Weapons: 3

    Physical Resistance: 35

    CE Resistance: 46

    Luck: 24

    Overall status: A Demon]

    Shane''s eyes flickered with interest. This was the first time he had seen someone belonging to such a high-level other than Dirt. His eyes narrowed at the weapons section.

    The demon had used only a sword. He wondered what this demon could do with others.

    On the contrary, thetter had only one skill at hand that Shane was already familiar with, and he assumed the demon couldn''t use it anymore because of his energy sucking ability.

    Shane frowned as he opened his stats.

    [Level: 0

    Exp: 5

    Job: Null

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: ???/100 (Cosmic Energy)

    Attribute: Darkness

    Strength: 3<sub> </sub>

    Agility: 2

    Stamina: 1

    Intelligence: 4

    Vitality: 0

    Attack: 3

    Skill: 0

    Weapons: 0

    Physical Resistance: 2

    CE Resistance: 2

    Luck: 20

    Overall status: A Beginner.]

    His stats decreased a lot, but he could see that his experience had increased. Could it be that it increased because he killed so many demons personally?

    He raised his brows. His skills were still zero, which couldn''t exin why he could still suck other people''s powers without having any specific skills.

    So, he could only assume that it must be the trait of using dark cosmic energy, and so he put it aside for now.

    He wasn''t idle during this time. He fought with the demon and dodged as many attacks as possible. Not only that, but he knew he wouldn''t be able to continue on as his body was exhausted.

    What should he do¡­?

    His restless eyes nced at the demon as thetter continued to attack without a hint of stopping, making Shane sweat profusely at an rming rate. At the end, the demon''s sword pierced Shane''s stomach.

    A stream of blood flooded out of the wound. Shane felt a hint of sharp pain shing in his stomach as the muscles of his face twisted. The sword was pulled out as the pain became intense. The flooding of blood also enhanced as Shane fell to his knees. His face hit the cold and damp floor as he stared at the darkness with a hint of anxiety shing in his eyes.

    No, he couldn''t die! At least, not without saving his sister! What was he going to do?

    His face turned pale because of blood loss. He could only move a single finger as he stared at the darkness in a sense of loss.

    Why did he fail? He still remembered his CE value that showed question marks. What did it mean?

    He frowned slightly, but after a while, he didn''t even have the energy to frown anymore. He let out a weak breath and closed his eyes.

    How good would it be¡ªif he figured out what was up with his powers; if he could fight back; if he had enough energy to attack or st the demon or something¡­.

    As soon as he thought, the power inside him surged out without a hint of stopping. It worked so fast that no one present could have imagined this to happen, not even Shane.

    He didn''t have time to react when the dark cosmic power that leaked out of his body without reservations was already all around him, especially entering the demon''s body at an rming rate. The power was filled with an evil aura that could be enough to make anyone''s knees weak.

    The demon wasn''t any different. His entire body, which was filled with power a while ago, felt weak as he fell to the ground. He stared at Shane in horror as his entire body got suppressed by a mysterious power all of a sudden.

    This type of energy was so powerful that the demon wondered if Shane was a higher level monster in the garb of a system. As soon as he thought of that, he didn''t even get the time to find answers before the dark cosmic energy sparked the entire area out of the blue.

    The entire scene almost felt like circuits of dark cosmic energy floated everywhere, with sparks of fire constantly flickering in between. It looked more like a thunder strike that was about to ur, creating a heavenly atmosphere. The demon stared at the scene in front of his eyes, and his eyes widened.

    His entire body froze as he felt himself fortunate enough to witness this scene. Soon after that, the entire fog-like energy sted, not leaving a single trace of the demon''s body behind.

    Shane, who was lying there, on the verge of losing his consciousness, saw from his half-closed eyes that the entire space transformed from darkness to a small room filled with nothing but walls. Shane''s teammates were still standing at the door in a dazed condition.

    As soon as Tess saw Shane, she yelled, "Shane!"

    Then she rushed toward her brother, but thetter was in no condition to respond. His eyes nced at the sword attached to the wall. He frowned as he moved his hand. Even though he was winded and exhausted, he still felt that something was strange with his powers.

    ording to his body and stats, if he had ignored those question marks in front of CE, he shouldn''t have been able to use his powers well. His stats had already decreased to the point that he should have fallen unconscious at this time.

    But he didn''t.

    Not only that, he also somehow ended up sting the demon into nothingness. He could feel a trace of power running in his veins that disappeared without a trace. It seemed as if his body couldn''t carry such a tremendous amount of power, and it disappeared after fulfilling Shane''s wishes.

    What the heck was happening?

 Chapter 59 58. Dragonking!

    Shane pushed himself off the ground without any dy. Even though he staggered and felt like his body might end up breaking apart, he still stood on the ground with his body straight. He walked at a slow pace closer, as his eyes stared at the sword.

    Tess looked at her brother in confusion. She still couldn''t let go of the scene she had just witnessed. She was forced to watch the death scene of herself and her parents. If that wasn''t enough, she ended up seeing Shane''s strange end back in the mortal world.

    She was so shocked and depressed that she had momentarily forgotten about where she was, and after regaining her senses, when the dark power above her head was lifted, she could feel her shoulders rxing as negative thoughts flew out of her head without any dy.

    Now that she saw her brother in a bad condition, her emotions triggered yet again, making her feel as if she had fallen deeper into the pool of depression. She couldn''t control herself anymore as tears fell from her eyes, damping her rosy cheeks.

    "Shane¡­.. bro¡­. Why are you¡­.." Tess couldn''t even finish a sentence properly as she watched her bleeding brother walking toward the swordtched into the wall. Her lips parted and closed as she stared at the man without blinking her eyelids.

    She wasn''t even in the right mind to care about anything, not even mentioning the people behind her. They were also in a horrific state of mind, and they couldn''te off the ground anymore. Frank and Jake seemed to have seen something that made their entire bodies tremble and turn pale as they continued to sit on the ground with a trance-like expression on their faces.

    Neither of them cared about Tess, who was emotional, and Shane, who walked about in unsteady steps, staring at the sword attached to the wall. That weapon trembled more and more as Shane kept moving closer.

    It seemed as if the sword had recognized its owner, and it was beaming with happiness as it leaked out bits and pieces of dark cosmic energy. Shane finally got close enough as he took hold of the sword without any dy. The sword stopped trembling¡ªlooking like it sighed and rxed in his hands.

    Shane wondered what the origin of this sword was. He stared at it for a while. The de was entirely ck with a dark purple hilt made out of strange carvings that couldn''t be called dangerous, but beautiful. There was a diamond glowing at the center of the hilt, which glowed and made people not able to look at it directly.

    He frowned as he opened the stats of this sword.

    [Name: Dragonking

    Level: 100

    CE: 100

    Attribute: darkness

    Strength: 100

    Attack: 100

    Physical Resistance: 100

    CE Resistance: 100

    Luck: 0

    Description: it can control and transform all the elements within this world]

    Shane stared at the stats in shock. True, he did manage to get an amazing weapon, but why were all the stats at one hundred, but only luck was zero? He blinked and ced it in his inventory before putting it to the back of his mind.

    He would just have to ask his masterter.<sub> </sub>

    Only then did he turn to look at his teammates. They were staring at him with pale faces and nk expressions, especially Tess. The girl''s red hair scattered all over her face as tears poured out of her eyes.

    Shane stood there awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. How could he exin now that he used dark cosmic energy? He hadn''t even told his sister about it.

    Just as he was thinking about it, Tess jumped up her feet andunched onto Shane, pulling the man into a hug. She cried hysterically, "Shane, you''re alive. Thank God."

    Shane tilted his head and remembered suddenly that they all seemed to have seen a horrific scene. He sighed and patted her shoulders. It seemed he would have to ask Dirt to deal with these people''s memories.

    At this time, both Frank and Jake said nothing. They got up on their feet with their head lowered, but their fingers were curled up to form fists. Veins were visible, showing their emotions that they couldn''t hide.

    Shane decided not toment on it as he nodded and said, "We should get out first."

    The group of four people walked forth. Shane took the lead this time and continued onward to find an elevator. Since this was a hotel, he would probably be able to get out through the front desk.

    Would they still see those strange beings in the lobby?

    As he was wondering while walking outside the small boss room, the entire space started to tremble. He raised his head to see cracks appearing on the ceiling as dust fell off one after another.

    His eyes widened. This ce was going to copse! He turned toward his teammates, "You guys have no time to think about that horror scene. If you don''t get it together, you might end up bing a part of a horror movie. Decide what you want. I''m taking my sister out."

    His voice was cold, causing the listeners to shiver from head to toe. Frank and Jake were stunned before they nodded slowly, giving a vague reaction. Tess frowned, "They are your friends. How can you talk like that?"

    Was he rude? Shane scratched his cheeks and chuckled, "Tess, I''m just trying to shock them out of their states. I don''t mean it."

    Tess nodded, and Shane sighed in relief. It wasn''t that he meant to say those words, but he felt a little angry at this time and had to find someone to vent his emotions.

    He turned and gave his teammates a nce filled with guilt. He shouldn''t have said that.

    Then, he shrugged as the group of four people rushed toward the elevator. Even the elevator was trembling. Cracks appeared even inside that small space. Shane quickly found the ground floor button as he pressed it. The elevator moved at the fastest speed possible, making Shane think they were not going down, but falling!

    His eyes were gripped with anxiety as he held the walls on either side and said, "Hold on, guys! I think we''re falling down!"

    Tess followed his movements and also held the wall. She whimpered but said nothing.

    Fortunately, the elevator didn''t crash to their deaths. The four of them sighed in relief and got out of the elevator when it reached the ground floor. At this time, the entire lobby was empty as if there weren''t a group of strange creatures present. All the furniture were scattered around, and some were even broken.

    "Let''s get out of here. I think we need to open that door," Shane pointed out the front door on the other side of the lobby.

    Jake finally opened his mouth after all this time, "I don''t want to stay here any longer. Let''s go."

 Chapter 60 59. A Silver-Haired Girl

    Shane and his team walked out of the dungeon right before it crumpled into dust. The round portal in front of the cave disappeared without a trace before showing a few cracks. It almost felt like it was an electric bulb that cracked as the light dimmed slowly and disappeared, leaving only a hard fragile ss behind.

    Dirt stared at four people jumping out in a haste as the portal disappeared without a trace and sighed. He wasn''t new to such scenes.

    So, his expression was quite expressionless at the moment, but looking at three people tottering behind Shane with pale faces, he raised his brows. Before asking for their permission, he walked over and said, "Stay still."

    He seemed to have initiated a skill at this time that sparked up in his fingers. The divine energy spark floated in the air and directed toward the three people standing in front of his eyes. The power covered up their brains as the three of them stood there, stunned in ce.

    After a moment, Dirt frowned as he repeated the process and lowered his hand before he smiled, "I''ve healed you three. Go back. I want to talk to Shane alone. He might have obtained the thing from the dungeon that Master asked him to bring."

    The three people said nothing as they nodded toward Dirt and walked away. Tess, before walking out of that ce, patted Shane''s shoulders and said, "I''ll be resting. My head''s a little ufortable."

    Shane looked worriedly at his sister, but he said nothing and nodded as he saw them getting teleported somewhere else. Dirt remained in the same ce as he nced at Shane and said, "I can''t read their past."

    "Huh?" Shane tilted his head as he remembered the attribute of this person. Since it was time, it wouldn''t be strange for the robot to read other people''s past. In any case, Dirt had checked out Shane''s past not too long ago.

    So, the robot not being able to check it out was strange. He frowned and asked, "Why?"

    "There''s some kind of lock that''s stopping me or anyone at the matter from seeing through their past."

    "Not even Tess?"

    Dirt frowned as he shook his head, "It seems as if someone did something inside. Tell me what happened. Every single detail," the robot paused for a moment and added, "If you''re nning to hide even a single thing, I can still check out your memories."

    Shane was speechless as he rolled his eyes and raised his hand, "Fine. So, the story starts with how we entered the lobby and¡­."

    After that, he recounted everything from how the lizard or snake monsters appeared until the very end when they happened to meet that strange demon whom he had sted off with his powers unknowingly. Shane paused and finally didn''t hide anything about the weirdness of his powers and the luck factor of the sword.

    Dirt frowned for a long time as if his circuits and programs had been challenged at this time. He couldn''te up with a single response as he sighed and said, "Let me check out your memories."

    Shane nodded as he allowed the robot to do his thing. Meanwhile, Dirt started checking out the memories of the past few hours inside the dungeon. The more he looked, the more he felt something was off. The demon was killed way too easily, as if someone had orchestrated everything to test Shane''s powers and determine if this young man was even eligible to be a danger factor for the viins.

    He instantly opened his eyes and said, "We should go."

    Shane pursed his lips and decided toe clean with his master about his CE and stats issue. That bald man might be able to provide him with deeper insights.

    After a few seconds, they reached Ed''s office directly as Dirt and Shane appeared there out of the blue. At this time, a strange girl with silver hair was standing in front of the bald man when the two people appeared. Her blue eyes nced at the two people indifferently as she nodded at Dirt and walked away without turning back.<sub> </sub>

    Shane nced at the girl''s back as he felt a sense of strangeness in his chest that he couldn''t describe. It was his intuition, which was telling him to stay away from her.

    When Ed saw his disciple''s eyes glued to a certain silver haired girl''s back, he walked over and tapped the young man''s head with his fist, making thetter jump and turn toward him. The bald man looked at Shane with a serious and disappointed expression on his face, "Your fault for ogling her."

    "I wasn''t!" Shane''s eyes squinted, "Can''t you tell I was staring at her with vignce?"

    "Oh?" Ed raised his brows as he crossed his arms on his chest, "Why were you vignt?"

    The youth coughed as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Here''s the thing. My intuition says that I should stay away from that girl."

    "Your intuition is right," Ed nodded with a pleased expression on his face. He leaned back on the chair and raised his head, "The girl''s power is shadow, and she''s an assassination system. A dangerous girl whoes under the top five powerful systems of this world, but she joined our institute a while back and insisted on entering this ce.

    "She says she wants to help more neers, which is impossible while staying in the Meridio continent, but I don''t buy this b*llsh*t. She clearly has some goal, but she''s good at hiding without leaving any traces. The girl''s known for her ruthlessness, and it is unlike her to bepassionate to other people," Ed sighed, "Stay away from her. If she ends up following you or spares you a doubtful nce,e tell me."

    Shane frowned, "Why are you giving her so much importance? This is also so unlike you. Deep down, you''re a narcissist."

    Ed ignored thatstment and replied, "Because she''s the System God''s only disciple."

    Shane raised his brows and didn''t speak on that topic anymore while remembering to stay away from the girl at this time. He put the topic to the back of his head and said, "About my powers¡­."

    Before Shane could ask more questions, Ed raised his head and motioned for Dirt toe over. The robot walked over and used his powers. He seemed to be using some hidden skills as he transferred information to Ed''s brain in an instant.

    The bald man nodded and turned to Shane, "First thing''s first, your CE seems to be of unlimited quantity for some reason, but since it''s dark CE, it doesn''t count in the stats upgrade system that is designed specifically for calcting the divine cosmic energy. You''re probably upgrading through experience and it doesn''t seem to affect your CE, which is undoubtedly of unlimited quantity as Dirt has also confirmed.

    "So, the good news is, when everyone else feels their powers exhausted, you can still use it until you stay conscious despite your body''s condition. In other words, even if you''re half dying, you can still st a powerful attack to surprise your enemy. The bad news is, we don''t know until when this would continue. Since you''re the first case ever, I''ll have to research more about your condition."

    Shane nodded as he heard his master saying the next words, "About the second thing¡­. Well, it seems your luck is really bad in choosing the weapons. With Dragonking, you can''t do anything except for diverting the attention of your enemies."

    "Why is that?"

    "Because with zero luck, it''s basically impossible to even hold the weapon firmly and attack smoothly," Ed sighed and rubbed his bald head, "Zero luck means the power won''t work when you need it the most. So, forget about that sword. Let it rot in your inventory for a while and focus on strengthening your powers, which is more interesting than the weapon you got."

    The two people didn''t know that a certain silver haired girl''s shadow was hiding right outside Ed''s office and had heard the entire conversation before heading back to the girl''s body. At this time, she was walking down the corridor as the corners of her lips curved up, "Interesting."

 Chapter 61 60. A Small Gift

    Shane''s life returned to his regr schedule except for learning how to fight with a sword. He had already mastered the sword in a short time, and it wouldn''t make sense to continue learning the same thing again and again. So, Ed decided to make his only disciple learn how to use his powers. As for the learning process¡­.

    "What the heck is this?" Shane stared at the scene in front of him with a nk expression in his eyes. He didn''t know how to respond at the moment, "Who would build a virtual fort just for a disciple''s yground? At least, have some mercy on me!"

    "Because I have too much money to spare," Ed spoke shamelessly without even blinking.

    That''s right. Ed could not only create weapons, but also virtual portals for temporary dungeons and buy their right to use it unlimitedly. He then directly used some unnatural means to open the demon realm''s portal as monsters swarmed inside the space, packing it up. Just as Shane and Ed entered the dungeon through the portal, they stood on the cliff and stared down at the ground filled with monsters of several grades. Far beyond it, there was a fort, which was also undoubtedly filled with higher level monsters.

    Shane felt like crying after watching this scene. He didn''t want to go down. The demon realm was situated in the most hellish part of this universe, and that was why it had several demons that escaped from the ce and then had gone on to wreak havoc elsewhere, but that didn''t matter. Even if they escaped, the heavenly officials would deal with them and ce them in dungeons.

    The virtual portals and dungeons were prepared to lock the escaped demons, but Ed here invited all the demons on his own ord without even asking anyone''s permission. If the System God were to find out about this¡­.

    <o>,m Shane couldn''t help but shudder. Even though he hadn''t seen the man, he had heard much about that person being ruthless and strict with his systems. It was said that the System God was originally a normal system, but he climbed to the top and didn''t even spare his family members. He had also vaguely heard his ssmates talking about the System God''s brother rotting in the most dangerous ce in this world.</o>

    The scariest thing was that despite being an elder brother, the System God refused to acknowledge his own brother and didn''t support him anymore. Shane didn''t know how such a person ended up bing a God, but he absolutely didn''t want to meet such a person lest he invited trouble to himself and Tess.

    Wait, Tess¡­.

    The light in Shane''s eyes dimmed as he opened his mouth, "Is she still my sister?"

    Ed was surprised when his disciple asked this question, and his expression turned serious, "Why are you asking this?"

    In fact, he knew why his little disciple was doubtful. The fact that Shane''s first ever job as a system ended up changing to a severe difficulty had be a bone stuck in thetter''s throat. After that, he found out that his groupmates weren''t normal in the first ce. These were the people he trusted the most, and now, he couldn''t even believe his own sister.

    He didn''t know what was happening, thus his doubt about Tess being his sister popped up in his head.

    Ed pursed his lips and said, "Don''t think nonsense. I think someone, most probably that demon you killed or his acquaintance, tampered with her mind. The best solution is to stop telling her everything. The enemy might even be keeping an eye on you through her and those other friends of yours."

    Shane nodded in understanding. At this time, he thanked his own intuition that worked well back then when he decided to hide the situation about dark cosmic energy. He released a breath and said, "I''ll start."

    "Make sure toe back alive," Ed leaned back leisurely on the stone closer to the cliff as he pulled out a cigar from God knows where and started sucking on it without stopping a bit. "Go on. Don''t mind me."

    Shane ignored his strange,zy master and pulled out his sword. Just then, he heard Ed''s words, "Don''t use the sword. You have to channel your energy to kill them all."

    "Why?" Shane didn''t want to ept this situation at all as his facial muscles twisted to form a desperate expression, "I-I can''t use my power effortlessly yet!"

    "I know," Ed nodded as he puffed out a ring-shaped smoke from his mouth, "You can only use your powers in desperate situations. I''m trying to put you in such conditions to bring out your powers."

    "But¡­ This is so unfair!" Shane wanted to cry out loud at this time. He nced at the series of monsters down the cliff and asked, "How do I get out of here?"

    Ed shook his head, "That''s for you to figure out."

    Shane just wanted to hit someone at this time, but he managed to control his anger and took a deep breath, "If I die, it''s all on you."<sub> </sub>

    "Sure," the bald man waved his hand in the air and said, "Now, off you go before I kick you out."

    "But-" before Shane could finish his sentence, he was kicked off the cliff by a wave of power that came from Ed''s body in the form of his extended aura.

    The next few hours were hell for Shane. That is to say he was pushed off the cliff all alone as hended into the sea of monsters, as thetter group growled andunched onto him. Shane immediately summoned his energy as he tried to imagine several ways to use it, but in the end, he still couldn''t figure out how to use his power at all.

    Before today, he could only use his powers through a medium such as swords or other weapons. Even though he used his energy to threaten others, that was aplete ident. Now that he wanted to use his imagination, he couldn''t do it at all.

    He stood there, dodging the attacks of zero level monsters, but they kepting at him. After a while, even Shane was tired as beads of sweat formed on his forehead. At this rate, he might die from exhaustion. He raised his head to see puffs of smoke rings flying in the air above his head. For some reason, his heart calmed down as he frowned and stared at the monsters while dodging the attacks.

    Usually, in novels, the protagonists would use magical rules to use powers. For instance, Harry Potter had wands and spells to use powers. Some stories even had other stuff such as systems or gaming instances that defined the use of magic. In this system realm too, they had spells and weapons to define the use of magic.

    But Shane''s powers were different, since there wasn''t an example in the past to provide him with enough guidance. On top of that, he had discovered that even though the demons could use dark energy under certain rules, these rules didn''t seem to affect him at all.

    He had figured it out while fighting the demon in the dungeon. That demon could only use his range of powers to form illusions and show scenes from their history, other than that, it was impossible to do anything else. But Shane, on the other hand, managed to suck away that demon''s powers without even knowing anything about it. He had just thought of taking away the demon''s powers in his most desperate situation.

    That''s it.

    So, did it mean he could do more things with his powers?

    As soon as Shane thought of this, his eyes lit up. He pushed a thought to himself, ''I want to use dark magic balls to st the monsters.''

    He repeated this sentence in his mind again and again as he focused on gathering the dark cosmic energy in the palm of his hands. Slowly, a ball of energy formed in both of his hands that shone brightly with darkness swimming deep inside. A threatening aura leaked out from the energy balls that spread all around him, making the monsters pause their steps.

    After a moment, they growled even louder as they increased theirunching speed.

    Shane grinned at this. He was convinced that he could use his powers anyway he liked, and now, other monsters found him threatening. For some reason, he didn''t feel danger at all. Instead, his heart started beating wildly in his chest upon seeing the monsters that had been attacking him were now in a state of anxiety. It gave him a strange sense of pleasure that filled his heart.

    Maybe he should do this more often.

    He raised his hands and said, "C''mon!"

    Ed, who was looking at every moment of his disciple from the cliff, stretched his lips and smiled, "Eh, looks like Shane''s finally gotten a realization."

    Dark sparks flew in the air as the group of monsters were killed on the ground one after another. The bald man turned to look at the sky and said to himself, "I hope my brother likes this small gift from me. Imagining it brings me immense pleasure."

    His words vanished into nothingness since no one could hear it. Ed knew that no one could hear it, and he didn''t intend to let anyone hear it anyway. But he still didn''t understand his brother''s ns by sending his little disciple to his gates. After thinking about that white-haired girl, he frowned.

    Shane would have to be careful from now on. He could feel a storm brewing in the darkness.

 Chapter 62 61. Hes A Headache To Deal With!

    After a few hours, Shane wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared at the ground filled with a sea of dead monsters. Now that he got a realization about his power, he could feel a weight lifting off his shoulders. A strange sense of peace appeared in his heart upon seeing so many monsters being killed by him.

    Was he a masochist? No, he was amon youth who had yed many games. When he found he also had powers and could use them to kill the ones he considered powerful before, he felt a surge of powerful emotions running throughout his body, making him happy to the point of feeling dizzy.

    It was just that he didn''t know why Ed had bought this dungeon and filled it with monsters. It couldn''t be for him, could it?

    Shane shook his head and decided not to think too much about it as he waved his hand toward the cliff and started walking down the narrow bridge toward the fort. After clearing the monsters, Shane could see clearly that the entire ce was deserted. The ground was covered with red sand as it was painted in the color of blood while the sky was as dark as ever.

    Beneath the bridge, he could see some red liquid flooding out as if it were a river. There were also several other strange colors, and he didn''t want to imagine what kind of stuff was floating down there. But he could tell that his situation wouldn''t be good if he jumped in there.

    Shane tried not to look around too much as he focused on the scene in front of his eyes. The fort was getting closer and closer, and he felt creeped out just by looking at the structure. He again cursed Ed''s choice of dungeons in his heart as he looked at the scene.

    The fort was as dark as night, and it would have been harder to make out its structure if it weren''t for a full moon hanging above his head in the sky. A ck and red g waved above the dome of the dark pce. It had broken windows everywhere and some ces even had destroyed bricks. This pce made him feel as if there had been a huge war that destroyed this cepletely.

    The pce wasn''t that big. It had an entrance, a destroyed garden, and a front door that led toward the courtroom. As soon as Shane pushed open the door, he saw several monsters of a higher power that turned toward him and showed their giant tongues. Their bodies were covered with some strange green liquid, and way back, on the throne, a simr-looking giant monster sat with a crown on his head.

    Shane made a disgusted expression on his face as he nced at the crown and the body of that giant monster. It almost made him feel like these monsters'' bodies were made out of mud and puss mixed with excretion. The crown itself seemed to be made out of bones.

    He didn''t want to look at this disgusting scene anymore, but he had to kill them. He had already entered, so he might as well go all out.

    He sighed and brought out energy balls in his hands, "I have to kill these things. I can only hope they won''t vomit that green stuff on me."

    Then, he started fighting these things. After a few hours, when he had finished killing the crown thing, he wiped the green liquid off his body and grimaced. He would have to take several baths to get rid of this smell. That damned Ed couldn''t find any better ce to practice, could he?

    Just then, a familiar voice echoed in the background, "You should have used easier means than those energy balls. Those balls might not be of use while fighting everyone."

    Shane nced back, only to find Ed walking through the front gate with his hands in his pockets and a cigar hanging at the corner of his mouth, as if the bald man was taking a stroll in a garden or something. The man looked at his disciple and raised his head, "Create more powerful spells and magical rules. I know you can do it."

    "What''re you doing here?" Shane ignored that little pep talk and directly asked a question with an indifferent expression on his face.

    "What? Am I not invited now that you won?" Ed made a disgusted expression after ncing at Shane''s body, "You need a serious clean-up."

    "Whose fault is that?" Shane muttered under his breath, but said nothing out loud about it, as he changed the topic, "What now?"

    "You can go upstairs and practice."

    Shane thought for a while and shook his head, "I''ll continue tomorrow. That''s it for now. My body reeks of blood, puss, and mud."

    Ed nodded as he opened his menu and started doing something in the menu window, "You shouldn''t do live streams while using your powers anymore."

    Shane nodded. After a while, they were brought out of the portal as the two of them stood in the virtual portal building, a floor above the one Shane had previously visited. He nodded at Ed and nced at Dirt who was probably the one bringing them out as he dashed out of that ce.

    Dirt looked at his master and said, "Shane has developed a lot."

    "He''s still a kid at heart," Ed sighed in disappointment, "He still thinks of himself as Shane Cooper from the Earth. This will be a setback for him."<sub> </sub>

    "What now?" Dirt closed his system menu.

    "Keep an eye on him," Ed paused as he spoke again, "If something happens to me, go with Shane."

    The robot looked at his master for a while before he nodded. The robots weren''t supposed to have any emotion, and Dirt was also the same, but he felt dizzy thinking of all the data in his channels he would have to rewrite to change his master again. It was just that he knew that the possibility of that happening was zero. So he was rxed.

    He sighed and walked out of the room and entered the corridor. He wondered what kind of master Shane would be if that situation did happen¡­.

    Meanwhile, Shane ended up encountering his group mates while on the way back to his dorm. Tess and others surrounded him on the school grounds as the red-haired girl''s nose wrinkled, "Did you dip your body in vomit? Yuck!"

    Even Frank and Jake were frowning as they took a step back.

    Shane nced at the youths in front of him and was about to open his mouth when he remembered the situation in their past. He silently closed his mouth and shook his head, "I have to take a bath."

    He waved his hand and walked away. His reaction didn''t surprise anyone at this time as the three of them frowned. Only Jake nced twice at Shane and shrugged while turning back as he ran toward his ss.

    When Shane returned to his room, he took a bath for half an hour, wiping every inch of his skin as he walked out refreshed andid onto his bed. He finally got a chance to think of his situation.

    First, someone hacked into the system and changed his difficulty level. Then he was pushed into the punishment world, and when he came out, he had to go into a dungeon to find a weapon. But even after doing that, he not only failed to attain a proper weapon for himself, but he also started doubting his friends and sister.

    He covered his face with his palms. Someone seemed to be after him. Or rather¡­.

    He raised his hand as dark energy sparked up on his fingertips. It seemed that someone was after his powers.

    Shane frowned upon thinking of this. How could others know about this? He had only told his master and Dirt. Could it be the same hacker who had hacked into the virtual portal for the system job? If yes, it would make sense.

    Maybe he should heed Ed''s advice and keep a distance from everyone else, at least until the exams. It would be safer for them, especially for Tess. After thinking of this, he drifted off to sleep.

    Meanwhile, a little ways away from that ce, there was a bustling restaurant in the market area of the Orient Continent. This restaurant was small, but because it was cheap, many systems woulde to have a meal every evening. At this time, two people covering their faces with hoods entered the ce.

    No one found it strange as the waiter took orders and walked away while showing the two strangers to a table. As soon as they sat on their chairs, one of them spoke in the youthful voice of a guy, "Something is strange with Shane."

    The other person with a hood on was a girl, and she spoke, "I know. I have been keeping an eye on him at all times. He doubts everyone now."

    "Why? I have never¡­."

    "It doesn''t matter," the girl spoke as she waved her hand and firmly fixed her robes to hide her face, "We have to do something about Ed."

    "Why him?" The guy''s voice sounded surprised as the waiter brought two drinks to their table. After the waiter was gone, the guy lowered his voice and said, "He''s a headache to deal with! Can''t we just ignore that guy?"

    The woman shook her head, "I''m so close to my goal. I can''t just let the enemies win just because of a bald man who managed to release Shane''s powers. The dark energy has started to be a danger that might expose everything. We have to separate this pair of master and disciple for my mission to seed."

 Chapter 63 62. Echo Meskill

    The two people sitting on the table were silent at this time as the waiter came again and asked, "Sirs, do you need anything more?"

    The man in the hood waved his hand, "Just wine. Thanks."

    The waiter nodded and walked away as the man in the hood leaned toward the woman in the hood and whispered, "I have been curious about something. Why Shane? I mean I get why you''re keeping an eye on him, but he is rather ordinary. I have checked his past records, and his reincarnation cycle remains the most ordinary I have ever seen, especially his past life.

    "He was really just a student. Nothing else-" he was about to speak more when the woman in the hood raised her hand to cut him off in the middle.

    Then she said, "Did you check his records before bing Shane Cooper?"

    The man in the hood was stunned and shook his head, "That''s not allowed, right? Only the officials in the God of Death''s realm can see it. Others can''t¡­.wait¡­.don''t tell me you sneaked in there too!"

    "I have my ways," the woman raised her head as her rosy lips were visible beneath the hood, "Something feels off. It says he was a beggar in his previous life, but the information mentioned is too vague¡­. This is just my feeling, but if there''s a little possibility of that person being alive¡­."

    The man in the hood hit the table as he red at the woman, "You''re still on it, aren''t you? I agree you have feelings for the King of Darkness, but he did a gruesome thing in the eyes of everyone, and he can''t be spared. That person''s soul had been destroyed years ago. Why are you still stuck on that guy? Give up, girl. We have to work to find another King of Darkness," he paused and sighed, "No, I think nature has already found us one in the name of a student called Shane Cooper.

    "I say, let''s stop this investigation and move forward. You''re being troubled for nothing," the man licked his lips and said, "How about considering me as an object to use for moving on?"

    The woman in the hood simply raised the ss of water and dumped it on the man''s head as she said in a cold voice, "I don''t have that kind of feelings for the King of Darkness, and I don''t intend to ''move on'' from the past. You have not seen the things that I have¡­. I feel like something is wrong with the entire picture. That story where the King of Darkness is med and turned into a viin feels so fishy. As for Shane Cooper¡­. I don''t believe in raising students. It''s better to grab that power and be a King of Darkness myself."

    The man in the hood whistled as he leaned back on his chair, "So this was what you were after? You wanted power all this time, didn''t you? I never expected you to be of that kind¡­."

    The woman was silent. After thinking for a while, her entire aura turned cold as she sneered, "That boy simply stole something that didn''t belong to him. I have to get that power."

    "Whatever," the man in the hood got up and said, "The wine''s on me. Enjoy the night."

    After saying that, the man vanished without a trace after leaving money on the table. The woman on the other side of the table nced at the money and got up as she walked out of the restaurant. She wasn''t in the mood for eating anything as she nced at the bustling market road filled with different systems trying to make their lives perfect.

    The woman watched the extremely normal scene for a while as she sighed and vanished from there without a trace.

    Back in the restaurant, the waiter finally came with two containers of wine only to see the empty table and money at the center. He scratched the back of his neck as he nced around. Where did the two customers go? He nced at the money and the wine in his hand before he shrugged.

    He might as well enjoy this wine on the customers'' behalf.

    At the same time, on the other side of the Orient continent, Shane had just woken up the next day as he decided to continue his training. He got off his feet and practiced summoning dark energy balls as both of his palms filled with it. He sighed in relief.

    Yesterday wasn''t a dream where he managed to be a little more powerful than before, but at the same time, he had to force himself to be indifferent in front of everyone, even Tess. The light in his eyes dimmed at that. She was his only remaining family member, and if he didn''t share everything with her, what should he do?

    Be a family-less man?

    He shook his negative thoughts off and decided to carry on doing his regr thing. He should at least focus on making himself stronger for the sake of his sister. After all, despite anything, she was still alive, and he had vowed to protect her from danger. If he didn''t live for that, he wouldn''t have any purpose at all.<sub> </sub>

    Wait a minute, he was again thinking nonsense. He shook his head and started walking out of the door to freshen his body up.

    After half an hour, he reached Ed''s office to drag hiszy master to the dungeon for practice. As soon as he opened the door, there was again a silver-haired girl who was the System God''s only disciple. Shane pursed his lips and lowered his head instantly showing his intention of not wanting to have anything to do with her.

    The girl noticed someone''s presence as she turned her head and nced coldly at the new student who had just entered while lowering his head. The corners of her lips lifted, "Shane Cooper, isn''t it?" she paused for a while, "Oops, it should be system 12254801. How are your studies going? You must be practicing your sword fighting skills. I shouldn''t disturb you two."

    Her voice was cold and serene, simr to an ethereal tone that could be used to hypnotize anyone. The onlookers would yearn to hear her voice even if it was just for once. Shane wasn''t any heroic figure who had Earth shattering control over his urges. He was also stunned and shocked.

    Coupled with the beautiful face that stayed indifferent, the ethereal tone of this girl''s voice added a heavenly touch to her entire being. It could be said that he was mesmerized by her being and the girl''s figure in his mind stayed simr to a beautiful silver-haired Goddess¡­.

    Wait, was this some enchantment? Shane desperately shook his head and threw those stupid thoughts to the back of his head and nodded mildly while lowering his head. He didn''t dare to nce at her again this time.

    The silver-haired girl scoffed and walked out of the room.

    "She was poking fun at me, wasn''t she?" Shane grimaced. "She was definitely holding a grudge against me."

    Ed was silent for a while. He stared long into the distance as his gaze turned darker than the night. It seemed as if his mood was a little off ever since the silver-haired girl spoke just now.

    Shane immediately closed his mouth as he stood on the side without moving. He had never seen his master behave like this, so he was worried about what the woman said just now.

    Then, Ed opened his mouth and said without even sparing the young man a nce, "Dirt will go with you today. I have something to do."

    Shane nodded as he heard his master''s voice again, "Be careful in the uing exams. The superiors have made Echo Meskill the invigtor. I have a feeling things aren''t that simple. This is too sudden. Why did they make changes so soon?"

    Echo Meskill?

    Shane instinctively turned around to nce at the door closed behind him. He immediately understood what his master was talking about. After thinking for a while, he nodded as if he understood and said, "I''ll try to be stronger and win the first ce!"

    Ed shook his head as he pulled out a cigar and blew on it, creating smoky rings in the air that made Shane cough, "Are you still Shane Cooper who used to study and arrive at the top without any difficulty? Are you the same boy who had been studying hard, partying with friends on weekends, and teasing his sister? No, no you''re not."

    He turned toward his young disciple and pointed his finger at the man''s face, "You are system 12254801, not even a human being. What do you expect from this world? To give you the same treatment as before? As long as you continue to live with your previous identity, you''ll keep suffering. It''s time for you to grow up, young man."

    After saying that, Ed pushed a stunned Shane outside the room without any hesitation. Thetter was so shocked that he had to blink several times as veins popped up on his forehead. His own master didn''t believe in him. Great! This was more of a reason why he should try toe out on top in the exam!

    Just wait and see! He would show everyone that he wasn''t a normal huma- er, system anymore! Damn it, Ed was right. He was still thinking from the perspective of a human being.

    There were only a few days left until their first exams. He should do his best to try ande up with new techniques. He just had to imagine and focus on it from his heart and soul as if it were the only thing he wanted! Then, he was good to go!

 Chapter 64 63. We Are Not In A Relationship

    Shane wanted to learn more techniques, but he ended up learning nothing. He only managed to use his dark energy balls effortlessly without having to imagine anything about them. Since Ed wasn''t around anymore, Shane was saved from being scolded ruthlessly.

    At this time, he had already returned to his room after a round of practice. His entire body reeked of blood and sweat as he took a quick bath andy on the bed with his arms spread around on the mattress. He stared at the ceiling for a long time.

    He had managed to gain a little more experience this time, but his stats still didn''t manage to grow as much as he had expected. It might take him a thousand level zero monsters to rise a level. Only he knew how much effort it took for him to gain six exp points. Four more points, and then, he would be able to rise to level one!

    A trace of excitement flooded his heart as he grinned. Just then, someone knocked on his door. The smile from his face vanished without a trace. He rubbed his face as he pushed himself up on his feet, heading toward the door. He knew absolutely who was behind the doors.

    They were probably Tess and Frank. He had been ignoring these two for a few days, and he knew they were probably dissatisfied with him. His sister might have smelled something, but being considerate, she hadn''t asked anything just yet.

    It was just that Shane knew that Tess might want to confront him about it sooner orter. He opened the door to reveal a frowning Tess as the girl crossed her arms on her chest and red at his face. Then, she pushed him aside and entered, "Close the door."

    Shane said nothing and did what she told him to. He was vaguely aware of this girl''s unstable mood as she sat on the bed. Her right feet kept on tapping the ground, making him realize that she might be nervous at this time. After a while, she got up and looked at him, "Bro, what''s up with you these days? You haven''t been spending time with me at all!"

    Shane had just opened his mouth, but his voice was cut off by his sister''s angry tone, "You are my only family, but since you''ve started to act all cold and rude with me, fine. I''ll also not talk to you ever! Just tell me, why are you doing this? You have been alienating me ever since we left that dungeon. There was something wrong with that ce, wasn''t there?"

    "It''s not like that!" Shane didn''t want the person behind that past sealing thing to know about what he was thinking. He immediately refused to reply properly to Tess, but he still had to calm her as he sighed and said, "It''s just that Master has been giving me a bad time these days. Just look at how stiff my hands have be. My muscles are so sore."

    He stretched stiffly as he used all of his acting skills to make sure that Tess believed him.

    Sure enough, the girl looked at her brother''s body with a frown on her face and said, "Shane, you should have said so! I can give you a massage!"

    Shane imagined his sister wearing that kind of dress giving him a massage. Even though he was the girl''s brother, she was an adult! She shouldn''t keep giving her ''services'' to everyone and anyone! He crossed his arms on his chest as his expressions turned serious, "Are you giving your messages to anyone whose muscles are sore like this?"

    Tess shook her head as she scratched her cheeks, "Only Frank."

    Shane''s eyes widened. He didn''t know that during the time he refused to focus on his sister, she would take this chance to get even closer to Frank! His re intensified as the corners of his lips twitched, "I admit that Frank is a good guy, it doesn''t mean you can be his girlfriend!"

    "We are not in a rtionship¡­." Tess immediately refuted as if she wanted toe clean in front of her brother, but then her neck shrank when she saw the man''s expression as she muttered under her breath, "At least, not yet."

    "Eh? What did you just say?"

    "Nothing!" Tess continuously shook her head and opened the door behind Shane and said before going off, "I have something to do. You can rest and rx your sore muscles."

    Shane''s eyes narrowed at her retreating figure before the door was shut with a thud. This girl was bing bolder these days! He should have put her under his control right from the start!

    He took a deep breath and decided not to think much about it. At least, Tess was an adult. She should have a chance to make her decisions properly, but when Shane thought about how an enemy had been ying with him like this, his entire body turned cold.<sub> </sub>

    To protect his sister, he would have to find that enemy soon! His fingers curled up into a fist as his firm eyes stared at the closed door.

    A few dayster, the students got out of their rooms early in the morning. Shane had already finished his first training, but he still hadn''t managed to imagine more powerful weapons. It wasn''t that he didn''t have ideas, but whenever he tried, he failed to form his imagination into reality. To create weapons and spells, he had to focus on several things at the same time.

    For instance, his focus should first shift to circting energy in his veins at all times. Then, he would have to spare half of that focus into imagining things he wanted to with his heart and soul. At the same time, half of that half attention would be shifted to reducing his mental thoughts into nothingness so that he could only think of his goal.

    While doing this, he had to make sure that he couldn''t use too much energy. So, a little focus should be shifted toward his entire body and blocking off the leaking energy from spreading everywhere.

    Doing everything was hectic for Shane in the middle of a battle against so many monsters. Shane wasn''t as experienced in the battlefield in the first ce. How could he spare so much of his attention on multitasking? He was bad at those ever since he knew how to make his decisions!

    Shane sighed as he walked to the open ground inside the gates of the institute. He might as well perfect his energy balls and keep it aside for severe cases.

    As soon as they entered the open ground, Shane realized that the number of students had increased. Several were middle-aged and old people who had joined to give exams. They were standing in a different line as if they had just gotten a schrship to join the others here.

    They must be the old students of the institute trying their luck again this year to pass and gain enough experience to pass through Orient and to have a better life. Shane retracted his nce and looked around. There were only students here, no invigtors or lecturers.

    He wondered where Ed had run off to after that day. He hadn''t seen the bald man for a few days in a row, making him feel as if something bad was going to happen.

    Sure enough, his thinking was right. A familiar silver-haired girl walked out of the teacher''s dorm building as she stood there facing the crowd with a cold face. After seeing her, everyone''s mouths shut up as the murmurs ended. A whileter, a few students started chatting in a low voice, more like a whisper.

    Shane secretly used his powers to hear the conversation since he might get more information about the girl from them.

    "What is she doing here?" One of the students spoke in an anxious tone, "She has failed students one after another! Why is she here? We are doomed!"

    "I can''t believe the System God would take such a heartless and ruthless woman under his wing," another student made a disgusted expression on his face, "I have tried my luck for two years now, and this is my third time applying for the yearly exams. It had to be my bad luck to have her personally invigte the exam this time."

    "Echo hadst entered the institute several years ago, and that year, many students failed and had to stay back in Orient," another one whispered, "I wonder what she''s doing here when she clearly said that teaching and invigting the students during exams was a boring task, and she would rather kill monsters."

    "She''s such a hypocritical girl," a guy shook his head as he looked a little strange, "She has always used a certain charm spell that can attract others to her face at all times! Like if you stare in those blue eyes of hers for a long time, you might end up falling in love with her and bing her ve!"

    "That''s true. I have lost many of my friends like that, who have wasted their lives after bing infatuated with her."

    "Ah, I don''t want to take this exam anymore. Something tells me that Echo will be even stricter this time."

    Shane retracted his powers when he noticed the silver-haired woman ncing in his direction. She continued to look at him for a while until it gave him creeps. Shivers spread up and down his spine as he tried not to look in her eyes.

 Chapter 65 64. Youre Unauthorized!

    The students stopped talking and stood there obediently as Echo opened her mouth and said in an indifferent tone that spread all around the ce, "There are some changes to the exam this year. There will be three exams that will happen in the span of three days. No more, no less."

    Students started talking as the girl raised her hand to stop them and said, "The first exam is taken in groups, and those groups will go up against one another. There''s no winner in this exam, and the points will be allotted ording to how many experience points you get after finishing your task. Remember, killing monsters isn''t the only way to gain them. You have to finish your missions and side tasks too."

    "Secondly, you can kill the hosts if you like because they won''t be real. The first two exams happening today and tomorrow will not ur using real time hosts and worlds. Everything will be virtual. So, you can do whatever you like here. Lastly, the difficulty level of these tasks has been set to severe."

    "What? That''s not fair!"

    "No! Shouldn''t the exams be easy? Why are you doing this to us?"

    "Give us Ed back! He''s a better teacher than you!"

    Echo''s face darkened as she raised her hand again, "The ones whomented, pleasee with me. Others, I have given youpensation. In a life-threatening situation, if you want, you can choose to get out of the world using a special eject button. The virtual hosts will be killed without dy, forcing your consciousness back to the system world. Any questions?"

    After watching several students going against Echo walking toward her with pale faces, no one said another word. The students acted all obedient and calm at this time as they shook their heads.

    "Good," Echo stretched her lips to form a cold smile as she deliberately nced at Shane, "I hope to find good students this year. Many surprises are waiting for you guys."

    For some reason, Shane shuddered at those words as he retracted his gaze from the girl. He was mentally ready at this time to give it his best. After listening to the rules, he felt that the girl was deliberately targeting him at all times indirectly, but Shane''s expressions didn''t change. He was confident in his skills that he woulde out on top easily. Wasn''t it just finishing tasks and subtasks to gain exp points?

    Heh, easy.

    He continued to think like that until they were all divided into groups, and he found himself to be in a group with Jake. His expressions weren''t good when he realized this. Everyone was given a bowl filled with different system names, and he unfortunately got Jake''s name at the end. He crumpled the paper in his hand and nced in Jake''s direction as he said, "We are in a team."

    Jake smiled as he waved, "We are going to have a good time, mate!"

    For some reason, Shane didn''t think so. He turned and looked for his sister only to find that she had been forced to form a team with a middle-aged man who constantly stared at her chest while they were standing together. His oblivious sister didn''t even try to hide her figure as she yed with a strand of her hair.

    Shane''s anger spiked at that sight as he made his way through the crowd and stood in front of Tess and the strange middle-aged person. Then he pointed his finger at the man, "You better keep your eyes off my sister, or else, I might kill you."

    "Oh? You''ll kill me?" the middle-aged person was amused at those words, "I''m so scared. Little kid, look, don''t joke around."

    Tess also frowned as she scooted away from the middle-aged man and told her brother, "Don''t worry, Shane. I''m fine."

    "Like hell you''re fine!" Shane stared at the man coldly with his eyes ring at the old man, "If I see a single scratch on her body¡­. I''ll definitely kill you."

    "Yo kid, looks like you don''t know the rules of the system world," the middle-aged man chuckled as he looked at the red-haired girl beside him with a lecherous nce, "The charges for murder are death. ****, life imprisonment, and killing the host indiscriminately, hoho, you will be retracted from the position of being a system and sent off to be hosts for a thousand lifetimes! So, I won''t be doing anything unless she offers herself voluntarily."

    Tess''s facial muscles twisted as she raised her hand. A fireball gathered in her palms as she uttered a spell under her breath and said, "You don''t want to be killed, do you?"

    The middle-aged man finally looked at the girl with a fearful nce, "You-You¡­. You¡­.. You''re a fire user!"

    Tess crushed the fire ball in her palms and waved her hand against her hair in a proud manner, "Of course, I am! So, you better be careful."

    The middle-aged man trembled and retracted his gaze as he stayed obedient at this time. Tess huffed and raised her head toward her brother as if asking for praise.

    Shane''s eyes twitched as he sighed, "Good job, Tess."

    At this time, everyone''s teams were formed. Even Frank got another middle-aged person unfamiliar to them. Tess and Frank exchanged a nce as they both felt regretful. Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead after seeing this scene. He opened his mouth and said in a warning tone, "Tess¡­."

    The girl raised her hand and said, "Bro, chill. I''m just ncing at my FRIEND!" She specifically focused on the word "friend" in her sentence.

    Shane didn''t argue any longer. At this time, the first few teams were called as they all entered the virtual portal one after another. Then Shane''s team was also called as they all entered through the same virtual portal that was zing under the sunlight in the middle of the open ground. Soon, the entire ground emptied and only Echo remained there as she nced at the virtual portal. She walked closer to it and crossed her arms on her chest.

    "This year''s exams will be fun. It has been a long, long time since I have seen so many interesting students."

    ****

    When everyone entered, they were directly sent to their respective system spaces in groups. Since Shane and Jake were in one team, they entered their nk space together as windows popped out one after another in front of their eyes.

    [Initialising¡­.]

    [Calcting karma¡­.]<sub> </sub>

    [Calcting stats¡­.]

    [Analyzing protocol¡­.]

    [Analyzing the system''s job¡­.]

    [Selecting a host through the random protocol¡­.]

    [System 12254801, choose the type of host you want:

    1. Virtual

    2. Real]

    Shane and Jake exchanged a nce. They only received one window that was shared between them. It could be because they were in a group this time, and the setting was probably done beforehand. Shane put up his finger and decisively chose the first option.

    [This choice won''t give you Crana and Exp points more than ten. You get only three virtual tries after which the learning system will disappear. Are you sure?]

    He clicked yes, and another option appeared.

    [Congrattions, systems 12254801 and 12254767. We have allocated you a world based on the input for your exam. Best of luck!]

    Shane tilted his head. He didn''t get to choose the kind of world this time. He shrugged. It was logical because it was an exam in groups, and he didn''t know what to expect in this kind of situation. He nced at Jake and said, "Get ready. We might get two hosts who are supposed to work together for a mission, and our mission is probably to destroy the world."

    As soon as his words flew out, they saw another series of pop-ups that appeared in the form of a shared window.

    [Initializing¡­.]

    [Please wait¡­.]

    [Ready to enter¡­.]

    [Please, click enter.]

    Shane clicked yes as they entered the next moment. This time, the two of them got to be there in twoatose bodies. When Shane opened his eyes inside the mind of his host, he could only see darkness. He frowned.

    His host''s thoughts were also silent, which shouldn''t be the case because whether in a sleeping or unconscious situation, everyone would think even in their dreams. He could at least hear the dreamy thoughts going on.

    But here, everything was dark. Just then, he received Jake''s message: "Is it dark on your side?"

    "Yes," Shane replied, "I can''t hear the thoughts of my host."

    "Same here. It seems something is keeping them in aatose state."

    Just then, the two of them received a message in their menu section.

    [Wee to the first installment of the yearly exams. The virtual world provided to the systems is in ordance with the input given by the invigtor. All the systems entering the virtual portal are sent to this world for the test. Some of them are enemies while others are friends. Be careful of others, and don''t even trust your best friends in another team]

    Another message arrived in the same notification.

    [The exam starts now. Since this is a severe difficulty exam, you are given a special treatment as apensation: an eject point. You can click it once in your first installment whenever you''re in a difficult situation. Remember, your host will die soon after you click it. Best of luck!]

    "Sweet!" Jake eximed as he clicked on the attachment that came along with the notification, "This is so good!"

    Shane frowned because his attachment showed an error message:

    [System 12254801, you are unauthorized to use this feature. Please contact the superiors]

    After a while of trying, Shane closed the window and let out a chuckle. It turned out to be like this. Echo definitely did this on purpose. She gave everyone else the eject option, but it was an error when it came to Shane. Great! He might really die in here then.

 Chapter 66 65. A Girl?!

    The moment Shane opened his eyes, he nced at the dark ceiling above his head. Once again, he was unable to take control of the body as a slow whimper was heard down the body''s throat, indicating it was a little female voice. Shane frowned as he tried to digest the newly found information.

    He was in the body of a girl!

    ''Where the hell am I?'' Thought the girl as she pushed herself up to her feet and looked around in a horrified manner, ''What is this ce? Wasn''t I just with my parents? I want to go home!''

    Shane pressed his fingers against his forehead. Why did he always get such wimpy kids as hosts? Shouldn''t the hosts be heroic or simr to a protagonist in nature? Even though this was a virtual world made out of fake things and even hosts, he should have gotten a good host after experiencing Noah thest time!

    He sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. It was no use thinking of useless things. The girl seemed to have calmed down a little after seeing that her surroundings werepletely dark. She sat while curling up against the cold wall behind her back with her knees propped up to her chin. She shivered violently as she muttered incoherent words under her breath.

    Shane silently opened up her information. She was Ang Thomas, died from a bomb st while ying in a park. A sigh escaped his lips as he opened his mouth after looking through the world mission this time.

    It was to destroy this horror realm by hook or by crook. This sentence raised Shane''s brows as he stared at that statement. What did it mean by hook or by crook? Did they want the systems to go against one another and kill other people''s hosts to destroy?

    Before he could continue to think about it, he again got an option of seeing either through the stage view or from the first-person perspective. Of course, he chose the first option since he was going to feel the host''s emotions, he might as well sit back inside the girl''s mind and continue to watch the show as if he were viewing a TV.

    After settling everything, he looked at the livestream option. Shane hesitated a bit.

    This was an official examination, and Ed had warned him earlier not to use his powers during livestreams¡­.

    But this livestream was equally necessary. After thinking about it a little, Shane turned on the livestream and finally introduced himself, "Host Ang, I''m system 12254801, sent to assist you through your journey and help you find the path to your rebirth again in your own world."

    "R-Reborn¡­..?" The girl got even more scared now as her trembling enhanced even more. She rubbed her palms up and down her arms as she stuttered, "Did I die?"

    "Yes, the park was sted because of a terrorist attack."

    "Now that I think about it, I did feel hot all over. My vision was too bright and I had heard a sound louder than anything I had ever heard. And then, I felt my body burning¡­.." the girl trembled, "I thought it was just my imagination, but it turns out¡­."

    She cried as she covered her face with her palms.

    p Shane continued to stare at the darkness through the screen and rolled his eyes. He knew he should feel sympathy for the hosts, but he couldn''t. Who told the invigtor to give him a little kid in the name of a host?</anda>

    Meanwhile, he also got a message from Jake: "Where are you?"

    "I have no idea," Shane replied as he sighed and typed in another message, "My host is still crying her eyes out after finding out she got sted."

    "My host just crawled out of the floor and is hammering the wall, not listening to any word I say," Jake''s words wereced with a lot ofints as he wrote again, "Say, Shane, can you exchange your host with me?"

    "Shut up," Shane directly typed, "Stop talking and let''s see what the hosts want to do. Our mission goal is to use whatever means necessary to destroy this hell hole. Do you know what it means?"

    "Oh hoho, don''t tell me our goodie two shoes young boy is going to kill his ssmates to win this time!" Jake''s excitement seemed to be leaking through his words as he sent another text quickly, "I want to see what you''re going to do!"

    Indirectly, it was Jake telling him that Shane was the boss and they would do whatever thetter wanted. When he saw this, his shoulders rxed as he leaned back in the nk space of his host''s mind. He was originally worried about whether his other teammate would listen to him or not, but that guy made it easy for him.

    Now Shane could do anything he wanted except for revealing his true powers. A wave of irritation climbed up his back, reaching his brain slowly. Everything would be easy if he could use his powers, but he guessed that he could still use them while they were in the dark. He took a deep breath and said, "What are you crying about? You can still return after finishing the task."

    The host finally pulled down her palms and asked tentatively, "Sy-System¡­. You''re not evil like the ones I read about in those novels, right?"

    "Yes, I''m very evil."

    "Ahhhhh¡­." The girl started crying again.

    "I was kidding just now," Shane spoke clearly without any hint of shame in his heart. "I''m a good hum-er system. You don''t need to worry anything about it."

    Damn it, he misspelled his origin once again! He sighed as he changed the topic before his host could even figure out that small mistake, "The mission is to destroy the horror realm by hook or by crook. Do you want to read the world information?"<sub> </sub>

    "Y-Yes," the girl wiped her face and said, "I want to be reborn. My parents must still be alive. If I finish the mission, I''ll be able to go back, right?"

    "That''s right," Shane directly sent the world information that he had found a while ago to his host''s menu and guided her patiently on how to operate it. After he was finished, he said, "You can continue to read it."

    The world information was simple this time. There was no memory involved because this was an escape game, and other hosts were supposed to escape this ce, except for Shane.

    He raised his brows. Was that supposed to mean he was the viin here, trying to destroy everything and anything? Shane didn''t continue to think about it anymore as he read further.

    This realm was inside a giant cave that had originally appeared after the world ended. The remaining people were survivors, but somehow, they also couldn''t live for long and were frightened to death by the monsters and other mechanisms of this ce.

    Then, the ones waking up in the bodies of these dead survivors were the hosts of different worlds, mostly the modern world. At present, there were more than two dozen hosts around this ce, separated in different dark rooms individually. Once the hosts were ready, they would be sent to their respective ces topete.

    Shane didn''t find anything strange in this except for one sentence: "The host should be careful as she can find people she was familiar with before dying, but they might have an opposite mission, threatening the life of the host."

    "What does it mean?" Ang whispered as she tilted her head in the dark, "If I find a few acquaintances, they might be my enemies?"

    "That''s right," Shane nodded and thought to himself, ''It''s true even for himself since he couldn''t trust his sister now even if he found her by chance.'' Even thinking of this situation gave him a headache as he cursed Echo from the bottom of his heart multiple times.

    Shane thought for a while and added, "Even if you end up finding a family member, don''t trust them."

    This sentence scared the girl so much that she trembled from head to toe. She sat on the ground again and whimpered, saying something like: "I don''t want to live anymore."

    After a few minutes, she calmed down and said, "I''m sorry. I was being a kid just now."

    Shane thought to himself that his host was nearly a kid who had just entered the teenage years after being a child, but he said nothing and let the girl think whatever she wanted. A few minutester, the girl finally got up on her feet and patted her cheeks, "I''m ready. Let''s do this!"

    As soon as she uttered those words, it felt as if a mechanism was set off. The entire dark room started to tremble as Shane felt through the shared senses that dust kept falling on his head one after another at this time. It almost seemed as if the space was changing all of a sudden.

    The girl shivered as she backed away, "Wh-What''s happening?"

    "You''re going to be transferred to the starting point. Don''t worry. I can handle anything you can''t."

    The girl said nothing but continued to let out small whimpers through her throat. Out of the blue, the trembling started as the entire room shifted from a small room to a narrow tunnel inside a cave. At the end, a bright light was visible, which indicated that there was an exit, but Shane didn''t trust that exit.

    Apparently, his host didn''t think in a simr manner. As soon as she saw the bright light, her feet lifted as a smile formed on her lips. She looked like she had found her oasis, "I can see light."

    "Me too," Shane spoke coldly, "Don''t go there if you trust me."

    "Why?"

    Shane nced at the livestream numbers that kept increasing. He had already shut off thements, but he could almost imagine what the other systems in the system world must be talking about. He didn''t focus on that anymore as he opened his mouth, "There''s nothing in this world that''s free, and our mission is to destroy this hell hole by hook or by crook while trying to survive. That bright end of this tunnel clearly seems too easy for this hard level world."

    "¡­.Oh," the girl scratched her cheek and asked, "So what you mean to say is¡­. I might die if I go there?"

    "Maybe," Shane said as he opened the radar only to find it empty. "It''s better not to take any chances. I''ll let you know once someone arrives," as he was watching, he could see a small trace of a dot at the other, darker side of the tunnel. There was someone walking toward them at this time, probably heading toward the brighter side of the tunnel. The most irritating thing was that the dot shed in white light, indicating that the radar wouldn''t point out the enemy this time.

    It seemed only monsters were targeted as red dots.

    He frowned. Thest thing he wanted was to meet other hosts at this time. Looks like he couldn''t avoid it anymore. Before thinking too much, he quickly messaged Jake, "Are you out yet?"

    "Nope," Jakemented, "He''s still yelling, crying, and cursing me. He says he''ll sue me for kidnapping him like this. God, why is this host so stupid?"

    Shane didn''t reply as he shut off the window. Since the person walking toward him wasn''t his groupmate, it could only mean that it would be a potential enemy. He opened his mouth and said, "Someone''sing. Be careful."

 Chapter 67 66. Wait, What?!

    The footsteps kepting closer and closer, feeling as if they were being hammered against Ang''s heart. Shane could also feel her emotions, but he was much calmer. After experiencing Noah, he knew how to handle the emotions of his hosts.

    He just had to avoid talking to them for a while, until they calmed down on their own. If not, he would end up arguing with his poor hosts and might even demotivate them. He had a hands-on experience with this. Since he didn''t want to experience Noah again, he decided to stay silent until the girl''s heartbeat returned to normal.

    After a while, he said, "There''s a pir. Hide next to it."

    The girl took a deep breath and nodded slowly as she scooted closer to the pir and curled up against it as if she were afraid of being found. Soon after this, the footsteps got too close, close enough for Ang to make out the shape of the body that wasing closer.

    It was too dark. Even with the tiny bit of brightnessing from the other end, she couldn''t see clearly. She squinted her eyes, but the figure wasn''t clearly visible. The person soon passed by the pir and went toward the bright side.

    Ang heaved a sigh of relief. She kept hiding there until the sound of footsteps stopped all of a sudden. Her body was nowpletely rxed as she took a deep breath. Just as she was about to get out of there, an ear-piercing scream echoed from the bright side of the tunnel, making her hairs stand on their ends.

    After a while, there was another sound of something being shed, and then, the sound of that person, assuming to be a man, cut off without any hesitation.

    Ang was so afraid that she trembled from head to toe and kept hiding there for a while.

    Shane rolled his eyes. This little girl was seriously so inexperienced. Why did he have to get newbies for hosts? They wasted a lot of his time. He waited, waited, and waited patiently, but the girl''s trembling didn''t slow down. He couldn''t help but say, "Ang, we have to go."

    He urged as the girl took a few deep breaths and finally got up on her feet, "I k-know. Let''s go."

    She turned toward the dark side and continued to walk. She didn''t even dare to sneak a nce at the brighter side of the tunnel after hearing that ear-piercing scream behind her back. She was trembling all over as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms, but the chill that went down her spine didn''t refuse to leave.

    Her situation was bad.

    Shane sighed after seeing this, "Do you want to watch something for the time being?"

    "Watch?" Ang tilted her head as her steps paused.

    "Yeah. I currently have been given the set of music and entertainment shows to keep the host motivated on their journey," he clicked the folder in his menu and said, "You might feel better with soft music ying in your head. If there''s something, I''ll give you a heads-up."

    The music soon echoed in the background inside Ang''s head as the two people listening to it calmed down their nerves.

    Just as Shane was going to rxpletely, he suddenly saw a white doting toward him at a faster rate. He opened his mouth, "Go back to that pir. Someone''s running toward the bright side!"

    But it was a teenager who was told to sprint back instantly. She was afraid in the first ce, and the statement about someone running toward her made her entire body frozen. If she had reacted sooner, she would have ended up escaping instead of bumping into that person, but she couldn''t. In the end, an unknown woman bumped into her and fell back as she let out an ''ow'' from the dark.

    Ang also fell down as she whimpered, "I''m sorry."

    "No¡­." the woman spoke, "I''m sorry too. I shouldn''t be running."

    "But¡­. Why were you running so fast?"

    The woman was silent for a while. Shane could sense that the other person didn''t want to reveal anything, and even if she revealed anything, it might not be the entire truth. So, he wanted to warn his host not to believe anything she said, but before he could open his mouth, he heard the woman speaking, "Well, I heard the sound of someone''s scream, and I got scared. I wanted to check out what''s there on the other side."

    "Did youe from that dark tunnel?" Ang asked tentatively while ncing at the ce behind the woman who got up on her feet soon after.

    "No," the woman shook her head and continued, "It''s too dark. I don''t dare to go."

    "I¡­." Ang licked her lips and said, "I don''t want to go to the bright side. It feels too easy for our mission goals."<sub> </sub>

    "You''re right. Mission goals are important," the woman hesitated and asked in a slow voice, "Girl, I feel like you''re familiar with me. May I ask who you are?"

    "Don''t!" Shane warned again in a cold voice, "We don''t have to make friends here. Don''t you remember what the world history warned us about?"

    Ang this time ignored her system, Shane, and turned toward the woman, "Ang."

    The woman instantly put her hands on her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. Her hands trembled, "A-Ang¡­.. Thomas?"

    The girl nodded as she frowned.

    "Oh my God! I never thought I would see you alive today after what happened at the park!" the woman grabbed the girl''s shoulders and said in an excited tone, "I''m your mom''s friend, Lucy! We all came together!"

    "Aunt Lucy?" Ang was stunned. This woman was like her family member, second to her own mother. Her heart bubbled with joy as a grin formed on her face. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she wiped her face and said, "Aunt, thank God! You have no idea how scared I was!"

    The woman gently patted the girl''s head and said, "We both have to get out of here and be reborn again, yeah? Oh, by the way, what''s your mission goal? If we have simr mission goals, we can work together."

    Shane''s eyes narrowed. He had had enough now, "Ang, if you utter a single word¡­. Don''t say it. I''m warning you again."

    Ang again refused to listen to her system in the moment of this new found joy of meeting her family. She smiled at her aunt and said, "It''s to destroy this ce. What about you?"

    Shane looked at the screen only to see darkness, but the woman opposite to him got unnaturally silent. He sighed. It seemed the other woman''s goal was opposite to his. It was over. Perhaps his enemy had found out about his mission sooner than expected.

    Then he heard the woman saying, "Same here! Let''s go there to the bright side together and see what''s going on!"

    Ang was hesitating, but she finally nodded and hopped behind the woman like a little kid going to kindergarten.

    Shane saw the entire scene without saying another word. He knew that this teenager was in a rebellious period, and she wouldn''t listen unless she had experienced the atrocities herself. So, he chose to not say another word and be ready to face anything in the future.

    He silently calcted in his head that if the other person knew about his goal, the woman might be nning to get rid of Ang. So, just in case, he grabbed a few bottles of healing pills from the system menu and saved it in his inventory. He would immediately take over the body, heal it, and deal with the dangers before giving it back to Ang in the critical situation.

    He couldn''t keep leaning on his hosts to do his duty.

    And he was right. The woman''s face hidden in the darkness was way too stiff as her hands trembled. Finally, after a while, she took a deep breath and curled her fingers in a fist as if she had just made a decision. Then she pulled out a knife from the inventory and turned to Ang behind her.

    The poor girl had no idea that she was about to be stabbed to death. Even Shane couldn''t see in the dark as he thought he should also choose daily necessities from the shopping center and send it to his host. Just then, he felt a stabbing pain in the stomach and realized that Ang had been stabbed.

    His brows raised as he calmly saw the entire event. This situation came sooner than expected.

    Compared to his calm attitude, Ang was so shocked that her voice stopped in her throat. She couldn''t even say another word. She continued to stare into the dark where Aunt Lucy was standing a while ago as thetter said in a crying tone, "Ang, dear, I want to live, and my mission is to kill the world destroyers. I''m sorry, but I had to do this. My system said if I don''t do this, I will die. So¡­. I''m really sorry. I''ll take care of your parents, okay? Don''t worry, girl."

    Ang''s face was filled with tears at this time. She finally found a voice to speak, "Aunt¡­. I never thought¡­." After that, she didn''t have the energy to speak anymore as she fell t on the ground without anyone holding her body. Her breathing became slower and slower as her vision blurred.

    Was this thest moment of her life? Ang didn''t know. She just wanted to be in the embrace of her parents once again, but it seemed that she was toote.

    It was at this moment that Shane chose to take over, and so he opened his eyes through the girl''s body.

 Chapter 68 67. Angela, Run!

    As soon as Shane opened his eyes, he first used a healing potion and got up to his feet as fast as he could. At this time, the woman had already run off to the brighter side as another ear-piercing scream followed soon after. He assumed that there must be something horrific there.

    Ang, who was still frozen, perceived changes and realized what had happened as she spoke in a hurry, "My aunt¡­. Is she in danger?"

    "Girl, she just tried to kill you, and you''re still worried about her?"

    "Well, she''s my only family left in this ce. Who else am I supposed to save even if she''s standing opposite to me?"

    For a moment, Shane couldn''t speak any longer because he could feel the same sentiment running through his mind again and again for Tess. Wasn''t his situation the same? He also was trying to save his sister despite the enemies keeping an eye on him.

    A trace of bitterness flooded through his veins as he smiled. He suddenly realized that he didn''t have any right to judge others when he himself wasn''t perfect in doing things. He took a deep breath and said, "Let''s check out the dark side first. The woman spoke out the term ''destroyers'' in her sentence. So, we can safely assume that we have people with the same mission here. We should find them first."

    Shane paused and added, "I also have a teammate system here. It will be better to meet up with him."

    Ang didn''t say anything as she continued to watch. A whileter, she got control of the body back as she stretched out her palms. Soon enough, a notification sound echoed in her ears as the system said, "I have sent you a list of things you can purchase. You have been given a hundred coins to buy the necessities for now. Purchase the important items first."

    The girl nodded as she started going through the shopping center, buying one item after another. In the meanwhile, Shane opened the chatbox and texted Jake, "Are you out there or not?"

    ? "Out, out! The host was finally willing to listen to me!" Jake sounded as if he was very relieved as if he had just been sent out of prison, "He''s such a young man probably attending a college, but he''s still so stupid. I''m telling you; college students are the worst!"

    "Ahem," Shane coughed loudly as he replied, "I was also a uni student before dying. Think before speaking next time."

    This was the first time Jake didn''t reply. Shane was just about to close the chatbox when he received a reply, "Damn it! I just found out we have acquaintances here! My host is arguing about how to destroy this world easier without leaving a trace so that they can return to their world faster. The environment is so lively! I wish I can save this scene¡­ oh wait, we can probably get to watch these through the livestreams."

    Shane had almost forgotten about his livestream thing. He nced at his menu and opened the livestream page only to see that his viewers had crossed a thousand in number, and even his Crana increased to twenty thousand at the moment. Shane nodded in satisfaction as he bought his own set of things he wanted to use.

    After a while, the duo system and host finally managed to enter a dark room attached directly to the end of the tunnel. As soon as Ang entered that ce, she saw several people already using their torches while brighten up the ce. She also pulled out her torch as she stood at one corner and listened to the words.

    "We can st up this entire ce!" one of the middle-aged people said, "It''ll be a faster way to destroy this damned hell-hole. I don''t want to be here any longer."

    "Me too. Your idea seems feasible."

    "I agree."

    "Then what are we waiting for?"

    "Wait!" One of them politely added, "Do we have enough Crana for this? I only have five left!"

    "F*ck!" Another one cursed under his breath, "My stupid system didn''t warn me before! How unlucky!"

    Ang was surprised as she asked Shane in her mind, "System, should we purchase the bombs?"

    "Not necessary," Shane was rxedpared to the others. He wanted to see them all try one idea after another to get more ideas about his ce. This tunnel didn''t seem to be an escape room, rather, it was a ce filled with a sticky substance all over the walls and a strange stench that could make anyone feel like vomiting, "Let them try. We should just continue to watch."

    Just then, everyone''s eyes nced at the neer as they all silenced. They stared at her vigntly as one of them asked, "What''s your mission?"

    "I''m a destroyer," Ang was much calmer this time after facing her aunt''s betrayal. She raised her head confidently and said, "I was nearly killed by my own aunt a while ago, whose mission is to kill the destroyers."

    "Can we trust you?"

    "I can''t trust any of you too," Ang pulled out a sword she had just purchased, "If any of youe closer to me, I swear I''ll stab you to death, No kidding! I have just survived a moment of life and death!"

    Her hands holding the sword kept trembling at this time as she continued to stare and make herself look more and more intimidating. It worked very well as the others murmured amongst one another as one of the older ones said, "Fine, we are willing to let you in if you contribute to paying for one of the bombs."

    "One bomb cost twenty Crana. You have that much money in your ount," Shane spoke through his mind.

    "But you said-" Ang had just opened her mouth before Shane cut her off.

    "Forget what I said, we''ll get more opportunities to earn Crana in the future. Let''s get this over with first."

    Soon enough, the group of six people set up the bombs throughout the tunnel as they came back to the darkroom at the end. Meanwhile, Shane also found Jake and thetter''s host, who was also very young but had a cold expression on his face the entire time. Ang and that young boy spoke nothing to one another as they kept doing their work.

    After a while, everyone initiated the bombing sequence, but nothing happened. Everyone frowned as Shane leaned back.

    Of course, it wouldn''t be this easy. He had experienced a world with severe difficulty before, and things weren''t that simple. The monsters were so powerful that Shane could tell that they were of probably a higher rating than zero. Back then, he didn''t have any way to check out other people''s stats like the present moment. Even though the radar could show certain things, it still wasn''t as good as seeing the live stats of his enemies.

    Dirt really gave him a good thing this time.

    That reminded him, that after practicing several times in the dungeon that Ed owned, he had managed to finally climb up to level one after so much time. His stats started to look better and better at the moment, as he opened his window.

    [Level: 1

    Exp: 30

    Job: Null<sub> </sub>

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: ???/100 (Cosmic Energy)

    Attribute: Darkness

    Strength: 30

    Agility: 30

    Stamina: 30

    Intelligence: 25

    Vitality: 25

    Attack: 27

    Skill: 1

    Weapons: 1

    Physical Resistance: 29

    CE Resistance: 30

    Luck: 30

    Overall status: A Beginner.]

    He nodded in satisfaction as he tentatively ignored his host''s stats. It was the same as Noah''s, but even worse. At least thetter had a good attribute that managed to keep them alive until thest moment, but this teenager of a host had nothing in her attribute portion. It meant that she didn''t have any cosmic energy running through her veins, and she couldn''t use power without borrowing it through Crana.

    What a headache!

    Shane let out a chuckle. He knew why he got such a useless host this time. It was Echo again!

    "Why are youughing?" Ang thought it was weird for her system to chuckle all of a sudden.

    "Ahem, nothing," Shane changed the topic, "Did the bombs work yet?"

    He quickly changed the window and opened the radar page. The surroundings still remained the same, silent as ever, but the bombs refused to go off for some reason. After checking it out, people found out that its energy had been sucked away, and it wouldn''t work anymore.

    So basically, they all just wasted their Crana just now.

    Ang pouted, but she said nothing. This time, she had obediently decided to listen to her system as she stood at the very back of the crowd while listening to others arguing one after another.

    "Useless! I just wasted twenty Crana! Now, I don''t even have money! System,e out right now! It was you who suggested this, wasn''t it?"

    Jake texted Shane thisment, "I bet you suggested to your host to stand back and wait for others to fail, didn''t you?"

    Shane ignored that message as he said, "Now lead people through the tunnel. We might be able to find some puzzles or other mechanisms to give us a clue. For now, we have been given two groups, one is the destroyers, while another group is the destroyer killers. Several others would probably be the escapers, and we are probably going to find most of these people on the bright side of the tunnel, dead."

    Ang''s body trembled at the memory as if she had just remembered a horror scene. After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and said, "We should look out for puzzles instead of wasting time here."

    "You''re just a teenager. What do you know?"

    "We adults are discussing. Kids shouldn''t say anything else."

    "We will try a more powerful bomb this time."

    "Right, right!" one of them said, "It''s better this way."

    Ang raised her hand in a surrendered position, "I just wanted to suggest something to you all. Don''t mind me. My system''s good at guessing things, while yours are stupid."

    "What the f*ck did you say?"

    Shane interrupted, "Don''t argue nonsense with them. We don''t have much time. Let''s go."

    Ang walked toward the tunnel. Jake''s host also trotted behind the girl silently without saying another word. After slowly walking through the tunnel with a torch in her hand, the girl didn''t find it scary anymore. She nced closer at the walls only to find a small circle-like formation at the center of the right wall.

    Her eyes lit up as she pressed her finger to the center. Soon enough, the entire space trembled as the wall split apart, revealing a dark room beyond the tunnel.

    Shane was already staring at the radar as a new field opened up. As soon as it did, his pupils shrank as he said in an anxious voice, "Ang, run!"

 Chapter 69 68. Whats That?

    Shane had seen ten dots inside the dark room. Even though he couldn''t see anything clearly, he heard a hissing sound echoing from the background which gave him a clear idea about what kind of monster they were going to face.

    It was probably a group of ten giant snakes. He wouldn''t be so anxious if this girl''s stats were close to normal. The only normal thing was her luck, which was around ten. Others were all zero and even her attribute portion was left alone.

    Shane didn''t know whether to rejoice for having good luck or to feel defeated to have the worse stats he had ever seen. He instantly used his skills to observe the stats of these monsters.

    The first line itself gave him a reason why he should return and flee from this ce.

    Level ten monsters.

    No kidding. Even though he had fought many powerful demons, level ten still gave him creeps. At least, that turtleneck shirt demon was way more powerful than any of them he had ever fought. It was just that his newly found powers were probably helpful back then that saved him in the nick of time.

    Maybe he should suck away these monsters'' powers too?

    He didn''t think too much about it and didn''t even ask for Ang''s permission before he swiftly bought the body''s control and opened his eyes through the girl''s body. Then he grimaced.

    This body was so poor and weak. He didn''t want to operate on a girl''s body at all! The hair was scattered all over the ce as he pulled out a sword and used it to cut off most of it in a single blow.

    "Hey!" Ang yelled from his mind, "What the heck are you doing to this body?"

    "This body wouldn''t be alive anymore anyway. What''s the use of having so much hair blocking our vision?" Shane looked coldly at the monsters as he stood in a fighting stance, "Just sit back and watch the show. I''ll entertain you better than anyone else."

    He nced at the livestream that increased Crana at this time after he uttered that statement. He sneered as he closed his eyes and shared a trace of his power in the ordinary sword in his hand that he had taken out from the inventory a while ago. After the sword was enlightened with dark energy, a fierce aura scattered around the dark room that scared all the monsters.

    They all took a step back as they hissed even fiercer.

    Shane opened his eyes and smiled. Looks like only his power was enough to scare these things away.

    Jake immediately texted him, "Woah, what did you just do?"

    Shane knew that he would be caught using his so-called divine power. Back then, he was revealed to be energy-less in front of the entire ss. So obviously, Jake would be surprised to see that Shane could use powers. So, he immediately made up an excuse, "It''s a tool that Ed gave me earlier. It has his fierce aura attached to scare these things away."

    It was better to give all the credit to his cheap master without revealing anything. After all, no one would dare to go and ask that bald man himself about the things he gave to Shane.

    Jake''s enviousness was visible through his reply, "I wish I had a master like that. He dots on you."

    Shane didn''t want to believe it. Dot on him? It was more like the man was eager to see him be powerful enough to kick Shane down the monsters'' throats, in the middle of nowhere.

    If this was the definition of being a dotted student, he didn''t want to count himself as one.

    Shane replied nothing as he thrust the sword into the center of the ground. The energy passed through secretly in the dark without being noticed by anyone as sparks continued to flow here and there. Soon enough, the veins were visible in the air as they did before, but it seemed that only Shane could view them.

    He looked above the amazing scene filled with sparkling veins all over his head, transferring the monsters'' powers into his body. Shane felt his powers rising to a higher degree as he smiled. He looked at his stats.<sub> </sub>

    It all remained the same. Sure enough. The stats and his powers weren''t rted at all, like in the case of other people''s stats. Normally, if divine energy was less, other stats would also be affected, but Shane''s case was different.

    He had managed to figure out while practicing that his stats were too abnormal for a system. He was like a reservoir of energy who could use his powers indiscriminately to make his body more powerful in an instant with the help of imagination. He just had to imagine that his stats were increasing, and it would surely increase.

    Such a handy tool!

    Soon enough, all the monsters fell to the ground one after another as if they were potato sacs. They were defeated without even a single blow.

    Jake''s host turned to nce at Ang''s body in shock. He still thought that it was the host doing this as he asked, "What the heck did you buy to do this?"

    Shane pursed his lips. He didn''t know how to reply as he messaged Jake, "You deal with your host. I''m going back."

    As soon as Ang got the body, she was met with an excited gaze from the young man who never talked to her. His nce was so intense that a trace of a blush crept up the girl''s face as she lowered her head and said, "I-It wasn''t me."

    The light in the guy''s eyes dimmed as he nodded dully, "So it was your system. No wonder."

    Ang was now even more embarrassed as she didn''t dare to utter a single word.

    Shane''s mouth twitched as he witnessed a failed romance scene in front of his eyes. He had the urge to beat the girl up to think of nonsense in her head.

    He could clearly hear Ang''s thoughts rted to the man, and he wouldn''t be wrong in thinking that she had a big-time crush on the youth walking beside her.

    Teenagers would always be teenagers, after all. He opened his mouth, "Go through the room."

    Ang patted her cheeks as she said, "Y-Yes."

    Her redness reduced a lot as she focused on her job at hand. She nced around the room nkly as she got even more confused.

    The room was dirty with mud walls all around her. The door that had opened behind her was closed off as soon as they had entered that space.

    Now, the dark room filled with corpses looked more like a scene from a horror movie rather than reality. The girl shuddered as she rubbed her palms up and down. Her heartbeat was still elerated at this time, but she couldn''tin anymore.

    After a while, Ang whimpered again, "System, ah, what should I do?"

    "Check out the damned room. What are you bugging me for?" Shane frowned as his headache increased. He realized that the girl''s setting was that she was a teenager who had just arrived in this world, and he sympathized with her, but it didn''t mean he would continue to let her be a child forever.

    He wasn''t her babysitter. So, he coldly spoke, "I''m not your mom. You''re on your own, but I''ll help you finish the task by guiding you properly. That''s a system''s job. So you have to do your duty properly like I''m doing. Don''t bug me now."

    To an outsider, Shane might sound like he was a ruthless system and hate him, but he couldn''t help it anymore, especially after Noah''s experience. He didn''t want to babysit others like this.

    Just then, Ang took a deep breath and nced around only to pause her steps upon seeing something on the wall, "What''s that?"

 Chapter 70 69. Snake And Ladders

    What Ang saw was a roundplex geometrical figure that had multiple shades of ck and red. All theplex lines kept blinking one after another with only a ck dot at the center. She frowned as she walked closer and scratched her head, "Is this mathematics?"

    Even Jake''s host, who was a couple of years older than the girl didn''t know what to do anymore as he frowned and walked over. The sea of corpses was still there, but they had probably gotten habitual of smelling it for so long as they stood there in the dark room.

    The only glowing light that brightened up this room was that array. At first, they couldn''t see because it was covered up by the snakes, but when the monsters fell to the ground one after another, the room brightened up further even more.

    Right now, the two people stared at theplex circle with confusion.

    "I think we have to touch it."

    "Go ahead," the young boy had no intention of ying the hero as he crossed his arms on his chest and scoffed, "That''s why I don''t team up with girls during games. They''re all so useless and always expect the men to do all the work."

    "Because men are stronger!" Ang fumed in anger as she red at the young man beside her. Just then, thetter also turned and shed a mocking smile, causing the girl to avert her eyes as traces of blush spread on her cheeks. Neither of them cared about asking their systems.

    Shane was busy staring at the wall with squinted eyes. This seemed like an array or something, simr to how the turtleneck shirt demon had used previously. If he identally touched the center, who knows what might happen? They might even get sucked or trapped inside a hallucination or something.

    Just as he was thinking about it, the argument between the two people got worse. He had a bad feeling in his heart.

    "You shut up!" Ang put her hands on her waist as she stood face to face, ring at the young man in front of her eyes, "Who do you think you are? A prince?"

    "I''m better than you in every aspect of life! I''m at least a graduate!"

    "Fine, don''t help me," the girl suddenly raised her hand and touched the ck dot at the center with a smug smile on her face, "There, I''m the real hero here."

    Shane facepalmed himself. This was what he had feared the most. This host of his was stubborn as a bull. He sighed.

    When Ang heard that sigh, she frowned and asked, "What''s wrong?"

    What could Shane say? He shook his head and said, "Get ready. Something''s bad going to happen now."

    "Bad? Why should you-"

    Ang''s speech was cut off in the middle as she felt a pull toward the circle. It was as if someone with a thousand arms had grabbed her body and pulled her inside. Her body trembled as she froze.<sub> </sub>

    ? All the thoughts in her head vanished out of the blue. The man beside her was also not faring better. His face paled as he grabbed the girl''s arms and scolded, "This is all because of you! Ahhhhh, we are both going to die!"

    Ang was too scared to speak a single word. After a while, the two of them were sucked inside the circle with their respective systems.

    When the two people opened their eyes, they were standing at the center of a snake anddders board. There was a dice-shaped cube hologram circling in the air above their heads.

    The most horrific thing was that the snakes in here seemed to be alive. They hissed at Ang as she shrank her neck and took a deep breath, "What should we do?"

    She was finally advancing toward Shane. Thetter''s cold voice echoed in her head, "y the game. What else?"

    "Will you help me?" The girl suddenly sounded weak as she tried to lure her system into helping her but Shane wasn''t going to give in just yet. He knew that if he continued to ignore his host like this, he might end up failing the exam, but at this point, he didn''t care.

    He was already an odd man out, to begin with. The less he attracted the attention of others, the better the chances for him to survive. Even if he continued to stay here on this continent without having any ambitions to move to the rich ce as he had heard from others, he could still take his sister and survive, away from the eyes of people.

    He had a golden finger in the form of a demonic power-sucking thing. He could use this to continue to survive by killing monsters and solving difficult system jobs at hand.

    He didn''t need to seek attention. So he wasn''t even serious about passing this exam.

    When Ang heard only silence from the other end, she thought that the system had gone offline. She banged her head as she asked, "System? Where did you go?"

    "I''m here," Shane sighed, "I''m not going to control your body and y it for you. You''re the host. This is your job. My duty is to support you, not be the protagonist."

    The girl was stunned as she looked around with a pale face. She didn''t even want to y with this stupid snake anddders game at the moment. After trying to calm herself for a while, she finally urged, "Fine. I''ll y this stupid game for now."

    As soon as she said it, the entire ce started to tremble. The dice that were rolling above their heads stopped moving as if someone froze the time. The entire board vanished from the view for a second beforeing back again, and this time, the two of them were standing at the start button.

    The giant dice in the air were currently in Ang''s, and she didn''t even know how it ended up in her arms. She stared at it for a second before throwing it away in fear as if it were burning. That was the biggest mistake she ever made at the moment. Just when the dice rolled onto the ground, Ang moved her feet, but it couldn''t move at all.

    It was as if someone had frozen her entire body right here using some kind of magic. Her entire body turned white as she trembled.

    What was happening?!

 Chapter 71 70. Corpses

    The dice soon stopped rolling around as they disyed a specific number. To Ang''s misfortunate, she got six and four. It meant she would have to walk through the square boxes and reach the number ten. But that wasn''t why she was worried.

    She looked over at the snake slithering its tongue at her on the second box as she trembled. She didn''t want to go there at all! Before she had time to think about it, the box she was standing on turned red as a ring sound echoed in the background.

    The man beside her also became frightened as he pushed the girl away.

    Ang stumbled onto the board, and she started walking hurriedly. To her relief, she ended up bypassing the slithering snake in the second box. She walked past all the boxes and reached number ten before she sighed in relief.

    Shane, who was observing everything, said nothing as he stayed back in Ang''s mind and continued to observe the game. It was now the young man''s turn to throw the dice. He held it in his hands as drops of sweat formed on his forehead.

    After a while, he swiftly threw it to the ground and said, "What''s the point of ying this game? Will we be able to get out of here?"

    It looked like he was asking a question to his system.

    Shane also frowned because he also wanted to know about it. Why were they sucked inside this array? And why wasn''t there any mission or goal notification sent out to him? Normally, if there was a side quest that the host would stumble upon, it would first arrive in Shane''s notification before anything else.

    Only after that would he allow his host to finish the task, but now, the situation had turned into a strange scenario. Ang and this young man were trapped inside a game, and anyone would think that they coulde out of the trap by passing this game.

    So no one would even think that there might be something wrong with this entire situation.

    As soon as Shane realized this, his eyes widened. He instantly messaged Jake, "Don''t let your host throw the dice!"

    But he was still toote. By the time he sent the message, the young man had already thrown the dice to the ground as it started rolling. When it finally stopped, it disyed two.

    The man''s face paled after seeing this. He looked over at the box that contained the snake that looked very much alive and trembled.

    Would he have to go there? He made a gesture to move, but his feet were still fixed to the ground, making him frown. What was happening? Wasn''t he supposed to step forward¡­.?

    Just when he was thinking, he heard the girl speaking in a mocking tone, "Idiot¡­.. You can only move if sixes up."

    The young man sighed in relief when he heard it, and after that, a flush of embarrassment burst onto his face. He coughed and said, "Roll your dice."

    Ang wasn''t even given a choice at this time as the dice automatically appeared in her arms. She was about to throw it when she heard Shane''s voice, "Don''t throw it yet. I want to check something."

    "What? Why?"

    "Just do as I say," Shane replied in a serious tone as he continued, "There''s something wrong with this situation. This game shouldn''t be included in the task list, otherwise, I would have gotten notification of a side quest."

    Ang tilted her head as she thought for a while. Her system was right. She should have been given a notification toplete this game to get out of the array as a side quest, but nothing happened. Other than destroying this world, there was no other task at hand. This array itself seemed more like a trap than a clue.

    Her brows furrowed deeper as she thought for a while, but she was a teenager. How could she think of something soplicated?

    In the end, it was Shane who ended up purchasing control of the body as he opened his eyes through her body. He silently extended his aura around the ce. If this was a demon''s work, his aura was probably enough to scare people away.

    After thinking about it for a while, he extended it further. Finally, he managed to get a fluctuation of dark energy. The entire board started shaking as if there was an Earthquake here.

    Shane smiled. He knew it.

    This snake anddders game was nothing but a demon''s trap. It meant that even if the hosts yed this game, there was no guarantee that they would be able to get out of this ce alive.

    He sneered as he extended his aura further. The entire ce shook even more. It almost seemed as if a crack was going to appear to split the entire space apart. The more he extended his aura, the more the ground shook. Even the young man whose feet were frozen a while ago ended up falling to the ground.<sub> </sub>

    He stared at the scene in front of him in utter shock. He didn''t even know what to do anymore as he stayed on the ground.

    Shane didn''t remove his aura as he fiercely stood there. At this time, the livestreams also fluctuated because of the fierceness of the dark aura. The audience was confused as to what was happening there inside the array.

    But no one doubted Shane. They all thought that it must be Ang herself who was trying to act all hero in this critical situation. Shane also didn''t bother rifying that he was the one doing something.

    Only Jake figured that something was strange. He quickly messaged Shane, "You''re doing something, aren''t you?"

    "Don''t ask," Shane quickly replied as he focused on his work. It seemed that he was ying the game of cat and mouse. The chase was nearly over at this moment as he continued to go after the small fluctuation of the demon''s power through his aura. He wouldn''t need to do anything extra at this moment like sucking away the demon''s powers.

    Scaring them away would do all the work.

    The next second, the entire space shook as it split apart, literally. The entire board vanished and threw the bodies of two trapped people out in the dark room filled with snake corpses. As soon as they were thrown, Shane handed over the control back to Ang as he sighed.

    He nced at his ount bnce as he felt his heart bleed.

    He just lost half of his money just to chase away that demon! What a waste!

    Ang still didn''t know what was happening. She blinked and got up on her feet and rubbed her head, "What just happened?"

    "I scared the demon away."

    "You can do that?" the innocent girl was surprised as she looked excited. "How?"

    "You don''t need to know that," Shane paused for a moment and added, "If someone asked, tell them you purchased a small spell from me. I''ll handle the rest."

    "Okay!"

    After a while, a door automatically opened on the wall where the array was there previously. It was just that Ang and that young man weren''t the only people who were thrown out like this. A few more corpses of humans were lying on the ground beside them. It looked like the demon who had sucked them away inside a game lived off by sucking away the life force of humans.

    This was the first time Ang saw something so horrible in front of her eyes. The entire ce was filled with corpses that smelled disgusting. A stench of dried and rotten fish spread in the air mixed with blood.

    Ang''s stomach churned as she vomited everything in one corner. She couldn''t take it anymore. Even the corpses of humans looked horrible. Their cheekbones were visible through the skin that almost looked stuck to the bones. Their eyes opened as frightened expressions appeared on their faces.

    Only the corpses knew what they had witnessed to die such horrible deaths.

    After she calmed down, she wiped her face and said, "We should go. I don''t want to stay here."

    She was afraid that if she managed to stay here longer, she might end up vomiting her guts out. She stumbled on her way, but she managed to pass through the door without any issue. The young man also followed her after a while as he stabilized his emotions.

    The thing just now was too stimting. Even though he wanted to puke, he still suppressed it in front of a little girl.

    What waited for the two of them was an endless corridor. It seemed endless because they couldn''t find any way out of that situation. The two of them continued to walk like that for what felt like hours, without any sign of anyone.

    The destroyers and the killers were also not visible. It almost felt as if Ang and the young man following her were the only two people here. Shane frowned as he stared at the scene through Ang''s mind.

    They still weren''t inside the demon''s array, were they? He nced at his ount bnce as he gritted his teeth.

    He couldn''t afford another round of control. He would have to wait for a little before controlling the girl''s body again to confirm his suspicion.

 Chapter 72 71. The Hallucination!

    The two people continued to walk through the corridor without stopping. Ang wanted toin, but she didn''t want to talk to the youth anymore after their ''pleasant conservation'' a while ago.

    She also didn''t want to chat with her system because Shane was rude as f*ck. For the first time in her life, Ang felt that talking wasn''t a good thing to do.

    She sighed as she pushed herself while holding the wall. Her knees throbbed at every step she took. Beads of sweat continued to roll down her forehead.

    Even the young man''s situation wasn''t good. He was also suffering, but at least, being a man, he was faring better than the girl.

    Shane continued to watch this scene and frowned. He nced at the free body control item that still wasn''t avable and grimaced. What to do now?

    He took a deep breath and suppressed the anxiety in his heart. It was good. This wasn''t the real world. So he didn''t have to worry about someone dying for real.

    He could still do his job with his conscience.

    At this time, he received Jake''s message: "Where the f*ck are we going?"

    Ah, so this guy still didn''t know that they were possibly trapped by that array monster. He hesitated for a while before replying, "We''re still trapped."

    "Huh? Really? Let me check!"

    Shane tilted his head. He wondered how Jake was going to check this thing. As he was thinking, the man''s reply came sooner than expected, "It really is the case!"

    "How did you find out?" Shane couldn''t help but ask.

    "I have my items. It''s a secret!"

    Shane didn''t bother to reply after this. He simply ignored the message box and continued to focus on the task at hand.

    Ang suddenly fell to the ground and wiped her face, "This is insane. I''ve been walking forever! Hey, young man. Carry me!"

    "Don''t you have eyes?" The man growled as he took deep breaths and leaned onto his knee, "I''m also tired!"

    "You''re a man. You''re supposed to treat girls like treasures," even Ang didn''t know why she kept bothering this man. It seemed she still has a crush on him.

    She sighed and said, "Forget it. I don''t want to talk about it."

    A hint of silence spread among them at this time. It wasn''t awkward, but Ang felt that it was draining her the more she waited. It was almost like someone was sucking away her energy¡­.

    Her eyes widened at the realization as she immediately asked the system, "Don''t you think I got tired way too fast? I''m still so young!"

    Shane also seemed to have realized it as he sent the girl a package, "Buy the potions I sent you. It''ll keep you going."

    "Okay!"

    For now, the situation got stable, but it couldn''t be stable for long. Ang didn''t have many Crana in her ount. Ever since they entered, they all managed to get a portion of livestream ie asmission, enabling the hosts to earn money and buy items from the shop.

    So, she did manage to buy a few things earlier with that money, but it wasn''t much. She nced at the Crana option that disyed zero and pursed her lips.

    She couldn''t buy it anymore after this if she didn''t get the livestream money. But what could she do? Sit back and wait to die?

    Just as she was about to use the potion, she heard Shane speaking in her head, "Don''t drink it now. Only when you feel like you''re about to die, consume one bottle. You have five at the moment. Let me think of a solution until then."

    Ang blindly trusted her system because she didn''t have any other choice. She waited and waited until she felt her breathing slowing down. Her vision blurred as she immediately consumed the potion.

    It couldn''t do much, but give her a few minutes more to live.

    Ah, when would this torture stop?!

    Shane, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing. He was just trailing for extra time so that he could get control of the body. He nced at his ount bnce that still didn''t reach five hundred Crana.

    He grimaced. What were the viewers doing? They should be showering him with gifts!

    He sighed and decided to earn as much money through dungeons as possible after going back.

    A few more minutes¡­..

    Just a little more¡­..

    Before he could continue to wait for more, he felt a dark aura pressing down on his body. He immediately nced at the screen. It must be the feeling from shared senses.<sub> </sub>

    That meant, the monster finally decided to attack them!

    He nced at the Crana which still wasn''t enough as he texted Jake, "Let''s take control of the bodies as soon as we get a chance."

    "No!" Jake seemed to be anxious for some reason, "I don''t have enough Crana, and I had used the free chance not too long ago!"

    "Then¡­.  What do you want to do?"

    "Can you loan me some?"

    Shane nced at his own nearly empty ount and replied coldly, "Do whatever you want. It''ll be fine even if one of us fails. The goal of this exam isn''t winning, but to test the systems. So we''re good. These hosts are real."

    "But¡­." Jake didn''t reply after this.

    Shane stopped focusing on the chat as he nced at the screen. There seemed to be an outline of a big dog walking toward them in the dark. His nerves tensed as he felt Ang''s anxiety through shared senses too.

    The girl squealed as she got up on her feet. Her entire face paled, "Wh-What''s that???"

    "L-Lets run."

    "Don''t!" Shane spoke through her mind, "Running will drain you. This monster seemed to be of a dog''s breed. Meaning, it''ll be faster than you can ever imagine."

    Before he could say more, the monster lunged at the hosts standing in the darkness of the corridor. Shane''s eyes widened as he spoke, "Whatever happens, don''t die."

    He immediately selected a regr sword and urged Ang, "Take this and defend yourself!"

    "But¡­." Ang was just speaking when she felt an extremely cold aura pressing down on her. She trembled as she stumbled back and stared at the figure that closed in on her in horror.

    Her heart jumped to her throat as she stared at the monster whose features became clearer.

    It wasn''t a dog, but a giant wolf with a sharp canine. Its entire fur was as ck as night, and it stared deeply with red eyes. A growl escaped its throat as a thin drop of saliva dropped from the corners of its mouth.

    As soon as the monster opened its mouth, Ang saw red flesh sticking to its teeth. A gust of cold wind passed through her body as the monster''s bad odor flooded her lungs.

    But Ang didn''t even have time to vomit when the monster attacked her.

    Before it could reach her, the young man suddenly pulled the girl and blocked the monster with the sword, "F*ck, can you not freeze at a time like this?! Be a woman and fight! I''m not gonna help you again!"

    The man''s face was covered with cold sweat as he tried to push the monster.

    Ang woke up from a trance as she pulled out a sword. She gripped it tightly with her trembling hands. Her entire body shook as she stared at the scene in front of her. The young man who had just helped her was bitten by the wolf as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

    Now the hand that was holding the sword couldn''t be used anymore. The young man fell to the ground as he stared at the monster and said, "F*ck! I died faster because of you! Help me!"

    Ang''s feet seemed to have been frozen at that moment. Tears poured down her cheeks as she raised her trembling hand.

    Then¡­. She screamed at the top of her voice and lunged at the monster.

    If she was going to die anyway, let us die while fighting this monster! She wanted to hurt this monster before dying!

    As she attached the monster, thetter seemed to have sensed her approaching as he immediately changed his target and jumped toward her. Before anyone could even register what was happening, the monster was close enough to the girl to rip her entire body to shreds.

    Shane, who was chewing his nails in anxiety, finally got the free chance he was waiting for! At thest moment, he immediately controlled the body and spread his aura throughout the corridor. As soon as he did that, the monster fell to the ground in the middle of the air in aical manner.

    He raised his head through Ang and walked toward the monster as he bent. His dark eyes stared at the curled-up monster''s body that seemed to be trembling, "Go back."

    The monster trembled even more at this time as it vanished from there.

    The corridor disappeared, and they returned to the room. The door from where they had entered this ce reappeared, and snakes also vanished out of the blue.

    It seemed that what had happened starting from snakes was nothing more than a hallucination.

    Both the young man and Ang fell to their knees as they stared at the empty room. Then the girl puked her guts out in the corner.

    The two of them were still in shock at this time because of what had happened.

 Chapter 73 72. The Danger!

    Ang and the young man finally managed to walk out of that room after taking their time, puking. The entire room that had a hint of a muddy scent mixed with water and fungus had now an addition¡ªvomit.

    The girl''s nose wrinkled as she walked out of the room. They were back in their previous corridor. She immediately stopped searching walls this time around and discreetly walked toward the brighter side of the tunnel.

    It was a do-or-die situation!

    The girl walked on and on as the youth followed after her. For some reason, all the groups of destroyers and killers had disappeared. After that old friend of her mom, Ang didn''t notice a single soul around.

    Did they die or something?

    She didn''t know.

    She could only walk in the dark as she got closer to the brighter end. The more she walked, the clearer the corridor became.

    The walls on either side of her weren''t any different from that room. They had a muddy texture filled with something sticky and wet as the upper corner was covered with fungus. She didn''t dare to touch the wall anymore after what she had experienced.

    As soon as she got closer enough to the other end, she smelled a hint of blood in the air, making her frown. She finally opened her mouth and mumbled, "I hope we don''t die¡­.."

    Shane was also tracking the entire surround through his radar system, but he didn''t find a single monster. His brows knitted at this as he continued to stare at the area.

    Something was wrong. He remembered hearing screams of other hosts from this area. And those screams were ear piercing, the kind that urs only when someone is going to die.

    People couldn''t just die out of nowhere.

    He was on alert at this time as he continued to stare at the radar and the screen simultaneously. Just then, they reached the bright side only to find a metal door at the center with a bulb hanging from the roof. It flickered now and then, making it seem like a scene directly from a horror video game or something.

    A frown crossed her forehead, "Is this where people died?"

    The young man shrugged, "We should enter."

    If it was before, Ang definitely would have argued with the man, but at this time, her entire body smelled of sweat, blood, and vomit. To top it off, her limbs twitched now and then, being at their weaker disposition.

    She wasn''t even in her right mind to focus as she stared dazedly at the metal door. She took a deep breath and walked ahead, pushing the door with her right hand.

    As soon as she did, a bright light attacked her eyes, making them squint. She covered up her face, "Why is it so bright?!"

    The young man didn''t respond. She thought he was just being rude and was about to thrash him as she turned around and stared at the empty slot behind her.

    Ang''s frown deepened. Where did the door go?

    The ce where there was a door not too long ago got reced by a wall. A trace of fear sneaked itself into her heart. She trembled.

    She wasn''t in another hallucination, was she?

    The fear gripped her heart tighter than ever as she thought of her previous experience. No, it couldn''t be! The man had just been separated from her because he waste!

    Yes, that must be the case!

    She hypnotized herself as she turned around and focused on the room. The entire ce was covered with metal walls and tables. nk screens covered the entire area at the front while the left and right sides of the medium size room were filled with shelves.

    Ang happened to nce at the left shelf only to have the color from her face drained. There were multiple jars with human organs dipped inside water. Bubbles formed around the organs which made it look even more horrifying.

    She quickly averted her eyes and didn''t dare to nce at that ce anymore, "What the heck is all this?"

    "It looks more like ab or something," said Shane as he watched the girl walking closer to the row of screens ced in front of him and pressing a button on the keyboard.

    "Hey, don''t press things indiscriminately!" Shane red at the scene as he watched the girl brazenly pressing things.

    She ignored the system as she clicked on the switch-on button, but nothing happened. She heaved a sigh of relief as her shoulders rxed. But before she could open her mouth, the light above their heads attached to the ceiling flickered.

    The light turned off all of a sudden. Ang''s body tensed as she stared at the scene in front of her eyes. She quickly pulled out her sword and held it in her trembling hands.<sub> </sub>

    She shouldn''t have yed with things around here! She quickly turned and backed away a few steps. Before she could even do anything, the entire surrounding changed.

    All kinds of monsters appeared around her. There were snakes, wolves, and all the others she had ever seen aftering here. Not only that, they were thousands in number!

    Her body trembled, on the verge of falling to the ground as she gripped the hilt of the sword tightly with her trembling hands, "System, what should I do??"

    Shane looked at the scene expressionlessly and said, "You shouldn''t have done something I warned you against! This is all your fault!"

    "Wu¡­.." Ang started crying at that moment. "I know... can you tell me the solution now already?"

    Shane had a headache at this moment. He pressed his forehead and massaged his temples and said, "I''ll take control of your body in a while. Just¡­.. manage until then."

    The first half gave the girl relief, but when she heard the other half, her entire body stiffened. She chuckled nervously as snakes around her hissed and let out their tongues. They seemed to be hungry for some reason.

    Ang didn''t dare to look around again, "You''ve got to be kidding me! How can I fight these?"

    "Are they attacking you yet?" Shane reminded her, "They are just standing like that. So if you don''t move, they won''t do anything either."

    "Are you sure?" Ang seemed to see the light.

    Shane nodded, "Yup. I''m positive."

    He wasn''t really sure, but he had to stabilize his host first. The girl was like a vacancy fuse that would go off just by a small stimtion. If not, the situation might take a worse turn, making him even fail the first exam.

    He took a deep breath and tried to calm his anxious heart. He knew that even if this host died, nothing would happen because passing the test didn''t depend on whether the host lived or not.

    They were going to be evaluated based on their performances. But still, this was Shane''s second-ever job as a system. He didn''t want to be the reason for someone''s death even if it was a virtual world.

    His righteousness seemed unnecessary at the moment, but he couldn''t help it.

    He was just amon human being before he died. Who in themon world would think of killing others and be happy with it?

    This time, Ang listened to him. She stood there, trembling, without moving a muscle. She didn''t even dare to breathe loudly and blink furiously. She even tried to minimize her trembling, but she failed miserably.

    But the stare of the monsters around her seemed to have gotten darker and deeper. The amount of saliva they kept on leaking through their mouths doubled.

    Ang sobbed, "They''re really hungry! Do something!"

    Shane nced at his ount and gritted his teeth, "I have no money to artificially buy your body control! Can''t you control your trembling?"

    "No¡­.. please¡­.."

    Before they could continue to banter, they suddenly felt a wave of dark energy, suppressing them. At least, that''s what Shane felt from the shared senses. This dark aura was so powerful that it almost rivaled him!

    Shane couldn''t help but frown. There seemed to be a powerful enemy in the background who wanted to harm him for some reason. He still remembered the horror of being in a severe world after getting hacked.

    Even though this current world was also severe, the monster was way too powerful this time. He could tell just by feeling the aura that the monster should be almost a hundred-level! The oppressive aura made even him feel a cold sweat on his back.

    Something was wrong with this world. He could feel it in his bones.

    He suppressed his anxiety and nced at his ount. For some reason, even Crana seemed to have been frozen on the spot. Was he really not getting any money? Or could it be someone who hacked the server again?

    He quickly opened the chat box and texted Jake, "Hey, are you there?"

    The other system was like a chatterbox, who would find any small opportunity to talk to others, especially harass Shane out of his mind. But this time even the chatterbox stayed silent.

    Something was wrong.

    Shane had a bad foreboding in his heart as he took deep breaths to calm himself. Just a few minutes more, and he would be able to use the free body control item!

 Chapter 74 73. Dying

    Laughter echoed in the background all of a sudden. It was cold and chilling to the point that Ang fell to the ground. She couldn''t help but tremble as her face turned white as a sheet of paper.

    Shane wasn''t any better. Ever since he found out about his new powers, his confidence soared to an unimaginable degree. He had thought that as long as he had his powers, he wouldn''t be afraid of these bunch of monsters.

    He had thought no one would be rivaled him since he could simply suck away others'' powers.

    But now, after such a long time, he felt a trace of fear embracing his heart. He didn''t know what to do for a moment as he stood there in the darkness, inside Ang''s mind.

    Before he could think of what to do, the cold and chilling voice spoke the most surprising words Shane had ever heard, "System 12254801, isn''t it? I am surprised you couldst this long," the voice paused for a moment as if thinking of something and said, "Oh, I guess with your powers it would have been a shock if you failed."

    The traces of color faded from Shane''s face. He couldn''t help but stay at the screen in front of him with a serious expression on his face. But no matter how much he tried to search, you couldn''t find anyone speaking in such a cold tone directly to him.

    Just who was this person?

    How did this monster know about his powers?

    No, wait, the livestream was still going on! And he couldn''t even turn it off!

    If things went on like this, he would definitely be exposed!

    For a moment, Shane didn''t know what to be afraid of! His heartbeat sped up as he said, "Ask what the man meant by that?"

    Ang, who was trembling on the ground, woke up from a daze after hearing a system speaking in a severe tone like this. She raised her head only two ns around at the monsters stared at her as if she was their prey.

    She lowered her head and didn''t dare to nce around anymore. She was so afraid at this point that she didn''t even bother asking why the demon was targeting her system instead of her.

    She was the host, a human being, we should have looked delicious to any monster out there. Yet, an unknown entity was targeting her system. If she was in a normal mind, she would have asked about it.

    But her trembling body was already on the job falling to the ground unconscious. She didn''t want to do this anymore.

    Shane realized that his host was no longer sane, so he didn''t bother talking to her anymore. At this point, all he could do was wait for the other demon to speak.

    The cold voice didn''t bother asking for a reply. The demon chuckled and said, "You don''t have to reply to me. It took a lot of trouble to get you away from that b*stard, Ed! Now that you are out of his control, I won''t let go of this special opportunity. Say what, shall we have one on one?"

    Shane''s face paled. This person even knew his master! What should he do now?

    He immediately opened his menu and texted Dirt, letting the robot know about the situation here. Since Shanecked time, he didn''t bother going into detail about how he reached the current scenario.

    He only wrote about the strange demon who had suddenly captured his host. Even though Shane kind of knew that his attempt to approach Dirt was futile, he still had to give it a try onest time.

    As expected, as soon as he sent out the text, he heard the cold voice speaking to him again indirectly, "Ah system 12254801, you never learn, do you? As long as you are here, and as long as you''repeting in the exam, you cannot contact the outside world under mymand.

    "Even if you bother sending messages, I will just disperse them with a flick of my finger," the demon chuckled again, "You didn''t think you would find someone as powerful as me, did you? s, I''m sorry to disappoint you."

    Shane took a deep breath as he cursed his luck. He wanted to retort, but his host was frozen and he didn''t have the ability to converse with the demon. He could only helplessly watch the events being unfolded.

    Still¡­.

    He had one shot. He nced at his menu. The control of the body was still in Ang''s hands, but he could get it in a few minutes.

    Just a few more minutes, and he would be able to do something at the end.<sub> </sub>

    Until that point, he could only wait and urge the girl to do something. Speaking would also do, but the teenager seemed to have stayed frozen at the ce without any chance of moving.

    "Ang, get up!" Shane tried it one more time but to no avail. She didn''t move.

    The girl kept trembling as she felt an oppressive aura pressing down her body. She wanted to say something, but she couldn''t. She sat there in a trance as her entireplexion turned white.

    Shane sighed. His anxiety didn''t ease, but at this moment, he knew he could count only on himself. He darted his dark nce toward the scene in front of him and let out a cold chuckle, "Fine, if you want to y it like this, let''s see what you''ve got! I''m not afraid of anything!"

    The demon also opened his mouth as if he had expected Shane''s outburst, "System 12254801, believe me, if I say it, I really do want to have a chat with you, but this is the most convenient way for both of us, isn''t it? I can guide you however I want!"

    Shane said nothing at this time as he continued to think vigntly.

    ''Think, what should be done?'' he frowned as his fingers curled up in a fist, ''How can I fight this monster? There''s still a lot of time for that body control function to be unlocked. What should I do?''

    No matter how much Shane thought about it, he couldn''te up with a solution, he even tried using his powers from inside the body, but he couldn''t because he wasn''t really connected with the outside world.

    The more he waited, the more anxious he got. He didn''t know what to do at the moment.

    But it was strange¡­.

    Even though the monster had full control over the situation, it didn''t do anything extra¡­.

    Could it be the demon didn''t have the ability? Or just couldn''t kill Shane''s host?

    While he was pondering over the situation, he got a definite answer to his question. The demon opened his mouth and said, "Well then, let''s get started, shall we? Our human¡­. Oops, virtual human is also ready to be devoured."

    Shane''s brows knitted, he wasn''t surprised to see that this demon even knew that this world was fake. So did it mean that the demon was aware of the situation and was actually an entity from the outside world? Quite possible.

    Shane knew that he wouldn''t be able to get rid of this demon, and he also knew that he couldn''t save Ang anymore. So he rested back as he crossed his legs on the ground and stared at the screen in azy manner.

    He might as well give up and wait for his host to die.

    Just as he expected, the monsters around Ang seemed to have received a signal to attack first. They allunched toward the girl without stopping. Thetter''s face was pale as white, and she was so scared that she didn''t have even a single ounce of energy that could urge her to fight back.

    She just stared nkly at the scene in front of her eyes for a second before the monsters shed onto her body. Their teeth dug deeper into her limbs and started tearing them apart.

    The bubbly girl who was afraid of dying was murdered just like that. But the brief moment when Shane and the girl''s virtual soul stayed for a small moment, the pain they felt coursing through their veins was greater than they could even imagine.

    At least, this was the situation for Shane. Previously, Noah had died back then when he was still unconscious. So Shane didn''t feel the pain through the shared senses. But this time, it wasn''t the same.

    He could feel the pain of his limbs being torn apart bit by bit. The sharp canine dug deeper into the skin, making Shane feel cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He let out a groan as he fell to the ground weakly.

    Was this how it felt like dying?

    His entire body split apart, crumbling into small bits and pieces even when it was intact. He could feel waves of pain flushing throughout his body. It almost felt like a lot of scorpions stung him again and again, making him feel extremely miserable.

    This kind of pain was new to him, and Shane didn''t think dying would be a gut-wrenching experience. Hey there in a daze without having any idea about what he should do. His thoughts emptied at the moment as he took deep breaths.

    Finally, after what felt like hours, he closed his eyes tired out of his wits. Hisst thought before closing his eyes was that he didn''t want to feel this ever again.

 Chapter 75 74. A Couples Fight!

    The next moment Shane opened his eyes was when he returned to the open ground, lying under the wide sky without anyone around. Not a single soul, not even Echo was there except for the students standing there in silence.

    It seemed as if the exam just now affected everyone''s mental and emotional statuses. Shane sighed and covered up his face. He knew that he would fail this mission, but he didn''t think he would fail so miserably.

    Just who was that demon?

    That person seemed powerful enough to stop him from appearing. If he could control the body of that girl, he wouldn''t have failed.

    That''s right. He never got a chance.

    But despite thinking like this, Shane knew that he desperatelycked when ites to power. He only had one spell and one power-sucking technique to deal with the monsters.

    He had smugly thought that he could defeat anyone as long as he attacked with the energy balls. Even if he couldn''t use energy balls, he could deal with the demons using his power-sucking ability.

    But this exam opened his eyes wide.

    So what if he had unlimited cosmic energy? He still couldn''t defeat that demon.

    Shane sighed as he pushed himself off the ground. He nced around, but he couldn''t find either Frank or Tess. His brows raised at that.

    They still weren''t out?

    Just as he was thinking about whether he should approach Echo, a familiar robot with his master towing behind walked out of the building. The bald man still looked cold as ever, ncing around without any expression on his face. Only when he saw Shane, he paused for a bit before nodding as if nothing happened.

    After reaching the portal, he raised his head and said, "There has been a mishap inside. As you had all seen, killing thest demon was particrly impossible because he wasn''t supposed to enter this portal at all."

    For some reason, Shane could detect a mocking tone in Ed''s words. He frowned. It seemed his master knew more things about this situation than he had expected.

    He continued to hear the man''s words without opening his mouth.

    "Echo didn''t do her job properly," Ed said with a deadpan expression on his face, "I was ordered to rece her while she was sent to the detention center for letting someone hack the server without any hindrance."

    He nced around and said, "Two people are still inside," he turned toward his robot sideways, "Do something about it."

    "On it," said Dirt as he opened his menu. He tapped something on it before raising his head, "I can''t get them out in an ongoing job. They''re still fighting one another."

    "Fight?" Shane spoke all of a sudden as he looked at the robot in surprise, "What''re you talking about?"

    "You heard me right," Dirt opened a shared window of a livestream and showed it to everyone else, "Take a look. Their hosts are fighting one another."

    Shane was surprised. He knew that it was basically impossible to know who the other system was unless they texted you. So it should be that both Tess and Frank probably have no idea that they were fighting one another.

    At this time, Tess, who was inside her host''s mind, couldn''t help but be angry. Her goal was to kill the destroyers, and her luck was so bad that she ended up finding only one enemy who was strong enough to fight shoulder to shoulder with equal strength.

    They were fighting with normal swords at present as their hosts shed with one another. It seemed even the hosts knew one another as they shed.

    "You will never win!" A woman with specks uttered those words as she shed with the other person dressed in ck. The man''s hair was pushed back with gel, looking like a cold CEO.

    The man looked coldly and spat, "You''re a shameless woman! How can I be blind enough to fall for you? You''re clearly a snake!"

    Shane, who was watching all of these things, raised his brows. Even though he couldn''t tell whose system was Tess, the coincidence that those two hosts also had an ambiguous rtionship was too much.

    He continued to nce at the scene.

    The woman with specks shouted as she attacked the man. Tears brimming in her eyes, but she didn''t back away, "I had loved you, and I still do! What changed is your perception toward me, you b*stard!"

    "I changed?" The man attacked her again, "If you can just die peacefully, I''ll be able to live. You''re my wife. You''re supposed to willingly give your life to me! Isn''t this how a woman should do?!"

    "You still don''t understand, do you?" The woman chuckled and wiped her face. Her chuckle was filled with a lot of pain throbbing in her throat, "I wanted to do the same, but the moment you uttered those disgusting words, we fell apart, and I thought it was better to save myself rather than choose some piece of sh*t."

    "You chose? No, I think you showed your true colors!" The man was extremely angry after hearing the woman as he shed with her sword with more power, "You were always like this, little selfish witch!" He paused for a moment and said, "System, give me a boost! I''ll end this right here!"<sub> </sub>

    The woman looked at the man she had called her husband for a while and shed a tear before gripping the sword tightly in her fist, "System, I think we should use it."

    Her system seemed to have said something as the woman shook her head and continued, "I didn''t want to, but we should. This is the best solution."

    As soon as she said that, a window appeared in front of her with a spell written in the center. It was a spell attack that cost her quite a lot, but she didn''t back away because this was all the woman could do. She took a deep breath and uttered the spell under her breath and thrust her sword to the ground.

    The ground cracked as fire sparked up from the sword and entered the ground.

    It was clear that the woman''s attribute was fire, making Shane realize that her system might be Tess. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at her.

    Soon after this, the ground started boiling. Before the guy in ck had a chance to use his spell, his eyes widened when the ground beneath his feet started trembling and boiling, "You¡­. Stop the spell!"

    "I can''t!" The woman whimpered in pain as she gripped the sword tightly. Then she let out a chuckle and looked at her husband with a trace of longing in her eyes, "Let''s die together, n."

    Just then, the ground sted, creating a huge impact. The entire livestream also ended at the same time.

    Soon after that, two bodies were thrown out of the portal,nding on the ground like what Shane had experienced. He immediately dashed toward the red-headed girl who whimpered.

    This test was special because they all got to experience a taste of death. He knew his sister might be in a daze at the moment. He crouched and pulled the girl up, "Tess, are you alright?"

    The girl blinked and moved as she nced at the person holding her, ".....Shane?"

    After staring at him, tears formed in her eyes. Drops continued to drip from the corner of her eyes, making her look pitiful. The two stayed like that for a moment until they heard another whimper from the side.

    Shane nced beside him to find Frank staring at Tess with aplicated expression on his face, "I was fighting you?"

    Tess immediately got up on her feet and red at the boy, "So the other damned system supporting a b*stard of a man was you. Hah!"

    "No, I was just doing my job."

    "Doing your job?" Tess''s lips twitched as she leaned toward Frank, "More like you were supporting him! I never realized you were like that!"

    "...." Frank stared at her for a while before getting up on his feet and walking away without saying a word.

    Tess got even angrier at that. She didn''t look like someone who was just crying her eyes out when her brother was holding her. Her entire face turned into that of a ruthlessdy who couldn''t wait to beat someone up.

    Shane, who was left behind, silently got up on his feet and brushed off non-existent dust from his body, and walked over to Dirt, pretending as if nothing happened.

    Ah, it was so embarrassing. He shouldn''t have butted in his sister''s matters. She was perfectly fine!

    The red-haired girl kept running after a certain boy, who ran away from the girl.

    Shane shook his head.

    What he didn''t know was that serious conservation was going on somewhere closer to this ce. The demon who had dealt with the final blow while fighting with Shane was also the one who had killed Noah. He hid on the branch of a tree as he stared at the open ground and clicked his tongue, "That guy disappointed me."

    Another person in a hood appeared behind him, "The boss said you should hide. Don''t reveal yourself. Ed is standing right here."

    That sentence seemed to have poked his critical nerve. The demon''s face, which was not visible in the dark, twisted as a ruthless expression appeared in his dark, red eyes, "That damned bald man. I still have to do something about him. He has caused enough trouble for me for the past few years!"

    "I''ve watched everything. You did a good job," the man in the hood spoke in a cold tone, "We have concluded that Shane is really not the king of darkness. He''s just an unworthy little soul who happened to have this power. So our evaluation is to get back what belongs to us. For that, we still hope you will cooperate."

    The man waved his hand, "Whatever. As long as you can give me what you want."

    The demon said those words as he stared at a certain bald man with a twisted smile on his face, "I need that man''s head fallen at my feet and my mercy. Do whatever you can for that. Get it?"

    The hooded man sighed as his body shed away, without leaving a single trace behind. The demon saw this and snickered. He also vanished from the branch without a trace.

    At the same time, Ed, who was busy a moment ago watching his students making rukus, darted his nce at the tree, specifically the branch that was hiding the demon just now. The bald man''s eyes narrowed as if he had just realized something, and the corners of his lips curved up, "Interesting. I didn''t think he woulde himself."

 Chapter 76 75. The Argument!

    After dealing with everything, the students returned to their dorms. They weren''t in their right mind to do anything at the moment because of experiencing death firsthand. Only Shane followed Ed and Dirt after everyone was gone. Tess was still busy chasing Frank, and Shane was d for that. At least, she wouldn''t keep an eye on his moments.

    He sighed as he followed. He still remembered what had happened inside the portal, and that strange demon also made him feel weird in his heart. If that monster could do it once, he could repeat the process in every world he would go.

    But why him? Why would these hackers go after him of all people? Was the power he possessed so great?

    He looked at the palm of his hands with aplicated look on his face. Just then, he heard the bald man speaking, "What do you want to say, speak."

    Only then did Shane realize that they had safely entered Ed''s office and he didn''t even realize it while thinking so deeply. He scratched the back of his neck and said, "Master¡­ something happened inside the portal. Someone-"

    "A strange entity came and killed you, didn''t he?"

    "How did you know?"

    Ed was silent for a while as he exchanged a nce with Dirt. They both were unnaturally silent for the moment as the robot answered first, "I cannot answer you who that person was, but let''s save your life first. Echo managed to lock your eject button. So, I''ll remove it from your menu and give you additional protection."

    "Protection?" Shane tilted his head. From what he heard, he felt like Ed knew who that person was inside the portal, but they didn''t want to tell him about it.

    Dirt nodded as he opened his menu first, "Let''s just say it will be a secret code that can connect you to me in an instant despite being anywhere in the portal. You can easily receive my assistance in critical situations. If you get stuck, I can help you with all I can."

    Shane pursed his lips and nodded. For the first time in his life, he felt that having a master wasn''t all that bad. He felt his shoulders rx as he smiled and said, "Then, I''ll go back."

    As soon as he left, the expression on Dirt''s face twisted as he darted his nce at Ed, "Did he reallye?"

    "Really¡­ you didn''t feel it wrong."

    Dirt''s face changed multiple times before a hint of excitement appeared on his face, "Can I fight him? Pleaseeeeee!!!!!!!!!"

    Ed pressed a finger on his forehead as he sighed, "If he''s still around, you can."

    Dirt''s eyes widened as he instantly opened his menu. He typed for quite a while, but in the end, he still couldn''t manage to find the person he was looking for. He only saw a shadow of a certain person shing past the open ground brazenly as if that person were mocking right at his face.

    Dirt''s anger spiked as he red at the screen in front of his eyes. He raised his head and said, "Boss, can I reverse the time and kill him? Please, give me permission."

    "Nope," Ed spoke nkly while leaning against the table, "You''re not allowed to y with time. It bites you back. Haven''t you learned it already?"

    Dirt''s expressions changed again as he just remembered something. He grimaced and finally calmed down. His face returned to normal at this time, "Fine. So what should we do? Why is he targetting Shane out of everyone else?"

    Ed was silent for a while as he frowned, "I don''t think that person is after Shane. It''s his mysterious powers and the fact that I managed to bring him under me. That person is finally showing fear."

    Dirt nodded. "Then we should keep an eye on Shane at all times."

    "There''s something wrong with this situation though¡­. I feel like, something else is also involved," Ed sighed tiredly, "Those pair of master and disciple is troubling me a lot. At least, Echo will go away after what happened with the exam. Let''s think about that person now."

    Shane didn''t know that his master was worried about that demon. He silentlyy on the bed and closed his eyes, but the feeling of being killed was so heavy that as soon as he closed his eyes, shes of that that when his body felt immense pain came back to his mind.

    His breathing went faster as he tried to adjust himself by taking deep breaths, but his thoughts remained the same. He had still died a brutal death.

    Shane opened his eyes and sat on the bed.

    He shouldn''t use shared senses during death. It wasn''t good for his emotional and mental well-being at all.

    Somehow, he ended up jumping out of his bed and wandering aimlessly into the corridor. He didn''t know what to do with the free time at hand. So he would just roam around the institute and think about his future.

    Future¡­.<sub> </sub>

    Shane felt likeughing at this word. After today, he knew clearly that hecked, and he wasn''t that powerful enough to protect himself and his sister. He should get ready to develop himself and at least create new spells that would save his life in such situations in the future.

    But why did he feel like the answer that he was seeking was in the palm of his hands? He just had to reach out to it and create a miracle.

    He swiftly shook his head as he was just about to turn back, a vague conservation reached his ears.

    "Frank, let me warn you if we ever get into a rtionship, I''ll not be as stupid as my host," the girl was silent for a while before she continued, "I''ll kill you if you talk, no think something like that."

    Tess?

    Talking about rtionships?

    Shane''s attention was sessfully grabbed as he jumped out of the window and followed the voice. It seemed that they were on the terrace as he climbed using thedder outside and nced at two people sitting on the roof. There was an obvious red mark on Frank''s cheek as his expressions were dark as if he had just faced a drastic situation.

    Then he looked at the haughty and proud Tess who sat beside the boy.

    Shane''s brows furrowed. Even though he had given his sister the freedom to do whatever she wanted, it didn''t mean she would just go out and have a rtionship, given their situation. Didn''t she know that they were supposed to be systems, not humans who could have the luxury to be in a rtionship?

    It was difficult to even for family members to maintain their rtionship when faced with a condition such as today. All the systems were up against one another. To be honest, Shane didn''t know what he would do if he had faced Tess instead of Frank.

    He frowned and couldn''t help but imagine that scene before shaking his head. He was d that his luck wasn''t that bad.

    He raised his head and nced at two people sitting on the rooftop, looking at the moon withpletely different expressions on their faces. He sneered and walked closer as he stood between them. He eyed Frank as if telling the guy to move away from his sister.

    Thetter seemed to have gotten a hint as he scooted away from the girl with a trace of blush on his face. Tess was also blushing, but she raised her head and red at her brother furiously, "Hey, Shane, why are you here? You disturbed my date!"

    Shane looked at the p mark on Frank''s face and couldn''t help but think, ''He was so d that this girl was his sister.''

    "Sure, date all you can, but you''re not allowed to have a rtionship just yet."

    "You cannot stop me!" Tess was furious at this time. She was like a fuse that could go off any minute.

    "She''s right," another familiar voice rang from behind, "Don''t be a dictator on your sister."

    Jake.

    Shane took a deep breath and red at the man who walked closer and put his hands on the former''s shoulders, looking like azy young master from a rich family. He raised his head and stared at Tess before whistling, "You''re a gem. How about trying to date me?"

    Just then, Shane punched him in the stomach, "Don''t even think about it as long as I''m alive."

    The smile nearly slipped off Jake''s face as he crouched and covered up his stomach. He chuckled in a strained voice, "What do you eat to have so much power in your limbs?"

    "Don''t change the topic!" Shane was particrly angry at this time after seeing so many birds and bees following his sister. He turned and red at her, "This is all your fault. Can''t you dress properly?"

    "Why am I being med for this again?" Tess red at her brother, "Jake is right. You''re being a dictator!"

    "Can''t I just be a brother worried for his sister?" Shane red at her in return.

    While they were arguing above the roof and passing the night, a certain silver-haired girl was sneaking and watching everything while hiding behind the pir. Jake seemed to have sensed something as he nced in her direction. Suddenly, the corners of his lips ticked up, but he said nothing as he got busy in the conservation.

    Echo lowered her head and aplicated expression appeared on her face. After a while,  it seemed as if she had just made a decision and vanished from sight.

 Chapter 77 76. A Ghost!

    The next day.

    All the students gathered on the open ground as they all chattered while waiting for their invigtor. They still remembered the mishap that had urred during the first test. The mission was specifically twisted to make sure that the systems were against one another.

    Since it was an official exam, it should be something simple yet concrete to help the systems get hold of their jobs. But the exam yesterday only made all the systems feel devastated and depressed. Since the exam didn''t do its job properly, Echo was the one to be punished because she had originally designed that exam.

    At this time, Ed walked over with Dirt following behind him. He still had an expressionless face as he walked to the center and stood in front of the students. Both Shane and Tess had also managed to arrive as they stood next to one another, waiting for their next exam to start.

    All the students were still slightly disturbed from the first exam. They were mentally and emotionally exhausted, and in no mood to continue going on.

    Ed knew this well. So he opened his mouth and said, "Well, this exam will be fairly easy. Everyone will be given the same storyline and a simr world, but you guys will be acting individually. It''ll be yourst virtual world, and this exam will teach you how you should act professionally. Of course, your missions will be different ording to your attributes.

    "Consequently, the next exam will be equally difficult since it will be your first real world. I can''t do anything about the exams that Echo had set up for you guys. It''s toote for us to devise and create new worlds for you. So you guys will have to go with your arrangement despite being unfair."

    Murmurs spread across the ground as everyone had frightened expressions on their faces. Shane also frowned as he stared at his master.

    Ed raised his hand to silence everyone else and opened his mouth, "We have eliminated everything that should be eliminated. So don''t worry about any dangers. My assistant here will help me keep an eye on you guys individually. Any questions?"

    One of the students raised his hand, "Can we see or contact one another?"

    "No," Ed still had an expressionless face, "You will be acting individually. Do you know what it means? If your host is A, your friend''s host will also be A. It''ll be like several parallel worlds. We will record who does the best performance and give him a rating ordingly. Oh, that reminds me," Ed paused and nced at Shane, "The results of yesterday''s exams are out.

    "Because of the mishap, all of you will be given full marks aspensation for the emotional and mental trauma. Now, after this, remember not to turn on sense sharing brazenly. We have also sent you ten experience points for yesterday''s mistake."

    Everyone''s eyes lit up at that. Shane opened his stats.

    [Level: 3

    Exp: 150

    Job: Null

    MaxHP: 100/100

    MaxCE: ???/100 (Cosmic Energy)

    Attribute: Darkness

    Strength: 50

    Agility: 50

    Stamina: 50

    Intelligence: 45

    Vitality: 45

    Attack: 47

    Skill: 1

    Weapons: 1

    Physical Resistance: 49

    CE Resistance: 50

    Luck: 40

    Overall status: A Beginner.]

    Shane raised his brows after seeing his stats. No wonder he felt that his strength had increased. It turned out, his stats had increased, even his level had enhanced. He nodded in satisfaction and closed the stats. He might be able to climb higher with the help of these exams.

    Ed raised his hand again and said, "Let''s get ready for the exam. I''ll call your names one by one, and you''re all going to enter the portal one after another."

    One by one, everyone went inside the portal as they silently waited for their opportunity. It was finally Shane''s turn as he nced at the expressionless Ed and entered the portal without any dy.

    As soon as he entered, he was again taken into a dark space as he saw the initializing process. Soon enough, his vision blurred, and the next moment he opened his eyes, he found himself in the same mind space. He opened his system job window and looked at the screen that showed the host''s perspective.<sub> </sub>

    Wait, what the heck was this?

    All he could see fog like things surrounding the host''s vision. There was no sky and no ground.

    Where was he?

    Before he could continue to think, his host spoke: "Where am I? Wasn''t I on my way home?"

    Shane immediately opened the world information only to be even more surprised.

    This world was a ghost world with the host being a ghost as expected. The host was originally a human being in the original world, a regr employee with a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He became unlucky enough to fall into the pit and die just like that.

    The mission was to destroy the world.

    As usual. Shane sneered as he continued to read through the details of the mission. His host was supposed to enter the bodies of the monsters and wreak havoc throughout the world, and once he passed the mission, the host would get an opportunity to be reborn as himself.

    The only issue was to convince his host to do this job. Shane frowned. This world was filled with monsters and demons. There was no sign of any human being. So it shouldn''t be too difficult.

    He had forgotten the fact that his host this time was a normal human being who would even feelpassionate after seeing a small animal being tortured. How could the ghost easily agree to destroy the world just like that?

    Shane saw that his host''s mental state was going unstable as time passed, and he opened his mouth and said, "Host, I''m system 12254801, and I''m here to help you get back to your original world."

    The ghost was unusually silent as he muttered under his breath, "Did I just imagine myself hearing a strange voice in my head? I guess I was doing too much worktely. This should be a dream."

    Shane chuckled and said, "This isn''t a dream, host. I''m a real system, and I''m here to help you return to your life."

    "Return? What do you mean?"

    "Oh, you don''t even know how you died," Shane sighed as he spoke, "Do you want to see your death video, Mr. Norman Carlson?"

    "What the f*ck are you talking about?" Norman was particrly angry. "You get out of my head!"

    "I can''t, sadly. I''m bound to you until you either fail or win this mission," Shane paused and spoke again, "As you can see, there''s nothing around you, and without me, you might stay in this situation for a long, long time. Do you still want me to leave?"

    Norman hesitated for a while before he opened his mouth, "Fine, what do you have to say¡­. No first tell me, how did I die?"

    "You fell in a pit."

    The host thought for a while and went unnaturally silent. It seemed as if he remembered that he did fall somewhere and hit his head. He rubbed his head, the exact part that had been injured and led to his death, and sighed, "Fine, I guess you''re right. What do I do now?"

    "Don''t worry host," Shane opened his mouth and tried to act like an official while speaking, "You can be Norman Carlson once again and return to your home without any issue if you finish this mission."

    If it were a normal teenager, he would have agreed in an instant, but this was an employee who had seen the world''s ups and downs clearly with his own eyes. He didn''t believe that there was such a good thing in the world free of cost.

    He narrowed his eyes as he opened his mouth and said, "What''s the catch?"

    Sure enough. There was a difference between dealing with a teenager and a mature person. Shane sighed and said, "You have to fulfill the mission, as I said."

    "What''s the mission?" The host wasn''t buying it.

    So Shane obediently told him about it, "You have to destroy this world," he paused for a while and continued to give out an exnation, "Don''t worry about it though. This world was full of monsters and demons who had already killed humans long back. Now, they''re starving animals, killing one another brutally. It''s mandatory to destroy this world before they destroy themselves."

    Norman went silent again as if he was contemting his situation. After a while, he finally opened his mouth and asked, "Is there no other mission?"

    "No, I only have this one mission."

    "So, if I do what I told you to, I can go back?"

    Shane was silent for a while. For some reason, he could feel a trace of a trap. If he answered that the host could go back, he could tell what answer he would receive.

    The host had already seen the ups and downs of life, and since this person had gotten an opportunity to leave that job and world, he would definitely be happy in this fog. What a pain!

    Shane sighed as he thought that it was equally difficult to handle apletely mature and smart person. So he thought about his answer and opened his mouth, "You will not have to face this fog for eternity as you might if you don''t finish this task."

    Normal chuckled all of a sudden, "So this is a do-or-die situation. F*ck you, system. I agree. Give me the world setting."

 Chapter 78 77. Well, I Just Do!

    When Norman looked through the world setting and closed the menu, he had a nk expression on his face. The expression soon changed to disbelief as he asked, "System, I have to destroy a freaking world?"

    "That''s right," Shane spoke without a hint of guilt in his heart, "You have to do it whether you like it or not."

    ''Simr to the way I''m doing,'' Shane thought.

    "But why? Why this world?" The host seemed to have aplicated expression on his face, "I understand that it''s a world filled with monsters and demons who were responsible for destroying the humans, but why do I have to be responsible for this? Not all the monsters would be the same¡­."

    Shane was silent for a while. He used to think like that a few weeks ago too. He knew too well that the human mind wouldn''t work anymore after entering the system world.

    You would have to kill the monsters, survive in the wild, and be selfish to keep your life in the system world. It was a cruel yet enlightening ce that showed him the ultimate reality of everything.

    Shane knew that his host was still naive as an ordinary human being. He sighed and said, "Host, let me be honest with you, do you really mean that?"

    "What do you me-"

    "Did you really mean what you just said?" Shane''s eyes squinted, "Humans tend to act like they have empathy when they don''t. You''re a selfish person, but because you will ''look'' kind andpassionate like some protagonist of a story, you act as if you care. Do you actually care about other beings as much as you''re showing?"

    Norman was silent for a moment. He wanted to refute his system, but when he thought deeply about it, he knew those words were correct. He was tongue-tied at the moment.

    He opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice, "What do I need to do?"

    The corners of Shane''s lips curved up, "We''ll possess the body of the most powerful monster here. Don''t worry. I''ll guide you to find that person."

    Norman nodded as he obediently floated outside the fog, finally facing the dark world filled with ck sky and ground bathed in the color of blood. Monsters surrounded the entire as they walked here and there like headless flies. Some of them were busy fighting one another in groups, creating even more bloodshed.

    A scrap of buildings made the entire scene look like an apocalyptic view from a zombie movie. Norman sighed and said, "Fine, the world''s already almost destroyed anyways."

    "Good," Shane released the breath he was holding. To be honest, he didn''t know if he could convince the man older than him, but he thought of himself and how to best convince his younger version. The things he said just now to his host were the words he would most likely speak in front of his younger version.

    After deciding what to do, Shane instantly opened the radar only to see his screen filled with red dots of different shades. His eyes blinked as he tried to find the most powerful monster. When he noticed his target, he immediately told his host about the location and said, "Let''s go! We need to possess his body andmand everyone else to destroy this world."

    Shane frowned after saying that. Howe his mission this time was so simple? It was as if he didn''t need to use his powers anymore.

    He didn''t think too much about it as his host started walking onward. Soon enough, they both reached the ce where the most powerful monster was located¡ªan old pce filled with broken walls and wines all over the ce. The air surrounding that area was filled with the scent of blood and mud.

    Norman wrinkled his nose in disgust. He covered up his nose with the back of his hand, "What the heck is this? What smells so bad?"

    Shane frowned. He shouldn''t have turned off the shared senses feature. He sighed and turned it on swiftly as a gush of strange scent filled his nose.

    His facial muscles twisted to form a disgusted expression on his face. He didn''t utter a word but carried on watching the entire scene through the screen.

    After walking forward, Shane finally realized what smelled so bad. The entire ce was filled with monsters'' bodies lying on the ground. Not a single one of them was alive as limbs of a few dead bodies were thrown here and there. Some monsters'' faces were even crushed as their eyeballs rolled out of their eyes.

    Almost all the monsters had insects crawling on their bodies.

    Shane averted his eyes as if he didn''t want to watch this kind of scene anymore. He was at least in a better condition, but he could feel his stomach churning as he felt the acidic bile climbing to his throat.

    The host was going to puke. He instantly turned off the sense-sharing thing as he watched the floating ghost puking dark energy out of his body.

    Shane looked at the scene expressionlessly for a while before silently turning on that senses function without saying anything when the host''s expression returned to normal. Norman took deep breaths as he fixed his expression and said, "I apologize for that."

    "Let''s go. We still have a lot of things to do."

    Soon enough, they managed toe face-to-face with the monster they were supposed to possess. The thing in front of Norman, sitting on the white marble throne with its furry legs spread.<sub> </sub>

    The most outrageous thing was that the monster''s manhood was hanging between the legs as it sat just like that without any hint of shame on his dog-shaped furry face with canines. Norman''s expression turned frosty as he red at the monster, "What the heck is this?!"

    Even Shane''s expressions weren''t right after watching this shameless monster, but he could still control himself as he forced a chuckle, "You have to possess this monster."

    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" Norman yelled in his mind as he red at the monster, "It doesn''t even have a decent pair of clothes!"

    "It''s a monster, what do you expect?"

    Norman wanted to continueining, but he stopped and asked, "How do I do this?"

    Shane also didn''t know as he suggested, "Let''s try getting inside the monster first."

    Norman nodded as he floated toward the monster and entered his body, but before he could rejoice, he realized that he hadn''t entered the body. He seemed to have passed through the monster.

    Even thetter couldn''t see a ghost wandering around, trying to possess its monstrous body. The more Norman tried, the more frustrated he got. In the end, he had ayer of cold sweat on his ghost body as he looked at the monster in a frustrated manner.

    It seemed to be deeply asleep with its furry hands and the ws resting against its chin. Norman red once more at this monster, "Why is this happening? Shouldn''t I possess it easily because of my ghost nature? System, do something!"

    Shane frowned as he opened his host''s stats only to raise his brows.

    The stats showed that the ghost was on the tenth level with one skill at hand. Surprisingly, Norman could control both divine and dark energies in different forms!

    This was new!

    Shane''s eyes shone with curiosity as he coughed and said, "Open your menu and look at how many skills you have. Maybe you can get a clue from there."

    Norman nodded as he followed the instructions. After a while, he gasped in surprise, "So this is why I couldn''t do it all this time. It turns out, I have to utter a spell to be able to possess the body. And it also says that I can''t just possess without a fight."

    ? His brows furrowed, "What does it mean without a fight? How can I fight in my ghost form?"

    Shane said nothing as he replied, "Let''s use the skill first."

    The ghost opened his mouth and repeated those words without any dy. Soon after that, a bright light shone from the ghost''s body as thetter shed toward the monster, entering his body with ease.

    The monster''s body twitched for a while and then stopped.

    At this time, Norman entered the mind of the monster as thetter''s body stood at the center of nk space. Norman was surprised, "Is this the monster''s soul?"

    Shane shook his head, "It''s not easy to see the soul. This is most likely the mental image of this monster. As long as you defeat it, you will be able to possess it fully."

    The host narrowed his eyes, "How do you know these things?"

    "Well¡­." Shane coughed, "I just do."

    He wasn''t going to tell his host that he was just assuming that this was the most probable solution based on the current situation. Aside from this, they had nothing to do anyway. It was better to kill it first and see what happens.

    Norman still didn''t believe his system''s words, but he decided not to care about it any longer. He said, "Then give me a weapon. I''ll fight this monster."

    Shane shook his head, "Before that, let''s make a purchase and buy as many skills and weapons as possible."

    He could see that this person''s attributes were lightning and darkness. Was it having a ghost body that led the host to be able to use dark energy? He would definitely make it useful!

 Chapter 79 78. Sea Of Monsters!

    As soon as the host got ready, Shane also looked vignt as he stared at the screen with focus. The monster growled at the same time, showing off its bloody and sharp teeth. Its body suddenly moved and shed in front of Norman. It almost felt like a sh as the body moved and when it reappeared, its ws were already up in the air, ready to hit its prey.

    Shane instantly spoke, "Kill it. Now!"

    Norman had been holding his sword, but his hand trembled as he stared at the monster at such a close distance. Ayer of cold sweat formed on his forehead, "I can''t kill someone!"

    Shane''s face darkened, "If you don''t kill it, the monster will kill you! Don''t you have some brain?"

    "I do!" Norman gritted his teeth and raised his sword to block the attack. He took deep breaths to suppress a hint of tremor bubbling from his heart, "I just don''t want to kill someone!"

    "Haven''t you killed a mosquito before?" Shane''s voice was freezing cold, "Do you feel this so-calledpassion and kindness at that time? No, you just go ahead and kill it without hesitation!

    Does that make you selfish? No, you are only trying to survive! So man up and kill it!"

    Norman was stunned after hearing that lecture. His system was right. He had indeed killed insects and mosquitoes before without feeling guilty. This monster was also a simr being, trying to harm him.

    So he shouldn''t be guilt-ridden at a time like this.

    The host soon became motivated and attacked the monster without hesitation and with any traces of guilt in his heart. The two sides got serious while attacking and dodging.

    After a few rounds of attacks, a deep and dark growl escaped the monster''s throat. Norman''s hands gripped the hilt of the regr sword. As minutes passed, his clumsiness while fighting decreased a lot, but it seemed as if his entire body was getting more and more tired.

    At the same time, the monster didn''t get tired at all. It continued to fight with the same power and ws. Even more dangerous was the fact that as time passed, the monster learned more tricks to deal with Norman''s attacks.

    It was bing harder to deal with it. Ayer of sweat formed on his forehead as his breathing went faster. He backed away and stood at a distance, staring at the monster with a frown, "System, what should we do?"

    Shane nced at the stats window and said, "We have attribute skills. Do you want to use it?"

    "What''s an attribute skill?" Norman''s head was full of questions as he continued to attack.

    "Everyone has certain attributes and power, and yours is darkness and lightning. That means you can use spells concerning these attributes."

    Norman showed an expression of understanding as he nodded and said, "Show me the spells that I can buy."

    After a while of multitasking, Norman managed to buy a few spells and weapons based on his attribute. One was an electrical sword. It could only be used once, and it would thrash electrical energy on the target.

    Another that he purchased was a spell to attack the enemy with an electrical shock that could make the target freeze for a few seconds, but it can only be used five times. The most important weapon that they bought was a small dagger that could be thrown at the enemy, and the ce where it''ll be thrown will be shocked with electrical power.

    Even though big monsters couldn''t die, this dagger could at least reduce the HP by half. The most important thing was that Norman could use it unlimitedly. With these three weapons, Norman was emptied of all his Crana. He sighed and asked, "How will I receive more Crana?"

    "Don''t worry about it, host," Shane spoke, "A livestream is turned on that can givemission. So you''ll be able to earn money as long as you please the audience."

    "Who is the audience?"

    "Residents of the system world," Shane stopped his host from speaking further, "Host, please focus on the mission first. We can discuss this after fighting with the monster."

    Yes, Norman was still fighting the monster. More likely, he was dodging the attacks rather than fighting offensively. He moved back a few steps and quickly took out that dagger and aimed at the monster. The dagger flew through the wind as it attached itself to the arm.

    Suddenly, the area where it stuck received a high voltage electrical shock that stunned the monster. It didn''t seem like it had done any harm to it other than burning some fur¡­.

    Norman''s eyes narrowed, "Why does it feel like this isn''t powerful enough?"

    "Host, we don''t have any other choice. We better use this instead."

    Norman pursed his lips and said nothing. He knew he didn''t have any other choice. At least, this dagger was better than that sword. Maybe he should use both at the same time.<sub> </sub>

    He pulled out the sword as he called others the dagger. It came back to him and flew in front of him in the air. He grabbed it with his left hand and aimed his sword at the monster, "C''mon!"

    After that, another round of fights started between the two. Shaneid back on the ground as he watched the scene and yawned.

    It was good that he didn''t need to fight at all. He had even turned off the senses sharing button long ago. So it almost felt like he was watching some first-person action movie.

    He stared at the screen for some time before his thoughts drifted to the messy things that had happened previous times. To be honest, he was expecting something to happen now too, but it didn''t.

    He couldn''t help but frown. Something was wrong, but he couldn''t point his finger.

    The fight was almost over. The monster got tired and exhausted to the point that it fell to the ground on its face as its breathing went erratic. Norman walked over and finally gave the monster a killing blow. At this time, the host''s entire body was covered up with blood and sweat. He took deep breaths before putting the weapons back in his inventory.

    Suddenly, the entire space trembled as the scene in front of his eyes disappeared. He stood there varily and asked, "System, what''s happening?"

    Shane wanted to yawn again when that question was asked. He forced the yawn down and pinched himself as he said, "You''re entering the body. Officially. Congrattions, host."

    He just wanted to go to sleep after that boring fight. If he were given a chance, he would have killed the monster in one go.

    The next moment when Norman opened his eyes was the pce. He looked down as he realize that the entirely naked monster had be himself.

    He stared at his own furry body and groaned, "Can we buy some clothes for this damned monster first?"

    "Sure, be my guest," Shane didn''t stop his host from spending money randomly like this. Every time his host purchased something, aside from sending money to the system world''s office, he would also get a certain percentage. So the more his host buys things, the more beneficial it would be for him.

    These were the things he should keep to himself.

    "Done," Norman finally felt satisfied after covering up the bottom part with shorts. He took a deep breath and asked, "Now what?"

    "Now, you have to order your subordinates. You might have obtained memories of the monster. So it wouldn''t be difficult to find those subordinates now."

    Norman was silent for a while as if he didn''t want to talk about those memories. He nodded and directly walked outside the broken pce.

    After reaching the porch, he stood there and let out a roar.

    His voice was so loud that the entire ce seemed to have trembled under his feet. Birds and other small animals rushed away from the pce grounds, hiding behind trees.

    Soon after this, as Shane continued to look through the screen, a few monsters shorter in size stood in front of Norman. Even though they looked simr, their height difference was too much. They almost looked like little kids in front of him.

    Norman yelled again for a while as if he were talking to the monsters, and in return, they yelled once before scattering away. He breathed a sigh of relief, "It should be done. So easy."

    "Don''t celebrate so fast," Shane reminded his host as he raised his head to stare at the scene, "They''lle back. They''re all intelligent creatures as you have seen throughout the fight. You can''t fool them for long."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Just wait for it," Shane frowned, "You might as well be ready to fight."

    "No, how are we supposed to destroy this world?" Norman was anxious now, "Shouldn''t that be our main focus?"

    "That is our focus, but saving your life is more important."

    As expected, the monsters came back and stood there without moving, ring at the bigger monster there. They realized that something was off too soon. Shane sneered and said, "Host, be ready. We have to start destroying this world by getting rid of your misbehaving subordinates."

    Norman looked at the sea of monsters. Why did it feel like the monsters that returned were more in number? He took a step back as a trace of fear filled his eyes. He couldn''t fight so many monsters at the same time!

 Chapter 80 79. A Good News!

    "Escape. Don''t attack them!" Even Shane could tell his host couldn''t fight them. Of course, Shane could use his power-sucking skill to deal with them, but it would abruptly reveal his powers to others.

    Unless he could actually do it through his host, he wouldn''t reveal the dark energy in front of the public. The systems didn''t need to continue using the livestreams at all times. They could use it whenever needed, but since this was an exam, it was a critical aspect to help the invigtors evaluate everything.

    Now that he thought about using his skill, there was a way to let his host use it temporarily since Norman''s attribute was also the same. It was just that other systems were also doing the same job. They also had a ''Norman'' ghost as their hosts with the darkness attributes. If he did anything out of the line, he might end up getting exposed.

    If only he could find a way to sell his skill¡­..

    As soon as he got the idea, Shane immediately texted Dirt through his private channel. Since the robot made it easy for him to contact thetter, he would use it for his benefit, "How do I sell my skill?"

    "You just have to share the code to your skill in a selling form along with your appropriate rate," Dirt replied instantly and sent another text, "This is a good idea, though. You can lead everyone else to use this skill. Just, don''t share your contact info with the form. Let me send you a hoax email ID. You can share that instead."

    Shane nodded in satisfaction. It was so good having a robot at his disposal to help him whenever he was in need. His shoulders rxed as he got the form and a hox email ID in the next text. He immediately opened his skill window and copied the code from there before opening up the form.

    After a few minutes, Shane had already done everything he could. He sold his skill at a thousand Crana peruse and sighed. Then he shut down the window and stared at the scene in front of his eyes only to be shocked.

    He was silent for a while as he stared at the sea of monsters at a close distance. He didn''t think his new host would be so stupid. This host was different from the previous ones because they were all teenagers and mentally kids. So they never listened to his warnings.

    But the current host seemed to be intelligent and less arrogant. So technically, Norman should have listened to that warning and run away while he was selling his skill. But now¡­.

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead, "What the heck are you doing?"

    Norman''s body was covered with wounds as cold sweat formed on his forehead, "What do you think? I was trying to escape when these monsters attacked! I called you so many times! What the heck were you doing?"

    Shane pursed his lips as a trace of guilt filled his heart. He coughed and said, "Well, I have a piece of good news. I have found you the perfect skill to fight demons and monsters. We can make a purchase right now."

    Norman didn''t even have enough time to be surprised by the news. His life was currently on the line as he tried to find a way out of his current situation. Just when he thought he would be saved, another monster attacked him in the nick of time, making him stumble and fall to the ground.

    Ugh, so embarrassing!

    Shane couldn''t help but press his fingers against his temples. Even though his current host was better than his previous ones, it didn''t mean he was the best. Shane could see traces of clumsiness when the man was trying his best to fight the monsters.

    He took a deep breath and said, "When I say you escape, do it without hesitation! If you wait, this is what happens to you! Why didn''t you listen to me the second I said the words?"

    "I-I was trying to find an opportunity to escape!" Norman was lying. He wanted to see whether he could fight these monsters or not. He knew that he had to escape, but he was also a man. He didn''t want to ept defeat so easily.

    He pursed his lips. This was his fault, but he wasn''t going to ept it in front of his system and embarrass himself like this."

    Shane''s eyes narrowed, and he didn''tment anymore about that topic. He opened his mouth and said, "Forget it. Let''s go."

    After fighting for a while, Norman finally managed to escape, but his entire body was filled with blood and injuries on several parts of his skin. He grimaced as he stumbled on the dried ground filled with blood all over the ce. He was currently walking toward a cave he had noticed not far away from the pce. It was just that the cave was located in the most conspicuous ce. If it wasn''t for Norman identally managing to enter this area, he wouldn''t have found this ce at all!

    After entering the cave, Norman finally couldn''t stand anymore as his body slid down the wall. He instantly opened his menu and ate a healing pill he had purchased earlier, "What was that skill you were talking about?"

    Shane instantly shared the skill he had shared online and said, "Someone posted this not too long ago. You''re lucky we found this. Purchase it this instant!"

    Norman opened the link and was instantly shocked after seeing its price. He nced at his Crana status and grimaced, "Why this skill? Can''t you find a cheaper one?"<sub> </sub>

    "Can''t," Shane could make it cheaper, but why should he when he could earn more money? He didn''t feel any shape at all as he lied through his teeth, "The seller won''t change the cost too, and there aren''t many darkness attribute skills and weapons avable online. This is the only one."

    "Why?" asked Norman curiously.

    "That''s because darkness belongs to the demons. You have got this attribute along with lightning because you''re between a monster and human yourself."

    Norman nodded as he opened his mouth again, "So what do I need to do?"

    "Click on the purchase button," Shane guided his host when he got a notification of the purchase. He nced at his ount as a hint of excitement shed in his eyes. It seemed someone had purchased his skill!

    He suppressed his emotions and said, "After clicking the button, you have to verify your email ID and you''re done. This is the normal purchase procedure, as you have done before."

    "Okay!" Norman had already purchased a few things from the shop. So he knew what to do after this. He instantly bought the skill as he rxed on the wall of the cave and said, "Done."

    Shane nced at his Crana status and smiled, "Thank you."

    The host didn''t know why his system was suddenly apologizing. He waved his hand and was about to say something when the ground beneath him trembled fiercely. His eyes widened as he stood up in an instant, staring at the dark tunnel in front of him, "What''s happening?"

    Shane squinted his eyes. It seemed they weren''t the only people in this cave. He instantly checked out the radar only to have his entire body freeze, "Host, run! There''s a dangerous monster here! You can''t defeat it!"

    It was because the monster''s level seemed to be more than ten! Even though Shane had defeated such monsters in past, this time, there were a lot of them, an entire group! After seeing the dots'' dark color, he assumed these monsters were probably even above twenty level!

    Even one twenty-level monster was troublesome. What to speak of a group of them?

    Shane took a nervous breath and said, "Listen to me this time. Don''t go fighting with this group of monsters. They are really powerful!"

    Norman pursed his lips and he was about to go out of the cave and other monsters who were running after him also appeared. Norman instantly hid inside the darkness of the cave so that he couldn''t be noticed by these things.

    "Sh*t!" Norman cursed under his breath and said, "Both are troublesome!"

    Shane also hadn''t expected this situation. The monsters outside were also not less in strength. Even though their level couldn''t match up with the ones inside the cave, they were still very powerful because of their number. He instantly thought of the skill he had made his host purchase and made a decision, "Go inside the cave. Hurry up before the monsters outside notice you."

    "But¡­. didn''t you say we can''t defeat that monster?"

    "We can''t, but we don''t have a choice," Shane''s voice was strained, "Let''s put that new skill to use."

    Norman pursed his lips as he nodded. He also didn''t have any choice as he nodded and rushed inside, into the darkness. He didn''t know whether he would be able to get out alive or not, but in any case, he was originally a ghost. He should be able to save himself.

    Still, he should probably ask his system about how to escape the body, "How do I escape this body in case danger arrives?"

    "Escape?" Shane tilted his head as he tried to remember the world setting and the body entering skill his host had used not too long ago. He frowned when he realized something, "Host, you''re mistaken. You can''t escape the body once you enter."

    "What do you mean?" Norman''s body stiffened, "I can''t escape?"

    "The only way for you is to die, and dying means failing the mission."

 Chapter 81 80. A Broken Piece Of Wood!

    "Why didn''t you tell me before?!" Norman was furious and frustrated. "We are already in such a critical situation! Why are you hiding info from me like this?! Are you sure you''re a proper system?"

    "You''re blind to not see this information in bold letters yourself in the description section of the skill when you had made a purchase," Shane''s voice was cold as he spoke in Norman''s mind, "You''re a grown-up, so act like one!"

    Norman pursed his lips as he said nothing after this. He rushed toward the tunnel''s center as the ground trembled more and more. Ayer of cold sweat formed on his forehead. Even his back was soaked with it as he continued to rush inside.

    Then, a faint roar echoed in the background. With the roar, it seemed that the voice carried a hint of darkness floating in the air. Norman''s steps paused for a moment as traces of fear filled his bones. Since he was a lower-level half-monster already, fear of powerful ones automatically appeared in his body.

    He trembled, "I-I can''t go."

    Even though Shane hadn''t turned on the senses-sharing element, he could tell what was going on. The powerful monsters must have overwhelmed the host to the point of trembling. He pursed his lips as he took a deep breath, "Do you want me to control your body and do it for you?"

    Norman''s lower lips trembled as he stared in that direction. After thinking for a while, he finally stood up while leaning against the wall as he shook his head, "No, I''m a man. I can do this."

    "Suit yourself," Shane didn''t say anything about it again. He thought for a while and turned on the sharing system for a while temporarily. This was a critical moment. So he needed to see whether his host was critically injured. If yes, he might have to take control of the body abruptly.

    Soon enough, they came face to face with the monsters at the center of the cave filled with limestone columns, a river, and even stgmites. There was also a spring and another tunnel on the other side of the sea of monsters.

    <o>,m If it weren''t for these dangerous creatures, this ce must look like heaven.</o>

    Even the monsters were huge enough to look like the grandfathers of Norman''s current monster body. He had to tilt his head to stare at the wolf-like bodies of those monsters. Their faces seemed to be of the wolves, but their bodies were that of a horse with a deer''s hoofs.

    Norman''s eyes widened after seeing these strange creatures in front of his eyes. He took a deep breath to suppress fear in his heart and asked, "How do I use the skill?"

    Shane opened the skill page as he nced at the description and the random spell name he had written while filling out the form. He said, "Just utter the spell while imagining yourself using that power."

    Norman pursed his lips as he closed his eyes and imagined himself using that power he muttered that spell under his breath. Soon after a while, a gush of power flooded inside his body, making his body tremble. Shane had already opened the stats page of his host as he kept an eye on the level and CE part.

    It kept on increasing. He was amazed to see how easy it was to be powerful with the help of this skill. Since this skill was in the shop, even the people with the non-darkness attribute could use it temporarily. He just wondered what would happen if they would end up sucking darkness inside their bodies. Perhaps, the menu system would turn it into divine because his host''s CE had also increased without hesitation despite having both divine and darkness as abo.

    Shane shrugged as he decided not to worry too much about it as he continued to stare at the scene in front of his eyes. Soon enough, the stats stopped increasing at level ten. It meant that this was probably Norman''s limit to suck powers.

    Soon after this, Norman''s body fell to the ground, on his knees as the host''s eyes went wide. He felt his body being flooded with energy so much that he wanted to jump around in happiness. He suddenly nced at the monsters who seemed to be too tired and were lying on the ground with only a breath remaining.

    He suddenly grew excited as he walked over and kicked the head of a monster, "So cool! I didn''t know this skill was so powerful!"

    Even Shane didn''t know that this skill would do so much destruction. He wondered if he should remove it after this exam. It might end up creating havoc among other systems in the system world. He hesitated for a while before shaking his head.

    No, he shouldn''t do anything at the moment. If he removed it, it might create suspicion among the systems and they might end up pointing fingers at him. He didn''t want to take any risks.

    As he was busy thinking, Norman walked ahead and nced around the tunnel. This was the ce beside the river, filled with sparkling treasures. His eyes lit up. If it were a normal world, these things would be of value to him, but it wasn''t. Norman sighed and shook his head.<sub> </sub>

    He was about to ignore it all when he noticed a certain item of a strange shape shining brighter than the rest of the things avable at that ce. He walked closer as if his body was attracted to that piece of shining item. He crouched and picked it up.

    The luster instantly went away, leaving only a broken wooden piece carved with strange circles looking like an unfinished,plex array. He frowned as he turned it around, but he couldn''t find anything strange. He was about to ce it back when he heard his system''s voice, "Don''t leave this behind. ce it in your inventory."

    "Why? It''s useless."

    "I have a feeling it''ll be useful," Shane didn''t say anymore after this. His intuition said that his piece of wood was special. Even if he didn''t rely on his intuition, this piece of wood had an array. It couldn''t be a coincidence that it was hidden in such a ce filled with powerful monsters.

    He frowned as he said, "Let''s get out of here. Those monsters ran away when you used that skill."

    Norman nodded as he walked toward the tunnel from where he came. As he walked, he asked his system, "This body I''m in¡­. It should be powerful, right? Otherwise, why would he sit on the throne? Then why was it that when I entered the body, the level was zero?"

    "The level depends on individuals," Shane replied as he turned off the sense-sharing system, "Your soul is responsible for that, not the bodies. Bodies can be changed after reincarnating again and again, but the soul would remain the same, carrying on these levels and other aspects attached to the spirit body."

    Norman seemed to have gained more information as he asked again, "Then why did you ask me to choose a powerful body?"

    "Even though power wouldn''t be the same, the status matters even in the monster world. It should have worked out well, but for some reason, it didn''t¡­." Shane frowned when he realized this. Something was wrong here. Those monsters shouldn''t have that much intelligence to find out about it.

    It almost felt like a hidden hand was guiding these beings and even himself to act in a certain manner¡­.

    Shane''s heart jolted. He remembered that demon he met in the dungeon and the case of hackers. It seemed they were all after his powers. So it could be that this time, the enemies hidden behind the scenes probably wanted to force him toe out and control Norman''s body. Or perhaps, they wanted to see what was doing.

    Since the enemies weren''t attacking him directly, it could only mean one thing: they were collecting intell on his powers. Otherwise, would they stay silent? Demons were way more powerful than regr monsters, and they also had a human level of intelligence. Most humans would turn into demons while tilting toward demonic techniques.

    So if they gathered together, they could manage to defeat him easily, but they didn''t. Instead, they hid in the dark and collected intel like this!

    Shane couldn''t calm down he realized this. He almost felt like they were all staring at him through the livestreams, trying to see whether he figured out their n or not.

    He took a deep breath. He should control his emotions. If he managed to fool them, he might end up finding out more about these powers running through his veins.

    By this time, they had already walked out of the cave. Norman sighed as he asked, "What should we do?"

    Shane thought for a while and said, "Let''s go to the nearest demon town. We might find something there."

    "Okay, let''s go."

    Then, they embarked on the journey. What they didn''t know was that Shane''s thinking was spot-on. The demon who had appeared at the open ground in the hood was already staring at the livestream as he nced at the window with Shane''s skill as he snickered, "What a foolish guy! He actually shared his skill with others for the sake of the mission!"

    He soon made a purchase and leaned back on the chair, "This young man is interesting. It''ll be fun dealing with him."

 Chapter 82 81. Where Did You Get This?!

    Even though the world was a ce filled with monsters and demons, it didn''t mean there weren''t any highly intelligent people around. In the outer area of the ce, everything was filled with broken human buildings and a lot of brainless monsters who only knew how to attack their enemies and nothing else.

    As one started going deeper into the area of the monsters, they would see small huts on either side of the roads. It was a sign that dwelling ces have arrived. By this time, the monsters would be reduced to the point that one would only see small animals wandering around the ce.

    The dwelling huts were filled with weak demons who didn''t even dare to go out of the house for the fear of spotting the monsters. At the same time, they didn''t have enough money to head over to the city area. So they couldn''t help but live at the borders between the monster and demons'' area.

    There was a reason why the monsters didn''t dare to go beyond that border. It was because they were afraid of demons no matter whether thetter were powerful or not. The mere presence of those demons would terrify the monsters to the point of making them tremble.

    At this time, Norman, using a body-transforming pill that worked for a few hours, was walking down the road as the same huts appeared in front of his eyes on either side of the deserted road. Since he was in the body of a monster, he could feel his hands and legs trembling as he nced at a demon woman that looked like a human with two horns on her head and scarlet eyes.

    She was beautiful, but Norman couldn''t feel a hint of affection for her. He was so afraid that his entire body trembled. To be honest, he wasn''t the one afraid of the demon. It was the body.

    Norman tried to suppress this feeling, but he couldn''t. He finally stopped and asked, "What the f*ck is wrong with this damned body? Why can''t it stop trembling?"

    "Perhaps it''s in the body''s memory that it should stay away from the demons," Shane analyzed the situation and said, "Maybe we have to do something about it. Let me see."

    p He searched the shop and finally found something worth using. He immediately sent the pill to his host, "Eat this. You won''t be able to tremble anymore after this."</anda>

    "Really?" Norman was surprised as he pulled out the window. The name itself was so strange that he didn''t want to eat it for a moment. He stared at it for a moment before he opened his mouth, "What the heck do you mean by this? Memory eating worm? Is it even eligible?"

    Shane coughed as he nodded, "Of course! Everything sold in the shop is eligible."

    "What if it eats my memory?"

    "It won''t," Shane read the description and said, "Look there. It exins that it specifically eats up the residual memories of the body."

    "Dead body!" Norman was so angry that he didn''t want to talk to his system at all. "It''s only applicable for the dead bodies!!!! I''m still alive, ain''t I?"

    "You don''t own this body at all, do you?" Shane didn''t think it was a problem. "This body is already dead. You''re just possessing it. Don''t forget that you''re a ghost."

    "But, I''m keeping this body alive!" Norman took a deep breath and said, "Forget it. There should be nothing worse than failing and getting my soul dispersed."

    After thinking for a while, he finally purchased it and ate the pill without thinking twice before he could regret his decision. As soon as he ate it, he felt his body being filled with a bright energy that made him feel warm. Soon after this, pain ran throughout his body, making him tremble. He fell to his knees as cold sweat formed on his forehead.

    He gasped, "Wh-What''s happening?"

    "This¡­. This is just a small side effect of this pill," Shane coughed as he said, "You''ll feel the pain for the first five minutes simr to dying. This pill is especially meant for situations like this, a ghost possessing a dead body. So don''t worry, host! You''re good to go!"

    "Shut up!" Norman''s head ached as veins popped up on his forehead, "Couldn''t you have told me about this earlier?!"

    "You wouldn''t have eaten this if I had told you before," Shane didn''t feel even a little bit of shame upon saying this as he opened his mouth, "Endure for a while."

    What could Norman do? He gritted his teeth and took deep breaths to endure the pain. His eyes filled with tears that threatened to roll down his eyes. He desperately tried not to cry because of such intense pain, but the tears still rolled down his cheeks, making him look pitiful.

    One of the female demons on the side saw this situation and frowned as she walked closer and crouched, "What''s wrong?"

    Norman''s trembling worsened. He shook his head, indicating that he didn''t want to talk about it.<sub> </sub>

    The female demon shrugged and walked away without sparing him a nce.

    Norman sighed in relief as he endured for a few more minutes before the pain subsided. He finally managed to stand up on his feet without trembling or crying anymore, he fiercely wiped his face as he felt ashamed being a man in his twenties and ended up crying like a little girl.

    His gaze turned colder as he said, "System,e out if you have the ability! I''ll defeat you in a fight!"

    Shane let out a chuckle in his mind and said, "Sure. I''lle out, but not now. When I do, you can see my glories."

    Norman felt like wanting to vomit blood upon hearing this narcissist system speaking like this. He took a deep breath and decided not to talk to his system anymore as he continued walking down the road. Since he ate the body-changing pill, it transformed the monster''s body into his real shape.

    The pill worked in strange ways. It could make one transform into a being he was remembering while eating it. Norman focused on his own image while eating that pill, resulting in his current image. It was just that he looked way more handsome with broad shoulders. It could be said that he was an upgraded version of his real self.

    He walked over and stopped by a river to nce at his appearance. He instantly let out a whistle, "I look so good. If I looked like this when I was still alive, I would have gotten so many girls."

    "Host, can you focus on your mission now?" Shane didn''t want to waste his time anymore.

    Norman nodded and continued to walk forward. They finally reached the main, giant gates of the demon city. The ground was still dark, but it no longer had traces of blood. It could be said that the sweeper demons did a good job hiding bloodshed by wiping the surroundings clean. They were still dedicated to cleaning as Norman walked past them and stood in front of the iron gate.

    Two demon soldiers stood on either side of the giant arched gate. They stopped him and raised their chins, "Show us your demon ID."

    "....." Norman looked at them and wondered if he could rush inside and escape. He silently asked his system, "What the heck is demon ID?"

    Shane frowned as he said, "Let''s do something else. I have a hypnotic spell. You can use it on the demons."

    Norman heaved a sigh of relief as he nodded, "You should have given me that spell earlier. Why don''t you act like a proper system?"

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead as he opened his mouth, "You will soon realize why I didn''t tell you about it sooner. Just use it on the guards and run as fast as you can. Don''t let them discover you after using it!"

    Norman was skeptical as he used the spell without reading the description. If he had read it, he would have realized why his system had given him such a strange instruction. It said that the person using the spell could hypnotize another person, but there was a time limit. On top of it, if thetter ended up ncing upon the spell caster, the effect would end up getting neutralized in an instant, rendering the spell useless.

    Also, you can''t use that spell on the same person twice.

    That was why Shane never handed such a useless spell to his host, but at this time, he didn''t have any other choice since other spells and weapons were costly.

    Soon after using the spell, Norman ran inside as fast as he could and disappeared into the crowd. He rxed once he noticed from the corner of his eyes as the guards woke up in an instant and nced around. Then he heard them speaking, "Where did that guy go?"

    "Who knows!" Another guard spoke with a scornful look on his face, "He probably got afraid."

    Norman heaved a sigh of relief and walked into the closest tavern and hid among the guestsing to drink alcohol. He hid his face in the hood as he called out to a waiter.

    "Good," Shane was satisfied with his host''s dedication as he spoke, "Show the waiter that drawing we extracted from the wooden piece"

    Norman silently followed themand and did as told, "You know something about this?"

    As soon as the waiter saw the picture, the color of his face drained as he stuttered, "W-Where did you get this?"

 Chapter 83 82. A War!

    Norman frowned at the waiter''s reaction. He suppressed the anxiety bubbling in his heart and asked, "Someone gave it to me and ran away¡­. What''s this?"

    "No wonder they ran away. This thing¡­." the waiter had aplicated expression on his face as he took a deep breath, "You know nothing about the prediction, do you?"

    "What prediction?"

    "That¡­." the waiter hesitated as he seated himself in the seat opposite Norman and nced around carefully before opening his mouth, "I guess you don''t belong to our city. That''s why an outsider like you must not know this. A few decades ago, a master demon who was dying made hisst prediction before dying. ording to it, this world wille to an end because of a wooden array like this drawing! He even handed over the drawing and specifically told everyone not to piece together the broken parts of it!

    "A few people went on expenditure to try and find that thing. They did find the location of four broken parts, but they couldn''t get their hands on the array at all! Half of the people that came back went mad and another half was too injured to even carry on living for a few years!"

    Norman frowned as he pursed his lips, "What a waste!" he immediately acted like a snobby young master. He leaned back and raised his head arrogantly, "Bring me a cup of wine."

    The waiter was stunned after seeing the change of expression that urred so suddenly and nodded, walking away silently before ncing at the paper onest time.

    Shane thought for a while and spoke, "Let''s find out the location of these things."

    "Okay," Norman was about to call the waiter again when Shane stopped him.

    "Don''t ask the waiter yet," Shane pointed out, "Don''t forget that this is a tavern. Rumors start from here. If people realize that we want to go after that thing, we might get in trouble. If possible, we should avoid as much trouble as we can."

    Norman closed his mouth and reluctantly blended into the crowd again, walking away just like that. The waiter came back with the wine only to find the table empty. There was a coin ced on the table.

    He scratched the back of his neck and shrugged, walking away without saying another word.

    As soon as Norman walked out of the tavern, he heard a few people shouting at one another followed by the tremble of the ground. He nced around only to find people in groups standing not far away on the street as sparks of dark energy flew around the ce.

    It seemed someone was fighting.

    Norman walked closer and found that a few demons were fighting head-on with their powers, and no one wanted to stop it. This was what the original demon world should be like. He looked ufortable at the scene for a moment before someone shoved him forward. He turned and yelled, "What are you doing?"

    "You''re standing in the way!" another demon looked at Norman with a displeased expression on his face, "Get out of my way!"

    Norman was about to say something when one of the demons fighting around in the circle surrounded by othermon demons fell to his death as the victor one raised his hand in the air with a grin on his face, "I won! If there''s anyone who would like to challenge me,e forward!"

    At this time, the demons were pushing and pulling one another. This group ofmoners wasn''t very peaceful as they all yelled and scolded one another while pushing each other. Amid this, Norman''s body was pushed so much that he ended up entering the circle, standing in front of the man who had just murdered another demon.

    The dead body was taken aside by someone as everyone else cheered.

    Norman wanted to cry. He didn''t want to fight at all!

    Everyone cheered him as if he jumped into the circle to fight. Norman stared at the people around him and took a deep breath, "System, what should I do, ah? I never wanted to fight."

    Shane narrowed his eyes as he looked around. These people looked more like hunks who would kill to do anything. Unfortunately, these were all demonmoners. Things like this were probably happening all around this city. He sighed and said, "Sure, if you want to fight the entire demonmunity, you can go against them and run. With your strength, you can probably run as far as ten meters."<sub> </sub>

    Norman''s face paled as he stared at the bulging man standing in front of him. Thetter almost looked like a sumo wrestler with big horns on his head rather than a person! Wasn''t it that fighting with this kind of person would also kill him?!

    Even though he had these thoughts in his head, he took a deep breath and pulled out his sword. He only had one spell to use, which was a darkness power-sucking spell. So he instantly used a sword to defend and stood in a defensive position to attack any minute. If things go wrong, he would use the spell without pausing for a bit!

    His thoughts about fighting and winning were beautiful, but the reality was cruel. As soon as the fight started, the huge man''s body shed as he rushed in front of Norman and hit thetter with his fist. The man didn''t even use any power and fought with his bare arms.

    Norman''s body flew out of the circle and fell to the ground, covered with blood. He felt pain hitting every limb of his body.

    If Norman hadn''t suffered from that devastating pain not too long ago, he would have felt shocked right now, but he didn''t. He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and chuckled, "If it weren''t for that stupid pill, I would have fainted from that hit just now."

    "You''re wee," said Shane shamelessly as he sat back in his space and stared at the screen as if he were watching a TV show. "You need to be fast. You might as well use that power right now."

    Norman was about to nod when the big man''s body shed again and hit Norman straight in his stomach. His body was thrown back with a force that he was unable to block. He finallyid back, curled up against the hard ground covered with stones. His entire body felt like it was covered with wounds and blood, almost as if he were stabbed with pins throughout his body.

    He took a sharp breath and pushed himself up to his feet. Without thinking twice, he instantly started chanting that spell!

    Spell echoed in his mind as he stared deeply at the big demon guy in front of him. Just when he felt that the demon would approach him like before, he felt a rush of energy being transferred to his body from the demon''s body. Then he saw the big demon falling to his knees with a look of horror in his eyes.

    Then he nced upon Norman and asked in a stuttering voice, "W-Who the heck are you?"

    Norman simply sneered and didn''t reply. How could he tell this person that he was a ghost on a mission to destroy this world? Just as he was about to say something, a few people rushed over and yelled, "Ah¡­. we are under attack! The neighboring city is attacking us!"

    Everyone''s face paled as one of thedies sobbed and spoke to her friend, "Why is it always like this? They attack us almost every day! Our poption is reducing! What have we done to deserve this?"

    Her friend sneered and crossed her hands on her chest, "Really? Didn''t you kill twenty-one families in their cityst year? You were the serial killer they couldn''t find because you don''t even belong to their people! You hypocritical girl!"

    "Don''t talk back to me!" the first girl instantly pulled out a sword and had just started to attack when her so-called friend used her power first and ughtered the girl by shing her neck. The pretty head fell to the ground with a thud, "Those who go against me can die!"

    Norman watched this scene with widened eyes. No wonder this world was supposed to be destroyed. Not a single person was innocent!

    He didn''t think much about this anymore as he stood up from the ground and rushed away from that ce. Since this ce was going to be attacked, he should better hide!

    "Don''t hide, go find a library first," Shane spoke through the mind.

    "Why? Won''t it be dangerous?"

    "It''s fine," Shane could control the body and help his host escape the critical situations, "It''s because there''s a war that I''m choosing to go to the library. Everyone must be busy running away. So we will have a chance to find secret information about that object we found. It could be that the info about this would probably be hidden in the deepest part of the library, away from the eyes of people. So let''s go and find where are other parts of that array thing that waiter talked about."

    Norman nodded and didn''t argue anymore as he walked around the street while hiding among the civilians.

 Chapter 84 83. The Door!

    The city library, which was much bigger than a regr mall or other shops around, was located at the library''s center. It had three floors, and the topmost floor contained the most confidential books. Shane was convinced that the information he wanted to find would be avable at that ce.

    So he didn''t bother telling Norman to search through the first two floors and directly ordered the host to head over to the topmost floor. The moment they approached that ce, they found a small one-way door with a lock that seemed like it hadn''t been opened in a while.

    Shane quickly found a rounder key that could open any lock and sent it to his host. They quickly used it and opened the lock in an instant.

    <o>,m As soon as the door was opened, dust rose in the air and hit Norman''s nose. Thetter coughed and covered up his nose as it wrinkled, "It seems like this ce was not opened for a long time. It smells awful!"</o>

    Shane frowned as he scanned the area and said, "Let''s start searching for the clues."

    The two of them didn''t talk anymore as they started searching for the info about theplex wooden array they found. After searching for an hour, they still hadn''t been able to find anything. Instead, they found out several demonic power-rted stuff and how they managed to destroy humans in the past. There were even several cultivation books and information that could help anyone be a righteous cultivator.

    Shane raised his brows. No wonder this ce was locked from the eyes of the public. It was to prevent everyone from bing a righteous cultivator!

    Perhaps someone among the righteous cultivators must know something about it. So he quickly said, "Search among the books here. The righteous cultivator must know something."

    Norman nodded and started reading through the cultivation scrolls and books. Soon enough, he found a book of ancient arrays. His eyes lit up as he started reading it from the start.

    This book was about all the powerful and ancient arrays that were so ancient that they could be dated back thousands of years. Soon enough, they found the array they were looking for¡ª

    Eversor array.

    It was a Latin word that meant destroyer. The structure of the array recorded was simr and there was even a prediction written beneath it saying, this array was a dangerous item, and if someone created it in a ce or anywhere and inserted it with thebination of both dark and divine cosmic energies, it could destroy the entire world.

    Norman stared at the book for a long time. It almost seemed as if this kind of prediction was meant for him. It was so obvious. He silently read through the location and closed it firmly and said, "That''s for me, isn''t it?"

    "I think so," Shane waved his hand casually, "Don''t focus on that now. Let''s go to the first location. ording to the information addedter, the wooden array created by a certain cultivator was broken into pieces and hidden in four realms surrounded by powerful monsters for its protection. We have to find it as soon as possible. This world is taking too much time."

    "I agree," Norman sighed as he closed the door as it was before and walked out of the library in a leisurely manner, "I''ve been here for f*cking a few days and it''s still not close to beingpleted. Who knows how much time will those realms take!"

    They instantly went to the first realm. Even though it took almost half a day, they still managed to reach it before sunset. Norman stood before an iron gate that was closed shut. There wasn''t a trace of a lock or anything else to help open the gate. He frowned as he touched the surface.

    "How do you open this door?"

    Shane spoke, "Try using your power," he paused and added, "Make sure to use both divine and darkness energies."

    Norman nodded. He had already learned from Shane what these two kinds of powers meant earlier while traveling. He was also surprised to find out about his attributes. The fact that even prediction says that the end of this world needed a person who could use both powers meant that the creator of these arrays probably knew that this world would end.

    Wait, didn''t that waiter say that a person had made a prediction earlier about this? He scoffed. It could probably be that the "prediction" maker had read this book and since no one knew the existence of this book, he took the credit and got famous.

    He stared at the door and put his palms on the surface, focusing on his powers. He tried to clear his mind and let out his powers, but the more he tried, the more his mind wandered, making him think of several things that he wasn''t even close to thinking at the moment.

    A whileter, he opened his eyes as traces of frustration were visible on his face.

    "You can''t even do one thing properly," Shane sneered.

    "Excuse me, this is the first time I''m trying this. Don''t underestimate me!" After listening to his system''sments, Norman got even more irritated as he took a deep breath and touched the cold surface again.

    He tried again for half an hour, to no avail. He opened his eyes as he red at the cold door.

    Shane was watching the entire scene with a scornful expression and said, "This isn''t how you use your powers."<sub> </sub>

    "You knew, and still you didn''t help me!"

    "You could have asked me."

    "....." Norman took a deep breath and suppressed his anger and said, "Nevermind. How should I do it?"

    "Use your imagination," Shane said nothing after this. He didn''t have a habit of exining things to virtual people.

    Norman frowned as he closed his eyes again and this time, he imagined two kinds of powers flowing throughout his body as they escaped from his palms and entered the door without any hurry.

    The surface under his palms suddenly became hot as he instantly took his hand back and stared at the door that was glowing at the moment. His face was covered with cold sweat the moment, "Did I actually be sessful?"

    He stared down at his hands and licked his lips, "I can really use powers!"

    "Don''t think too much," Shane reminded, "You aren''t special here to be able to use powers. Many of my system friends can do it."

    "Can you?" Norman ended up asking this question that Shane didn''t want to answer.

    First, the live stream was still on, and he knew his one answer could end up revealing his powers to the world. So he changed the subject tentatively, "Get back. The door''s gonna explode!"

    Norman narrowed his eyes and said, "You''re deliberately changing the subject."

    "I''m not. This is really gonna explode."

    Norman sighed and walked back as he hid behind a boulder and stared at the door that kept shining brighter, and it seemed as if the shine of this thing increased every second to the point it started to hurt his eyes to continue watching. He sat back against the boulder and closed his ears.

    Suddenly, a st echoed in the background so loud that even after putting his palms on either side of his face, Norman felt his ears exploding. Cold sweat formed on his forehead as he shut his ears tightly. Only after the st stopped did he move and nced at the door.

    The door was filled with smoke from the st. The carved door had disappeared, leaving behind darkness beyond it and smoke covering up the entire ce. He tentatively took a few steps toward that ce while being cautious.

    But nothing happened. It was pin drop silence as he stared at the door, "Should I enter?"

    "Take your sword and enter," Shane paused as if he remembered something and said, "You can also share your power in your sword to kill monsters."

    Norman nodded and pulled out a sword from his inventory and gripped its hilt tightly in his right hand. After taking a deep breath, he walked inside the dark door.

    For a while, everything remained dark as he saw nothing. Only after walking for a while, he felt someone''s cold hand suddenly gripping his hands holding the sword. That hand''s size was also unusual that made Norman''s scalp numb.

    Norman''s steps halted as his face paled, "Wh-What''s that¡­..?"

    "Use a torch."

    Norman instantly took out a tor ch from his inventory and he brightened it up only to be even more frightened after witnessing the scene in front of his eyes.

    What he saw was a row of huge monsters who were so long that their heads almost touched the ceiling of the cave-like thing. Norman stumbled back as he stared at the group of monsters with traces of fear in his eyes.

    "Use that spell," Shane kindly reminded his scared host.

    "R-Right! I have a golden finger!". He didn''t think much after this as he clicked the spell in his menu.

 Chapter 85 84. The Maze

    Shane was very pleased after seeing how easy it was to deal with the powerful demons. The group quickly scattered and fell to the ground with a thud. They weren''t even given a second chance as all of their energy got sucked out of their bodies.

    Norman''s eyes lit up as he noticed the scene in front of him. This kind of power in his hands made him feel like he was on top of the world. The power to control someone''s life in the palm of his hands felt amazing in the depths of his heart.

    No wonder people with magic in those stories he read would often turn arrogant. Who wouldn''t be arrogant after gaining so much power?

    He took a deep breath and tried to curb the level of excitement in his heart as he walked down the ground filled with copsed bodies. The entire ce was still filled with fog that could barely make him see anything beyond.

    It was just that there was something golden, shining brightly up ahead. His eyes squinted as he stared at that thing. He had a faint feeling in the depths of his heart about what exactly that thing was!

    He continued down the road and soon found the thing he was looking for¡ªthe broken piece of wood simr to what they had already obtained. He quickly put it in the inventory. As soon as he raised his head and was about to walk out, the entire realm started trembling.

    His expression changed as Shane spoke in his mind, "Get out of here! Quick!"

    Norman nodded as he dashed toward the entrance. He put his legs on the copsed bodies, not caring whether he stepped onto a pool of blood or not. He quickly walked out.

    Just as his body stepped out of the shadows, the entire space crumbled down to the ground, killing the monsters. Blood sttered around the ce as dust rose in the air.

    Norman stared at the bloody scene in front of his eyes with a pale face. Even though he had seen enough, the current scenario still shocked him to the core. His face paled as he stumbled back a few steps and stuttered, "I-I didn''t want to kill them!"

    Shane said nothing as he opened the radar. Nothing could be seen at the moment, meaning all the monsters were dead. He sighed. Norman was still amon man in modern-day life. The scene of getting monsters killed in such a brutal way was still shocking to this person.

    He felt a trace of sympathy, but his expression remained cold. "We don''t have time. Let''s get out of here."

    Norman wiped his face and stood up with his shaky legs. He took a deep breath and said, "Let''s go."

    They started their journey in another direction. The war was still going on, which was of great benefit to Norman. No one was around to handle official matters. Actually, guards were ced around the realms to stop people from entering that area.

    If it were before, Norman would have to defeat those monsters before doing anything else. But now, things were better as they quickly reached their destination. The door structure and even carved designs were the same as Norman stared at the iron door.

    He ced the palm of his hands on the surface and repeated what he had done previously. In no time, the door shone as he quickly backed away and watched while the door sted just like before.

    But this time, there wasn''t a fog beyond it. All he could see was a wall made out of the grass on the other side. There wasn''t any monster obstructing their way.

    Norman''s brows furrowed as he stared at the scene. He walked cautiously toward the door and entered. As soon as he entered, the broken door behind him was covered with ayer of grass, luring him up into the space. The grass separated to make him two open doors, beyond which, there was anotheryer of grass.

    Above the two doors, he could see a board where a sentence was written¡ª

    Wee to the maze. Choose your path.

    Shane quickly opened the radar and stared at it for a moment. The two paths were empty, without any trace of monsters, but he knew it couldn''t be so simple. If he ends up choosing the wrong path, the two of them will find themselves in a dangerous situation.

    The two paths looked simr, but there had to be some way to tell them apart. He stared at the path for a while as an idea struck in his heart, "Why don''t you try using your powers at each door?"

    Norman was surprised as he raised his hand and walked over to the first door. He closed his eyes and imagined his powers flowing out of his hands. Soon enough, the energies mixed with white and ck colors appeared out of his hands and entered the open door. As soon as it entered, the entire ce turned scarlet red.

    Even the grass wall beyond the door changed colors. It seemed that it was washed in the color of blood. Norman''s face paled as he stumbled back and stared at the scene with a horrific nce, "W-What the heck is this?"<sub> </sub>

    Shane was particrly calm at this time. He opened his mouth and said, "Try the other side."

    Norman took a deep breath and walked over to the other side as he repeated the same process. His heart was still thundering in his chest, but he gritted his teeth and continued to use his powers. Soon enough, the energy entered inside the door, but this time, the color of the grass didn''t change. It remained as it is.

    Norman''s eyes lit up after seeing this. Just as he was about to step inside, Shane''s voice echoed in his mind, "Go to the other side."

    "Why?" Norman was surprised after hearing that. He nced at that side only to witness a darkened ce as he shuddered, "I don''t want to."

    "Go whether you want to or not," Shane''s cold voice sounded in his mind, "Or would you like to stay as a monster forever? I don''t have any opinion on this, just that if I leave, you''ll die."

    Norman shuddered again after hearing the cold voice of his system. He had known that this particr thing inside his head was cold and ruthless, but now only did he manage to understand the meaning behind that realization.

    He didn''t think his system would force him to choose that door. He gnashed his jaw and stared at the door filled with red grass in fear. After a moment of staredown, he took a deep breath and walked inside.

    In any case, he was already dead. This life should be a gift bestowed on him. He should listen to his system this one time.

    Shane was satisfied after seeing his host act obediently. He leaned back and stared at the screen and slowly turned on the senses sharing tool. Since he had decided to take a leap of faith, he should feel what his host was feeling in case they ended up in some strange situation. Soon, Norman started walking deep into the maze for a while.

    ? They didn''t encounter anything. Other than the deep red grass wall, they couldn''t see anything else in front of their eyes. It was almost as if monsters didn''t exist here in this ce.

    Norman frowned after seeing this, "What is happening? Where are the monsters?"

    Shane narrowed his eyes as he stared at the endless maze that led them to God knows where! "Have patience. This path will surely lead us to our destination."

    Norman had doubts about that. First, his system forced him into entering this ce, and now, after wandering around for a while, they still haven''t encountered anything. Not even a small monster was seen around here! Finally, after walking for a long time, he opened his mouth and asked, "Why did you let me enter this ce?"

    "The logic is simple," Shane stood up and stretched his limbs as he said, "What will you do to hide the most dangerous thing?"

    Norman tilted his head, "Hide it in the safest ce."

    Shane shook his head, "An intelligent person won''t do that. He will choose the most dangerous ce because no one would dare to step foot there."

    Norman''s brain filled with traces of realization after hearing his system''s words. It was a moment for him where he thought:

    Ah, that''s right. I should have realized it sooner.

    Soon enough, they reached the end of the maze. Neither of them cared how much time had passed. However, Norman continued to eat snacks he purchased from the system shop to keep up his energy while walking around. As soon as they reached the end, he saw a simr door at the end, leading him to a small room. He walked over and saw a glowing piece of wood hovering in the middle of the room.

    He walked over and held it in the palm of his hand. His eyes literally glowed while staring at that piece of wood.

    This was easy.

    Too easy.

 Chapter 86 85. The Illusion!

    Norman soon headed over to the third realm, which was located in another direction. It had probably been a few days since he had started this journey. He couldn''t tell anymore how much time had passed, and he didn''t care as long as his mission was fulfilled.

    After walking for a while, they reached a familiar door that stood straight in front of him, but this time its color was bronze, giving Norman a bad feeling. The previous two doors were simr in color. But this time, the door color and even the carvings suddenly changed, making it look dark and gloomy.

    These carvings gave Norman the feeling that whatever it was behind this door was the most difficult step to cross to get his hands on thest piece of wood. He frowned upon thinking of it.

    "Careful. I have a bad feeling," Shane''s voice suddenly voiced out his thoughts.

    Norman nodded as he put his hands on the cold metal. Soon after, the metal door was sted open, and Norman nced inside. He could see a portal-like thing in there as he tilted his head in confusion, "What''s this?"

    Shane''s eyes widened as he stared at the scene. Only he knew what this was, "This..."

    The portal looked simr to the one all the systems had entered before to get inside the virtual realms like this one. He was sure that this particr portal would lead them to apletely different ce.

    He gritted his teeth as he suppressed a wave of anxiety climbing up his throat. He should have known why the previous two realms were too easy. They were probably meant to lower the guard so that the person on this journey could get stuck and fail.

    Shane took a deep breath and said, "We have to be careful. This is a portal, and it''ll take us to apletely different ce."

    "What ce?"

    "I have no idea, but it won''t be any better."

    Norman pursed his lips as he took a careful step forward. He took a deep breath as he suppressed the traces of fear deep in his heart and entered the portal.

    ***

    Morning sunshine passed through a window as it hit the face of a familiar young man. It was Norman who frowned upon receiving the hot sunlight and covered his face with the pillow behind him. Just as he drifted off to sleep again, his door was knocked open with great force.

    "Norman!" A woman yelled from the other side and said, in an angry tone, "Look at the time! You''re going to bete!"

    Norman groaned as he threw the pillow toward that voice and pushed himself.

    A feeling that he was forgetting something hit his head hard as he held his forehead and rubbed it. Then he shook his head and sighed before getting off his bed.

    At the same time, Shane, who was inside Norman''s mind, saw this scene and squinted his eyes. He should have known things wouldn''t be good after entering the portal. He said, "Norman, host, wake up."

    Norman seemed like he didn''t hear anything as he opened up the toilet and pulled down his pants. Shane''s nose wrinkled as he instantly closed the screen and shut off the senses-sharing tool as he heaved a sigh of relief. He should wait a while before walking out.

    But why was his host not hearing his words? Something was definitely blocking their paths.

    What should he do?

    Shane frowned as he thought for a while. Maybe he should just continue to observe the situation before doing anything. Norman might end up just listening to his words for the next moment.<sub> </sub>

    When he opened the screen the next moment, Norman had just finished bathing as he walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed in an office suit. He tied up his tie while staring at himself in the mirror and humming a song. By this time, Shane had already started yelling in his mind, but Norman couldn''t hear a thing.

    Shane frowned as he continued to watch. It seemed as if this was the real world. When he watched the scene outside, he felt a trace of nostalgia in his heart. He also belonged to such a world. He should have gotten in as a host, not a damned system. At least, these hosts had a chance of heading back, but what about him, and his sister?

    He pursed his lips and thought for a while before opening the system menu. He should try and control the body of the host at this time. This way, he would be able to find a solution.

    As soon as he clicked the control option in the tools section, the control of the body was handed over to Shane. He stretched the body he was in as he walked over to the table beside the bed and wrote something before the control was taken back from him. He was satisfied with his work.

    What he wrote was: "Norman, wake up! I''m your system!"

    But it was still useless. As soon as Norman got control of the body, he fell to the ground as he stared at the paper in horror. He couldn''t control his body for a moment, and suddenly, his body started writing these absurd words! He was so scared that he took the paper in his trembling hands and crumbled it in his fist before throwing it away.

    Shane sighed. He should have known better than to waste his opportunity like this. Well, it didn''t matter. He still had an hour to wait before he could use that tool again, and if it still didn''t work, he could always purchase it from the shop.

    After settling it all in his head, he leaned back and purchased some popcorn from the shop before chewing it one after another in his mouth as he continued to watch the daily life of his host before the man died.

    It turned out, Norman was the mostmon and social guy who had his fair share of being yelled at by his boss. Even aftering out of the boss'' cabin, he would have a smile on his face while his colleagues would p their hands at his expression despite whatever happened inside.

    Once they were outside the office, they would directly go to the bar and be drunk before heading over to their homes in stumbling footsteps. All this time, Shane didn''t do anything and continued watching the entire thing while chewing on popcorn. He felt that watching the world outside was way better than returning to his own system world.

    He was also like Norman once. He also had dreams of bing an employer or starting his ownpany after graduating. Compared to what he was facing in the system world, his life in the mortal ce was so simple that it could bepared to a 2D game filled with flowers and butterflies. Even his problems during his university days weren''t worth mentioning in front of what he faced now.

    Shane sighed as he narrowed his eyes. His host wasn''t going to end up at his house with the speed Norman was stumbling on the road. He quickly purchased the sobering drink and took control of the body. As soon as he took control of the body, he felt a wave of dizziness in his head, making him stumble.

    How much time had passed ever since he drank some alcohol to the point of dizziness? He took a deep breath and grabbed the sobering drink before sipping the entire bowl that he had also purchased. Once he was done, control of the body went back to Norman.

    The body nearly fell forward as Norman pressed his forehead and frowned. He didn''t know what was happening. He felt like something was wrong ever since he woke up in the morning. He shook his head rapidly as he felt that he had suddenly be a lot more sober. But how?

    Hadn''t he drunk alcohol to the point of fainting?

    Norman couldn''t make a head or tail of the situation as he booked a cab and went back home.

    Shane watched everything as he finally felt a trace of anger in his heart. He had been trying to call out to his host since morning, leaving obvious clues now and then, but this stupid host only considered him to be a fictional ghost!

    ''Fine, if you want to be like this, I''ll also have to use drastic measures!'' thought Shane as he waited for the host to arrive at his house. As soon as they reached the destination, Shane instantly took control of the body by purchasing the tool and going directly to the kitchen. Then he pulled a knife and attacked his own stomach with great force!

    He felt a jolt of pain thrashing through his body as he quickly gave control over to Norman. The entire house froze. The middle-aged woman and man in the kitchen, who were shocked by Norman''s behavior, dispersed into dust along with the scene, leaving behind a familiar door and a piece of wood fallen right outside the bronze door with a portal.

    Norman''s injured body was lying on the ground as he clutched his stomach and cursed, "F*ck! What the heck is wrong with you?"

    "You left me with no other choice," Shane reminded his host, "I saved your life."

 Chapter 87 86. The Army!

    "Really, thanks a lot!" Norman drank the healing potions that healed his injury in no time and got up quickly while putting on his clothes. "Don''t even think about helping me a second time!"

    Shane said nothing as he knew he couldn''t fulfill that promise. He opened his mouth a whileter and said, "Host, let''sbine the pieces together."

    "Sure, sure. You don''t have to worry because," said the man while waving his hands in the air, "the world is still at war."

    "Not necessarily," replied Shane. He frowned as he had a bad feeling. The war had already been going on for a while, and it was already a miracle people were still alive to carry it on.

    Just as they were discussing, it turned out, Shane''s feelings were correct. Not only did the war end, but somehow, they all got word on how Norman had collected all the pieces one after another without stopping. While Norman was just about to walk out of that area, all of a sudden, the ground beneath him started vibrating.

    He frowned as he nced around. Everything else, even small nts were trembling. Just then, he heard his system say, "Be careful!"

    He immediately nced around as he pulled out his sword. He knew better than to act all rebellious at a time like this. Even though his system was a pain in the a** sometimes, he would listen to that voice in his head when things were critical.

    The person Norman was criticizing at this time was currently focusing on the radar. The group of people surrounding them kept increasing at a higher speed, making his heart jump to his throat in anxiety.

    He finally opened his mouth and asked, "What''s happening?"

    "We are surrounded." Shane turned the radar in every direction, but the result was still the same as he said, "I think the entire army has surrounded us."

    "F*ck!" Norman cursed under his breath. "What should I do?"

    "You should," said Shane, as he paused for a few seconds while searching for something in his inventory, "purchase the item I''ll send you in a while and use it on those demons."

    Norman nodded as he opened his menu at the same time. He waited a while before he sent a text. He quickly purchased the item without thinking twice. Soon enough, he took out the purchased item and stared at the thing in his hands in a daze.

    "What''s this?" asked Norman while staring at the small pinkish flower in the palm of his hand. "Why did you make me purchase this small thing?"

    "Don''t trust its size." Shane closed the shop as he leaned back with a satisfied expression on his face. "It has the capacity to confuse as many people as possible."

    "Confuse?"

    "Yup," replied Shane as he sighed. "Though it has a time limit. You can make use of the confusion and run away to hide in a better ce."

    Norman nodded. "Good idea."

    He opened the description. After learning how to use that thing, he nced around, only to find that the demons had alreadye closer to him. He could see most of them had angry faces as they rushed closer and closer. Some of the demons were on horses, while others mounted the monsters. They even had an army of those monsters far away.

    Norman looked down at the little flower and took a deep breath. He muttered the spell in his mind while focusing on his energy. Soon enough, the flower glowed and flew up in the air while circling round and round. After a few circles, it suddenly stopped and vanished without a trace. Norman kept staring at that ce, thinking it woulde back to his hands.

    "What are you waiting for?" Shane''s angry voice echoed in his mind. "Do you want to purchase that thing again? It cost you a thousand Crana!"

    "Again?" Norman tilted his head. "Don''t tell me it was one-time use."

    "Yes," barked Shane, "so, hurry up!"

    The host said nothing after that as he rushed outside the circle of monsters and demons surrounding him. He quickly found a little cave to hide as he pulled out the pieces of the wooden array.

    He stared at those pieces and scratched the back of his neck and asked the most obvious question, "Do we need glue?"

    "For what?"

    "To stick this,"mented Norman as he gestured to the pieces lying on the ground, "or do you have any other ideas?"

    Of course, Shane did have an idea about how they should go about it, but he still wondered what kind of thing was in Norman''s brain to make him think of such a useless method in this magical world.<sub> </sub>

    He sighed. "You realize you''re in the world of magic and demons, don''t you?"

    "Uh-huh." Norman tilted his head as he thought for a while before realizing something. "Wait, I have to use my powers?"

    "Exactly." Shane finally let out a smile. "You are not that foolish."

    Norman ignored his system''sments and closed his eyes as he set his palms right above the pieces of wood. He didn''t know what he was going to do, but he might as well share both of his energies with the array to find answers.

    As he was ready to start, he felt the ground beneath him vibrating again for the second time. He frowned and opened his eyes before collecting the array from the ground.

    He cursed under his breath. "What should we do now? Can I use that spell?"

    Shane knew what his host was referring to. He simply replied, "Don''t if you want to live."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Even though the spell is powerful, it can even st your entire body if you suck away excess energy in your body. I''m sure you don''t want to die before sting off the entire."

    Norman finally showed an anxious expression on his face as he said, "Can I purchase that flower again?"

    "You can''t because," said Shane as he nced at the Crana stats of his host, "you don''t have enough bnce. We have wasted a lot in healing potions and other items in the realms."

    "What a f*cking bad day!"ined Norman as he looked outside the small entrance of the cave, only to find that all the demons and monsters had already surrounded them once again. "What''s the possibility that I can stillbine those pieces together and win?"

    Shane thought for a while as he calcted the winning possibility and breathed, "Not a lot. Better not try something like that."

    "Then what? You don''t actually want me to fight these beings alone," shuddered Norman as he continued, "do you?"

    "Well¡­." Shane''s voice trailed off as he pursed his lips. "Your other attribute is lightning. We had purchased plenty of swords and spells rted to that. You can use it."

    Norman wanted to refute it, but he couldn''t. He silently epted his fate as he silently pulled out the weapon he had saved. It was an electrical st weapon that would help create enormous sts on his enemies. He quickly rushed out of his hiding ce and shed his weapon toward the first row of enemies.

    Suddenly, a sharp, sword-like arc blew out and sted toward the enemies in the front, creating a thunderous sound that echoed throughout the ce. But to Norman''s disappointment, even after sting the first row of enemies, a lot more remained in the back. It seemed as if their numbers kept increasing as the seconds passed.

    Norman gripped the hilt of the sword tightly as he gulped, "This is impossible."

    "I know," expressed Shane as he stared at the scene. "It seems they have a way to find you."

    Norman let out augh as he continued to shower one st after another as if he were on a killing spree. "Of course, they do! I have freaking done something no one could until now!"

    "I have a n, but you will have to follow every word," proposed Shane. "Can you do it?"

    "Sure." Norman didn''t worry about it as he continued his work, but soon enough, he found that with the corpses increasing, the demons and monsters got closer to him aspared to before. He frowned while dealing with them at the same time. "They''re like unending enemies!"

    "When I take control of your body," Shane ignored his host''sments as he started purchasing a lot more weapons in his own inventory, "remember to be ready to attack at any minute and take out the wooden array."

    "What are you going to do?" Norman frowned after hearing his system''s words as he continued to st away his enemies.

    The corners of Shane''s lips curved up. "I''m going to have some fun."

    "Huh?" Norman couldn''t tell what was going on in his system''s mind, but heplied and said nothing. He silently let the man take control of his body.

    Soon after Shane took control of the body, he opened his eyes and stared darkly at the row of demons and monsters surrounding him. He sneered.

 Chapter 88 87. Spare Me?

    Shane silently muttered the familiar spell under his breath as he raised his head and continued to stare at the monsters. They seemed to fear him for some reason. The demons who were ready to attack Norman a while ago took a few steps back as soon as Shane took control of the body.

    The live stream was on. So Shane couldn''t do much from the inside for the fear of revealing himself. He couldn''t use his own powers before entering this current world because all the hosts previously could only use divine energy, hampering his steps.

    Now, he could do anything he wanted without hesitation. If anyone raised suspicions, he might have to make things up a bit.

    Of course, he couldn''t brazenly use his power-sucking spell since it might create some suspension. That spell had a limitation¡ªthe user''s body might end up exploding because of being overfed. This fact, however, didn''t apply to Shane since he was himself the reservoir of energy. He had tried and tested everything, and in the end, he had found out there was no bound and limit to how much he could suck away.

    Another spell, dark energy balls, could help him, but again, he shouldn''t reveal his cards soon enough and refrain from revealing himself even if his enemies know him well.

    But he could still do something to buy time, thought Shane as the corners of his lips curved up.

    He looked around coldly as he released his energy around him openly. A dark aura spread around the ce as the demons and monsters froze. Their faces turned pale when they felt this aura suppressing their being to the point that they felt their chests heavy.

    Some of them even fell to the ground, staring in Shane''s direction as their eyes filled with horror.

    Shane felt satisfied seeing their reaction as he spoke to Norman in their mind: "Don''t be shocked when youe out. Try to make an expressionless face."

    "Why?" Norman tilted his head in confusion.

    "Because," chuckled Shane as he squinted his eyes, "Things won''t be good if my powers are revealed."

    Norman''s brain was still mushed into confusion, but he nodded. "Fine. Let''s -"

    Before he could finish his sentence, he was already given the control back. He was stunned as he tried to keep calm and stared around only to find more than half the demons fallen to the ground.

    A majority of the enemies had either be unconscious while others ran away while staring at Norman with horror in their eyes. Only now did Norman realize why Shane uttered those words back then.

    He silently observed and turned around to rush inside the cave. Then he pulled out the pieces of wood from his pockets and he put his palm above them before closing his eyes.

    He didn''t have time to even think about the fact that this event would make him face death once again. All he could think about was finishing his mission so that he could go back to his original world.

    Shane saw a gush of energy pouring into the pieces of wood ced in such a way that it formed a circle. Soon enough, the pieces attached to one another and created a perfect disc with aplex array design.

    As soon as the array was finished, the entire disc started glowing to the point that it was difficult to even nce at it.

    Shane stared at the scene as he said, "Host, this should be a goodbye. Our mission is going to end soon."

    "Don''t f*cking distract me!" Norman roared in his mind as he took deep breaths. "I''m trying to focus here!"

    Shane let out a chuckle, "Sure. Goodbye, host."

    A whileter, the disc sted off, creating a big impact around the ce so much that its energy spread throughout the, killing all the demons and monsters. The energying out of the array didn''t harm any animals or other nts. It only destroyed the demonic bases and monsters, spreading soothing energy throughout the ce.

    At this time, Norman''s breathing also slowed down as he fell to the ground. His eyes blinked at a slow pace as his breathing went shallow. His lips parted, "This is goodbye. It was nice working with you."

    As soon as he said that, he ended up dying for real. Since Shane had turned off the sense-sharing tool, he didn''t feel a thing as he returned to the open ground in the system space. He blinked as he tried to adjust to his surroundings.

    Several system students were standing not far away from him. Their faces were pale as they all murmured amongst themselves, not caring about Shane being thrown out of the virtual portal. He got up as he adjusted his emotions.

    The previous host was the most normal one he had ever encountered. He almost felt reluctant parting and wanted to continue handling that host for a while.

    Sighed. It was unfortunate that Norman was just a virtual host, not a real one.

    He pursed his lips as he stood there and found Tess quickly. He walked over only to find that she was currently chatting with Frank as if they didn''t argue about entering the virtual world.

    They became friends all over again, it seemed.

    Shane said nothing as he stood beside her and listened to their conservation. It was only a one-sided convo with Tess talking and Frank nodding beside her.<sub> </sub>

    "Ah, I''m so tired. That guy Norman was so hard to handle."

    Frank nodded.

    "Frank, tell me, how do you feel about him? Was he easy to handle? God, those teenagers were better!"

    Frank said nothing and pursed his lips.

    "Okay, I feel bad for how I ended up failing. I wanted him to return to his world, but sigh."

    The man became silent as he continued to ignore the girl.

    Tess still didn''t care whether the other person was ignoring her or not. She grinned and leaned over the man, "Say, who was the one to post that amazing skill? It helped a lot, but they should have added the caution that we can''t overfeed the host otherwise they will st!"

    Shane coughed. It was his mistake. He should have added that warning at the end, but it didn''t matter. He would have to focus on what to do for thest exam the next day.

    Even thinking about it made him sweat a bit. Previous worlds were virtual, but the next one would be as real as where he was living. He couldn''t afford a single mistake otherwise it would not only cause his mission to fail but also kill innocents because of his actions.

    He took a deep breath and curbed the anxiety deep inside his heart as he raised his head only to meet Ed''s eyes. The bald man waved his hand and called him closer.

    Shane didn''t think too much as he walked closer. "What''s up?"

    Ed narrowed his eyes as he looked at Dirt.

    Thetter nodded expressionlessly. "Shane, you have another mission."

    "What mission?"

    "You''ll be told once you get there. For now, enter the portal again."

    "Why should I enter through the same portal?"

    "Who told you to enter the same portal?" Dirt sighed. "The one behind me. Quick."

    Shane felt a bad feeling in his heart, but he still didn''t think too much as he walked inside. As soon as he entered the portal, he was soon sent to a familiar training ground filled with a castle, a lot of monsters, and a cliff.

    "Not this again," he groaned.

    He quickly opened the mission page:

    "Create a spell to counter every spell that you use. Don''t dare toe out without doing that. Anyway, you can''te out without fulfilling your mission because this time, there''s no way out for you. Good luck."

    Veins popped on Shane''s forehead. What the heck was wrong with Ed?! He should have known that the man was probably dissatisfied with how Shane ended up selling his spell publically.

    He took a deep breath and red at the monsters. Since he couldn''t get out of here anytime soon, he might as well use this chance to create that spell. In any case, he needed a new spell for the next exam tomorrow.

    At the same time, while Shane was trying to learn a new spell, Ed was having a secret meeting with a hooded person. It could be said that this hooded person was an envoy of the one who killed Noah and had created so much trouble for Shane.

    They were currently having a staredown as the hooded man sighed, "I never thought you would capture me."

    "You were hiding right beneath my nose inside the portal. How can I not capture you?"

    "Still," the hooded man said, "you shouldn''t interfere in the boss''s matters. You know him. He might not spare you the second time."

    "Spare me?" Ed got up on his feet as he chuckled, "What gave him the illusion that he can spare me?" He looked at the hooded man for a while before waving his hands. "Go back. I''ll leave you alive for now."

 Chapter 89 88. A Masked Man!

    Somewhere else, a certain silver-haired girl dressed in muddy robes filled with blood stains. She wiped her face as she shed another monster. Even though her face was cold, she looked even more exhausted and ruthless at this time. Her chest heaved up and down at a faster rate as if her lungs yearned for breath.

    Her surroundings were filled with dried trees and the sky was darker than a night with only a blood-red moon hanging above in the middle of the sky. It almost looked like a horror movie with groups of powerful monstersing close to her.

    Those monsters were even more powerful than everyone Shane had fought until now, But this silver-haired girl could defeat every single one of them with just a move of her sword. She didn''t even need to use spells at the moment

    It was just that she was tired as her robes filled with a dense smell of blood, making her nose wrinkle. She just wanted to take a bath and get rid of this odor on her.

    But she couldn''t get out.

    Or she should say she couldn''t find an exit just yet. She let out a frustrated sigh as she continued to sh her sword against those monsters, venting her emotions fully to the swing.

    Just then, a person appeared on one of the branches of a tree nearby. His face was hidden in the shadows as his lips curved up. "You have the nerve to displease your master. Is this the way you should act in a punishment?"

    Echo''s face paled as she took a deep breath and stopped fighting. she turned and bowed deeply with an expressionless face. "I apologize for the mistake. I have realized my mistakes."

    "Oh?" The man jumped down from the branch as his face was covered with a mask, leaving behind ck hair that looked thick and wavy. He was dressed in dark robes with silver lining and intricate designs that made it look almost dazzling to the eye.

    The man''s style of walking also seemed as if he hade straight down from the heavens and looked down on the systems. He sneered as he walked closer. His silver mask didn''t give out a single trace of emotion he felt in his heart as he sniffed and said, "Your smell tells me otherwise, dear disciple."

    "Master, why are you here in such a filthy ce?" Echo suddenly became too obedient as she lowered her head. For some reason, even the monsters around them stopped thrashing about as the man in the mask flicked his finger and the monsters vanished from there without a trace.

    He smiled from behind the mask and said, "Well done. You have sessfully impressed me by fighting head-on for three days straight without filling up your stomach. It''s just that thest bit of your frustration made me feel a bit off. What should I do with you?"

    Echo''s face paled for a second before she regained her cold expression and said, "Punish this disciple for being ignorant. This disciple should be full of reverence and gratitude for her master, and since I wasn''t, I haven''t learned my ways. I wish to fully equip myself with those values and submit to you fully."

    The corners of the man''s lips curved up as the smile reached his eyes. He seemed genuinely pleased at this time as he nodded and took hold of a strand of the girl''s hair in his fingers. He rubbed it gently and said, "Be a good girl, and I''ll reward you with more power."

    Echo lowered her head, but from the direction no one could see, a hint of emotion shed in her eyes as if she was finally going to fulfill the desire she longed for all this time. Her fingers curled up in an instant as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself and not let go of any emotion in front of the man.

    She raised her head and filled her eyes with tears. "Master, I don''t deserve this."

    The man''s palms caressed her head as he said, "I know. You can go back and rest."

    A light shed from his palms as thedy disappeared from there without a trace. As soon as the girl vanished, the masked man scoffed, "She takes me for a fool. Does she think she can manipte me, the maniptor? I''ll keep her around for a while before discarding her."

    ***

    Echo did return to the system world, but she didn''t go back home to take a rest. Her feet carried her toward themon dormitory for males as she hid outside in the bushes, and stared into the corridor through the windows.

    The door she was staring at clearly belonged to someone whom she had been following for a while. Otherwise, how could she hide her tracks after sneaking on the tree, standing right in front of that particr door?

    She knew her actions were a bit wrong, or could even be considered a criminal offense, but she couldn''t help it. After all, she was originally here to keep an eye on this person despite what she was facing.

    Just as she was trying to justify her actions, the door opened, revealing a red-haired man walking out with a nk expression on his face. He had his hands in his pockets as he walked with azy expression on his face.

    Echo''s face revealed a look of nostalgia for a moment before she jumped to another tree.<sub> </sub>

    Shane paused his steps and quickly nced in that direction and tilted his head. Why did he feel like he heard something from this direction?

    After a while of staring at the trees, he shook his head and continued walking.

    Echo''s shoulders rxed as she squinted her eyes at the man''s back walking through the lonely corridor. She muttered under her breath, "Is he him? Every action and even the way he speaks reminds me of him. Did I make a mistake?"

    Her words remained unheard as she continued to sneak around while trying not to keep her eyes off the man.

    Shane felt something was very wrong as he went to the cafeteria and went to the counter to take his food. He had an innate feeling that someone was staring at him from a distance, but when he looked around, it felt normal.

    It was almost as if this feeling was his hallucination. He took a deep breath and suppressed those emotions to the depth of his heart as he made his way toward his sister and Frank.

    As soon as Echo, who was hiding behind the counter, nced at the table where Shane was heading, for some reason, her expression turned colder than ice as she red at the people sitting at the table. After muttering to herself God knows what, she finally calmed down and continued her actions.

    Shane sighed for the fifth time as he tried to brush off this feeling while continuing to eat. Tess observed this and kicked her brother under the table, earning a re from the man.

    "What the heck are you doing?"

    Tess rolled her eyes. "I don''t want to hear you sigh again and again. Did you be old or something?"

    Shane wanted to speak his heart when he remembered he wasn''t supposed to trust anyone. He lowered his head as a trace ofplicated emotion shed in his eyes. He sighed again, earning another kick from his sister under the table. "Can you act like a girl for once?!"

    "Yes, I''m acting like a girl."

    "Frank, manage your girl." Shane nced at Frank, whose face turned blushing red at those words. "I can''t handle her anymore."

    "Y-You! What the f*ck are you saying?!"

    "Exactly what I mean!" Shane red at the blushing man and said, "If you two don''t say it, it doesn''t mean I don''t observe you two. You''re so obvious with your emotions. Just propose to one another already!"

    "Brother!" Tess red at her brother in turn as she made action to hit her brother.

    Shane seemed to know that this girl was going to kick him again under the table. So he swiftly moved and avoided the action while standing from his position and sitting across her right next to Frank. He raised his head arrogantly and said, "You can''t hit me anymore, Tess."

    Echo''s heart skipped a beat upon seeing that expression. She lowered her head and muttered to herself again, "Too simr. Two people can''t have such simr facial reactions."

    Her heart still throbbed as she concluded that Shane must have something to do with that person. These days, if it weren''t for keeping an eye on the man herself, she wouldn''t have found such a critical clue. Sure enough, subordinates couldn''t be trusted at all times.

    She cursed at her subordinates that she had left behind to keep an eye on Shane and decided to kick them out. After thinking of this, she was just about to get up from her hiding spot when she felt a tap on her shoulders.

    Her entire body stiffened as she nced back only to find Jake standing there with his arms crossed on his chest. His lips pulled up to form an amusing smile as he said, "Look what we have here. A certain boss-level princess stalking a guy. Tut. I didn''t think you would stoop to such a low level for your mission."

    Echo''s expression cooled down as she quickly said, "If you don''t want to be kicked out, better behave."

 Chapter 90 89. The Real World!

    The two had a staredown for a while. It was Echo who stood up and cleared her throat. She had an awkward expression on her face as she said, "Forget it. I was just cleaning the floor."

    "Really?" Jake had an amusing smile on his face. "I never thought I would get to see such a face of our great Echo."

    The girl couldn''t wait to run away from here. Before she could even think about rushing out of this ce, she heard a voice she least wanted to hear at this time.

    "What are you doing there, Jake? Wait, are you actually talking to Echo?" Tess spoke as Shane also nced at them.

    Good, Lord!

    Echo''s expression cracked a little as she took a deep breath and red at a certain smiling person. She should have hidden behind the food counter at all! In fact, she shouldn''t have used her body to stalk Shane.

    It would have been better to use astral travel to keep an eye on the man. Even though it would cost her a couple more time and energy, it would be better than being caught shamelessly!

    Echo took a deep breath and red at Jake before rushing away from that ce.

    Shane and others stared at the silver-haired girl running away like her ass was on fire. He blinked and tilted his head in confusion.

    Then he shook his head and threw the topic to the back of his head. He called out, "Jake, what''re you bbering for with that girl? Stay away from her."

    "Sure, sure," said Jake as he waved his hand. He walked toward Shane''s table and sat beside Tess. He put his hand on his chin and tilted his head toward her a little.

    A flirty smile appeared on his lips. "How you doing?"

    "Don''t do ''friends'' here!" Shane''s forehead was covered with ck lines as he red at the man. "At least, not on my sister!"

    "Chill out, mother hen." Jake let out a chuckle. "I was just testing out my acting skills."

    At this time, Echo had a nostalgic expression on her face as she watched the group chit-chatting at the table. No one knew what was going on in her mind.

    After a while, her fingers curled up in a fist. She looked as if she had just determined something in her mind as she walked away. Her expressions remained firm and stern as if she was ready to jump on a battlefield.

    ***

    The next day arrived. Even though none of the students wanted to attend, they had no choice. If they wanted a good life in the ident continent, they would have to pass the exam. Not only that, but they would also have to get first division grades and rise at or about level ten just to get out of Orient.

    In short, if a system were to fail to fulfill the basic requirements of eligibility, they would be forced to live in this Godforsaken ce.

    No systems at present wanted to stay here. Even though living inside the institute was as good as staying at a hotel, they had all seen the outside world. Most of the systems living in quarters outside didn''t live better.

    They were all poor, barely having anything to fill up their stomachs every day. Some even resorted to killing monsters as an overtime job apart from traveling from one world to another.

    So Shane was also affected by this mentality. He felt a hint of nervousness in his heart as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

    He should calm down. It was only a virtual portal¡­.

    No, his virtual chances ended with Norman!

    He cursed under his breath. This was the real world, and he would be responsible for someone else''s life. Even if he managed to save his host, he would end up killing another host in a mission.

    In short, what he was going to do starting from today would harm someone or the other.

    At present, they were all standing in the open ground in new robes, ready to enter thest exam venue. Ed stood there with his hands crossed on his chest as he stared at the students expressionlessly.

    Today, there wasn''t a virtual portal like they usually saw every day. There wasn''t anything there, to begin with!

    This scene caused the students to feel a tinge of nervousness in their hearts.

    Just as they were thinking, they heard the bald man speaking: "Ladies and gentlemen, wee to the final exam. We''ll send you all to the world to examine your job capabilities. Based on your marks and report, you would be given wages when you get hired by the transmigrationpanies either here or another continent."

    "Companies?"<sub> </sub>

    "That''s right," said Ed as he stared at everyone. "It''s impossible for the government to handle everything alone with only one System God. So here, private and governmentpanies are responsible to handle the mortal realm. They all receive karma evaluation of every world they choose, and based on that, they assign a particr system to either save or destroy a world."

    Ed paused and continued, "Now that everything''s clear, we should start for the day. Dirt," he said and nced at his robot, "turn on the portal."

    As soon as Dirt nodded and typed a few words on the interface, a portal appeared. This was a bit different from what the students had seen earlier. This portal had a look like a dungeon portal with something dark wandering at the center of the circle. If one looked carefully, one would see the universal sky beyond the portal into the darkness.

    Ed nodded and said, "I''ll call out the names, and you guys have to enter that chronology."

    After that, he started calling out the names of the students avable there. When it was Shane''s turn, he took a deep breath and entered.

    Suddenly, he felt dizzy to the point that he couldn''t stand anymore. His stomach churned. He almost felt he would puke his guts out.

    He was reminded of the time when they had seen monsters eating humans for the first time. It had nearly made him vomit. But he had suppressed himself back then.

    The current emotions were also the same as that day. It was just that this was caused because of the space and time traveling system.

    When he opened his eyes the next time, he was already in a dark, familiar system space. He noticed a few popup windows simr to what had happened previously.

    ? Only, at the end of the entire popup scenario, a sentence appeared, almost seemingly mocking him.

    [System, since this is your first real-world within an ongoing examination curriculum, we request you not to die. Onto your journey!]

    Shane''s lips twitched. He crossed the popup as his body was transferred to the world without asking him permission. He felt another wave of dizziness traveling up his head.

    He fell to the ground when he opened his eyes.

    Another familiar ck space with a job interface was waiting for him. He was already inside the host''s mind.

    He quickly scanned the world''s information first and was stunned.

    It was also simr to the first world with two parties. It was just that here, they had a clear distinction on who belonged to which group. There wasn''t any backstory given to this world. It was empty, without any living organisms other than deadly monsters. Only dense forest awaited the systems at present.

    The two groups that he read about before were¡ª

    The saviors and the destroyers.

    The mission was crystal clear. The destroyers would annihte this world while the saviors would try to save this world. But theirmon mission was the same: to kill the main boss.

    So the two groups would have to work together on several small tasks until they killed the boss before finally heading toward the final mission.

    Of course, they couldn''t ignore the small tasks before heading toward the final mission. It was because both were mandatory for the final exam report. Or else, the invigtor would give the students zero whoever skipped this mandatory mission.

    The reason behind this kind of absurd mission was simple. They wanted to see whether systems were ready to perform tasks even with the enemies. They didn''t want to see whether they couldplete the missions.

    Of course, Ed didn''t give out this piece of information to the students. So all of them were under the illusion that they would have to pass the missions until the very end to get full marks.

    Shane didn''t think too much about the mission. He simply clicked on the host information tab.

    This time, his host was also a normal college student, simr to him in all aspects. Even his host always stayed at the top in all the fields.

    Shane sighed. He didn''t want to deal with a prodigy. They were the worst.

    It was almost as if trying to manage his past self, which would be troubling even for him.

    Just as he was thinking, the frantic voice of his host echoed in his ears. "Where am I?! What''s happening?"

    Shane quickly opened the screen as he watched his host getting up from the ground. He was leaning against a tree. He was currently standing in dense forests such that even sunrays couldn''t filter between the leaves.

 Chapter 91 90. The First Mission: Survive!

    Shane cleared his throat and said, "Hello, host, I''m your system. How are you?"

    This time, he didn''t even bother speaking his number. It didn''t matter whether his host knew about his system number. For an ordinary man, all the systems would be the same.

    Suddenly, the host''s voice came to a halt as Shane saw the youth frowning. Then the young man asked, "Why am I here?"

    "Did you remember what you were doing before you came here?"

    The host made a thoughtful expression as his frown deepened. "I was climbing stairs."

    Shane felt his sentence stuck in his throat. He closed his mouth and thought for a moment. How did his host not even realize he had died while walking down the stairs? There could only be one possibility:

    The host was probably one of the unlucky people to encounter an apocalypse in the middle of climbing the stairs.

    He silently nced at the reason for death and found his guess was correct. He sighed, "You died because of a sudden outbreak of an apocalypse. Your body turned into a zombie and started biting into other humans."

    The host shuddered as he said, "Why did you have to tell me that, honestly!?"

    "You asked me about it."

    The young man pursed his lips and changed the topic. "By the way, my name is Samuel, not ''host''!"

    "Okay, Samuel," Shane specifically pressed for the name and continued, "let''s get going. Otherwise, we''re going to bete."

    "Whatte? What should I do?" The man paused and frowned. "No, more importantly, why should I follow your words? I''m not your servant!"

    Shane sighed and sent the world setting to his host as he patiently said, "You''ll get a chance at living. Simple."

    "I don''t want to live again."

    "Then you can switch to a wish-fulfilling program instead!" Shane tried to be as cheerful as possible, trying not to make his host run away and be in denial on the first day of the exam. "You''ll only get one chance, though."

    Samuel thought for a good while before raising his head. "Where''s the proof or the written document for this? Why should I trust you?"

    Now Shane was getting a headache. He pressed his finger against his forehead as he took a deep breath.

    Calm down.

    It was just the average host, a human being.

    He should have some passion for his fellow humans!

    After hypnotizing himself for a while, he said, "I''ll send you one. A minute, please!"

    Being a system, they already had the written contract document with his signature and the official stamp attached at the very end. This document contained two pages of written rules and points exining everything the host should see in the mission.

    It was just that most hosts would be too silly or scared even to remember there should be a written document of this. Shane quickly found it and passed it on to the young man through the message box.

    After a while, Samuel let out a satisfied hum and said, "Okay, I have also finished reading the world setting. Where are the other hosts?"

    "That''s where our first missiones in!" Shane paused and sent out the first mission details. "We must head to the meeting area while surviving in the wild."

    "What does it mean?"

    Shane also wanted to know. Was this ce far from here that they would have to spend a specific time surviving it?

    He didn''t know, but he knew they would find out soon. He said nothing and pointed out a direction. "Go East."

    "Okay." This time, Samuel was unexpectedly obedient. Shane stared at the radar screen to see if there were any monsters around, but it was all empty. It was written in the mission description that they should see the radar for directions. Only the systems could use the radar function.

    That was how Shane was confident about the direction, as mentioned on the radar. But aside from that, there wasn''t anything on the screen.

    It was almost empty.

    He frowned.

    The host walked for hours through the dense and dark forest just like that, but they still hadn''t reached the ce. Samuel''s stomach growled.

    The young man covered his stomach. His face flushed with a trace of embarrassment. "I''m hungry. Can I buy something to eat? Do I even have enough money?"<sub> </sub>

    Shane looked at the host''s stats and sighed. Since they had just started, they didn''t get to perform any action to please their audience. So, of course, Shane wouldn''t be able to receive any gifts from the live stream. Of course, his source of ie was also the spell he had sold previously.

    So he was pretty loaded.

    This was what was meant by survival on the first mission. The bald man and other instructors at the institute probably knew the hosts wouldn''t receive any money at the starting stage. So that was why they set up such a strange task that didn''t have any monsters around to kill.

    "Let''s find something to eat first."

    Samuel nodded and started looking around. He suddenly found something that looked much like an apple, but didn''t at the same time. Its color was close to blood red, slightly protruding from another angle.

    His eyes lit up as he walked over. He was about to reach out to that fruit when Shane quickly yelled, "Be careful! Don''t touch it!"

    Samuel''s hands retracted as he narrowed his eyes at the fruit. "Why?"

    "Because," Shane stared at the red dot that appeared for the first time on the radar, "it''s a monster."

    Samuel stared at that strange thing without blinking. He stared, stared, and stared.

    After a while, he broke out inughter, so much that his stomach started to hurt. He dramatically wiped nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes and said, "You''re too funny system. It looks like someone''s butt, an ugly one at that."

    "Can you focus already?" Shane felt a splitting headache as he pressed his fingers against his forehead. He massaged that area for a bit. "Run, quickly!"

    Samuel turned his heels and started walking in the other direction. He sighed, "Are we there yet?"

    "Not yet."

    "When are we going to reach?"

    Shane pursed his lips. He wished he knew about it. "Just continue walking."

    "You also have no idea about it, do you?"

    Shane again remained silent as he changed the topic. "We should find you something to eat."

    "Wow." Samuel scoffed and crossed his arms on his chest. "Good going. You changed the topic, so abruptly."

    Shane ignored those words and said, "Go and find other edible fruits nearby. I can still confirm whether they''re safe or not."

    Like that, Samuel covered the entire area, but except for a leaf, he found nothing that could be eaten. This particr nt''s fruit was bitter, and its leaves were even worse. He didn''t want to taste it.

    His stomach growled again.

    Ah, never mind. He would feed himself a ssic cuisine after passing through this world.

    He ate a bite of that leaf, only to have his nose wrinkled. A bitter and sour taste filled his mouth, making his stomach twist into knots. He nearly vomited his guts as he patted his chest and somehow swallowed one bite into his stomach.

    Then he reluctantly nced at the leaf and ced it deep in his pockets. Out of sight, out of mind.

    At least his stomach stopped growling. That leaf could be used as ast resort. He thought about it beautifully, imagining that he could continue with the help of that leaf. It was just that he never thought that a row of fierce-looking monsters with the faces of wolves suddenly blocked his path.

    He froze as he stared at the monsters in vignce. They started growling as they sniffed. Saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths.

    Samuel soon realized why they stopped him from continuing. They were here after smelling that leaf, weren''t they?

    He had an urge to throw it away, but he knew he couldn''t. He only had this one leaf to fill his stomach! The nt from where he got this had already withered to dust.

    The original nt was strange enough to destroy itself once a leaf was broken apart. He wasn''t sure if he could find another nt soon enough.

    He pursed his lips as he thought about escaping when he heard Shane''s voice.

    "Eat it." Shane leaned back and continued to watch through the screen. "They were able to find you because of the smell emanating from the broken leaf."

    Samuel''s face changed colors as he shook his head. "I will never eat this thing unless it''s an emergency!"

    "Then stay here and die." Shane reminded the host kindly. "Didn''t you see their faces? They''re all wolf monsters and can probably run faster than humans."

    Samuel hesitated for a moment as he gritted his teeth and reached out to the leaf. He quickly grabbed it from his pocket. He was about to put it in his mouth when a monster suddenly leaped onto him.

 Chapter 92 91. The Fruits!

    Samuel didn''t get a chance to dodge the sudden attack burst as the monster''s ws shed across his stomach. It created a deep, bloody wound that looked hideous at a single nce. Suddenly, the youth yelled at the top of his voice, making a loud echo that filled up the surroundings.

    Shane pressed his hand against his forehead and immediately pushed the free body controlling tool button. He didn''t waste any more minutes. He used a regr sword to attack the monster standing before his eyes.

    He continued to dodge and attack as he nced around.

    This time, the host wasn''t simr to Norman''s, and the world was also real. He couldn''t use his powers freely. But it didn''t mean he didn''t have other tricks up his sleeves. If he remembered correctly, he still had that ice sword and freezing spell he could use for a few seconds. He quickly used it and froze all the nearby monsters, putting the leaf in his mouth.

    By the time he started chewing, the control of the body had already been transferred to his host.

    Samuel''s entire body was struck dumb as he stood there with leftover food in his mouth. He was so shocked that he wasn''t even chewing.

    "Run," said Shane in his mind. "Or else, be ready to get attacked again. I won''t help you the second time."

    Samuel didn''t know what had happened. He already had a bucket load of questions in his heart. But, he took a deep breath and turned around, darting in a different direction.

    The only consoling thing was that at least he was still running in the right direction.

    After running for a while, he chewed the rest of the leaf in his mouth. The wave of bitterness spread throughout his mouth, making him nearly puke at the end.

    He suppressed the feeling and forced himself to eat. At the end of it, he had a colorful expression on his face.

    Shane didn''tugh. He didn''t have time because the monsters wereing closer and closer. He yelled, "Run!"

    Samuel also didn''t have time to be worried about the bitterness he felt in his mouth.

    Even though the leaf was bitter to the point of making his tongue numb, it satisfied his hunger. His body was filled with energy. He instantly ran forward as fast as he could without daring to nce behind him.

    He didn''t feel any hunger as he rushed in that direction. Since he was afraid that the monsters woulde and attack him again.

    A few hourster.

    The monsters had long subsided, leaving behind a dense forest filled with trees and shrubs. His footsteps echoed throughout the ce, making Samuel feel a chill down his spine.

    At this time, his stomach growled. He suddenly felt exhausted as if he couldn''t walk any further. After all, he had run all the way here.

    Samuel stopped by a tree after a while and leaned against it, heaving softly. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, but he was too exhausted to wipe them away.

    Shane was also feeling mentally tired. For a few hours, all he had been seeing was a dense forest surrounded by trees. There wasn''t a group of other monsters around at this time.

    Of course, it was another matter that those trees were also monsters. It meant that they couldn''t brazenly eat anything even though it looked delicious.

    Perhaps this was the real test of survival this time.

    Shane frowned. He hadn''t dared to turn on the sense-sharing tool, knowing it would definitely make him feel hungry. At least, one among the two people here should stay stable

    After looking at the free body controlling tool that was avable again, he said, "I''ll do something about it."

    He resigned to himself and purchased a few stomach-filling pills. It would keep the body energetic for a few hours, saving him a lot of trouble.

    It was just that these pills weren''t any cheaper. He grimaced, but still hardened his heart and purchased five of them. His ount bnce nearly emptied after buying them.

    He felt pain in his heart after seeing Crana bnce.

    Still, he couldn''t do anything else. This was the real world with a real person as his host. He couldn''t take any risks.

    As he was thinking, he quickly took control of the body and stuffed a pill in his mouth before giving it back to the host. Then he exined, "You can continue in that direction for a few hours without needing any water. I have sacrificed too much money for this. Don''t waste my efforts."<sub> </sub>

    Samuel felt a trace of gratitude in his heart. Even though he was a college student, he was still too young and hadn''t experienced any ups and downs in life. So his emotions were visible on his face.

    "You''ll make me puke by that kind of face." Shane''s nose wrinkled. "You better straighten up and act like a normal man."

    Samuel took a deep breath and nodded while starting to walk. This time, he didn''t run and preserved as much energy while walking as possible. He also didn''t talk very loudly.

    Soon enough, after a few days of traveling like this and eating up all those pills, they finally reached their destination. It was an open ground, and apparently, Samuel was the first one to arrive.

    He was surprised by seeing this. He nced around, but he didn''t find anyone as he raised his doubts: "Where are others?"

    "Probably on their way." Shane pointed out another thing. "Grab the food while you''re still at it."

    Only then did Samuel notice a te filled with fruits ced in the middle of the open ground on a straw mat. Even though there was a lot, he couldn''t promise everyone would get their share once. So he might as well get something to eat and rest a while before everyone arrives.

    While he was eating, he asked, "Who put these fruits here?"

    Shane knew that it should be Ed because he''s the current invigtor. The man probably didn''t want the hosts to die after suffering from their first tasks. But he couldn''t tell this directly to his host.

    One of the rules that they should follow was never to reveal the ins and outs of the system world. So he simply opened his mouth and said, "Probably someone left these here. They''re all safe. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have told you to eat it."

    Samuel nodded. As he was eating, someone else arrived. It was a blond girl with her hair tied up in a ponytail. Her eyes had round sses. Her body was covered with blood scratches and dirt. When she looked at the food ced in the middle of the open ground, she spared no nce at the man-eating it nicely and rushed toward it.

    "Food!" Her hoarse throat let out a word as she pounced on it, eating it like a wild animal.

    Samuel watched the scene with widened eyes. He silently picked up thest piece of grape and stuffed it into his mouth. Then he got up from the ground. "The food''s going nowhere. Eat slowly."

    Only then did she notice a man. She awkwardly lifted her head. Her mouth froze when she nced at how handsome and clean the man looked. Then she hurriedly wiped her face and fixed her appearance. Even then, she couldn''t wipe out the traces of blood from her body.

    Her face was filled with frustration as she pushed up her sses and said, "I''m sorry."

    "What''re you sorry for?"

    "I-I¡­." The girl stuttered out a word and then stopped saying it as if she couldn''t form a sentence.

    Shane, who was watching everything ying from his mind, pressed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Samuel, let me remind you something. This is a real horror world filled with monsters, and we have a mission. I''d appreciate it if you don''t carry out romance instances with someone."

    Samuel waved his hand and shook his head. "You''re thinking too much. I was just talking."

    "Why do I feel like you want to flirt?" Shane sighed, "You can do that all you want once you get back to your ce. But here, we have got to work."

    "Got it," Samuel grumbled.

    At this time, even the girl had silenced herself as if she were talking to her system too. Seems like the other system had also given the girl an earful about not being in a romance.

    Shane raised his brows. He wondered if the other system was an acquaintance.

    As he was wondering, several people also walked out of the forest, looking like beggars with torn clothes. When they noticed so many fruits, some of them were frightened. But then they paused, seeming to have heard something from their systems. Then slowly, they walked closer to the fruits.

    Shane knew that those people might have faced the wrath of monster fruits earlier.

    Just then, he got a notification. He looked through the chat only to be a bit stunned.

    He was actually pulled into a group filled with other systems working on this exam!

 Chapter 93 92. A Storm~

    Everyone''s usernames were visible at the top, letting him realize who was who. He ignored everyone''s messages introducing themselves and focused first on Tess and Frank. As for Jake, he didn''t care.

    He just noted everyone''s mission, and that was it. Soon, he found Tess and Frank''s messages introducing themselves and their mission in the groups.

    Tess: "My host is Don, that silver-haired young man."

    Shane looked at the screen and nodded. That person was still busy eating the fruits. His entire body seemed a little exhausted and too injured to the point that he could barely stand on his feet.

    Then it was Frank''s turn. Thetter silently pointed toward the blond-haired girl with round specks.

    Shane frowned. Wasn''t that girl the same who had been blushing since meeting his host? He pursed his lips and introduced his host.

    At this time, even Frank went silent for a while.

    While they were all discussing in the chat group, something strange was happening outside the system world. A group of hooded people gathered around the institute, right outside the territory of Ed, making sure they won''t be noticed.

    The leader of this group was very familiar. This person had been involved in several things and had even gone against Shane in the dungeon, watching his underling die at the hands of a young man.

    "Boss, Dark, they''re all still in the portal. "

    This leader called himself ''Dark'' in front of his underlings and others. This name was his identity that he took on whenever he needed to perform any evil work. What he was going to do was no less than evil.

    "It doesn''t matter." The corners of his mouth curved up to form a smirk. "Our mission is to retrieve Shane. After analyzing his powers, I realized that letting him wander freely isn''t a good choice. So the sooner we pluck his life, the better. It''s useless to allow him to grow further."

    It was true that he would wait and see what happened to Shane. But ever since he purchased that power-sucking tool, he discovered how ruthless the weapon was against the demons! If this was what Shane could do, he didn''t want to keep that person around to endanger himself and his goals.

    Dark silently gazed at the institute gates for a while without any expression. No one could tell what he was thinking, but a specific unknown emotion shed in his eyes for a moment. Then before anyone could see through his expressions, his face was again covered with coldness.

    The corners of his lips carried a hint of a sneer as he spoke: "I had nned to ignore his little disciple, but thetter''s destructive powers are too much to ignore."

    "What should we do?" one of the subordinates was worried and said, "We can''t just kill him, ah? This is a system world, and thew clearly states-"

    "When have we ever followed thew?" Dark turned around sharply and smiled. "But yes, I can''t kill him yet, but I can turn him away from his master. Ed''s presence is a headache. I can''t deal with that b*stard just yet, but I can let his disciple handle him. I can sow a seed of hatred between them, leading them to their deaths like puppets."

    "Won''t Ed know what you''re going to do?" the subordinate was again worried at this, knowing full well what the rtionship was between Ed and Dark.

    Thetter smiled again. This time, the smile turned terrifying as he said, "Of course, he would, but he still can''t do anything about his disciple when the little system decides to hide. Ed is as cold as I am, but Shane was the only exception."

    His subordinates didn''t raise their doubts anymore. Dark let out a satisfying smile and looked around.

    "Let''s get to work. We have to infiltrate this ce and escape Dirt''s eyes." After thinking of a particr robot, Dark grimaced. "That piece of metal is a pain in the a**. I still can''t deal with him. If Ed and Dirt fight together, we might not even ce a foot inside this ce."

    "What should we do????" the closest subordinate was anxious.

    "Don''t worry." Dark had a n as he opened his interface. "Let''s hack it, as we had done previously."

    After trying for a while, he suddenly let out augh. "Good, good. That piece of metal unexpectedly created a new anti-virus system! Hah, but he still doesn''t know who he''s dealing with!"

    Dark worked for a while and finally managed to crack the anti-virus system code, hacking into the virtual portal while hiding in the shadows. He quickly pulled up the live stream and found Shane''s host. His lips pulled up to form a smile.

    "We have found our target."<sub> </sub>

    Of course, what he didn''t know was that Dirt had managed to find that something had gone wrong with the anti-virus system again. Someone had hacked into the virtual portal once again.

    Their target was also Shane this time.

    He quickly reported to Ed, who was silent. He waved his hand and said, "I know who''s doing this. Ignore it."

    Dirt was surprised. "Why? Don''t you want to save Shane?"

    "At the cost of this entire world?" Ed sneered. "That''s impossible. If we kill Dark, the entire system world will crumble to dust."

    "Then what should we do?"

    "Protect Shane." Ed paused as if he realized something and said, "Even if you have to go against me, do it."

    "Why do you want to protect Shane?" Dirt still couldn''t understand why his master was so hell-bent on saving his disciple. From what he knew of Ed''s past, this certain master had never been involved with other people and emotions. He had even wondered once if his master could even feel emotions at one time.

    Ed knew what Dirt was talking about. He leaned against a tree and narrowed his eyes.

    "Don''t get me wrong. I don''t care for Shane or this stupid system world." He crossed his arms on his chest. "It''s Shane''s power that''s unique. I don''t want that destructive power. It can destroy this entire universe under the hands of the wrong person, and Dark is precisely that person.

    "I don''t want this universe destroyed even though I don''t care about anything. I don''t believe I''m righteous with whatever I have done in the past. I don''t have any right to be a righteous person either¡­. It''s just Shane reminds me too much of my younger days when I was also a little naive righteous young man, filled with the vitality of youth."

    Dirt listened to everything, and with his analysis, he believed thest sentence should be the real reason why Ed was hell-bent on saving Shane. This man had been alive for decades, and Dirt knew everything Ed had to endure to receive a moment of quiet all these years.

    Even though he couldn''t feel any emotions, he could still tell that this was the time to feel sympathy if he were a human. He silently nodded and asked hisst question:

    "What about your powers?"

    Ed smiled. He knew what Dirt was talking about. His body had too much power, and he knew that he might die this time for real. He didn''t fear death, nor did he have any desire to live.

    He just wanted to do onest good deed before closing his eyes. He had been a viin before entering this institute. To be honest, he didn''t even have the right to hate his brother in the first ce. The System God was stupid and naive, but he was the one who had led that person astray. He was the reason behind Dark''s emergence.

    He was behind all the bad things happening in this system world, but he couldn''t do anything about it. He couldn''t turn back the time without that high level of karmic reaction. He also knew that if he managed to die, he might end up in hell. And the only person capable of killing him was his disciple.

    He could already tell what Dark was up to, but he still didn''t do anything to stop that person. Not because he was exhausted but because he didn''t have any right to do anything righteous. The only good deed he wanted to do was do a good deed before ending his life.

    Ah, he had already wanted to die for a long time, and that time was finally here. He couldn''t help but feel gleeful at heart.

    Ed leisurely leaned against the tree leisurely and said, "And my attribute to Shane. He shouldn''t suffer because of his powers. If he gets my power, he might have a chance to survive against all odds."

    Dirt said nothing and nodded. He was a robot who couldn''t feel anything, but he was reluctant to let go of the master he had followed for years. He stared at Ed''s face and asked:

    "Should I reveal your past to Shane?"

    "No need." Ed waved his hand. "It''ll be only a burden to him."

    "What if he finds out on his own?"

    "Then that''s his fate."

 Chapter 94 93. Dark

    Shane didn''t know what was happening outside. He didn''t realize that in a couple of minutes, his entire life was going to turn around. The viins behind the scenes were finally willing to act and do something about him.

    He had long known that he was like a bone stuck in the viin''s throats because of his powers. He wanted to practice after finishing up the exam and train under Ed for a while.

    It was just that his thinking was too naive. He was still not mentally and emotionally prepared for what was toe.

    At this time, Shane was focused on finishing his mission firsthand. He stared at the mission tab and nced at thetest task he had just received.

    "Lead the group and take the weapon."

    Shane nodded in satisfaction as he said, "It''s a good thing that we are going to lead the group."

    "Why?"

    "I don''t want to follow others." Shane had never been the person to follow anyone''s orders. This aspect made troubled him during his college days back on Earth.

    Samuel shrugged and stood up. They were still on the open ground as they all finished their food and rested for a while. Some of them were even eating healing pills and potions.

    He opened his mouth and asked, "Shouldn''t we follow our new mission?"

    "Why are you in a hurry?" one guy spoke as he pressed a hand on his shoulder, massaging it. "I''m already tired. We have been on and on for days, and I don''t want to go on anymore."

    "That''s true. We need rest."

    "Who are you to tell us what we should do, ah?"

    It was clear that none of these people had seen what the mission was!

    Samuel didn''t get frustrated after hearing this. It was all under his expectations. He opened his mouth and said, "Well then, I''ll go alone and take the rewards. You guys can rest here."

    "What rewards?"

    Of course, the demon-killing sword wasn''t the only thing they could receive from the dungeon. Those words piqued everyone''s attention as they quickly opened their system interfaces. They were surprised to see a time limit to thetest mission!

    Only two days!

    Just how were they supposed to finish this mission now?

    Everyone''s faces turned green. The worse thing was that a person named Samuel was their leader.

    Finally, after a while, someone asked, "Why do we have to follow someone?"

    "Because," Samuel squinted his eyes and put his hands in his pockets, "I came here first. This is my reward."

    No one said anything after this, even though they were all dissatisfied with this arrangement. Finally, after resting for a few more minutes, they all stood up and got ready to enter the dungeon.

    The radar showed the direction, but only Shane could see this direction since his host was the first to reach the ce. Others could only follow their unappointed and forced leader.

    As the hosts walked through the dense forest in the north, he started reading the chat in the inbox.

    "This is so unfair."

    "Why did Shane get to be the leader''s system?"

    "No, the question is, howe he managed to help his hoste first? Don''t you think something smells fishy?"

    At that time, Tess jumped and scolded everyone in the chat: "If you have the capability, you should have done it faster than him! Don''t bully my brother just because he doesn''t say anything!"

    Shane pressed his finger on his forehead. He wasn''t replying because he didn''t think this small matter deserved his attention. He sighed but still felt warm from the bottom of his heart.

    "Oh, herees the protective hot sister~."

    "I wish she could be my girlfriend."

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead as he stared at the chat. He finally typed a few words and sent a reply:

    "Those who want to die can continue speaking about my sister in that manner."

    For a minute, everyone was silent before thundering intoughter. None of those people took Shane seriously as theymented against him one after another.

    "This guy thinks he''s a CEO or something."

    "It''s so funny. He''s supposed to be the weakest of us all! Where does he get the confidence to talk back to us?"

    "He''s simply useless. Ignore him."<sub> </sub>

    Tess got angry again after watching things y like this. She raised her hands and started typing again.

    "If either of you talks bad of my brother, I''ll hate ya all to eternity!" she paused for a moment as if thinking of something and wrote: "Don''t get me wrong. I don''t care about either of you, but I can befriend some who aren''t perverts."

    Shane looked at her chat with a satisfied expression on his face. For some reason, his shoulders rxed as he felt his sister might have a chance to survive this ce without his presence.

    He tagged his sister and wrote, "Don''t care about them. Focus only on Frank."

    He could imagine her shocked and choked-up expression after reading this. The corners of his lips curved up to form a warm smile.

    Sure enough. Tess private messaged him. "STOP TYPING!!!!!! SHANE, I SWEAR I''LL KILL YOU IF YOU DON''T!"

    "Then get in a rtionship, won''t you?" Shane also teased. If they were still on Earth, he would have knocked at Frank''s door and threatened the guy for chasing his sister. But here, they were already in danger every day. It wouldn''t be bad for his sister to fulfill her desires a bit.

    At this moment, he didn''t know that this was probably the onlyst bit of peaceful memory that would torment him for years toe.

    Tess soon replied: "I''m warning you! Don''t enter the danger zone!"

    "But you two are way too obvious."

    "No, we aren''t!" Tess sent another message after this. "I just like teasing him¡­."

    "There, your heart is revealed. I''ll screenshot this and send it to Frank right now."

    Shane even did what he said, receiving a series of ellipses as a reply. He ignored Frank and focused on replying to his sister. He quickly screenshotted Frank''s response and sent it to Tess. Then he typed:

    "You have to do a better job at teasing him. A lover shouldn''t have this kind of reply."

    "You¡­. Shane, are you sure you''re my brother? Bros aren''t supposed to urge their sisters to date!"

    "I''m a modern brother." Shane was having fun teasing the girl when he suddenly heard his host speaking.

    "Why is there an Earthquake?"

    Shane frowned as he opened the radar and system notification section. There was nothing out of the ordinary as he checked everything. His frown deepened. For some reason, he felt like something terrible was going to happen. He couldn''t shake this feeling off as he quickly opened the message box and texted Tess.

    "Something''s happening. Be careful."

    He didn''t get a second chance when the trembling worsened. His eyes focused on the screen as he stared without blinking. The feeling about something terrible happening didn''t fade away. It only deepened as the minutes passed.

    Perhaps he should ask Dirt whether he could ask his sister to eject. At least, among the two, the girl would be fine.

    Just as he was about to text the robot, he saw the ground splitting apart as if something had cut it with a knife. Several hooded people rose in the air from beneath the ground as they all stood there. It almost felt as if their bodies were tied to suspension ropes.

    The man standing in the front didn''t reveal his face, but a hood covered it, only revealing his smirking lips.

    Shane couldn''t help but feel a familiar vibe from the man. He pursed his lips as he watched.

    "Greetings, systems."

    Only when he heard the man''s voice did he realize who it was! It was the demon who had appeared in the first exam world when his host was Ang! Shane couldn''t help but feel a chill down his spine. If this person was here, it could mean that the server was hacked again.

    Did something happen to Ed and Dirt outside?

    Shane didn''t know what to do. He immediately contacted Dirt, but his messages couldn''t be sent again.

    At this time, he heard the demon chuckle again. "System 12254801, you are really a bad student. I need a spanking from this teacher."

    Shane could now confirm that this demon''s target was him. So he immediately texted his sister.

    "Eject! Right now!"

    But Tess no longer replied. This made Shane even more anxious. A moment ago, the girl was chatting with him without any hindrance. Did something happen to hamper her?

    As seconds ticked by, Shane''s breathing grew heavier. Anxiety twisted his heart into knots as he continued sending one text after another. Just then, the demon''s voice echoed, "Don''t bother. She is not going to reply. In fact, no one will reply to you from now until this y is over. Everyone has fallen into my control, under the palm of my hands."

    Dark lifted his hand as he tried o control Shane but failed miserably. The threading out of his hand was cut off as soon as he reached Shane.

    He sighed, "I still can''t control you at all. That''s why it is so necessary to force you to submit."

    After saying that, he raised his hand as all the hosts started dying, leaving only Samuel alive. Dark smiled again as he grabbed the puny human''s neck and squeezed it with his own hands.

    Now, everyone was dead, and they had probably gone back to the system world. Now, things had just started. The main course was just about to begin.

 Chapter 95 94. Ed And Dark

    The next time Shane opened his eyes, he was already back in the open ground inside the institute. At this time, he instantly remembered what had happened and got up from the ground. As soon as he stood up, the first person he saw was Ed, leaning against a tree as Dirt was typing something on the screen.

    Shane thought they might not have found out about what urred inside the portal. So he walked over.

    "That person-"

    "I know." Ed didn''t change his expression and said, "Shane, let me tell you something before it''s toote."

    "What is it?" Shane pursed his lips and said, "Wait, you know what? This isn''t the time to talk about this. You can tell meter. Right now, that demon-"

    "Shane, learn to listen first." Ed''s sharp nce darted toward the young man. "You might not get this chance again."

    Shane frowned. He was about to ask, but seeing his master''s dark expressions, he swallowed those words and nodded.

    Ed said nothing for a second before opening his mouth. "Don''t drain yourself in your emotions. Your missions should be your priority. You get it?"

    Shane nodded.

    "Even if you like doing something, you should avoid indulging in your desires. That should be the best way to live in this world. And remember," Ed''s expression changed as another emotion appeared on his face that Shane couldn''t understand. "preserve the best of your ability even if no one''s around you. This system world is even colder than me. You have to survive for me. You get it?"

    Shane couldn''t help but feel an unnatural emotion climbing up his throat. He wanted to say something, but he couldn''t.

    Why was this bald man acting so strange? Almost as if the man was speaking hisst words¡­..

    Before Shane could continue to think about it, he heard a familiar cold voice echoing in the background. "Well, well. That was a nice speech. I almost teared up. I didn''t know Ed had it in him to speak something like that. Like ever!"

    The corners of Ed''s lips curved up. "Dark. You arete."

    Shane''s eyes widened. So it turned out the demon, and his master knew one another. What was going on?

    "That was a very moving speech. I would have been blinded like your foolish disciple if I didn''t know you truly."

    "Say whatever you want to. Your doom will soon arrive."

    The demon, who had just walked out of the portal and thrown out several unconscious bodies of other systems, opened his mouth. "In the form of Shane? Please, I clearly know what you''re thinking about. Don''t fool me with your words anymore, Mr. Ed Hudson."

    Ed''s eyes darkened as he said, "Don''t say thatst name with your filthy mouth!"

    "Or what?" Dark''s lips curved up to form a smirk. "You''ll kill me? Give it a try."

    Ed stared at the man hiding his face behind a ck hood and sneered. He said nothing and turned his head away.

    Shane said nothing as his nce traveled back and forth. He almost felt like he was seeing sparks flowing between these two people, one after another. He continued to watch on vignce for a moment.

    When no one was paying attention to him as the demon bickered with his master, he nced at his sister who was lying unconscious on the ground. He rushed toward her and started shaking her body.

    "Tess!" whispered Shane. "Wake up!"

    She didn''t move. So Shane moved over to Frank and tried to move the man.

    It was all useless.

    He didn''t give up as he purchased a bottle of water from his menu and sprinkled some drops on their faces, but they still wouldn''t wake up. Now, beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.<sub> </sub>

    What was happening? They shouldn''t be like this. They were all already out of the portal!

    As he tried to wake them all up, he heard the demon chuckling.

    "Oh dear boy," said thetter and continued chuckling. "Don''t sweat on it. They''re not going to wake up anytime soon. Surrender your powers to me if you want to save them."

    Like heck, Shane was following a demon''s orders who killed everyone in his first real world. He red at the demon.

    "I don''t believe you."

    The demon chuckled. "Interesting! Ed, your disciple is just like you! It''s as if I''m watching your younger version right before my eyes! So nostalgic!" he paused as if thinking of something and grinned. "I didn''t want to tell you, but my live stream is connected to the world. Everything we''re talking about and doing will be shown worldwide. So, you guys better watch your tongue."

    "What''s the point of doing this?" Shane finally let out the words he had been holding inside his heart as he stared at the demon with a wronged expression on his face. "My only fault was to have these powers! Can you just let me and my family go already? We have done nothing wrong!"

    "You''re right, young man." Dark smiled. "This isn''t your fault. Probably, you''re the most innocent of us all. Your only fault was to be born in this system world with that kind of power running through your veins." his smile turned creepy this time as he said, "Do you know we can also transfer the attributes to one another? I just need yours. The process is very simple, and you won''t hurt a lot."

    "Don''t listen to him, Shane. The only way to transfer the attribute is to kill you!  Remember what I told you." Ed finally spoke and cut off the demon from speaking any further. "Preserve until you find a solution. Don''t blindly trust others."

    "h, h, h," Dark rolled his eyes and said, "So boring. I knew you two boring old people won''t listen. So I have prepared myself. Even if you don''t agree with me, I will surely fulfill my wish!"

    Shane''s fingers curled up to form a fist as he red at the demon. "Never! I''ll never let you touch my sister and me!"

    At this time, the demon chuckled again. "Really? You''re so amusing, Shane. Who said I''m the one fighting you? Since you love your sister so much, let''s see whether you can fight against her or not."

    After saying this, he raised his hands as an invisible thread moved toward a certain girl before anyone could do anything. Ed frowned, but he didn''t move. Contrary to his expression, he just stood there, watching things unfold like this.

    Shane nced at his master and gritted his teeth. He finally felt his heart getting colder after seeing the man''s cruelty. Was Ed also after his powers all this time? Were those days when his master had saved him every time he was in trouble just a fake gesture to lower his guard?

    He didn''t continue to think about it because he couldn''t. Probably he was the only one among people here who could see that threading out of Dark''s hands. Dark energy flowed through the thread, moving inside the red-haired girl''s body.

    Shane didn''t know what was happening, but it wasn''t any good. Perhaps he should use his power and deal with this demon once and for all. In any case, he had a golden finger in the form of power-sucking skill!

    He quickly opened it up and started using it, but nothing happened. He tried it again by uttering the spell, but he didn''t feel a wave of energy traveling down his body from the demon.

    The color drained from his face at this time. What was happening?

    Just then, the demon chuckled and said, "Ah, Shane. I didn''t think you would be so naive. Did you really think you could still use your powers to your benefit after selling your skill? Did you not wonder if your enemies might take advantage of that?" he raised his hand as threads gathered around the demon''s hooded body to form a circle around him. "I have created an array that can counter your skill. Now, you can''t use it on me anymore."

    Shane''s face paled. He shouldn''t have done that. Even if this step saved him and his host in the second exam world, he knew trouble might find him. But he never realized things would go beyond what he could expect so soon! The viins ended up entering the scene faster than he could imagine.

    When the demon saw the young man''s face, he grinned and walked over. He leaned closer and said, "Young boy, I have nothing going against you. In fact, I like you a lot. You have this touch of innocence inside you that can be molded into any shape I want. You bring out the creativity within me, but sadly, you have to die."

    Soon enough, before Shane could do something to the demon, he heard a familiar voice growling at the top of her voice. He turned around only to see a certain familiar girl ring at him with ck eyes. When he said ck, he meant it.

    The girl''s eyes were entirely ck as if she were a demon. A dark aura leaked out of her body as she robotically walked toward him.

    Shane''s heart trembled. "Tess¡­. Wake up, please!"

    "She will never wake up!" the demonughed.

 Chapter 96 95. The Outburst!

    Shane took a step back, but Tess''s movements didn''t pause. She continued to walk forward with a dark expression on her face, not even identifying her brother.

    He yelled, "Tess, wake up!"

    "I told you, she won''t." Dark chuckled. "She''s never gonna wake up now. Say good buy to your sister."

    "What did you do?" Shane''s voice wasced with utter despair.

    Dark shrugged. "I just made her one of those¡­ what you say, a zombie. Technically, she died at my hands just now. What you''re seeing is just a shell¡­ oh, why am I exining it to you?"

    "Y-You''re lying, right?" Shane''s eyes filled with tears as he stared at the demon in disbelief.

    Then he wiped his face and turned to look at his master. "M-Master¡­ Help me. You can save her, right? You can kill this demon, right?"

    The demonughed even more at those words. "Ed,e on, enlighten your little disciple on how you''ll kill me. Do it!"

    Shane looked at his master and Tess, who continued to advance toward him. But the man didn''t respond. He stood there, leaning against the wall with an expressionless face.

    Just when he thought the man wouldn''t say another word, he heard the man speak: "I can''t kill him."

    Here, the bald man used the term ''can''t'' instead of won''t. If Shane were in his right mind, he would have noticed the difference, but emotions took the best of him at the moment. He instantly threw Ed''s previous words out of the window when something happened to Tess.

    Ed knew this was going to happen. That was why he had initially wanted to teach some words to his disciple. Even after saying everything he wanted, the young man still didn''t understand the criticality of this situation.

    But Ed wasn''t frustrated. He knew it was better to deal with the current situation. He nced at the young man whose expression was leading toward despair.

    He sighed. He would have wanted to solve the misunderstanding right now, but it didn''t matter anymore. No matter what he did, he had already turned into a puppet at the hands of Dark.

    Thetter could control anyone''s fate with the use of his threads. He knew perfectly well that the man had controlled him; if he managed to do something out of hand, that person would force him tomit unthinkable. He had fought multiple times with this person, and he knew how to deal with himpletely.

    The only way to kill this man was by catching Dark off guard.

    And the worse thing was that he couldn''t even kill this person, even if he was powerful enough.

    All thanks to his grandmother.

    He sighed once again and refused to think of his past. He raised his head and stared at the sky.

    His grandma would probably be watching from there. If he died, would he end up meeting her again?

    He wasn''t afraid of dying. Rather, he had waited for this day for a long time. This was perhaps his retribution. He took a deep breath and finally opened his mouth, "I can''t. I''m sorry."

    "You won''t even bother exining to me?!" Shane couldn''t take it anymore as he gritted his teeth and ignored the bald man.

    He turned toward his sister, who had started gathering power in her fist. Then she raised it and attacked him directly.

    Shane dodged the attack quickly and stared at his sister with tear-filled eyes. "Tess, wake up." his voice had turned hoarse now.

    "She won''t. The only way to save the situation is to kill her and cut off that thread to stop Dark from controlling these people. The more you cut off those threads, the more power he will consume." Ed exined briefly and paused. "She has already died. So it''s no use thinking about this."

    "She''s not dead, you hear me?!" Shane gritted his teeth as he muttered, "She is still alive."<sub> </sub>

    He thought he had be immune to everything aftering to this world. But after seeing what was happening to his only family member, he couldn''t control his emotions.

    "Fine, you have left me with no choice." Ed finally walked over and raised his head. "I''m sorry, Shane. But I''m also doing this out of my selfishness. I have only wanted two things in this life: One is to repent for my past, and another is to leave this world peacefully. I think I have fulfilled all of my wishes at this point."

    The words he muttered at the end were in such a low voice that only Dirt could hear. He quickly recorded it and stared at his boss for a long time. He had known this person''s past well enough. He knew why this person had suddenly turned so eager to die.

    Ed''s mental and emotional situation wasn''t good for a long time. The fallout from his brother had put a terrible toll on him. The only reason why Ed continued living on was to find a way to stop Dark. He knew perfectly well why this person even took Shane as his disciple in the first ce.

    It was basically to create a weapon powerful enough to kill Dark. Sure, Ed did that by taking Shane in as his disciple, but he wouldn''t be alive to witness the unthinkable.

    Now, the young man only needed a push to help him grow. Unless the master was present, the disciple couldn''t be independent. Dirt knew it all but was still reluctant to separate from his boss. After all, he had been with that person for a long time.

    Who would mend Dirt''s program in times of emergency? Only Ed was able to do that. From now on, even Dirt was left on his own¡­.

    Ed suddenly looked toward his robot and nodded. He mouthed something to his robot before directly attacking a certain red-haired girl with his electrical skill.

    Dirt was standing there, stunned. After that, he quickly initiated the order.

    Things happened too fast after this. One attack from Ed''s hands was enough to kill the girl so brutally that the parts of her body blew out. Blood scattered on everyone''s faces. Since Shane was standing closest to the girl, his entire body was covered with it.

    The young man stared at the scene with widened eyes. He was beyond shock at this point, not wanting to move his body. He stared at the ce Tess was standing not too long ago as tears filled his eyes.

    "NOOOOO!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

    At the same time, a huge amount of energy got released from his body. It almost felt like a barrier inside his body broke apart, creating a tornado of dark energy swirling around him. Everyone standing closer to him walked away, including Dark and his minions. In the end, only Ed stood there with a smile on his face.

    ? The energy was so powerful that it entered deep into the man''s bones, making him unable to breathe. He soon fell to the ground, staring at the young man n amazement. He had known this person was powerful, but this powerful? He sighed.

    His entire body fell to the ground as his eyelids became heavy. His breathing was shallow as his consciousness hung on the verge of leaving his body. Soon enough, it almost looked like he was about to die.

    Just then, somehow, Shane managed to control his overflowing energy. He yelled at the top of his voice because of the pain he felt while suppressing the overflowing power within his veins. Even though his body felt like it would blow apart because of what he was doing, he had no other choice.

    Why was he doing this? Simple, because he realized that the main perpetrator wasn''t Ed but the hooded people, especially their leader. He was overwhelmed by his emotions. After all, Tess was his only family member, and his mission was to protect her at all costs.

    If she wasn''t alive, what was he going to do now?

    These emotions overwhelmed him so much that his powers leaked out of his body to create a tornado. Even then, he knew it was merely 50% that came out of his body. He felt like there was even more energy stored inside his body that channeled throughout his veins.

    So now that his mind had calmed down, he started containing that energy inside his body even when it felt like he was breaking apart.

    By the end, his entire body reeked of blood and sweat as he fell to the ground. He could vaguely see a figure lying on the ground a little distance away, but his vision was so blurring that he couldn''t care less.

    Still, as he continued lying there, he blinked and tried to clear his vision, but exhaustion took over his body. Now, he couldn''t even have the energy to blink anymore as his eyes closed automatically, and he fell unconscious.

    Dark, who was observing everything, sneered. It seemed his decision to take down Shane first was right. He would have to deal with a certain robot to get Shane.

    Ah, what a headache! He didn''t want to deal with that time bomb.

 Chapter 97 96. Shes Dead?

    As the dust cleared up, the first person standing in front of Ed''s and Shane''s unconscious bodies was Dirt. He looked like a wall that was shielding them from any harm. Then he stared at Dark and narrowed his eyes before opening his mouth:

    "Long time no see, former boss."

    Dark scoffed and jumped down from the roof. "You have no respect for your bosses. Previously, you eloped with Ed, and now, look, you don''t even try to protect your current boss anymore. Tch. Tch. You''re so heartless."

    Dirt said nothing and raised his hand as sparks of energy flickered at the tips of his fingers. "Let''s fight. I owe you one."

    "Fine." Dark raised his hands as unlimited threads grew out of his hands, wandering about in the air. "Be careful. I''m not like before. I won''t be merciful."

    "I don''t need your mercy." Dirt''s cold voice echoed through the ce.

    He could still feel his boss''s shallow breathing. He calcted that if he managed to deal with his former boss, he might be able to get them all out, but he would himself get injured. So he didn''t n to win this fight at all.

    Even though he was an AI, he had a thorough understanding of human and system emotions. He had also upgraded a lot all these years to the point that he had climbed closer to Ed in terms of power. But he himself knew deep in his heart that he wasn''t as powerful as Dark.

    But he could still find enough time and escape.

    If things still don''t work, he has another n in his mind.

    The corners of his lips curved up as he did all the necessary in his mind in the blink of an eye. Then the two of them started fighting.

    The threads created an erged creature that attacked Dirt from a distance. Still, this wasn''t enough to scare Dirt away.

    Dark knew this very well. Even though he knew that this robot was beneath him in terms of power, the AI was still a trouble. He would have to be careful, otherwise, today''s operation would be fruitless.

    He gritted his teeth and spread a small amount of thread behind him. He then controlled a few students behind him.

    His power was to control everything and anything with the help of these threads. That was how he was able to overpower the rest of the people in this system world. He scoffed. This robot was nothing in his eyes.

    If not for Ed''s presence, he didn''t think this robot could have be independent! Today, he would teach this thing how to act properly!

    As he thought, he controlled the monster he created as the monster used its ws on Dirt.

    Thetter easily dodged the attack and didn''t even use his powers. He stared disdainfully at his former master.

    "You have grownx."

    Dark''s eyes squinted. Although he had known this robot had changed a lot, to be able to feel and show human emotions through that face¡­..

    Only Ed was capable of achieving such a feat.

    "You actually know how to feel emotions!" Dark attacked using the monster as it threw out a fireball. "How wonderful!"

    Dirt dodged the attack again and stood at the center again with a calm expression. "Thank you. I have learned a lot from my master."

    "You-" Dark controlled his emotions and decided not to care about this robot''s words unless he wanted to fail. "Take this!"

    Suddenly, a few students in his control became zombies as they all attacked Dirt.

    The robot narrowed his eyes and smiled. This time, he raised his hands and put his palms in front of those people. Soon enough, their bodies froze.

    They couldn''t move at all!

    Dirt scoffed. "So, you were saying?"

    Dark chuckled. "Sure enough. Ed wasn''t wasting his time when he took you away. He actually knew how to use you. What was your attribute? Time, right?"

    "I just stopped those zombies'' time." Dirt exined calmly. "I have grown much more powerful than before. You have no idea."

    "Same here," Dark spoke as the ground trembled. "You thought those groups of zombies were my only weapon? Wrong. They were just a distraction!"

    Soon enough, a huge monster of an unknown level ran in their direction. Its build was so huge that it towered over the entire city. It didn''t care where it was going or whom it was crushing under its feet. So, just like that, many civilians died.

    Dirt''s eyes twitched. "You really are shameless to do this."

    "What''s the problem?" Dark smiled. "I''m Dark, after all. I''m the most dangerous criminal of all time in this attire!"<sub> </sub>

    "Do you know how many people are dying because of you?"

    "Do I look like I care? What? You''re not going toin to the System God, are you?" Dark chuckled as he spoke, "You need to get your facts straight. No one can kill me."

    Dirt frowned. Looks like he would have to abandon n A. in any case, he had another n in his mind to deal with such troubles. Even though he was just a robot, he still knew it was wrong to kill innocents because of desires.

    First, he didn''t have any desire, to begin with. Secondly, he could create any method of escape in a fraction of a second.

    Suddenly, he raised his fingers and pointed them toward the monstering closer. Energy started pouring out of his fingers. Slowly, the monster''s body paused and frowned. Soon enough, its body started shrinking in the blink of an eye. It almost looked like it was growing backward, bing smaller and smaller.

    This kind of attack was so terrifying that even Dark stood there, frozen. He stared at the monster in a daze.

    Howe this AI became so powerful?! Thest time he had fought Dirt was ages ago, but even then, the level of an upgrade this robot went through was insane!

    Hah. He underestimated Ed.

    That sneaky guy would have created a freak after keeping it with him all these years. Dark gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. Even then, he knew that Dirt might be at the end of his powers. He would soon be able to kill the robot with his own hands.

    Just when he nced around toward the open ground, everyone went missing. Not even Ed''s body remained there.

    Dark stared at the scene as he grunted.

    He failed.

    Nevermind.

    At least, he managed to make Ed unconscious because of his actions. This was probably his greatest achievement.

    After thinking of this, he was in a good mood as he waved his hands. The hooded people behind him vanished without a trace. He also didn''t linger there any longer and went away.

    At this time, Dirt had managed to drag two unconscious bodies to the nearest cave. He ced a protective array to hide the three of them as he put the bodies against the wall and leaned back, taking deep breaths.

    These years, his AI body went from being a robot to bing close to a human being. All his body parts were altered into organs, which made it easier for him to be exhausted soon.

    He silently closed his eyes for a second before opening it again. He gritted his teeth.

    He didn''t even have time to rest. Two stubborn people were lying unconscious. If he didn''t nend their wounds, they might end up dying!

    Dirt pushed himself up and red at two people lying against the wall of the cave. He directly opened up his system and used the herbs he had bought already. If he dared to make a purchase at this time, Dark might track him.

    He couldn''t risk it. So he would just use the herbs Ed had made him purchase before. Then he directly stuffed the pills into their mouths and rested against the cave wall.

    After that, even Dirt didn''t know when he ended up falling asleep. Thest attack he used used up too much of his powers previously. It would take some time before he could recover.

    After an unknown time, Shane finally opened his eyes and blinked. He didn''t remember where he was for a moment before the memories of what happened came back to him, making his eyes widen.

    Tess died.

    A demon named Dark set him up against his master and forced him to blow out.

    His powers were revealed to the public, making him their mortal enemy.

    Shane couldn''t react for a moment. He could admit that this was all his fault for being too immature. He was so self centered on himself that he couldn''t see the big picture. He was still acting like a university student, after all.

    At this time, he wasn''t so worried about killing so many people in the world they were in previously. Perhaps the demons killed all thest humans standing there. But he felt bad because he was ipetent.

    If only he was powerful enough¡­.

    If only he had more battle experience¡­.

    This was his first time facing an enemy so strong. He shouldn''t have been so immature and out of his mind in the middle of a fight. Because of him, not only Ed, but also Tess suffered. He wondered if she really died.

    The light in Shane''s eyes dimmed.

 Chapter 98 97. If Only.....

    Shane looked around and was surprised to find two familiar people sleeping beside him. He pursed his lips.

    He really didn''t want to wait for them to wake up unless he had a death wish. He had embarrassed his master. Ed wasn''t at fault. Tess wasn''t that bald man''s sister. So how could he expect a stranger to risk his life to save his sister?

    In any case, Tess had turned into a zombie. So she might have died a long time ago already, soon aftering in contact with that demon.

    He wondered if the students who studied along with him were still alive.

    What about Frank?

    He had a belly full of questions but couldn''t ask anyone. He didn''t want to wake the sleeping people up. So he silently pushed himself up. As soon as he got up, his head received a wave of dizziness. He held the wall beside him and pressed his finger on his temples.

    Why did he feel like his body was breaking apart?

    He took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to pass before taking a step. All of a sudden, a jolt of pain appeared in his bones, especially in his legs. It almost felt like there were several cracks in his bones.

    Shane hissed and endured before stepping forward again. Right then, he heard a familiar voice in the background as he walked over to the cave door:

    "Where are you going?" asked Dirt.

    Shane''s entire body stiffened. He didn''t want to face these people. It was a good thing that his master didn''t wake up.

    He took a deep breath and said, "I-I''m sorry¡­.. It''s my fault. I shouldn''t stay with you guys anymore."

    "Really?" Dirt''s voice carried a hint of sarcasm as he stood up. Sure, the robot''s body had severel human organs and nerves, but his heart and cells were still made of metals. His healing process was faster aspared to ordinary humans. So he squinted his eyes at the young man in front of him.

    "Do you think you can still enter the system society after what happened?"

    Shane showed a confused expression.

    Dirt sneered and quickly opened up his menu and showed thements on the live stream that had turned off not too long ago.

    Livingbuddha: Damn! So much drama in a day. Are they okay? A demon was hiding among the new students, and no one even realized it. Shame on the authorities!

    Hearttoheart: Seriously, is no one feeling sorry for Master Ed? He was killed by his own demon disciple!

    Desiressshrhsg: Let''s boycott the system named Shane. He should be locked in jail for killing so many people here! Such a ruthless and cold person! I have never seen someone as shameless as him! Not only he killed innocent humans in thest exam, but he also dared to harm his co-students! Even his so-called sister wasn''t spared! I feel a chill down my spine whenever I think about it!

    Mylifemyrules: The above person is absolutely right! Who knows if Tess was really his sister or not? Perhaps she was also a demon, just like Shane!

    Shane''s eyes turned cold as he looked at thements against his sister. He had an urge to type and tell them what really happened!

    How could these people be blind? It was clearly Dark who had wreaked havoc! Why was the public pointing fingers at him? What the heck was happening?

    When Dirt saw that confused expression, he sneered and said, "Dark is a powerful person¡­. With a very influential identity in the real world. That person can change the live stream in an ongoing streaming program. What actually happened was way different from what was shown to the public, making them go against the young man.

    "So, you typically are the most wanted criminal in the system world. If you''re caught, they will first lock you in the darkest part of the prison and kill you by torturing you day and night." dirt smiled. "The choice is yours."

    Shane''s lips twitched as he sighed. "Well¡­. It shouldn''t be bad if they haven''t released the official news to capture me. I can still avoid the public."

    "Oh?" Dirt somehow found it amusing and wanted tough. "Let me show you something then."

    Then he showed another page that listed Shane as the most dangerous criminal, and the government ced millions of Crana as the bounty.

    So he was worth millions of Crana now.

    Shane didn''t know what to say anymore. He pressed his lips in a thin line and stared at the government page. After staring at it for a moment, he nced at a certain robot who was sneering nonstop.

    "What should I do then?"<sub> </sub>

    Dirt sighed and said, "I''ll change your identity. Don''t worry. I won''t force you to stay with us anymore. My boss isn''t awake, and he definitely won''t be at peace seeing your face all day and night. After all, you are responsible for whatever happened. If you had remained rational and calm, Master would have been awake."

    The more Dirt spoke, the more Shane felt frozen. In the end, he stiffly nodded and said, "Should I continue to work as a system?"

    "Of course!" Dirt typed something on theputer and said it without even ncing at the young man, "Do you think you can still join groups to clear dungeons? Please, have somemon sense. Dungeons would be more dangerous than normal system jobs."

    Shane showed a guilty expression on his face. He finally nodded.

    "Fine. I''m off then." Shane noticed that the robot had turned off the menu, assuming that Dirt was done with changing his identity. "My number will be different this time, right?"

    "Yes, but you still can''t show your face." Dirt showed a page on his menu. "You''re a third-grade system ording to your fake information without any job because you don''t have an attribute. You have been living in this system world for ten years at most. This identity ismon for most systems living in the Orient continent. Unless you do something very eye-catching, you won''t be caught."

    "So¡­." Shane paused and stared at the robot. "I still can''t use my powers, can I?"

    "I''m afraid you would have to refrain until the situation stabilizes."

    Shane nodded. Now that everything was decided, all he had to do was leave. He nced at his unconscious master as his body filled with guilt.

    "Will he be fine?"

    "Worry about yourself first."

    Shane pursed his lips and walked away. At this moment, the sleeping bald man opened his eyes and sighed.

    "Why didn''t you tell him the truth about my body?" The bald man''s voice was hoarse as he nced at the robot. "Sending him away just like that. How will you answer him when I''ll die for real?"

    "Let''s find a cure for you first."

    "Dirt, we both know I can''t live after what happened. You know how dangerous demonic energy is to systems, don''t you? There is a reason why demons are dangerous." Ed coughed as his face paled. "Shane''s power was multiple folds greater than all the demons I have fought in the past. Of course, I''m not saying the young man is a demon, but he somehow got this power that he can''t control yet."

    "You''re even more ruthless than your disciple." Dirt scoffed. "Not even letting him witness yourst days."

    Ed was silent for a moment as he said, "You''re responsible for transferring my attribute to him after I''m gone. Make sure he learns how to control his powers, and you have to continue to upgrade well. And¡­. tell him everything about my past¡­ about Dark¡­. About my brother."

    Dirt nodded as he stared outside the door. He had already figured he couldn''t save Ed while healing the two people. The dark energy had destroyed the bald man''s organs so devastatingly that it was impossible to repair. His boss only had a few hours of breath left in his body.

    He sighed and said, "Don''t tell him I died because of him. Tell him I already had some illness or something."

    "Don''t you?" Dirt''s voice was sarcastic at this time.

    Ed went silent again as he rested against the wall. Then he closed his eyes and said, "Let''s recordst-minute instructions for Shane. Show him those when he encounters difficulty."

    "Tch," Dirt opened the camera function and said, "that''s why I hate humans and systems. They have so many unnecessary emotions."

    In the institute, a certain silver-haired girl was responsible for handling the situation at this ce. The injured systems were sent to the hospital while others rested in their dorms. She stared at the area that was wrecked and narrowed her eyes.

    She had received so much intel these days that she could shed all the pretenses and do what she actually wanted to. But she still refrained.

    She still wasn''t more powerful than Dark. If she were, she wouldn''t have worked her bones to be the System God''s only disciple.

    The thing that happened today was not unexpected. She had an inkling of this earlier, but when it actually urred, she had no idea what to do anymore.

    She came to watch Shane, but that person wasn''t there anymore. What should she do? With Dirt by that person''s side, it would be challenging to track Shane.

    But one thing was for sure. There should be some connection between the King of Darkness and Shane. Otherwise, why were the two people had the same power? Such an important clue, but because of a simple mistake, she lost his trail again.

    If only she could turn back time¡­..

 Chapter 99 98. A New World!

    Shane didn''t know what Echo was thinking back in the institute. He had supposedly wreaked everything and managed to be the most wanted criminal avable in the system world. With his fake identity at hand, he could at least take on simple missions and survive.

    But what exactly would he do after surviving? His initial goal was to keep his sister safe and live to provide for her. Now when she wasn''t alive anymore, Shane felt like he had turned into a headless fly that couldn''t go anywhere.

    At this moment, his head was hidden inside a ck hood. Even if someone took off his hood, he wore a fake human face mask with burns all over the skin. So they wouldn''t be able to recognize his face.

    Even if they saw it, they would only be disgusted by the burnt human face mask.

    He continued to walk down the street. Thest time he arrived here was when he had initially entered this world. How naive was he back then? Even the scene of the systems getting torn apart by the monsters was enough to make him puke his guts out.

    Now, if he happened toe across such a scene, he wouldn''t even blink twice and just ignore it. He was okay with brutal and gruesome scenes that used to make his heart wrenched.

    Was he turning into a monster himself?

    He could feel himself bing indifferent to everything. Of course, his attachment to Tess couldn''t be denied because she was his own sister. It was just that¡­.

    He had started to feel something was wrong with himself. He hadn''t noticed it before, but now that Tess had died and he had calmed down, he didn''t really feel like crying anymore.

    What''s more? After that straw broke apart, other than the initial shock, his heart remained calm and collected.

    At present, he was too calm. So calm that he couldn''t feel any emotions swirling to the depths of his heart.

    Was that the result of Tess''s death?

    He didn''t know, but he wasn''t even feeling that much anxiety. As if his sister''s death broke apart the human part of him.

    He stared at the street. He had really thought he would feel remorse, but his heart had turned cold and calm since he woke up. Was that his way to remorse?

    Shane frowned. He remembered when his grandfather died when he was still on Earth. He had cried like a little kid, bawling his eyes out in his twenties. He had even stopped attending his sses and stayed home, depressed for a few days.

    But now¡­.

    It hadn''t even been a day, and he was already calm.

    Shane continued to walk until he reached his destination. To his right was a shabby little shop with only one floor upstairs. Even the door sign was broken.

    The ''P'' word kept hanging upside down as the rest of the words stuck to the door, looking full of dust¡ªatrick''s Portal.

    He ignored the shabbiness of the shop and pushed open the door. A sudden smell of medicines filled his nose, making it wrinkle. He turned left and tapped the counter with his index finger.

    "The portal?"

    An olddy across the counter was jolted awake after the knocking sound. She wiped the traces of saliva from the corners of her mouth and nodded.

    "Come with me."

    Thedy dressed in a long robe walked out of the counter and entered the door to his right. The room was so small that he could only finish measuring the room in a few steps.

    He silently followed thedy as he entered the door. It was a stairway.

    So the portal was upstairs.

    Shane didn''tin as thedy opened a door once they reached upstairs. There was a portal simr to what he had seen at the institute. Perhaps the good-looking portal was the only striking thing avable here.

    The olddy turned to him and said, "A thousand Crana for one trial whether you pass or fail."

    A thousand Crana?!

    Were these people trying to loot his hard-earned money? He couldn''t use his usual live stream anymore. Since Dirt installed his fake ID into his system, even his live stream would change. Even if he dared to open his original ount, he was afraid that before even the authorities came, the public themselves would kill him first.

    Thankfully, Dirt changed it all. The robot had also changed his stats, altering the value a bit.

    It didn''t matter anyway. He couldn''t use his powers.

    Despite hurdles, he wasn''t as anxious as he should have been. He only opened the menu and transferred the money. He knew that the olddy was supposedly charging 300 Crana more, but there was a reason why this shop was so small and inconspicuous.

    This shop marks the starting point of the ck market. From here on out, all the systems that weren''t epted in society would wander around without fear of the authorities. Even the officials would consciously ignore this ce, turning back their hover cars once they reached the front gate of this portal house.

    Shane paid the money as the woman left. She didn''t even turn back to nce at him before closing the door behind him.

    He had to say; he was a little nervous. This was his first job as a system after changing his identity.

    His previous experiences were sh*tty to the point that he didn''t even feel like entering.<sub> </sub>

    But¡­.

    For some reason, even though reluctant thoughts shed through his head, he didn''t seem to budge. He was still calm and collected in his heart.

    He took a deep breath and stepped forward, entering the portal once and for all.

    Soon enough, Shane ended up entering a familiar space. He looked at the wee page in front of him.

    [Wee, system 12147484]

    Shane raised his brows. Dirt''s efficiency was really great.

    [Please, click the random difficulty button.]

    He clicked it. To his misfortune, it again ended up with him getting severe difficulty.

    He sighed and saw the following pop-up appearing in front of his eyes.

    [Please choose the type of world you want to enter.]

    There, he saw a list of worlds that varied from modern to ancient. He was pleasantly surprised after seeing this. Sure enough. The difference between being a student and having a job was high.

    As he thought about it, he continued to stare at the transparent screen without any expression on his face. Soon enough, he found the kind of world he was looking for and clicked it.

    [Initializing¡­.]

    [Please, wait¡­.]

    [Downloading files¡­.]

    [Choosing a random host¡­.]

    [System, get ready to enter the world.]

    Shane''s vision went dizzy after that as he felt his body pull up in another direction. He pressed his hands against his forehead. The next moment he opened his eyes, he was already inside his host''s mind.

    The first thing he did after entering the world was to read the world setting and mission.

    After a few minutes, he sighed.

    It turned out to be a typical modern world with a supernatural element in the form of superheroes and viins. The body he got was that of a viin. This time, his host''s mission was to change the viin''s date.

    For the first time, he didn''t get a mission that was to destroy the world. He squinted his eyes.

    Was that why his fake ID got so many options while his original ID got only a few?

    This world had turned upside down originally because of a meteorite shower. Several people got powers, and one of them was the viin. He was overpowered by everything and was surprisingly one of the two most powerful people in the world.

    Shane could assume that the second most powerful person could be the protagonist. He read it further and found out that he was right.

    So, how could he change the viin''s fate?

    He read additional information about the protagonist and the viin. The two people were also closely rted to one another. In a sense, they were neighbors and had been ssmates since high school. Even though they had known one another from a young age, they didn''t have that much interaction.

    They would only nod at one another after crossing their paths. The only conservation they ever had was when the two of them faced one another.

    The two people who could have be best friends and sorted out their difficulties turned into enemies. The viin was even given the me for the things he never did.

    After that, the viin himself snapped and started killing people because that''s what his image had be. The only thing he was thankful for was that when the viin started doing cruel activities, he wore a mask on his face.

    So his identity was still saved until one day, the protagonist captured him. Then the mask was taken off.

    The hero was even more shocked after finding out who the viin was! After that, the viin''s life turned downhill, making him even more pitiful. In the end, the viin ended up getting killed brutally for all the crimes he hadmitted, saving people from his wrath.

    People celebrated his death and partied all night.

    Shane frowned. He seemed to feel like there should be another person who was possibly behind this phenomenon.

    Suddenly, he heard a voice echoing in the background. "Where am I?"

 Chapter 100 99. The Mission!

    Shane was stunned after hearing a female voice. He nced hurriedly at the storyline and frowned.

    Nowhere in the storyline was mentioned that the viin was supposed to be a female!

    Just as he was thinking, he heard a shriek.

    "AHHHHH! WHY THE F*CK AM I A FEMALE?!"

    Oh¡­.. So he wasn''t the only one who was suffering¡­.

    He quickly cleared his throat and said, "Host, I''m system 122- er ahem I mean I''m system 12147484, here for your service. You have gotten a second chance at living. Are you happy?"

    He tried to act as cheerful as possible to reduce the poor host''s depression after entering into a girl''s body. Who would have thought his words would trigger his host''s nerves?

    "Why the f*ck would I want to return to my world? Imitted suicide for a reason!"

    Shane: "¡­.."

    he coughed and said, "Host, what are you yelling for? If you don''t want to return, that''s fine. you can just finish the mission and fulfill a wish you want. That''s it."

    "Hah!" the boy in the girl''s voice sneered. "Go to hell! I only have one wish that is for me to die in peace and be a ghost!"

    "You can also be a ghost after dying, you know?" Shane pointed it out. "You can do anything you want."

    "I don''t want to!" the host said and grimaced. "If I was in a guy''s body, I would have thought about it, but now¡­. absolutely not! Don''t even think about it! Aren''t you a system? You guys should have some kind of eject button. then just leave and let me be!"

    "Host," veins popped on Shane''s forehead as he took deep breaths and said, "I don''t have anything like that. it''s either you obey me or go to hell."

    He was basically using the do-or-die aspect to make this person submit to him. Of course, he could eject, but why would he do that when he could still make his host work for him? he wasn''t a saint to waste his hard-earned money just because some host is being an a**.

    Shane took a deep breath and said, "Listen, you can even be the handsome man who wanted to conquer the entire world. You can have magic and even be a cultivator! The choice is yours!"

    The host tilted his head and thought for a while. After a moment of silence, he finally opened his mouth and asked, "So what''s my identity in this world?"

    Shane released the breath he was holding. "you''re a girl, and you have superpowers."

    The guy in the viin''s body finally found something interesting and raised his brows, "What kind of superpowers do I have?"

    "Super strength. and you can even fly. you can control the five elements namely wind, water, air, metal, and Earth."

    "So cool!" The host''s eyes widened at this. "I have got to be the protagonist with so many powers!"

    "nope." Shane shook his head. "You''re the viin."

    "¡­.." Hosty frowned. "You''ve got to be kidding me. Are you serious?"

    "Dead serious."

    The host went silent again. This time, Shane didn''t disturb the host as he started reading the information he got.

    it turns out, his host this time was a coward teenager whomitted suicide because of the usual love reasons.

    The host''s name was Stan Powers, a high school student who was in love with his childhood sweetheart. It was just that she never even spared a single affectionate nce at him. She even had a boyfriend, and the two of them would be lovey-dovey in front of Stan.

    The reason why Stanmitted suicide was that his secret crush was revealed to the public, and not only that, he was brutally rejected by the girl openly. Even then, Stan never thought ofmitting suicide and respected the girl''s issues.

    But one day, he happened to hear the girl speaking ill about him. She was evenughing with her boyfriend behind Stan''s back, mocking him. The words she had said pierced the boy''s fragile heart and he jumped off the school building.

    Shane sighed. This teenager was so pitiful.

    The host sighed and said, "Fine. Give me the world''s information."

    "Okay." Shane quickly sent the world information through the message and said, "You have five minutes to finish reading the entire thing because the protagonist is on his way."<sub> </sub>

    He had already opened the radar window that showed a notification about the male lead on his way to the apartment. Since he wanted to find the main viin, it was mandatory to bring the two people closer. At the very least, he could make them friends.

    So for that, they would have to make a first memorable encounter with the protagonist. He figured that they could bump into him as he would use an item to create an injury on the girl''s body. Then the main lead would be kind enough to help her out.

    Shane also had another method to change fate. Even if he didn''t find the main viin, he might as well find evidence to prove that his host wasn''t the one whomitted the crime. In any case, the time he had transmigrated into this world was when the viin hadn''t even turned into a viin.

    Of course, he also had a third backup method. It was indeed easy, but he didn''t want to choose it. It was because this method involved the protagonist falling in love with the female viin to the point that he would end up saving her instead of killing her after finding her identity.

    Usually, people having a one-sided crush wouldn''t think about killing that person even if they were in the wrong.

    So Shane was sure that this method would definitely work even if he didn''t find the real perpetrator. Men in love had their brains on their knees. Now that Shane thought of everything, he just waited for his host to finish up with everything.

    Once Stan was done reading, he raised his voice and said, "What the heck is wrong with this viin? She''s a girl. So why can''t she act more like one instead of bing a viin and dying a miserable death? And what does it mean by changing the viin''s fate? what exactly should I do?"

    Shane was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth and said, "What''s the difference between a criminal and a national celebrity?"

    Stan was stunned after hearing that kind of question. He felt like this question didn''t really have to do anything with his situation. Still, he answered, "I have no idea."

    "A criminal dies a gruesome death, and even after passing away, people wouldn''t remember him anymore." Shane squinted his eyes. "They would only celebrate after getting rid of someone like that. But things are different with a celebrity. I don''t need to spell it out, do I?"

    The host scratched the back of his neck and asked, "What does it mean?"

    Shane sighed. "Sure enough. Teenagers are always dumb."

    "Hey!"

    "You have to be the second type."

    Stan suddenly understood what his system meant and froze. "That means I''ll have to die again?"

    "What, do you want to continue living here in an unknown world? Don''t you want to go back?"

    Stan finally understood what his system was implying. He nodded and stood up from the bed.

    "What should we do?" He asked.

    "Quick. Get ready. Be as beautiful as an actress."

    After listening to this, Stan was even angrier. "Do you think I''m a make-up artist or something? Find me a pill!"

    "It''s not cheap, and you don''t have enough money." Shane paused as he nced at the Crana section.

    It could be said that his new live stream wasn''t famous enough. So there weren''t many viewers. But the fact that his host was a guy inside a girl''s body attracted their attention. So some of them even started paying for gifts andughed at the host''s poor fate.

    Shane raised his brows and nced at the increasing Crana. "Perhaps you can still use a cheap starter pack."

    Stan showed a satisfied expression on his face as he said, "Good. By the way, I have always wanted to ask¡­. How do I earn money?"

    "You don''t have to worry about it. The better you perform, the more money you get. So you have to make sure your performance is ssic."

    The host nodded as he waited for the system to send him his share of a starter pack. But as soon as he saw what it actually was, he shrieked.

    "What the hec-I''m not going to use a beauty and white lotus pack!"

    Shane didn''t even blink when he said, "You''re already in a girl''s body. You feel some shame?"

    Stan wanted to refute it, but he realized that his system was right. He let out a frustrated sigh.

    "Fine¡­. Whatever. I''ll use it." After saying this, he quickly purchased the pills and swallowed one of them.

 Chapter 101 100. Whatever

    The result of that pill was so good that by the time Stan walked out, he became a walking Goddess who had fallen from the heavens. Everyone stared at the host for such a long time without blinking that Stan felt all the hair on his body standing.

    He cursed under his breath. "What the heck is wrong with these people? Have they not seen a gu-ahem girl walking down a corridor?!"

    Shane shook his head and decided not toment on this. He stared at the radar screen.

    As soon as the protagonist entered the building, Shane said, "He has just entered the building, walking toward the elevator."

    "Got it." Stan nodded as he entered the elevator himself. "I''ll bump into him."

    "Tch. So cliche."

    "Then what do you want me to do?" Stan scoffed as he clicked on the ground floor button. "Lick his boots?"

    Shane rolled his eyes and said nothing. Soon, they reached the ground floor without waiting much longer.

    When they were close enough, he warned, "Don''t overact. Just act casually. You don''t have to scream or yell in pain. Just a simple flinch is enough. The pill works better than my expectations."

    Stan folded his hands on his chest and leaned against the wall. "I know."

    Soon enough, they reached the ground floor as the elevator door opened, revealing the handsome face of a young man. His sharp eyebrows raised when he looked at a familiar girl inside the elevator. Perhaps, before today, he had never nced at the girl more than twice. It seemed as if this scene was directly taken out from a manhwa or something where the protagonist was meeting his love for the first time.

    The entire scene seemed to have paused. If it weren''t for the soul inside the girl''s body being a man, this scene really would look like that from a manhwa.

    The more the protagonist looked at him, the more goosebumps he felt all over his body. He felt a trace of disgust crawling all over his heart.

    He suddenly raised his head and red at the man. "What are you looking at?"

    Shane held his forehead. This damned host! That''s why he never liked working with teenagers. They were always unreliable!

    He had thought that perhaps the protagonist wouldn''t like a girl giving him such an attitude. But then, he happened to nce at the man only to see the corners of his lips curving up.

    Then the man said, "Why can''t I look at a beautiful girl?"

    He was flirting with the girl, wasn''t he?

    Unfortunately, the beauty of the scene couldn''t be kept for a long time as a vein inside Stan''s head snapped as he pushed the man away and rushed out.

    He just didn''t want to stay here and be increasingly disgusted!

    While walking, heined in his head. "What the heck?! System, I''m not going to attract anyone at all! This is so damn disgusting!"

    "Good work."

    "Huh? What did you just say?"

    "You have sessfully attracted the protagonist''s attention," Shane spoke as he looked at the world setting and found the man''s name. "Marvin''s a masochist. He''s the kind of man who likes a rebellious girl instead of a submissive one."

    "F*ck!" The teenager finally calmed his anger when he crossed the street and mingled among the crowd. "That''s so messed up!"

    "Continue being rebellious after today. This strategy is unexpectedly better than mine."

    "This isn''t a strategy!!!!" Stan exploded. "I really am disgusted."

    Shane shrugged. For some reason, he liked seeing his host suffering. He felt a trace of pleasure embracing his heart at the sight of his frustrated host.

    Perhaps he was the masochist instead, not the protagonist.

    Soon enough, he noticed a certain someone had turned away from the building and had already started following Stan. He nodded in satisfaction.

    "Don''t look back." Shane reminded him. "Marvin is following you."

    "A damned pervert," Stan muttered under his breath.

    "Not only that, he''s soon going to catch up with you."

    Stan took a deep breath to calm himself, but the feeling of disgust was so strong that the muscles of his face twisted. "What should I do?"

    Shane thought for a while. Sure, the situation at this time was bizarre, but he had no choice but to force his host into acting like a girl.

    Of course, it wasn''t that he was against gays or anything. They were also humans with emotions. So he didn''t think the current situation was terrible. It was just that the teenager''s reaction was tooical.<sub> </sub>

    He almost felt like he was watching aedy movie going on in the background.

    After thinking about it, he opened his mouth and said, "Let him follow you. Let''s see what he does."

    Although Stan didn''t want to agree when he thought about the wish he wanted to be fulfilled, he silently obeyed without any hesitation. He endured, endured, and endured for a while.

    But the protagonist''s gaze didn''t waver. Instead, it became even more intense, making the host stop in his tracks. He suddenly didn''t want to continue being stared at in this way. So he walked over to where the protagonist was hiding and stood directly in front of the man.

    Then Stan raised his chin arrogantly and said, "What the f*ck are you following me for?"

    "Do you want to go out with me?" Marvin blurted out.

    "Say yes," whispered Shane, but he himself knew that his host wouldn''t agree.

    Sure enough, the man opened his mouth and said, "No. What made you think I''ll agree?"

    The corners of the protagonist''s mouth curved up. "I knew you wouldn''t agree with your attitude. I just wanted to see that expression on your face."

    The teenager rolled his eyes. He almost felt like he was instead in a steamy romance movie with the male lead flirting endlessly with the female lead. Too bad. He was the soul inside the girl''s body.

    No matter how much he would be flirted with, he couldn''t be bent another way.

    He shook his head and walked away, leaving Marvin stunned.

    Stan asked, "What should I do next?"

    "Continue the routine." Shane leaned back with a leisurely attitude. "Make the protagonist fall head over heels for the girl."

    The teenager seemed satisfied with the way Shane said that sentence. If thetter had uttered that the male lead would have to fall for him, he would have exploded in disgust.

    For the next few days, the routine continued to follow. As soon as it was time for the protagonist to enter the building, he would urge his host to reluctantly bump into the man in the elevator. At one point, the two people were even all alone inside the elevator, making Stan feel as if an ant-like shiver crawled up his skin.

    Thank God the man didn''t do anything.

    One morning, when Stan was about to head out of the door of his apartment, Shane said, "You don''t have to follow the routine now. Marvin is blinded by you, and it''s time for you to follow through the first arc."

    "What''s the first arc?" The teenager was curious as he opened the door and walked out.

    "First, go to a shop and buy a hooded robe with a silver mask to cover up your face. You shouldn''t look like a girl after dressing it all up."

    Although Stan didn''t know what was going on, he agreed with what his system was saying. After a while, he managed to purchase a good quality hood from a shop nearby and a mask to cover himself up. When his entire body got covered, he didn''t even look like a girl. After he was satisfied with his appearance, he walked out of the shop.

    "What now?"

    "Go ahead in the direction I''m mentioning now."

    The teenager againplied. "I''m just curious. What''s happening?"

    "You really want to know?" Shane sighed. "We are going to ruin the viin''s name first."

    "Huh? Why?" Stan scratched the back of his neck. "Aren''t we supposed to do the opposite?"

    "To have a better effect," Shane purchased ice cream and ate it as he said, "we have to make sure we find the main viin. Since that person is using so much effort to set up a trap for us, we might as well bepassionate and fall for it."

    "Why do you want to fall into the trap?! Shouldn''t we run away first?" Now the teenager was really anxious.

    Shane sighed, "You see, that''s why I wasn''t telling you anything. You''re a fool."

    "Hey!"

    "We have arrived." Shane''s voice sessfully managed to distract the host. "Be prepared. You can just do what''s written in the storyline for a while. When I say, run in a certain direction."

    "I remember while reading," Stan was still walking down the street. "The first arc was that of a murder case of a famous builder, and the viin had to take the me because he was the only one found inside with a dead body. Even the surveince footage showed the same. So I need to go inside the ma building?"

    "She. the viin''s a she." Shane reminded his host.

    "Whatever."

 Chapter 102 101. I Dont Trust Your Acting Skills

    Stan reached the spot soon enough without difficulty. He nced at the building in front of him and squinted his eyes. It was still under construction at this point. Since this building belonged to the boss of the murdered builder, he had created an office for himself at the very top and asked others to furnish other floors slowly after creating the foundation.

    The reason why the viin had originally stepped inside this kind of ce was to find a job. Yes, the girl was jobless and in need of money. Since she had to give an interview here, she came here to apply. But after entering, they stopped her on the tracks saying this job wasn''t for women. So she could only change her attire and enter the ce.

    It was her bad luck that she ended up encountering a trap.

    Stan lowered his eyes and directly entered the building without anyone stopping him. He was already hiding his body from others, and since he was originally male, even his gait was normal. No one could doubt his identity.

    He smoothly reached the top floor, but before opening the door, he hesitated. Beyond this, he might end up witnessing a murder scene that would show him in a bad light, but what could he do?

    Even though this method was gruesome, the system was right. The worse thing that he would have to face was death, and he had already made up his courage in his previous life to jump off a building.

    Nothing could be worse than being betrayed and jumping to death.

    After he hypnotized himself like this, he took a deep breath and turned the doorknob, pushing the door wide open using another hand. As soon as the door opened, he saw something that shocked him to the core.

    It had to be said that the host was a teenager, who hadn''t witnessed anything even closely rted to blood being sttered across the ground. But now¡­..

    A man in a ck hood simr to what he was wearing stood there with his back facing Stan. There was a knife in his right hand that dripped blood, falling to the ground one after another. When the man heard the sound of the door, he turned back.

    The hood revealed only lips that stretched to form a smirk. The man put his index finger on those lips as if trying to shush Stan.

    Then the man stabbed the person hiding behind his body a few more times before turning back.

    Stan''s soul almost flew out of his body upon witnessing this scene. He felt that this person wasing over to kill him! His entire body got vignt as he forgot the rest of the part in the storyline.

    Shane sighed. "This host is hopeless. The only good thing is that everything is going ording to my n."

    By the time Stan came back to his senses, there was already a knife in his right hand that smelled of thick blood. His hands were also stained by that blood as he stared at the room inside. He slowly made his way and saw that the office was already in a messy state.

    Stan''s head was muddled as he stared at the scene in front of him in a daze.

    Just as he was standing there like a fool, he heard the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway.

    Shane suddenly spoke: "When I say, run!"

    Stan gulped and nodded slowly. Soon enough a few people walked over with reports in hand. They didn''t think too much when they saw the door open from a distance. But slowly, the smell of blood drifted to their noses, making them frown.

    The two people exchanged a nce as they rushed inside only to be shocked. They stumbled back as they stared at the hooded person with a hint of horror in their eyes.

    "Murder! Murder!" one of them eximed.

    "Call 911!"

    At this time, Shane yelled, "Throw the knife on the ground and run!"

    Stan continued to stand there as if his legs were nailed to the ground.

    Shane pressed his finger on his forehead, "If you want to destroy your role right now, you can continue to stay."

    "Okay!" Stan rubbed his face and tried to reduce the tremble he felt all over his body. "Let''s go."

    "Oh, before running away, move out of the office and go to a ce without security cameras. Then throw these robes in the trash can."

    Stan did what was told as he continued to run for his life. Only after he felt that the police siren stopped ringing in the background did he lean against the wall in the deep and dark alley as he paused for a breath.

    He panted. "What the heck¡­..! That was so stimting!"

    Shane said nothing and let his host calm down first. After a while, when Stan rested enough, it was alreadyte evening. The sky had turned dark as the host stood up.

    "I''ll go home. I don''t want to do anything for now."

    Since the robes were thrown in the trash can, Stan wasn''t worried about getting caught, but he knew that he would eventually be caught by the police since the knife had his fingerprints.<sub> </sub>

    In any case, this world wasn''t his original one, and he didn''t intend to stay here for a long time. He might as well make the viin''s identity famous in a good way.

    For a few days, Stan stayed cooped up in his room, not having any intention of going out. Only when the news about the murder reduced did he step out.

    Stanined in his head. "Why do I have to stay locked up? I''m not one of those people who would be so frightened that they wouldn''t want to take a step out! I''m the kind who would rather go on a trip to forget his worries! Then why did you force me to stay?"

    "To make things more realistic." Shane nced at the radar to find that the protagonist has entered the building again. "You are currently in the body of a girl. Females would easily get frightened to death after witnessing such a scene. She doesn''t even know that she got famous as a viin all over the world.

    "She only finds out after she identally sees the news. Later during the second arc. But we aren''t going to wait that long. Let her find out sooner so that she can find out more from the protagonist."

    Stan also felt that this method was reasonable. He nodded as he walked toward the elevator and entered the door. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he saw Marvin standing. The two of them were stunned as the man frowned upon looking at the girl''s face.

    He asked in a concerned voice, "Did something happen? You don''t look good."

    "Purse your lips and remember something that frightens you to death." Shane thought for a moment before opening up the footage. "Take a look at this. It''ll definitely make you act frightened."

    Before Stan could utter a single word, he was shown a gruesome scene of the builder getting stabbed again and again by the knife that was given to him. His face turned pale as he nced.

    He yelled in his mind, "Stop it! I''m f*cking scared enough! I don''t need to sh*t my pants!"

    Marvin frowned after seeing the girl''s face paling.

    He immediately held her shoulders and asked, "I''ll take you to the hospital."

    "Now, wake up from a daze and act like you just noticed him." Shane continued to watch the scene with an extremely focused gaze.

    "Why are you directing every move?" Stan was confused about this point.

    "Because I don''t trust your acting skills."

    A simple reply made the host fume in anger. Still, finding that he didn''t have any way to vent, he suppressed his anger and nodded.

    Marvin didn''t continue to wait as he took the girl to the closest hospital. After an hour, when they were finally done with all the tests, they were called by the doctor.

    As soon as they entered the doctor''s cabin, thetter opened his mouth and said, "Come, sit."

    "Everything seemed fine physically, but you should check her up with a psychologist. She seems like she has just received a great shock."

    Marvin pursed his lips and nced at the girl. She was still in a daze, not reacting to the words spoken to her. He immediately leaned toward her and grabbed her hand.

    "Then¡­ I''ll go back."

    "First, remember to give her the medicine on time."

    Marvin nodded as he grabbed the girl and walked out of the cabin in a moment. He thought for a while as he walked.

    "You have never told me your name."

    The girl stayed silent.

    "Do you have any family members to take care of you?"

    The girl was again silent.

    Marvin sighed, "Fine. I''ll take up the job. I''lle and feed you the medicine."

    It looked as if the girl was really in a daze, but actually, Stan was arguing with the system inside his head.

    "Why should I let some stranger take care of me?! I don''t want to be taken care of!"

 Chapter 103 102. Get Ready, Host!

    It was inevitable that things would go against the host''s wishes. He was working as a host. What could Stan expect? This wasn''t some Mary Sue novel that could give the host the best of everything, making him the center of the world.

    In the end, Marvin ended up heading to the girl''s house with a worried look. The entire time, Stan didn''t dare to open his mouth for fear of revealing that he wasn''t a girl in the first ce.

    When they entered the living room, Marvin sat the girl on the couch.

    "Where''s your first aid?"

    "Kitchen."

    The man nodded and pursed his lips. Lines of worry were visible on his forehead.

    In his mind, Stan groaned. "Why is this man looking at me in such a strange manner? I might end up puking from all the stimtion I receive these days."

    "Good. Puke." Shane''s voice seemed pleased at that sentence his host had uttered just now.

    "What did you just say?" Stan''s hair stood on the end, and his entire face turned red in anger. "If you have the ability,e out and do it yourself!"

    A sigh escaped Shane''s lips. "I wish I could without spending moneyvishly."

    Before they could continue chatting, the man came back with a box he ced it on the table. He took out something and started wiping the girl''s face with that liquid.

    "How can you have no one taking care of you?" Marvin''s eyes flooded withpassion as he squinted them. "You''re still quite young."

    "Lower your head and pretend like those words hurt you the most, but you''re still trying to suppress those emotions." Shane''s voice echoed in Stan''s mind.

    Thetter wanted to roll his eyes, but he took a deep breath and acted as told. He even felt he could be a top actor if he continued doing this.

    "So, tell me first, host," said Shane while he watched the protagonist apply a first aid kit to the host''s body, "what would you say to change the topic if you were the girl?"

    "Well¡­." Stan thought carefully and said, "I''ll just ask him about my worries in a roundabout way."

    "Good. It seems you''re bing more and more intelligent in my association."

    "This has nothing to do with you!" Stan internally rolled his eyes.

    "Do what you should."

    Stan pursed his lips, raised his head slowly like he was really a meek woman, and asked, "What do you think about the viin they talked about in the news?"

    Marvin frowned. He thought that the girl wanted to change the topic.

    He opened his mouth: "Hmm¡­.this seems to be a revenge case to me. The murderer must have done this on impulse. What do you want me to say?"

    "W-What would you do if that person were to stand in front of you?" asked the girl.

    "I would hand him over to the authority, of course," Marvin spoke as if he didn''t think anything was wrong with what he had just said.

    The girl''s face turned increasingly pale at the moment. "Why would you do that? What if it was all a misunderstanding?"

    Marvinughed and shook his head. "Girl, have you ever seen the news? The authorities have found all the evidence against the hooded viin. They watched him walk inside the cabin. No one else entered the ce.

    Plus, the killer used a knife and not anything else. So I''m not going to be involved unless they used superpowers." Marvin chuckled as he fed the girl, her medicine. "You''re so silly. Is that why your face is pale?"

    The girl took a breath and looked at the man with difficulty. "What if I say I''m?"

    "Don''t worry." Marvin caressed her hair. "I''m here to keep you safe from such viins."

    "Can I hit this guy?" Stan uttered in his head all of a sudden. "I don''t want anything to do with this man anymore!"

    "Why are you s against him flirting with you." Shane narrowed his eyes. "Don''t tell me you''re bent that way."

    "How dare you!" Stan roared in his head. "I''m perfectly straight!"

    Shane scoffed and said nothing. This kind of action made his host even angrier.

    Before the young man could say anything, Shane opened his mouth first: "Enough. Send the man away, saying you want to sleep. I''m afraid if you keep talking, you might reveal something."

    "Thank God!!!" Stan''s shoulders rxed at the moment as he nced at the other man in front of him.

    Then his lips parted as Stan said, "Can I sleep? I''m really not feeling well."

    Marvin was stunned for a moment as he stood up instantly. "Alright! I''ll be back tonight to see whether you have taken medicine or not, okay?"<sub> </sub>

    "You don''t have to¡­."

    "No, I insist!" Marvin patted her shoulders and walked out.

    Stan groaned. He internally cursed the protagonist for being a goodie two-shoe. He really didn''t want the man toe at all!

    To the host''s misfortune, for the next few days, Marvin continued toe to his house and forcibly fed the girl the medicine the doctor had provided. Stan almost felt like the protagonist had been the girl''s long-lost brother, taking care of her with so much worry in his eyes.

    He had even voiced out hisment to his system. But this time, the system who would utter nonsense kept silent and didn''t have a refutableeback. Stan only frowned and continued to enjoy his peaceful days.

    Actually, Shane wasn''t speaking because he suddenly remembered that he also had a sister a while ago who died because of him. At this moment, the emotions ofpassion and familial attachmentpletely disappeared from his heart.

    It almost felt like he didn''t have any family in the first ce. He was utterly puzzled, but he also couldn''t ask anyone else about it.

    Soon enough, the day of another trap came closer. Shane spoke for the first time after letting Marvin take care of the girl for a few days.

    He opened his mouth. "Get ready, host. The time of your second appearance as a viin hase."

    "So you''re finally talking. I thought you disappeared or something."

    Shane ignored thatment and opened the radar. "I can see that same hooded person down your apartment. He seems to be standing there. I think he''s waiting for you toe out."

    Stan shook his head as he wrapped his body tightly with a quilt. "I don''t want to go. I''m sure there''s another trap for me."

    "Really?" Shane sneered. "Did you forget you''re not the girl? You''re a soul who has transmigrated to this world on a mission. The trap won''t be difficult to deal with as long as you remember."

    "h, h, h," uttered Stan in his mind. "Can you stop lecturing me? You''re not from some cut, are you?"

    Shane chuckled darkly at those words. "Fine. You can continue to be that girl and have a wonderful romance with the protagonist. Goodbye."

    Those words really did scare the host to the point that Stan''s face paled. "No, wait!"

    "Good boy." Shane nodded in satisfaction as he said, "Now, go out. You can''t let the viin''s n go in vain, can you?"

    "Sometimes I think you''re the viin, not that person," muttered Stan.

    "What did you just say."

    "Nothing!" The host chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his neck.

    At this time, he had already learned the art of how to bing a woman perfectly. So even while changing his clothes, he was normal. After that, he opened the door and finally walked to the elevator. As soon as he stepped outside the apartment building, the chilly wind blew past his body, making Stan shiver.

    "This girl''s body is so weak." Stan rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

    Shane''s focus wasn''t on how the body was feeling. Even if he did, it wouldn''t matter because he had already blocked the senses. He squinted his eyes and stared at the radar screen.

    Then he opened his mouth and said, "Up ahead. Walk toward the garden."

    Stan nced at the scene inside and was stunned. That ce was filled with romantic couples. Some were even kissing and hugging out in the open.

    He hesitated for a while before opening his mouth. "Are you sure I have to enter that ce?"

    "You didn''t forget the second arc, did you?" Shane''s voice carried a hint of mocking.

    "I do!"

    Actually, Stan had forgotten about that already.

    He cleared his throat with a guilty expression on his face. "Fine. I''ll go inside."

    After that, he walked as Shane told him about the second arc. "The second arc is much more brutal than the first. The viin was just wandering around the garden, feeling lonely. So at this time, the main viin actually burnt down the whole ce and the innocent people inside. After this, he became even more famous and the protagonist''s main target."

    "Wait, so you want me to watch everyone die and do nothing?" Stan frowned even while thinking about it.

    "Yup." Shane''s heart didn''t even fluctuate at this time as he spoke. "They''re all going to die, and you must stay out of it. Do you understand?"

    "But¡­.. they''re all innocent¡­.." The teenager pursed his lips. "How can I kill people? How can you even make me do something like that?! Are you insane?"

    "Did you forget already?" Shane spoke coldly this time, "I''m a system. I shouldn''t have any emotions in the first ce."

 Chapter 104 103. What Should I Do?

    Stan and Shane were in a stalemate for a moment. Neither of them talked. Shane waited for the host to adjust while Stan was still in shock. The teenager didn''t want to ept this at all.

    Just as they were mulling over, the phone in the girl''s pockets rang. Stan picked it up.

    "Who''s this?"

    "Yo, Rose, can''t you even see the name?" The voice was filled with disdain.

    Stan blinked and still didn''t realize who this person was! It was Shane who replied.

    "It''s Rose''s cousin. She called to give you a job offer."

    "Right now?" Stan was confused as to why he had to attend this phone call when a fate worse than death awaited him in this garden.

    "Yes." Shane looked at the radar screen. "You still have to change your attire into that of a viin, don''t you? The viin wouldn''t do that unless she''s forced to change. Other than a job opportunity, why would you change?"

    "Then why did you make me enter the garden if nothing''s going to happen now?"

    "To leave evidence. You see a camera up there?" Shane pointed at the top.

    Stan raised his head and saw a camera ced at the height of a tree. "What about it?"

    "When the timees, the police will confirm that the girl is the main viin bybining the evidence. This is one of the ways Marvin recognized you." Shane squinted his eyes. "The only difference is right now, Marvin is attached to the girl. So even if the evidence is ced clearly, he would find it difficult to ept it."

    "Fine. I''ll talk to her."

    Just as Stan was about to say something, the girl on the phone spoke, "Hey, Rose, did you sleep on me? How dare you! Wake up!"

    "Don''t yell!" Stan rubbed his forehead as he said, "What do you want? I''m not in a good mood."

    "Well, I''ve got a job opportunity for you." The girl seemed to have turned pages as the voice of flipping pages echoed in the background. "The wages are good. You have insurance and other benefits too. It seems¡­. Wait, what the heck? I''m sorry, Rose. You can''t take this job anymore."

    "Huh? Why?" Stan knew why, but he still acted innocent in his role.

    "You''re a girl, but this job is for guys¡­. I didn''t see the eligibility."

    "Send me the address anyway. I''ll contact one of my friends who''s in need." After that, Stan hung up the call.

    His shoulders rxed as he walked out of the garden. But when he remembered that he was heading toward the scene where many innocents would die, his shoulders turned stuff again. He decided to persuade his system once again.

    "So¡­. You really won''t focus on capturing the main viin behind the scenes?" Stan couldn''t help but share his thoughts, thinking he was even more intelligent than Shane. "Like, you won''t even have to let people be killed. You just said that person is hiding somewhere, right? Why don''t we search the surrounding area and find out? You should have an invisibility cloak or something too, right? We really don''t have "

    "Really now? You want to perform on your own without my directions?" Shane''s voice was filled with sarcasm. "You''re wee to start. Don''te at me crying because you failed."

    Stan was silent after hearing that. Indeed, his system must have dealt with several murder situations in the past. So the current calctions should be the best ording to the system''s calction. It was just that he didn''t want to let people be killed.

    He hesitated before epting his fate. His mood dropped below zero degrees as he pursed his lips.

    "Fine. But I''m not happy with this."

    "Whatever." Shane didn''t care a bit about this. "Let''s get this over with."

    The host then purchased another set of men''s clothes with a hood, simr to what he had previously under Shane''s direction. Of course, this aspect left an obvious trail behind that would be foundter by the police and shock the world.

    After that, Stan went into the alley and changed into those clothes before walking out with a calm face. At this time, his entire face was hidden inside the hood. No one could tell whether he was a man or a girl as his body was covered with baggy robes from head to toe.

    Soon, he reached the ce, an ITpany with two guards standing on either side of the door. He walked over and tried to enter but was stopped by those guards.

    The one with a scar on his face said, "State your purpose."

    "Interview for the position of an intern¡­."

    "The interview''s over." The guard had a disdainful expression on his face. "You''re an hourte. Go back."

    Stan had a shocked expression on his face. Or rather, he was forced to be shocked as Shane guided him like a very good director. It was just that to make Stan''s expressions realistic, he ended up showing the same bloody scene again.

    So the teenager''s face turned pale and shocked after watching it again. With difficulty, he opened his mouth:

    "Alright."

    After walking away, he scolded his system, "How dare you?! You really want me to embarrass myself, don''t you? I was about to sh*t myself!"

    Shane silently closed the window and shrugged. He didn''t seem like he cared even a bit. This attitude made Stan even angrier.<sub> </sub>

    Veins popped on his forehead. "Good! Be like that! I''ll also ignore you!"

    Stan continued to walk toward the garden. At this time, his appearance and mood matched how the viin would have acted. So Shane didn''t say anything to calm his host.

    The teenager grumbled something under his breath and continued to walk onward in steady steps. Soon, he reached the garden and he stood there at the entrance.

    He suddenly opened his mouth and apologized, "I''m sorry."

    Shane scoffed. "You finally came back to your senses."

    Stan didn''t want to, but he didn''t seem to have any other choice. "Whatever. Tell me what to do."

    "Go and sit by the bench beneath that tree. Just continue to sit there."

    "What will happen after that?" Stan got nervous all of a sudden.

    "Fire will start from the bench."

    "F-Fire?!" Stan stuttered and looked at the bench carefully, not caring to sit.

    "Have you forgotten about the fact that you''ve superpowers?" Shane sighed. "You can control several elements, including Fire."

    "The only good thing about this world is that I can use magic!" Stan seemed to have been given hope in darkness only to be crushed after hearing Shane''s next words.

    "You won''t get a chance. I''m sorry."

    "Why?" Stan was truly shocked this time. "I do have powers, don''t I?"

    "Because we won''t be following the same viinous fate after this." Shane sighed again as if he were really disappointed. "Did you forget we have to change the viin''s fate? We won''t be following the arcs after the girl''s identity is revealed."

    "Bu-But¡­. Weren''t you urging me to follow through the arcs?" Stan hesitated for a while and sat on the bench.

    "Only temporarily." Shane said impatiently: "Just follow what I''m saying. Don''t utter a single word now."

    "Okay."

    "Now, call your cousin."

    Stan pursed his lips and followed his system''s words. The call went through as the other girl picked up.

    "What''s up? Didn''t you have an interview?"

    "They didn''t even let me enter!" Stan tried to make his voice as soft as possible. "The interview was over an hour ago!"

    "What the f*ck?!" Her cousin cursed under her breath. "Let me check¡­. Sh*t! You''re right! Howe I''m so clumsy?! I''m sorry. I''ll let you know when another opportunityes."

    "Take care." Stan hung up the call.

    "Host, you''re getting better and better at bing a girl." Shane was in a rare mood to joke.

    "Shut up!"

    They stopped talking after this. Slowly, a feeling that the ce Stan was sitting was getting hot flooded his body. His entire body froze as he looked down.

    The bench that had iron like color mixed with blue changed into boiling red. His eyes widened as he instantly got up and looked at the bench in shock. He gulped as the bench continued to get hotter and slowly melted.

    The molten part of the bench fell to the ground. Hot fumes started arising in the air. Soon, the entire ground in the surrounding area started to burn. Sparks of fire appeared above, creating a heavenly scene. If it weren''t for the fact that the entire garden was going to be burnt, this scene would have felt beautiful.

    Stan''s breathing nearly stopped. "W-What should I do?"

    "Stand there. What will a girl do in such a scene? They are easily disturbed. So her body will freeze. Since her face is hidden in the shadows, people will misunderstand that she''s doing everything. So, be good and act as if your entire body has frozen in shock."

    "But I''m really shocked! I don''t even have to act anymore!" Stan wanted to roll his eyes, but seeing the fire growing bigger and bigger, he couldn''t.

    He gulped. "I don''t want to be burnt!"

    "You won''t. You''re also a fire user with a special healing mechanism when triggered. I can safely assume that the trigger point should be a deadly attack."

    Stan said nothing and stood there. His body was stiff at the moment and his forehead was covered with cold sweat. He really didn''t want to face what wasing in the future!

 Chapter 105 104. Marvin Is Here!

    Things go bad soon enough. The fire spread across the garden, burning almost everyone. All the couples screamed at the top of their voices as they all burned to death.

    The only person who remained intact was Stan. He was surprised to see his body''s healing ability was so good. But he couldn''t get to celebrate it before he ended up hearing ear-piercing screams.

    He frowned as a trace of difort appeared in his heart.

    Why was he doing this? He hadmitted suicide because of being brokenhearted. He was already weak at heart, and he knew he might suffer from nightmares after witnessing these things today.

    Wasn''t it better to just disappear rather than fight for a life filled with suffering?

    Just then, Shane spoke, "Host, you don''t have to forget you still have a chance to make a wish."

    Stan was stunned. That''s right. He could still make a wish! He could wish to give these souls a good life!

    When he thought of this, his shoulders rxed as a smile formed on his lips. He wouldn''t have to suffer from nightmares since he could make things right.

    Shane observed as his host''s expressions changed and said nothing. He knew what was going on in the teenager''s mind. That''s why he said what he said a moment ago and left his host with a rxed feeling.

    He knew it wasn''t right to kill innocent people, but he had a mission to aplish. Of course, he didn''t have his sister to save at this time. He didn''t even know why he was working hard toplete the mission.

    It was just that the emotion that made him a human once disappeared out of the blue, leaving behind a heart full of rage and frustration. He wanted to go on a killing spree, and kill some people to relieve his anger.

    That person, Dark, who was responsible for this mess couldn''t be touched. So should Shane wait for the moment that demon would show up? Of course, not. He would rather get angry and express himself.

    The best way to do that was to finish his mission wholeheartedly no matter how dangerous or how unnatural it was! If he was supposed to force his host to go on a killing spree, he would definitely do so!

    Darkened thoughts spiraled around his head as he squinted his eyes. "Host, get ready. Police are here."

    By the time Stan woke up from a daze, everything had been destroyed. The entire ce was filled with ck remains and burnt-out trees. Screams were also silenced, but this silence didn''t calm Stan a bit. It sent a chill down his spine.

    The police siren rang in the background as even the firefighters arrived. They started to work on extinguishing the fire as the police stopped and circled the garden.

    Stan''s heart surged with anxiety. "What should I do?!"

    "Stay here. Continue staring at the bench in a daze."

    "But I''ll get caught!"

    "That''s what we want, don''t we?" Shane narrowed his eyes. "Don''t tell me you have forgotten your role."

    "No, wait¡­." Stan made a confused expression on his face. "I don''t understand. Wasn''t I supposed to not care about the arc anymore?"

    "You, but after this scene. The girl got caught as she was frozen in shock. Then she killed the entire police force to escape, but we won''t. We will first wait for the police to arrive. You should be surrounded by them, and then you''ll use your superpowers in a panic, causing them to call out for the protagonist to save the day." Shane reminded his host again. "Remember, you should have a panicked expression on your face when they arrive."

    "You don''t have to remind me!" Stan gritted his teeth. "I''m already panicked enough!"

    As Shane expected, the police found Stan standing there in a daze. They walked over and raised their guns first. A few of them slowly walked over with guarded expressions on their faces.

    "And action!" Shane yelled dramatically in the host''s mind.

    If it weren''t for the situation just now, Stan would have rolled his eyes at this. But, he was too nervous and anxious at the moment. Several guns aimed at him as he stood there, at the center. At this time, he was anxious so much that his power automatically leaked out of his body.

    Shane scoffed when he saw this scene. His host was such a sissy that the teenager might even end up being afraid of his own shadow!

    At this time, the power surged from Stan''s body and swirled around the ce, throwing the police officers away. The coast cleared soon as Shane nodded in satisfaction.

    "You can stop now." Shane quickly looked over at the officers who tried to crawl back to his host but failed desperately because of the power cyclone around Stan. "Otherwise, you might end up killing someone."

    Those words sessfully stopped Stan in his tracks. "Should I run?"<sub> </sub>

    "No. First, look at them with a panicked expression and say something a girl would utter from her mouth."

    Stan thought for a while and opened his mouth. "I-I didn''t¡­."

    The main officer raised his gun, aiming at the girl at the center. "Raise your hand and surrender. If you don''t follow themand on the count of three, we will shoot you."

    "On the count of two," uttered Shane. "Run. Use your wind power and get out of here."

    Stan took a deep breath as his forehead was covered with ayer of cold sweat. He pursed his lips as the police started counting.

    "One!"

    "Two!"

    "Run!" Shane yelled at the top of his voice.

    At this time, Stan didn''t know what he was doing, but because he was anxious, he ended up imagining too much wind power pushing him from behind as he darted toward one of the directions his system mentioned. In the end, he collided with someone who wasing toward him.

    Wait,ing toward him? The other person also seemed to be flying!

    Stan''s body was hit hard as it fell to the ground from such a height. But since his body had superpowers, his body subconsciously used up wind energy to protect himself from falling too fast. In the end, only his arms were scratched by the impact.

    He pushed himself up and raised his head to nce at the person who just hit him head-on. Although he had an inkling of who it was, he still had to confirm his suspicion.

    Sure enough, a man of familiar strature stood there with his back straight. Even with a mask on his face, Stan could tell that this person was the protagonist, Marvin.

    In the past, he had seen this person''s gentleness, but now, the man was looking down at him with a fierce expression on his face. Stan was stunned for a moment.

    "Did this sh*tty man eat the wrong medicine today?"

    "No¡­." Shane sighed.

    His host''s EQ was so low that he didn''t know what to say. Marvin was gentle to the girl only because he had a crush on her. But with the enemies, he would likely be fierce. Such a simple thing, but his host couldn''t understand it. No wonder he hadmitted suicide because of a breakup.

    Stan didn''t know what was going on in his system''s mind. He raised his head and stared at the man''s face standing opposite to him.

    Marvin opened his mouth first. "Why did you kill so many people? They were innocent! Wait, you''re the murderer who killed that builder back then, aren''t you? Answer me first!"

    Stan didn''t know how to respond. He tilted his head and thought for a while. How would a girl respond?

    While he was contemting, Shane took sympathy for his host thinking hard on this subject, and said, "Be stunned. The girl also has a crush on him, even in the original storyline, but she never uttered a word. Now that she received warmth from this man, how do you think she will act when she was being red at by him?"

    "Um¡­." Stan put his hand on his chin. "She would cry?"

    "No." Shane shook his head. "She will be shocked enough to stay frozen, not uttering a word. So just continue to stand like this without moving. Put down the hand on your chin."

    Stan felt awkward as he put down his hand and stared at Marvin. He should continue acting naturally as he made a frozen expression. But no matter what he did, his body turned stiff and awkward from overacting.

    Shane held his forehead and rubbed his temples. "You don''t have to continue acting. Give up."

    "What should I do then?"

    Shane didn''t know what to do. He looked at the tool for controlling the body and wondered if he should take charge of this body. But then again, before he could even think the protagonist seemed to have lost all his patience and created a sword made out of metal.

    That''s right. Marvin could control two elements: wind and metal.

    Then the man directly aimed the tip of the sword at Stan''s face. "I''ll count to three. If you dare to run away, I''ll catch you and kill you with my own bare hands."

 Chapter 106 105. You Cant!!!

    Stan was shocked after seeing such a male lead standing in front of him. Those words were indeed ruthless!

    Still, it didn''t take much time for him to recover before he lowered his head and asked, "System! Quick, tell me what I should do?"

    "Be afraid." Shane paused as if thinking of something and pulled out a video. "Watch this video. You''ll act natural."

    Before Stan had the opportunity to stop, a screen appeared in front of him forcibly that showed the image of the actual viin stabbing the building with a knife. His face suddenly went pale after seeing this scene.

    No matter how many times he would end up watching this, he would still be very much afraid!

    What Marvin saw was a certain person dressed in a hood, trembling like a leaf. He thought this person was probably trembling because he was caught.

    Marvin sneered. "So you do know how to be afraid now! If you don''t do as I said, I''ll kill you right here, right now!"

    The viin remained silent causing Marvin to frown. He suddenly remembered a certain girl who had also stayed silent like this when he was busy using a first aid kit on her.

    He shook his head. Why was he remembering that girl at this time? His nce became fierce.

    "Last chance for you." He raised his sword again. "Why did you kill those people so brutally?"

    The viin remained silent, making the protagonist frustrated. Veins popped on his forehead as he grew angrier. He quickly went to the ground and walked over. His sword was now much closer to Stan''s neck.

    "I''ll not hesitate now before killing you."

    The force he used on the beck caused a small injury. Blood dripped out from the scratch on the neck, making Stan flinch.

    "F*ck, f*ck, F*ck! It hurts like hell!" Stan wanted to yell, but when he remembered his role, he pressed his lips in a thin line and shut his eyes close.

    Just then, his system''s voice echoed in his mind. "When I say st out your power and run, do it."

    Whenever an order came from Shane''s voice, Stan was the only one who suffered! The teenager grumbled under his and hesitantly nodded. Even if he didn''t like this n, what other choice did he have? He was clearly not capable of doing it all on his own. So he could only follow his system''smand.

    At this time, Shane''s voice came to him again. "Do it! Now!"

    Stan didn''t stop himself from releasing his power. In any case, he had been frustrated because of his situation, and he had also wanted to kick this protagonist''s a** for considering him a girl at all times. After he sted out his power and threw Marvin away, he felt good. He smiled and quickly rushed out of that ce using his wind power.

    His speed was so fast that it was hard to catch him. By the time Marvin came back to his senses, Stan had already disappeared from that ce. The protagonist stood there like a fool, staring at that ce in a daze.

    Then he grew angry as his fingers curled up to form a fist. "Let me find you again! I swear I''ll kill you with my bare hands!"

    Stan finally was able to throw a certain protagonist off in a fashionable manner. He felt utterly satisfied in his heart as he went back to the apartment this girl owned.

    "Ah, I have never felt so good hitting someone! This is even better thanmitting suicide!"

    Shane scoffed and refused to respond.

    Stan also didn''t continue talking nonsense. He needed to deal with his wounds because they hurt like hell. Even though this body wasn''t his original, he was still temporarily using it. He couldn''t handle any more pain than what he was feeling!

    After reaching home, he first went directly to his bedroom and asked, "Is there pain-relieving medicine?"

    "There is, but host," Shane paused and looked at the radar, "You shouldn''t use it now."

    "Why?"

    "Because Marvin has found your trace and is following you. He is currently standing in front of the apartment, all confused. Now, he probably got angered thinking the viin dared to enter the house of his crush. Oh, he rushed right inside. Host, I would suggest you lie down and pretend to be unconscious."

    Stan''s eyes widened. He also didn''t want to deal with a certain protagonist. So he fell to the ground and closed his eyes, pretending to be unconscious.

    Just then, the door of the bedroom opened with a bang. "Are you al-"

    Marvin''s words stopped in his throat as he nced at a certain girl fallen to the ground. He didn''t think much of it as he anxiously bent over to hold her in his arms. Before he could pick her up, he ended up seeing a familiar wound on her neck.<sub> </sub>

    At this time, he was struck dumb as he continued to stare at the wound and then he nced at the girl''s face which became paler and paler. Marvin''s hands that held the girl''s body trembled.

    "You-" he wanted to say something, but he couldn''t.

    ? He gently picked up the girl and put her down on the bed, covering her up with a quilt. Then he stared at her while standing beside the bed for a very long time.

    Stan got nervous by that staring. He wanted to react, but his entire face froze when he remembered he had to pretend to be unconscious unless he wanted to face a certain protagonist and his round of questions. He took deep breaths to calm himself.

    Finally, after ten minutes of staring, he couldn''t help himself anymore. "System, making him go! I can''t stand this!"

    Shane sighed. "Host, you''re being a little sissy at this time. Stop being a girl and be a man. You have just hurt Marvin too much. Let the man calm down unless you want to be hit again."

    That sentence silenced Stan.

    After a long time, Marvin opened his mouth. "You¡­ you''re not the killer, are you? You can''t! You''re such a good person¡­. How''s this possible?"

    He muttered simr words under his breath again and again. Then, he finally took a deep breath and went outside to bring the first aid kid. He did the primary healing process and hesitated.

    "What should I do?" Marvin pursed his lips. "Maybe I should find evidence before ming her. I won''t believe it was her killing those people even in my dreams!"

    After that, he wrote a note on the side saying he was a neighbor who came and helped him. He knew that the girl would be even more anxious after finding out that he hade to help her.

    Then he left.

    Stan rxed his shoulders and got up from the bed. "This protagonist is miserable. Despite his dotting, his wish to be with his crush will never be fulfilled."

    After cleaning himself up, he asked, "What should we do?"

    "The result is not far off." Shane looked at the radar. "The main viin has just appeared right outside the apartment. Oh, wait, he disappeared."

    Why did that viine here just for a few seconds?

    Stan shook his head and sighed. Just as he was thinking about what they should be doing in the future, the doorbell rang.

    Cold sweat formed on his forehead. "Is it the viin?"

    Shane replied, "The radar didn''t make it clear¡­."

    He frowned. There were only a few moments when the radar wouldn''t react. First, that person might be a hidden viin. Second, that person might be an NPC.

    At present, Shane didn''t know which category the person who rang the bell belonged to¡­.

    "Open the door. We didn''t know for sure who was standing on the other side."

    Stan hesitated as his face turned pale. "I don''t want to¡­. Our mission still hasn''t been fulfilled. Howe the viin arrives so soon? Will our efforts go down the drain?"

    "Don''t worry." Shane tried to utter in a coaxing voice. "I''ll take care of it."

    For the first time, Stan felt like his system was a real deal. He couldn''t help but let out a breath and headed over to the door. His hands went over to the knob as he gripped it firmly before swinging the door open.

    A girl with blond hair stood there with a smile on her face. Just as she was about to open her mouth, she nced at Stan''s condition and frowned.

    She entered the living room in a hurry with a worried look on her face. "Who did this to you? My God! It feels like someone hit you and rushed away!"

    "I''m fine¡­" Stan quickly turned to his system. "Help me, system. Just who the hell is this girl?"

    "It should be the girl''s cousin who came to visit." Shane sighed. "Entertain her for a while longer. She''s the same cousin who gave you the job."

    Ah. The same girl who identally made him wear men''s clothes to go into the garden. He groaned at the thought of having to entertain a strange girl, a cousin at that. Just why was his mission so difficult?!

 Chapter 107 106. Leave It To Me.

    Stan''s smile became stiff as he stared at the blond girl standing in front of him. He tried recalling her name from the storyline he had read. Ah, Amelia.

    He opened his mouth and said, "Amelia, what brings you here?"

    The blond girl pouted and replied, "I''m your cousin living in the same city. Can''t Ie to visit you?"

    "Sure, but why now out of all days?"

    The girl tilted her head. "Eh? Didn''t you tell me you went for the interview? How did it go?" her eyes lit up. "You got the job, didn''t you? I knew it! My friend told me about the job and I just knew it was meant for you!"

    "Your friend?" Stan caught the word and frowned.

    "Ask about this friend," Shane uttered and his host did as told.

    Amelia pursed her lips. "Actually, he''s not a close friend, just a colleague. He had told me about this opportunity early in the morning and I thought I should tell you about it¡­."

    "What''s his name?"

    "Sam."

    Stan thought hard about it, but he soon realized that he hadn''t heard that name in the storyline and smiled. "Forget about it. Do you want to eat something?"

    "Why are you being so polite?" Amelia was surprised as she shook her head. "Nevermind. I don''t want to have anything to do with you. Goodbye! People forget their well-wishers! Hmph! Hmph!"

    After acting like a little spoilt kid, she waved her hand and said, "I''ll go home since you don''t want me."

    Before she could step outside the apartment, Stan blurted out: "Wait!"

    Why did he stop the girl? He tilted his head.

    He sighed. "I didn''t get the job."

    "Why?"

    "Because the interview was already over! I had to wear f*cking men''s clothes for that! Do you know how embarrassing that was for me? Everyone was weirdly looking at me! I hate you for doing this to me!"

    Amelia doubled overughter as her shoulders shook. "I wish I had snapped your pic back then! It would have been so funny!"

    "Damn funny!" Stan gritted his teeth.

    Was it funny to force him into that kind of situation? He had to watch several people burn, and he could do nothing about it!

    "Fine, I''ll treat you to dinner tonight. How about it?" Amelia pulled out her card. "I''ll pay! And before that, we''ll go to the amusement park aspensation."

    "What, am I a three-year-old?" Stan scoffed, but being a teenager, he still anticipated going to the amusement park.

    While the two were having this conversation, Shane leaned back and narrowed his eyes. His host was so naive that he almost wanted to murder the teenager.

    Didn''t he see something wrong with Amelia''s sudden appearance? He had just seen the viin standing outside, and the moment he disappeared, Amelia walked over and knocked on the door. Was it just a coincidence?

    Shane didn''t think so.

    He crossed his arms on his chest and continued watching. He had no ns of telling his host about his suspicions. The poor teenager wouldn''t be able to act naturally and would surely get caught by Amelia considering the fact that she was a viin.

    The two ''girls'' happily went to the amusement park. Stan seemed to have be a female himself, forgetting about his mission in this world. Shane sighed.

    "Host, did you forget your mission?"

    Those words irritated Stan so much that he ignored his system and continued ying with Amelia. ording to this teenager, this cousin of his was so cool!

    He wished he had a sister like that!

    The two people yed well together the entire day, and Shane didn''t continue to bother his host with his words. He also wanted to keep an eye on the girl. So what was better than the current opportunity?

    As he thought, there was something wrong with the girl''s personality. The entire time she continued to try and take control of the host by hook or by crook. The worse thing was that his naive host didn''t even realize that he was being led around the nose.

    In the end, Stan himself didn''t realize that it was alreadyte at night by the time they ate dinner and went back. Finally, Amelia waved at her cousin and walked away, leaving Stan alone in the alley closer to his apartment.

    Cold wind passed through his delicate girl''s body as he rubbed his arms. "It''s so cold. System, If I make a wish to stay here forever after finishing my mission, can you fulfill it?"

    Shane didn''t answer directly. He knew that his answer wouldn''t satisfy his host, but he still decided to warn the man.

    "You may not say the same after actually finishing the mission."

    "What do you mean?" Stan raised his brows.

    "Nothing. Just go to sleep."<sub> </sub>

    There was one more thing that Shane hadn''t told his host. Marvin had been following the teenager for the entire day, hiding in the shadows. Of course, Stan was still a little kid and naive in many cases. So it was quite normal for the teenager to not notice such a big man following him around everywhere.

    But Shane noticed the protagonist, but he decided not to tell his host about it. Only when they reached the apartment did he open his mouth.

    "Host, Marvin has been following you around for the day."

    As soon as those words escaped Shane''s lips, he saw his host''s body getting stiffened. "What did you just say?"

    "The protagonist is following you for a long time. You didn''t realize it, did you?"

    "Is he looking at me right now?"

    "No. He went home." Shane sighed. "That''s the reason why I told you the truth. Otherwise, you would definitely give yourself up on your petty acting skills."

    "But¡­ won''t he misunderstand?" Stan was worried about somethingpletely different. "I just suffered an attack and got severely injured, yet I''m here the next day,pletely fine."

    "I know what you''re worried about. I have a n. So just do as I say."

    "Amelia¡­." Stan hesitated and asked, "Will she be in danger?"

    Shane rolled his eyes as he wanted to hit his host in his head. "Yeah. so better stay away from her from now on."

    "You''re right." Stan naively nodded and went to the bathroom to prepare for bed.

    Actually, Marvin, that perverted guy, was still keeping an eye from outside the window, hanging upside down. Shane again lied, but he didn''t feel even an ounce of shame in his heart upon thinking of this.

    Now was the time to wrap up this world and find another job. He had been here for a few days already.

    The next morning.

    Stan woke up and stretched his body as he finished his morning routine. He did everything the same way he would do every day, but today, he felt ill at ease.

    He could feel someone''s eyes boring into him. So he would constantly nce toward the balcony with a frown on his face. Then he shook his head.

    He was probably just imagining things. To make himself feel better, he called out to his system.

    "System," said Stan, "what happens after this in the storyline?"

    "The story takes apletely different route. The girl originally doesn''t have Marvin''s attention because of her gloomy personality. So she truly bes a viin saying since Marvin thinks she''s the reason for their deaths, she would really be one. So the next day, she actually goes to another garden and wreaks havoc." Shane paused and continued. "Since things have changed, I''d like to see what the viin is going to do."

    Before Shane could continue saying anything, Stan''s cell phone rang. He picked it up.

    "Miss Rose?"

    A rough manly voice spoke through the speaker.

    "Who''s this?" Stan frowned.

    Since the storyline had changed, he could feel a hint of anxiety in his heart.

    "Come to the nearest police station. We want to confirm something."

    Stan''s eyes widened. So this was it. That was probably why he was feeling like that. He pursed his lips and thought about what he should say.

    "Host, Marvin is still here," Shane spoke those words directly without hiding, knowing it would make the teenager even more nervous.

    That was actually what Shane wanted.

    As expected. Stan''s face paled as he stuttered, "Wh-What do you mean?"

    "If you don''t arrive within the next hour, you''ll be a fugitive and be arrested for killing a hundred people in the garden yesterday. So please, cooperate with us."

    Even though Stan was just a naive teenager, he could tell that they were only threatening him. Police wouldn''t just get anyone behind the bars without any evidence. Still, Stan couldn''t help but feel his heart thudding in his chest as his breathing went erratic.

    "Okay¡­. I''lle."

    After that, he hung up the call and asked, "System, what should we do?"

    "Let''s wrap things up. It''s time to give you a very nice ending."

    "Huh?" Stan was stunned. "So, the mission is going to be aplished? How?"

    "Leave it to me." The corners of Shane''s lips curved up.

 Chapter 108 107. A Cruel Girl!

    The next day, Stan stood straight in the police station, staring at his foot. He was so nervous that he didn''t dare to lift his head and nce at the policeman standing on the other side of the table. He bit his lips as he tried not to tremble under the man''s intense re.

    Shane snickered. "You''re really acting like a girl. The officer hasn''t said a word."

    Stan got furious after hearing that. "Wh-Who told you I''m a girl?! Can''t I tremble out of anger?"

    "Sure~"

    "You-"

    "Why are you standing in a daze, little girl?" The officer finally opened his mouth after ring at her for a minute.

    It seemed Rose was already the criminal who had killed all those people in the eyes of this person. Stan lowered his head and decided not to say a word. He knew that even if he tried to make the officer realise that he wasn''t the one, given the evidence from the security cameras, the police wouldn''t agree. Things might end up getting worse.

    Wasn''t it better to stay entirely and see how things unfold?

    In any case, he wasn''t Rose, so he didn''t have any attachment to this world anymore, especially after officially bing a viin in the eyes of the world.

    A picture of a certain blond girl appeared in his eyes at this moment, making him blush a little.

    Okay, there was one exception, but it was only because he wanted Amelia as his sister! Nothing more!

    Shane narrowed his eyes while observing his host''s mental condition. He sighed realising what exactly his host might be thinking about.

    If Amelia was really the main viin, his host''s heart might be broken for the second time. He hoped Stan would be mature enough this time.

    The officer suddenly leaned forward and red at the girl. "Why did you kill them?"

    "W-Who?"

    "All those people? Why?"

    "I-I didn''t!" Stan raised his head and stared at the person innocently.

    He had wanted to say that he hadn''t done anything. His expression also said the same, but the officer didn''t seem to believe anything like that. He had seen many people pretending innocent when they were the biggest criminals.

    The police officer even sneered and said, "Good, good. Your acting is really good! I give you three minutes to confess. After that, we''ll start torturing you."

    Stan got really scared now. "System, should I just confess the things I never did?"

    "And what? You want to waste my efforts?" Shane wanted to re at someone, but he couldn''t. "Just wait a bit. Marvin didn''t just keep an eye on you for nothing. He mighte here and save you a***, and after that, we need to get you killed."

    "Just like that?" Stan was surprised to hear that.

    Were they leaving already? The teenager finally realised that the mission was about to finish as he blinked. He didn''t know what to say at the moment.

    He had been hell-bent on making a wish earlier, but now, he wasn''t sure anymore. After entering this world, he realised what real suffering really meant. What he faced when he was still alive wasn''t worth anything.

    It was just puppy love, nothing else. Why should he waste his dear life because of something so small? He would get many girls in the future. He should instead be optimistic!

    A smile blossomed on his lips. "System, thank you!"

    Shane was stupefied. He hadn''t been a system for long, but he had never heard a host thanking his system when the mission was being fulfilled. The corners of his lips lifted slightly.

    This was the first time Shane smiled after what had happened to him in the institute.

    He opened his mouth and said, "You''re wee. Host, let''s wish our paths crossed again in the future."

    Just as they talked, a certain protagonist entered the police station in a hurry, wearing his regr robes. He didn''t enter with his hero''s identity. So no one except Stan and Shane knew who this person really was and why even he hade here.

    "Officer, I have something to say."

    The officer frowned as a displeased expression appeared on his face. "Who told you to enter without permission? Guards! Kick him out!"

    "I have evidence which can prove who the real culprit is!"

    Everyone, including Stan, raised their brows. They were all shocked.

    Up until now, everyone considered Rose the main viin because all the security cameras showed that she had purchased those robes and even walked deliberately into the garden, standing in the middle in a daze.

    Her behavior was undoubtedly suspicious. So the officer didn''t think twice before putting up the me. To be honest, even the officer was under pressure and wanted to close this file as soon as possible.

    But he didn''t think twists and turns would arrive too soon!<sub> </sub>

    His eyes went sharp as he nodded. "Show it to me."

    Marvin gave the girl a quick nce and said, "As the girl said, she''s innocent. The real culprit hid in the shadows and destroyed everything, ming it all on this girl."

    "You know what you''re saying, right?" The officer frowned as he nced at the papers.

    His expression instantly changed. He continued to flip the file.

    Marvin exined. "I was lucky enough to find security cameras in the alleys. Although they weren''t working properly, I managed to find clues from broken pictures. Please, have a look."

    The officer was silent as he flipped through the screenshot of the security camera. His expression turned grave.

    Stan couldn''t help himself anymore. "Real viin was caught?"

    Shane rolled his eyes. "Of course. You''re the only stupid guy who couldn''t realise it at first nce."

    "Who''s it then?"

    "You''ll realise it soon."

    Stan wanted to ask more, but then he heard Marvin say. "I even brought the person with me. You can interrogate her all you want."

    "Her?" Stan opened his mouth and blurted.

    Marvin just nced at her as his eyes filled with sympathy and another emotion Stan couldn''t read. But that stare gave him goosebumps.

    Sure enough, he still wasn''t used to being stared at by this person!

    After a while, the officer put down the file and he said, "Bring the culprit."

    Stan was surprised after seeing the changes on the officer''s face. He was also curious about what exactly it was that Marvin showed. He leaned over and nced at the opened file.

    There was a familiar alley beside the construction building. The alley was dark, and filled with garbage. Behind a can, a girl was changing her robes as she threw the man''s clothes into the dustbin. Then she used her firepower to light it up.

    Smoke rose in the air as it brightened up the girl''s face.

    Three pictures were enough to show who the real culprit was! Stan stared at the page with his eyes wide opened.

    He finally opened his mouth. `"No¡­. That''s not possible. How can it be Amelia¡­.?" then he paused as if he suddenly realized something. "System, you knew it was her and didn''t tell me?"

    "Would you have reacted naturally if I had told you earlier?" Shane retorted.

    "I take back my thanks." Stan gritted his teeth. "Do you enjoy treating me like this?"

    Shane shrugged. "Well, I''m a masochist."

    Stan had never seen a person, nope, a system so shameless. He decided to ignore the thing in his mind and focus on the task at hand.

    The officer nced in his direction with a look of sympathy. He sighed and patted his shoulders.

    "Girl, you should take care."

    Stan didn''t look at Marvin and only stared at the page in shock. Until morning, he had thought that Amelia could be the best sister in the world. But who would have thought he would end up receiving such a huge shock in a short time?

    "You-" Marvin had just opened his mouth when a girl''s scream echoed in the background.

    "AHHHHH LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU B*STARDS!!!!!!!"

    Stan realised who it was clearly. He nced at that direction as his face turned pale. At this moment, Marvin walked over and put his arms around the girl.

    "No, why is this person hugging me?" Stan felt goosebumps in his body again.

    He hurried away a little, maintaining a distance. Marvin pretended not to see as he pulled her closer.

    By this time, Amelia was brought inside the police station. She nced at Rose and the man standing beside rose. She immediately understood what was going on as she let out a chuckle. Her demeanor instantly changed from that of a mischievous youngdy to a ruthless and cruel person.

    She raised her chin. "Rose, you''re so naive and easy to lead around the nose."

    Marvin''s hands tightened around the girl''s shoulders. "Why? Why put your me on her? Why kill so many people?"

    "You ask me why?" Amelia walked closer as she leaned toward the man. "Because I like killing people."

 Chapter 109 108. A Cruel Truth!

    Everyone was silent after hearing those words. No one even dared to blink as they stared at Amelia''s crazed expression. The blond girl who seemed to have a certain youthfulness and mischief in her eyes disappeared without a trace, leaving only darkness behind. Even Stan was stunned as he stared at the girl standing in front of his eyes.

    He had remembered back then how the girl appeared in his apartment exactly when the main viin seemed to have disappeared out of the blue. Why did he have to be so stupid for not figuring this out?

    The girl who had wandered around in the park with him was totally different from who he was seeing today. The two personalities seemed so different that Stan''s face paled.

    Upon seeing his expression, Amelia smiled and said, "Dear cousin, you must be really shocked, right? Don''t worry about it. I never meant to harm you, but you kept falling into my small tricks. It''s not my fault that you''re so easy to fool."

    Marvin''s arms tightened around the girl. "Since things have gotten clear, officer, you should take her away."

    Stan instantly asked his system, "Is the mission finished?"

    "Yes, now we have to think about leaving this world."

    Stan was silent for a moment as he nced at Marvin and Amelia as he said, "System, I would like to give my world a try once again. Certainly, nothing can be worse than whatever I faced here. And as for Marvin, I''m not really Rose, and the person he fell for is a young boy, me. I''m straight as a pole. Since I can''t return his feelings, I should get out of here."

    Shane squinted his eyes. This was the first time he had heard his host talking philosophy ever since he came into this world. He had a feeling that this kid grew up so fast that he couldn''t catch up.

    He almost felt like an old dad, proud of his child.

    He sighed and said, "If you want to escape without saying goodbye, there''s only one way. We have to force Amelia into bing so mad that her powers went out of control. When Marvin finally ends up controlling the situation, you will be dead. How does that sound?"

    "Good, good. Only, help me reduce the pain, will you?"

    "I can''t.You don''t have enough money to buy the pain reducing pack."

    Stan''s mouth twitched. "Are you really here to help me, not torture me to death?!"

    Shane refused to reply. He wasn''t lying. His host really didn''t have enough money to purchase a single thing. Since all Stan had to do was die, it made no sense to waste more time here to earn money for purchasing pain reducing pills or something.

    Stan could just die simply like that.

    Thetter had a dark expression on his face as he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! Whatever you want!"

    Shane nodded in satisfaction. He immediately gave the orders to end this world. The new update of the system menu was so much better than previously. All he had to do was to write themand he wanted to give instead of finding it in the entire ce.

    After doing his thing, he waited for themand to take effect. Soon enough, the entire ce silenced as Amelia''s body started to tremble. She suddenlyughed hysterically.

    "I have no desire to wait and live my entire life in prison. Since I have the ability and confidence to kill others, I canmit suicide in the most fashionable manner!" Amelia''s eyes glinted with joy. "Guess what, guys? I''m taking you all down with me!"

    As soon as those words escaped her lips, Marvin''s expression changed. He stared at the girl''s body as he turned and unconsciously tried to protect Rose by throwing his body in front of her.

    But unfortunately, he couldn''t block the attack anymore. The power level of destruction that poured out of Amelia''s body was high. It almost seemed as if her entire power gathered in her heart and burst out at once in the form of a top intensity nuclear bomb. The entire ce was filled with something boiling that made their lungs burn.

    Those who had powers protected themselves. Marvin wasn''t any different. He protected himself, and he had thought that Rose would do the same since he had seen her using powers. The girl wasn''t less powerful than himself.

    So he was focused wholly on dealing with Amelia. Just when he felt the intensity of the power subsiding, everything went silent. The officers and others using their powers sighed as they retracted. The area gradually cleared, revealing only a cold dead body lying at the center.

    Rose.

    Amelia couldn''t be seen anywhere. It seemed that her entire body burst into dust particles.

    But howe Rose died? Why didn''t she protect herself?

    For a moment, Marvin''s body froze as he stared at the scene, not believing his eyes. How much time had it been since he found out the girl''s name?

    He still wanted to pursue her. He also wanted to get to know the girl, give her a chance to heal her heart.<sub> </sub>

    But none of that mattered now. She was already dead.

    A drop of tear escaped his eyes. If only he had found out about her situation sooner. Marvin could have saved her.

    On the other side, Shane watched his host''s soul drifting in the dark universal sky and heading toward the mortal ne. He sighed. The host did make a good decision, getting back to his own world to be reincarnated. His body must still be in the hospital.

    Shane''s eyes squinted. He just wished he was also a worthless host instead of being a system. He only wanted to lead a happy and peaceful life, but he was hardly getting any these days.

    At this time, he was suffering, and he even managed to make his image ck in the entire system world. Was there no way to return to his own world while forgetting everything he faced here?

    Was there no possibility of attaining peace?

    Just as he was thinking, his time in the system space ended as he was thrown out of the virtual portal. He opened his eyes as heid back in the small room, right in front of the portal. He pushed himself up as he sighed.

    He wondered what his friends were doing at this time. Were they even alive? It had been a few days he hadn''t seen Frank and others.

    At this time, Frank and Jake were walking down the street, right at the borders of the ck market. They still had depressed and cold expressions on their faces, but they continued walking. During these days, the two of them became closest friends.

    Actually, they had gotten a chance to get out of this continent. They could have traveled over to the other continent for better living, but they refused.

    Since Shane was hiding somewhere here, how could they leave just like that?

    At least, that was what Frank reasoned with Jake when they walked across the street. Thetter sighed.

    "You''re unbelievably loyal."

    "You have no idea," Frank muttered as he lowered his head, hiding his expression.

    Just as they were talking, they saw a shadow of someone walking outside a small two story building. The young man was covered in a hood from head to toe, but his stature looked exactly that of Shane.

    Frank''s eyes widened at those words. He immediately rushed after that young man who had just walked out of a building. When Jake saw this, he ran after his friend.

    "Hey! Where the hell are you going? Watch your steps!"

    Frank didn''t reply as he quickly reached out and pulled down the young man''s hood. His eyes widened when he looked at an unfamiliar disfigured face.

    Thetter tilted his head and asked in a tone different from that of Shane''s, "What''s going on?"

    "N-Nothing¡­.." Frank frowned as he said, "I thought you were someone else."

    Shane''s shoulders rxed as he nodded and walked away with a stiff body. At this time, he couldn''t afford to reveal his identity anymore in front of people, especially his friends. The viin behind the scenes who was responsible for the mess in his life was probably keeping an eye on him and Frank as well.

    It was better to stay away from them for protection.

    Now, he should get back. The bald man must have woken up already.

    Thus, Shane quickened his pace toward the cave entrance. He made his way there in no time and entered the ce only to be more shocked.

    Inside, Ed''s body was lying on the ground in a still condition. It felt as if the man''s chest also stopped moving.

    This scene scared Shane a bit.

    He stumbled back and asked, "Wh-What''s going on? What happened to the master?"

    Dirt, who was taking care of Ed''s wounds on his body turned and replied, "Master is in aa. The chances of him waking up are extremely low."

 Chapter 110 109. Spotted Him?

    That scene frightened Shane to death. He didn''t know what was going on with Ed, but he could tell one thing for sure¡ªhis master was suffering right now because of his own mess.

    Shane gritted his teeth and asked, "Is there no way to heal him?"

    Dirt, who was using his powers to keep Ed''s body stable, stopped and turned. "There is. You have to find a herb, but that thing is most difficult to find, especially with your current disposition."

    "Why?"

    Dirt sighed as he pushed himself off the ground. "Actually, Ed''s condition isn''t that bad. It should''ve been easier to save him, but¡­. This damned man doesn''t have any desire to live anymore. So we can''t do anything about it."

    "Why?" Shane was surprised.

    Up until now, he knew that Ed was probably the most narcissistic person he had ever met. He had never even imagined questioning this person''s desire to live. And now when he suddenly faced this situation, he didn''t know what to think anymore.

    He stared at Ed''s sleeping face and frowned, "Why doesn''t he want to live? Is this because of his past?"

    "Kind of¡­." Dirt shook his head. "You can''t change it anymore, but what you can really do is heal him first."

    Shane nodded, but in his mind, he had determined to try to find more about Ed''s past while searching for the herb.

    "Where should I find that herb?"

    "In the southernmost dungeon." Dirt got back to sharing his powers as he looked a bit tired. "These days, I can''t do much to help you. All my powers are being used here. So you''ll be on your own."

    Shane nodded. "Fine. I''ll find a group and join the treasuring team."

    "Don''t reveal yourself."

    "No promises!" Shane said as he turned and walked out of the cave.

    Dirt sighed as he looked over at his boss. "Your disciple is too much like you, boss. I''m worried that he''ll end up making your mistakes. It''s a good thing he still doesn''t know about that thing. If he knew, he might end up using it to save you, and the entire tragedy will repeat all over again."

    Ed couldn''t say anything anymore as he continued lying on the cold and hard ground.

    On the other side, Shane had already entered the ck market again. He wanted to find more opportunities to enter the groups heading toward the southernmost dungeons. Dirt didn''t specify which dungeon, but when he looked at the map, he realized that there were three dungeons that he should search for.

    The robot had already sent him a picture of that herb. So it wasn''t difficult to recognize.

    It was just that when he went to find out more information about that thing, he found out that the herb was really rare to find. So rare that it was already called an ancient medicine that would always remain out of touch.

    The reason was that a certain dungeon had never been cleared. This herb was thest and the most powerful benefit that one would get after killing the boss. The most ridiculous thing was that no one had dared to enter this dungeon because of how difficult it was!

    The most powerful ones had money they could use to buy medicinal techniques. They wouldn''t even stay in the Orient continent in the first ce to be able to enter this dungeon. The only people who lived here were below level ten, who were all weaker aspared to the dungeon boss, at an unknown level.

    So up until this day, the three dungeons remained intact, not even getting cleared for the first time.

    Usually, when a dungeon gets cleared, the higher authorities send the criminal demons and monsters there for punishment. After the punishment, they would be killed by the systems who visited the ce.

    But these three dungeons remained intact because powerful ones weren''t here to clear it up and weaker systems didn''t dare to go there anymore.

    After searching for quite a while, Shane still couldn''t find another group of people who wanted to enter this ce. So he gave up and decided to try whether could find even one person.

    He stood in front of a screen that disyed the list of people interested in joining a team for the southernmost dungeons. Surprisingly, after a round of searching, he finally found a name.

    A hooded woman.

    Shane raised his brows at that. It seemed that the other party also had a few secrets. He decided to give the woman a go as he opened the profile of that person and sent the dungeon partnership request.

    A momentter, his request was epted soon enough followed by a video call request.

    As soon as the call went through, a ck screen appeared at first. After that, a woman''s voice echoed through the speaker.

    "Hello?"

    Shane frowned. He knew that this voice was altered just by hearing it.

    He opened his mouth first and didn''t continue to talk nonsense. "Are you willing to enter those three dungeons?"<sub> </sub>

    "Yes." The woman spoke and sent him the coordinates. "Teleport to this ce. I''m waiting."

    Shane nodded and went to the nearest teleportation portal. He had earned enough money from the previous job, but not enough to use teleportation. It was too costly.

    But what could he do when his partner mentioned it? He knew that the southernmost dungeons were far away and were likely to take three days for him to visit by foot. It was better to just teleport to that ce.

    After he teleported, he instantly appeared in an empty room with only a woman in a hood, leaning against the wall. She seemed arrogant as she raised her chin.

    "Ready?"

    Shane nodded and didn''t speak anymore.

    What he didn''t know was that this woman was the same person who had kept an eye on him several times. He had just be unlucky enough to be targeted by her all over again.

    But he didn''t know that his identity was revealed already. The two people continued to walk without conversing with one another.

    The woman in the hood nced at the man walking beside her and scoffed. She had almost lost this man''s trace. It was a good thing she was able to find him thanks to Jake and Frank that day.

    If she hadn''t continued to follow them at all times, she wouldn''t have been able to find this person at all.

    "No matter how much you hide, I''ll be able to find you quickly! Didn''t I do it in the end?" She muttered under her breath.

    "Eh? Did you say something?" Shane gave the woman a clueless nce.

    The woman in a hood didn''t continue to talk as she walked over and found a carriage that was heading over to the direction of the first dungeon. She quickly jumped inside and nced back at the young man coldly.

    "I''ll leave if you don''t enter in five seconds."

    Shane didn''t waste his time bothering about this woman in the hood anymore as he jumped as well and sat back inside the crowded ce. At this time, they could hear people talking about what was happening in the institute.

    "Ed''s dead. Dead, you know?" One of the people uttered a sad expression on his face. "The worse thing is that his own disciple killed him and even stole his robot!"

    "Tell me something I don''t know!" Another man said in a rough tone. "Everyone knows this piece of news."

    "No, the news that I''m going to share is rted to this." The man lowered his voice. "I actually spotted Shane earlier today!"

    Shane, who was being discussed, stiffened. He darted his nce at the two people and frowned. Did he perhaps give himself away?

    Even the woman in a hood couldn''t help but nce at the people talking.

    "What the heck are you saying?! Where is he?" Another man got excited. "Why didn''t you tell the authorities?! Do you even know how much money we could have earned by handing him over?"

    "But I''m still not sure if it''s Shane¡­." The man sighed. "After all, we never saw the youth for real. We only have a few shots and videos from the institute. I still can''t believe such a promising young man was actually a demon! He acted so much like a human being."

    <o>,m "You''re right."</o>

    "But what if that person really was Shane?"

    "Then I''m probably in trouble." The other man trembled. "He saw my face and even smiled creepily."

    "F*ck!!!!!" The other man cursed. "Why didn''t you tell me earlier?! I wouldn''t have gone with you!"

    "So this is how our friendship goes? Great! Don''t ask me for favors anymore."

    After that, the two people chatted on a different topic, but Shane wasn''t interested in that. Instead, his brows furrowed deeper.

    Someone spotted him? But how was that possible?

    He was already doing his job. He rarely had time to wander around in his real face. He almost didn''t take out his mask unless he was taking a bath.

    So who was the person they spotted and where?

    He opened his mouth and asked, "Where did you spot him?"

    The two people were dumbfounded as they looked at Shane and said, "Around the institute, but I think it''s a false rm. Don''t worry."

 Chapter 111 110. The Dungeon!

    Shane came out of that vehicle with aplicated look on his face. He didn''t know what to think. Someone actually spotted someone who looked like him. Was this just a coincidence?

    He didn''t continue to think about this. He quickly walked over to the side of the street with the hooded woman in front of him, leading the way. They walked all the way without speaking to one another. Soon, the two of them reached the venue.

    It wasn''t a cave that was considered an entrance portal for a dungeon like before. This time, the dungeon portal looked more like a virtual portal for the system job. Shane walked inside a building with the hooded woman. Thedy led the entire time, even talking to the receptionist.

    So Shane didn''t have to do anything at all. All he did was follow after the woman, bored out of his mind.

    Why was he even bothering to save Ed in the first ce? His master was the one who gave thest blow to his sister. He should hate that person to death.

    But Shane realized that he didn''t have any strong emotions toward anyone in this world. It was almost as if he had elevated to a consciousness level above worldly attachments.

    That was why he was able to help Ed despite knowing he should feel hatred. But he couldn''t. Even with his current condition, Shane didn''t feel as anxious.

    Unless it was a life and death-situation, he was sure that he wouldn''t feel anything for real.

    Why was this happening to him? Shane didn''t know. But he couldn''t abandon his master like this. After all, despite doing what he did back in the institute, that bald man was still his master. He should show some respect to the man, at the very least.

    Slowly, they reached the ce, a room inside the building with a portal at the centre.

    The woman paid the money to the gatekeeper and said, "Let''s go. This is a medium-range portal. I hope you''re ready."

    Shane nodded as the two of them entered the portal smoothly. As soon as they entered, their bodies were thrown next to a river inside the portal. The entire area was surrounded by dense forest. Not even sunlight could be leaked inside,

    After watching all of these things, Shane couldn''t help but think of one of the previous worlds where a simr dense forest was there. He frowned and shook his head, starting to get up from the ground.

    He brushed the dust off his body and asked, "What now? How will he kill the demon?"

    "There''s a reason why this dungeon still remains unsolvable." The woman pointed out as she bent and touched the flowing stream of water. "We won''t know where the entrance to the next floor is, and we don''t know how many steps we have to climb to reach the demon lord of this ce.

    "Most importantly, we don''t have any information about the monsters and the demon lord. So, be careful."

    Shane nodded and pursed his lips. "Where should we go then?"

    "Let''s find monsters and kill them." The corners of the woman''s lips curved up. "There''s a hope that we can find the door after getting rid of them all."

    Shane didn''t think so. He knew that if his woman could think, other peopleing here before them could alsoe up with the same strategy. There must be something else other than killing monsters.

    In fact, he could easily kill those people if he ended up leaking out his aura. There wasn''t any need for him to especially climb to the top just to kill the demon lord. If he used his powers, perhaps that demon lord woulde and fall to his feet.

    He still remembered how that hooded demon from the institute back then had escaped just when Shane''s powers burst out of his body. So he wasn''t afraid at this moment.

    He just couldn''t understand why this dungeon was unsolvable. He nced around and saw only trees as he bent to the ground.

    His fingers touched the mud as he rubbed it between his fingers. His brows furrowed deeper.

    When the hooded woman saw this kind of reaction, she paused and asked after a while, "What are you doing?"

    "I believe there must be something else that can help us find the level above. Everyone must have decided to do the same thing as us. There''s no point in killing monsters if none of them had seeded."

    "What makes you so sure that they had killed the monsters?" The hooded woman scoffed. "Perhaps none of them managed to kill them all?"

    "So you''re saying everyone was so weak that they couldn''t kill these monsters? If I remember correctly," Shane walked over and stood directly in front of the woman as he said, "the monsters from the first level would always be easy to kill no matter what! But didn''t you say none of the participants came back alive? So how do you exin this?"

    "Then why can''t otherse up with the same thing as you?" the woman still didn''t want to back out.<sub> </sub>

    "They were probably all students and had just gotten out of the institute. None of the sane people would like to try these dungeons." Shane narrowed his eyes. "Why are you arguing with me like this? What''s wrong with you?"

    The woman in a hood coughed as she shook her head. She seemed to be thinking of something before she nced back at the man.

    "I don''t have anything to say. Let''s get out of here."

    Shane had doubts about those words, but he gradually agreed. The two of them chose a random direction as they started walking forward. Neither of them found anything after waking for an hour.

    After this, Shane frowned as he stared at the scene in front of him. He nced at the river which seemed so calm that it gave him the creeps. Goosebumps crawled up to his skin, dancing on his bodily hair.

    He took a deep breath as he walked closer to the river. He bent down and touched the stream of water.

    It was colder than the normal water. "Has water ever felt so cold in normal temperature?"

    The woman in a hood seemed to have realized something as she raised her head and looked around. "You''re right. I seem to have forgotten this."

    As she said that, she bent and touched the water''s surface lightly. The corners of her lips curved up.

    "We''re going to have some fun."

    As soon as she uttered those words, divine power emerged from her body and entered the river. The energy seemed to have irritated the river as the water started trembling. The waves of water rose higher as if it weren''t a river but a sea with a high tide.

    Soon enough, the river water collected, creating a huge monster standing in front of him.

    Shane nced at the radar screen to find out this monster was a mere five-level. This should be easy.

    He quickly pulled out his freezing sword and thrust the sword into the ground as he muttered the freezing spell. After that, divine energy leaked out of the weapon and entered the ground, heading slowly toward the wave of water that had transformed into a monster.

    Soon enough, the energy ended up freezing the entire monster''s body before the thing could even raise his hand to attack the duo standing at the shore.

    Only after that did Shane put his weapon back into his inventory. The woman in a hood didn''t seem to be surprised as she looked at the scene in front of her eyes. She nodded in satisfaction as she nced at the monster.

    "This should do it."

    "Let''s go. We don''t have much time." Shane walked along the riverbed in the opposite direction to the stream. "The ice will melt after a few seconds. We can only walk further."

    "Why are we walking along the riverbed?"

    "I don''t know." This was Shane''s natural reaction as he kept ncing at the ground. "I have a hunch that this must be the way."

    The woman''s mouth twitched. "A hunch. Hah."

    After thinking for a while, she shook her head and said nothing. Soon enough, the ice melted as the monster came back to life. Even though Shane and the woman had walked further away from the monster, thetter jumped to decrease the distance.

    As soon as it faced the duo, it grinned, revealing a row of teeth made of transparent and clean water.

    Shane didn''t think much as he thrust the sword to the ground again. The monster froze again, giving the duo an ample chance to escape. Slowly, as the two of them repeated this process a couple of times, they eventually found a small pound in front of them. Shane stopped and stared at that ce.

    "This should be the entrance, right?" asked Shane.

    The woman nodded. "You''re right. It looks like it. We don''t have another choice than to enter this ce."

 Chapter 112 111. The Demon Lord!

    It really was an entrance. The reason why others weren''t able to pass this dungeon was that there was no way others could deal with a river monster. Perhaps it could be that those people hadn''t thought about freezing the entire river. Even if they could, the level of their weapons wasn''t enough to deal with this big monster.

    But Shane wasn''t those poor systems. He had already updated his weapons and skills so that he could deal with the unsolvable dungeons. And he was right.

    The reason why these dungeons remained intact was that none of the weaker systems passed it, and no higher-level people were interested in entering this ce for small treasures.

    If it weren''t for that herb, Shane knew that he also wouldn''t have entered this ce. He needed to hide his identity well, and if he wandered around dungeons like this, he knew that he would be caught eventually. So it was still safe for him to do random system jobs despite the difficulty.

    He still wondered why he was still trying to preserve. He clearly had lost his goal. Then why he was working hard to survive? After all, he had already died once, so he wasn''t afraid of that. Perhaps after dying, he might be able to reincarnate properly in the mortal world as a new person.

    Shane sighed.

    The two of them soon entered the pool as their bodies were thrown outside ake. Their bodiesnded on the dried and cracked ground.

    Shane groaned as he pushed himself up. His entire body felt like it was broken into pieces. He took a few deep breaths to suppress the ounce of pain thrashing his body.

    He rubbed the back of his neck and finally looked around. At the present moment, they were standing on barren ground, filled with blood and darkness. Even the river was all muddy and dirty to the point it didn''t look like water anymore.

    Shane lowered his head and looked at his body. Sure enough, his robes were covered with filthy water. A weird stench flowed through his body that made him feel like puking.

    He wiped his face and said, "Let''s go and find the damned monster of this stage."

    The woman in a hood was in a worse condition. Even though the mud and filth stuck to her hood, she couldn''t take it off. She didn''t want to reveal her identity just yet in front of Shane.

    She huffed and desperately cleaned herself as she said, "Good for you! It''s so easy being able to clean yourself like a normal person!"

    "Then why don''t you take off your hood?"

    "I don''t dare to show my face to others. It''s quite ugly."

    Shane narrowed his eyes at her and said, "You do look ugly right now."

    The woman wanted to refute it, but she couldn''t. She could only hold the bubble of anger in her chest and continue walking onward.

    They continued onward without having much idea about where they were going and what they should do. The ground wascking even a small trace of greenery. The two of them continued to walk for a while as Shane stopped and turned around. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the long, filthy river behind him.

    "This is where we came from, didn''t we?"

    The woman seemed to have understood what this person wanted to say. She nodded and turned around as well, walking toward the ce where they came from. Since she was already filthy and had be ustomed to this strange odor, she walked over and entered the ce. Shane stood at the back and stared at that ce with squinted eyes for a moment and also walked in.

    The two of them stood there as they tapped the ground, but they didn''t find anything. The river and the ground looked normal without a trace of crack. Then howe they were thrown out like that? Did the river spit them or something?

    Wait¡­.

    Only living creatures would spit things.

    Shane''s eyes widened as he immediately grabbed the woman and threw her out directly. Before he could jump out, the muddy river water around him moved and rose higher in the air, surrounding him from all sides.

    The woman who was thrown out fell to the ground as her hood revealed her beautiful face momentarily. She immediately covered it again as she got up from the ground. She stared at the scene in front of her with widened eyes.

    It almost looked like a tornado created out of muddy water surrounded the poor guy. The corners of the woman''s lips curved up. She leaned against a dried tree and squinted her eyes.

    "Let''s see how you can get out of this."

    Shane didn''t focus on that woman anymore as he stared at the muddy water. He cursed under his breath as he suppressed his desire to directly leak out his powers. He really wanted to do something about this thing.<sub> </sub>

    But since he couldn''t use his real powers, he directly pulled out the Dragonking sword he had gotten from a dungeon. Despite having zero luck, it was still a bit useful. Actually, he could increase his luck by finding a hacker and putting in some luck. But that would be stealing.

    He hadn''t been a person who would stoop so low for the sake of his goals. So he could only use the weapon.

    Of course, he also had other weapons, but they were deemed useless at this moment. Kinyer would be useless and end up causing him more harm than benefit since he was already in the water. He would also be electrocuted if he dared to use it.

    Simrly, the ice sword would also end up harming him instead. So the only thing he could use at this time was this Dragonking that he didn''t want to.

    He sighed and raised his sword. Since the monster was made out of the water, and since this sword could control all the elements, he was sure that he could do something about this strange being surrounding him. So he directly muttered the spell as he focused on controlling the muddy water in front of his eyes.

    The technique worked. The water froze as Shane made a few gestures with the sword, creating a door-like thing. He walked out without any expression on his face, looking like he was strolling in a garden.

    After he was a considerable distance away, he nced back and made another gesture. The water fell to the ground with a ssh, sprinkling drops everywhere. Then, the water monster didn''t dare to get up anymore.

    Shane looked at the scene with a hint of satisfaction in his eyes and turned to a certain hooded girl leaning against a tree.

    He frowned. "You could have helped for saving your life."

    "I wouldn''t have died no matter what." The woman shrugged. "You wasted your effort."

    Shane only looked at her briefly and turned his head as if he didn''t want to talk to her anymore.

    He took a deep breath and said, "Let''s go and find the entrance."

    The woman scoffed as they walked onward.

    This dungeon seemed way too easy for being an unsolvable dungeon for years. Shane couldn''t understand why no system was able to solve this dungeon 100% to the point that majority of them couldn''t even go beyond the first step.

    "Was there no one who reached the boss level?"

    "Rumors are that there was a person who reached the boss. He had sent a message to his friends outside the dungeon saying he was in trouble in the boss room, but by the time they responded, the man was already dead. Only his body was thrown out." The woman sighed. "There''s no credibility in this rumor. So I''m not sure about this matter."

    Shane nodded as they continued to find the entrance.

    After this stage, the two of them continued to solve one level after another at a steady pace. Every time, the monster was the river made out of different things. At times, it was either wine while other times it was milk. They even ended up seeing a river monster made out of butter.

    By the time the two of them reached the boss level, two of them were covered with all kinds of filth from head to toe. The woman grimaced in the end as she wiped her face.

    "I need a shower."

    "Me too."

    How did they know it was a boss room? Simple, in thest level before the boss room, they had encountered a door standing between two trees at the side. There was a word written in bold letters above the door:

    "Demon Lord."

    Who couldn''t guess what kind of ce was there beyond that door? It was clearly the boss room!

    Shane pushed open the door and turned to the woman in the hood. "Let''s go."

    As the two of them entered the ce, they were faced with a strong gust of wind pping their faces. Shane raised his hand and covered his face with his arms, squinting his eyes. As he did, he looked around.

    But no matter how much did he try to see, his surrounding was covered up by the dusty wind

 Chapter 113 112. Dead?!

    Shane closed his eyes quickly and covered up his nose. His voice muffled as he opened his mouth:

    "Don''t breath this in."

    "I know!" The girl''s voice was also muffled. "This should be the Demon Lord. Why not dust and wind if a river can be a monster?"

    Shane was also thinking in the same direction. He nodded and swiftly pulled out his weapon without any hesitation. It was good that he possessed something that could control all the elements throughout the world. He was pleased with this kind of situation.

    He immediately held the sword with his free hand and raised it in front of his eyes, pointing the tip at the dusty wind in front of him. But it seemed that the dusty monster realized what was happening.

    When it saw Shane holding that sword, it immediately stopped making trouble and gathered behind Shane. The monster wouldn''t be controlled if the sword tip could no longer aim at it.

    It seemed that this demon lord knew about this sword pretty well. Shane narrowed his eyes.

    Hah, so the sword of the king of darkness was famous even among mediocre demons. Shane ignored a certain intelligent demon lord and opened his mouth:

    "Demon, I order you to stay put and get killed." Shane didn''t use his authoritative tone,ced with the power of the king of darkness flooding within his heart.

    So the demon lord listening to that voice, scoffed and said, "You have the nerve to order around me, the great demon lord? Very good!!!! Let me show you who''s superior!"

    Shane sighed. He wanted to give his demon thest chance to repent. Who knew it would ignore his good intentions and turn the table around?

    Dust immediately gathered around him, keeping away from the tip of the sword. The dust took the shape of a huge hand as it grabbed Shane''s body, squeezing tightly. After that, he heard the demon speaking:

    "Now, I''ll show you what it means to be arrogant! I won''t even give you a chance at making yourst wish!"

    "Sigh. You demons have always been so unreasonable, aren''t you?" Shane put the sword back and immediately pulled out another weapon: Kinyer. "I''m trying to have good conservation with my opponent, but you''ve been ignoring me all this time. Why should I still act with utter kindness in my heart?"

    After saying this, Shane raised his sword from his free hand and muttered a spell. A burst of electrical energy poured out of the weapon, surrounding the area. Since it wasn''t water, Shane didn''t fear being electrocuted to death.

    The dusty monster screamed at the top of its lung. It almost felt like a thunder sound had echoed throughout the ce. By the time it ended, Shane already felt like his ears were bleeding. He wiped the dust off his face and looked at the woman beside him.

    She was leaning against a tree leisurely. She raised her head and stared proudly at Shane.

    "Are you done?"

    "You could have helped me." Shane frowned after seeing this.

    The woman sneered. "I don''t want to have a partnership with someone so worthless. If you couldn''t even handle such a small pest, I would have to reconsider grouping with you."

    Such a proud like-peacockwoman, disying her wings arrogantly and even asking for a fight.

    Shane ignored her and nced around. The dust settled after a while, leaving the barren ground. The only difference was that at the centre of the entire ce, a small nt was standing at the centre, creating a vast contrast.

    That was the herb he was looking for! He immediately abandoned the woman and rushed toward that herb, bending to the ground. He plucked it up from the ground and stared at the thing for a while. It almost looked like wild weeds with some round white flowers at the tip. In no way could he imagine this thing was special.

    He sighed, put it in his inventory, and turned back, "Let''s get out of here."

    As soon as he said that, the entire space started shaking badly. "It''s going to fall apart!!!"

    Shane nodded and pursed his lips. He nced at the direction of the door and immediately rushed to open it. He didn''t want to be stuck in the dungeon without a way out. Since the space was crumbling to dust, he was sure that the first thing that would get affected was perhaps the entrance.<sub> </sub>

    When he touched the door, it was trembling so much that he almost felt it would break apart the next minute. Sure enough, he was right.

    He turned to face the woman behind him and said, "We have to get out of here! Quick!"

    The woman also said nothing as they pushed open the door and walked out. Before the two of them could realize what was happening, they were spat out of the mouth of the dungeon. When they opened their eyes the next time, they were lying on the ground in the same ce.

    Shane got up and patted his robes as if he were trying to get rid of excess dust on the surface. Then, without even ncing at the girl, he threw a portion of that herb to the girl and rushed out of there. He quickly made his way to the same cave.

    Since the distance to that ce was more, it took more than two days for him to reach it. He was happy at this point to be able to have something to save Ed. Dirt''s work would be saved, and the robot would finally be able to help him.

    He still didn''t know how he should continue surviving without any goal in life. He might end up finding a purpose with the help of that robot.

    After thinking about it, Shane became even happier. He hummed a tune as he walked closer to the cave. As soon as he saw the entrance of the cave, he smiled. But for some reason, his heart seemed to be nervous.

    His intuition echoed something was wrong in his head again and again. Shane frowned as he pursed his lips, but he continued walking onward. Unconsciously, he quickened his pace.

    Just as he reached the cave entrance, a strong scent of blood drifted to his nose, making it twitch. He nced around to find the dead bodies of a few monsters. Dirt and Ed were nowhere to be found.

    A bad premonition filled his heart as he pursed his lips and rushed toward the darkest part of the cave. The more he walked, the more his heart fell into the pool of ice.

    The entire cave seemed to be empty, devoid of any human touch. The only thing he could consider worthy of his attention was a trail of blood as if someone had just dragged a dead body inside.

    It was even darker inside. Shane quickly pulled out a torch as he brightened up the area. Soon enough, when he reached a considerable distance, he noticed an astonishing scene in front of his eyes.

    Dirt was leaning against the cave wall, taking slow breaths as his eyes remained half-closed. Beside him was Ed, still lying on the ground with his eyes closed. It was just that the two of them had scary wounds on their bodies.

    Shane quickly walked over as he bent, and asked, "What the heck happened to you? Look, I brought the herb. Quickly heal him!"

    Dirt let out a chuckle and said in a hoarse voice, "It''s toote. Boss''s dead."

    "What do you mean dead?" All of a sudden, a hint of panic appeared in Shane''s heart as he pressed the herb to the robot''s hands. "Apply it! We might still have a chance to save him."

    "He can''t be saved! Do you understand what I''m saying?" Dirt''s voice carried a hint of tremor as he said, "Just look at his body. It turned cold long ago when the monsters attacked us for the first time!"

    Shane''s blood ran cold as he nced at a familiar bald man. This person was so narcissistic that he would have destroyed everything after witnessing his current surroundings. The cave wasn''t clean at all. The stench inside the cave smelled of rotten food and bones, making him feel like puking on the spot.

    How could Ed continue lying in such a ce without changing his expression?

    The second thing Shane noticed was that the man''s chest didn''t move. Meaning the bald man wasn''t breathing at all. So was it true? Did this person really die for real?

    Then why the heck did he go all out to collect this herb?

    As he continued to stare at the dead body,plicated emotions appeared in Shane''s heart. Before he could open his mouth and say something, he heard the robot speaking.

    "I also don''t have much time. Since my body was close to a human''s, I can''t live for long after getting injured badly. Since only my boss was capable of restoring me, I can''t continue to live after this. Shane, I have something important to give you."

    After saying that, right in front of Shane''s eyes, Dirt tore apart his chest and plucked out his heart made out of metal. Then he ced it in Shane''s hands.

 Chapter 114 113. Buried Them!

    Shane stared at the ring ced in his hand. It was hot, as if it had just been boiled. He wanted to put it back in his inventory when he heard Dirt speaking.

    "This is my power. Don''t make it leave your body. Once it leaves your body, the System God and other demons will see through its existence and wille to you." Dirt took a deep breath as he was having trouble breathing. "They have been coveting this power for a long time, but no one guessed it was in my body. Tch. Boss is really something."

    Shane narrowed his eyes. "Your attribute is time¡­. So¡­. if I guess it right, this ring has the power to control time?"

    Dirt nodded lightly. "Exactly. You can have my power now if you carry this ring."

    Shane nodded and wore it on his fingers. He rubbed it slightly to ease the hot sensation prickling his skin.

    Then he raised his head. "Are there restrictions to use this power?"

    Dirt pursed his lips as his eyes became heavy. "Well¡­. You cannot misuse it and change the flow of time if that''s what you want to ask. And yes, you can even time travel using that ring, but ording to my calctions, you might destroy everything once you change the timeline. A slight change might alter the world and create a parallel world instead. So you better be careful."

    Shane nodded as he hesitated before asking, "Is there not any way I can save you?"

    Dirt let out augh. "What? Do you think I''m dying for real? I still have my database. You just have to tap between my eyebrows. As long as it''s saved, I can still maintain my character. So be sure to save me, yeah? You can revive me once you find a way."

    Shane nodded again as he stared at a familiar robot whose face was getting paler. He was way too calm now, seeing death in front of his eyes.

    He frowned upon seeing this scene. For some reason, he didn''t think it was a good thing to stay so calm.

    Dirt let out augh seeing Shane''s expression changing as he coughed. "I know you. Actually, I have known you for a long time. I''m sorry I couldn''t exin anything when I was alive. I just want to say something: you can change the rules once in a while.

    "Don''t be a strict principal who only wants to follow the rules. I-It doesn''t matter¡­." he coughed again. "It doesn''t matter if you end up killing someone. You have to save yourself first."

    Shane listened as he frowned deeper. He could feel his heart jumping when he heard those words, and at the same time, he felt a trace of familiarity from his words. It almost seemed like a Deja Vu moment.

    He raised his head again, wanting to ask more questions, when he noticed that the robot had calmed down all of a sudden. Those eyes were shut closed as Dirt''s breathing stopped. The robot seemed peaceful all of a sudden.

    "Dirt?" Shane opened his mouth, but this time, he didn''t receive a reply.

    He sighed and walked over. As he tapped between Dirt''s eyebrows, that area brightened with a white light with a bluish circle around it. The light turned brighter and brighter until a round sphere slowly drifted out. It continued to hover in the air.

    ? Shane quickly took it and saved it in his inventory. He nced at the two people and sighed.

    What a big day! When he finally managed to find the herb, he had an illusion that he would be able to save his master, but he failed. He was toote. And when he thought he could at least save Dirt, he didn''t know how to and saw the robot closing his eyes in front of him.

    At least, he solved the unsolvable dungeon on his own. That hooded woman only got a portion of that herb because she hadn''t helped too much.

    He silently put the dead bodies in his inventory and walked out of the cave. Then he went to a local cemetery and asked for a registration form.

    The first thing it asked was to fill up the dead person''s or people''s names. Shane''s hand paused.

    Should he write the real name of Ed? He frowned. As he was thinking, he heard the receptionist of the cemetery saying:

    "Young man, you don''t have to fill up the form manually. Just press the dead body''s thumb here at the bottom. The information will be filled in automatically." The woman pushed up her sses and said, "Follow me with the form. How many bodies do you have, you said?"

    "Two."

    "Are they your close associates?"

    "Yes¡­." Shane paused and answered, "Not really close. I met them on the journey once, and now, after such a long time, he found them both dead without anyone caring about them. So I should help bury them."

    Ahh! He nearly slipped his identity again! This time, he didn''t even have Dirt to help him out!<sub> </sub>

    Shane took a deep breath and thought clearly about this situation. Thank God he refrained at the right time!

    The woman didn''t find his unnatural pause doubtful. She even had an expression full of sympathy as she sighed and opened a door. Beyond it was a park-like ce filled with nts and flowers all over the ce. It would look good if the nts weren''t ced surrounding a ground filled with crosses.

    Shane watched the woman walking over to an empty ce as she gestured to him and said, "Here. Take out the dead bodies first."

    Shane nodded and pulled them out. As soon as he did and ced the two people on the ground, he heard the receptionist eximing. He turned only to see her pale face.

    "This¡­. The dead bodies you mentioned are these people?!" The receptionist probably recognized them.

    Shane nodded, trying his best to keep a straight face. He didn''t want to reveal his identity at the moment.

    Just then, he realized an absurd fact about himself. He was perhaps the most hypocritical person alive. He seemed to not care about the world recently, even not feeling anything in his heart the moment his peers died. It was just that he still cared about his survival.

    Why did he feel like he was supposed to be indifferent to his desire to survive?

    Shane shook his head and said, "Do you know them?"

    "What do you mean by that? Everyone freaking knows them!" The receptionist wiped theyer of sweat from her forehead. "The officials were searching for them high and low already! How can they be dead?! Did that b*stard of a disciple kill them both?! I just knew that demon spy wasn''t anything good!"

    Shane''s eyes twitched. "I don''t think so. Wait a moment. Dirt had told me about his database. I think there must be a recent video of how they died."

    He kind of knew something like this could happen. So he had taken out and saved the videos somewhere else whileing here. If people ended up watching something else, primarily his conservation with Dirt, he would be in trouble.

    So he pretended to scan the files and pulled out a video where a group of monsters was attacking Dirt. Shane then waited for the video to end and looked at the receptionist, who was frowning.

    "I couldn''t ess the videos before this. Probably had a lock or something."

    The receptionist nodded and took the video as she said, "I''ll transfer it to the authorities. For now, you can keep them here. Leave your contact details behind. Please, don''t leave Orient until the case is closed."

    "Of course."

    After finishing the formalities, the bodies were buried in the ground as Shane left the ce with aplicated emotion in his heart. He couldn''t believe he had just buried his master and the robot. At this time, even the past, where his sister had died, seemed to be far away.

    What should he do now? Continue surviving? That goes without a question¡­.

    But he felt like the purpose was missing from his life. He had never felt so empty before.

    Just as he was standing in the middle of the road, he got a message from a familiar hooded woman. He opened it.

    "Yo, I just got a job. Do you want to coborate? It''s a horror world, and the mission is to destroy it. Not for weak-hearted people. Are you ready?"

    Shane stared at the sentence briefly and replied, "Okay."

    It seemed the woman was already inside the portal and invited him from there. He immediately got the portal address. He teleported there from the nearest station and entered the portal quickly by inputting the woman''s password.

    As soon as he did that, he was transferred directly from the system space to the world inside his host''s mind.

    When he opened his eyes the next moment, he was already inside his host, who was busy making a fuss. Just as he opened his system, he heard a familiar voice.

    "Partner, why did youe sote?" The hooded woman stood not far away from him with a leisurely attitude.

    Wait, howe he entered the same host''s mind as thisdy? Was it even possible for two people to enter the same host?!

 Chapter 115 114. A Horror World!

    The woman scoffed seeing Shane''s mouth open agape. "Close your mouth. You don''t seem to have much experience, do you?"

    Shane pursed his lips and slowly shook his head. Since he couldn''t even know he could enter a host with his partner, he could be considered inexperienced. He used to think a host could have only one system¡­.

    The woman seemed to see through his mind. "You''re right. You''re the original system, but I''m only your helper."

    "Wait a min¡­." Shane frowned. "Hadn''t youe before me? Howe I''m the system of this host?"

    "Because as soon as you came, I handed over themand to you."

    "Why?"

    "I''m toozy to work." The woman sat on the ground and said, "Now, start working. I just want toy back and observe for a while. Don''t worry, I''ll help you whenever I can."

    Shane''s expression twisted as he red at the woman in front of him. "Who do you think you are? A queen?!"

    "Exactly!" The woman flicked her fingers. "So behave."

    Veins popped up on Shane''s forehead. "Even if you''re a queen, I''m neither your servant nor your citizen! Why are youmanding me like this? If that''s the case, I''d rather work alone!"

    For a second, the woman seemed to have stiffened after hearing those words. Then she let out a chuckle.

    "I was just kidding. Why are you being so serious?" The woman sighed. "There''s a reason why I handed over themand. I''m not¡­.really good at handling horror scenes."

    Shane stared at the hooded woman for a moment, not believing his ears.

    Not handling horror scenes well? Was she scared of horror aspects? All of a sudden, he had the urge tough, but considering the other person was a girl, and a fierce one at that, he covered up his mouth with his fist and coughed it out.

    "Why isn''t the host saying anything?"

    "Um¡­." A teenage voice echoed outside the space. "I can hear you both, you know?"

    Shane raised his brows. "So host, you have two systems inside your brain. How are you feeling?"

    "To be honest, I was scared, but after hearing you two flirting-"

    "Excuse me, what?" Shane couldn''t believe his ears.

    In just what way was that flirting?! Was his host blind and deaf?!

    "Let''s focus." Shane took a deep breath and decided to control his anger.

    He immediately opened the radar and considered a certain girl invisible. Thetter also didn''t utter a single word as she hummed a tune. He frowned. Why did he feel like that tune was familiar?

    He shook his head and continued to observe the surroundings through the screen and radar.

    The host was currently curled up against a cold wall. They were inside a small enclosed room with nothing but venttion at the top.  There wasn''t even a door here.

    He frowned and asked, "Do you remember anything before you came?"

    The host scratched the back of his neck and shook his head after thinking for a while. "Perhaps I was a high school student? Otherwise, why would I be a teenager?"

    Shane didn''t think so. This person could be a transmigrator who came here, but the rules of this world were probably to forget everything about the past temporarily. So the problem was, all the hosts here would end up thinking they were their bodies instead of realizing they also had a soul.

    Shane suddenly felt like he had been given a heavy task at hand. He took a deep breath and nced at the woman.

    Then he said, "Don''t worry about your identity. For now, just know that your name is Sam."

    "Okay!" The host paused for a while before he opened his mouth. "Um, how do I get out of this ce?"

    "Host, you''re in a stimting horror gaming world, and you havee here with a mission. After passing it, you will be able to go back to your original world and remember who you are!"

    The hooded woman clicked her tongue. "I didn''t know you could speak in such a cheerful tone."

    Shane red at the woman and cleared his throat. "So host, let me send you the world setting and mission objective. Take your time to read."

    The world was simple. There were twenty hosts locked up in twenty different rooms. They all had a time limit under which they''d have to get out of that enclosed ce. Only fifteen were allowed to escape and others would be killed.<sub> </sub>

    After that, the world seemed fairly normal, simr to a second-grade horror game with various levels to pass. There was also a reward at the very end for people who managed to reach the first level.

    But the ones who reached that level wouldn''t remain normal people. The reward was to give the winner a chance at fulfilling a wish but the hosts would be in such a shock that they would always ask to be killed instead.

    This world turned into a tragedy with no one getting out alive, rendering it a useless and dangerous ce. So it was quite mandatory to destroy this world.

    Shane and the host finished reading as thetter opened his mouth. "How do I destroy this world though?"

    "Good question." Shane coughed as he forgot to read the details himself while arguing with that damned woman. "Let''s first think about getting out of here."

    Sam nodded and got up from the ground, ncing in all directions. He squinted his eyes and stared at the room. After a while, he scratched the back of his neck in a confused manner.

    "Um¡­.. I can''t see any difference in this room. How do you get out of here?"

    Shane facepalmed. Looks like he had to do everything by himself again. He couldn''t rely either on his host or his partner who was shamelessly sleeping off. He had the urge to beat her up, but since she was a girl, he wouldn''t raise his hand no matter how much he wanted.

    He cleared his throat again to dispel all the useless thoughts and focused on the scene in front of his eyes. At this time, he could see whatever the host saw through the screen.

    He stared at the room with squinted eyes. There must be something that could provide him with an opening. He nced around with utter focus, and after a while, he did find something.

    There was a small hole in the wall. He would have missed it for sure if he hadn''t looked on carefully.

    He opened his mouth and said, "To your north. There''s a hole in the wall."

    Sam walked over and he really did see a hole. He went closer and closer and closer until he and the hole were face-to-face. Then he stared at it for a moment before putting his finger over it.

    The hole was way smaller than the finger, but as soon as he put his hand there, the hole started growing further in circles. Slowly, the sound of bricks rubbing together echoed in the small room. Dust rose in the air as Sam stumbled back.

    His face paled further.

    "Wh-What''s happening?"

    Shane didn''t respond as he stared at the scene in front of him. After the dust settled and the sound finally stopped, a door appeared in front of his eyes.

    He said, "Let''s go. Others might havee out too."

    When Sam walked out of the room, the first thing he noticed was a giant hall having several doors on both sides. The hall had nothing but venttion windows above. He couldn''t even see anything outside. So he gave up on it and went through the walls.

    This time, there wasn''t any triggering aspect, and he was all alone. He frowned and continued to search.

    Shane leaned back and let his host do whatever he wanted. He thought of how he could finish the mission this time.

    The task was to destroy the entire horror realm. Nothing more, nothing less. It was feasible to use any method necessary for this. His eyes narrowed at that.

    Perhaps he could guide others to fight amongst one another¡­.

    No. That was a slow process and might take longer than necessary. His host might not even end up being alive at the end of the task.

    Another thing he could do was st the entire space. After all, he had to destroy this world by hook or by crook. He might ask well urge his host to purchase the bombs and ce them on several parts of the world.

    But when he nced at the Crana level of his host, he frowned. It was zero.

    Damn. He had forgotten that his host might not have the heavenly currency.

    So what else?

    Just as he was thinking, others also appeared. People gathered in the hall one after another. They were all teenagers, but neither of them talked. As soon as they all gathered together, a tough male voice echoed in the background:

    "Ladies and gentlemen! Wee to the horror house. Thank you for choosing to enter this realm."

    Shane raised his brows at those words. So it seemed the hosts themselves decided to enter. Interesting. The realm must have offered some benefits they couldn''t ignore.

    "Let''s start the first test! After this, the chosen ones will be urged ahead. At the end of this entire thing, the winners will not only get their money back, but they''ll also get to make a wish. They can even be the most popr and rich people in the universe!

    "So what''re you waiting for?! Let''s initiate the sequence, shall we? Here are the rules: kill the person next to you."

 Chapter 116 115. A Slaughter!

    K-Kill¡­.?

    Everyone was shocked. They nced at one another with pale faces. Initially, even Shane thought that his host would be appalled by his life from his previous experiences, but¡­.

    "Right or left?" asked Sam as he tilted his head.

    Shane was stunned for a moment. Shouldn''t his teenager-looking host be bewildered and scared right now? Why was this person asking such a strange question?

    He should be the bold one asking this question, not his host. He shook his head and looked up at thezy girl lying on the ground while covering her face with her hand. She didn''t seem to want to be involved in this mess.

    He shook his head and asked his host, "Does it make any difference? You have to kill someone anyway."

    His host shrugged. "Do I have any weapon?"

    Shane finally taught his host how to use the menu. Then he first checked the shopping ce and sighed.

    "Host, you don''t have anything right now. You will have to make a purchase."

    The teenager nodded. "How do I purchase one?"

    "You need money¡­." Shane couldn''t help it anymore as he asked, "Sam, why are you so indifferent?"

    Sam frowned upon hearing that. "I also don''t know. Maybe I have faced such situations before."

    Shane raised his brows. It seemed as if his host had been through many worlds this time. But for some reason, he didn''t go to his own world as stated in the rules. Did Sam choose to traverse from one world to another? But why?

    When he thought about it carefully, he indeed remembered studying such cases back in the institute. These hosts would have greater gains for which they would exert their souls to transmigrate from one world to another until their goals were achieved. But there were also other kinds of hosts.

    These were the criminals with several lifetimes of ck history. Bing a host was a method for them to purify their souls, getting rid of all the ck karma from their bodies that they had umted for so many lives.

    Shane could tell that his host must belong to the second category. Otherwise, even after forgetting everything, why would Sam still be so indifferent to killing people? He almost acted like it was making food, not murdering someone in the broad daylight.

    Even after knowing this, Shane still felt indifferent to whatever was happening. If he were still the youngster from Earth, he would have been scared to death after talking to such a person, but he wasn''t that guy anymore.

    At present, he also has his hands washed with blood. When he wasn''t clean, wouldn''t it be hypocritical for him to be scared of such a guy like his host?

    So he calmly said, "Then get ready. Let me rmend you something in the meanwhile."

    When he noticed the number of Crana that didn''t exceed even one digit, he frowned. With only eight Crana coins in the ount, how could he expect his host to buy something? He was even surprised to see eight coins in the ount. Looks like the Livestream viewers were being generous.

    He immediately searched for the cheapest avable sword online. At this time, even if he ended up finding a regr sword, it would be a miracle.

    Perhaps he had too many expectations from the shopping site, and he felt disappointed. Only one old and the half-broken knife was avable there at five Crana.

    It was so cheap because it wasn''t sharp and even the hilt was broken. His host could not hold it properly without causing injury to his own palms. He was hesitant to give it to Sam.

    But he really had no other choice. Other people must also have systems with the same or different missions. If he wanted to finish this mission, he would have to give this knife to Sam.

    "Host," said Shane as he sent the link through the inbox, "take a look at the message I sent you. You can''t buy anything else besides this broken knife because of theck of coins."

    The host opened the menu and nced at the knife, frowning for a moment. Shane thought that this teenager must be disappointed. So he was about to open his mouth to coax his host into taking that weapon when he heard Sam''s voice.

    "So cheap? This knife seems to be of good quality. It also has rust and other poisonous material attached that can trigger death faster. Howe this weapon is so cheap?"

    "Probably because it''s broken."

    "Oh, I see."<sub> </sub>

    Shane shook his head. He shouldn''t be surprised at all. His host this time was both obedient and experienced. He didn''t have to exert too much energy into doing things his way.

    After making the purchase, Shane observed as his host pulled out the knife and held it in his hands. He was probably the first to react among the sea of different people standing in the hall. The two guys beside Sam finally trembled as their faces paled. They also pulled their swords out of nowhere, indicating they were also hosts with systems.

    Not just any hosts, but with some cash. The swords they had in their hands were not so cheap. It probably cost around a hundred Crana each. So the other system must also be experienced. Otherwise, it was impossible to gather so much Crana without being famous from the Livestreams.

    It was just that despite having very good systems, the hosts'' hands kept trembling.

    Sam didn''t give them a second chance as he raised his hands and started killing people one after another. His movements were so fast that no one even managed to react by the time he killed those two people.

    After that, he stood there with his knife dripping blood, indifferently looking at the dead bodies. "Is it over?"

    Shane looked at his notification. "No. I think you''ll have to start ughtering."

    "Okay."

    After that, a massacre started in that hall. The system notification also didn''te about the first task ending. So none of the hosts could stop. One after another, dead bodies kept falling to the ground with their necks shed in a simr manner.

    It seemed that one person killed all the hosts in the same way. Sam''s eyes didn''t even twitch while killing people like this. None of the other hosts seemed to be experienced enough. A few of them finally realized the gravity of the situation and pulled out their own weapons.

    Only ten were standing. The notification they were all awaiting finally arrived. A familiar voice echoed in the background.

    "Good, Very good!" the voice was male, with roughness at every word, so it sounded strange to hear the voice being cheerful. "I didn''t expect to get better results! Well done, survivors! You have passed the test, and now, get ready for the reward!"

    Soon after that, a round table rose from the ground as it stood at the hall''s center. The odor of blood waffled throughout the ce, but Sam''s face remained indifferent.

    Even Shane, who had be considerably stronger these days, couldn''t help but shiver to see his host like this.

    There was a gift box ced at the center, and it was packed with a pink ribbon. The voice echoed again.

    "C''mon! What are you waiting for? Open it up!"

    No one dared to move at this time. Seeing this, the voice sighed.

    "You have ten seconds. If no one opens it, you''ll all die."

    As soon as those words came out, one of the survivors rushed with a pale face and pulled the ribbon. Soon, the box opened, revealing pointed knives inside.

    The voice: "Sam, since you have killed the most, you''ll get a special knife. Pick up the ck one from the set. Do it!"

    Sam walked over and picked up the weapon, staring at it in his hands, when he heard the voice again. "Is it good? The reason why this weapon is special is that itsbat power is way more than others. Look at your stats, and you will know!"

    When Shane heard this, he frowned. Whoever created this horror world seemed to know that the hosts could use the menu. So would these people know about the existence of the systems?

    Perhaps they knew.

    Shane didn''t continue to think about it as he watched others picking up their weapons. Sam also seemed satisfied with the weapon in his hands as he held it in his hands firmly.

    After a while, the voice echoed again. "Break time over! Let''s head over to the next mission, shall we?" the voice paused before continuing, "Your mission this time is to vote for a person among you and torture one of their fingers to the point of breaking bones and making a bloody mess. You only have five minutes to vote. Come on!"

    Everyone was stunned. One of the girls couldn''t take it anymore. She fell to the ground, crying.

    "Why us?! What did we do wrong? I don''t want to continue!"

    "Are you sure?" The voice asked creepily. "If you guys don''t choose, I''ll vote one by myself automatically. Who knows? I might end up voting for two or more people. So, it''s better to choose yourselves."

 Chapter 117 116. The Endless Torture!

    Everyone except for Sam gathered together as they discussed something in a low voice. Even though Shane couldn''t hear what they were talking about, he still knew they were going to target his host. So he raised his head and squinted his eyes toward the group of people.

    "Host, go and listen to what they''re talking about."

    Sam nodded with an expressionless face. He walked over as he stood among the group. They all stiffened before ncing at the teenager briefly then got back to discussing again.

    "I''m Nao."

    "Thomas."

    "Mat."

    "Richard."

    "Elise."

    "Emma."

    "Su."

    "Tiger."

    "Wait, what kind of name is that?"

    It was a bald and fat man who shrugged. "It''s my name. Why do you have a problem?"

    Another person interrupted and said, "I''m Amelia."

    After everyone was done, they all nced at the only person who hadn''t said a word, the teenager. Sam looked around and lowered his head.

    "Sam."

    Nao, who was a middle-aged woman, pushed up her sses stained with blood and said, "Now that we know one another, we should discuss how to vote for that one person. If we work together in a group, we might end up passing through all the levels."

    "What makes you so sure that you''ll be able to live after passing through all the levels?" Sam asked in a cold voice. "The people behind these horror games never promised us anything, did they?"

    Everyone was silent after hearing that. They knew agreeing to the voice would never be good, but that was just a probability. If they didn''t listen, the results would surely be worse. They might even die. So if they were forced to choose whether to die now orter, they would go down thetter path.

    Noa finally opened her mouth after clearing her throat. "We aren''t, but if this path can guarantee us to stay alive for longer, wouldn''t it be a better choice?"

    Others seemed to have agreed with this aspect. They all nodded in unison.

    Sam said nothing after that. He only looked coldly at the people, making them shiver.

    Nao coughed and ignored a certain rude and cold teenager. "Now, what ideas do you have? We only have like a few minutes left. Hurry."

    "Let''s name the person we want to stand for the torture. This should be the shortest way," said Thomas.

    Nao nodded. "Okay. Think of a name randomly. It doesn''t have to have any motive since we all don''t know one another."

    Everyone agreed, but they all knew whom they wanted to vote for. They all secretly nced at Sam from the corner of their eyes.

    The teenager was standing erect as if he weren''t a good-looking, innocent young boy. With his dark aura, he looked more like a person who hadmitted multiple crimes, and he was now hiding inside the body of a youngster.

    Sam knew that he was being stared at, but he crossed his arms and stood there without any hint of opening his mouth.

    Nao saw that the environment was bing more and more intense as she cleared her throat. "Done?"

    Others nodded at her.

    She pointed at the wall behind her. "Everyone, go face the wall and stand at a considerable distance. Use your nails to write names there. Don''t cheat. You only have this one chance."

    Since time was slipping through their fingers, they hurried their ways and wrote the name they had thought of. In the end, Sam got eight votes, Nao got one, and Thomas got one. But the most surprising thing was that Sam voted for himself.

    Everyone was shocked after seeing that, especially Shane. He knew that his host was cold, but not to this extent! Why would Sam want to be tortured like this to the point of having his finger broken?<sub> </sub>

    He didn''t understand. This was the first time he had noticed a host so cold and heartless. "Are you sure?"

    "Positive. Don''t disturb. I want to test something."

    Shane tilted his head as he saw his host holding the dark aura knife tightly in his hands. He instantly understood. Since this knife was special, this must be one of the ways to test out its powers.

    He nodded at the sharpness of his host, but what was the point of torturing oneself to obtain such a piece of information? It was like a student wanted to fail the exam just to see whether he would get a zero.

    Everyone else nced at Sam''s expression. When they saw that he had the same coldness on his face, they rxed collectively and turned back to face Nao.

    Even she had aplicated expression on her face. "Why did you all vote for him?"

    "Didn''t you vote for him too?" One of them snickered.

    Nao surprisingly shook her head.

    "I voted for myself," she pointed to the wall behind her, "as you can look at the wall. Even Sam voted for himself. Anyway, now that it''s decided, Sam?"

    The teenager nodded and walked over.

    As soon as they decided, a familiar voice echoed in the background. "So you guys have decided it? Great! I had expected such a result given Sam''s shady personality. Ahem¡­ So anyway, Let the game begins! You have five minutes. Use whatever method, but you guys have to choose a finger and torture it to the point of breaking it apart! Blood should be spilled, you hear me?"

    Everyone else shuddered. They all had pale faces. Except for Sam, they were all scared enough to tremble and piss their pants.

    None of them dared to move. Even if they had agreed to torture Sam out of fear, now that they were really going to do it, they were heck scared. Most of them belonged to amon family back on Earth, only seeing bloodshed in the movies or games. None of them had done something like this before.

    Even though they all survived by killing other people not too long ago, it seemed to be a nightmare. They wanted to get out of here, but the horrific voice urged them to perform the tasks that made them even more guilty.

    So they all stood there, including Nao, staring at Sam in a daze. After a while, when none of them moved and a minute had passed, the voice echoed again.

    "Looks like I''ll have to warn you guys."

    As soon as that voice stopped, Tiger''s scream surrounded the hall all of a sudden. He yelled at the top of his voice, clutching hisst finger in his hands. Blood dripped from that part as he howled in pain.

    The faces of other people paled even more as they heard the warning. "If you don''t torture your voted guy, your fingers will also be like that. So, hurry up and entertain me!"

    Nao gritted her teeth as she pulled out a nail from her system interface. She had used the same nail to hack many people to death. At that time, she was in a trance while killing people. When she woke up, she had already survived after killing a bunch of them.

    When she held the nail in her palms, she said, "Sam, ce your palm against the wall. I request you."

    After that, an endless scene of torture emerged. If it were a movie scene, the viewers would fast-forward to the scene at most to get rid of the bloody mess that had happened because of that nail. After Nao was done, others also started taking turns using their weapons against Sam.

    They were also very frightened, but neither of them wanted to feel intense pain. So they helplessly pulled out the weakest weapons they possessed and hammered them against Sam''s finger.

    If it were a normal person, he or she would have been howled out of intense pain. But Sam didn''t even sweat. Other than a frown covering his forehead, there wasn''t a single trace of reaction. This aspect made others watching him feel even more frightened of this teenager.

    By the time torture ended, the finger''s bones were broken into so many cracks and holes that it was impossible to mend back together. Blood endlessly poured out of the finger, creating a pool beneath Sam''s feet. If it continued to pour out like this at such a fast speed, this little guy might end up dying at most.

    Shane also could see this situation as he opened his mouth. "Host, do you want a healing pill?"

    "No need." The teenager only nced at the finger. "You''re saving money for a bomb or something, right? Continue doing that. I''ll use this knife."

    It seemed Sam figured out how to use this thing. So Shane nodded and said nothing. This was the first time he had such a lousy job.

    After a while, the ck aura from the knife began to spread into Sam''s body. The ck mist slowly drifted into the wound, filling it up. Everyone''s faces were nk as they observed this change. Soon enough, the ck mist retreated, leaving a healthy finger without a single scratch. It seemed as if the torture was merely their hallucination.

    "You-" Nao was the first to react as she stared at the knife fixedly. "Is this the reward for killing most of the people here?"

    Others were too scared to even speak. They had thoughts of stealing it, but they stopped thinking of how cruel this teenager was! Suddenly that same voice echoed in the background.

    "Congrattions on finishing the task! For the next, you guys have to head over to the corridor to your Sam''s right and walk until I tell you to stop!"

 Chapter 118 117. The Corridor Realm!

    Everyone gathered around as they cautiously walked toward the corridor. They were still in a tranced state as they continued to walk on without even daring to blink. Their hearts were plunged into the deepest ocean of fright and terror.

    They couldn''t rx even if the task was as simple as walking. There should be a but factor here, right? Sam walked at the back, a few steps away. The one taking the lead was Nao, who looked almost like a boss of apany or something, ready to lead her team.

    Shane sighed as he stared at the scene. He opened the host''s stats as the Crana continued to increase. He raised his brows.

    It seemed people really liked viinous personalities so much that ever since his host''s real personality came out, the gift value almost doubled. Now, his host had almost gathered a few thousand Crana in his ount.

    He nodded in satisfaction as he sent the link to a set of a nuclear bombs having five pieces inside. It almost cost a thousand Crana, but Shane didn''t care. His host already had more than enough money in his ount.

    As soon as Sam got the notification, he asked, "What did you send me?"

    "It''s the nuclear bomb. Take a look."

    Sam nodded as he opened it. He directly made a purchase and nced at the Crana. He hesitated but didn''t continue his purchase.

    "I have made my purchase. Should I start nting now?"

    Shane thought for a while and said, "Let''s first wait for a while. I have a bad premonition concerning this ce. There''s something wrong with this corridor. Perhaps it''s in another realm. We might end up destroying another world altogether. Let''s be careful for now."

    "How do you know this corridor is connected to another realm?" Sam genuinely asked.

    "There''s a strange mist. The view outside the door is strange. If I hadn''t peaked out of the venttion, I would have been fooled too. This world is surrounded by darkness, nothing else. The things outside aren''t the sky, trees, and the ground. There''s only a nk space with nothing but stars.

    "It''s a realm floating in the vast universe without any piece ofnd supporting it. But the view outside the corridor that we see through the window seems to be filled with beautiful trees and shrubs, nothing like the scene I had observed. So let''s wait until we get out of here."

    Even though he could think of these things, other systems weren''t like that. They instead decided to have their hosts nt bombs directly at this ce.

    One of the teenage girls with her hair tied above her head in a ponytail suddenly stepped back as shegged behind Sam.

    Even though she tried to act naturally, she indeed act suspiciously. Everyone nced at her, but neither of them acted, but their backs tensed as they continued to nce in the girl''s direction with pale faces.

    She didn''t act much as she continued to walk forward without any expression on her face. Only when she thought others couldn''t see them that she finally opened her interface and nted a bomb. Just as she was about to brighten it, Sam suddenly appeared at that ce and held her wrist.

    "Don''t. This isn''t the horror realm."

    The girl was stunned before she shook off his hand and red at him. "What do you know? Just because you survived the first task doesn''t mean you''re all-knowing. Do you even know who my system is?! Do you?! He belongs to the top systems list! We have experienced several worlds together already, and he has helped me survive every single one of them! Don''t doubt me anymore! F*ck off!"

    Sam didn''t continue to pursue the topic. He shrugged as he walked off. Before heading away, he turned back slightly.

    "I warned you." After walking a few steps, Sam asked Shane, "System, what should we do?"

    "Do nothing." Shane stretched as he kicked on the hooded girl''s calves, earning a re. "Wait for something to happen. You''re powerful enough to save yourself from such a situation."

    Sam said nothing as he nced back and asked, "I want a magical weapon."

    "Sure." Shane searched for the lightening rted weapons and sent a sword simr to what he had been given by Dirt. "Here. Purchase this sword. Even though it can electrocute the enemies, it can''t guarantee their deaths. It can paralyze the enemies, but they can still turn back and attack you. So be careful."

    Sam purchased the sword and held it in his palms. "Something tells me I shouldn''t kill the monsters approaching me."<sub> </sub>

    Shane stopped speaking. He purchased a popcorn cup and ate while staring at the scene on the screen. Ah, how good would it be if he could get simr hosts every time? It would make his job even more simple.

    As Sam continued walking, the mist thickened. The bomb that girl had nted seemed to have never echoed. Or perhaps, the realm might have swallowed it. Instead, the thickness of the mist around him increased to the point that he couldn''t see anything in front of him clearly.

    He could make out the shape of the trees and shrugs outside the window because of the light, but the mist made it hard for him to see beyond the firstyer of trees and shrubs.

    He squinted his eyes as a roar echoed from his behind. "Here goes nothing."

    As soon as the monster approached him from behind, yelling nonstop, he raised his sword and pointed in the monster''s direction. The scene in front of him was filled with fog. He muttered the spell written on his menu as a spark of electricity appeared from the sword,nding at the monster not far away.

    The monster seemed to have roared loudly before silencing for a moment. Sam rushed in another direction as he heard another couple of roars from both behind and in front of him. He stopped in his tracks and frowned. He seemed to be thinking of something as he stared at the scene in front of his eyes.

    He asked, "They aren''t survivors, are they?"

    Shane was also thinking in that direction. It could either be that all the people in front and that teenager behind him had turned into monsters, or it might all just be an illusion created by the mist. It was likely that the mist had created hallucinations to make them fight amongst themselves.

    "Could be." Shane didn''t share his thoughts, knowing well that his host would perhapse up with those on his own.

    Neither of them talked after this. Sam finally walked over as he jumped off the window, hanging outside over the frame. He put his sword back in his inventory as he pushed himself up with his hands that held the frame and looked inside.

    He seemed to have seen a few monsters'' forms appearing from one side colliding with a monster from the other. He couldn''t make out their shapes, which made it difficult for him to find out the truth. So he just stood there without moving.

    A hint of pain appeared in his arms, making him frown. He hesitated before asking:

    "System, give me healing pills."

    Shane quickly found the healing pills and sent them to his host.

    After purchasing and eating the pills, Sam felt a cooling sensation throughout his body, making him warm. The pain disappeared, leaving behind plenty of energy for him to use.

    He nced inside. The monsters had already started fighting one another with their weapons. It seemed none of them used the spell weapons. So they could only use normal swords.

    Sam frowned. Swords? When did monsters start using swords?

    His hypothesis was confirmed. These monsters weren''t monsters at all! They were the hosts who were turned into monsters because of the mist illusion!

    It was a good thing he acted fast and got out of that mess. He was sure that in other people''s eyes, he would also look like a monster. Soon enough, the fight turned bloody, but Sam didn''t seem to have any intention of stopping it. He even had a spark in his eyes as he continued to watch the scene.

    After a while, something happened and someone died. The mist withdrew automatically, revealing the real faces of everyone else. At this time, Sam also jumped back into the corridor. They were all shocked as the dead body of the person named Tigery on the ground, without moving a single bit.

    Nao''s hand reached for the de that was inserted into Tiger''s chest. She was so shocked that she couldn''t speak for a moment. Then she used Tiger''s robes to wipe off the blood and put the sword back in the inventory. She finally raised her head.

    "What just happened?"

    Even though everyone was shocked, they still got out of the daze faster this time, having to go through torturous scenes before. Killing a person seemed to have be a habit for them at this time.

    The voice echoed in the background again. "Congrattions on surviving! Currently, only nine people are alive! Keep up the good work and continue to the next level! Are you ready?!"

 Chapter 119 118. Lets Play Cards!

    The group continued to walk onward without turning back. They all had nk faces as they focused on the road ahead, not even caring about what just happened. It was an illusion, alright. It seemed to be created by a mysterious mist.

    Only Shane knew that it was a mist from another dimension connected to the current horror realm. Could it be that there would be other realms here as well?

    So how could they destroy this world without touching different realms?

    Shane frowned.

    The voice also echoed in the background as if it wereing through a speaker. It almost made it look like the creator of this horror game had installed cameras and speakers everywhere. If so, there must be a ce for that person to handle things inside. He must have been keeping a keen eye on everyone else.

    So where was this station? It could be that he had overlooked something.

    So after thinking about this, he opened his mouth and asked his host. "What do you think about this world? We can''t ce the bombs anywhere."

    "Maybe, we should try putting it up in the hall back there."

    Shane also thought so, but he still felt something was wrong here. Since other ces were also connected with different realms, it could be that the hall itself might also be in another dimension. He couldn''t bepletely sure of anything at this point.

    Should he try? What if he ended up destroying another dimension?

    Shane thought for a while. It wouldn''t be too bad, would it? In any case, there wasn''t a trace of another soul in either hall or the corridor. So he could safely say that it wouldn''t harm him and his host even if he destroyed those ces. He didn''t want to trigger the main viin of this realm who had created this world.

    But to bring out that viin and force him to act, he would have to put on a deliberate act. So he opened his mouth:

    "Let''s go back and put a bomb in the next realm."

    Sam was surprised, but he agreed, "You''re right. We should bring out the mouse."

    Shane was so satisfied with his host this time that he rxed on the empty ground and sighed. He wished if all the hosts were like this guy, but he knew it wasn''t possible. Not every host would be able to understand his thinking as well as Sam.

    Soon after that, he saw his host taking out one of the bombs avable in the inventory as he nted it silently without anyone noticing. Then, the ten of them walked out of the corridor through a door at the dead end of the path. Nao was the first one to push open the door as she nced back.

    "Let''s go. I hope you guys know how to survive the next round. We can''t lose anyone else now. We''re already nine members after the loss of Tiger."

    The rest of them agreed as they started walking onward. Beyond the corridor, there was a room covered in ck. The walls were dark as the same color round table was ced at the center. If it weren''t for that brown line at the end of the table, they wouldn''t have noticed it at all!

    At the center of the table, there was a deck of cards ced neatly. Nao cautiously approached it as she narrowed her eyes at the cards. Just as she was about to open her mouth, she heard the voice speaking again:

    "Wee to this round. Oops, I have forgotten how many rounds we have yed already, but it doesn''t matter anymore. You''re all going to die at the end of this horror game anyway. Hehehehe."

    <o>,m No one liked this hehehehe, and when the manly voice chuckled in a high-pitched manner, it sent a creepy chill down their spines. The voice would rather have not chuckled at all!</o>

    The voice didn''t care about other people anymore as it mocked, "How ridiculous! You guys are worthy of being yers. You can get frightened just when Iugh."

    "Can we get to the point?!" Nao spoke through her gritted teeth.

    She couldn''t take it anymore after hearing the mocking sound. She just wanted to get out of this hell hole already!

    Just as they were discussing, Sam suddenly asked, "Strange voice, I have a question to ask you."

    "You guys were doing a great job. So, I''m in a good mood." The voice really seemed cheerful as it spoke next, "Ask away."

    "Can you tell me why this world has so many realms attached? Not that I''mining, but you might end up getting affected the most if you continue your way¡­." Sam paused as if suddenly thinking of something and continued: "Don''t answer the question if you have a suicidal tendency. So many realms¡­. You must have suffered a lot to gain that much credit to actually make this happen, right?"<sub> </sub>

    The voice suddenly went silent. None of the avable people had thought that this certain person would end up saying something like that out in the open. To be honest, none of them had even realized that there were several realms attached to the scene at all!

    Nao was the first one to open her mouth and probed, "You know something?"

    Sam nodded and shook his head. "I may or may not. Depending on your truthfulness."

    In other words, Sam was even doubting the hosts avable here. And what''s up with the voice calling them ''yers'' like this? Were they in a game or something?

    When Sam looked over at the deck of cards, he nodded. They really were in a game.

    Soon enough, the voice spoke again, "Wee to the card game! You have unlocked a special feature called card games because of how good you were previously! So as a gift, you all will get a chance to save yourself one more day! How good it must be to breathe for 24 hours more? Are you happy? Are you excited?"

    None of them understood what the voice meant. What did it mean to be able to breathe for a day more?

    They had a vague suspicion that they were about to die soon, but because they were doing ''good'' enough, they were given a day more before finally killing them! The right of them froze. Except for Sam, everyone else was staring at the deck of cards at the table with pale faces.

    Sam finally opened his mouth and asked, "You''re cheating. I asked you something. Not only you didn''t answer, but you also gave us multiple hints about something we don''t even understand! Why are we here in the first ce? Where did wee from? And what happened to our memories? Don''t even try to ignore me this time."

    He opened up his menu as he raised his chin. "If you ignore me anymore, I''ll bomb up the corridor behind the door. So think about what you want to say the next time."

    The voice went silent all over again. Nao nced over at the young man as she red at him the next moment.

    "Are you mad?! Do you know you''re ying with fire?"

    "How do you know what is fire if you don''t y with it for the first time?" Sam had an innocent expression of a teenager on his face. "And I''m not mad. I''m just fast-forwarding a few steps."

    "What do you mean?"

    Sam said nothing. What he was doing was stimting the hidden enemy. If he or she were among them, that person would likely exhibit an unnatural expression. Even if that person was a good actor, he or she might do something to reveal evidence against them.

    All he wanted was to make the viin panic.

    It seemed he was getting seeded. He didn''t smile. Instead, he nced over at the cards as he put another bomb above it and said boldly, "Okay, I know you want to kill us. So why don''t I make things easy for you andmit a group suicide? I''ll count to three. If you don''t reveal yourself, I''ll just end up destroying our own bodies along with these realms!

    "One!"

    "Two!"

    "Wait!!!!!" Nao was the person who spoke first. "What the heck are you doing?! None of us want to die, you know! If you really want to die so much, just kill yourself at another ce! Don''t drag us in your tricks."

    "Miss Nao," Sam suddenly turned to face her and smiled, "who gave you permission to be a leader of this small group? Why did you even bother leading us at all? You seem to be the most suspicious one among us!"

    "Don''t talk nonsense!" Nao''s face turned ck after being med.

    She could see that other hosts were also starting to distance themselves from her. She gritted her teeth and red at the teenager.

    "Then what do you propose we do? Let ourselves die in dire straits?"

    Sam was silent for a while as he looked over at others and smiled. "I was just kidding. Let us y cards, shall we?"

 Chapter 120 119. Suffering!!!

    Everyone was shocked after hearing Sam''s words. They looked at him speechlessly as they all went silent. Neither dared to pick up the cards as they eyed the bomb ced above it.

    Sam silently picked up the bomb and put it back in his inventory, "I was just kidding about the bomb too. Don''t take me too seriously. Strange voice, you can exin the rules."

    The voice seemed to have choked up on its own as it went silent for the nth time because of Sam. even other hosts could feel their eyes twitching after hearing whatever the teenager said.

    Shane was perhaps the only one who couldugh out loud. His host was seriously so entertaining. He never thought he would see such a scene in his life. Ever again!

    After Sam was done, he raised his hands to touch the cards. Just then, the voice echoed.

    "Ahem, yers, hold your breaths. At least let me exin the rules before you go wild, yeah?"

    Sam nodded and gestured for the voice to say.

    The voice seemed offended after getting mocked like this, but it ignored the teenager and said, "yers, we have a change of event. You''ll all die today just because of one teenager. That''s right! I won''t give you another chance! So you better start ying and entertaining me.

    "The more I''m pleased, the better are your chances of living. And how am I going to be pleased? Simple," the voice paused as it uttered in a low, mysterious voice, "just make yourself hurt in more tragic ways!"

    Everyone shuddered after hearing that. Only Sam and Nao stayed calm. The former''s reaction was unnatural, but Nao remained calm and collected because she couldn''t think of a better way to fight against this voice.

    Sure, this voice wanted to be entertained, right? So they would do somethingpletely opposite to their expectations. She would remain calm and collected, not even uttering a single word! She wanted to see how the voice would react after that!

    Perhaps Sam''s personality had affected her in a way.

    Soon enough, the game started as the voice fell into the background. "yers, pick two cards each. Don''t worry. It''s already shuffled. You don''t have to take a look at another''s card. Those who cheat would sumb to death!"

    Without wasting time, they all started picking up cards. Not to mention others, they didn''t even dare to nce at their own cards.

    Sam quietly nced at his cards. It was eight of hearts and Ace of diamonds.

    He silently held the two cards in his hands, not showing them to others. Soon enough, the voice echoed again.

    "Well done! You guys are bing more and more obedient. I really like it! Now, circle around the table. Be quick!"

    The people followed themand and actually stood a few meters away to circle the table. After they were done, the voice uttered more rules.

    "One of you, a random person, will choose a card. If either has it, you''ll have to stand aside and receive punishments. How does that sound?"

    Was this a game? Nope! Instead, it was really the creator''s perverted desire thrashing out in the open!

    Everyone else was disgusted by this as they stood there. It grew angry when the voice saw that none of them were volunteering for this task.

    "Really now? Fine. If I end up speaking out, I might take three of four people as punishment! I was being lenient on you guys, but it looks like you''re all like a dog''s tail!"

    Nao finally opened her mouth first: "Six of spades."

    The voice quietened down. No one seemed to have six of spades. Nao''s shoulders rxed at that. Just as she was about to say something, the voice''s irritated tone echoed in the background.

    "Really now? I just told you not to cheat, didn''t I?"

    Suddenly, the guy named Mat screamed at the top of his voice. His entire body fell to the ground, on his knees. The fingers that held the cards seemed to be bleeding¡­. No, his entire body seems to be bleeding. Even from his eyes, ears, and mouth, blood dropped out like a river. His pants soon filled with blood as ear piercing scream filled the entire ce.

    Later, the man fell to the ground with his eyes wide open in horror and extreme pain.

    When others saw this scene, they couldn''t help but shudder. This¡­. Would they also die like this?<sub> </sub>

    None of them urged to hide their cards anymore. Even if they were tortured, it was way better than dying like this.

    The young girl standing beside Nao opened her mouth as her body trembled. "King of hearts."

    No one came forward. The young girl finally sobbed as she silenced herself. The man next to her spoke the next time.

    "Eight of hearts."

    Sam raised his brows as he looked down at his cards. "Here."

    As soon as his voice fell, the cards in his hands started growing hotter and hotter until his skin burnt from holding, but he still didn''t let it go. He also didn''t utter a single thing. Just watching his hands getting burnt without any word.

    It almost seemed like he was looking at someone else''s hands getting burnt, not his.

    When others saw this, they trembled and nced at the teenager with a frightened gaze. If they were in his position, they would scream out loud, and they would first throw the cards away!

    The voice spoke again. "Tch, I hate such people, purposefully acting like they don''t feel anything. Fine! The next time, I''ll really make you feel some pain! Next!"

    Another person opened his mouth the next time. "Ace of diamonds."

    Sam chuckled after hearing that. He raised his head and looked at the other person mockingly.

    "Are you the voice''s minion?"

    Before that person could reply, he saw Sam''s face losing its smile. Soon enough, the expression changed into that of an utter shock. He instantly looked down at his body, not being able to utter a single word.

    Shane raised his brows. He wondered what the voice did to bring out such a reaction from his indifferent and cold host. He was about to ask something when he heard his host''s voice.

    "Don''t! You have got to be kidding me! Who burns that ce?! Come out, you piece of sh*t!"

    No one dared to ask what that ce meant. Even Shane grimaced when he realized what just happened. Suddenly, his gaze turned sympathetic as he sighed and shook his head.

    It was a good thing that he had turned off sense sharing thing. He absolutely didn''t want to share this kind of pain at all!

    Just when everyone else was ncing around, the voice opened its mouth. "So this is what happens when you act. Just continue entertaining me. If not, I''ll turn your nightmares a reality!"

    Noa''s face turned white after hearing that. It seemed that the voice had captured her thoughts and made this punishment a warning for people like her. She took a deep breath and decided to abandon her idea for a while.

    For half an hour, all of them started to be tortured one after another in various ways. The game continued for five rounds, and everyone had to put the cards back, shuffle them, and pick two again. So the torture continued for quite a while. By the time it was over, everyone was either burnt or had several deep injuries on their bodies.

    With the help of their systems, they had started to heal already, but the torture scene was still fresh in their hearts. They didn''t think they could remain sane aftering out of this horrible mess.

    Sam remained silent the entire time. Back then, when something down there got burnt, it was the only time when he reacted so strongly. He didn''t react even though his toe got cut off.

    Other people thought he was insane, but he still remained calm. By the end of it all, other people slid down on the floor. Some hugged themselves between their knees and sobbed. People like Nao, who had leadership qualities in them, put on a brave face. Even then, you could still see a look of utter shock and pain in their eyes.

    Only Sam''s eyes remained calm. As if he had never felt anything at all during the torture.

    Soon enough, the voice said, "Good! I''m delighted to see you all suffering like this!" the voice sighed. "Too bad. I me it all on Sam. Why won''t he react?! Looks like I''ll have to increase the intensity of the torture next round. Anyways. Get ready for the next horror scene."

    "No!" Emma, a young girl, stood up and yelled at the top of her voice, "Why are you? Why did you keep us here?! What the heck do you want from us?! Please, I-I want to go home! Leave us damn alone!"

    The voice was silent for a moment. The entire time, an eerie silence spread around the ce.

 Chapter 121 120. The Invisible Cloak!

    "Hah, I was trying to be lenient all this time, but you guys take me for granted. Very good! I''ll show you what being cruel really means!" The voice sounded angry now, sending a chill down everyone''s spine.

    The girl''s face paled upon hearing that. She backed up a few steps as she hit the cold wall behind her. Her entire body shivered, but she didn''t dare to move. Her being became vignt as if she had turned into a cat, ncing here and there.

    Soon enough, the ground beneath them vanished without a trace. Everyone fell below, screaming at the top of their voices. Even Sam, who would usually stay as calm as the sea, frowned as his face paled. His forehead was covered with beads of cold sweat.

    It seemed he wanted to scream, but he held back his reasoning at this time. When they finally stopped, half of them were so scared that they didn''t open their eyes. A few of them trembled while the weak-hearted old people wet their pants in fear.

    It was just that their bodies were still intact, hovering just half a foot above the ground. Their bodies were gently put down as if the voice hadn''t been cruel in the past.

    After that, the voice said, "This is the only gentleness I''ll show you. Now, get ready for your punishment!"

    "What the heck you want?" Another person spoke with tears in his eyes. "I can''t take it anymore!"

    "Yes! It''s better to kill us already!"

    "I can''t live with the memories of this ce. Please, kill us!"

    Everyone echoed the same words. The voice let them chatter and waited for them to calm down. Once it silenced, it sneered.

    "You guys really like to get on my nerves. Why do you think you''re here in a horror game like this? Because of your karma! Why should I release you as on your words?!" The voice paused dramatically and said, "Now that you guys are here, get ready to die, but I won''t kill you so soon. You should understand and feel the pain, the urgency of death!"

    The voice was ruthless and cold as ever. It felt like just by speaking, it wanted to kill everyone and reveal the hatred burning in its heart.

    Soon enough, the wall started growing spikes. The people standing close to the wall felt something piercing their skin and bones as they screamed. Their voice turned hoarse.

    Sam looked at this scene and narrowed his eyes. This voice seemed so eager to get rid of them. There must be something wrong with this situation. He said nothing and continued to look as the walls on all sides of him came closer. The spikes also grewrger andrger.

    The sinister voice echoed. "Now, slowly, these spikes will drill into your bodynguidly. When you''re about to die, I''ll sprinkle life-saving water from the top and save you guys. Once you''re a little healed, the spikes will drill again. How does that sound? A good punishment, right?"

    Shane, who was observing this scene, frowned. He nced at the woman lying on the ground with her back turned to him. He could even hear the sound of her breathing evenly, as if she was in a deep sleep.

    How can this girl sleep when something so horrific going on? She just wanted to take a rest, didn''t she? Was that why she partnered with him?!

    He really wanted to shake her awake, but seeing that she was a girl, he suppressed his desire and focused on his work. He would get rid of this girl soon enough and work all alone the next time!

    The mission was also hard because two systems were there. If he was the only one, he knew that this mission wouldn''t be so hard.

    Shane sighed as he nced at the screen. The spikes were close enough to drill into the skin the next minute. He frowned as he looked around.

    Just what was his host nning? He felt ufortable seeing how his host was cold and unreadable.

    He opened his mouth and asked, "What do you want to do next?"

    Sam crossed his arms on his chest. "Wait a little more. Until then, let''s find something usable in the shops then."

    "Eh? If I hadn''t asked you, you wouldn''t have said another word?" Shane shook his head.

    "You did ask. I knew you would ask."

    "Why are you talking like you know me?"

    Sam said nothing as he nced around. "Time''s moving on. Let''s be quick."

    "Right." Shane felt something wrong with this situation, but he couldn''t put his finger on it.

    He decided to think about thister and focused on the current task at hand. He quickly found some useful products from the shop himself and texted them to his host.<sub> </sub>

    "Take a look at these. If you don''t want them, you can also search in the rmended section."

    A few minutester, Sam ended up purchasing Harry Potter''s invisibility cloak. It also had another feature that could make him pass through solid objects. It took a little more money, and nearly half his ount ended up empty, but it was worth it.

    But he couldn''t just disappear under the watchful eyes of the voice. So Sam also purchased a dummy for himself. He could create a fake body of himself that could stand here surrounded by the spikes while he could wander around without any obstacles.

    Sam used the objects, and after a few seconds, he walked out of that ce. The dummy was close to a human being, acting the same way as him. If the spikes hurt the dummy, the man would bleed; if the healing potion healed it, the dummy would quickly get healed.

    So Sam wasn''t worried about getting caught.

    Soon enough, he passed through the spikes and the wall and entered a familiar corridor. He was surprised for a moment. He didn''t think the realms would still be connected.

    He continued to walk when he stopped. He nced at the wall adjacent to himself. His eyes narrowed.

    "System, what will happen if I enter this wall?"

    "Not sure. You can try. You might end up getting out of the gaming zone."

    "And what will happen after that?"

    Shane was silent for a moment. "You know the answer already. Why are you asking me?"

    "It''s fun to ask you questions."

    Shane frowned at that answer. He shook his head. His host this time was too lively. In any case, this made his work too easy.

    Sam walked forward in a good mood after talking to his system. As soon as he passed through the wall, he suddenly felt a wave of energy passing through his body, making him freeze. His legs paused for a moment as he nced around.

    He remembered seeing a foggy scene outside the corridor through the windows. So he had assumed that the scene on the other side must also be the same. But he didn''t think it would be this.

    The entire ce was covered with metal objects. The cold walls on either side of Sam had cobwebs as if it weren''t been cleaned for a while. He turned around to see a transparent screen with red color shing through a screen, but he couldn''t see through it anymore.

    He turned away and focused on the scene in front of him.

    There seemed to be an endless corridor made out of metals. He started walking through it.

    Shane, in the meanwhile, nced at the radar screen and said, "Host, be careful. I see many monsters here on either side of the corridor. They are perhaps locked inside the metals."

    Sam nodded and said nothing as he continued walking through the corridor. Soon enough, he reached the end of it with three doors at hand. Sam frowned upon seeing this scene.

    "Where should I go?" asked Sam.

    Shane looked at the radar. All the doors had monsters, but one of them had fewer. Even though a normal person would choose that, he was against it. He narrowed his eyes.

    These paths were simr to the calmness of a sea before a tide urred. He didn''t believe in anything like an easy pathway. So he directly told his host:

    "The third door."

    Sam didn''t hesitate after this. He walked faster and quickly entered the door, only to see a row of monsters waiting for him. They were all packed inside the narrow corridor as they stood there without moving.

    After seeing this, Sam heaved a sigh of relief. Even though he didn''t really reject the idea of fighting, he wanted to end this world as soon as possible. He walked through the ce calmly without any hesitation. Thanks to the cloak, he passed through most of them and reached a door.

    He entered beyond it and found himself standing inside a room. He was surprised that this was the only door connected to the door. It seems like his system was right on point by choosing the third door. One mistake would have made things difficult.

 Chapter 122 121. I Can Help You!

    Sam wasn''t surprised by the structure of the room. It was a typical monitor with several screens, keyboards, wires, and a chair on which someone seemed to be sleeping. Since that person''s back was facing him, he couldn''t tell who it was at the moment.

    But he was confident of one thing. It was a woman.

    He narrowed his eyes and continued to walk onward without turning back. His steps paused just beside the chair as he nced at the woman.

    It was Nao.

    His eyes opened wide in surprise. He knew it could be one among those people, but he didn''t want Nao! Why was she torturing herself and others at the same time? And why was she here and inside the game at the same time?

    Could it be the thing inside the game was a virtual game, and they had to be attached to the system by sleeping? He could see several wires attached to her body from head to toe.

    If his hypothesis was true, then what about other people? What about the body of the teenager called Sam?

    Sam frowned as he looked around. It could be seen that this room wasn''t cleaned in a while. The dust had settled everywhere, but there weren''t cobwebs anymore. So it could mean that even though the ce wasn''t clean, it at least wasn''t abandoned.

    Wasn''t he supposed to destroy this ce? He quickly took out a few bombs and ced them beneath the table full of screens. Then he stood up and pulled out the wires.

    Since he was going to end this, he might as well get answers.

    As soon as he pulled it all out, he saw Nao blinking as she frowned. She looked like her head was full of confusion as she nced around only to find Sam in front of her eyes.

    Her eyes visibly opened wide in shock. Then she recovered her wits soon enough as she jumped to her feet.

    "You got out?"

    Sam raised his brows. "What do you mean you got out? Don''t try to fool me. I''m not like those people inside that thing anymore. Now speak. Who are you? And why are you doing this?"

    "Sam, please don''t me me indiscriminately for something I never did."

    Sam sneered. "Sure. Prove me wrong then."

    "Why are you hell-bent on ming me? Do you think I can do this alone?"

    "Women can do many things alone today. In what era are you living?"

    Shane sighed and said, "Just bomb it. I''m not curious anymore."

    "But I''m, so shut up."

    Shane raised his brows. Why did he feel like Sam acted like ady just now? A man like himself wouldn''t involve himself in gossip. If he could solve the world faster, he would choose to do so. Since this was the monitor room, it goes without saying that destroying this ce would be beneficial.

    Sam stared coldly at the woman who was pretending to be innocent. Then he nced at the screens that went nk all of a sudden. He sneered.

    "Do you really want me to believe that? Just look at those screens. I could see the scene inside the game clearly before. But when you woke up, it was all nk. Do you take me for a fool?"

    Nao''s expression froze for a moment before she rxed. A twisted smile formed on her lips. She leaned back on the table and tilted her head.

    "Fine. I admit it was my doing, but what can you do?" She paused dramatically, nced at the ce where bombs were ced, and said, "Ah, you''re not thinking of blowing this ce, are you? Too bad. It''s a fire relief room. Nothing can burn it."

    Sam continued to stare at the woman with an ''I knew it'' kind of expression on his face.

    "Tch, act like a teenager, will you?"

    "But I don''t think I was supposed to be a teenager in the first ce."

    Shane raised his brows again. It seemed like his host still had a hint that he wasn''t actually Sam. Good. this person was interesting.

    Ah, he wished he could get intelligent people every time he went on a job.

    Nao ignored those words as she walked around the room. "Well, this ce is mine. What right do you have to destroy it? In fact, you were also created by me. I made several characters and attached the souls of dead people from this ce to make things more realistic. Then I''d kill them all several times in that game. Oh, you know? Once you jumped to your death. How entertaining was that cycle!"

    "You''re sick," said Sam having a disgusted expression on his face. "You need medical help."

    "That I do, but where will you find me a doctor? Hmm? Little boy?"<sub> </sub>

    Sam just looked at her for a while before he sighed. "I have gotten my exnation. Time for you to die."

    When Nao heard that, she let out augh. "Sure, sure. Burn me to death. What else can you do? That reminds me, how did you find yourself a bomb at that ce? Huh? Got a secret? Tell me!"

    Sam said nothing as he silently pulled out a sword from his inventory. He had purchased it earlier, along with other things. Back then, he knew this thing would be of some use. He was d he got this.

    He stared at the overconfident woman and sneered. "Are you ready?"

    She looked at the sword that came out of nowhere in amazement. "Where did you take this out from? Do you have a hidden packet or something? Like Doraemon?"

    Sam frowned. It seemed not everyone was a host here. Or maybe Nao, being a viin, was the only normal person without a system. He didn''t reply to her anymore.

    He simply stepped a few steps back and thrust the sword to the ground with force. Then he muttered a spell under his breath.

    Nao, who was watching this, scoffed. "What nonsense! You''ve got to be kidding me. You think you can make a crack here? Just like that? PFFT!!!!"

    Sam didn''t even spare her a nce as the sword''s metal started glowing brightly.

    When Nao saw that, her eyes widened. Even though the technology of this world had increased, she had never seen something like this before. How can there be magic present in this world?

    That''s right. This young man must be using some trick!

    Nao''s face turned cold as she stared at Sam''s face. "You-"

    Before she could finish her sentence, she felt the ground beneath her feet trembling. She frowned and nced at her feet.

    The entire ce looked normal at first until ripples appeared beneath her feet. The ripples kept growing until she started slipping inside the ground as if it had suddenly turned liquid.

    Her eyes widened after seeing this. "You¡­. What the hell did you do to me?!"

    "I didn''t do anything," said Sam as he turned toward her. "Do you want to know my secret? Are you curious?"

    Nao nodded subconsciously.

    "I''m not telling you."

    Before the woman could reply, the ground suddenly turned into water, and the two fell inside. Then Sam uttered another spell through his mind. The whole ce started glowing. The liquid metal glowed so much that it became hot as boiling water, burning their skin. Sam didn''t even flinch as he saw Nao struggling. She tried to swim upward but failed because the metal was still heavier than normal water after transforming into liquid.

    It was pretty challenging to swim freely without professional help.

    Sam could feel his chest hurting. His body yearned to breathe, but he continued to be inside the metal as he watched everything rted to metal turning into liquid.

    What he did was simple: he only used a sword with a metal attribute and used the rtive spell he had purchased to convert the metal into liquid. Not only that, but he also used another spell to make it boil so that it can destroy the entire ce.

    Sam knew that the entire world or realm was this tiny room floating in space. The world had been mostly destroyed, but this portion should remain.

    How did Sam know these things? Good question.

    Before losing consciousness, he smiled as he seemed to be in a good mood.

    Shane, who was inside his host''s mind, quickly kicked his partner''s legs, who was still sleeping. Heck, why did she even bother toe here?! This woman was too much!

    Then, the two of them soon returned to the system space. The hooded woman blinked as she nced around. She yawned.

    "What time is it?"

    Shane narrowed his eyes. "Let''s get out of here first."

    The hooded woman nodded, and the two quickly got out of the system space. As soon as they got out, Shane quickly grabbed the hooded woman''s arms and dragged her out. The woman was probably shocked after seeing this. She didn''t react for a moment.

    It wasn''t until they were surrounded by the woods that Shane let go and red at the hooded woman. "Let''s break off the partnership. I''m better off alone."

    The hooded woman suddenly smiled as she leaned against the tree. "Ah, so this day hase. Mr. Shane Cooper, you''re already in so much trouble with no one to back you up. Are you sure you want to break it off? I can help you, you know?"

 Chapter 123 122. Stolen?!

    Shane didn''t seem surprised. His face had an ''I knew it'' expression as he stared at the woman. He also leaned against the tree.

    "Now that you have revealed yourself, care to tell me what you want?"

    "Nothing much," said Nao. She smiled and leaned toward him. "I just want us to continue our partnership. That''s all."

    "Why? What will you get out of it?"

    "That''s not for you to think about."

    Shane sighed. "If we''re going to have cooperation, I need you, to be honest with me. Alright, let''s start with your name."

    "Hope."

    "Is this your real name?"

    The woman started chuckling. "You sure are smart. And yes, this isn''t my real name, this isn''t how my real voice sounds like, and this isn''t my true figure. I''m hiding everything from everyone else. Anything else?"

    "How do you know my name?"

    The woman shrugged. "As someone who had saved your a** again and again, shouldn''t you be helpful?"

    "When did you-" Shane paused as he remembered a few instances in the past.

    Yes, someone dide to help him in the starting days. When Ed had thrown him into the sea of monsters when he had just entered the institute, someone had indeed helped him back then.

    So it was this woman? But why?

    He had a pure confused expression on his face. He knew he didn''t have any connection with this woman before. So why did she save him in the first ce?

    Hopeughed. "Don''t worry. I''ll tell you everything once you''re ready. For now, you''ll have to listen to me."

    "Why should I listen to you? I''m doing fine by myself." Shane didn''t want to have anything to do with this woman anymore.

    Hope raised her brows as she smiled. "Really? Let me show you something. I''m sure since you''re into hiding, you haven''t seen or heard a lot of news, especially since Dirt has disappeared."

    Shane was even more shocked. How does she know about Dirt?!

    "What¡­.What are you talking about?"

    "You don''t have to pretend. I won''t hurt you," said the woman before pausing and continuing. "Not anymore anyways."

    "So you were going to hurt me?!" Shane, still in his shocked mood, turned to nce at her.

    The woman shrugged. "How can you me me? Your aura is exactly like-"

    "-simr to the king of darkness," Shane sighed, "I know all that. Have heard it a lot from Ed''s mouth."

    "So what? You''re somehow sure I''m that person?"

    "Still not sure. But," the woman looked over at the sky as a nostalgic smile formed on her face, "he won''t be happy if I continue harming an innocent person. He was just that kind of person."

    Shane frowned after listening to that. He felt ufortable all over as he turned his head. Then he straightened his body and walked out of that ce.

    "I''m gonna call it a day. Call me when another jobes up. Just send me the money through text."

    After that, Shane didn''t linger any longer at that ce. He hurried away as if his tail was on fire. This woman seemed to have been making him ufortable. He hoped his choice today wouldn''t affect him negatively.

    Shane bid the woman goodbye and walked away. Behind him, the woman stood there leaning against the tree. She continued to watch his back until it vanished.

    "What a shame!" She sighed. "He really looks a lot like him, but his aura is childish. He''s not as ruthless yet. Should I just kill him?"

    She thought for a while and shook her head. "I don''t want to kill someone with that face. Damn it. This is a burden to me."

    "Then why did you include him in your ns?" A familiar voice echoed in the background.

    Hope turned back to see the hooded man behind her. She groaned.

    "Why are you following me?"

    "Duh, I''m your subordinate, ain''t I?"<sub> </sub>

    "Then act like one."

    "Tch. You don''t care about your subordinates. Just like that dead boss of yours."

    All of a sudden, Hope''s aura cooled down to the degree that the animals nearby trembled in fear. The dark aura that leaked out of her body turned her entire being into someone darker than the night. She looked like an Assassin who was about to make her first kill of the day.

    The hooded man took a step back instinctively. His face paled as he stared at her. Then he heard her voice.

    "Don''t¡­. Don''t ever utter his name. Do you hear me?"

    "Huh?" The man gulped, but he still tried to act cool. "Didn''t you like him? I remember you being head over heels to the point you couldn''t even handle the separation. Why do you hate him now?"

    "I don''t-" the woman sighed as she took a few deep breaths to control her dark aura. "-no point in talking to you. You useless punk. If you hadn''t been saved by our master personally, I''d have discarded you already."

    The man''s face was hidden in the shadows as he lowered his head. "Then why didn''t he stay long for me to get to know him? Why did he have to die when I was f*cking one month old?! I don''t even remember his face!"

    Hope stared at the man and hit him with her shoe. "Even though I can''t kick you out, I can still hit you! Don''t you dare to act as a victim to me, you get it? Now get your a** up and get back to the institute. Aren''t you still finding clues there?"

    "Fine, fine. You''re so stubborn. Geez." He rubbed his back as he walked away.

    Hope squinted her eyes and nced at the ce where Shane was standing. Then she sighed and turned away.

    Meanwhile, Shane had just gotten off work and had some food as he went to the graveyard to see Ed once more. He might also get an update from there about who killed them in the first ce. As he walked, he even hummed a song indicating that he was in a good mood.

    When he reached there, he saw everything was a mess. People were rushing here and there while the receptionist was making phone call after phone call with an anxious expression on her face.

    Just as the receptionist saw Shane, her expression froze as she quickly yelled, "Stop right there!"

    Shane tilted his head and didn''t move. Although he could force his way out, he just wanted to be a gentleman for once.

    The woman called the police as she red at the man. "How cruel! If you wanted to steal him, why did you send him here in the first ce?! You creepy b*stard!"

    Shane was even more confused now, but he had a terrible premonition in his heart. "What happened?"

    "What happened, you ask?" The woman chuckled. "Why don''t you see the dug-up grave of Master Ed?! Do you think I''m crazy enough to believe that you didn''t have a hand in this?!"

    Wait, did he hear it correctly? Dug up grave?!

    Shane took a deep breath to calm down. He had to deal with this current situation first. He couldn''t afford to get shocked at the moment.

    "I''m really innocent," said Shane without a trace of anxiety in his voice. "If you don''t believe me, ask my partner. I just came back from my three-day job. Where do you think I''d find an opportunity to dig up something?"

    "You must have found someone to do your job."

    Shane simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms on his chest. "You''ll say anything to prove your point without evidence. Bring the evidence that you''re so confident."

    "You-" the woman was about to curse him again when the officers arrived.

    This world had groups of officers working directly under the government to reduce the crime rate. They had special training to even capture the runaway and rogue systems who often hid in different worlds. So seeing them here wasn''t a surprising thing.

    Shane stood therepletely unfazed by the event. He watched the officersing closer to him as they stared at him for a moment.

    The main officer who looked slim and tall at the same time asked, "Are you the one who brought his dead body?"

    Shane nodded.

    "Come with us. We have to ask a few things."

    Shane shrugged.

    It took a few hours, but Shane finally managed to convince the entire police force that he was innocent. He was incidentally involved in the situation. Thanks to Dirt''s help, he had a fake identity officially that couldn''t be changed.

    It was just that the police couldn''t find those bodies anymore. Shane felt helpless aftering out of the station. He made his way on the road as he thought about sleeping when. He realized that he didn''t even have a home.

    He chuckled.

    All this time, he turned so busy doing his work that he didn''t even realize he hadn''t purchased a house here despite having enough ie in his ount. Well, he wasn''t toote. He should purchase a small house in his name at least.

    After deciding this, he walked away. But he was still curious. Who the heck was that person stealing Ed''s Dirt''s useless body? They didn''t have anything important on them. He had taken out everything he needed. Then why did it disappear out of the blue?

 Chapter 124 123. Time To Get Started!

    Shane found a small apartment in the ck market area of the Orient continent. To be honest, it looked more like the streets of the most poorly rated country in history. The corners of the streets and alleys were filled with garbage. The number of poverty-stricken people was so high that the roadside was covered with beggars. Some even went ahead and stole food from the stalls only to be beaten by the shopkeepers.

    Torn clothes hung in the galleries of the small apartments. The one where Shane lived temporarily was shabby in appearance. The paint on the walls peeled as the living room looked even smaller than an average kitchen of a middle-ss family.

    The only good thing was that this house had three rooms aside from the bathroom: one bedroom, one living room, and one kitchen. Right now, Shane was seated on his couch as he massaged his temples.

    It was already early in the morning when he was able to settle the purchase and buy some stuff for his house. By the time he was able to rest on the couch, it was already very early morning.

    He closed his eyes briefly as the faces of Ed and Dirt shed in front of his eyes. He abruptly opened them as he took a deep breath.

    He had to find them by hook or by crook. If not, he didn''t think he would be able to rest well.

    After taking a deep breath, he made a call quickly. The other person connected as a video appeared on the screen. A woman''s hand appeared as she fumbled for something in the dark.

    She grumbled. "Don''t you see the time while calling someone?! You don''t sleep, I get it. But let others sleep!"

    "Hope, I need a favor."

    The woman finally put on the hood and turned on the light. She mosaiced the background and raised her head.

    "Why? Don''t tell me you killed someone."

    "Do I look like a murderer to you?"

    The woman seemed like she was staring deeply at the man and nodded.

    Shane: "...."

    He took a deep breath and decided not to be affected by her attitude toward him. "I need a demonic realm''s job."

    "Why?" She finally got serious as her tone changed.

    "Don''t ask. Just find it."

    Hope was silent for a moment so much that Shane almost wondered if she would refuse cleanly without any hesitation. Just as he prepared a few words to speak in that case, he heard the woman speaking.

    "Fine. Consider it done. But what will you give me in exchange for that favor?"

    "Anything you want," Shane didn''t think too much when he said that.

    "Oh? Anything? What if I would ask you for your neck?"

    "My neck?" Shane touched his neck, feelingplicated.

    Even though he respected his master and that robot, he didn''t want to die for them. He hesitated for a long time. It seemed his hesitation continued for a while as Hope chuckled in amusement.

    "I was just kidding. Don''t need to die in front of me."

    "I wasn''t gonna do it anyway."

    "Good."

    "...."

    The two of them forgot about what they were discussing about because of this small, worthless argument. Hope coughed as she opened her mouth first to dispel this strange, awkwardness between them.

    "I''ll contact you in the afternoon with good news."

    After that, she hung up the call directly. Shane looked at the screen in aplicated manner.

    Until then, he decided to catch up on his sleep for a while. Then he would think about what else could be done in this situation. Without proper sleep, even if his body was better than that of a mortal, he would still end up with terrible health.

    He was toozy to move over to the newly brought bed. So he curled up on his couch and closed his eyes.

    Right outside the small apartment, there was a hooded man standing on a branch. He was staring inside the apartment with a hidden emotion in his eyes. No one could tell what he was thinking, but his cold and dark stare made him seem a little aloof.

    Suddenly, another figure appeared behind him. It was the same Dark who had attacked and killed Tess back in the institute. He chuckled when he observed the hooded man staring at an apartment through the window.

    "Boss, are you really so perverted to stare deeply with such intense emotion at someone of the same gender?" Dark clicked his tongue. "I didn''t think you were that kind of person."

    "Did you do what I tell you to?"

    The other hooded man sighed. "Yes. The bodies are safe. What do you want me to do?"<sub> </sub>

    "Keep them safe. Now get lost."

    "But boss¡­." Dark was clearly confused over what his boss was doing here so early in the morning. "Why are you standing here like this? Can''t we just kill him?"

    "No," replied the hooded man instantly. "Shane cannot die. No matter what, you can torment him however you like."

    "Is this the way you love someone?"

    "I don''t-" The hooded person sighed as if he didn''t want to exin himself. "Get out of here."

    "Okay, okay. Continue staring."

    After that, Dark bowed and shed away. Behind him, the hooded man still continued to stand there, staring at the living room inside the house. His gaze was nowhere near the ''love'' or ''affection'' thing that Dark was talking about. It felt more like a hint of nostalgia hidden in his eyes.

    His eyes squinted. "Really, I can''t seem to go back to those days anymore. So carefree, just like him."

    After saying such a mysterious sentence, his body also shed and vanished from that ce.

    Shane didn''t know that two people had been staring at him outside the window. He had forgotten to lower the curtains. When he woke up, it was already early afternoon. The notification continued to beep in his menu as he opened it up.

    It turned out Hope had called him several times already and even sent him a lot of messages. He quickly read through and realized what had happened.

    The woman was efficient in her work. She made sure to find him a good job this time, exactly the kind he had wanted.

    This time, his mission was clearly stated because she made connections to choose such a world for him. The world this time wasn''t chosen ording to the attributes but through secret connections from the insiders of this system world.

    Who knew what Hope did to get such a mission where Shane was supposed to destroy one of the worlds in the demonic realm? Very meticulous.

    For the first time after meeting the hooded woman, he felt that she was finally of some use. At least, she could find him different odd jobs at such a time. She seemed to have mysterious connections to help him.

    After thinking about this point, Shane decided not to kick her away. He sighed and called her.

    "Where to?"

    "I have sent you the teleportation link. Tonight. Eat ande. We will directly enter the system."

    "Okay."

    The two of them didn''t have anything to talk about. So they hung up quickly and Shane tidied himself up.

    The evening arrived too soon. Shane quickly teleported to that ce as he noticed a certain familiar hooded woman sitting at a restaurant in front of the teleportation center. He quickly went to fetch her.

    "Let me finish this first."

    Shane squinted his eyes. He didn''t even get enough time to have a proper meal. Since it was gettingte, he ate something hurriedly and went out. But this woman dared to make him wait!

    Hope was the one who had sent over the timing when they were supposed to enter. There were still ten minutes, but it would be wasted in the formalities with thepany. So they really had no time.

    He quickly fetched the cup in her hand and poured the liquid to the ground right in front of her widened eyes.

    "Hey!"

    "Done. Let''s go."

    "You-!" Hope said nothing after that as she huffed and walked behind him.

    She crossed her arms on her chest and decided not to talk to this rude young man.

    Shane finally felt rxed as she sighed. The two of them went to the smallpany that held the demonic realm virtual portal. Since this was a special portal, they also charged too much for this job. Shane looked at his almost empty ount as he sighed and decided to agree.

    He would take a risk just this once for the sake of his master and Dirt.

    After thinking about this, he paid and did the rest of the formalities before the two of them entered the world. For a moment, he felt dizzy as he held his forehead. When he finally arrived at a familiar ce inside his host''s mind, he looked around for Hope.

    The womany on the ground and closed her eyes as if she hadn''t slept all night.

    Shane had the urge to kick her, but he held back seeing their gender difference. Just how could a girl be sozy like this?!

    "Where am I?" A youthful voice echoed in the background.

    The host seemed to have woken up. Time to get started!

 Chapter 125 124. The Fish!

    Shane raised his brows upon hearing the voice. This time, he got a girl, a teenager at that.

    Wait, thest statement didn''t sound right¡­.

    Shane shook his head and decided to teach his host something about the menu. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard his host''s voice.

    "System, why aren''t you speaking?"

    Shane narrowed his eyes. "How do you know you have a system?"

    "This isn''t my first world, you know?"

    Shane felt it was logical. He stopped being confused about it and turned on the screen. He looked around.

    The ce where his host woke up was filled with trees and bushes. There was a stream flowing beside his host with clear water inside. Many fishes swimming about could be visible even at a distance. Birds chirped in the branches as they went about doing their work.

    On the banks on the other side, he could see a deer drinking water from the stream sip-by-sip.

    No matter how you look at the scene, it didn''t look like this ce belonged to a demonic realm, especially of a world that was about to be destroyed.

    Shane frowned upon seeing this scene. He felt that something was definitely wrong here. At the same time, his host leaned back against the tree as she chuckled.

    "Let''s bet, my dear system."

    "Excuse me, are we familiar yet?" Shane didn''t know why his host was acting like this.

    And why would he bet at this ce? Shouldn''t they start doing their job?

    The girl chuckled louder this time. "You''re really adorable little system."

    "Hey, I''m not little!" Shane had the urge to go outside and kick this girl.

    Sigh. Why was he starting to be a criminal who would go on hitting girls around the world? He shook his head and forced the topic back to the point. The girl was a teenager. Aside from being rebellious, they always focused on petty things that didn''t matter.

    "Let''s see what the mission is this time," Shane quickly opened the taskbar and stared at it for a while. "Sure enough. We have to destroy the world."

    "You didn''t answer me. Let''s make a bet."

    After saying that, the girl stood up and walked closer to the river. She smiled and bent. She pushed back the strand of ck hair behind her ears and touched the water''s surface with her fingers.

    "It''s cold."

    Shane rolled his eyes. "No sh*t."

    The girl immediately said, "I''ll get attacked once I touch these fishes. Hey, system, what would be the result if they really attacked me?"

    This girl was so unpredictable. He had thought she was just kidding or something, but she was actually doing her job like a good host. Shane frowned as he stared at the river.

    "I''m not sure," said Shane truthfully.

    "I want to bet that¡­. If I was able to fend them off, you''ll control my body and kill a hundred high-level demons for me."

    The girl even looked smug while saying that.

    "How do you know that I can control your body?"

    "Did you forget what I said earlier?" The teenager sighed. "You aren''t my first system."

    Right. But Shane still felt there was something wrong. He couldn''t point his finger just yet.

    "What if you can''t? What if you need my help?"

    "Then simple. I''ll be the one killing those demons. Agree?"

    "No," Shane said as he quickly disagreed with the terms. "I''m not here to y your little games."

    "Ah, you''re so uptight and boring."

    The girl sighed and directly inserted her finger into the water. Small fish swam up to her finger fast enough and started touching the skin, tickling the entire area. Sure enough. The girl was right, as she had predicted that the fish inside the stream were a group of demons.

    It really wasn''t strange for someone with brains to figure this out. After all, this was a demon world after all. Everything, including the trees and animals, was a group of demons.<sub> </sub>

    But the question was, how did this girl know this was a demon world? It seemed she had a high IQ.

    "What are you thinking, system? C''mon, focus!"

    "Right¡­." Shane stopped thinking and looked at the screen.

    The fish grew bigger and bigger enough to cause an injury to the finger. Blood poured into the water that spread around the ce. The fish around the finger greedily sucked it all in through their fins as their speed of growth became faster.

    "Time starts now," said the teenager as she raised her hand and sucked her injured finger in her mouth.

    The fish from the water grew so much that they couldn''t even be immersed in the water anymore. More than half of their bodies were out of the water as they red at the teenager with red eyes. ck aura poured out of their bodies as they continued to stare.

    Shane frowned. He quickly opened the host information.

    The girl was a teenager called Lia, and nothing else was mentioned here. Not even a single trace of her past. For some reason, this made Shane feel uneasy in his heart.

    Lia raised bent and took a few rocks in her hands. "System, tell me. What''s the thing that would hurt the group of fish the most?"

    "They''re cold-blooded creatures, and they can''t live on air. But here, we can clearly see them breathing about properly."

    The fish even fumed angrily upon seeing the teenager standing there without moving. Lia even smiled, making their fuming stronger.

    Shane said, "They can''t handle fire."

    "Exactly." The girl quickly held two stones in her hands and started making friction between them. "Fire can definitely help me defeat them without any worry."

    Shane looked at the zero bnce in his host''s ount and sighed. He should just let the host do what she was doing since there wasn''t anything he could help her with.

    The girl brightened up a branch with the help of a stone as she picked it up. She used a few branches and brightened them up quickly. Then she aimed one of them at the group of fish that had starteding closer to her. With a swing, she threw a branch toward the fish standing at the center.

    An ear-piercing scream echoed in the background at this time. It wasn''t of any female or male creature. It almost looked like a fierce animal or something of that kind had been hurt severely. The fire spread around to other fish in the group when Lia threw other branches at that group, creating a messy situation.

    Lia quickly clutched her ears as sheughed. "I had forgotten about this."

    Forgotten?

    "Eh. This isn''t the first time I havee here."

    That makes sense, then. His host hade here, and perhaps that was why she knew how to deal with these things. Once the screams subsided, all the fish in the groups were found dead as they fell into the water. The stream seemed to have been blocked as water started flowing in another direction, directly heading toward both West and north directions.

    Whether the stream flooded a demonic vige or not, this had nothing to do with Lia. all she wanted to do was destroy this ce once and for all. After that, she brushed the dust off her hands and raised her head.

    "Now, this ce will show us its real face."

    The beauty of the trees and stream quickly changed before Shane could even say another word. The trees lost leaves and turned darker and empty. The stream that had clear water earlier changed into blood. Even the ground where Lia was standing quickly turned deserted without any beautiful bushes.

    The birds chirping changed into crows with ferocious beaks colored ck with deep red eyes ncing about.

    "So this is what it actually looks like. What we saw before was an illusion created by those demons in water."

    Shane nodded as if he understood what his host was saying. These days, he was bing more and more fortunate as he started getting better and wiser hosts. He quickly looked at the taskbar and squinted his eyes.

    "To destroy this world, we have to find the king of this world and kill him," said Shane as he started looking for the radar.

    "Oh, him? I know that ce. Easy peasy, but first," Lia paused as she started walking toward another direction, deeper into the forest, "let us earn some money, shall we? You might have gotten some Crana. Take a look."

    Shane nced at the host information tab and indeed, the girl was right. A lot of Crana was gifted by the viewers from the system world. He opened the shopping button and looked at the screen.

    "What do you want me to purchase?" Since his host was so knowledgeable, he might as well ask her for that.

    The girl thought for a while and said, "Choose something rted to shadows."

    "Shadows?" Shane frowned as he started searching for it.

    "Yes, after all, my attribute is the same."

    Shane was surprised to see that his host knew about the attribute thing. He quickly nced at the information tab. Sure enough, her attribute was shadows.

 Chapter 126 125. Forget It!

    Lia shed one of the shadows of a demon guard secretly while hiding herself. As soon as the shadow was hurt, the demon guard with horns on his head screamed at the top of his voice. When the other guard heard it, he instantly became vignt. He raised his sword and waved it in front of him like crazy.

    "Who''s there?! Show yourself!"

    Lia clicked her tongue as she whispered, "Like hell, I''ll do that."

    She sneaked over and hid behind a tree nearby, closer to the other guard who was still alive and looking here and there for the enemy. She quickly used her shadow sword that she had purchased not too long ago and hit the guard''s shadow from the pointed tip of it.

    The guard screamed at the top of his voice and fell to the ground soon after. Blood soon gushed out of his head.

    Lia came out of the shadows. Her gaze was cold as she stared at the dead bodies. Then she raised her head and nced at where she had arrived.

    It was a demonic city, where the demon king of this world was living. Other viges around this city weren''t worth visiting. So Lia didn''t even show herself or kill anyone else. She simply traveled at the speed of lightning and reached the main gates of this city soon after that.

    So it had only been half an hour since she had started for the city area. After killing the guards, she dragged their bodies aside as she tapped to the ground with her sword. Two shadows raised in the air and transformed into two guards who looked simr to the ones who had died earlier.

    Lia smiled. "Take care of this ce. Don''t let anyone find out about me. Get it?"

    The guards nodded.

    After seeing this scene, Shane was shocked. He stared at the guards and watched as the girl opened the gate and entered leisurely.

    "How did you do that?" Shane remembered he hadn''t purchased any skill to do that.

    "The guards? I have some built-in skills. Don''t worry about it."

    Shane frowned. Since thest time, his hosts had started to be strange. Was it because he didn''t have any real experience of being in the field? It must be because he only had ever had hosts during his institute days. After entering the employment world, things change drastically, making one realize what they learned in schools and universities was just one percent of what they were supposed to face in real life.

    Even after death he had to face these troubles. Even though he was already in the university back on Earth, he was had a part-time job too that helped him save some bucks. It was a hard juggle between the job life and studies. Guess he would have to repeat the same thing over again in this world just in an extremely harsh environment.

    It was a good thing that his hosts these days were good enough to give him less tension. They all did their job without asking him help. He hadn''t even used the body controlling option for two jobs already!

    Was this what heaven feels like?

    Lia quickly entered the and hid in the shadows. The street was filled with several monsters of different shapes and sizes. Some of them were even chewing someone''s legs, raw. Her nose wrinkled upon seeing that scene as she turned away and nced about

    "Let''s see. That guy is up on that street," she pointed out to the left side filled with regr demons and shops. "But to get there, we have to cross this sea of demons and monstersing along."

    "I know you can do it," said Shane as he rxed on the ground and shook the hooded girl''s body.

    She didn''t wake up.

    "A, I never thought you would be the kind of motivate your hosts!"

    Shane suddenly cringed at that. Sure enough. A teenager was simply a teenager no matter how much experienced host she became.

    After that, Lia practically went on a killing spree. She used her shadow sword to kill people one after another without letting them touch her hair. She continued her work as she ruthlessly massacred everyone on that street.

    Suddenly, a few generals and soldiers rushed out of the pce when Lia wasing closer to it. They all had noticed something like this happening from the watch tower already, and the king sent a few soldiers to deal with thedy.

    "Kill her!" The general spoke as she raised his sword.

    His entire face was covered with a ckishplexion as his horn shone brightly under moonlight. His entire body was hairy except for his palms and face, looking extremely strange person. He wore golden suit with silver design.

    This guy didn''t seem to have any fashion sense.

    Lia ignored that and continued to kill others ruthlessly. Then she went ahead and killed the soldiers one after another.

    "No, where is she? Find her!" The general felt ayer of cold sweat forming on his neck. "Stop her at all cost! It''s the lord''s order!"<sub> </sub>

    "Tch. Go to hell!" Lia yelled as she thrust the sword to the ground and muttered a spell undder her breath. "Thank you for apaning me to practice today. I used to think my skills had be rough, but I was wrong. I''m still power enough to deal with all of you alone!"

    Shane wasa amazed at how fast Lia''s body shed one after another. And now, she was disying another powerful technique that she had hidden with her. Energy poured out of the sword and entered the ground, grabbing the shadows of everyone around her in two meters. Then the energy started tearing the shadows apart like it was nothing. After a while, ear-piercing screams could be heard in that area.

    By the time she was done, the street and the front end of the pce was filled with dead bodies ruthlessly torn apart. Thick stench of blood and mucus spread around the ce. If there was a normal person, she would have puked her guts out just like how Shane did when he first came into this world.

    Too bad. Shane had grown ustomed to such a scene and Lia wasn''t a normal teenager either.

    After getting rid of all the demons at the gate, Shane asked, "What are we going to do now?"

    "Leave it to me. Do you know anything about the current demon king of this world?"

    "Nope," said Shane as he frowned. Why did he feel like this girl was an encyclopedia or something?

    "He''s filled with rage. Our goal shouldn''t just be to kill him, you know? We have to trigger him into sting his body. That way, we can get him to destroy this world automatically."

    "So he''s that powerful, huh?"

    "Yeah, but that guy doesn''t have an inkling of it thanks to a certain demon lord."

    "Are you talking about Dark?" Shane knew that this girl must have been aware of certain things.

    So he might as well ask the questions he was curious about.

    All of a sudden, Lia''s expression turned cold and serious as if she wasn''t a girl who had been smiling and killing a lot of people just now. Even Shane felt a chill down his spine upon seeing this scene. He frowned after hearing her words.

    "What do you know about Dark?"

    "Well¡­." Shane remembered how his sister had been killed, but he still couldn''t help but feel detached as if it weren''t his sister in the first ce. "He killed someone¡­."

    "Someone? Who?"

    Shane quickly changed the subject as if wasn''tfortable to talk about Tess''s death. Even though he didn''t feel as attached to her anymore, which was entirely a strange subject he needed to think about, she was still his sister. How could he be to cruel and ruthless as to forget that he cared about her once?

    He should have been unable to sleep at night because of the loss of a family member, just like how he used to feel after dying. But right now, his situation was certainly strange. He didn''t know what to do anymore.

    So it was better not to talk about it to someone strange.

    "I think Dark must be the one who stole my master''s body."

    "Oh? You have a master? Good." Lia smiled and said, "So what if he took your master''s body? Are you that attached to him?"

    "No¡­." That was the truth that blurted out of Shane''s mouth.

    Now when he thought about it, he clearly wasn''t attached. He was just obliged to them because they saved his life. He didn''t want to owe anyone, even to a dead person. He frowned upon thinking of this. He felt a scrary feeling embracing his heart that made him feel aloof from the entire world.

    It was as if Shane was standing at one side, looking down at the entire world from the sky.

    "Forget it. Just make sure to find the information about the demon lord." Shane changed the subject and stopped talking about Dark.

    Even though Lia seemed to know something, he knew she wouldn''t tell him about it. So what was the use of trying to get her mouth open? He would end up opening his mouth in the end, telling her about the things that he shouldn''t.

    Just as he was thinking about it, a roar echoed from inside the dark pce.

    Lia grinned. "Let''s kill that b*stard, shall we?"

 Chapter 127 126. Ed?!

    Lia raised her sword and rushed toward the demon king. She screamed and attacked the demon with her shadow sword. As she did, she opened her mouth and spoke:

    "System, I don''t think this will be sessful."

    Right. She seemed to know everything about this world. Did she fight the man before?

    As if answering his question, "Yeah, I fought him before. It''s a big headache no matter how many times I fight him."

    Shane frowned. How many times has she gotten into this world already? He was about to ask something about it when he heard his host''s words again.

    "Get ready for some action."

    "What action?"

    "Just be aware. I''m going to try something here."

    Shane frowned, but he didn''t ask. He had a strange urge to trust this girl for some reason. He rested in the space as he continued to watch it. This job had suddenly be heaven for him. He never had imagined that after getting kicked out of the institute, his days would turn so better.

    He had an apartment, a good enough job, money to spend, and even a business partner who was ready to do anything he asked for. For some reason, he felt like this small peace didn''te to him for free.

    It almost looked like a hint of calmness before the tide.

    He shook his head and decided to focus on the task currently.

    His host was still fighting head-on with the demon king. The demon''s body was giant so Lia looked like a small animal in front of that person. Not only that, the demon also had so much ck hair on his body that it was hard to find his face. If not for those red eyes, Shane didn''t think he would have been able to determine that the demon''s head was so big.

    Shane squinted his eyes. He remembered his host saying that they would have to make the demon self-destruct for this world to be destroyed. Sure, he was ready for that. But how to force a demon to that stage?

    If it were a human, it would be easy to make themmit suicide. All he would have to do was make them emotionally unstable. Not that he would actually do it, but it was way easier.

    Demons though¡­. He still didn''t know anything about them. Were they emotionally entangled? Did they have a weakness that could be used to trigger them?

    Shane didn''t know. Since Lia knew so much about this demon king, he might as well rest back and watch what she was doing.

    Lia fought the demon for a long time, but she still couldn''t trigger the demon. In the end, the demon only got angrier as he roared, causing Lia to clutch her ears. She red at that thing.

    "Fine. Let''s do this then!"

    What was she going to do?

    Just as Shane was about to ask her about it, he heard Lia speaking an unknown spell. He frowned. For some reason, those words seemed familiar, but he didn''t know where he had heard them. It almost felt like a deja vu experience or something.

    He couldn''t figure out anything before as the entire world in front of his eyes started to crumble. He felt dizzy all of a sudden.

    "Wh-What''s happening?" Just what did he host do?

    "Rx," said Lia in a soothing voice, "and I''ll help you see the demon''s memories. I never thought this spell could work here. I guess I can do more things now."

    Shane frowned as he tried to reduce the dizziness by shaking his head repeatedly, but he failed. In the end, he closed his eyes and let himself go with the flow. The next time he opened his eyes, he was standing side by side with Lia in a very familiar ce.

    The institute?!

    Shane couldn''t help but stare at that gate. Even though the gate looked like an ancient version of the current one back in the system world, he could still recognize that ce.

    What just happened?

    How did he end up standing here with Lia?

    The teenager beside him grimaced, "Why did we have toe here out of all ces even in the memories?"

    "You know this ce?" Shane blurted out.

    "Of course!" Lia smiled and offered no exnation whatsoever.

    Only after calming down did Shane realize that Hope didn''te with him. He nced about, but he couldn''t find her anywhere. He frowned and decided to ask herter.

    Lia saw his expression and said, "Let''s go inside."

    The two of them entered. Shane was about to follow her when he remembered he wasn''t wee at this ce. And he didn''t think he wore a mask here¡­.

    He touched his face and sure enough, he wasn''t wearing his mask.

    Wait, so Lia actually saw his real face!<sub> </sub>

    "Don''t worry. We won''t be seen or touched. Now c''mon!" Lia practically dragged him out of that ce.

    Shane and Lia walked inside the building and saw Ed standing in the open ground with a row of students standing in front of him. They were all new students who didn''t know anything about being a system.

    After seeing that, Shane stood there, frozen. He seemed to have transferred to the time when he had just gotten reincarnated in this world. Back then, he had just witnessed something gross and wasn''t in his right mind. So he even challenged Ed back then¡­.

    Those days were the most precious days¡­.

    He suddenly felt a bit nostalgic.

    Lia said all of a sudden, "Ah, this reminds me of something."

    "What?"

    "The time when I stalked one of my juniors."

    Shane''s lips twitched. "Why did you stalk someone?"

    He couldn''t imagine a teenager stalking someone, a junior at that. Doesn''t that mean she was chasing after a child?!

    "It was a misunderstanding," she coughed and changed the topic. "Let''s go and find our demon."

    "But why are we here?" Shane finally asked since he realized she even knew about this institute. "This is a ce in my system world."

    "Hmm¡­. I have visited the system world." Lia smiled. "Did you think we only have missions in the mortal ce? You''re wrong. The system world missions prioritize the most. You''ll understand it someday."

    Shane frowned when he heard her words. To be honest, he would always feel ufortable upon hearing this host of his. He wished to be done with this job and go back to rx.

    Just then, he heard a familiar voice speaking that he hadn''t heard for a long time already. "James! Come here! Did I teach you to do that?!"

    A blond guy walked out of the crowd and stood in front of Ed with his head lowered. Ed watched the guy for a while as he waved his hand in a familiar manner.

    "Come with me."

    The crowd disperesed as the scene vanished from there. Another scene appeared out of the blue. It was Ed''s office with the same blond guy appearing there at the same time. The guy stood there with a hint of anxiousness in his eyes. He couldn''t raise his head to look at his teacher.

    Ed sighed as he put down his pen. "Do you know what you''ve done?"

    The blondy fell to his knees as he sobbed. "I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to kill him!"

    "No, you didn''t just kill him," Ed got up from his seat and walked over. "You destroyed him. He would never be able to be immortal now. Do you understand?"

    "Bu-But teacher, didn''t you say nothing would happen if I just ended up colluding with the demons? They killed him!" The blondy cried until he started huping. "I never wanted to approach the demons."

    "But you only asked me if there was a shortcut to passing the institute with flying colors, didn''t you?" Ed sneered. "Now you''re backing away?"

    "Wh-What should I do?" The blondy wiped his eyes.

    His eyes looked puffy and red.

    "Don''t say a word about the dead. You''ll be fine."

    "Really?"

    "Tch," Lia finally couldn''t hold back from clicking her tongue. "Such a pretentious and hypocrite of a teacher. I hate such guys. Am I right, system?"

    She turned to nce at Shane, who was standing frozen at his spot. His entire face had turned pale as if he had just witnessed a horror scene.

    Ed, out of all people, was colluding with the demons. Not only that, he even urged his student to find a demon as a shortcut to passing the institute! How in the world could that happen?

    Shane guessed that the demon must be this blondy. Wasn''t that why they were constantly following him around in these memories?

    He didn''t want to ept it. Even though he never really followed his master, he knew that the bald man wasn''t all that bad. But now, after all this time, this world was telling him that he was wrong in figuring out a person.

    How could that be?!

    The scene suddenly vanished without a trace, revealing the open ground again. This time, the blondy was standing in front of everyone as the students had pale faces. Ed was also there, standing at the center with him with his hands folded on his chest.

    The blondy''s expressions weren''t right at the moment. A ck aura surrounded his body as he looked at everyone in a dazed way. He suddenly nced at Ed andughed.

    "Teacher, you shouldn''t have guided me. Look what happened! Hahahahaha!!!!"

 Chapter 128 127. Confusion?

    "Hey, are you okay?" Lia looked concerned as she nced at Shane.

    Thetter blinked as he came back to himself. He nodded and lowered his head. No one could see the expression on his face after that.

    A few momentster, he raised his head. He seemed to mask his emotions to the depths of his eyes and stared at the scene with a frown on his forehead.

    "We can use this scene to trigger the demon."

    Lia narrowed her eyes, but said nothing about it. She nodded as she uttered a spell under her breath. In the blink of an eye, the two came out of that memory to the present world. The demon with hair all over his body became even more agitated. It seemed they had just remembered the demon of his sore spot.

    The demonic red eyes nced at Lia in utter anger. Then a horrific roar echoed from his mouth.

    Lia scoffed. "You demon, you were a system once, weren''t you? What happened to you? Or should I ask, what did Ed do to you?"

    Shane was already back in his system space as he stared at the screen with aplicated look. He didn''t know whether to rejoice upon finding a clue or to feel sad. The person''s dead body he wanted to save himself had issues. He had his suspicion of Dark, the demonic being who killed Tess.

    Now he suddenly found out that Ed was himself colluding with them¡­..

    Shane felt his breathing erratic as he continued to think about this. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. It didn''t matter anymore now that he had found out. It might even be a misunderstanding since he didn''t know the entire picture.

    That''s right. He didn''t have to be so anxious about it anymore.

    After thinking about it, Shane quickly got up and said, "Ask him about Ed. Did he really collude with the demons?"

    Lia raised her brows. "Well, sure. Won''t you ask me about how I know Ed''s name?"

    "You havee here. So you must have met him already. Why should I ask you unnecessary questions?"

    Lia nodded and turned toward the demon, dodging another attack as she yelled, "Demon, Ed really colluded with the demons?!"

    Thetter roared even louder this time as if saying yes.

    Shane sighed. He suppressed the emotion in his heart and focused on the screen.

    "You''re a mess. You know that? Ed used you for his benefit, forcing you to be a demon," Lia''s voice wasced with a strange coldness that made Shane shiver from head to toe. "He continued his teacher''s duty until death, leaving you all alone in this world to be a demon."

    "Ed''s dead¡­.?" the demon finally opened his mouth and spoke.

    His voice was hoarse as if he hadn''t drunk water for a long time already. The demon paused his steps as his entire body froze for a moment. Suddenly, his entire body was covered with a ck aura. He roared at the top of his voice.

    "HOW THE HECK CAN HE DIE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION?! I WAS SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!!!!!"

    Lia scoffed as she dodged another attack from the demon. "Come on, Demon King. Is that the best you can do?"

    "You will pay for your insolence, girl. I will destroy you."

    "Sure," said Lia, silently pulling out a sword from her inventory, pointing the tip straight toward the demon''s neck. "I''d like to see you try. You''re not exactly scaring me, you know."

    "You will regret your words. I will make you suffer." The Demon King finally raised his paws and attacked the girl.

    "Oh, I don''t think so. You''re all talk and no action. Prove me wrong, Demon King."

    "You will regret this. I will make you regret this."

    Shane watched as the two went back and forth like this without stopping. He finally got a headache.

    "Why are you chatting with him?"

    "Don''t you see? I''m forcing this guy to be angrier. He might end up self-destructing because of frustration, you know?"

    No one said a word after that. The Demon King started getting increasingly frustrated as he kept losing against Lia.

    "You can never defeat me,dy," said the demon as he attacked the girl again.

    Lia clicked her tongue, easily removing the danger, and attacked with her sword. She didn''t even use magic to defeat the demon, as if she was trying to show off her skills in front of Shane.

    "You''re getting slower, Demon King. I can see the fear in your eyes."

    Demon King really sweated, but he pressed his lips and said, "You think you can beat me, girl? I''m the strongest creature in this world. I''m not afraid of you."<sub> </sub>

    "Then why are you shaking? You''re losing your power. I can feel it."

    "No! I''m not losing to you. I''m just getting started," said the Demon King as he gritted his teeth and attacked her.

    "I don''t think so. You''re weak, and you know it. You can''t beat me," Lia''s tone seemed maic in Shane''s ears as he watched the fight. "You are so powerless. I can fight Ed head-on, but you, you don''t even stand shoulder to shoulder with him. You''re just trash who that hypocrite of a teacher used. Are you going to let him ruin your life like this? Are you?"

    Her words seemed to have broken a thread within the demon''s body. Thetter trembled as a dark aura surrounded his body swiftly.

    "YOU DAREEEEE!!!!!" The demon roared at the top of his lungs as energy sted out of his body.

    "It''s over, Demon King. You''re finished."

    Those words were thest straw that provoked the demon. Before he was about to st outpletely, Lia spoke first.

    "Goodbye, Shane. We''ll meet next time."

    Before Shane could say anything, the demon sted his body. His energy was so hot and boiling that it burned up the entire worldpletely. At this time, the whole demonic realm felt a tremor because of that.

    When Shane opened his eyes the next moment, he was already back in the space where he had started with the hooded girl. He sat on the ground for a moment, reflecting on what had happened.

    The information he got was too much to process. His brain seemed to have malfunctioned at the moment.

    First, Ed had something to do with the demons.

    Second, Lia wasn''t an average person and even know his name.

    Third, he didn''t even ask her about it!!!!

    Shane pressed his finger on his forehead. Just then, he received a kick. He raised his head to see an angry hooded girl standing before him.

    "Are you done sulking?! Or do you want to be even more shocked?"

    Shane lowered his head and the expression on his face. He took a deep breath and got up on his feet.

    "I''m fine."

    "That''s better," the hooded woman crossed her arms on her chest. "Because I need your help with something."

    "My help?" Shane tilted his head, still in a dazed condition.

    "Yeah. We have to go to another job. Rest for an hour and meet me at the ck market shop. See ya."

    After that, Shane came home. He was still confused and bewildered. He just went to bed without having dinner and slept for an hour.

    It was Hope''s call that woke him up from his deep sleep. By this time, Shane had already sorted his emotions as he epted the call.

    He had thought he didn''t care about anything, but he did. Even though Ed wasn''t aspetent, that bald man was still his master in the name. At least, Dirt was still the person he owed. So howe things turned out this way?

    Shane looked at the girl who had an angry expression on her face as she yelled, "Do you see what time it is?! Howe you''re still at home?"

    He looked at her background and said, "You''re also not there yet."

    "You-" She was about to say something when Shane opened his mouth.

    "I''ll be there in five."

    After that, he hung up the call and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He remembered he still had Dirt''s power. He opened his stats, and sure enough. Time was added to his attribute. He closed his menu and thought for a while.

    Since he didn''t know many things, he might as well think about how to get into the past to see through reality. At least, he might be peaceful after learning the entire truth. But the question was, who would tell him what he needed to do? Dirt wasn''t around to teach him the power of time.

    Although he did have the robot''s database¡­.

    He could see Dirt''s videos and learn. He might even find clues about Ed and why he colluded with demons back then.

    After making his decision, he got up and washed his body. He then put on some clean clothes and walked straight toward the familiar building.

 Chapter 129 128. A New World!!!

    When Shane went into the building and walked upstairs, he faced an angry hooded girl. She red at him.

    "When did I ask you toe?" The girl pointed at her wristwatch. "Ten minutes ago. You said you''ll be there in five. What happened to that?"

    Shane felt awkward in his heart. He knew that he waste because c''mon, who in the world could get ready so early? At least, he wasn''t one of those people who could bathe, freshen up, and eat all in five minutes. He needed fifteen minutes for that.

    When he said nothing, the girl got angrier. She pointed her finger at the man.

    "What the f*ck are you standing there for?! Get ready. We''re going on a ride."

    "Huh?" Shane tilted his head.

    Since he was still in a shocked state, he couldn''te up with a clear reply. So he just hummed and gestured to her to move away so that he could enter the room.

    Hope huffed and walked out of that ce. Then she moved closer to the portal that was avable at the center of the room.

    "I know you came here before. So let''s enter."

    "But, why do you need my help?" Shane frowned. "You can do things on your own, aren''t you?"

    That was a sarcasticment. Every time he did a job with her, she would be resting leisurely while he would end up doing all the work. What was even more annoying was that Hope never epted her mistakes, urging him to do her duty shamelessly.

    He had never seen a brazen woman like her before. She hadpletely changed the view of women in his mind.

    When Hope saw that the man''s expression turned stranger and stranger, she coughed and said, "Let''s go."

    The caretaker of this building was nowhere to be found. So Shane could safely assume that Hope had dealt with that person on her own. So finally, after a little argument, the two of them entered the ce.

    As soon as Shane opened his eyes after entering, he stood in his host''s mind. He didn''t even get to choose the type of world in the system space. So, did Hope do that either?

    He shook his head and decided not to think about it anymore. Even though he was still shocked, he wasn''t so ipetent to let someone else do his job. The next time, he would search for a world instead of depending on Hope for this. He felt awkward letting a girl do all the work.

    After thinking of this, he turned to his temporary partner and found her sleeping soundly on the ground. Again.

    The corners of his eyes twitched. "What the heck? Did you just invite me to be your recement here?!"

    No reply.

    Shane sighed and turned on the screen. It seemed the host had just gotten up.

    This time, the host said nothing as he stood up and started looking around. Yes, his host was a young man with specs on the bridge of his nose. His white shirt made him look like he was going to an interview when he was forced into this world.

    The young man frowned as soon as he stood up. He was somehow locked outside a vi with a bunch of people around him who had just gotten up. They were all confused.

    "Wh-Where am I?"

    "Wasn''t I just driving home? How the f*ck did Ie here?"

    "Ah, is this the legendary game that all novels talked about?"

    Some of them didn''te here the first time. This was probably nth world for them.

    "Ah, so what kind of world is this?"

    "I have a feeling it would be a gaming world since so many people are there."

    "I smell a mystery."

    Shane frowned. His host was the only one who remained silent. So he couldn''t tell whether or not the other man was a newbie.

    He would never understand why hosts would continue entering one world after another when they have time to fulfill one wish after ending their respective missions. Perhaps these people were the ones who could not fulfill their missions in their first world.<sub> </sub>

    Just then, the door opened, and an old butler walked out of the room. He was partially bald with hair on the side. His hair had turned white and wrinkles appeared on his face. When he smiled and showed his teeth, he looked exactly like a blobfish that was trying its best to smile.

    Even though this was the thought that most people had in their heads, none of them dared to say a word. Even the newbies trembled under the cold and dark gaze of the butler. Thetter''s red eyes stared at everyone in utter coldness.

    It almost felt like they were being stared at by a dead zombie or something. They could even see deep red marks starting from the back of his neck like veins appearing on him.

    "Wee to the Forestford. I see everyone''s arrived. Let''s go in, shall we?"

    No, why should we enter this fort? The entire ce gave an eerie feeling as if something terrible was about to happen. Around the dark fort that looked like it was taken out from a horror movie, there was empty ground with dried-up trees.

    The moon hung up at the top, brightening up the surrounding, but no one seemed to be feeling at ease because it was a full moon. Crows cawed at the top of their voices as they flew past the trees and sat at the top of the pce''s roof.

    The entire scene screamed that something was wrong with this ce.

    Shane''s host narrowed his eyes. "System, why aren''t you saying anything?"

    Suddenly, Shane felt like he heard that sentence before. But before he could mull over it, his host spoke again.

    "System? Did you die or something?"

    "....I''m here," said Shane as he looked at the butler. "Let me send you to the world setting and storyline."

    He was so busy seeing the surrounding that he even forgot about the storyline. He was gettingzy these days.

    Shane quickly read the storyline and found that there was only one sentence.

    Wee to the Forestford.

    That''s it?

    Shane blinked and scanned the page again. Nope. there wasn''t anything down there to help him with. He scanned the mission and finally gained some information.

    "Find the murderer and kill him."

    Just as he was thinking about this information, he heard the hosts around the man in specs wailing, "No, why is there only one sentence?! Ahhh, I don''t want to do this anymore."

    "Why did you bring me here? I want to get out of this ce!!!!"

    The butler''s eyes cooled down. The strange smile on his face vanished without a trace. A dark aura flooded out of his body, spreading around the ce without stopping.

    Everyone outside stoppedining. They suddenly felt spine-deep coldness, making them shiver from head to toe. Shane looked at the scene and used the time when everyone was suppressed by the butler to nce at his host''s information.

    The body of his host was called David, and the man was actually a university student before he was captured and sent here to this ce. Others were also probably like this. Unfortunately, aftering here, all of them ended up dying because of some strange reason. No one mentioned why all the students who were chosen toe here died one after another.

    So after that, several hosts with systems took up the challenge toe to this ce. But why? Shane knew that every time he would get a job, it was always rted to the destruction of the world. This was the second time he got such a mission where he didn''t have to destroy anything.

    So if everything was rted to karma, why in the world would there be a realm that didn''t have to be destroyed? Shane could clearly see that this world was haunted, needing to be destroyed as soon as possible. So why the main mission wasn''t to get rid of this horror realm?

    Or could it be that these ghosts hadn''t killed enough people to have enough bad karma on their shoulders to have this ce destroyed?

    Where exactly was this ce? After reading through the storyline, Shane found out that the university students had gotten an email to enter this ce and receive a prize for thepetition they took part in. Shane didn''t know what kind ofpetition it was, but he could tell it wasn''t anything better.

    So was this ce connected to another realm just like that gaming world?

    Shane''s brows furrowed as he thought more about it. Since he couldn''te up with anything, he didn''t think much about it and focused on the mission at present.

    By this time, the students had already gotten their wits together and stood on the ground. The old butler smiled again as he opened his mouth.

    "Get ready. You guys want the reward, don''t you? So what are you waiting for? Let''s enter!"

 Chapter 130 129. The Palace!

    Everyone slowly entered the ce one after another. The butler was standing to the side as he stared at the people entering from the side. Once everyone was inside, he simply closed the door and walked forward.

    Others were amazed after seeing the interior of the pce. Even though it looked like a spooky ce from the outside, the interiors were quite enchanting. The ce was decorated to the brim, making it look like it was set aside for some kind of ball. The newbie hosts couldn''t contain their expressions as they looked around in surprise.

    Only David and other experienced hosts remained aloof to the enchantment. They knew too well that behind such a beautiful appearance, there was some kind of beastly mission hidden inside to trouble them endlessly. The more beautiful it was, the harder the world.

    At this time, all of them had grim expressions on their faces. But they choose to ignore the newbies and let thetter learn what kind of dangerous world this was!

    Shane narrowed his eyes as he looked around. He had read the mission, and from the background, he received on the host''s body, he could tell a murder either urred or was about to happen.

    From what he could see, the murder hadn''t urred yet. It meant that someone was about to die during their stay here tonight. Perhaps he should tell his host to be careful.

    Before he could open his mouth, his host said, "I''ll stay inside the room. Who knows what may happen?"

    Shane instantly understood that even his host was thinking the same thing as him. He silenced as he continued to watch.

    The butler finally opened his mouth as he stood between two stairs behind him. "Wee. We will provide you with a week''s stay. You can enjoy this ce, and we''ll give you rewards before sending you off. You''ll be given keys to your rooms, don''t worry. We hope you''ll enjoy this ce and leave a five-starment on our website."

    Shane raised his brows. Now even ghosts have websites? That''s new.

    The butler called out a few servants who handed the keys to the guests. Then they all took the hosts upstairs to show them the ce.

    The entire pce was divided into two areas. One was to enjoy, and another was to stay. Upstairs were covered with different rooms for guests. Even after giving it to others, many were left unopened. The corridor was filled with different kinds of ancient paintings. In some ces, they could see ship sailing while some pics had painted a tornado, depicting the deaths of several people at once.

    After the hosts freshened up, they were shown the entertainment area downstairs. Aside from the hall at the center, there were several rooms attached to it on both the left and the right sides. One of the rooms had a living room arrangemnt with a few couches and a tea table. Tablemps and ancient-looking artifacts hung on the wall to make the room look even more alluring.

    Everyone stared at the scene in a daze. Then the servants took them to another room. It had a swimming pool and several changing rooms attached. The water looked clear and deep, making them lick their lips.

    Beside it was the restaurant where the guests would have their meals and party whenever they wanted to. A kitchen was attached to the other end of the restaurant.

    Other than that, they also had several gaming rooms and even a library.

    The pce was even more entertaining than they thought. Except for electricity, TV, and aputer, everything was there. Even the games in the gaming rooms were meant to be yed offline such as badminton, tennis, ser, and others.

    The entire group of hosts roamed about for a while beforeing back to the hall. The butler was still standing in the exact same position, looking like an obedient person waiting on his master. If they ignored his expression, especially the look in his eyes, they would have been fooled by this person.

    In the end, the butler opened his mouth. "The only thing you need to do is remain behind your doors, locked after the sunset. You''re not allowed to wander the corridors at the night. Understand?"

    For a moment, everyone else felt that the look in the man''s eyes had be even darker and colder than before. Butler looked even more terrifying at this time.

    It wasn''t until the hosts nodded did the butler''s expressions eased as he nodded at the servants and said, "It''s time for your dinner. Are you ready?"

    At five in the evening? Wasn''t this butler hurrying too much?

    But no one dared to utter another word. After all, they felt cold deep in their bones after seeing that threatening look in the butler''s eyes. They obediently followed the butler and entered the restaurant. They were guided by the servants to sit in their chairs as a few waiters brought them food.

    It looked enchanting and hot. Nothing seemed out of ordinary. So everyone else but a few experienced hosts started digging in.

    David narrowed his eyes and ignored the food ced on his table. The butler nced at him suddenly and raised his brows.

    "Isn''t food up to your standard? Do you want anything else?"

    That threatening look came back. David''s eyes shed with a thought as he smiled and raised his head.

    "It''s good, but you see, I''m suffering from sickness these days. I can''t eat much, otherwise, I''d end up vomiting it all out. If you want me to puke, I''ll start. Should I?"

    The butler''s expression froze as he stood there without moving. It seemed that this was the first time he had ever heard saying those words. For a moment, the muscles of his face twisted before regaining his natural look.

    He smiled. "We''ll prepare medicines."<sub> </sub>

    David waved his hand. "Don''t bother. I have been given an injection by the doctor. He said I shouldn''t eat anything for a week."

    The butler''s lips twitched. "Then¡­ At least, drink water."

    "Why are you insisting that I should eat or drink something offered by you?"

    Only now did the newbies who were busy stuffing food in their mouths pause and nced at David. A few smart ones realized that something was probably wrong with the food. They instantly regretted eating it. But now that they had already eaten, what should they do?

    Finally, one of the experienced hosts opened his mouth. "Let''s calm down, shall we? Those who don''t want to eat, don''t. Those who want to eat, go ahead. Why are we getting serious about it?"

    Others calmed down and resumed eating. Since they had already eaten, nothing could get any worse. They might as well enjoy it.

    David scoffed and crossed his arms. He continued to stare at the group of people stuffing their mouths and stayed there until the others were done. After that, they got up and started wandering about.

    "System," asked David as he separated from others and scanned the corridor upstairs, "are these real paintings?"

    "I don''t think so." Shane could swear he saw something moving in one of the paintings on the side.

    "I think so too."

    As they looked around, the time to be locked inside their rooms came sooner than expected. A long bell rang into the background, making several hosts jolt in shock. The butler''s voice echoed through the speakers they didn''t know existed before.

    "Everyone, please enter your rooms. If you break, you''ll be disqualified from receiving the reward."

    David sneered. "As if the reward will be something better. I don''t believe it."

    Still, he agreed for now. He entered his room and closed the door behind him. There was also a key and lock attached. He rolled his eyes and locked the door firmly.

    Then he asked, "System, do I have Crana?"

    Shane felt strange seeing how familiar his host was acting. So he finally couldn''t stop himself from being curious.

    "Have we met before?"

    "Guess?"

    "....." Shane didn''t want to guess.

    He sighed and opened the host''s stats. Indeed, there was already some Crana there thanks to the live-stream service. He quickly opened the shop and searched for some food. He sent the items to his host through text.

    "Fill your stomach. Something might happen tonight."

    David sat on the couch inside the room and ate his food. Time passed quickly and night fell.

    Once it was dark outside, the surroundings looked even more spooky. David couldn''t even see anything clearly outside the window due to the fog.

    As he was standing there, close to the window, he heard the sound of a girl screaming at the top of her voice. That voice seemed familiar.

    Wait, wasn''t that one of the hosts whoined before? It seemed to be a newbie who didn''t follow the rules and went about wandering through the corridor.

    If David guessed correctly, the pics should be responsible for this mess. He walked closer to the door as he touched the lock and smiled.

    "Should I explore?"

    Shane thought for a while and quickly sent the pass-through cloak to his host. "Use this."

 Chapter 131 130. The Ice Spell!

    David wore the cloak and passed through the closed door with one swift move. It almost felt like he had done it before.

    Shane frowned as he remembered one of his previous hosts who was also doing the same thing. His brows furrowed further. Just then, he heard his host''s voice in the background.

    "System, help me see if anyone''s around or not."

    Shane quickly threw that thought to the back of his head and opened the radar. He stared at the screen for a moment before opening his mouth.

    "Host, everything''s fine. I can''t find anyone."

    "Does it detect people using this cloak?"

    Shane looked at the screen that showed his host''s status at present and nodded. "It can."

    "Hmm¡­." After that, David said nothing.

    The man continued to walk onward without stopping and went toward the ce where he heard the woman''s voice. The corridor seemed endless, but he managed to find what he was looking for.

    There was a small open balcony with sofas and a tea table at the end of the hallway. Many trees reached the balcony ceiling by scaling its height. It looked like a scene from a romance novel or something. Except, there shouldn''t be a dead body of a woman lying on the ground. Her eyes opened wide in horror as she stared above in a terrified manner.

    David frowned after seeing this scene. He walked closer carefully as he tried to make out what kind of situation this was.

    He crouched to the ground, closer to the body, and examined it like some professional.

    Shane frowned as he stared at the scene. He felt like his hosts these days were turning out to be more and more professional. He narrowed his eyes.

    His host this time hinted that they knew one another. Even the previous host, Lia felt like she knew him very well, but didn''t say a word about it. Her actions proved his theory right.

    Now, again with this strange situation. Should he just go ahead and ask about his suspicion? After thinking for a while, Shane shook his head. He didn''t know whether the other person was good or bad.

    He would never get the personal information of the hosts. He would only receive their stats values and the body information they possessed. He could also send over the body''s memory to his host in special circumstances.

    But since he didn''t know about his hosts, he should be careful lest he ended up inviting trouble to his doors.

    After a while, David got up on his feet and sighed. "This girl died of a heart attack. She was frightened to death. She also seemed to be a host."

    Shane nodded and said nothing. He continued to watch the scene.

    David turned around and nced at the balcony. The ce didn''t look like there were any changes here. Not even a person''s traces could be found.

    So the answer was obvious. It was a ghost who killed this girl. The question was whether this ghost was hiding in the paintings or did it pretend to be a host and hid among them? It could also be the butler and the servants. Thetter was the most suspicious.

    David continued thinking until he heard the sound of footsteps echoing into the corridor. His eyes shed as he turned around and walked back to his room. Even though he was wearing the pass-through cloak that also made his body disappear from other people''s eyes, he didn''t want to risk it.

    His position was visible on the radar, he might as well walk away before other hosts caught up to him. If the other person was a ghost, it was even more dangerous to himself.

    It wasn''t that he couldn''t deal with small viins. He could, but he didn''t want to just yet.

    So he easily passed through the walls and reached his room. On the way, he figured that almost all the hosts were in their rooms, sleeping away. The ones who had eaten the food were in such a deep sleep that even when he had started tapping his foot beside their ears, they couldn''t wake up no matter what.

    David scoffed. "So there really was something inside the food."

    "It''s good that you didn''t consume it,"mented Shane as he nced at the rooms passing one after another.

    The host slowly walked to his room and took off the cloak before lying down on the bed. "System, two newbies were missing. Guess who they were?"

    "The ones who ate the most."

    "Exactly," said David as he smiled, "so we can test this theory out a little. Perhaps there will be another murder. So the one who eats the most will end up dying at night."

    "Hmm¡­." Shane hummed and sighed.

    After bing a system he realized that he didn''t even have to lie on the bed to sleep. Whenever his host closed his eyes, he would automatically go into a deep sleep. His menu had just been upgraded which provided him with a special feature where when he was in a deep sleep, the automatic system would look out for any danger. If his host was about to be attacked, he would be forced awake so that he could handle the situation.<sub> </sub>

    So Shane wasn''t worried when he ended up falling deeply asleep.

    Soon enough, thanks to his automatic system, Shane was awakened from his sleep soon after a few hours, early into the morning. He instantly perceived instant danger. So he used the tool he hadn''t used in a while.

    Host controlling.

    Without even warning his host about it, he took control of his host and pulled out his ice sword from the inventory. Then, he stuck it to the ground without even looking at what the danger was! His mouth uttered the spell while he was at it.

    Ice spread around the ce as Shane opened his eyes and nced around.

    There was a ghost at the corner of the room, frozen all over. It was more like a fog that stared at Shane with deep, scary red eyes. Shane took a deep breath and swiftly handed the control back to his host.

    "Take a look."

    David maintained hisposure, as though he had not lost control of his body. He walked over and stared at the frozen ghost for a moment. Just then, the fog dissipatedpletely with those scary red eyes, leaving behind an unnatural structure of the frozen ice. He clicked his tongue after seeing this.

    "You could have used a better sword."

    "I acted out of instinct. So I used whatever I saw first."

    It didn''t matter. Shane knew they could capture the ghostter. The main point was that they finally were able to see the ghost''s real face. Now the mystery would continue to reveal one thing after another.

    David didn''t sleep after this. He continued to stay awake the entire night as the ice melted. The room almost looked like rain dropped thunderously inside, leaving everything wet. By the time everyone woke up, the ice had already melted, leaving no traces of the foggy ghost behind.

    The first thing others saw was a stream of watering out from the bottom of David''s door. None of them had seen what had happenedst night. So they were still in the mood for holidays. At least, the newbies. The experienced hosts had grim expressions on their faces as they tentatively ignored the water.

    It seemed they all had a fight with that foggy ghost.

    "What the heck is this?!" one of the newbie hosts eximed.

    "Did you forget to turn off the tap?" a person snickered as David walked out of the room.

    He nced about to see gazes filled with contempt darting in his direction. He sneered as he ignored them and walked over to the ce where the experienced hosts were standing.

    One of them sighed. "You shouldn''t have used an ice spell."

    "It was my system," David instantly sold out Shane. "He took control over me as soon as that foggy ghost came over."

    "Oh? So it was a fog."

    "You didn''t see it?" David turned and asked the owner of that voice.

    The woman shook her head and frowned. "The ghost came over and attacked me as soon as I fell asleep. I instinctively used an attack, sending the ghost off. So I failed to see the ghost''s real face."

    David nodded.

    The butler soon walked over with a cold expression on his face. He stood in front of the people with servants behind his back and folded his arms across his chest.

    His dark and deep gaze made others feel cold on their backs. A dark aura surrounded the butler''s entire being as he opened his mouth.

    "Didn''t I tell you not toe out at night?!" his voice was thunderous.

    The hosts had sneers on their lips and instantly shrank their necks after hearing that voice. Their faces paled as they realized something had happened.

    "And who did this?" The butler pointed at the water stream on the ground.

    David raised his head. "The tap in my bathroom wasn''t working and couldn''t be stopped no maytter how much I tried. Should I have drank that water instead of letting it flood?"

    The butler''s body froze and twitched for a while.

 Chapter 132 131. The Pool Of Water!

    What the heck was this guy doing?!

    This was the thought in everyone''s head at the moment. The newbies were scared that David would end up making the butler burst into anger. So they tried to warn him through their nces, but David acted like he didn''t perceive their gazes at all!

    The butler''s body stiffened for a while before getting back to his senses. He blinked and nodded at the servants. Thetter group scattered and started cleaning the ce.

    "We''d like to apologize for the tap. We will fix it right away."

    "No need. I fixed it already," said David while waving his hand. "You guys are too slow. Bad service. I''llint about it for sure online."

    The butler''s lips twitched again as he took a restrained breath and spat, "We''ll surely try to improve ourselves."

    "That''s better."

    "....." The butler ignored the young man and turned to others as his expression cooled down further. "Two of you are missing. Have you guys even realized that?"

    The newbies finally came back to their senses as they nced around. Sure, the butler was right. Two people were missing.

    They started to murmur amongst themselves. It wasn''t until the butler cleared his throat did they calm down. Yet, there was a hint of panic sweeping deep into their eyes.

    "I found one on the balcony." the old man turned and nodded at the servants as thetter went out, dragging a girl behind them. "This one. She''s yourpanion, right?"

    The girl was walking in a daze. Her face paled a certain degree with every step she took. She looked like she hadn''t been able to sleep for a while. Dark circles were deeper and darker at this point as she walked in a daze.

    As soon as the servants stopped her, she raised her head to see several eyes darting toward her. She suddenly screamed at the top of her voice and fell to the floor with a thud. She scooted to the corner with her head covered with her hands, trembling terribly.

    "No!!!!!!! Leave me alone!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

    Everyone else watched her in utter fear. They didn''t dare to say another word as they tried to think about what had happenedst night.

    Didn''t the butler say that they shouldn''t have gone out of the room? So could it be that two of the girls among them went out? If one of them was here, then where was the other one?

    Suddenly, none of them wanted to know the answer.

    The butler answered their queries: "The other one is dead. If you don''t want history to repeat itself, you better stay indoors at night."

    "What kind of sh*tty ce is this?! Huh?" one of the newbies couldn''t contain his frustration anymore. "You said we''d receive a reward at the end of this week, didn''t you? Is this how you reward us? By killing us all one after another!?"

    The butler looked at the man for a moment before he said, "Sure, you can leave if you''re dissatisfied with our services. We wee criticisms. For today, we will open the pool. Enjoy the day and kindly follow the rules."

    After saying that the butler walked away followed by a stream of servants who finished cleaning the corridor. Only after they all walked away did the newbies start bawling in fear and frustration.

    "God dammit! Why did those girls have to go out in the middle of the night?! One ended up dying while another one turned mad!"

    David frowned after hearing those words. Didn''t these people see that fog ghost at night? They were still talking as if they hadn''t seen a ghost yet.

    No wonder they were so calm and still in the mood of joking.

    So why did the fog not hurt them as he had thought? It could be that that foggy ghost wasn''t here to kill them but do something entirely different. But what? David couldn''te up with anything. So he stopped thinking about it.

    "System, what do you think we should do?"

    "Keep an eye on the newbies. Something mighte out in a day or two."

    David also thought so.

    After the morning episode, everyone else settled down more or less. Even though they were still afraid, they had no choice but to ept their reality. Still, none of the newbies wondered whether something was wrong with the food. They went on chewing it like it was the most normal thing to do.<sub> </sub>

    When they were all done eating, they went toward the pool to forget about the episode. Even then, none of them could enjoy it to the depths of their hearts.

    Someone had died, and one of them turned crazy. How could they be in the mood to enjoy?

    The butler frowned as he asked, "You guys don''t like our services? Do you want us to change?"

    The hosts in the pool area trembled as a few of them stripped and jumped into the pool in the swimming suits they had been given by the servants. They didn''t dare to rebel against the butler''s authority anymore.

    Only a few people including the experienced hosts remained at the ce without moving. They hadn''t eaten the food, and they knew that something was wrong with it. So they didn''t dare to agree with jumping into the pool just like that.

    David was especially rebelling. He didn''t even bother changing into his swimsuit as he entered the pool area and strolled around with a leisurely attitude. He even yawned and rubbed his eyes as if he was heck as tired.

    The butler felt his insides squirming after seeing such a rebellious guest. He hadn''t ever received such a person until now. All the guests would remain obedient until the end of the week!

    So what the heck was wrong with this young man?

    The butler felt that he should do something about it, but he didn''t and finally stopped ring at David. He turned around and walked out of the room.

    After the servants and the butler went out, everyone else rxed and continued to do their work. Meanwhile, David started going through the pool and the area around it as if he was inspecting something.

    The experienced hosts realized that this person might be onto something as they also scattered and decided to find clues. Still, the entire ce looked like it was taken out of a hotel. Everything was too perfect. There wasn''t even a speck of blood anywhere in the entire ce.

    David stopped searching after that as he stood on the side and focused on the people inside the pool. At this time, only a few people were still swimming. He could tell that even they didn''t know why they were still inside the water. It seemed they suddenly had the desire to swim to their heart''s content.

    On the other side, the crazy girl didn''t even get out of her room. So he could safely say that she would probably be the target for the night. Then, another person would perhaps be crazy.

    The cycle would repeat itself until the very end. It could be that the reward these people were talking about was death.

    David could only wait for the night to act. He would definitely get out of his room before that foggy ghost could attack.

    The night came sooner than expected. It was still the group of newbies who ended up having dinner before going back to the room. Everyone was locked in their rooms before David waited for midnight.

    Then he wore the cape again and walked out of the door.

    Shane was watching everything with a bored look on his face. These days, he didn''t have anything to do anymore. So he could only lie here all alone.

    He nced at a certain hooded girl who kept sleeping and rolled his eyes.

    He didn''t feel surprised anymore by her behavior. She just called him to do freebor, didn''t she? He would surely ask her the profit of his work! It would be seventy percent this time!!!

    Soon enough, he heard the host''s voice from the screen. "System, check the radar."

    Shane looked at the radar and found the foggy ghost wandering about in the rooms at present. Suddenly, the door of a room in the corridor opened swiftly. A young boy walked out of the room as if he was sleepwalking. His eyes were in aplete daze as he turned robotically and walked toward the other side of the corridor, to the balcony.

    David''s brows knitted. "Where is he going?"

    He followed behind the boy while tugging the cape around him perfectly. As he walked, all of a sudden, the surrounding of the youth was filled with ck fog. Several eyes appeared in the fog which made it seem as if several people were watching the young man.

    Whispers could be heard, and David strained his ears to hear them more clearly. It could only make out a few words.

    Go, and kill.

    His brows furrowed further.

 Chapter 133 132. Gotcha!

    At first, Shane thought that the young boy was going to walk all the way to the previous crime scene, but he also wondered if the ghost would choose something else. Sure enough, the young boy walked past the balcony and went downstairs, heading toward the ce where the pool was there. The boy continued to walk in that direction.

    Suddenly, David''s voice echoed: "What would happen if I woke him up?"

    Shane also wanted to know. So he frowned and didn''tment, indicating that he would like his host to try and wake the young boy up.

    David took a deep breath and walked closer to the boy. The dark fog around the boy seemed to have guessed that something was approaching. So it turned even darker. The eyes became fierce red as they darted here and there as if trying to search for the person they just sensed.

    When they found no one around, they made a frowning expression before calming down to circle around the boy.

    David sneered and finally touched the boy''s shoulders, shaking thetter.

    The fog disappearedpletely all of a sudden as the boy woke up with a jolt. He nced around only to see that he was standing in front of the pool.

    ? His eyes widened as he stared at the pool for a moment.

    "What just happened?"

    No, the question should be who was the person shaking him up like that?

    The boy''s face turned even more pale as he nced around, but he found nothing whatsoever around him.

    At this time, David narrowed his eyes. If he was correct, this boy was the person who had refused to swim earlier, but in the end, he was the one who remained in the pool for a long time.

    So was it that the one who enjoyed the most would end up dying the same night?

    David frowned as he watched the youth going away from that ce. Suddenly, when he turned to the pool the color of the water changed from that clear water into a pool filled with blood. Several foggy figures swam into the pool their eyes carried a hint of anxiety.

    They seemed to feel someone''s presence as they darted their eyes here and there, but when they found no one, they could only sigh and rest back.

    David''s eyes narrowed.

    Shane looked at the notification as it echoed into the background. "Host, good news. You have obtained an important clue and the mission has progressed. The bad news is that now everyone has received this notification. They''ll be swarming you the next day."

    "I''m not worried," said David as he waved his hand in the air. "I won''t tell them anything. What if the murderer is among them? In any case, the notification didn''t say that it was me who found the clue, did it?"

    Shane looked over at the notification and sure enough. He simply forwards it to his host.

    "Then let''s go back if you''re done for the night."

    "No, wait. I want to check something."

    After saying that, David walked toward the kitchen area. Since the pool turned into blood, he would like to see the condition of the leftover food.

    Since he couldn''t open anything, all he had to do was pass through the fridge door and see what was inside. So when he reached the kitchen, he repeated the action only to be shocked at the sight of what was in front of him.

    There was no food there. All he could see was a fridge filled with pieces of chopped dead bodies. Fingers, hands, eyes, and even hair were ced neatly on several dishes. The bottles on the side were filled with blood and other kinds of colors.

    God knows what those things were.

    David suddenly had the urge to puke. The color of his face changed as he swiftly backed away, putting his hand on his mouth.

    "Disgusting. So that was what they were all eating. No wonder they would be the ones to be killed," he frowned. "But why would the butler force us to eat such a thing showing as foodstuffs?"

    Just as he was about to investigate more, the door of the kitchen opened with a thud. A servant who always worked in the kitchen walked over as a dark aura surrounded his body. The color of his eyes had turned red as he nced about here and there.

    He sniffed as he followed the scent and stood right in front of David, making thetter stunned.

    Then David smiled as he simply walked away from that ce. He didn''t forget to use his sword against the servant, killing the man with one quick move.

    The next morning, the one to be killed wouldn''t be a host anymore.

    When David thought about the expression of that butler, he grinned and made his way toward the room upstairs.

    In the morning, the first thing everyone heard after opening the door of their rooms was an angry roar echoing from downstairs. It was a familiar voice for sure, but this time, the voice carried a hint of coldness that made everyone shiver.<sub> </sub>

    Something had gone against the butler''s wishes, and he was perhaps angry about that.

    Everyone else made their way into the kitchen downstairs. David also followed, pretending to be innocent. All the hosts were guarded as they nced about.

    "Hey, someone found a clue. Who is it?"

    "Yeah, I got the same notification. How should we find that person?"

    "Ah, I want to know what the clue is!!!"

    David snickered. He knew the clue included the dead bodies and the pool filled with blood. It wasn''t anything out of ordinary. It just confirmed his suspicion.

    After a while, they all arrived at the kitchen only to see the angry butler surrounding something to the ground as all the servants had their heads lowered. Thetter group stood on one side without speaking a word.

    "Who did this?! Who?!" The butler yelled at the hosts as he turned and red at them with his blood-red eyes.

    His aura seemed even fiercer as he red at every single one of them. It almost felt as if he was about to chew them alive.

    Then, David opened his mouth. "Why was the servant wandering about at the night? And why do you think it was a student among us who killed him? Hmm? We are innocent people who shouldn''t know any sword fighting skills. So it means the servant must have been killed by a ghost or something. Why me us?"

    Others also nodded and echoed an agreement.

    The butler''s face was colorful as David suppressed a chuckle. The old man looked like he was about to burst into anger.

    At this time, he roared. "SHUT UP!!! GET OUT OF HERE!!!! If I see even a single person outside the corridor, I swear I''ll kill you!"

    The crowd scattered about from that ce and went to their rooms again. The newbiesined that they didn''t get to eat food today.

    David grimaced. If they knew what the food actually was, they wouldn''t be saying those words.

    Shane watched everything and yawned again. He had the urge to sleep, although it wasn''t a good habit to sleep during a job.

    His host dutifully ate the food brought by him and said, "I''m going out to see what''s going on. Let''s just focus on the old butler for the moment. He''s the prime suspect."

    "Careful. They can sense you."

    "No worries," David waved his hand. "I''ll just kill them."

    Shane sighed. Why did he feel like his previous host and the current one were simr when ites to temperament? They were more and more unrestrained with their actions.

    But what if they were simr? Did it have anything to do with Shane?

    He shook his head and continued to watch as his host wore the cape again, hidingpletely. Then he passed through the door and walked into the kitchen.

    At this time, the kitchen had been cleaned up. There wasn''t any dead body on the ground as if the murder hadn''t urred in the first ce. No servants were found wandering around the ce. Even the butler was missing.

    Now that he thought about it, Butler hadn''t told them about the ce where the servant quarters were located. So where exactly were they located?

    Let''s search!

    David felt excitement gushing about in his veins. He immediately started searching through the entire floor. He went through all the rooms one by one on all the floors. He even nced about the garden outside which looked even more spooky.

    But no matter how much he searched, he couldn''t find the servants.

    Suddenly, he had a sense of inspiration as he muttered under his breath. "The paintings¡­."

    He quickly rushed upstairs and walked closer to the first painting he noticed after entering the corridor.

    It was the painting of a pce filled with people. There were many people inside. So it was hard to identify their faces. But when he looked carefully, he could see the traces of a familiar old man, staring angrily. The old butler suddenly blinked inside the painting.

    David smiled. "Gotcha."

 Chapter 134 133. Wait, What?!

    Before David could say another word, he felt a wave of energy forcing him toward the painting. His eyes widened slightly as if he hadn''t expected this to happen. After a while, he returned to normal and narrowed his eyes.

    Since these ghosts were trying to y dirty, why should he back out? He sneered and turned to Shane.

    "Hey, system, take control."

    "Eh? What?"

    "Do it. And use your most powerful technique."

    "Wait, what do you mean?" Shane finally straightened his back and looked more serious than ever.

    He was really having a good time at his job. Since his previous job went better than ever, he thought his current one would also make things easier for him.

    Howe his powerful host is asking him to take control of his body?

    "Here you go!"

    Shane felt the control of the body being transferred to him automatically. Wait, the host had that option too? Howe he didn''t know that?!

    But he didn''t have time to think twice. He swiftly pulled out an electric attribute sword he had purchased earlier and pushed it against the painting. The tip of the sword thrust deeper into the picture.

    All of a sudden, multiple ear-piercing screams echoed throughout the ce. Soon, a stream of blood dripped down the frame, flooding the entire floor red color. Shane moved away as he squinted his eyes.

    Suddenly, he realized that it had been more than a minute since he took control of the body. He tilted his head.

    "What''s happening? David?"

    "Well, you can finish up the rest of the storyline."

    "Hey! What do you mean?!"

    "I mean I can finally take a rest and you''ll do the rest of the thing."

    "No!" Shane yelled as he opened his system to try and give control of the body back to his host, but he couldn''t. "Just, who the heck are you? Howe you know so much about the menu than me?!"

    "Heh, are you pretending to be naive, Shane?" The other person spoke. "I''m speaking in a female voice."

    Oh yeah¡­. Shane was so shocked that he failed to focus on this small aspect. The voice was indeed familiar.

    Wait a minute¡­.

    "Hope?! It''s you?!" Shane didn''t think he would be this shocked one day.

    His mouth was opened wide in an O shape as his eyes blinked rapidly. Howe his partner hid such a secret from him?

    No, the question was, why was she acting as his host?

    Did it mean his previous hosts were also Hope?

    "Yes, the previous hosts were also me~" Hope''s voice echoed in his mind as if she was saying something pleasant. "Do you like this surprise, dear partner?"

    Shane felt his veins popping up as he roared in anger, "Hah, you call me partner? Do you even know what it means? You should have shared such necessary information with me! What the heck is wrong with you? Do you like ying with people''s emotions like this?!"

    "Dude, calm down. I have more secrets that I can''t tell you for now¡­."

    "Can''t tell me?" Shane took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Fine. Whatever. We are just business partners anyway. Let''s get back to the business."

    Hope''s voice suddenly quieted down for a moment. It almost felt like she had disappeared for a moment.

    Shane frowned as he backed away and moved toward his room. Damn it. He lost it for a moment just because of a girl''s antiques. He hadn''t expected her to y this kind of cheap trick on him.

    After he calmed down, he realized that he was being unreasonably rude to her. His cheeks suddenly felt a tinge of embarrassment.

    So he opened his mouth and said, "I''m sorry for what I said. Forget about it."

    "That''s true. We have a long way to go!"

    ? Shane grimaced. If this continued on, he might end up dying from shock!

    At this time, he didn''t know how many other shocks Hope was about to give him in the future.

    After he went back, he rested on the bed and closed his eyes, intending to go to sleep. Just then, Hope''s voice echoed in his ears.

    "Shane, I think the fog ghost will appear again."<sub> </sub>

    "I know," said Shane as he closed his eyes and tried to get some rest.

    "So this is how you felt all this time? Bored andzy? No wonder you look like you had finished the best job of your life aftering out every time recently."

    "Shut up! I''m trying to sleep!" Shane was already irritated, and the chatterbox in his mind wouldn''t stop talking!

    He really wanted to strangle her to death.

    It wasn''t even an hour before the fog ghost appeared. This time, though, his eyes were filled with tears and red marks as they nced here and there. When they saw Shane, they screamed at the top of their voices and lunged at him like a hungry beast!

    Shane was already awake. He had already pulled out the ice weapon from his inventory, intending to use it when the timees. Now that the fog ghost appeared and was angry as heck, he also jumped off the bed and used the weapon against it.

    He thrust the sword into the ground and echoed a spell in his mind. As soon as he spoke, divine energy poured out of the sword and entered the ghost in front of his eyes. So after that, the actions of the previous day repeated all over again.

    The entire ghost froze once again as it stared in Shane''s direction with a mixture of fear and anger.

    He frowned. "Why would a ghost be frightened? Unless there''s something else that''s more powerful than it. It couldn''t be afraid of me. I''m a human, and it had escaped before."

    Plus, Shane had newly learned how to control his dark aura. If others had perceived his aura, it would have been natural for this puny ghost to be afraid of him. But now, it seemed that there was something he overlooked.

    His eyes narrowed. Just then, he received a notification sound.

    "Hope, what is it?"

    "Heh, looks like we aren''t the only ones finding important clues. Others also did it. Now, the sess rate of this world is close to sixty-eight."

    "Okay."

    After that, Shane didn''t talk to her anymore. He walked closer and started examing the fog ghost again without dy. It could slip any minute. So he hurriedly looked at the structure and stared at the eyes that seemed a bit¡­. Injured?

    Shane raised his brows.

    He had gotten everything he wanted to find out. So he left the fog ghost slip away. After that, he swiftly walked toward his bed and closed his eyes.

    The next day when he woke up, he heard a roar echoing in the background.

    He sneered, knowing it was the butler who had just gotten angry because he hurt the picture on the wall. He freshened up and walked out without any expression on his face.

    At this time, the body, David''s entire aura had changed. Until yesterday, it was close to mischievous. David looked like a person who could say and do anything he wanted. It was hard to predict him.

    But now, David''s aura wasced with a hint of darkness that made people think he was unapproachable. He looked like some king who looked down on people weaker to him.

    Shane didn''t know what others were thinking about him. He simply ignored them and walked over to the butler, standing right in front of the old man.

    "What''s up?"

    The butler today suddenly had a scar on his right eye, shing across and nearly touching his nose. He looked even more dangerous.

    "You dare hurt me?! You want to die, don''t you?!"

    "Hurt you?" Shane frowned. "When and where did I do that? Please, specify."

    "Here, in the corridor!"

    "Oh?" Shane walked past the old man and stood in front of a familiar painting with a sword mark across it. "I just injured this painting. Could it be rted to you?"

    "That''s right! I''m that painting! You dare to hurt me?! I''ll kill you this instant!"

    "Sure, bring it on!"

    Shane was itching to fight someone anyway.

    When other people heard him, their faces paled in an instant. Someone else from the newbie group stepped forward.

    He begged, "Mr. Butler¡­. Please forgive this man. Can you not fight? We can find an appropriate solution."

    "You need a solution? Sure. Send over one person every night outside the door. Your choice of whom to choose. If you back away, I''ll kill everyone!"

    After saying that, the butler and the servants disappeared from that ce in the blink of an eye. Other people standing in the corridor were so scared that they shivered from head to toe.

    Only experienced people folded their hands across their chests and raised their chins as if they didn''t care a single thing about what was going on. Some even had a look of ''I knew it'' on their faces.

 Chapter 135 134. A Demonic Girl?

    Everyone looked at Shane as if he had done some incredible job. The newbies didn''t dare to re at him anymore as one of them walked forward.

    "Hey, let''s discuss what we should do. Can you guide us?"

    Shane looked over at the experienced people. None of them seemed to want to walk out and volunteer for the leader''s position. So he might as well steal it under their noses.

    He turned toward the people in front of him and nodded lightly.

    So everyone else walked out of the corridor and went directly downstairs, toward the living room area. Everyone else seated wherever they found ces. The majority of them stuffed their butts onto the ground and stared at Shane, making thetter ufortable.

    He coughed and said, "Well, let''s share out findings first."

    The newbies nced at one another, not knowing what to do. It was like they hadn''t even tried to find any crucial information for the mission.

    Shane expected this to happen. So he turned toward the experienced and raised his brows.

    "I found a thread on the fog as if they were mere puppets," said a man as he pulled out a picture from his inventory. "I snapped from the Livestream."

    Shane looked closely and frowned. It really was the case. It was impossible for a normal person to see through this thing. But it couldn''t be missed by an expert who had dealt with many such things.

    After looking at it, Shane nodded and thanked them for such an important clue. Then he heard the newbies talking.

    "So does it mean someone else is controlling them?"

    "Yes, my conclusion was also the same. Earlier, when I froze the foggy ghost again, it seemed like it was afraid of something. Maybe we should work to find out who''s the owner of this ce rather than focusing on the butler."

    Others also nodded and decided to follow him. So after talking for a while, they decided that they would search the entire ce once again, especially the pictures on the first floor.

    Meanwhile, Shane raised his head. There was another floor above the guest rooms where they weren''t allowed. In fact, there was a lock at the ce where the staircase was located to stop others from climbing stairs.

    Shane quickly decided to try and open that lock. He knew that there must be some clue at that ce.

    After thinking about it, Shane started walking there. No one followed him because they were all given other duties. So Shane walked upstairs alone.

    Then he asked, "Hope, give me an all-purpose key."

    The womanpiled and sent the key through the inbox. As soon as Shane received it, he immediately purchased it and used it swiftly without any dy. The door opened with a click.

    He put down the key in his inventory and brought out a normal electric sword. Then pushing the door, he walked upstairs.

    He might find some clues here about the owner of this ce. So he couldn''t lower his guard.

    As he walked step by step, he felt the area around here start to be darker and darker. It was as if there was a presence of a powerful demon here who hid from the eyes of the public.

    Shane frowned, but he didn''t stop. Finally, he reached the topmost floor and saw a closed door at the end. He pushed it open only to reveal a bedroom. Since it was only a bedroom, the area was quite big. A bathroom and balcony were attached to it.

    If it weren''t for the dead body hanging from a ceiling fan, the entire scene would have looked even more enchanting.

    Shane walked closer. His grip on the sword formed even further as he looked at the dead body.

    The body still seemed fresh. So Shane couldn''t tell when exactly this body died. The body was that of a young girl, and her eyes had disappeared out of the blue, leaving only an empty socket behind with dried-up blood all over her eyes and cheeks.

    She seemed to be wearing a nightgown, which was torn from the bottom. It was covered with dried-up blood all over the ce. So it was pretty hard to discern the actual color of the dress.

    Was she the real boss of this world?

    Shane tilted his head and examined the body. "Hope, I''ll need your help. I haven''t learned forensics¡­. Examine this body."

    "Okay. Let me take a look at it."

    So under Shane''s direction, Hope watched everything with a squinted gaze and frowned deeper.<sub> </sub>

    "This body seemed to have died years ago, but something happened at this ce that forcibly stopped the decay. Either that or what you''re seeing is just an illusion."

    Shane nodded. Both aspects were possible. So he backed away from the dead body and continued to look through the room clearly. As he walked around, he noticed a mirror.

    It looked ordinary at first nce until he walked in front of it and looked at his own reflection.

    His eyes widened. It wasn''t him at all! A certain familiar girl who was hanging above came over in his stead, acting simrly to his own body.

    He lifted his hand, the girl also lifted her hand.

    Shane pursed his lips. Things were bing stranger. He had a strange feeling in his heart that he was being intensely stared at by someone. Of course, that someone was probably this kid here.

    After checking out the mirror, he didn''t linger there any longer. He didn''t have a habit to scare himself in a weird manner.

    After that he made his way toward the bed, which was made, ready to sleep. Except, if there wasn''t someone sleeping there already, Shane would have believed that the owner of this ce wasn''t here at all.

    He walked closer to see the frowning face of the same beautifuldy. Her eyes were also there, and there was no trace of gauging them out of the skull. Even her chest moved evenly as if she was deep into her sleep.

    Shane thought for a while before raising his hand and touching her shoulders. As soon as he did, his entire body was sucked into her being.

    The room again became empty without a trace of a human being filtering through the ce.

    Shane felt dizzy as he held his forehead. When he blinked his eyes open, he was again standing in the same room. He frowned as he walked around the room. Just as he passed by the mirror, he was stunned.

    He was again the girl. He raised her hand, the girl also repeated the same motion.

    Just one difference: his hand also had changed into that of the young girl. His eyes widened as he continued to stare at his girl''s attire and body. Just then, a voice echoed through the staircase downstairs.

    "Lady, your breakfast is ready."

    That voice sounded like that of the butler''s, just a bit younger. As soon as he heard his voice, he felt a trace of tremor in his heart as if he was feeling immense fear of someone or something. Perhaps it was the body''s natural reaction to something. Even the girl''s body trembled upon hearing that voice.

    Suddenly, he heard himself saying: "B-Butler, go back. I won''t be eating anything today."

    "Mydy!" the butler barged in and looked at the girl with a worried expression on his face. "I was tasked by your parents to take care of you before they died. How can I let you go hungry?"

    The girl, however, didn''t look touched after seeing that worried face. Her entire face changed as she stumbled back.

    "D-Don''te closer. Get out of here!!!" She screamed at the top of her voice as she jumped onto the bed, hiding her face under the sheets.

    The butler was stunned for a moment before walking out of the ce with a sad expression on his face, before going, he shut the door and locked it from the outside.

    Only after the butler''s voice stopped did the girl calm down. She released the breath she was holding and her trembling also stopped. She put her feet down on the bed and walked steadily toward the window.

    Then she continued to stare outside the window.

    When the scene was happening, Shane couldn''t control the body at all. Now that the scene had ended, the control was again shifted to his hands. He frowned.

    What was happening? Was this the girl''s memory? Or something else?

    He needed to see more to figure out what the f*ck was going on here.

    Soon enough, the next scene also appeared. This time, Shane just had to blink as the entire view in front of him transformed. Right now, the girl was sitting at the dining table surrounded by her servants and a familiar butler, pouring soup into her bowl.

    He had a happy smile on his face as he said, "Mydy, please, have some. I made it myself, especially for you."

    The girl''s face turned pale after hearing that.

 Chapter 136 135. Who Are You?

    "I¡­ I¡­." The girl stuttered as her fingers tightened around the spoon she was holding.

    She swallowed a lump of saliva as she closed her eyes and opened them. Her arms had turned skinnier, indicating that she hadn''t had enough food for a while. It was more urate to say that she didn''t eat or drink anything. Her lips became chapped as a result of this.

    Shane frowned as he continued to stare down at the food through the girl''s eyes. At this time, the girl again started to control her body as she trembled. So Shane could only watch as her eyes started to blur. Tears dropped one after another on the food as she shook her head.

    She raised his eyes and looked over at the stunned butler. "Please, don''t¡­. I don''t want to eat¡­."

    "Mydy¡­." The butler had aplicated expression on his face as he sighed. "You must eat! I have especially prepared your favorite food! Please, have some!"

    The girl trembled even more so much that she fell to the ground. Her limbs shook rapidly from head to toe. Her heart clenched as she started having a panic attack.

    The butler finally showed an anxious expression on his face. He immediately called the servants.

    "Call the hospital! Be quick! She''s having another one of her attacks!"

    "On it!"

    The servants were all panicked seeing the girl in such a condition, but none of them were surprised. It was almost as if they had seen such a situation before.

    The scene abruptly changed after that. At this time, the girl was sitting in one of the couches as she had an IV drip attached to her wrist. At this time, the girl looked increasingly weak so much that her cheeks sunk deeper. The dark circles beneath her eyes grew darker and darker, making her looked like a dead person.

    If it weren''t for her eyelids, it would be hard for anyone to consider her alive anymore.

    Things were even strange as she continued to stare at the tea table in a daze. The butler bit his lips and was about to open his mouth to say something when the doorbell rang.

    He immediately left everything and rushed to the door. Shane couldn''t see anything after that. He could just hear the sound of the door opening through the girl''s body.

    "Doctor, pleasee. Her condition had turned worse. What exactly happened?"

    "Don''t worry. I''ll handle it," said a man in his forties as he walked inside the room.

    Shane heard the sound of footsteps echoing on the cold floor. Then he saw a pair of legs appear in front of the girl''s eyes.

    She still didn''t move.

    When the other person saw this, he sighed. He gently patted her hair.

    "Little girl, can you speak? Why did this happen? You can tell me."

    Suddenly, the girl''s body started shaking terribly. It was almost as if the panic attack had taken a worse route.

    "Okay, okay. Don''t tell me. Calm down, yeah?" the doctor said as he reached into his bag for something. "Here, I brought you a doll. You have always wanted it, haven''t you?"

    The girl stopped trembling as her eyes shed at the doll for a second. Her hands trembled as she raised them toward the thing. Then, in the blink of an eye, she snatched it and hugged the doll to her bosom.

    "Good that you like it," said the doctor as he sighed in relief.

    The butler also smiled, thinking there was hope now that thedy had epted the doll.

    Shane frowned. He knew that things wouldn''t get better. It would probably turn out to be worse than the butler''s imagination. Since all the servants and the butler ended inside a picture, he could tell something had happened, and it was rted to this girl right here.

    Just then, the scene changed again. This time, the girl was walking downstairs without anyone to see her. She seemed nervous as her weak body stepped one foot after another while her hand held the railing perfectly.

    Shane could already feel the cold sweat forming on the girl''s neck. The IV drip was also in her hands as she took it downstairs.

    None of the servants or the butler were around right now. They must be sleeping since it iste at night.

    She soon reached the ce she wanted to be¡ªthe main door. She swiftly pulled out the keys and opened the door before stepping out silently into the night. After going out, her shoulders rxed as she took a deep breath.

    It felt like she was a prisoner who had been released after a long sentence.

    She curiously nced at the sky and every other ce, feeling a sprout of happiness in her heart.

    The girl grinned as she thought about how beautiful the stars appeared from the outside.<sub> </sub>

    Suddenly, the panicked voice of the butler echoed from the pce inside. "Mydy!!!! Where are you?"

    The girl froze as she quickly escaped and hid behind a tree. She nervously looked here and there, trying to find some clue about where she should go.

    Then she saw a light blinking at a distance on the other side of the road. She didn''t think twice before rushing in that direction. Since everywhere was dark and that was the only light she could see, she immediately made her way there.

    The closer she reached, the more she could see what that light was!

    It turned out to be a small house with a flickering porchmp. So it was thismp that attracted her attention.

    She hid behind a tree close by and stared at the house for a second. When no one came out, the girl yawned and walked toward the door.

    She was truly tired now.

    Soon, she pushed open the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and entered the house. As soon as she entered, she closed the door behind her and leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths.

    Just when she thought her troubles had ended, she heard an unfamiliar voice echoing into the background. "Do you know why you came here?"

    When she heard a young man''s voice, the girl froze. She turned instantly toward a man standing in front of her in top-brand robes. His hands were in his pockets as he stared at the girl with his strangely red eyes.

    "No¡­. who are you?"

    I should be asking you that question. Why did youe here?

    Shane frowned as he looked at the man for a second. This person seemed familiar. Where had he seen him?

    He suddenly realized where! One of the guests who had entered the pce included this man too! He would always stand in one corner, all alone. He neither participated nor spoke about the mission. He would always have a very low sense of presence.

    So it was hard to notice him at a single nce. If it weren''t for Shane suddenly taking a picture of all the guests, he wouldn''t have realized such a thing!

    Shane sighed and continued to watch the entire scene.

    The man walked closer and said, "Little girl, I have something to ask. Do you want your wishes to be fulfilled? Do you want to kill the butler and those servants at your house?"

    The girl''s eyes sparkled as her fingers curled to form a fist. She nodded after a pause.

    The man''s lips curled up into a sneer. He walked closer and bent over the girl.

    "What will I get to help you? You have nothing."

    The girl felt a trace of anxiety in her eyes. She nced at the doll in her hand and raised it in  front of the man.

    Then she said, in a soft voice, "Take it."

    The man raised his brows andughed aloud all of a sudden. He took hold of the doll and nodded.

    "Fine, I''ll take this doll of yours. Don''t worry, I''ll take good care of it."

    After that, he turned around and went inside. Only then did the girl look at the surroundings.

    It was a homely living room with a firece at the side. The ce where the man went was probably his bedroom. He came out right after with a locket and chain in his hands. He quickly handed it over.

    "Wear this around your neck at all times. Don''t take it out, no matter what. If you do, you die."

    The girl''s face was pale as she trembled. She didn''t even want to touch that thing at all. Why would she want to take something that might kill her all of a sudden?

    Just then, she heard the man say, "This locket will fulfill all of your wishes. It will make your dreamse true if you want them to. If you want to get rid of that butler and those servants, it''ll make that happen too! The world will be at your feet with this locket, but don''t take it off, yeah?"

    The girl stared deeply into the man''s eyes and hesitated for a while before stuttering, "Wh-Why?"

    "I''m not that generous, mind you. I just wanted the doll. Okay? Does that answer your questions?"

    No, but the girl said nothing. She finally took the locket and tied it around her neck. Then she nodded before getting out of the ce.

 Chapter 137 136. Tonight!

    The scene abruptly changed after that. At this time, the girl was locked inside her room as the butler continued to knock on her door from the outside. His panicked voice echoed from the outside.

    "Mydy, please don''t shut the door," he said as he knocked louder. "If you have a panic attack, we will only be dyed. Please, listen to me, mydy!"

    The girl finally had a smile on her face as she stared at the locket around her neck. Should she try to make a wish? Or not?

    That man did say her wishes would be fulfilled.

    She clutched the round ruby locket tightly in her palms and finally closed her eyes. She muttered a few words under her breath.

    "Please, let this pce disappear from the real world. Let this ce transfer to the demon realm, and let all of my servants be my puppets. Let me be the nightmare they would never bring to pass."

    At this time, no one but Shane could hear them. Ah, probably Hope too, if she''s still awake.

    But after she finished speaking, the locket started glowing so much that it started turning hot in her palms. After a while, she couldn''t hold it anymore as the air around her turned colder and colder. She took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.

    She was more happy than scared by the changes around her. The entire area outside turned darker and darker as the beautiful scenery from the garden disappeared out of the blue. It got covered up in a strange fog that had several eyes.

    ? It stared deeply at her and bowed.

    The butler''s voice echoed through the fog. "Mydy, what can we do for you?"

    The girl stared at the fog for a while beforeughing all of a sudden. Herugh wasn''t a good one. Instead, she acted more and more like a demon who had gone mad for some reason. She covered her face with her palms as she stared at the fog with an evil glint in her eyes.

    "You guys tried to feed me humans, didn''t you?! Fine, I curse you to eat humans to satisfy your stomach every fifteen days! I don''t care how you find humans. You have all the means possible. Now, go and entertain me!"

    The fog seemed to tremble. All the eyes looked panicked, but they didn''t have the ability to express their emotions. They just bowed and disappeared out of the blue.

    Just when the girl was about to be even happier, the man who had handed her the locket appeared before her eyes out of the blue. His misty body transformed into an image that smiled at her.

    "Are you enjoying this?"

    The girl nodded as a trace of blush spread across her face. "Thank you!"

    "Not so soon, dear girl. I haven''t even asked for payment for my service. How can you thank me so soon?"

    The girl frowned but still nodded. She didn''t doubt the man in front of her. He had helped her a lot. Howe she feels suspicious? No matter how bad her mental condition was, she was still only a little girl.

    The man smiled and said, "I just need your soul. That''s it."

    "Why?" asked the girl in a confused manner.

    "Once you die, your soul will be mine. Do we agree or not?"

    "What if I won''t agree¡­.?" The girl asked with hesitancy.

    "Everything you asked for will disappear."

    There was a trace of panic in her eyes as she took a deep breath and said, "Okay. You can have my soul."

    In any case, she was still alive. As long as she had this locket, she could even ask for immortality. Even if she died, she would just take care of the matter when the time came. She wasn''t very worried.

    It was time for the entire world to be at her feet!

    Sheughed hysterically for a while until she felt her body getting heavier. She frowned.

    The mist of the man had disappeared, so why was she feeling so heavy? It was almost as if she wanted to sleep deeply.

    She took a deep breath and shook her head. No, it might just be that she was a little sleepy. Yeah, that was probably it.

    She took a deep breath andy down on the bed, covering herself with a soft nket. Then she closed her eyes.

    That was thest time she was awake.

    Shane''s body was suddenly thrown outside of memory.

    He feltplicated in his heart as he stared at the girl sleeping soundly. This little girl was mentally unstable and doubted her servants. Why did she imagine they were giving her humans instead of food?

    He sighed and shook his head. Now she was suffering because of her own deeds.

    He reached out and took the locket after some thought. He stared at it for a moment before grabbing it firmly in his palms. He clenched his fist, crushing the ruby locket into dust.

    Just after that, the entire ce around him started to crumble. He also received a notification in the menu.

    He instantly opened it to find that his mission was aplished.<sub> </sub>

    "Yo, good work, partner."

    Shane didn''tment as he leaned back against the bed and said, "Who is your partner? I''m not. You only know how to hide things from me, don''t you?"

    "Shane, I won''t have to tell you anything. You''ll find out for yourself soon."

    Shane frowned at that sentence. Before he could say another word, the world around him crumbled to dust. The ceiling fell over his body, making a jolt of pain flood through it.

    He frowned as he pursed his lips, trying hard to control his urge to vomit.

    It was always like that when he died. As a system, he never had to feel the pain, but when his role was reversed thanks to a certain girl, he felt that heart-wrenching pain returning to him.

    He held it all in as his body went through tremendous pain. It was as if a swarm of scorpions stung him all over.

    He endured and endured while cursing at a certain girl.

    Why didn''t she give him pain relief? He should have bought one at thest minute!

    That was thest thing on his mind when he nked out.

    When Shane opened his mouth, he was already standing in a familiar room. The portal was there to his right as he stared at the ce in a daze.

    No wonder the hosts were mostly crazy. Who could remain sane after experiencing such intense pain after transmigrating to every world?

    After that, he turned to look at a certain girl who was about to escape the room. "Hope! Stop where you are and answer my questions first!"

    The hooded woman stopped in her tracks and scratched the back of her neck. "Shane... what a pleasant surprise! We got out so easily...."

    Shane stood up and folded his hands on his chest, staring at her with his brows raised. He acted like a king who was asking his subordinate about what thetter had done wrong.

    Hope cursed under her breath and said, "Damn it, this man has always been like this. I just wish he was a little humble!"

    "What did you say? I didn''t hear it."

    "It wasn''t meant for you to hear!"

    Shane squinted his eyes as he grabbed her wrist and pushed her against the wall. Then he put his hands on either side of her, staring down at her coldly.

    "Speak."

    Hope looked around as she chuckled nervously. "Wow, your hands are so firm."

    She even lightly touched his wrist, only to be pushed aside. Shane''s expression turned even colder.

    "What are you hiding from me?"

    Hope was silent for a while as she lowered her head, probably trying to think of a way to escape, but Shane wouldn''t let her have her way no matter what.

    Now that he looked at her carefully, he had seen her before. He still remembered that strange person saving her when Ed had thrown her into the monsters at the start. This was the same person who had saved him before, and he had lost consciousness because of her.

    He almost thought he was hallucinating back then.

    When the girl saw the other guy''s expression turning colder and colder, she shivered as she coughed. "You''ll get your reply tonight."

    Shane frowned. "What?"

    "Tonight..." she looked at her watch. "No, in an hour to be precise. Just wait for the news and get in touch with me. I''ll guide you for sure."

    "Are you bluffing me? I''m not letting you go anywhere without getting anything." Shane red at her and used his right hand to tug on the hood that covered her face. "Why do you have to hide your face like this? Tsk, still being secretive after working together in so many worlds like this."

    Just as he was about to pull it, he suddenly felt a jolt of strong energy pushing him away. His eyes widened as his entire body was thrown back, colliding with the wall with a thud. The bricks broke apart, creating a huge sound.

    Shane groaned.

    When he stood up after a while, he only found that the girl had disappeared out of the blue.

    He stared at the ce where she was still standing. He could see the traces of divine magic that were used just now.

    So she still ran away.

    Fine, he would see what kind of surprise was waiting for him tonight.

 Chapter 138 137. The Evidence!

    Shane didn''t go home after that. He simply sat there at the shop inside the portal room with his legs crossed. He leaned against the wall as he closed his eyes and waited.

    He would like to see just what the woman is talking about. He also ended up paying some Crana to the owner of this shop for booking this ce for an extra hour.

    An hour wasn''t too long, as he heard his notification ring. He immediately opened the menu and nced at the notification. The police had contacted him.

    A frown crossed his forehead. Was this phone call rted to what Hope said not too long ago?

    He quickly picked it up as their voices echoed from the other side. "Mr. 12147484, we have found evidence of the person who perhaps stole Ed''s dead body. We would like you toe and confirm whether you''re rted to the suspect or not."

    Suspect? They''ve already discovered the evidence?

    Shane''s grip on his phone tightened as he spoke, "Who''s the suspect. System 12254801,monly known as Shane among his friends."

    Shane''s eyes widened as he felt his entire world copsing. What the f*ck were they talking about? How could he steal his own master''s body like that? No, perhaps they ended up picking up something he might have dropped earlier.

    So he calmed down and asked in a curious tone, "Can you kindly tell me what it is that you found?"

    "It''s a watch with ''Shane'' engraved at the back in Cinzel font. It has a detailed flower design. This is what helped us confirm the suspect''s identity."

    Shane froze. He couldn''t speak for a while as he stuttered a reply. "I''m on my way."

    After that, he hung up the phone. He instantly looked at his wrist watch that he had purchased after receiving money for the first time. He took it off and looked at the back.

    There was his name engraved at the back in ck with a beautiful flower design that could make anyone calm, but Shane wasn''t. The more he looked, the more his heart went erratic.

    Just what the heck was going on? Howe his watch was the thing they found when in reality he still had it wrapped around his wrist?!

    He quickly put it in his inventory for fear that the officers would notice and find out something they shouldn''t. He fixed his appearance and went to the police station.

    It took him an hour to get things working. His current alias, at the very least, has been shown to have done nothing in the case of kidnapping. So they proved his fake identity was innocent and let him go.

    Just what was going on with his real identity? He really should check out the evidence when he gets the chance.

    He quickly opened the menu and contacted Hope. The woman seemed to be ready to receive his call. She picked up the call after one ring.

    "So? Have you found your answers?"

    "What the f*ck are you talking about? I''m more than confused right now!"

    "Of course, you are, ah!" Hope leaned closer and said, "First, apologize."

    "I won''t," Shane said as he stood firm and stared at the girl. "Anyone in my situation could have done that!"

    "Trapping a girl in his arms? I didn''t know you had such habits."

    Shane stared at the girl with an expressionless face and said, "Get to the point! You''re an expert in changing topics."

    "Ahem¡­. Alright. We should get there and see what your evidence actually looks like, yeah?"

    "Good." Shane nodded and asked, "Let''s meet at the usual ce at ten."

    After that, he didn''t linger on the call any longer and directly hung up, not even bothering with a good-bye.

    Hope, on the other side, red at the screen, muttering, "He''s changing more and more into the Shane I know... Sigh. How naive was he before? I should have approached him sooner."

    After muttering like that, she got up from the bed and walked over to the bathroom, getting ready. Her hood fell to the ground with her undergarments as she soaked in the tub. The bathroom filled with a mist of hot water, covering everything. Just her blue eyes stared at the ceiling in a daze.

    Shane reached it faster than her since he was already walking in that direction while talking to Hope.

    After arriving at the tea shop, he sat down at the table for two and ordered one for himself. He leaned back and continued to sip, one by one.

    Soon enough, Hope also arrived there in her typical attire, with a hood covering her face. Shane''s eyes narrowed.

    Howe she wanted to hide her face so much? Had she seen her before?

    He only knew two women aftering here. One was Tess, who died tragically, while another was Echo...

    Ahem, let''s not talk about that pretentious woman. There was no way Hope was Echo.<sub> </sub>

    So could it be the women he knew in his past life?

    Shane frowned and thought about it seriously. During his university days, he had a few exes. He remembered their bodies one after another andpared them with Hope, then shook his head.

    ? This definitely wasn''t the way to find out this girl''s real identity. It almost felt like all of them matched, but at the same time they didn''t. So he gave up thinking about it and looked over at Hope.

    "Let''s go."

    No matter who this girl was, he would surely find her identity.

    "You weren''tparing me to your exes just now, were you?" Hope spoke all of a sudden, making Shane stumble while walking on the road.

    He turned back and red at her. "Just how do you know everything?!"

    "So you indeed were..." Hope scoffed. "So predicting."

    Shane took a deep breath. He didn''t want to get angry and hit a girl. He really was a gentleman. This was the first time he had an intense desire to kill her.

    They soon reached the police station area as they stood behind a pir right outside the main gate. This was where Shane had arrived before to confirm that his fake identity was innocent. So this time, he had a hood simr to Hope''s on his head. He even changed his attire on the way.

    Now he looked like a robber who wore all ck. He stared at the ce and silently purchased the invisible cloak before wearing it over himself and Hope. The girl scoffed.

    "You really think this can help you hide? This can work in other ces, but not here. They have anti-thief abilities and can capture all the thieves. So you can''t continue to use this over here if you want to rob a police station."

    Shane frowned. "So what should I do?"

    Hope rolled her eyes. She snatched the cloak and did something to it while hacking into its system. Then she handed it to him.

    "Use it now. It''ll work smoothly."

    Shane instantly wore it over their heads as the two of them walked toward the station. Since it could pass through anything, they didn''t need to worry about bumping into people. So they easily found the ce where the evidence was ced. It was a storeroom at the back of the station.

    They quickly went there without hesitation and searched for his evidence. Since Shane had been shown the watch, he knew in what kind of pocket the police officers had ced it.

    He found it, quickly opened it up, and checked it out.

    The watch was definitely his. The shape and the engraved name at the back...

    It was really the same, but...

    Howe he has two watches? He stared at the watch that was collected as evidence.

    It had scratches all over the ce, as if the person wearing it must have gone through turbulent times. Of course, Shane did go through turbulent times, but not so much that he would have his watch scratched like this! He was very particr about his things.

    Even though he was fighting, he didn''t want to look his worst. He cleaned his things very perfectly, to the point that if he saw a speck of dust on his table, he would use a cloth to clean it quickly.

    So how could he end up turning this watch into this?

    This shouldn''t be his watch, but¡­

    He looked at the recent scratch on his watch when he was fighting with a monster in a dungeon and matched it with the evidence.

    He sighed. "This really is my watch. But how did it get here? And howe there are two of them?"

    Just as he was thinking about it, Hope suddenly spoke: "Hey, let''s get out of here real quick! The power of the cloak is going off!"

    "Huh? Why?" Shane frowned.

    "I kind of altered the security temporarily by hacking into the cloak''s settings. It worked for a while, but I guess the police''s security is tight. Ugh! Just let''s get out or else-"

    "Who''s there?!" an officer yelled as he opened the door to the storeroom.

    Shane''s covered-up face was the target of the gun. The hooded girl chuckled behind him.

    "Oops. I''m going into hiding. They can''t see me, but you''re different. I hope you can deal with them."

    "No, wait!!!!!"

 Chapter 139 138. Another World?

    Shane nked out a bit as he stood there, surrounded by guns. They all slowly starteding closer to him with a serious and cautious attitudes.

    "Don''t move. We won''t hurt you."

    "Put the evidence down ande with us."

    Like heck, he would believe it!

    Shane cursed under his breath and red at the officers before taking out Kinyer. He thrust the tip onto the ground and muttered a spell soon enough. Just then, the entire space was electrocuted to such an extent that everyone standing inside the storeroom trembled and lost consciousness soon enough.

    He saw that the road was open. So he quickly rushed out of the ce and hid behind the same pir. The officers also came out and rushed after him.

    "The f*ck!!! They''re tracking me!"

    He began running down the street as the cops pursued him. They quickly rushed toward him in their hover cars.

    Shane appeared to be in a difficult situation. So he instantly opened the menu and called Hope.

    The girl quickly epted the call and smiled, "How are you?"

    Shane looked at the background only to see that she was still inside the storeroom. How could she still be inside the station?! Was she using something else to hide her presence?

    As if reading his mind, Hope said, "I''m much more powerful than you can ever imagine. I can hide without anything, but for you, I can''t use my powers in your stead, you know? So don''t me me for not helping you. We''re only business partners, not family."

    Shane gritted his teeth and said nothing about it. He continued to run, thinking about how he should escape. Just then, he got an idea.

    "Can I hide in a world?"

    "You can. Just make sure to teleport to another ce whileing out."

    Shane tilted his head, as if not understanding what the girl was saying. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he heard the girl''s voice again.

    "I''ll handle the teleportation thing. Just go to your right. You''ll find a shop. Enter the ce and use the portal directly. I can pay the money in your stead, but I need it back."

    "Okay. Do it!"

    It wasn''t like Shane had any other choice. He quickly followed her instructions and entered the shop. The officers saw what that person was doing and quickly entered the shop as well. They all thought that it was probably Shane, who had entered to steal his watch back. As they yelled one after the other, they almost confirmed the identity of the person running.

    "12254801, stop right there!!!"

    Before they could even fire their weapons, Shane found a portal and jumped inside, in full view of the others. As soon as he entered the ce, he went to the system space.

    Hope was already standing there as she waved her hand with azy attitude. "Hi."

    Shane jumped as he stared at her, wide-eyed. "Gosh, you scared me to death."

    Hope ignored the man and quickly opened the menu. "Where would you like to go? Another gaming world? CEO world? Student world? Horror world? Cultivation world?"

    "Let''s go to the cultivation world."

    "Are you sure?" Hope added, "You really want that world? Don''t you want to rx?"

    "I''ve been rxing for a few worlds already. You were the one working at all times."

    Hope suddenly grinned and shook her head. "Not this time. I''ll be your system, and you''ll be my host. How does that sound?"

    Shane frowned. Why did he get the impression that her words were bing ambiguous for a split second?

    "Cultivation world," he said, shaking his head. "I have always wanted to be a cultivator."

    Hope was unnaturally silent for a moment before she selected that option. She then raised her head.

    "Done. Get ready." Hope said, "You''ll be the host this time."

    The next second, when Shane opened his eyes, he was already inside the world. He blinked as he looked around.

    He was inside a pce-like thing, and he was currently sitting on a throne¡­.

    He looked around. The servants bowed upon seeing him awake. The soldiers also bowed one after another.

    Shane frowned. Just when did he be some kind of king or something?

    Soon, he heard Hope''s voice in the background. "Let me send you the world''s information."

    Shane read the information after a while and felt like the system world was ying a joke on him. This time, his body was the king of the demonic cultivators who ruled over the darknds. In this world, his name was Hu Bohai, and the original owner had been living for a thousand years, growing more irritated by the second.

    He was extremely bored and wanted to do something. So Shane''s mission was to find out this demonic king''s goal in life and help him realize it.<sub> </sub>

    Shane: "....."

    Why was his goal so absurd?

    Hope exined: "Earlier you would get destructive missions because of your dark aura and your identity as Shane. But now you have your fake body. So you wouldn''t always get missions that urge you to destroy something."

    Shane sighed and nced at everyone else in the room. For a thousand-year-old man, what would be his desire?

    Love?

    Nope. He must have fallen in love and broken apart many times. It wasn''t practical in real life, no matter how glorified it was in the novels.

    Power?

    Nope. The demonic king was already powerful enough.

    Then what?

    Shane frowned. Perhaps a person who couldn''t die would most likely yearn to be killed.

    Or maybe he just needs enough motivation to continue living further.

    It could either be in this direction or-

    He leaned back and asked, "Just see and tell me whether Hu Bohai can die or not."

    Hope went silent for a while, probably trying to find information about it. Soon enough, her voice echoed through his mind.

    "He can''t die. He tried tomit suicide many times, but he can''t die."

    "So his mission should be to die, but he hasn''t decided how," Shane said, squinting his eyes. "Let''s find our mission then. We should first go see how the righteous cultivators are doing."

    After that, Shane got down from the throne and started nodding at the people. No one dared to say another word as he continued to walk onward. After a while, when he entered the garden, he stopped and frowned.

    "Where exactly is the ce with righteous cultivators?"

    "Ah, you need a map for this. Let me see." Hope started searching for something in the shop as she eximed. "Ah, found it. There''s the world map app."

    "There is something like this in the shop?" Why didn''t Shane find out before?

    "There''s everything here!" Hope chuckled.

    After this, Shane started checking out the map and decided to go to the nearest righteous tavern outside the demonic cultivators'' borders.

    Since he was a cultivator, he didn''t need to walk all the way. He took a deep breath.

    "Hope, can I get this body''s memories?"

    "You want a thousand-year-old memory?" Hope''s voice sounded in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

    "Yup. It''ll also help me with my own powers since they''re also kind of in that direction."

    Hope was genuinely surprised as she nodded. "Sure. Here you go. Rest for a while."

    Slowly, memories flooded Shane''s brain, making him feel unstable for the moment. He pressed his forehead as a gust of headache filled his head. He couldn''t stand still because of the pain in his forehead, so he sat on a nearby bench.

    Only after a while did he manage to calm down and go through the memories.

    The life of this thousand-year-old man was really boring. In the beginning phase of his life, hemitted all the crimes that could bemitted. He even did everything he could in the brothels, and after enjoying lives with millions of lovers, he felt bored and abandoned them all. Then he tried different things that often made others yearn for them, such as earning money, spending itvishly, throwing parties one after another, and being the center of attention for years.

    So after a few hundred years, the demonic cultivator became even more bored of that stuff. As a result, he chose to be a king instead. He conquered everyone and everything around him, making them forcibly kneel at his feet. He ruled for a few more hundred years until he became bored. After this, he found a newfound interest in dying, and he tried it wholeheartedly.

    But he failed because he couldn''t even die.

    So now, the situation was that this old king had lived the life of everyone''s dreams, but he was still bored to death so much that he just wanted to die and get rid of this yearning loneliness in his heart.

    Shane frowned. There was one thing this old man hadn''t tried: doing something good. Should he try?

    After thinking about it, he asked Hope, "Hey, I will receive the notification when something is close to the king''s desire, right?"

    "That''s right. So you''re free to do anything you want."

    Shane raised his brows and smiled. He indeed had several options he wanted to try.

 Chapter 140 139. The Demonic King!

    The same day when Shane set off, he found that a few people were following him in secret. He first wondered if they were this old guy''s enemies. But after walking for a long time, none of them came out to ambush him.

    So Shane could safely assume that they were probably his bodyguards.

    He frowned. He wanted to get rid of those people. Since this old man was so powerful that he could still feel dark energy coursing through his veins, simr to his own power, he should be able to protect himself. Then why would the man need those bodyguards?

    He shook his head and continued to walk. He would eventually have to find a way to get rid of this tail. For now, he should first start measuring this guy''s desires.

    Hmm... doing good deeds...

    Shane looked around in a bored manner. There was one thing he hated the most, and that was being pretentious. He didn''t want to pretend to be a good guy. He had never been one. In fact, during his college days, if he liked something, he would do it regardless of the oue. He wouldn''t care if the thing he did was righteous or not.

    He was close to having drugs once because of his friends, but he didn''t like the smell. Otherwise, he would have been addicted to it until the end of his life.

    At this time, doing good deeds like this made him feel suffocated. He looked around at those old and wrinkledmoners walking on the street and gulped.

    "Hope, do I really have to do something like this?"

    "Otherwise? Do you want the original host toe back and test it for you?" replied Hope.

    Shane went silent as he sighed and walked over to a blind olddy and asked, "Do you want me to help you cross the road?"

    Hearing his words, he suddenly heard footsteps stumbling behind him. He pressed his forehead. Since the bodyguards had followed the original host for quite a while, they probably knew that there wasn''t a single good bone left in this person''s body. This was possibly the first time they saw him attempting to assist someone.

    No wonder they stumbled.

    The olddy smiled and said, "Young man, no need. I''m good."

    She was about to go away when Shane caught her wrist. "I insist! Let me help you!"

    Shane, despite the olddy''s rejection, dragged her to the other side of the road and let her hand go stiffly. After he left her, his shoulders rxed, and he leaned against a wall.

    "So? "Tell me the good news," Shane inquired.

    Hope was silent for a while before she replied, "Nope. Nothing."

    Shane felt relieved. He wouldn''t have to act pretentious for the entire time to fulfill this old man''sst desires and purpose.

    After that, he decided that he would have to travel a lot to find the true purpose of this old man. Damn it, why was his mission this time so strange? He shook his head and started heading in another direction.

    Just then, one of the ck shadow bodyguards who had been hiding and silently following him came out and blocked his path. The man, dressed in ck from head to toe, bowed to his feet.

    "Master, where are you going?"

    Shane raised his brows. "Do I have to tell you everything I do?"

    He didn''t understand why this bodyguard had inquired about this. He thought hard about when these bodyguards started trailing behind the original host. It was perhaps around the time when the previous demon king was still around and alive. He hadn''t defeated the other man yet, and he was just a subordinate, pretending to be submissive.

    The original owner lurked in the dark, trying to find an opening to kill the demon king. Back then, he easily found it and killed the man. Soon after he became the demon king and ascended the throne, he was given a group of bodyguards to follow him in the name of extra protection.

    Shane frowned when he thought of this. Why would a king need extra protection? And where did these bodyguardse from?

    The original owner was a dumb leader. He didn''t even bother asking about the backgrounds of those bodyguards and just waved his hand.

    But Shane wasn''t the original owner. He frowned as he found this thing a little suspicious. He decided that he should just try and dismiss these people as he raised his head.<sub> </sub>

    "I wanted to take a break. I feel so tired."

    Soon he felt that the tensed body of the man in front of him rxed as he nodded and wandered away, vanishing into the darkness without a trace.

    Shane frowned deeper upon seeing this. Was the other man worried that he would end up doing or finding out something he shouldn''t?

    This thing made him even more curious. He raised his head and looked around. Through his senses, he could tell where those people were hiding. It wasn''t difficult to leave them behind now that he knew where they were.

    So first things first, he needed to get rid of these bodyguards and find out about their backgrounds.

    After thinking about it, he silently let go of the fierce, dark aura and surrounded those bodyguards silently, as if he were attacking them head-on.

    Suddenly, the people hiding in the shadows changed their expressions several times as the leader of them called out. "He''s gonna attack us. Were we caught?!"

    "It''s impossible! We shouldn''t have been! How could it be possible!?" yelled another person in shock.

    Shane heard those words despite the bodyguards'' low voices. He scoffed and made his aura even fiercer.

    He knew it. There was something wrong with this group of bodyguards. They were too nosey in his life. He squinted his eyes as he made his way toward the righteous cultivation cities.

    Since doing good deeds wasn''t his real motive, he should just head toward the dwelling ce of this body''s eternal enemies. They might end up giving this body some kind of purpose.

    As he thought about it, he hummed a song while walking down the street. Just as he crossed the border, he was suddenly surrounded by a group of righteous cultivators, aiming their weapons at him. Some carried swords, while others held fans.

    "Demon king, submit yourself! You shouldn''t have crossed the border today!"

    "What''s your purpose foring to the city of humans? Tell us of your evil ns, and we''ll let you go!"

    "You must have nned to destroy everything like before, didn''t you? Guys, let''s get him before he can do anything about it."

    And so, all the so-called righteous cultivators didn''t even give a second to let the other person speak before they attacked together in unison. All the swords, knives, fans, and even some formations were aimed at Shane''s body.

    Thetter frowned and said, "Howe you guys are so biased when ites to the demon kings? Can''t I just walk out to take a stroll?"

    But his voice remained unheard because everyone else was busy attacking him with their powers. Suddenly, it seemed like a circle of magical powers of different colors surrounded Shane''s lone body, dressed in ck.

    He moved.

    His thousand-year-old body was agile and fast. He even knew how to use cultivation powers with spells and weapons. So he didn''t need to purchase anything at this time.

    He simply raised his hand and wrote a Chinese letter to craft a spell in midair. Dark energy flooded the spell, making the word glow in a blood-red color. The entire ce started to tremble at this time, making the cultivators stop in their tracks.

    Soon enough, the entire sky was covered with red instead of ck. It almost looked like blood was leaking from the sky.

    When everyone saw this scene, the colors of their faces changed.

    One of the cultivators yelled, "It''s the blood rain! Run!!!!!!"

    Blood rain was one of the most powerful techniques that this old man used to scare people off. Of course, it did more damage than good. The moment the blood rain touched an area, it would start rotting in the worst way possible. If it fell to the ground, the vegetation would start melting to the point of turning into a pool of blood.

    If it fell on top of a living person, even if it were an animal, that being would end up being in a worse condition. The skin of their bodies would start melting bit by bit at a very slow pace. And there was no way to stop it from happening. The situation was uncurable for the cultivators and other living creatures.

    The pain from that kind of attack was so bad that even after staying awake for days, the person wouldn''t die and was forced to face the worst pain. It almost felt like millions of scorpions would attack and sting their bodies one after another.

 Chapter 141 140. Totally Drunk!

    Shane looked around at the bloody mess created because of the attack. His eyes opened wide in surprise. Such a powerful spell! Now, he didn''t even have to purchase anything because he basically knew all the kinds of weapons and spells that could be used through his thousand-year-old memory!

    Didn''t it mean he was all-powerful and couldn''t be defeated anymore?

    For a moment, his heart sped up as he nced at his hands. Power surged as he thought about it for a mere second. Dark energy flooded through his veins and appeared in the palms of his hands. It brightened up in his eyes as he stared at it for a moment.

    Just as he was busy staring at his power, he heard Hope''s voice: "Tsk. Calm down. You''re not the only powerful person who knows cultivation, you know?"

    Shane came back to himself as the power also disappeared inside his body. He blinked and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to ask something, the other girl spoke in his brain.

    "Congrattions. You have just passed your first mission in this world."

    Shane raised his brows. "You found the old man''sst wish so soon?"

    "That man is pretty predictable." Hope''s voice wasced with disdain. "He wants you to destroy the entire righteous cultivation faction. He specifically focused on the word ''hypocrite.'' That is, the righteous faction is made up of people who have two faces. You know what I mean, don''t you?"

    "Now that I think about it, he really hasn''t destroyed anything just yet. Also, why did he call the righteous faction hypocrites? I don''t have anyints. I have indeed seen pretentious people who like to call themselves righteous, but in reality, they were scheming even in my university days."

    "Are you talking about those good-looking girls with ckened hearts?"

    "Exactly."

    Hope went unnaturally silent for half a minute before she opened her mouth. "Let''s think about how to destroy the righteous faction first. The old man must have several enemies. Let''s visit them one by one."

    Shane also agreed with this, but before this, he had to do something else. "From what I understand, there must be a hidden mole in the demonic faction who allowed the spy bodyguards to enter and even get this close to the demon king."

    He didn''t think the main officials and the old man''s father were responsible for this mess. Someone in the bodyguardpany must have allowed the spies to cross the border. They were also demon cultivators, but they worked for the righteous faction. So Shane could tell they weren''t the only ones who had been sent to the imperial pce by this old man.

    "Okay, I know where we have to go."

    "To the bodyguardpany?"

    Shane smiled and said nothing about that. "Show me the way."

    He arrived at the location with his fast-speed technique after a few minutes. These powers were really awesome. He didn''t even have to travel very far on foot to get anywhere. He could just take his sword and travel at the fastest speed possible.

    He should try this after he gets back.

    When he reached it, he silently took out the invisibility cloak that also helped him pass through the walls and wore it on his body. He also covered up his cultivation and hid in the shadows, walking steadily toward the main office.

    No one could notice him at this time. It was almost like he had be invisible in front of everyone else.

    "Eh? You want me to get drunk in the middle of my job?" asked one of the soldiers stationed at the main gate.

    The man wearing ck robes had half his face covered with a cloth. So only his eyes were visible at this moment. The man standing on the other side of the door also had a simr getup. Even their eye colors were the same: a deep red. If it weren''t for their foreheads looking a bit different, Shane wouldn''t be able to tell them apart at all.

    Shane noticed the other man pick up the bottle of wine and drink it all at once while pulling up the cloth. He wiped his mouth and leaned back against the wall.

    "This is what I call a dream job. You won''t get to drink in the middle of a job elsewhere. You try it too."

    The other person hesitated before he sighed, grabbed the bottle, and drank it all himself. "That''s so good. No one can see us in this endless dark corridor."

    Shane looked around. The ce was indeed dark, with only one corridor in front of the guards. There wasn''t even a door or another room to enter, which made Shane wonder whether this ce was filled with hallucination arrays. Nevertheless, he stepped forward and started walking ahead. Since he knew that he wouldn''t find anything anytime soon just by walking through the dark corridor, he directly entered the wall adjacent to him and looked around. It was another corridor.<sub> </sub>

    He raised his brows.

    Even with this invisibility cloak, it was easy to get lost in this messy ce.

    So he started walking directly from wall to wall, only to find endless corridors at the end. He frowned when he reached the end of the corridor. He could only see the outside scene of the dark sky and cold buildings of the demonic realm. He turned back and frowned.

    No, it shouldn''t be this way.

    He simply sat on the ground and closed his eyes. He would use the dark cultivation technique to look through the entire ce. He spread his awareness everywhere in the entire building. From the outside, he had seen that this bodyguard''s office looked rather like a posh pce filled with quiet and darkness.

    After he spread his senses throughout the ce, he sensed that this ce was indeed filled with an array that was meant to confuse anyone, even an invisible person like him. He silently praised the creator of this ce and started finding a loophole in the array, and he found it.

    He smiled and opened his eyes. He had been wrong all along. He shouldn''t have gone out of his way and entered through the walls. He didn''t even manage to enter the right ce yet!

    He sighed and walked all the way back to the ce with two bodyguards. They were still silently standing in their ce. If you looked carefully, it could be seen that their eyes were clouded with confusion.

    They were totally drunk.

    Shane ignored them and walked outside the door. He nced around only to find a small, narrow opening on the side that he had ignored before. When he entered the ce, he felt like he had just passed through a thick wall and paused.

    He raised his brows. It seems there was a formation here that blocked others from entering. If it weren''t for the invisibility cloak he wore, he wouldn''t have even entered this ce so smoothly.

    After putting his feet inside, he took a look around.

    It was a hallway filled with several ck-robed people who wandered here and there. A giant rectangle-shaped wooden table was ced at the center. Several of these ck-robed people sat on either side, eating their food. Some of them just strolled around the stalls and tasted foodstuffs.

    Shane walked forward and passed through every single one of them without turning back.

    "I think you''ll find the stairs," Hope said after a while.

    "Thank you for the information. I would have appreciated it if you had spoken sooner."

    "I tried, but for some reason, the array even seemed to have blocked my voice."

    "Huh?" Shane frowned as his steps came to a halt as he turned to enter a door at the far end of the hall. "You were blocked?"

    "Yeah, no worries. I think the array was powerful enough."

    Shane frowned deeper. He didn''t think so. The only person who could do this was probably another person with a system. So it seemed he wasn''t the only oneing here.

    Interesting. So two systems would sh like this. He hadn''t expected this to happen.

    It seemed even Hope realized it; as she said, "I have a feeling that the other system isn''t that powerful. Otherwise, they would have realized that others might enter using an invisibility cloak and would have made probable arrangements."

    Shane also thought for a while and nodded. Still, he didn''t let his guard down. He silently took out the kinyer and walked upstairs all the way to the topmost floor. The other floors weren''t that important. They appeared to be filled with various types of residences and training rooms. He wasn''t interested in strolling around this ce.

    He quickly went upstairs and directly entered the room that looked like the main office.

    As soon as he entered the ce and saw the other person sitting on the chair, he frowned.

    Wait, wasn''t this person one of the officials who had bowed back in the pce hall when he just entered this world?

 Chapter 142 141. The Spy

    Shane looked at the almost empty office for a moment before he settled beside a pir and leaned against it. He squinted his eyes.

    "Hope, I think I know who this mole can be."

    "I also feel like I know whom you''re talking about."

    After that, Shane said nothing. From his memories, he knew that this official sitting as the leader of the bodyguardpany was an important person to the old demon king. Thetter hadn''t known anything about thispany''s leader. He had tried to use force to see the leader, but the man would always hide cautiously and run away.

    So until today, no one knew that this little official was the actual leader. This person''s name was Song Song, and he would often be included among the ministers in the court who guided the intelligence system.

    When every crime was reported, or if anyw was supposed to be passed, there was a group of intelligence faction who would provide their ideas and guide the court in a specific direction. Without these people, it would be difficult to control such a huge group of demonic cultivators with darkened hearts.

    Song Song was one of those people who led the intelligence team to either investigate the crime or give advice to the court to make the government better for the public. Since he was such an important person, no one could have realized that he was the leader of this bodyguardpany.

    It wasn''t a good thing though. It would have been fine if those bodyguards were alsomon people with demonic power running through their veins. But it wasn''t.

    Shane narrowed his eyes. He had his suspicions about this person in front of him. This leader was the only man who could have so much control over the court matters that he inserted his bodyguards without making anyone doubt him.

    The entire day went by without any events. Shane sat there with a bored expression on his face. asionally, he would yawn and walk toward Song Song to see what the man had been up to.

    The leader himself had been wearing long Eastern-style robes with silver and ck designs all over the brownish cloth wrapped around his body. Expensive jewels hung over his waist, giving him an elegant vibe.

    If not for the wrinkles on his face and hands, Shane would have thought of him as a rich, second-generation person who liked to show off his money.

    He raised his brows. Even though the intelligence team''s sry was not low, they were people with fewer desires coursing through their veins. These people often lived simple lives.

    It wasn''t that Shane discriminated against the rich and still managed to get the intelligence team into the pce. It was just that this person, Song Song, was a hypocrite. During his working days, he would often dress in in clothes, making others feel like he was from an ordinary family.

    This was perhaps the first time after Shane scanned his memories that he saw this person wearing such rich robes. His eyes squinted as he looked over at the scroll this person was reading.

    It was a letter written to Song Song. It must have been confidential, so  Song was especially cautious while reading, ncing here and there to make sure no one was around. He rxed his breathing and opened the scroll wide.

    What was written only proved Shane''s theory right. It was a hidden letter from a spy bodyguard who was sent after the old demonic king earlier.

    "He fought back and defeated those cultivators. What should we do?"

    Song Song closed the scroll and burned the paper in the table candle. Then he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something. Shane bowed his head to look at the contents.

    "This was under my expectations. After all, the king is an old demon. Who would be powerful in front of him? To get rid of such a powerful leader, we have to be ready to bear the consequences. Tell your minions to go into hiding for a while. Don''t approach him until I say so. Let us lower his guard for a while before attacking again."

    Then the man folded the piece of paper and got up from the chair. He walked toward the window. He whistled lightly. His voice was so low that it was hard to listen from a distance.

    The whistle disappeared into the darkness of the night and a few secondster, an eagle flew running toward the arm that held up outside the window. It sat silently and started picking its wings, looking all docile.

    Shane raised his brows. He didn''t believe that an eagle like this could turn docile like this randomly. There must be some secrets behind Song Song''s powers.

    Who was this person approaching? And why?

    He frowned. Even though he would like to follow that bird and find out, he also needed to tail this middle-aged man. He thought for a while and decided to stay here.

    "Help me keep an eye on that eagle."<sub> </sub>

    "On it!" Hope''s reply was fast as if she knew what he was thinking about.

    Shane ignored his partner and looked at the other person who sat on his chair and started flipping ordinary documents as if what happened just now was an illusion. Time passed quickly and nightfall came.

    Shane yawned as he looked at the other person in a bored manner. This official was reading files one after another, making him feel bored. When would he make some move?

    Just when he was thinking about it, the eagle''s voice echoed into the background quickly. He saw Song Song looking over the window as he hurriedly made his way toward it. He raised his hand as the eagle flew back.

    Song Song picked out a piece of paper tucked on the leg of the bird and fed it some worms before letting it fly in the air. Shane watched the scene and walked closer.

    The paper read: Come and see me at our usual ce.

    Song Song read it and burnt it in the fire. He fixed his appearance and took a deep breath as he walked over to the shelf area. He pulled out a book on the right as the entire shelf started to tremble. Soon enough, things changed.

    The entire shelf split apart, revealing a mouth of a cave behind. The man entered it without thinking twice. Shane also followed before the door closed without any hesitation.

    "Hope," asked Shane, "where did the eagle go?"

    "To the righteous faction. The exact ce can''t be found."

    Shane nodded in understanding. Radar would only show the direction, not the location or ce. So he didn''t ask about it anymore as he continued to follow Song Song through the corridor.

    The man stopped when the pathway came to an end, and he opened the door. The other side of the ce was fully covered with greenery. Trees and shrubs dominated the entire scenery as birds chirped up and down.

    Just in front of their eyes, a man in light-colored robes stood with his arms folded across his chest. "You took your time."

    The man looked too familiar. He was one of the people who ambushed Shane with cultivators back then.

    Shane frowned as he continued to watch everything.

    "I''m not idle like you," replied Song Song. "What do you want?"

    "What exactly happened? How could he have the power to attack us like that?! Didn''t your bodyguards make him powerless by feeding him poison?!"

    Shane raised his brows. No wonder the original owner died so soon, letting him possess the body easily.

    Song Song shook his head as a trace of anxiety appeared in his eyes. "I also want to know. This shouldn''t have happened. Everything was going well and ording to our n. What went wrong? Could it be that his majesty knew about our coboration from before?"

    The man in light robes shook his head. "Impossible. The demon king is dumb as a donkey. He can''t figure out how to even untie a knot. How can he scheme? He''s theziest person I''ve ever known. He has so much power just because of his brute strength, and nothing else. He just got lucky. That''s why we have to make sure he dies. In any case, you had instigated him tomit crimes many times. You''re his trusted aid, aren''t you?"

    "What trusted aid?" Song Song scoffed. "I only approached him because he massacred my family. How can I ever be loyal to a person like that? He''s dumb and only does things he likes. I need to be reced by a good leader no matter whether they''re from demonic or righteous factions."

    "Take this," the man in light-colored robes handed a small bottle. "This is a powerful medicine. Feed it to him before we attack him the next time. Make sure to destroy his cultivation base this time."

    Song Song took it. "I won''t be acting soon. So don''t expect news."

    "That''s fine. We have all the time in the world."

 Chapter 143 142. So Much Work!

    Shane watched as Song Song entered his office and shut the shelf. He then sat in his seat and pressed his fingers on his forehead.

    "System," said Song Song, "why do I have to go against the demon king? He seems very powerful. And what exactly happened? Didn''t you say the poison would work on him? Wasn''t it why I kept sticking by his side all these years?!"

    Shane raised his brows. He had no way to know what the system said, but he could guess. The other person inside Song Song''s head must have be anxious at this point, but he or she would still try to calm his host down.

    Sure enough, he saw the official''s expression ease as he sighed. "Thank you. I''ll keep doing this. If I fail this task... What will happen to me?"

    After a moment of silence, the official''s face paled a few degrees. "Why didn''t you f*cking tell me before?! I don''t want to go and attend the punishment realm!"

    "Hope, what''s with this punishment realm?" Since this was Shane''s first time being a host, he didn''t know a thing about it.

    "You don''t have to worry about it. I won''t let you go there even if you fail."

    "So powerful?" Shane was curious about something else. "Why did youe for me, though? I''m not really an extraordinary person, nor am I an experienced system. Then why?"

    Hope went silent for a moment. It dragged on and on for a while until Shane almost felt that the silence would end up suffocating him for real. Just then, he heard the girl speaking:

    "You''re really curious, aren''t you?" There was a hint of a smile in Hope''s voice. "You will once we start the next job after this."

    Shane''s brows furrowed at this. Why did he feel like something was going to go wrong in the next world? He shook his head and decided to stop thinking about it.

    By this time, even Song Song and his system had stopped talking. From the situation, it seemed that the host inside the officer''s body had been stuck in this world for years. He could already guess the other party''s mission. It was to probably either destroy the demonic king or take over the throne.

    Shane knew that none of those options could happen. He wasn''t a saintly person to help another system fulfill the mission. In any case, he was here to survive, not to help and be some kind of hero.

    So he subconsciously decided to finish his task as soon as possible. After all, he just had to destroy the righteous faction. After thinking about it, he sat on the ground and started talking to Hope.

    "Give me some food."

    "I''m not your servant. Purchase it on your own." Hope wasn''t in the mood to discuss nonsense.

    "You''re supposed to act like my system," Shane said, his face dissatisfied. "I can evenin about you in the feedback system.

    The feedback system was actually a headache for the systems in their realm. If a hostined against them, the government would often take strict action. It included reformatting the memories and forcing the system to go through the procedure from the start without memories of previous years.

    No one knew how many systems had already gone through this tedious process. It was said that every system had probably been reformed two to three times already in their lifetime. The highest record of someone having to be reformatted was around twenty. God knows what that poor system did to end up in such a messy situation.

    Since Shane knew this, he was also aware of the fact that even he could have been reformatted in the past. So whenever someone uttered even a word about this, they were sure to poke a sore spot in every system in the realm.

    But Hope surprisingly remained calm and collected as she said, "Oh? Go on. Do it right now. I also want to see if that timid System God has the capability to make me go through the reformatting procedure."

    Shane sneered. "Are you a God or what?"

    "What if I am?"

    "I''ll be your number one hater."

    "Bullsh*t! You''ll be my number one follower."

    "Do you want to make a bet?"

    "Nope. I''m good."

    Shane sighed and stopped continuing their nonsensical talk. Soon enough, the other official got up and decided to retire to bed.

    "Are you going to continue to follow him even in his sleep? Don''t you have any desire to rest?" asked Hope.

    "Nope," said Shane as he flexed his arms. "This body is really powerful. I don''t need to sleep."

    "Suit yourself." Hope stopped talking after that.

    For the next few days, Shane continued to follow the official around like a ghost. Except for the other man''s bathroom needs, he would be around Song Song at all times. By the time a week had passed, he was so bored that he just wanted to abandon this mission.

    Reasoning told him that he should still preserve because the punishment couldn''t be better. He also couldn''t keep relying on the girl for his protection. But when will this official act happen?

    The man already had the poison. If Shane was someone else, he was sure that the other system would have given up already. Either that, or the host would have subconsciously lowered his guard, thinking Song Song was probably bluffing.

    But Shane wasn''t that kind of person. He knew that this person was probably making sure the demon king would lose all traces of doubt in his heart before acting.

    Of course, if that king was still the original host, Shane was sure that even the demon would have lowered his guard.

    Shane sighed. Only he was smart enough to handle this situation.

    Hope scoffed. "You''re too proud of yourself."

    "Why shouldn''t I? I did a good job, after all." Shane''s chin was raised as he stood in the office, watching Song Song read one document after another.

    Just as Hope was about to make a reply, she heard Shane''s voice: "Wait, Song Song''s going to do something."

    Hope stopped talking and stared at her screen. Outside, the official had just gotten up when a familiar eagle entered through the window and uratelynded on the table.

    Shane had heard the scream of this eagle earlier. That''s why he realized that something might happen. It could be that the other party was getting more and more anxious as the days passed. So they must have sent this person a message.

    Song Song took out the paper from his bird''s leg and started reading:

    "How long do you n to wait? If I were the only person involved, I wouldn''t haveined. But others are starting to get impatient. Hurry up!"

    Song Song sighed and crushed the paper in his palms. Then he burned it before sitting on the chair. After pressing his fingers on his forehead for a while, he swiftly pulled out an empty scroll and wrote something. Shane leaned over to see what it was:

    "Your Majesty, your servant wants to have a tea meeting with you. Do you have time?"

    He signed at the bottom and stamped the scroll before shutting it. Then he called out to his servants.

    Soon enough, a man in ragged robes walked into the room and bowed.

    Song Song said, "Take this scroll to his majesty ande back with a reply."

    Shane raised his brows and immediately decided that he should get back to his throne. He hadn''t been there for a while.

    He immediately went off toward the pce. When he was at a safe distance, he entered a dark alley and put back the invisibility cloak before fixing his robes. He started walking in the direction of the pce.

    Other people seemed to have recognized their king. Some of them bowed, while others trembled in fear. Shane ignored them all and continued to walk without any expression on his face.

    Soon enough, he reached the pce as the guards at the main arched gate bowed and made their way. Shane nodded and walked straight toward the throne hall.

    As soon as he entered, all the servants and soldiers stationed in and outside the pce bowed as if they really respected him. But Shane knew that, because of the interference of that minister, half of them were probably spies.

    Shane finally sat on the throne as he gestured for everyone to stand up. Soon, one of the ministers handed over a few scrolls.

    "Your majesty, please look into the matter. There has been a murder in the eastern part of the Empire."

    "Your majesty, please look into the taxes. Should we increase them more? A few vigers in the west aren''t paying it up. Should we decide on their punishments?"

    "The public isining about not having enough to eat. Should we loot the food from the righteous faction like before?"

    And the cases went on and on. Shane''s face waspletely ck as he saw the pile of scrolls that sat beside him on the throne.

    "Hope, let''s finish this mission today. I don''t want to handle so many scrolls!"

 Chapter 144 143. I Have A Proposal For You

    Shane continued to read and sign the scrolls for the entire day, and he couldn''t even finish half of them. It even seemed like a few more scrolls were added to the pile. At the end of the day, he couldn''t find Song Song''s scroll.

    So at the end of the day, he pretended to retire to his room. He entered his room and closed the door behind him, even telling the maids not to wait on him. After that, he wore the cloak and went off to see the official again.

    From what he had seen, the man didn''t have a habit of sleeping too soon. It might even be possible that he would approach that righteous cultivator again. So he might get something if we keep an eye on him.

    Hope knew what this guy was doing. So she said nothing and continued to look at the screen while yawning. "You know, I haven''t slept for days. It''s fine if you don''t want to take care of your own body, but at least you should understand that there''s a girl with you inside your body. Think about her, will you?"

    Shane scoffed. "You''re a girl? Why don''t you act like one?"

    He suddenly felt his mind burning with anger. Was it just his imagination? He shook his head and didn''t focus on a certain angry system anymore. He continued to walk down the corridor. He returned to the samepany through the street after slowly exiting the pce.

    As expected, Song Song was still sitting on his chair, reading through scroll after scroll.

    Why did it feel like this person was even busier than the king himself? Shane scoffed and looked over at what this person was reading.

    He was surprised to find out these scrolls were the same ones he had passed during the day. Then he saw something miraculous. Song Song''s cultivation allowed him to write a statement beneath each scroll in the old king''s handwriting.

    "I do not approve of this settlement."

    After that, he would throw the scroll away in another corner.

    Now, after seeing this scene, Shane understood why themon people feared and hated this demonic king. Even when he wanted to do the right thing, there were spies like this one here, Song Song, who refused to look the king in the eyes.

    No wonder the old king''s ultimate desire was to destroy the righteous sects.

    After watching for a while, the eagle screeched again from the sky and flew inside the office through the opened window. Song Song came to a halt in his work and extracted a hidden message from the bird''s legs. He opened the paper and read it.

    "Meet me. Right now."

    Song Song rolled his eyes and pressed his finger on his forehead. That righteous cultivator was getting impatient. He sighed and got up from his seat, heading toward the shelf.

    He opened it and walked inside, followed by Shane in his invisible form.

    Then thetter watched as the official walked out of the corridor and stood right in front of the same cultivator with a youthful face. There was a frown on his forehead.

    He stared at the old official with a grim face and asked, "So? Did you manage to approach him?"

    Song song pursed his lips and said, "I wrote him a scroll, but he didn''t see it yet. Who knows where he went off to for a few days? He came back today and had a pile of work, which also gave me a headache. I almost couldn''t finish the scrolls he signed today."

    The cultivator waved his hand as his face turned even darker. "So you didn''t. Are you even on our side? Sometimes I feel like you''re ying a double-spy game on us!"

    Song Song had worked throughout the day, and now he even had more than half the pile of scrolls to edit and send out to the public.

    He looked at the other person angrily and said, "Do you have any idea what I went through just for our stupid contract?! I not only have to finish my work up-to-date during the day, I even have been forced to alter the scrolls! If I wasn''t determined to kill that guy, I would have given up already!"

    The cultivator took a deep breath, not wanting to argue with a demonic person any longer. "Do whatever you want. I want a message tomorrow, and you''d better be sessful."

    Shane grimaced after seeing this. Didn''t this mean he would have to finish those scrolls in a day if he ever wanted this spy to approach him? Ah, couldn''t he just skip them all? It wasn''t his work anyway, and even if he passed, this person would change it.

    After thinking about it for a moment, Shane shook his head. No, better yet, he would have to pass those scrolls carefully so that this person wouldn''t have any suspicion about him until the end. He wanted to ambush those guys. So it was better to be careful.

    He sighed, thinking about all the work he would have to do tomorrow before finishing up the world.

    Song Song ended the talk and walked back to his office with a dark face. He sat on his chair and said, "System, can you help me finish these?"

    It seemed that the system heard and epted his request. After a moment, Song Song''s body rested as the scrolls flew in the air. The stamp appeared on every page at such a fast pace that it even left Shane dumbfounded. It almost seemed like magic.

    He couldn''t help but ask, "Hope, what''s going on?"

    "The system used a spell to sign the stamps."

    "That I can see," said Shane in a cold voice. "Why didn''t you tell me something like this existed in the first ce?"

    "Because I wanted you to work your *ss off! Hahaha."

    Shane felt like his head was about to burst in anger. He took a deep breath and ignored the girl''s annoyingughter in his head as he continued to look at the official.

    It was getting closer to dawn. He nced at the busy official once more and turned back to go to his pce. Since he had already decided what he wanted to do, he should hurry and start signing the scrolls tomorrow itself.

    The next day was way too hectic for Shane. The pile of scrolls to finish was somehow mixed up by the mistake of a servant. Shane had no idea how far Song Song''s scroll had progressed. So he could only ask Hope for some help.

    "Help me."

    "Why should I?" asked Hope in a haughty tone.

    "Because I might be your next system. If you don''t want trouble, help me!"

    Hope seemed to have paused and thought of something. After a moment of strange silence, she opened her mouth.

    "Alright. I''ll help you, but not the way that system did. I have my own techniques."

    After that, Shane felt dizzy for a moment as his consciousness shifted. He went directly back to the dark and empty space of his mind and frowned.

    "Did you just change bodies?"

    "Yup, but this is just for the scroll. Don''t get the impression that I''ll help you pass this mission," said Hope while hurrying past every scroll.

    Her speed was so incredibly fast that all Shane could see was a hand shing past the scrolls. She didn''t even seem to be reading them before singing them all at once.

    Night came by sooner, but Shane managed to reach Song Song''s scroll soon enough. He sighed in relief when he saw that.

    Hope signed it and gave the body back to Shane. Thetter retired to his room and wore the cloak again after eating some food.

    As expected, the next day, Song Song was the first toe to court after his request was epted. He bowed to the king and gestured for them to head out.

    Shane could finally say goodbye to those annoying scrolls. He nodded coldly as he got off the throne and walked over to the man at a steady pace.

    The two of them continued to walk onward without any pause until they reached the parlor just outside the king''s garden. Shane sat on his seat and gestured for the other person to sit as well.

    He then asked a few servants toe by. "Bring two cups of tea."

    The servants nodded and walked back with the order. Then Shane raised his brows.

    "What do you want to talk about?" asked Shane in a proud tone simr to the original owner of this body.

    Song Song felt his body stiffening. Even though he had done many things behind the scenes, this was the first time he faced the king himself to try and defeat this guy. He took a deep breath and was just about to open his mouth when the servant came by.

    He looked at the other person as thetter poured tea into two cups and left it on the table. The servant went back after bowing respectfully.

    Shane nced at the cup and knew that it was poisoned already. He sneered. Even the servant was a spy. No wonder this old king was so terribly pitiful.

    He silently picked it up, took a sip, and gestured for the other person to speak.

    Song Song was especially nervous as he wiped theyer of sweat from his forehead using a handkerchief. "Your majesty, I have a proposal for you."

 Chapter 145 144. Song Song!

    "What kind of proposal do you have? And why?" Shane asked as if he really were the king.

    His impending aura spread everywhere, making the servants shiver from head to toe. None of them dared look up at his face at the moment. The servants who hade to serve the tea walked out hastily, closing the door behind them.

    Song Song was also pale as he gripped his own shirt tightly in his fist. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and took another sip of tea.

    "Your majesty," said the official after calming down a little. "There''s an issue going on with themoners these days. They have misunderstood you terribly. Someone is perhaps ndering your majestic name among the public, and now they have alle out with banners and horns to protest against you. They all want you off the throne!"

    "So?" Shane leaned back and raised his brows. "Let me ask you a question," he said as he leaned in and tapped his finger on the table. "If there''s anyone more powerful than me, powerful enough to beat me up in a fight," he said, "I can abdicate the throne."

    The official took a deep breath to calm his nervous heart and said, "Then, your majesty, won''t you do anything about themoners?"

    Shane sneered. He knew this was a nned trap, but he kind of found it amusing to see this person acting like this. Did the official really think he could fool the demon king?

    "Fine," Shane got up and said, "Let''s go."

    Song Song looked up in surprise. He didn''t think the demon king would agree so easily like this. He hurriedly nodded and got up as well.

    As they were watching, Hope whistled. "You were so good. I even took a picture of you acting all haughty."

    "Thank you," Shane politely said. "I''m better than you, at least."

    "You just have to speak like that, don''t you?" Hope felt that she shouldn''t have said anything good about this guy.

    "Yeah. I love teasing you," said Shane as they flew toward the destination with Song Song at the front as a guide.

    "You finally admitted it!" Hope didn''t want to talk to this guy at all.

    They reached the border area in minutes. By this time, Shane and Hope had stopped bantering as the man jumped down from his sword. Song Song nced around nervously.

    "Yo-your majesty, wait here. I selected this ce to stop the angry crowd from harassing innocents."

    "That''s fine," said Shane, in a good mood. "You can go."

    Song Song felt as if things were going too well. This person really agreed to all his demands? It almost felt like a dream to him. He pursed his lips and went off in hiding.

    He would be mad if he dared to show his face anymore. His majesty would slowly start to feel weak in his limbs. That would be the time to attack him!

    He just had to wait until the demonic cultivators sorted him out so that he coulde out without getting a scratch on his body.

    Just as he was waiting, he could see the king standing there in an erect position without giving any hint of moving at all! This stance made Song Song even more anxious.

    That righteous cultivator had said that the poison would start working after five minutes of consumption and would take full effect after ten minutes. It was already fifteen minutes, yet his majesty was strong and straight! What was happening?!

    Just when he was getting anxious, the man suddenly started to sway. His brows furrowed as he ced his hand on his temples, rubbing it a little.

    Song Song''s eyes glistened with determination as his fingers curled to form fists.

    Right now!

    Just as he thought, the righteous cultivators keeping an eye on the demon king''s actions from their hiding ce got an indication that the poison was working. So they all rushed out and surrounded the demon king as quickly as they could. The elder among the cultivators walked out and raised the tip of his sword toward his target.

    He sneered. "We finally caught you. Are you surprised? Your own person told you about us!"

    Shaneughed all of a sudden. He really did seem like a demonic cultivator who could kill anyone and everyone. He raised his chin and stopped acting weak.

    Since all the minions were out, he could kill them altogether. In any case,bined with his own dark power, they didn''t stand a chance against him, not even a single bit. So he was free to do anything he wanted.

    When others saw the man feeling fine, they exchanged nervous nces.

    This guy had drunk the poison, right? He was even feeling weak a few seconds ago. Howe he stopped feeling dizzy?!

    The elder didn''t believe that the poison didn''t work. It was ages old, even older than the demon king himself. Only a few cultivators had stacks of it, and he was one of those few people. He took out almost half the poison to feed this person and kill him once and for all.

    So he confidently thought that this demon king was perhaps acting and pretending to be good. His limbs might be trembling because of poison!

    As he thought about it, he couldn''t help but feel his heart swell with pride. Atst, after all these years, he did it!

    Shane seemed to have seen through everyone assembled here. He narrowed his eyes.

    "Who did the poison belong to? Hmm?" he asked directly, making them all stand stunned in their ces.

    "W-what are you talking about?" a few cultivators asked at the back, tremblingly.

    "What? You don''t understand humannguage suddenly?" Shaneughed as he continued, "Or could it be you picked up something else instead of poison and handed it to Song Song by mistake? Are you sure it was really poison?"

    "Shane," Hope said unexpectedly. "You''re really good. Keep going."

    "Shut up. Don''t disturb me."

    Shane turned toward the ce where the official was hiding and said, "There, he''s hiding behind that huge rock, isn''t he?"

    Everyone was shocked by the turn of events. They had thought that today all of the schemes that they had used for years would finally bore fruit, killing this person. But neither of them thought that this demon could turn the tables.

    But Shane wasn''t done at all. He was having a good time ying demon here.

    "So let me guess, you had spied on me for years, and you deliberately twisted the facts and created fake evidence to show the world that I was a bad person who should be defeated. Isn''t it?"

    Everyone''s faces paled upon hearing those words. The words that the demon spoke were true. They had indeed done that, making the demon king''s image worse than ever. In fact, this demon king had onlymitted crimes when he was young. Back then, he wasn''t even a king.

    Later, when this person became a king and started fulfilling his desires, he realized that life had be too boring for him. So he stopped ying to search for the thing he desired the most. Shane became a host at that time.

    By this point, it seemed that the old demon king was already suspicious of the people around him and knew that the righteous cultivators had spent years trying to kill him. s, he couldn''t find any concrete evidence against those people, nor could he find the person who started these things.

    Shane could easily find it because of Hope and the system menu.

    He continued, "This was all Song Song''s doing, wasn''t it? That timid official really overdid himself. But I''m really curious. Why does he want to kill me? What have I done?"

    The official could no longer remain hidden. His limbs were trembling badly, but he still gritted his teeth and walked outside, standing in front of the demon king.

    He gulped and took a few deep breaths as if trying to control himself and red at the other person.

    "What did you do?! You killed my entire family in your younger days, and you say what you did? I had to suffer alone for years! If it weren''t for the righteous elders taking pity on a demonic cultivator like me, I''d have died way back!"

    "Pity?" Shaneughed as if he had just heard a joke. "No, it wasn''t a pity, and it wasn''t a massacre created by me. It was a deliberate act initiated by your own elder who raised you to be a ruthless person. That so-called righteous man wanted an inside person, and you seemed to be the best choice."

    Song Song''s face paled. No, he wasn''t told this.

    "System!!!! What''s happening?! Why did the storyline you gave not tell me this secret?!" He yelled at the system inside his mind.

    Shane ignored everyone else and silently pulled out Kinyer. One jolt from this weapon was enough to get rid of every single one of them. They weren''t close to his powers, especially with the weapon in his hand.

    He smiled and said, "So let''s get this party started, shall we?"

 Chapter 146 145. Jumping Off!

    Shane raised his sword and thrust it to the ground as he muttered a familiar spell under his breath. Suddenly, electrical power burst from the earth''s core, flying up above the ground and electrocuting the targets directly without stopping. This attack stunned everyone so much that they were still stunned at the end.

    Wait, wasn''t the demon king supposed to have dark and demonic energy in his veins? This person''s attribute was demonic. How could he still use electrical attribute attacks?

    This was beyond logic!

    Everyone''s eyes opened wide as they continued to stare at a familiar demon king, who was smiling while holding the sword with a leisurely attitude.

    So in the end, that poison didn''t work at all?

    After that, the righteous cultivators didn''t get another chance to react. All of them ended up being electrocuted to death. By the time the electrical power subsided, only dead, burnt bodiesy on the ground filled with ck and blue color. Organs half burnt poking outside the bodies, smelling like dead fish that had been fried up in the fire.

    The only people who were alive included Shane and Song Song.

    Shane finally put back his sword and turned toward a familiar official. He smiled as he walked closer.

    The moment Song Song saw the dmeon king walking over, his face turned pale. Howe his years of effrots was wasted just liek that?! He didn''t want to lose to this person just yet! He didn''t want to go to the punishment realm again!

    Even thinking about it sent a chill down his spine. He took a deep breath and stumbled back.

    "What do you want?"

    "Hmm? Didn''t you have a death wish? I''m just trying to make ite true."

    Just when Song Song was about to yell, Shane raised his hand and pointed his fingers toward the man''s neck. Dark energy burst out of his hands and wrapped around the official''s neck, crushing it firmly. The man''s face turned even pale as his breathing halted. Veins on his neck jumped as if asking to take a breath. His lungs burn, but the power around his neck kept getting tighter and tighter until his neck broke in a sh.

    Song Song''s eyes rolled back as he fell to the ground, dead.

    Shane looked at the man for a while without a hint ofpassion in his eyes. He looked exactly like a demon who had turned evil at this point. His dark eyes stared at the dead body for a moment before he knocked on Hope''s door.

    "Is it done?"

    "Huh? What?" Hope sounded a little out of it before she recovered and cleared her throat. "No. you have to destroy everyone."

    "Even the innocents?"

    "That¡­" Hope thought for a while and said, "It''s better to convert them."

    Shane said nothing after that as he pulled out the demon king''s sword and jumped on it before shing away from the ce of that massacre.

    After that, what happened was a nightmare for the entire world. A certain demon king seemed to have gotten crazy, as other people say. His body shed above every cultivation sect as he warned three times, no more, no less. His warning words included:

    "If you submit to me and enter the demon realm, you''ll be saved."

    That''s the only thing he said. He didn''t even need to borate on what would happen once they failed to submit to the demon lord. Still, a few righteous cultivators who were puffed up in their power and egos raised their chins and said, "I''ll never submit to you!"

    Those cultivators, as well as those who followed them, were all brutally killed, with their organs either burned alive or squeezed using dark power. The first sect that was destroyed faced a terrible fate because none of the righteous cultivators came forward. They couldn''t trust the words of an evil person at all.

    As a result, Shane let go of his dark, demonic power and entered everyone''s veins, making them burst from the inside. It was an instant, painless death. A few people didn''t even realize they had died until they stopped breathing.

    It was just that the entire sect was full of blood and corpses. Not a single living soul could be found, except for animals.

    The other sects had fewer dead bodies aspared to the first one. It was just that the other sects were brutally destroyed, with burned organs hanging onto the main gate.

    Shane''s body didn''t even receive a single scratch. His cold gaze swept past the dead bodies and stopped at those few people who were ready to be converted. To be honest, the people who were ready to move into the demon realm were not even half as many as the ones who got killed.

    Shane simply drew a portal in the air as he said, "Enter. You''re safe. For now."

    The people standing were weak and afraid to die. They didn''t even pause to consider what the demon king meant before rushing toward the portal. They didn''t want to die under the brutality of that dark power at all!

    After everything was done, Shane sighed and leaned against a tree next to him. "Hope, did I do a good job?"

    "...." Hope looked around at the carnage and didn''t know what to say.

    Howe she never noticed he had a trace of darkness in his soul itself? She used to believe he was a good guy who had be the way she had seen him all this time due to circumstances.

    But now, even the circumstances weren''t against the man. It was just a mission, and Shane could have used the eject option if he didn''t like this world.

    But instead, he started massacring everything as if Shane didn''t have a heart. She feltplicated in her heart at this time.

    She tried to think of what she should say, but she had no words in her throat. So she just sighed and refused to reply.

    "Hmm? You''re that speechless?"

    "Oh, please, I have massacred even more people than you," Hope blurted out, instantly regretting it.

    "Really? When?" Shane got curious about his temporary partner''s past.

    ''Damn it!'' Hope thought.

    She wouldn''t reveal her past to Shane if she wanted to save the future. How ironic that sentence sounded just now!

    She directly ignored those words and said, "Your mission si finished. You can eject."

    "That means I can die, right?"

    "That''s right."

    "Wait a bit then," said Shane as his body vanished from that ce.

    He suddenly appeared in his throne room back in his pce, surprising everyone. The ones who had entered through the portal just now were all standing in the hall, facing the throne. Shane looked at them briefly and sat on the throne.

    He turned to nce at his ministers and then turned around to find the body''s brother. Since he was going to die, he should entrust the throne to someone who deserved it more than him.

    He got the throne because he had founded it, but the original demon king didn''t deserve it at all. It was the demon king''s brother who did all the work instead. So the real king of the demon realm was that brother.

    Shane walked down the throne and headed toward the right side, where the body''s brother would always sit.

    The young man seemed to be in his twenties, but instead, he was actually centuries old. He was surprised to see his elder brother walking over to him. Then he saw his brother take out the jade pendant from his neck and ce it on his hands.

    Then Shane smiled. "Take care in my absence, okay?"

    The brother was shocked as he opened his mouth. Just as he was about to speak, Shane''s body disappeared from the throne without a trace.

    "Wait!!!" the brother spoke up.

    His voice echoed into the hall, but there was no one who could respond to him anymore.

    When Shane reached the cliff of a certain mountain, he stopped and said, "Okay, how do you kill me?"

    "You sound so strange saying that, you know?" Hope rolled her eyes.

    "Just give me some poison."

    "Won''t work," said Hope. "The demon king has already done everything he should have done to kill himself. You have his memories. You should know better."

    Shane went silent for a moment before saying, "Then there''s only one choice."

    He looked down the cliff. There was a reason he came here. This ce was called Death Peak and was filled with dark and demonic energies. All the ghosts and monsters scatter down there, waiting for living prey. Even birds didn''t dare to pass through here.

    So it was understandable why he came here. Even Hope could understand now as her eyes widened.

    "No, you''re going to make those monsters eat that demonic body! Are you crazy?"

    Shane would not have gone insane if he hadn''t acquired the memories of a thousand-year-old man. To say he had grown up after receiving those memories wouldn''t be a false statement.

    He had realized that there was truly nothing in this world that could make you feel satisfied. So why even bother?

    He smiled and jumped off the cliff, ignoring Hope''s yells and screams in his mind.

 Chapter 147 146. The System World?

    All Shane could feel was the pain of his body being eaten alive. This was the first time he had ever felt this way. His skin almost broke apart, making him feel as if his cells were breaking apart into millions of pieces.

    He couldn''t do anything about it but wait.

    He almost forgot about the times when he would just use the sense-blocking function. Now he could realize how difficult the life of a host was!

    The chewing continued until he felt dizzy. His breath stuck in his throat. That was until the monsters ate his throat themselves. That''s when he lost consciousness in the midst of excruciating pain.

    When he opened his eyes the next moment, he was already inside the portal room. His forehead was covered with a thinyer of cold sweat as he gasped rapidly.

    Just then, someone hit him on his legs. "You damn man. I never thought you would surpass me in ruthlessness! How did you do it?"

    How did he do it? To be honest, Shane still felt like it was all his dream. Even though he knew it was wrong of him to kill people ording to moral standards, he felt a certain amount of pleasurable emotion flush through him when he started to kill people.

    That was why, even after massacring everything, he was still cold and aloof, as if he had never felt shocked andpassionate. It was almost as if he was in a spell where he liked killing people.

    He sat there in a daze, thinking about what he had just experienced. It could be that what happened and whatever he did were probably under the influence of that demonic body, but didn''t he also use dark energy in real life? He couldn''t make using dark energy an excuse for his own choices.

    So he really did like killing people, huh? Howe he hadn''t figured it out until he died and was given a second chance at living?

    He received another kick on his legs as he looked over at Hope. "What''re you thinking about? Get up!"

    "I¡­" For some reason, he suddenly wondered what this girl actually looked like under her hood. "I don''t know¡­."

    "You don''t know?" eximed Hope. "You massacred everyone there like a real demon and didn''t even bat your eyshes. Do you even know the meaning of the word hesitation? You were basically the demon king himself!"

    Shane lowered his head.

    He wasn''t surprised by the demon king''s desire to kill all the righteous cultivators back then. Even he would be angry enough to destroy everything. But he could tell that there was more to this desire.

    The demon king was perhaps too bored to deal with anything. So wasn''t it better to get rid of all of his enemies and have some fun with killing? That was killing two birds with one stone.

    Shane didn''t share his dark thoughts with Hope. Even he was surprised to realize that he could read the demon king''s thoughts urately.

    It might be because of that thousand-year-old memory, or he could just be a dark person.

    Shane felt that both could be the reason behind it.

    Hope couldn''t take it anymore. She bent over and grabbed the man''s cor, pulling him up roughly. It could be said that the girl''s strength was amazing. She red at him and shook his body rapidly as if he was a potato sack.

    "Wake up, dumbo! You act like you''ve gone insane or something ever since you came out. Were the old man''s memories too much for you to handle?!"

    Shane blinked and silently pushed her hand away. "I''m fine. I just need some rest."

    "That''s better. And remember, don''t do anything tonight without my word."

    Only then did he remember what Hope had said in reply to his endless queries. That he would get an answer tonight.

    It seemed to be ages ago.

    He nodded as if agreeing to her demands and walked out of the portal room.

    Behind him, Hope narrowed her eyes. She knew what this person would do. He would ignore her warnings and go as he liked as he always did.

    Tsk. she would have to keep an eye on him.

    So Shane went on his way as a certain girl continued to tail behind him into the dark like a creepy stalker. He reached his house soon enough as he entered his apartment. The first thing he did was strip and go off to the bathroom.

    Hope, who was standing on the tree outside the living room, closed her eyes and cursed under her breath.

    This person was hopeless. How could he strip in front of a girl like this?!

    Shortly, he walked out with a towel around his waist as if he was trying to show off his model-like body to someone. Hope red at the man from the outside.

    If she had known he was going to bathe first, she would have arrived half an hourter.

    Fortunately, Shane didn''t really want to roam around naked and clothes soon enough. Then he fell to the bed and went to sleep.

    Hope frowned but she knew that thing would happen tonight in a while. So she had to stay here like some creepy dude, staring at the sleeping man.

    She suddenly remembered Twilight. When she thought of that cold vampire staring at Be, she shook her head.

    How the f*ck she couldpare herself with some emotionless dude? Yak!

    Just as she was thinking about bulsh*t things, she watched Shane suddenly getting up at the sound of a notification popping up in his head. A familiar screen appeared in his eyes that Hope couldn''t see. It was a rule that others couldn''t see your menu no matter what. So Hope didn''t see what the message was, but whatever it was, it surely raised Shane''s vignce to 100%.

    The man instantly straightened his back and stared at the screen intently as if utterly confused and cold at the same time.

    Then she saw a hesitant expression on his face before shaking his head. He got up and got ready, wearing somethingfortable to head out before opening the front door of his apartment.

    Hope knew it. She knew this person wouldn''t tell her and would dare to act like a hero.

    She gritted her teeth and followed him into the shadows.

    What Shane actually saw was a message from an unknown source telling him to enter a specific coordinate inside the transmigration portal. What made him vignt was the warning, which said if he didn''t do what the other person said, he would end up dying altogether. Furthermore, the entire system world may vanish without a trace.

    Another warning was attached, saying he shouldn''t tell anyone about this and not let anyone else enter this ce.

    He was suspicious of this message, but he didn''t want Hope to bear his burden. Even though she was powerful, he didn''t want her to be hurt because of his messed-up issues. So he decided not to tell her anything about it anymore.

    As he walked onward, he could feel someone''s eyes boring into his back. When he turned around, he was met with the silence and darkness of the night.

    He frowned and turned around, continuing to walk ahead.

    The two of them slowly entered a close-by transmigration portal shop. Shane entered the coordinates first and entered. Before the portal could be closed, Hope quickly followed the man and sped up to be a host instead.

    Since Shane wasn''t telling him everything, she might as well do it in a roundabout manner!

    Shane first entered the system space, where a screen opened up to him. He looked over and frowned.

    "Do you want to use the time travel feature given by Dirt?"

    Time travel? Shane couldn''t understand why this menu showed him this, but he had a rough idea about it.

    Could it be that the destruction of this world was rted to something that happened in the past?

    He quickly clicked yes and vanished from the system without a trace.

    Soon enough, he entered a familiar space inside the host''s mind and sat on the ground, waiting for his host to wake up. He wondered what Hope was doing right now. This was the first time he had entered a world all alone, without her help.

    Just as he was thinking about this, his host seemed to have woken up. He swiftly turned on the screen and nced at the host''s eyes, which were opening at a slow pace. He or she seemed to be in a confused state at the moment.

    He looked carefully. When he realized where exactly they were, his eyes widened.

    This was the system world¡ªthe institute, to be precise. He could see a certain old man in the ce of Ed and two bald students standing on the other side of the table. His host woke up as another male student stood at the door.

    Shane couldn''t help but feel his breath stuck in his throat.

    What was happening?

    Why was he sent into the past?

    Just what would be his mission this time?!

 Chapter 148 147. So Shocking!!!

    The more Shane stared at the scene, the more he felt confused. He didn''t know what to do as his host looked around and said nothing. He had thought that his host would speak or even scream when suddenly entering a new world. Ordinary hosts would usually have puzzled expressions on their faces after entering a world.

    But his host remained calm and collected, as if everything was normal in the world.

    Shane narrowed his eyes. Before he could say anything, one of the two bald students spoke:

    "Headmaster, we''re really innocent! We didn''t kill him!"

    The other bald student who looked simr to the first one as if twins also nodded and hid behind the first guy. He looked like a coward who couldn''t utter a single word. The front one seemed to be more upfront and bolder than the previous one.

    Shane looked at them carefully and felt like he had seen them before. Why did they feel familiar to him?

    He shook his head as he continued to look at the scene. He nced at the headmaster who''s facial muscles twitched rapidly as he got up and threw the stick in his hand to the other side of the office making the cowardly bald kid jump in fear. His entire face turned pale as he hid some more.

    The bold kid red at the headmaster. "You crazy old man! Howe you can''t even identify who''s good and who''s evil? We said we didn''t do it, so we didn''t! We are your students. You should be able to tell whether we''re evil or not! Howe you me us for something we never did, a murder at that?"

    "You-" the headmaster''s face was ck as he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "You both are one of the lucky people who were born into the system world, but you don''t take advantage of it at all! Just look at other students and then look at yourself! Both of you live as if this world belonged to you alone!

    "When was thest time you passed the monthly, huh? Both of you Hudson boys go to hell! You only know how to write your names, nothing else! If you don''t get out of here, I''ll kick you out right now!"

    The frightened boy finally raised his head and stuttered, "He-Headmaster¡­ you can''t expel us. Grandma paid you all the money, didn''t she? And we really didn do anything!"

    "The evidence is against you, and you say you didn do it? What a joke! The result of the investigation are you guys, especially you, Ed," said the old man, pointing his finger at the coward boy behind.

    Shane''s eyes widened.

    Ed?! And didn''t he say these were Hudson boys?

    Then¡­.

    That coward boy was Ed Hudson?!

    Shane couldn''t believe his eyes as he looked on at the two kids. If the coward guy was his dead teacher, then the one in the front was probably the current System God!

    Just what the heck was happening?!

    Did he reallye to the past?

    As he continued to stand there, stunned, he heard his host saying: "Headmaster, can you give me a minute?"

    "Huh? Tom, where are you going? Weren''t you the one whoined they were the murderers?"

    So that''s what happened. Shane nodded and looked at the bald kids, especially the coward.

    That coward was really his dead master. How funny!

    "Just a min. I''ll be back."

    After that, Tom waved his hand and rushed out as if he urgently wanted to go to the toilet. As soon as he was a little distance away, all alone in the back garden, he sighed.

    "Hey, Shane, wake up! For how long will you continue to stay stunned? If it''s Ed and the past you know, then it''s Ed! What''s there to be so shocked about?"

    "Huh? Who are you?"

    "Hope."

    "How did youe?!" Shane was even more surprised now.

    One after another, he continued to receive surprises.

    "Send me the mission."

    Only then did Shane remember that he was inside the system world on a mission. He quickly opened the menu and sent the details as he read it with Hope.

    "Destroy the system worldpletely."

    Shane stared at that statement for a while as he frowned.

    What the heck?

    Destroy the system world?

    No, he didn''t want to!

    He felt soplicated in his heart that he couldn''t say a single word. It was Hope who spoke first.

    "Pretty easy. Don''t you think, Shane?"

    Easy? Yeah, destroying it was easy, but to be able to have the desire to destroy this ce was difficult. If he ended up destroying it for real, where would he go after passing the mission? The future trajectory will change to the point that he was scared he wouldn''t end up going to his time at all!

    He felt a trace of fear engulfing his heart.

    Just why was this happening to him?

    On the other hand, Hope was equally silent. She didn''t feel surprised at all after seeing such a mission. She raised her brows in Tom''s body.

    "So? What should we do?"

    Shane thought for a while and asked, "Is there a way we can eject?"

    "We could have avoided entering this ce if you had told me about it," rebuked Hope. "But you didn''t. So whose fault do you think it was?"

    Shane opened his mouth and closed as he stopped saying another word about it. "Then let''s do it. How should we start?"

    Hope nced back toward the office''s direction and said, "Let''s start with those kids, shall we?"

    "There''s my master there."

    "I know," Hope seemed to be in a good mood at the moment. "We have to use him."

    Just as they were talking, a voice echoed suddenly, "What''re you doing here?"

    That was familiar¡­.

    Wait, wasn''t it Dirt?!

    Shane looked over in shock. As expected. A familiar robot was seen standing in front of his eyes.

    Wait, if he remembered correctly, Dirt was created by Ed and his brother. So at this time, they had already created Dirt?

    Behind him, another familiar person walked over in her loli look and cold face. She bumped into Dirt and stumbled back, falling to the ground miserably.

    It was the queen they had met earlier, Luna. Two bald twins also followed after her. It seemed the headmaster let them go for now.

    Shane took a deep breath. He shouldn''t be shocked anymore after seeing his master''s childish and cowardly form just now. He stared at the strange scene and sighed.

    "Let''s do it then. But what will happen to me after that?"

    "Shane, do you trust me?" Hope asked suddenly.

    "Nope."

    Hope felt her eyes twitching because of that. "Then learn to trust me a little! You stupid guy!"

    They watched the cowardly bald kid finallying out of hiding as his starry eyes turned to Dirt. "Dirt, where were you?! Let''s y!"

    His bald brother held the guy by grabbing his cor. "Wait a minute. It was all your fault. Where do you think you''re going?"

    "How was it my fault?!" Little Ed pouted.

    "If you hadn''t decided to enter the cave, that guard wouldn''t have entered. The evidence are against us because of your little act!"

    Little Ed pursed his lips as a trace of guilt fell upon his eyes. "How is it my fault? I just wanted a demon''s body for my experiment!"

    "Experiment, experiment, experiment!!! All you do is take samples and stuff your butt in yourb! You even created two crazy dudes for yourself and you end up ying with them all day long! What''s wrong with you? Okay with systems like normal people!"

    Little Ed lowered his head in guilt as he didn''t even dare to raise his eyes.

    Shane, who was watching this scene, somehow wanted to burst out inughter. So this was his master''s true face. He should have known earlier.

    He wanted tough, but he controlled himself realizing he should respect the dead.

    After that, he heard Hope''s voice, "I''m sorry for earlier. Can you forgive me? I''ll take back myint and tell them I was mistaken."

    Ed nodded but his brother narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to apologize when you were ming us not too long ago?"

    Hope made a crying face in Tom''s body and said, "I''m sorry!!!! Can we be friends?"

    "No! Get out of here!"

    Tom instantly ran away and his behind a tree nearby.

    Hope sighed and spoke, "It''s going to be difficult. Should we change the hosts?"

    "I don''t think we-"

    Before Shane could finish speaking, he felt dizzy all of a sudden as he fell unconscious. When he woke up again, he was still inside the mind space, but the view outside had changed.

    It was a ssroom this time. Shane frowned and thought that he had somehow managed to lose his consciousness in the middle of the work. Just as he was about toment on it, he heard a very, very familiar voice.

    "Hey, how''s this body?"

    He was shocked.

    Utterly shocked.

    He never thought something else was remaining that could shock him after seeing things that he saw. But now, he didn''t have any words.

    The person who spoke was Echo! That''s right the same Echo who always got on his nerves!

 Chapter 149 148. A Soul Pact!

    "Wait, you¡­ you¡­.." Shane didn''t have any words as he stuttered. "Echo is that old?"

    Hope''s expression twisted at that. "What the heck do you mean old? Never ask a girl about her age! You did worse! You actuallymented on it!"

    "It''s not like I''m talking about you, right?" Shane frowned when he spoke those words as he felt an inexplicable intuition in his heart, making him ask again in a low voice, "Right?"

    Hope was silent for a moment. Her silence made Shane feel ufortable as he took deep breaths to calm himself down.

    No, it couldn''t be Echo. That woman''s personality was twisted to the point he couldn''t face her, but¡­

    No, Hope was the most twisted girl he had ever met in his life. There was no one more twisted than her, ever.

    Suddenly, the woman said, "So what if I''m?"

    Shane felt the world suddenly bing nk in front of him. He felt his heart had never felt more confused in his life.

    When he finally managed to get back to himself, the first question he asked was, "So you hosted yourself? Wasn''t this even possible?"

    "Why not?" Hope/Echo was in a good mood right now after revealing herself. "I can choose whom to host. I can do anything in this world. Haven''t you seen enough?"

    Shane had indeed seen enough, but¡­

    "How can you be Echo? Why didn''t you tell me?"

    "What''s the point of telling you everything?"

    "Wait, so you and I met in the institute... was it the real you or the hosted you?"

    Hope smiled and said, "What do you think?" She paused and continued to exin, "It''s actually veryplicated if you think about it."

    Shane did feel like it wasplicated. If the Echo he had previously met was the host, then who was Hope? Was she also real or a host?

    What if she was hosted? So she actually became a host while she was a host?

    People could do that?

    No, that would imply that there were two of him in real life who were both systems of two hopes...

    Shane felt like his brain was about to burst with questions. Perhaps Hope finally realized that her words made a big impact on him. So she stopped messing around.

    She said, "Okay, I was kidding. I''m indeed the Echo you were talking about, but I wasn''t a host when I met you. So don''t imagine strange things in your mind."

    Shane released his breath. "So you did know about someone hosting your body."

    "Uh-huh. The person gave me hints about the future. That''s how I ended up reaching out to you. Otherwise, how would I ask you to be my partner out of all people?"

    "So, how many other things are you hiding from me?" Shane''s voice was suddenly cold.

    "Just one more thing... You''ll know in the future," said Hope with a smile on her face.

    "What do we do now?" asked Shane with a serious expression on his face.

    Hope thought about it. She turned to look at the ce where Ed and the other bald kid were ying and smiled.

    "We''ll just use them," said Hope silently.

    Shane went silent again. He knew that he would use his master, but what choice did he have? This time, he was tasked with destroying the entire system. It was better to just go ahead and do it without thinking twice.

    After taking a deep breath, Shane said, "Then let''s do it. I don''t want to continue going on with this suspense."

    "Let me go buy a hood."

    "You love those, don''t you?" Shane clicked his tongue after thinking about it.

    How could he not connect the dots? Things were so obvious now that he thought about them. The bodily structures of bothdies were the same, to the point that, now that he imagined Echo inside, he didn''t feel strange.

    He frowned at this time, "So, was it you or me helping myself at the start¡­?"

    "How would I know that? I have never seen that episode," said Hope.

    "So it was us¡­" Shane''s heart feltplicated when he thought about it.

    So, in the end, he used not only Ed, but also himself to destroy the system world?

    Shane had never been so confused about his life. Ever.

    Since he was already at this point, he might as well destroy the system world without hesitation. In any case, he wasn''t afraid of dying. He really didn''t have anyone or anything to go back to in his world. He didn''t have any family. His sister was also dead.

    Wait a minute.

    Was her death a result of his schemes?

    Shane took a deep breath. Now he questioned every bit of the past that had made him suffer like heck. He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He didn''t know how many years it would take to destroy this world, but it would be fine.

    He might end up dying for real this time. After all, he shouldn''t have been alive anyway.

    A few days passed just like that. Hope didn''t do anything but continue to keep an eye on the two bald kids from a distance. She had already bought a set of ck hoods simr to the ones she would always wear on her body, and she stared at herself in the mirror for a long time.

    Oh yeah, there was one more thing that she didn''t like ever since she came and hosted herself.

    "Stop opening the screen while I''m bathing or changing clothes. How many times do I have to do that?"

    "How do you know I''m watching you?" Shane was actually spying on her by changing the camera position, but he would never admit it.

    Since he was already going to die, what was the harm in taking pleasure in things he wanted to do? Echo''s body was beautiful, especially in her younger days. So how couldn''t he take a look when he could?

    He enjoyed all the benefits that came from being a system at this time, making Hope feel infuriated. "Don''t forget, I can make you the host any minute."

    "You''re wee to. I can feel your body with my own hands, then."

    "Impudent!!!!" Hope didn''t speak with the man anymore and jumped out of the window. "Since we bought this, we should use it to our benefit."

    "How?" asked Shane.

    "Wait and see. I have been waiting for this for a long, long time," said Hope as she walked through the garden, hiding from other people.

    Shane had the impression that this long time had been longer than others. He could almost see a nostalgic smile on the woman''s face. He shook his head after thinking for a while.

    It was just his imagination. Nothing else.

    Soon, she reached the bald twins'' room and hid in the corner, waiting for the two of them. She didn''t have to wait for long before the bolder kid entered, opening the door with a creak.

    He ced the mechanical thing he crafted on the table and sat there with his tools. He started messing with the mechanical hand or whatever it was. Electricity sparkled every now and then until Hope came out of the hiding spot.

    As soon as her feet echoed into the darkness, the bald kid frowned and flung the mechanical thing in his hand toward the other party. Hope easily dodged it and smiled. "You''re quite agile, aren''t you?"

    The little guy went vignt. "Who are you?"

    "That doesn''t matter, does it?" said Hope. "You want to be a System God, right?"

    The little guy looked shocked as his body froze, and he raised his head. "Ho-how do you know?"

    "I know more than you can imagine. You might, for example, want to get rid of that annoying little awkward kid who is following you. You would have thrown him away if he hadn''t been your brother. But all you want is to graduate and be able to go your separate ways. Ain''t I right?"

    Shane silently listened to the conversation as he watched the little bald guy''s face turn pale. The weapon in his hand trembled with his hand.

    "You''re wrong!!!!" The guy spoke loudly. "Don''t speak nonsense!"

    "You don''t have to be so vignt anymore, Max. I can help you," said Hope.

    "How do you know my name?" Max swallowed as he thought about whether or not he could trust her and lowered his weapon. "How can you help me?"

    "You can leave it all to me. I''ll just tell you to do things, and you just have to listen. Or better, let''s make a soul pact. What do you think?"

    The soul pact was something among systems that was simr to but not identical to a blood pact. While a blood pact can be fulfilled between two people in one lifetime, a soul pact can continue even after you die. Hope wanted this pact because she knew she would change out of her body at some point.

    She didn''t want to be careless at the moment.

    Max thought for a while before he slowly nodded, "Fine. I''ll listen to you."

 Chapter 150 149. The Previous System God!

    Shane overcame hisplicated emotions quicker than Hope expected. She heard the man''s calm voice the other day asking her about her ns for the future and why she asked Max to do what he did.

    Hope calmly exined, "What''s the first thing one needs to build a good empire?"

    "A good king or leader? Loyal subjects? Satisfiedmoners?" Shane listed out what he could remember.

    "That''s right." Hope smiled widely as she scrubbed her body. "So we''re going to attack the heart of a good empire. Once the empire is struck down, it will be destroyed on its own. Don''t you think?"

    Shane was silent for a moment. He didn''t think a girl so beautiful would think so sinisterly. He sighed. What a terrible beauty!

    The fact that she could devise such a method without changing her expression is beyond his expectations. He sighed.

    "Whatever you say."

    "I do have a surprise for you. So get ready."

    What else can he get besides seeing a girl''s naked body every day? What was better than that?

    Hope quickly washed up and changed her clothes, as if reading his mind, before hitting her head. "Stop staring at my body, will you?!"

    "I''m a guy. Can''t help it." Shane shrugged as if he hadn''t done anything wrong.

    He finally found out what the girl was talking about a whileter. Hope walked over to the back garden with two bald kids and suddenly switched out, temporarily making Shane the host of her body.

    She warned him, "You''re free to teach these kids, especially your master, however you like. Remember, if you dare to touch me in any way, I''ll switch out and refuse to give you the body back."

    The hand that Shane had raised to touch the girl''s chest was silently ced down as he said, "I''ll listen to you."

    He turned to look at the two kids from under the hood and scoffed. So this was how Ed originally felt while teaching him the institute. It''s strange how things turned around and bit the master in the a**.

    A hint of light glistened in Shane''s eyes as he said, "You guys have to grow stronger first. Agreed?"

    The two kids had different reactions. One nodded while the other still looked confused as if he had just woken up from a slumber. The two robots stood way at the back, not saying another word.

    Ed suddenly turned toward his brother. "Max, why do I have to train with you? I never said I wanted to be a System God¡­.?"

    Max''s face paled as he nced around to see if anyone had heard or not. Then he red at his brother.

    "Are you stupid?" Max whispered angrily, "Can''t you lower your voice?".

    After being red at by his own brother, Ed shrank his neck and nodded slowly. Max was satisfied by his brother''s obedient behavior and turned to look at the hooded ''woman'' standing in front of him.

    "So? What should we do?"

    Shane tried to restrain the hint of excitement from his heart as he said, "Max, take ten rounds of the garden. Leave this one to me."

    Max nced at his brother and nodded before heading off in another direction.

    Shane turned toward his master and smiled. This was the time he had been waiting for all along! What could be better than the opportunity to teach your own teacher? That was called retribution!

    He almost wanted to give off an evilugh after staring at his master''s timid form.

    He flicked his finger and said, "So, first things first, call me master."

    Ed gulped and backed up a bit. "M-Master."

    Good, good! Shane felt a hint of satisfaction in his heart that he had never felt before! He almost wanted to cry out loud.

    He took a deep breath and said, "Second. You''re never meant to defy my orders, no matter how absurd they are! Okay?"

    Ed nodded slowly as he opened his mouth and asked, "Why did you make your brother do this?"

    "Eh? Max is obedient. "He''ll listen to me no matter what, but you have to learn, don''t you?"

    Ed said nothing as he looked unwilling to do this anymore. He almost wanted to shake his head, but he stood there awkwardly.

    Shane chuckled in his mind, enjoying this so much that he didn''t want this scene to end. "Now, do sit-ups. You''re too weakpared to your brother."

    Ed lowered his head, not daring to look at the other person anymore. So he started doing sit-ups. By the time he reached five, his brother had returned from running and stood against the wall of the building behind him, gasping for breath.

    Shane didn''t even turn back as he said, "Take a rest and observe your brother. He should do at least a hundred before stopping."

    He didn''t wait for the response as his body shed away from that ce. After reaching a distance, he sighed and called out to Hope.

    "That was the best gift anyone could have ever given me!"

    "I knew you would say that. Now, please return my body." Hope tried to be more polite but failed to hide a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

    Shane clicked his tongue. He lost control of his body and returned to the mental space before he could say another word. He sat on the ground and stared at the screen.

    "You''ll have to give me control of the body in the future, for Ed."

    "Sure," said Hope as she jumped from the roof of one building to another with ease. "He''s your responsibility, after all."

    "Now, at least, tell me where we are going?"

    "Be a good system and keep quiet."

    "If only I knew the art of changing bodies."

    The corners of Hope''s lips curled up. "You will never. At least, not until you die ande back to life."

    Huh? Returning to life?

    Shane thought more about that sentence in his mind but couldn''te up with why she said it. So he gave up and focused on the current mission.

    They needed two things for now. Obedient chess pieces would move around ording to Hope''s ns, and secondly, ck material covered all the corrupt officials in the court.

    Of course, he also had to learn about the current System God.

    So he said, "Let''s see the System God first."

    "Why?" Hope thought this person would go with the flow and let her do whatever she wanted.

    "I have a feeling he would be helpful."

    So the two of them went to the System God''s residence on the Meridio continent. It took quite a bit of money, but neither of themcked it, thanks to the live streaming system.

    Speaking of live streams, the current job didn''t allow the stream due to its confidential nature. So whoever gave Shane this job made sure to cut off the live streams before he could do anything about it.

    to

    After a while, they managed to enter the System God''s pce easily. They even saw an old man sitting on the throne, staring deeply into the eyes of the servants and soldiers. His eyes seemed like bottomless pits that seemed like they would suck their souls away.

    The servants shivered from head to toe as they didn''t dare lift their heads.

    Hope hid behind a pir and wore an invisibility cloak over her body. She also wanted to see what was happening at this time.

    The old man rose to his feet and walked ahead, kicking the closest servant to the ground. Thetter whimpered, but he didn''t dare to protest.

    The System God then began to ruthlessly stomp on the servant''s toes. After kicking and venting his emotions, the System God descended the stairs and red at the other servants.

    "You little minions. I had told you not to put sugar in my tea, and you still dared to do it! Not only that, you even dared to hide the man who defied my words. All of you should be dead! Guards!"

    The soldiers, dressed in ck, swarmed out of their hiding ces and captured all the servants, taking them out. "Execute them all!"

    Only after that did he calm down and return to his throne.

    Hope scoffed and shed behind the throne. She instantly pulled out a knife and pointed it at the man''s neck.

    She said, "Don''t move. Otherwise, I''ll kill you."

    "Wh-who are you?" The System God''s face was pale as he stuttered.

    "Doesn''t matter. You''ll do as I say from now on. Get it?"

    The System God didn''t dare to refuse, but he was also afraid. He kept trying to find new ways to get that knife, but he couldn''t. So he just sat there motionless and said nothing.

    Hope nodded in satisfaction and said, "Now, get down and tell everyone that you''re getting down from your position and finding a new person to seed you."

    The king red in anger. "Why would I do that? You dare to force me like this? You seem to have a death wish!"

 Chapter 151 150. More Time Travel

    Shane watched as the king agreed after being ckmailed for the fifth time today. Huh. The old man gave up so easily. He didn''t think this could happen.

    Hope, who was watching everything, nodded in satisfaction and said, "Good boy. Now, I''ll go off. If I find you aren''t taking care of this well, I''ll end your life here and tell everyone about all the dark things you have ever done."

    "Who said I have ck materials on me?! Don''t speak nonsense!" The king''s face turned red in anger as he red at her.

    Hope ignored the man and shed out of the pce. Then she headed toward the court area, where officials were working their a**es off.

    The corners of her lips curled up to form a pleasant smile. "It''s time to see the dear officials."

    Shane sighed. He didn''t want to participate in this ordeal at all. He just wanted a peaceful life in the end. But now, the situation was such that he didn''t even know whether he would continue to live after solving this case.

    As if reading his mind, Hope said, "Don''t worry. You can never die."

    Shane frowned upon thement. "Is it rted to the third thing you''re hiding from me?"

    "Maybe, or maybe not," said Hope, giving him a vague answer.

    "I don''t want to deal with you anymore."

    Hope chuckled. "You won''t say those words when you actually get rid of me, you know?"

    "Oh, please, I would like to get rid of you sooner orter. Don''t worry about me anymore," said Shane confidently.

    He knew for sure that he didn''t feel a single thing for this woman. How she got this illusion that he would be depressed if they ever separated, he didn''t know. He silently changed the topic, not continuing to discuss something strange.

    "What''re we going to do now?"

    Hope smiled. "We''re going to watch some drama."

    "What drama?" Shane frowned. "I feel like you''re more of a system than me."

    "What if I''m?"

    Shane sighed. "Can''t you speak more clearly?"

    "Nope."

    Shane felt his heart burning with frustration as he took deep breaths. It wasn''t worth fighting with this little girl anymore.

    "Forget it. Just tell me the details."

    "Little guy," Hope said, as if coaxing a cub or something, "just wait and watch. I''ll surely entertain you thoroughly."

    The two didn''t talk anymore as Shane yawned andid back on the ground, watching the event happening with his half-closed eyes. At that moment, when Hope heard that yawning sound, she frowned and stopped in her tracks.

    "Shane, are you feeling tired?" Her voice sounded unusually serious.

    Shane shrugged. "Yeah. So what? Wasn''t it normal to be tired after not sleeping long?"

    "Dude, we just sleptst night." Hope frowned deeper. "No, this shouldn''t be happening. I need to speed up the process. Shane, quickly send me Dirt''s time attribute data. Fast! We mustn''t waste time anymore, or you''ll die."

    "Just because I feel tired?" Shane tilted his head.

    He knew that there must be some mystery behind the girl''s words. Or else she wouldn''t be this serious. She didn''t seem to be joking right now. So he sent the file through text while watching the woman writeplicated code in her menu. Who knows what she did to open thatmand page?

    Shane knew that the woman had entered a password that he didn''t know and opened themand page.

    After that, she watched the screen shing with power as the woman sighed and said, "Buckle up. We''re going to time travel a lot."

    "Huh?" Before Shane could respond, he suddenly felt dizzy to the point of falling to the ground, unconscious.

    When he returned to himself, he found himself still sitting inside the mind space, whereas the scene outside had changed. As Hope had previously stated, Max was discovered standing alone in the garden, exercising.

    "A few days have passed. We don''t have to live every second with Dirt''s powers in my hand," said Hope with a smile on her lips.

    "Do whatever you want." Shane felt like giving up on ever receiving any exnation from the girl anymore.

    Soon, he watched Hope go in front of Max as she gave the guy a bunch of instructions and handed him a bunch of books in a filecase. He leaned over and watched through the screen, only to be surprised.

    "You gave him the demonic cultivation book?" Shane couldn''t help but frown. "Wait, won''t it make him a demonic cultivator? How can he be a System God?"

    "Wasn''t the goal of this job to destroy the world? Then tell me, how can I do it with a good and powerful king?" Even though the current System God isn''t always in his right mind and is a number one narcissist, he''s still a good person and cares about the demon world from the bottom of his heart.

    There was no way man would ever do anything against the world, let alone be a part of its destruction.

    So that was why Hope needed someone else to rece the old one with someone new with a cunning and evil mindset. Who was better than this Max she saw before her eyes?

    After exining the rules and regtions, she said, "I''lle back a monthter to check up on your progress. I expect good news."

    "If I have any questions?" Max worriedly asked since he knew he could not contact the hooded woman.

    Hope smiled. "You won''t. The file exins everything."

    After saying that, she disappeared from sight. Max looked at the file in his hand with a hint of excitement in his eyes. He turned swiftly toward his brother, who was worried for another reason.

    "Brother, look! I can also gain power now!"

    "But¡­ I don''t have a good feeling about this¡­"

    "You''re so stupid that I feel likeughing at you," said Max as he sighed. "Shoo. Go away. Let me practice this on my own. You already have your process, don''t you?"

    Ed did receive an electrical attribute, unlike Max, who was almost human without any hint of power. That was why he was over the moon when he saw the file in his hands. He quickly went off to his room and started scanning the contents.

    Meanwhile, Hope was in a good mood as she fast-forwarded and reached the time after a month to take a look at the guy''s progress.

    Things went smoothly with Dirt''s power in Hope''s hands. As time passed from a few months to a few years in the blink of an eye, Shane watched as Ed grew colder and colder toward his brother.

    Ed could almost sense through his dog-like nose that something was wrong with the teaching that Hope gave his brother, but the guy had no concrete evidence to back him up.

    It wasn''t until he saw his own brother using dark power that he snapped and argued with the man for a long time. In the end, he gave up the resistance and decided to give his brother a chance because he just couldn''t go against Max.

    Max was a person who wasn''t supposed to get any chance to use power anymore. If that file could give his brother another option, why not capture it?

    Ed avoided the strong intuition that told him to go against it and started encouraging his brother slowly. After a few years, as the two grew up to be teenagers, the brothers came closer and closer until they thought of only one thing.

    To kill the king.

    Even though Hope was busy teaching a little guy, she didn''t forget about the System God. She kept an eye on him as the old man released the news that those who would defeat him could sit on the throne after him.

    So several people tried, but none of them seeded. Even though the man was old, he was still powerful.

    That was why she wanted to train someone like Max, with the pure and empty mind of a child, to be an evil person.

    A few yearster, when Max was finally ready, he was an SSS-level demonic cultivator with dark energy brimming through his veins. At this time, even Ed had learned a few tricks on his own and developed a few weapons since there were no dark energy weapons in the system menu. By this time, the two of them were already twenty-five.

    Hope sighed as she watched the two brothers train together. "Time passes so fast. In the blink of an eye, the kids grew up."

    "Yeah. They really grew up in the blink of an eye." There was a hint of sarcasm in Shane''s voice.

    Hope ignored thatment and said, "I have collected everything I needed to collect against the officials. Now let''s start coaxing these kids into doing bad things."

    "It won''t be easy," said Shane. "Instead, you''ve turned them into patriots."

    That was true. The brothers wanted to be a system god because the current one was ''ipetent'' ording to them.

    Hope smiled as she waved the file full of evidence against the officials. "You think I created these pieces of evidence for nothing? A few pages are still real, but the vast majority are purely fictitious. I want to encourage these kids to do things they don''t like without telling them. How''s my idea?"

    "Cruel." Shane spat that word through his gritted teeth.

 Chapter 152 151. The Legendary Fight!

    Time passed even more quickly. By the time Max and Ed grew up to be bulky, bald guys, it had already been twenty years.

    Shane finally sighed after seeing a familiar Ed in front of him. It was just that this Ed was far more inexperienced than his master.

    The man was ruthless and strict with himself, but Ed still knew how to drink and sometimes becamezy.

    He wasn''t a timid guy anymore who only knew how to be afraid of everything. Ed had grown up under Hope''s strict routine, which turned him from a timid guy into someone who didn''t give a f*ck about anything else.

    Such a great transformation in someone was beyond expectations. He had to praise Hope for this.

    As if knowing what Shane was thinking, Hope smiled, "No need to praise me, dear system. I''m just doing my job."

    "But still," said Shane as he looked at the brothers training on the ground nonstop for two hours. "I had no idea Ed, my master who taught me everything, had been taught by you." Sigh. "How things getplicated when you start time traveling."

    "Can you speak properly?" Hope got a headache when she heard Shane''s bbering words. "You''re really Shane, right?"

    Shane didn''t reply after that. He didn''t want to continue talking nonsense with this girl.

    When the brothers were done with their training, they stood on the ground facing Hope, who was still wearing a hood over her head.

    Max was the first among them to walk out and say, "What''s next? I think we have finished our training."

    "Oh really?" Hope''s voice was filled with anticipation. "Then fight."

    "Uh? What?" Ed spoke in a low tone as a frown crossed his forehead. "Fight whom?"

    "Fight one another, of course," said Hope in a cheerful tone. "I want to see who''s more powerful among you both."

    The brothers exchanged nces as Max coughed and said, "Are you sure you want me to fight him?"

    He pointed his finger at the bald man standing next to him.

    Hope nodded. "What''s wrong? This will be a friendly fight, but with real weapons. No killing, understood?"

    The brothers nodded.

    Hope smiled in satisfaction as he pulled out two weapons from her inventory, presenting them in front of them brothers. "Go on. Pick yours and stand apart. When I say, start fighting. Oh, by the way, no magic, okay?"

    The two of them said nothing as they followed her orders. They picked one of the simr-looking swords and stood at a distance. Currently, they were in a training dungeon that Hope had purchased at some point and handed over to them for training. The ground was surrounded by trees on all sides.

    When the brothers finally settled, Hope smiled and said, "Three, two, one, start!"

    As soon as she spoke, she saw Max''s body moving toward the other person at the speed of light.

    Ed gripped the sword tightly as he looked at the shadow that shed toward him. When the shadow reached him, he dodged the attack without even bothering to attack.

    Max chuckled, "Brother, can''t you fight properly?"

    Ed refused to reply as he focused on fighting. Unlike his brother, he didn''t have a habit of diverting his attention between fight and talking.

    Max sighed and attacked again, making Ed dodge. Their action was so fast that within the span of five minutes, the two of them had already repeated the scene a hundred times already.

    In the end, neither of them looked tired. Not even a drop of sweat dropped from their necks.

    When Shane watched this scene, he was suddenly reminded of when he fought with Ed for the first time. Back then, Ed had also beautifully dodged the attack.

    But he could clearly see the difference between that Ed and Ed standing here.

    There was a hint of confidence leaking from that Ed''s body as if he was oozing with power. But the current Edcked that aura of power because of his inexperience.

    Even though there was such a small difference, the man was still Ed. He could do anything he wanted as long as he had a good grasp of the enemy''s powers.

    But his opponent was his brother. Over the years, Max had be a powerhouse of dark powers so much that he could do anything he desired. He could even attack people with an army of dead people he had summoned. Or he could create shadows with his power without allowing the opponent to do anything.

    But at this time, neither of them was allowed to use their powers. So they had to fight with their brute strength.

    The scene repeated for quite a while until Max felt tired. His forehead was covered with sweat drops, as he had used too much of his strength to attack. He red at his brother.

    "Hey, Ed, this isn''t fair!" Max said, "You can''t use that tactic on me every time we fight."

    "Says who?" asked Ed coldly as he continued to dodge the attacks. "I can do anything I want. This is my body."

    "Tsk. I want my timid brother back! How did you change into the cold and aloof one?"

    Ed refused to reply.

    The fight continued on for a while until Max couldn''t lift his hand anymore. Then Shane attacked his brother and delivered a finishing blow. In the end, his sword was at the man''s neck. He turned toward Hope.

    "Did I win?"

    Hope chuckled. "Of course! Not only have you won, but you''ll also get to fight me. How about it?"

    Then she turned to Shane and said, "This is my gift for you. You have always wanted to fight with your master again, right? So here''s the chance!"

    Shane: "...."

    He was really speechless. He indeed wanted to fight with his master, but not right now. Weren''t they supposed to finish the mission at this time? What were they doing fighting with one another?

    As if reading his thoughts, Hope said, "Don''t worry about the mission. We''re half done already. The major part of it was to create a weapon. Here we are!"

    Shane rolled his eyes. "Fine. switch. Oh yeah, can I use my power?"

    "Of course! Go and get lost!" Hope sounded so excited that it was clear from her tone.

    Shane made a weird face before he agreed.

    So now Ed and Shane were confronted with each other.

    Even though Shane was inside a woman''s body, he didn''t care. He was already used to changing into Hope by now. He stared at Ed''s familiar face as a hint of nostalgia filled his heart.

    How long had it been since he fought this man?

    Even though he thought he had ovee the death of his master, he clearly felt a little nostalgic right now. He squinted his eyes as he pulled out a weapon.

    It wasn''t anything different. As he raised his head and looked at Ed, it was just a regr sword.

    "I''m ready. I''m gonna use dark arts."

    Ed said nothing as he turned to him and asked, "Then I''ll also not hold back."

    Shane felt a little bit of excitement flooding his veins as he said, "Go ahead. I want you to use all of your powers."

    Neither of them talked anymore.

    No one could tell who attacked first, but by the time a minute had passed, the fight had turned insane. Two colors, one electrical and another demonic, burst into two ends whenever their swords collided. It almost looked like a ce filled with two colors on both sides.

    Max stared at the scene in front of him in a daze. He knew that his brother was powerful, but he didn''t think Ed was this powerful.

    For some reason, he felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He wanted to be a system god, but how could he be one when he couldn''t overpower his own brother?

    He pursed his lips and watched the scene until the fight ended in a tie.

    It was almost half an hour, and they ended the fight not because they were tired but because Hope poked Shane as he forced himself to stop fighting with his master.

    It turned out that fighting with someone worthwhile could make him feel so amazing! He should have asked Hope to fight him in the training arena!

    When he reached the mind space, he was utterly satisfied as he looked at the screen.

    Hope smiled and said, "You two pass, especially you Ed. Now, I have a job for you."

    She finally pulled out the list of so-called evidence she had created over the years. She handed the copies to both brothers and said, "This is a list of corrupt officials. If you want to kill the king, we should get rid of these people first."

    Ed hesitated before asking, "Are they all corrupt? Are you sure?"

    "Didn''t you read what they did in the past few years? They caused havoc in the system world." Hope continued to speak nonsense. "We''ll first start with lower officials. But remember, don''t reveal your identities, alright?"

    Ed and Max nodded, knowing well how important their real identities were. All these years, they managed to enter politics, bing officials at high posts. So if anyone knew they were the ones killing their colleagues, they would be traitors.

 Chapter 153 152. The Doubt!

    The condition was enough for Max and Ed to think it over. In the end, they came up with one solution: to create a masked superhero who would fight for justice, killing off all the corrupt officials. It was Max''s idea, to be exact.

    So the two of them didn''t waste time anymore and rushed to the market. They didn''t buy everything from one ce for fear of leaving a trail behind. They purchased many simr things to make the shopkeepers confused as hell.

    When they were done, they returned to their house just outside the institute and hid in Max''s bedroom with the things they had collected. Hope had also arrived and was leaning against the door, watching the brothers do their thing.

    Shane was also witnessing everything as he frowned. The kind of robes they bought seemed simr to someone¡­

    He had seen them on Dark¡­

    His heart thumped in his chest when he thought deeply about it.

    No, it couldn''t be.

    Max and Ed weren''t the ones who created a ''superhero'' named Dark, were they?

    Shane couldn''t stay calm after learning about that thing. His breathing quickened as he stared at the scene with many questions in his eyes.

    Hope, sensing her host''s unstable mind, said, "Shane, don''t worry about the future. You can still mend everything once you finish this mission and go back."

    "Go back where?" Shane''s voice echoed.

    It sounded like he was emotional, but at the same time, he wasn''t. He knew one thing for sure:

    He was indirectly responsible for killing his sister, Tess.

    If he hadn''t participated in creating someone like Dark, nothing like this would have happened. His sister might still have been alive in the first ce!

    Shane swallowed as he took a few breaths and finally asked, "Can I  still save the situation?"

    "Yeah. Trust me on this. Let''s focus on the mission for now."

    Shane nodded and said nothing. He had no other choice than to trust Hope at this time. She seemed to have been aware of many things he didn''t know. She even had many secrets in her heart that she was unwilling to tell, but Shane also knew those secrets were connected to his future.

    They will surely be revealed in the future.

    He just wanted to know whether Hope was on his side or not. Even though it seemed like she was on his side, he could be wrong.

    What if Hope was the ultimate viin who came to destroy everything?

    What if she was the one who created the mission to destroy the system world in the first ce?

    Shane shook his head again. He couldn''t continue to think nonsense at this time. He had to think of a technique to test the waters with Hope. but for now, he could only be a witness to the destruction that was about to ur.

    By the time Shane had finished talking to Hope, the brothers had already sorted out the clothes they had bought and selected a ck dress from head to toe. There was also a hood that could be used to cover his head.

    Max nodded in satisfaction as he nced at his brother. "Should I try?"

    "Go ahead." Ed was not interested in donning such a bizarre robe.

    Max grinned as he put on the clothes and looked at himself in the mirror.

    Shane''s breathing nearly stopped. This was the Dark he was used to!

    He stopped thinking as he stared at the scene outside the screen for a while.

    Hope said, "So you''ll wear this and kill those officials?"

    "Yeah!" Max sounded excited as a glint shed in his eyes. "How cool! I finally get to be a superhero!"

    Shane shook his head. This guy would never be a hero

    "That''s great; go ahead and kick some a**!" Hope also eximed in happiness as she grinned from ear to ear.

    Ed frowned after hearing that as he opened his mouth. "Can we not kill people?"

    "My dear little Ed," said Hope as she scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "You''re still a little cutie, aren''t you? Look around you! These people caused so many deaths, and even the current System God doesn''t seempetent enough to deal with them! Who would punish them if not for you guys?"

    "Then why don''t you do it?" Ed narrowed his eyes.

    "Ah, he''s really your master," Hope whispered to Shane, who refused toment on anything else.

    She didn''t change her expression and said, "I already said I came from the future. There''s a reason why I can''t directly participate in the activities here. If I did, I might end up messing things up too much. I shouldn''t be the one involved in the karma, ya know?"

    "Excuses," spat Ed as he turned around and left the room without ncing back.

    Hope wasn''t worried as she waved her hand and turned to Max. "Let''s go. We have so many things to do!"

    "Like what?" Max thought they were only buying clothes today.

    "I''m going to have to teach you how to be a proper vi- ahem, hero!" Damn it. She was about to say the word ''viin.''

    Shane scoffed inside her head.

    Hope ignored the system and continued to speak nonsense. "First and foremost, you must not listen to any exnations or evidence offered by the targets. They make fake evidence to turn the tables. Be aware of them."

    Max nodded earnestly as he said, "Then what?"

    "Then we should follow those people in the dark. I''ll teach you everything, and you can easily deal with these people. For now, follow me, okay?"

    Max nodded as the two of them vanished from that ce. As they vanished, Ed walked inside the room again and frowned. He turned around and found Dirt hanging out with his other robot friend. He immediately called out the robot.

    "Do you have the ability to time travel?"

    Dirt tilted his head and replied, "Yeah, but only once I''m dead, and my data is taken out. Why?"

    "No, nothing." Ed waved his hand as he went back to his room.

    ording to his analysis, that hooded woman must be from an era when Dirt might be dead, and his data might have transferred to her. For some reason, she returned to the past and even taught him and his brother, particrly Max.

    Why did she return to the past with Dirt''s data in hand?

    Where did he and Max go if Dirt was dead?

    Was he also dead?

    What happened to Max?

    No matter how much Ed thought about it, he still felt something was wrong with the entire picture.o him. These were the corrupt officials, ording to her. So wouldn''t it be better to start with these people if he wanted to find out the truth?

    In any case, even if the girl approached him and Max with bad intentions, he would simply forgive her and let her go to repay the debt.

    After thinking about this, he didn''t wait any longer and called out to Dirt.

    "Dirt, let''s go. I need you for something."

    The first name was William Thomson. The man was a judge in the judicial court, but it was said that he often made wrong decisions to make people suffer because of bribes.

    Ed nced at the pile of clothes they had bought as he pulled out the less conspicuous one and put it on himself, hiding his face. He also forced his robot to wear one piece as they walked out of his room.

    Then he turned toward Dirt and said, "Let''s go. We will see this guy first."

    They went to the court after half an hour and sat in the back to witness the scene live. If this person were really as bad as the reports say, he would act immediately and kill him in front of everyone else.

    If not¡­

    A dark shadow shed in Ed''s eyes.

    William was a middle-aged old man who walked slowly with his stomach sticking out. He walked, sat at his ce, and waved his hand at thewyers.

    The current case was that of a poor guy who was refused permission to enter his own farm. Even though the farm belonged to him, he had to sell it at some point because of money issues.

    In this world, not everyone wanted to be a system. Some people would also do other jobs such as being a farmer, like in the current case.

    The new owner was generous and offered the farmer a job with a pleasant ie. Things were going well for a month until the new owner refused to admit that the farmer worked for him. After making the poor farmer work his a** off, the owner refused to give him money, making the farmer knock at the court''s door.

    Ed watched coldly as the case proceeded. If the judge were really someone who took bribes, this case would go on with the farmer being reduced to nothing, with the case being directed toward the other part.

 Chapter 154 153. The Fight!

    The case proceeded without any obstacle. The judge, contrary to what the evidence said about him, worked effortlessly with a serious expression on his face. He listened to both the parties and turned to the group of judges who hade to listen.

    The man said, "What''s your opinion on this?"

    Here, in this world, judges would often be divided into two categories every time there''s a hearing. The chief judge would sit at the center beneath the statue of justice to make the final decision. Other judges, the chief''s colleagues, would sit on the side to give their opinion on the matter.

    A good judge would often work together with his colleagues and make a decision after hearing both the sides clearly. But a corrupt one would do things half-heartedly without even bothering to listen to the opinions.

    Anyone would be able to differentiate between a good and a bad judge by seeing their behavior. From what Ed could see, the current judge wasn''t a corrupt one.

    His brows furrowed at that as he stared at the court.

    The scene in front of him could be called an ordinary court without any corrupt officials. Even the ones sitting by the judge performed their duty properly.

    Ed shook his head. He couldn''t judge so fast. He should continue spying on this person for a while.

    After half an hour, William ordered the sides to collect more evidence on the case and closed the case for the day. Everyone got up and walked out of the hall.

    Ed had an unusual expression on his face as he walked in a daze. Even though he doubted everything he had heard of, he was still shocked to his core after learning hai suspicions were true.

    Dirt, who had been watching his master, frowned. "Master, what''s wrong?"

    "What''s your opinion on the hooded woman?" Ed stared at the street in front of him in a daze.

    Dirt thought for a while and said, "I get a familiar feeling from her as if I have some connection with her."

    "You can feel too?" Ed raised his brows.

    Dirt red at the man before shaking his head. "I can''t, but I have data, and ording to it, there''s some kind of connection¡­ you can say I feel there''s another me inside her."

    Ed stopped asking about it. He took a deep breath and nced at the sky.

    From what he could see, the hooded woman must be from the future. And in that future, there mustn''t be him and Dirt. Otherwise, he would never ever let go of Dirt in the hands of such a vile woman.

    Dirt was the first robot he and Max had ever created. Even though they were clumsy, they still had enough knowledge passed down from his grandfather. Dirt was supposed to be a trial and error case, but after a few years or continuous practice, they were able to create a masterpiece perfectly.

    It was followed by a few more robots, but since Dirt had been the first robot ever, they had given him the best of what they could find, editing the database and programming setup time and time again.

    So how could he let go of his creation? He must be dead for sure in the future.

    His eyes narrowed. How did he die?

    His intuition told him that it could be because of that hooded woman for sure. Who else could do this except for her?

    She has trained them since childhood. He turned into a suspicious, cold guy because of her. It could be said that she was his sole master, but he still doubted her till the end for some reason. It turned out he was right about his doubts.

    She really wasn''t someone who could be trusted.

    Now, the question was, should he tell Max about it or not?

    After thinking about it, he decided he should let his brother know. Max could choose whether to believe him or not. Ed could give the other man a chance.

    After thinking about it, Ed walked toward his ce near the institute with his robot.

    Max was yet toe. So he pulled out the list from his desk and decided to spy on other people in the meanwhile.

    After spying for a while untilte night, Ed realized one thing.

    Each and every single one of the officers were good and diligent in their work. They did their best to make sure the system world operated perfectly without any crimes. Even the crime rate had been controlled under their hands.

    It could be said that they were pirs of modern society. Without these people, the government could crumble to dust.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Ed scoffed when he realized this. He came back to his housete at night, but Max still hadn''te back.

    He could clearly see what the hooded woman wanted. She probably was after the System God and wanted to get rid of the guy for some reason. Him and Max were probably just small pawns she could use for her benefit.

    As he walked inside his room, he warned Dirt, "Don''t trust that hooded woman anymore. I feel there''s something wrong with her."

    Dirt nodded. "That''s right. She''s scheming something behind our backs. She''s a viin!"

    A certain ''viin'' who was considered as a vile woman was currently hiding behind a pir, staring at Max who killed the fifth guy for today. She was very satisfied with his work.

    The guy didn''t even ask or doubt her words, directly believing everything. She had to say her n was going smoothly. After crumbling the officials to dust, she could proceed to get Max to fight with the System God and defeat him.

    But she herself knew that Max was no match for the man. The current System God was too powerful. So the only way for Max to defeat the other was through deceit.

    So they had to find some kind of poison to weaken the other system. They might have to wander from one dungeon to another for that.

    Sigh. Max really had too much to do at the moment. She was nearly tired as she leaned against the wall.

    "Shane, you handle it now. You already know what I want."

    Before Shane could refuse, the body transfer was already done. He blinked as he stood there in a daze, ncing at Max.

    He angrily said, "What the heck?! Hope, you already know I don''t like being a host!"

    "You''ve been resting for quite a while. Don''t you think it''s my turn now? Don''t worry. I won''t be sleeping, but I''ll guide you through the process. Okay?"

    Why did Shane feel like he was being coaxed like a child? His nose red in anger as he took a deep breath.

    He shouldn''t argue with a stupid woman. He directly ignored her and continued to focus as Max sessfully killed a guy, returning to his side.

    ? "So? How did I do?" His eyes stared at the hooded woman with a hint of anticipation.

    Shane had the urge to gauge his eyes for staring like that but he held himself back and said, "Good job. We''re done for today. Let''s go back."

    The two of them went back as Max went back to his room and rested. Shane also walked outside for a while before turning to Hope.

    "Let''s time travel again."

    "Wait for a day," said Hope. "I have an intuition we shouldn''t hurry."

    "Ah. a girl''s intuition?" Shane spoke in a voice full of sarcasm.

    Hope refused to reply as she continued to sit silently inside her mind.

    Shane sighed and walked around on his own before turning and entering his room as well. That''s right. The original Hope bought the house right outside the institute, beside Max''s and Ed''s ce, to keep a better eye on them. Aside from that, the future Hope had been leaving instructions for the past Hope so that they could carry out the mission perfectly and without hesitation.

    So even if they time traveled, it wouldn''t matter because Hope from the past would be there to handle the brothers. But for some reason, Hope seemed to want to wait a  little longer to see what was happening.

    Sure enough, something did happen. When Shane woke up the next day, Ed and Dirt were missing, as Max had a deep cut on the side of his face, marking it red. His expression was dark as he leaned against the wall outside his room.

    Shane walked over and asked, "What happened?"

    "Ed¡­ he''s gone, and he''s never going toe back. He''s really gone!" After saying that, Max let out a depressing chuckle as heughed loud and clear.

    Afterughing for a while, hisughter turned into sadness as he bent over and fell on his back. His hands covered his knees as he ced his head there and cried bitterly.

    Shane only watched the scene without changing his expression.

    He knew that Ed and Max would have a fight, but he didn''t think it would be this soon. He remembered that when he met Ed for the first time, the man had been living in the institute with Dirt for years whereas Max became the new System God.

 Chapter 155 154. A Sneaky Robot.

    Shane continued to stand there without uttering a single word. He felt he needed to say something, but at the same time, he didn''t want to expose the fact that the owner of this body had changed. So he cleared his throat and tried to act like Hope.

    "Listen, you''d better get some sleep. We might have to work more from tomorrow on. There''s a pile of lists, including the officials'' names." Shane swiftly pulled out two more scrolls and threw them at Max''s feet. "Read on. I''ll handle Ed''s case. Yeah?"

    "No!" Max suddenly yelled as he picked up the scrolls. "I''ll deal with him. You don''t have to butt in on us, brothers."

    "Whatever. I just wanted to suggest something. If you can handle him, I wouldn''t interfere. Take some rest."

    After that, Shane didn''t dare stand there and continue to chat. He swiftly walked out of that ce and went to his room. He sighed and closed the door behind him.

    "Hope, I can''t act like you. You better take over before Max suspects something."

    "Don''t worry about him," said Hope as she chewed something.

    "Wait, are you eating popcorn?" Shane frowned as his face was filled with a disgusted expression. "I''m trying to work here, and you''re enjoying it?"

    "Didn''t you do the same before?" Hope dumped all the responsibility on his shoulders. "As I was saying, Mx is dumb. He can''t suspect a thing. If it were Ed, we would have to think of a n, but the guy is too smart. I wonder how he turned into that thing."

    Shane spat: "That''s what I have always wanted to ask. How did you turn him from someone timid into that?"

    Hope finally realized the man was ming her, so she stopped eating and said, "Don''t me me. I wasn''t always with him, you know? I left my old version to deal with the kids."

    "In any case, your old version is also you, aren''t you? You must also remember everything," Shane retorted as hey on the bed. "You''re just making excuses because you don''t want to admit your faults."

    "So what? I just made Ed go through a series of tough things."

    "Tough? What kind of stuff?" Shane raised his brows.

    ording to his thinking, such a character development was really off the charts and even illogical. Even in the worst stories, he had seen people develop, but not to this extent. Hope might have done something to these little guys to make them be like that.

    In the end, Max became dumber, while Ed became smarter.

    Hope sighed and shrugged, finally admitting, "I did nothing. I just threw both of them inside the dungeons every now and then, warning them they couldn''t eat if they didn''t seed. Many times, I also stopped giving them food because they failed. So after that, they sharpened it up and started taking dungeons seriously. I really have no idea how the two brothers grew up differently despite being inside the same dungeon."

    Shane sighed. He also wondered what kind of dungeons they were in to make these brothers grow like that. After a while, he stopped thinking about it and changed the topic.

    "Hope, tell me honestly, why me? There were many systems with dark power. Even Max. Then why me?"

    He asked that question because he believed Hope might have an answer. But to his surprise, Hope really did seem to have an answer.

    The woman replied in a calm voice, "What if I know?"

    Shane was speechless. "If you do, then tell me."

    "I won''t. So shut up."

    "See? I knew you were bluffing," said Shane and scoffed.

    Even though he could tell that this was probably rted to the third secret that Hope was hiding from him, he didn''t have any desire to probe into her life anymore.

    Probing had already gotten him into so many difficulties. If he had only continued to be a good system without using dark powers, he might have managed to stand by.

    The night passed without any event. When Shane woke up the next day, Ed had already left with his belongings and Dirt. He walked over only to see Max standing in front of Ed''s room in a daze.

    The man stared at the empty room for a while and blinked his tears. When he couldn''t blink it away anymore, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffed.

    Now the fireworks have started. Great.

    Shane almost wanted to roll his eyes, but he stopped himself on time and said, "Are you ready for today?"

    Max took a deep breath and nodded with a gloomy face. "Let''s go. I don''t want that brother anyway."

    "Good," said Shane as he turned to Hope. "Let''s time travel."

    "Um, sure. Just a second." He heard Hope typing something on a virtual keyboard before she replied, "I''m ready. How many years should we skip now?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "To the time when all the so-called corrupt officers had died."

    "That''s no good. Hold on." Hope paused while typing and said, "We''ll have to make a stop in between to make sure Ed''s not causing trouble."

    "Why would he cause some trouble?" Shane couldn''t understand this.

    He knew his master well enough to know that once he decided on something, he would do it no matter what. And the most important thing was that he wouldn''t waste his time on doing good deeds. The man was extremely aloof and disregarded anyone wasting his time, even if it was for a good reason.

    Such a man now, especially, took time out of his schedule to make trouble for his brother, who was trying to be a System God or something?

    Shane felt that it was more of a joke or something.

    But he stillplied with Hope and decided to head over to a future after a few months. Max wouldn''t really attack the current System God so soon. So they were safe to travel after a few months.

    Shane wrote down instructions for current Hope on a piece of paper, and they started the time travel. In the blink of an eye, they were able to reach them a few monthster. Shane was already standing in his room in the middle of the night. He nced outside the window.

    Moonlight descended from the sky, spreading its feathers and wings and illuminating the ground. A few birds flew around the moon, as if trying to reach out their hands and catch it in their palms.

    The scene outside was really beautiful. Shane would have wasted his night just staring at the garden outside the window if he hadn''t seen Dirt sneaking around that ce.

    Shane raised his brows as he stared at the robot. It had been a while since he talked about that thing. He instantly jumped outside the window and shed beside Dirt, making the robot stiffen.

    Dirt turned slowly toward him and scratched the back of his neck. "I''m caught."

    "Yeah, you were," said Shane with a deadpan expression on his face. "You weren''t smart enough this time not to sneak right outside my window."

    "What if I wanted to talk to you?" Dirt raised his head and squinted his eyes. "I have long realized that there''s something wrong with you. You seem to have three personalities inside your body."

    Shane scoffed. This robot was certainly perceptive. Maybe that''s why they say feelings only hamper your growth.

    This robot sets a good example for him. Dirt really didn''t know how to feel, but that didn''t stop him from deducing the most basic andmon things that most people would unconsciously ignore.

    Just now, Shane assumed that perhaps Dirt was the only one who could notice this.

    Shane didn''t reply and asked, "Where''s your boss?"

    "Sleeping."

    "Then what are you doing here?"

    "Sneaking, as you can see." Dirt''s eyes didn''t even twitch after saying those words.

    Shane asked, "Why were you sneaking?"

    "A secret mission."

    Dirt refused to give out any necessary information at the moment, making Shane almost want to strangle the guy to death. The two of them continued to stand like that until Shane backed away and made a ''continue please'' gesture before running back to his room.

    Then he knocked at Hope''s door and asked, "What''s happening? Why is Dirt running here like this in the middle of the night?"

    "Well¡­ he came to kill Max."

    As it shed outside the window, Shane''s body was instantly alerted. "Shouldn''t you have told me about it earlier?!"

    Hope shrugged. "I''m telling you now."

    "You know you''re a hopeless case, right?" Shane gritted his teeth and ran in the direction where the robot had vanished.

    Hope finally exined her difficulty: "I can''t interfere too much or else it''ll cause a butterfly rift, changing the entire trajectory of future events. I can only continue to perform in the same manner again and again until the end of my life. Don''t you get it yet?"

    Shane frowned. He could tell that there should be more meaning behind those words than just what he had heard just now.

 Chapter 156 155. Fighting With Dirt!

    Shane sneaked after Dirt''s footprints left on the ground with light steps. He didn''t want to make anyone aware of his presence. So he also used the cloak he always would for such cases. He walked over at a fast speed until he found Dirt opening the door with his magical powers.

    Since Dirt''s attribute was time, he could turn anything into its past or the future self. No matter whether it was an item or a living being. No one could escape the robot''s hands.

    So he could easily open the lock by turning back the time when the lock was opened first. After opening the lock sneakily, Dirt entered the room.

    Shane also walked inside. As soon as he entered, he saw Dirt''s steps pausing as the robot turned back, ncing at where Shane was hiding.

    Shane''s heart jumped to his throat.

    Wait, it couldn''t be that the robot figured out his presence, right?

    As he was thinking about it, he saw the robot walking over as thetter passed through Shane''s body, heading toward the door. Only then did Shane sigh in relief. He stood beside them without moving. He even held his breath to ensure that people in this room didn''t hear the sound of his voice.

    Max was sleeping soundly without making a sound. Dirt reached the man and pulled out a weapon.

    Shane instantly reacted and blocked the attack, showing himself finally.

    The robot gritted his teeth and started fighting with the other man wholeheartedly. Shane had always wanted to fight with the robot, even when he was in the institute, but back then, he was held back because of all the restrictions that had been forced on him.

    But now he could do anything he wanted and try his hand against the robot.

    He attacked the robot with his sword, using one of the techniques he learned as a thousand-year-old demon king. The robot''s head was sted with electrical and thunderous dark power.

    But Dirt wouldn''t be Dirt if he got scraped up by that puny attack. He directed the attack outside, destroying the tree from the root. Afterward, he nced at the man sleeping soundly and tried to attack Max again.

    When Shane saw the situation escte, he shed in front of Dirt and took a protective stance in front of Max. Dirt saw this and made a gesture to go out.

    "We wouldn''t want this young man to wake up, would we?"

    Shane didn''t care about Max; he just didn''t want the house destroyed."

    He nodded and expressionlessly walked out after Dirt.

    When they went to a secluded ce again, Dirt faced him and said, "Why are you doing this? If it weren''t for that day, Ed would also have been fooled by you. But it can''t change the fact that you still made him kill many people and monsters. Those also weren''t really monsters, were they?

    Shane didn''t reply as he gave another st of the dark energy attack, making the other person grit his teeth and use blocking magic to defend against Shane''s powers.

    Then the robot turned toward Shane and said, "You can''t be the same girl as before. Who are you?"

    "You finally realized this?" Shane red at the robot. "Because of our past friendship, I''ll let you go this time. Just go and tell your master that I don''t want him to participate in this case anymore. He better stay silent for a while like a good boy."

    God, that felt good to say such a thing against his own teacher.

    Dirt nodded and finally left that ce.

    Shane''s body rxed before he remembered what Dirt had said. Then he directly confronted Hope.

    "Hey, Hope, you made Ed kill people before trying to touch the officials? Howe I didn''t hear anything about it before? You didn''t do it in front of me."

    Hope acted innocently at this time and said, "What do you mean by those words? I didn''t do anything."

    "Really? Cut it off!" Shane got angry after saying that. "You know how much I hate it when you lie. And you still continue on! How can you be so shameless?"

    "I stay silent because I can''t tell you everything." Hope sighed as if she were a tragic teacher who couldn''t handle her student anymore. "Seriously, I hate it when my own son does it."

    Shane''s anger reached a spike when he realized she was mocking him by saying her son! "What the f*ck are you talking about? Who''s your son?!"

    Hope said coolly, "I wasn''t talking about you. I was talking about my future sons who wouldn''t be born anymore because you''re getting angry with me."

    Shane was silent for a moment. She was flirting with him, wasn''t she?

    If it were any other girl, he wouldn''t have minded. But this was Hope, for God''s sake! He didn''t even want to imagine sleeping with her!

    God, even the image caused Shane to cringe until he felt like puking. He took a deep breath and said, "Can you be a good system already? I''m getting a headache from your antiques."

    Hope chuckled and finally acted like a proper human being¡ªnope, a system. "It''s not my fault you''re so easy to tease. As for your question, I made them kill people, but that was a practice. C''mon, how can you even imagine them turning into viins without killing their conscience?"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Shane realized exactly when Hope had done this kind of thing behind his back. She might have done this when she time-traveled before ordering her past self.

    Sure enough, he shouldn''t underestimate this girl anymore.

    "Fine, now what do we do?"

    "We wait, of course!" Hope felt excited for some reason. "We will surely achieve the ending we desire this time around."

    Shane felt those words were ambiguous for some reason, indicating another meaning hidden in the world''s depths. He shook away his doubts and focused on what was happening in front of him.

    Dawn broke as Max woke up instantly.

    Seriously, just how much can this guy sleep? He didn''t wake up despite the st next to his ears!

    It looked like the man had slept well as Max yawned and cleaned himself up. His eyes lit up when he saw Shane standing in the middle of the practice arena. He rushed and stopped right in front of the man.

    "Master, what are you doing here?" he asked.

    Shane responded in his mind, "I just wanted to see how much you have improved," he said.

    Max excitedly said, "Then let''s have a fight! I want to see how much I have grown!"

    "Sure," Shane said, his lips curling up.

    He felt that he was getting luckier and luckier as all of his wishes were being fulfilled these days. He picked out a very ordinary-looking sword and pointed its tip toward the other man.

    "Go on. You start."

    Max rushed toward him with all his power, yelling while he attached. Shane simply dodged with utter ease. After that, Max attacked again.

    This time, it was a dark energy tornado aiming at Shane''s face.

    Shane used his sword and uttered a spell in his mind. Blocking energy empowered his body and surrounded him from all sides. Now the tornado came closer and closer, but it couldn''t touch the man at all.

    After seeing this, Shane let out a scoff. "You''re powerful, but your mind is still that of a kid. Use some brain while fighting."

    Max gritted his teeth. "Master, how can you be so mean to me?! I''m really doing my best!"

    "Shane," Hope sighed. "Don''t me him. I deliberately made him like that, turning him into my pawn. Don''t argue."

    "Shut up!" Shane was angrier after hearing Hope''s words.

    He literally wanted to strangle the girl to death. Everything was basically her fault!

    He sessfully shifted all the me onto her shoulders and continued fighting with Max.

    At the end of the fight, the winner was still Shane, who didn''t even have a single drop of perspiration on his forehead. He looked like he was still full of energy and could fight for another twenty-four hours without stopping.

    On the other side, Max''s condition was tragic. His clothes were tattered and burned. Injuries covered his body to the point of dripping blood. He took deep breaths as he tried to stand on two feet.

    Shane sneered. "Is this how you''re going to defeat the System God?" Good luck!"

    After saying that, he ran away from that ce, not even turning back.

    Hope hesitated before saying, "We never wanted a person who could fight with a brain. Don''t you remember our n? We just wanted a weapon, and Max is already a weapon."

    Shane shook his head. "Still, seeing such a fine man turn into this gives me a headache."

    "Let''s fast-forward then," suggested Hope.

    Shane also didn''t refuse as they traveled a few yearster. Hope wrote down some warnings as she took control of the body this time around. Shane finally rested in the mind space as he bought a bowl of popcorn.

    This time when they time-traveled, it was time to kill the System God.

 Chapter 157 156. Killing The System God

    Shane continued sitting back in the mind space as he watched Hope enter Max''s room after traveling. Now that he didn''t have to do anything, he was the most rxed person. He continued to chew popcorn as he watched the girl walking over to the sleeping Max.

    How could a man sleep so soundly without any hint of worry on his forehead? Tonight was a critical night, after all. How could the bald guy sleep like this?

    Hope simply raised her leg and kicked the sleeping man on his stomach, making thetter tumble down the bed terribly. When the bald guy finally got up on his feet, he rubbed his head and was about to spout curses when he nced at the man appearing in front of him.

    He shut his mouth and chuckled nervously. "Oh, it''s master. How do you do?"

    "What, how do you do? How can you sleep when we have to kill the System God?!" Hope red at the man hatefully and said, "get ready."

    Max''s face changed as a depressed expression appeared on his face. "Why do you want to drag me to kill people all day long?! I''m tired!"

    "Really?" the corners of Hope''s lips curled up as a ruthless smile appeared on her face. "Then you continue sleeping. I''ll find Ed for the job."

    The warning worked the best on Max, and she was right. As soon as those words spouted out of her mouth, the man''s eyes widened, and yelled:

    "NOOO!!!" After saying those words, Max simply dressed in a hurry and stood in a hood. "Let''s go!"

    Hope scoffed. "That''s better."

    After dealing with Max, she took him out and was about to use a teleportation skill when she heard the other man say, "But master, didn''t you say yesterday that we couldn''t kill the System God tonight?"

    Hope sighed. She remembered what this person was talking about. Back then, Hope had a doubt about the identity of the person who sent her letters about what she should do. She hadn''t yet evolved into the Hope she is today. So no one could me her for being doubtful about the identity of the future Hope.

    So she refused to believe that killing the System God would bring about a better future. Hope had not yet evolved into the person she is today. So that was why she didn''t want Max to kill the system god anymore.

    But who would have thought that the future Hope would suddenlye out of nowhere and possess the past Hope''s body again?

    Fortunately, Hope took over. Otherwise, the mission would have been jeopardized.

    Soon enough, they reached the pce grounds and hid behind a tree. Hope quickly bought another cloak and handed it to the man beside her.

    "Wear this," said Hope, continuing, "It''ll hide your body. You can even pass through walls and humans."

    "Ah, I know this. One of my hosts had this, but the systems can''t use it, can they? How did you get your hands on this cloak? It''s so cool!"

    The two wore cloaks and continued to march forward without fear. Sure enough, not even the pce guards could see through the cloak''s powers.

    The creator of this cloak sure was talented enough to make something like this.

    They soon reached the throne where the System God sat with his back straight. There was a frown on his forehead at the moment.

    He rubbed his forehead silently as he epted the cup of tea handed over by a servant beside him. He was bing more anxious as the days passed.

    None of his loyal servants and officials were alive anymore. For some reason, they were all assassinated by someone, and when he tried to search for them, he couldn''t find anyone anymore.

    So now, the System God was bing more and more frustrated.

    Hope watched this and whispered to Max, "Let''s get rid of all the guards first."

    "But how?" Max tilted his head as he nced around. "The security is too much; is the System God afraid that he would be punished for his sins?"

    He scoffed and folded his hands across his chest. "He better be. I''m the hero who will eliminate him and make this world better!"

    Hope sneered in her heart, but she didn''t say another word. She was only concerned with ensuring that this world was destroyed. As for what happens to Shane¡­

    She knew what would happen to him. It was no secret that she knew more than normal people. So now that things were finally going on the right track, she had a satisfied smile on her lips.

    "Wait," said Shane, who was watching everything from the mind space. Don''t get rid of the guards first. You''ll end up creating a mess."

    "Then what do you expect me to do?" Hope frowned as she gestured for Max to stop for a moment. "You can''t be serious!"

    "No, I do have a good n, though. But Max would have to stand guard and fight with all he has. Is he ready for that?"

    "Sure~" Hope''s eyes brightened up at that sentence.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    She turned toward the other person and said, "Forget what I just said. Let''s do something else."

    She slowly whispered the n in his ears as guided by Shane and then concluded, "So, in short, you would have to make sure to directly attack the System God, okay?"

    Max nodded and said, "I don''t care as long as the n bes sessful."

    After saying that, he silently walked outside the pce wearing the cloak. Hope also continued to walk over without saying a word.

    She suddenly asked Shane in her mind, "Howe you got this wonderful idea?"

    Shane also didn''t know how or why he got this idea. He tilted his head and said, "Maybe intuition?"

    A hint of joy filled Hope''s eyes, as if she had just discovered something good. "Really?! God, that''s very good news!"

    "Why does it make you so happy?" Shane frowned after watching Hope''s response.

    Hope finally realized she would say something she shouldn''t and suppressed her emotions. She gave a stiff smile that looked like she was forcing her to smile less and shook her head.

    "No, nothing. I''m d you''reing across, finally."

    Shane frowned deeper at those words. Howe he never realized Hope could even feel happy? He had always assumed that her ostensible smile or happy tone was a ruse. But this time, she was genuinely smiling at something he did on a whim.

    After a while, Max removed the cloak and handed it over to Hope in a dark alley. After that, he turned and said, "Are you sure I''ll be sessful?"

    Hope waved her hand. "Don''t worry. If not, I''ll help you."

    Max finally turned and asked her a question he had always wanted to ask, "Why have you been helping us all these years? Who the heck are you?"

    Hope smiled and looked at the sky with a nostalgic expression on her face. "I''m someone who doesn''t belong to this world."

    That sentence made Shane raise his brows. Just what did Hope mean by saying those words?

    He didn''t get to dwell on that when he saw Max getting out of the alley as he walked toward the main gate, saying to the guards, "Hey, I want to challenge the System God for thepetition. The usual one."

    Since the System God said that the one defeating him would be the next System God, many people came around to poke him. But they were able to defeat him just now. So this so-calledpetition had just be a joke for the guards.

    When they saw another man trying to go against the System God, they all chuckled. One of the guardsughed so hard that tears came from the corners of his eyes.

    He turned toward Max and said, "Young man, are you sure you want this? Whoever tried to fight our leader ended up bing handicapped. They can only do small system jobs now. Are you sure you want to be that?"

    Max wasn''t afraid. He simply waved his hand and said, "Don''t worry about it. I might just be the next System God, you know?"

    That sentence made those guardsugh even more.

    "This young man is very courageous. Not even afraid of getting handicapped."

    "I have to watch this show."

    "It''s going to be the trending show of the year!"

    "No, make it a lifetime!"

    They all poked fun at Max, who was standing by and scratching the back of his neck in confusion. He didn''t understand. Was this System God that powerful?

    He voiced out his query.

    The guards looked at the bald man as if they were looking at some fool.

    "You don''t even know how powerful he is?! Dude, don''t you watch his live streams?!"

    "He looks like a viger. Leave him be. Let''s watch a good show."

    Max suddenly felt like they were all insulting him as a country bumpkin. Anger red in his nose as he said, "You, you better watch yourself! If I be a System God, you are the first one I''m going to fire!"

 Chapter 158 Too Powerful!

    Shane watched as Hope grabbed the cloak and wore it upon her body, hiding in the shadows. Then she silently followed the other man behind as Max made his way inside the pce. The guards weed him with open arms as they allughed at the young man''s misfortune.

    The chatter of the soldiers echoed in the background as the two of them continued to walk. Max nced behind as if he were trying to see something, but a nervous expression appeared on his face when he saw nothing.

    Hope scoffed. "This guy''s so nervous. How can he ever take over the ruthless, cold guy sitting on the throne?"

    "Wasn''t this what you wanted from the start?" Shane retorted. "You wanted him to be timid and submissive to your feet. So bam, he''s exactly like that. You have got no face toin."

    Hope pursed her lips and said, "Easy for you to say. Come out and n the destruction of this world. Can you?"

    Shane took a deep breath. Now that he thought about it, he felt strange thinking about how he would destroy everything here. Was it necessary to destroy everything here? Could he not find another way?

    Could he not eject from this ce and return to find another job?

    Shane didn''t really want to destroy this world, but even he didn''t know why he was hell-bent on following the rules. He was never the person who could be one of those top rankers loving to be a hero. He was never one. Even while alive, he always made trouble for the teachers and his elders.

    It was good that his scores would always save him from being ruthlessly punished.

    So now that he had a chance to repeat his habit, he just couldn''t. But why?

    A frown crossed his forehead. Before he could continue to think about this situation, he heard Hope''s voice.

    "We''re in the arena. Stop beingzy inside."

    Shane stopped thinking and focused on the screen.

    Max stood at the center of the arena with his chin raised in pride. Hepletely ignored the nces of others and turned to the closest soldier.

    "Where''s the System God? I want to see him!"

    When everyone was thinking about this situation, a thunderous voice echoed from the pce adjacent to the fighting arena: "Who dares to fight me?"

    When that voice reached the audience, everyone trembled because of the ultimate pressure pressing down on them. The weaker guards fell to the ground, on their knees, staring at their System God in utter fear.

    The man who walked out of the pce from the second gate looked majestic with a red and silver robe across his body. He had a brilliantly decorated crown on his head, bedecked with multiple jewels. His blond hair made him look even more handsome.

    That''s right. Handsome. Even though the System God was old, he still looked young, as if he had just entered his twenties. He nced coldly at the other man standing on the ground,pletely unfazed by the thunderous sound.

    The corners of his lips curled up. "Finally, a worthy opponent has arrived."

    In actuality, Max wasn''t really as unfazed as he looked. His legs trembled because of that pressure, but he still stood on his ground, staring at the man with an arrogant expression on his face.

    At present, he was still a little ways away from being a hundred-level system. He had reached the level of eighty. So this was what it felt like at a hundred.

    Should he have stopped to grow further?

    These thoughts drifted through his mind, but soon he felt a tap on his shoulder that made him jolt to his feet. He instantly looked around, only to see no one.

    But he knew that there was probably that hooded woman standing behind him.

    He felt a burst of confidence hit his heart. He raised his head up high and looked over at the man standing in front of him.

    "Are you ready to be defeated?"

    Hope knew what Max was thinking about. Why did she n to make him fight the System God when the opponent was way too powerful aspared to Max?

    There was indeed a reason behind it. If they had waited for Max to grow more in his power, a decade would have passed, and they couldn''t afford to wait more.

    She knew that this System God was nning something, and this was what could have hampered their mission. So it was necessary to do everything Max could do to defeat the man.

    In any case, she was already hiding within the cloak. She could help him.

    At this time, it could be said that the true opponent of the System God should be Hope because she was the only one who didn''t get affected.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Huh, now that she thought about it, she never asked Shane anything about his level up until now.

    So she watched as the System God and others startedughing and mocking Max and asked Shane, "What''s your level? It should have increased after getting the memories of that Demon Lord, right?"

    Shane tilted his head. That''s right. Howe he never thought about looking at his level recently?

    He quickly opened the menu and looked at his stats, only to be shocked.

    Level: ???

    Why the heck was there a question mark?!

    He voiced out his doubts without hesitation, asking Hope about the question mark.

    After listening to it, even Hope was shocked to the point that she couldn''t say a word. A frown crossed her forehead.

    "It shouldn''t be like this¡­ howe it happened too soon? No, I should be happy," Hope mumbled as she frowned deeper. "What if something goes wrong again? Ah, I don''t want to repeat the same thing! Damn it! Shane, how could you be overpowered all of a sudden?"

    Shane ignored her confusing mumbling and decided to think about itter. "Well, didn''t you remember how I got the old demon lord''s memories? I ended up doing a lot of mental practice and increasing my cultivation. Now, I should be at the nascent soul level."

    Hope''s eyes widened as she eximed. "That''s right! Cultivation! How could I be so stupid?!"

    Shane tilted his head, not being able to understand a single word.

    By this time, the System God had already arrived at the center of the arena. He stood in front of Max with a golden aura surrounding his body.

    It could be said that there weren''t many people with a hundred-level. If anyone reached ny, they stopped assisting others in increasing their stats. No one was thus eligible to even reach closer to the System God in terms of power.

    That was why everyoneughed at how Max could be so daring to even stand on the same ground as the System God.

    The rule that no one can reach the hundredth level was actually created by the System God himself. He didn''t want anyone to beat him in the fight and take over his throne. Despite being a good leader, he was really ruthless against his opponents.

    When he stood in front of Max, it almost looked like a tiger and a deer were fighting against one another.

    The System God stared at Max for a moment and said, "Attack me."

    Max gulped as ayer of cold sweat formed on his forehead. As he stood there, his entire body became drenched in cold sweat. Because of the aura pressure pressing against his body, his hands shook visibly.

    He didn''t look like someone who could manage to defeat the System God.

    Seeing his condition, othersughed even louder.

    "Look at him!" eximed one of the soldiers stationed at the back gate,ughing so hard that his stomach hurt. "He pretends to be powerful, but his hands are trembling. He''ll fight and win? Keep dreaming!"

    "Our system god is the best of both worlds!" eximed another soldier, mockingly staring at Max. "You''ll never surpass him!"

    After this, the System God raised his hand as if he were trying to silence the people there. The soldiers also understood that gesture and calmed down, staring at the System God with an expression of reverence in their eyes.

    Max gritted his teeth as he thought to himself, ''How could these people even think about praising such a b*stard?!''

    All these years, Hope had brainwashed him into believing that the current System God was too cruel and not a good leader. So now, all Max could think about was how ungrateful this world was! Instead of supporting him for a good cause, they were insteadughing at his face!

    A burst of anger grew in his heart as he raised his sword and rushed about toward the System God.

    He charged it silently with the dark energy he had learned after such a long time and used a st attack.

    Max knew that this wouldn''t be enough to get rid of this guy, but he had a n. Plus, when he discussed everything with Hope back then, she told me everything that the System God would do, including all the details of the attack.

    He quickly felt a barrier blocking his attack. The corners of his lips curled up.

    This was going exactly the way Hope had told him!

 Chapter 159 158. The Great Power!

    Max grew even more excited. A smile formed on his lips as he continued to attack the other man.

    At this point, everyone was shocked by the oue. They all thought that despite being skilled, there was no way a young man like him could fight against the System God. Most likely, thetter would probably make the young man fall to the ground, unconscious after a few fights.

    But what the heck were they seeing?! Howe it looks like the youth was ying around with the System God?

    Thetter chuckled all of a sudden. It seemed like the youth sessfully caught his attention by all the dodging and attacking. Somehow, the youth was able to find loopholes whole attacking him from all sides!

    When the man chuckled, everyone trembled. Only two people weren''t affected by that. First one was obviously Hope and the second was Max.

    It wasn''t that he wasn''t afraid of someone powerful, but Hope was more ruthless, crazy and powerful than this System God. He had be habitual of staying firm under the pressure of someone powerful all these years.

    How could he tremble under the System God''sugh? His body had been crafted exactly for this day.

    With everything that was happening, there was only one person who looked happy in this situation¡ªHope. She even hummed a pleasant tune in her mind and looked at Max gratefully.

    "You know what''s filial duty?" Hope pointed her finger toward Max who was still busy fighting the System God. "This is!"

    Shane sighed, "Just finish this fast. I''m getting tired of this job."

    "Huh? Haven''t we just started yet? Were yet to meet your past self, you know?"

    Shane wasn''t interested in that. If anything, he would like to avoid looking over at his past. He was equally embarrassing.

    In any case, he didn''t want to stay here and finish up this job. He was tired of imagining things while continuing to be pressed in here. He didn''t want to think of more what ifs in his life.

    After thinking about it, he said, "I''m not interested. Just answer me, when are we going to change bodies?"

    Hope remembered she had said they would leave her body and transfer over to someone else.

    She smiled and said, "Soon. After we crown this young man."

    "Then we leave him just like that?" Shane was surprised that Hope was ready to forget about a young man she helped grow.

    She wasn''t a heartless person, was she?

    But when Shane thought about this question from the bottom of his heart, he grimaced.

    Hope indeed was a heartless person. How could she not be one? She has done many things that only a heartless person would do.

    She had been living in the System World longer than he did, and yet, she could easily plot and scheme to finish this mission to destroy the ce that sheltered her for years. If you don''t call that being heartless, he didn''t know what to say!

    By this time, Max was already done showing off. He was perspiring a bit as he wiped ayer of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked at the System God, who despite fighting a lot, wasn''t tired even a single bit.

    Perhaps this was the difference between the powerful and the powerless.

    He gritted his teeth and gripped his sword tightly. Until now, he did everything that his master taught him, but there was also something that she told him back then¡ª

    "Remember, we can''t trust this method fully. After all, the System God is a cunning man who doesn''t want anyone to step on his toes. You''d better be careful. Use different tactics, fail a few times, and then give a surprise attack to confuse him. Of course, it could even be that you''ll failpletely by giving the System God enough clues on your behalf. But you will still be your master. Don''t let me down and make me use my ultimate attack. Got it?"

    The fact that Hope was still beside him, hiding into the cloak, Max had enough confidence that he could deal with a mere System God who was half as powerful as Hope.

    He wondered how much her level would be if she was that powerful!

    Max continued to follow hermand. As expected, the System God found loopholes while fighting and easily cornered Max.

    Then the blond manughed as if he had just seen a joke. "Hah, you were the longest who managed to stick to me in a fight. Well done. You''ve sessfully attracted my attention. I can finally have a worthy fight!"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    So, this person hadn''t been fighting seriously before?! Max was shocked after knowing this. His expression was serious as he stared at the man with a nervous expression on his face. If the man hadn''t been fighting with all he had, then could it be the man was just ying with him?

    Then¡­ wasn''t it that Max was being yed instead rather than trying to fight off with all he had?

    Damn, he didn''t couldn''t even lift his finger. How was he going to fight off this person?

    The System God didn''t even have a trace of line on his forehead. If anything, he seemed a little happier than a while ago. There was a glowing hint in his eyes that transformed into excitement by the time that gaze reached Max''s face.

    Thetter looked over and took a deep breath.

    He shouldn''t be afraid. Hope was still here. She would help him for sure.

    After calming himself mentally, Max raised his head and looked at the System God with utter confidence in his heart.

    Seeing his expression, the System God became even more amused as he chuckled. "My dear system, you are a worthy opponent. Even facing my aura, you won''t even blink your eyes. Good, good! I like fighting someone with such a confident gaze!"

    Max just hehed and ignored the man. He didn''t want to be aughing stock, so he finally decided to fight back. But he was typically exhausted just from dodging and blocking for hours.

    Yes, hours. It had been hours since they started fighting like this. He had entered the pce early in the morning, but now it was already evening. Without eating anything, normal people would have given up already.

    But Max wasn''t a normal man. Thanks to Hope, he had already trained under extreme conditions, grinding his body to the point that he couldn''t grind anymore.

    Now, he could fight for hours, even in an extremely exhausting condition.

    Sigh, how could he not fight? Back then, Hope hadn''t shown him and his brother when the guy was still around any mercy. She threw them into a dungeon filled with powerful monsters. If they hadn''t crawled back and exhausted themselves to the brim just to kill and live, they wouldn''t have remained alive until this point.

    When Max thought of his bloody past, his expression turned grim.

    Others didn''t know what he was thinking about. To them, he looked like he suddenly became grim while staring at the System God.

    So did this person finally know how to be afraid of the powerful? Heh, the youth should have thought more before jumping into the pit like this.

    After making fun of the young man, the crowd went silent.

    This was the time for a serious fight.

    Max raised his sword as his eyes glowed with dark energy. He muttered a spell under his breath as dark energy powered up from his body and entered the sword, brightening it up with a ck aura.

    He stared at the System God with an evil glint in his eyes. "Are you ready?"

    The blond man with a crown also pulled out his sword and replied, "Never been more ready."

    Max was the first this time to attack the man. His sword, imbued with a ck aura, charged at the other man without hesitation. The collision was so powerful that the ground around them felt the impact, and dust rose in the air almost instantly.

    The system god''s face turned serious as he stared at the opponent. This was the first time someone had arrived who could be worthy of fighting him. All these years, he had been searching for someone to fight who could give him enough challenge during a fight.

    Of course, he refused to make anyone reach even close to level 90, but this time he knew this guy couldn''t be more than 85.

    But why? Why would this young man be more powerful than 90-level ones? Just what kind of training did he attend to reach this level?

    The system God didn''t get another chance to think about it anymore. Max continued to attack him with all he had. The two exchanged a few blows, but this exchange wasn''t normal in any way. The entire ce turned into havoc because of the intense fight.

    The guards had seen something like this for the first time. They knew the system god was powerful, but he had never disyed his power. Now that they saw something like this, everyone was stunned.

 Chapter 160 159. Of Course I Do!

    The fight continued for a long time. Neither party wanted to back away, being stubborn in their own way. Even though Max was tired, he didn''t budge and continued attacking.

    His level of endurance shocked the System God. His expression turned even more serious at this time, attacking more fiercely.

    This was the longest anyone had dared to stand in front of him and attack so rudely. How dare someone be even more powerful than him despite having a lower level? He was sure that this person was probably taught by his enemies!

    After thinking about it, the System God''s move became more ruthless, as if he wanted to finish up the man. Because of the impact between the two masters, the entire ce turned into a mess. The soldiers and guards weren''t around anymore, hiding outside the pce to witness this majestic scene. Even the pce building crumbled because of the intensity of the power.

    But the two sides continued to fight as if they didn''t care, even if the world was destroyed.

    Hope was the happiest of the two people who were fighting one another. She continued dancing around and dodged the attacks thrown indirectly at her body. Even though she knew that this cloak was passthrough and no object could touch it from the outside once someone wore it, she still wanted to secure herself.

    After dodging for a while, she went toward the boundary wall and sat on it, dangling her leg down. "How much longer will it take for my little disciple to give up?"

    "A few more minutes," said Shane as he counted the time.

    It had been an entire day since the fight began. The two sides fought continuously without drinking, eating, or resting. At this time, he knew Max should be at his wit''s end.

    He was right. Max''s body was in the automatic mode now. He didn''t want to fight anymore and only continued to protect himself. His limbs were numb from all the fighting he had done until now.

    At this time, even the System God must have figured out his situation and was probably nning an escape.

    Max gritted his teeth. He couldn''t let this happen! He would have to defeat this person. Otherwise, if he were to back away, he wouldn''t get another chance to attack this person. The System God definitely wouldn''t fight him another time.

    Max continued to fight as desperately as he could, but in the end, he couldn''t continue to do so. Seeing his situation, Hope sighed and jumped off the wall, heading toward the duo fighting on the ground.

    "Let''s help the poor guy. He looks like he''s on the verge of crying."

    As soon as Hope walked over to the man, she instantly took charge of the fight, attacking the System God through the man''s hands.

    At first, the System God couldn''t figure out what was happening. All of a sudden, the intensity of Max''s power changed, and even the attack methods changed. He furrowed his brows and watched the young man in front of him.

    No, it definitely wouldn''t be this person making the attack. That means someone was hiding and attacking him on purpose!

    His enemy had some brains, resorting to a crude method to defeat him.

    He red at Max and said, "Come out and fight me if you want!"

    Max was rxed when he realized that his master was helping him. He had no intention of revealing the identity of his master at this time since he was the one who wanted to sit on the throne. So he shook his head.

    "I''m fighting you," Max muttered as he stood at a distance. "What the heck are you even saying, old man?"

    "Old?" The System Godughed angrily. "I look old to you?!"

    "Of course," Max said righteously. "Look at those wrinkles around your eyes. Even though you pretend to be young using makeup, you can''t hide your real face in front of me. Say, how much time should you take to get ready every day?"

    The System God became angrier as he attacked again with his powerful sword, causing another tornado, but Hope countered with a dark tornado of her own, standing beside Max.

    She didn''t mind Max iming credit for killing the System God. She never wanted the throne anyway. All she wanted to do was destroy this world and be done with it the way she wanted.

    By this time, the System God was also tired after fighting all day and night. Even though he had be the most powerful system here, he still got slightly exhausted. He still had it in him to fight another day, but he couldn''t be more powerful than the person who was giving him hidden attacks using Max as a medium.

    It almost looked like that person created this trap, and he fell right into it without thinking twice!

    The System God gritted his teeth and said, "If you have some shame, show yourself before me if you want to end me!"

    Hope still remained silent as she continued to fight.

    Outside the pce, everyone thought that the System God had turned mad. How could there be someone else hiding there in this ce?<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The cloak wasn''t created at this point, making everyone unable to make head or tail of the situation.

    As the fight continued, Hope started to win easily. She was clearly more powerful than the System God, making her the perfect person to sit on the throne, but she wouldn''t. She would rather help her disciple and get out of the way.

    After a while, the System God was cornered, as he had no way to escape. The second day was also about to end.

    The blond man was finally injured to the point that he couldn''t lift his finger. He stared at Max, who was still fine, and asked, "W-who do you work for?"

    "What are you talking about?" Max still didn''t reveal anything and said, "I just work for myself."

    He said this as Hope delivered her final blow, killing the System God. His neck had a deep wound, through which blood spewed like crazy, filling the entire ground with blood.

    Max was the only person standing in the messy pce when the fight finally ended.

    For a moment, no one dared to approach him. They watched as Max sat on the ground and rested, but to others, the man didn''t look like he had a fight. The young man''s face looked utterly calm, and he was even giving a youthful smile.

    If there wasn''t a dead body lying to the ground, he would have looked like a young boy who was about to confess to his beloved.

    Hope wiped theyer of sweat from her forehead and leaned against the tree behind her. "I should have finished faster."

    "Yeah," Shane said, mentally chewing something. "You''re way too powerful for how you present yourself."

    Hope silently watched the young man sitting on the ground and then walked over. "Max, listen to what I have to say. Make a girl named Echo your disciple. I might note in this female form in the future. Wait for my arrival. Until that time, you''d better reach the 100 level."

    She didn''t even give the youth a chance to speak before disappearing out of the blue.

    Max continued to sit there, stunned. He reacted as he got up and looked around, yelling, "Master!"

    At this time, Hope had already returned to the room and finished writing the instructions for her past self before saying, "We should change bodies now."

    After saying that, Hope quickly closed her eyes and muttered something under her breath. A whileter, both of them felt dizzy. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves inside the body of a young man whom Shane was very familiar with:

    "Jake?!" Shane spat out the popcorn he had just put in his mouth and coughed. "You''ve got to be kidding me. Just how many more crazy secrets are you still hiding from me?"

    Hope refused to reply to him and walked forward. She turned to look back inside the room which she was familiar with. For a moment, a hint of nostalgia formed in her eyes as if she were reluctant to leave, but that emotion got overshadowed by a smile, and she turned back.

    "So, where do you want to go?"

    "You''re asking me?" Shane didn''t even want to talk to this girl anymore as he rested against the ground and closed his eyes. "I''m sleeping."

    "Systems can''t sleep during work unless the hosts do. Don''t you remember this rule?"

    "We are destroying the entire system world itself!" Shane pointed it out. "What kind of b*llshit rules are you talking about?"

    Hope sighed as she said, "Let''s go."

    As she disappeared from view, the past Hope took the piece of paper that said:

    "This is myst instruction to you. Be Max''s disciple and officially change your name to Echo. Don''t let anyone figure out your identity, and continue to spy on the man."

    There was nothing more, but Hope felt like there should be more. She turned the page around, and there was another line.

    "Find a man who can control dark energy. You should know whom I''m talking about, right?"

    Hope let out a smile as she burned the paper with her powers. "Of course I do. It''s Shane!"

 Chapter 161 160. Seeing Her Past Self

    Shane watched as Hope strolled along the path after time-traveling. They had first thought about heading a few years into the future, but Hope rejected the idea, wanting to try her luck. So they entered a random era. They were still determining what time it was. Whether they had reached the time when Shane had arrived or not, none of them knew anything about it. Hope continued to walk onward as she tilted her head, ncing at a poster hung on the wall. Half of the poster fell to the ground, torn into shreds, while the other half was still stuck to the wall.

    It looked way too old.

    It was a wanted poster of someone familiar: Dark.

    Hope raised her brows. Really, the world was so short. She was just taking a stroll and here she found the person from her past.

    After that, she let out a smile. "I think I know when we are."

    "When?"

    "My past self must have used all her means to control Max, but the man should be afraid of his master. He has everything he could ever dream of, status, power, money, and even girls. What more could he possibly want?

    "But deep in his heart, he knows this was stolen from his own master. If it hadn''t been for her using a trick to defeat the previous System God, he knew that he wouldn''t have climbed such a status. So he''s a bit afraid of the past me, but I had ordered Hope to stop meeting him as his master.

    "So now, the ''master'' character hasn''t arrived in his life for years, and he has turned arrogant. He might think that no one could defeat him now that his master has disappeared. So imagine what would happen if his master were to suddenly return?"

    "He would be even more arrogant?" Shane tried to imagine this situation and shook his head. "No, he''d probably be enraged out of fear and try to show off his newfound power." He''d blindly challenge his master, wanting to kill you."

    "Exactly!" Hope smiled. "He''s the ungrateful guy who wouldn''t care about his family."

    "Then let''s go and find out exactly what will happen if they were to meet."

    Hope didn''t wait any longer and headed toward a familiar pce. At this time, ever since Max sat on the throne, Hope, in Echo''s form, had made several changes to the world, turning it more like an empty shell. Corrupt people could be found in every corner of the system. So the time to destroy this worldpletely was close enough.

    The preparations would be finished soon.

    A glint of excitement appeared in Hope''s eyes.

    They reached the pce as Hope wore the passthrough cloak. Before wearing anotheryer of the same cloak for extra protection, she thought about it.

    Sure enough. Max had installed the magic users at the entrance. If she were to enter the ce with a singleyer, she would have been caught.

    The little boy from before was sure turning mature.

    She continued walking in Jake''s body and reached the arena where the System God and Max had fought to the point of tearing everything to shreds. But now, there weren''t any traces of that long and heart-wrenching fight anymore. Soldiers were wandering off and about for something. Many servants were preparing the flowers and decorating every corner of the pce.

    It looked like some kind of festival was about to happen today.

    Hope frowned and continued walking as she heard the voice of an old man yelling at the top of his voice, "Have you got no energy?! Keep up! We need to finish by the end of the day. Tomorrow is his majesty''s birthday!"

    His majesty?!

    Hope suddenly let out a coldugh. She didn''t know her dear disciple could turn into his majesty all of a sudden. At the same time, a servant ended up turning a beautiful flower vase into pieces of shred on the floor, dropping it off by mistake. Her entire face turned white as she trembled from head to toe.

    She looked like a frightened bird who didn''t know what to do anymore. He turned to the old man wearing white garments with a head crown decorating the man''s white hair.

    Thetter''s eyes zed in anger as he pointed his wrinkled finger at the girl. "Guards, give her a death punishment! Right now!"

    "No! Please, sir, let me go! It was a mistake."

    Seeing her yell like that, everyone''s faces paled, but none of them dared step forward to help her out. Some of the weaker ones trembled from head to toe, doing nothing to aid the little girl. There was a chopping sound that echoed from inside the pce halls. In the end, the voice even came to an abrupt halt while the servant was screaming and yelling like that.

    Hope: "Heh. looks like I have to teach some sense into my dear disciple."

    "But, Hope," Shane pointed out, "Weren''t you the who wanted such a dictator to rule and destroy everything?"

    Hope shook her head. "I didn''t want a dictator. I wanted a person who could listen to mymands. Max isn''t that guy anymore."

    "Then, should we go back and fix the mistakes?" Shane ordered a bowl of popcorn and rested against the cold ground.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Hope thought for a while and shook her head. "We have already walked forward in time. "If we continued in this manner, we would leave many time loopholes."

    "You should have thought about this before time traveling, you know?" Shane rebuked her as he ate the popcorn that appeared out of the blue from the system menu.

    He also ordered a couch and sat back, letting out a satisfied ''ah'' roll from his throat. "This is what it feels like to sit on the couch after sitting on a stiff ce all day long!"

    Hope ignored a certain man in her mind and continued walking down the corridor. She entered the throne room and found it empty.

    "However, I need to learn more about that old man. Who is he?"

    "You can just contact yourself and ask," said Shane while munching.

    "Oh wow," said Hope sarcastically, "why didn''t I think of it before?"

    She directly entered a door and was satisfied to see her assumptione true. The man himself was hiding in his room, pacing back and forth. Did something happen to make him nervous to this extent?

    Just then, someone knocked on the door. Max quickly went over and opened it for the person. It turned out that the person who just knocked was the old man whom Hope had seen earlier dictating to everyone else.

    The man entered and closed the door. "Are you okay, your majesty?"

    "I''m good, minister." Max''s panic visibly vanished without a trace as his shoulders rxed. "I don''t feel good today. I don''t know why, but it''s a gut feeling."

    Hope scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. His gut feeling was right. This person could indeed sense his master''s presence.

    The old man waved his hand as if he didn''t care about that anymore. He patted the man''s shoulders and said, "I''m handling your people ording to what you said. Even if you don''t know anything, I''m here to help you!"

    Help? It was more like this person was taking advantage of his status to wreak havoc around the ce. No, wait a minute...

    Hope frowned as she suddenly remembered something. Then a smile formed on her lips.

    "What the f*ck was I worried about?!" Hope sighed. "This is clearly my work. How could I have forgotten about it?"

    "You did it?" Shane was a little surprised after hearing that.

    "Yeah," Hope said as she walked out of the pce, shaking her head and smiling. "Looks like my past self has been carrying out my orders carefully."

    "It''s you. So obviously she will carry out the orders carefully."

    "I don''t have to worry about Max anymore. Echo is taking care of it. Now that we are here, let''s find where you have reached."

    Shane choked on his popcorn as he straightened his back. "What do you mean? You''re not going to meet the past me, are you?"

    Hope waved her hand andughed. "Of course not. I was just kidding. Although we do have to take a look at you, first, let''s see my past self."

    "Didn''t you say you wouldn''t meet your past self face-to-face?" Shane knew the answer already, but he still asked.

    Why did he have an urge to talk to this woman like this? He shook his head and focused on his popcorn.

    "I''ll meet her as Jake, not Hope, get it?"

    "So, you mean," Shane frowned. "The person I talked to back then was not Jake but you?!"

    Hope shrugged. "Maybe?"

    "Holy f*ck!" Shane eximed and said angrily, "Do you have any idea how much havoc you have created in my life? I really hate you."

    "The feeling is mutual." Hope spoke in a cold tone.

 Chapter 162 161. The Past And The Future

    Hope continued to walk until she reached a familiar ce, Hope''s old house. From what she could remember, she had met Jake here, standing outside her door with a cold expression on his face.

    Now that she thought about it, everything that had happened was way too ironic. She scoffed and walked over. Then she knocked over the door.

    There was a voice heard from the inside as if the person ended up falling to the ground with a jolt. Hope hissed and looked down at her own waist.

    She remembered this fall. It wasn''t very pleasant, and this was the main reason why she never treated this Jake person very well for the first few days.

    Her eyes couldn''t help but turnplicated at that. Things sure had taken a 180¡ã turn. Just as she was thinking about it the door knob turned. She adjusted her expression and turned into a cold guy.

    Shane also munched on his food. Sometimes he thought thts he had be a foodie inside as a system. In any case, the world was going to be destroyed. He didn''t think he would love any longer.

    So what''s wrong with enjoying life until then? It''s not like he was doing all the killing.

    Hope seemed to have realized what Shane was thinking about. She ''hehed'' in her mind for a bit and instantly changed the body.

    Now, she was the one lying on a couch with a table filled with delicious food.

    Her eyes brightened as if millions of stars lit up in there as she quickly picked up a bowl of chips. "No wonder you liked to stay here. Heck, even I''d stay behind and be a salted fish."

    Shane had a dark expression on his face. This was exactly the moment when the door was opened, revealing a very familiar beautiful woman, making him stunned.

    So the expression the past Hope saw was exactly how she had described¡ªcold and slightly dazed at the same time, but the dazed part might be her imagination.

    Shane was really dazed. It almost felt like he was looking into the mirror.

    He had formed a habit for the past few months traveling from. One moment to another, seeing the same face in front of the mirror.

    He took a deep breath and decided to continue to act. In any case, he had developed a strange sense of tactical understanding with Hope. Even without her telling him, he would understand what she was thinking about.

    He cleared his throat and said, "I''ve to strike a deal with you."

    The Hope inside choked on her food. "Really. The same as I heard in the past. If you were a bit warm, I''d have been good to you."

    Shane ignored her and said, "It''s about Max."

    The past Hope''s expression changed again and again. First she was annoyed then it became irritated and then she turned into surprise and finally ended up being shocked.

    She opened her mouth and said, "Wait a min."

    Then she closed the door at Shane''s face and stared getting ready.

    Shane controlled his expression for a while but he couldn''t do it anymore after that. "Hope can''t you be a little friendlier?!"

    Hope, inside his mind, was still eating food as she raised her head innocently. "Didn''t I tell you I''ll be colder for a few days? Your fault for being stuff faced and rude."

    "And whose fault was that?!" Shane was annoyed. "Change the bodies."

    "Nope!" Hope shook her head and dered. "I''ll be your king and order you around. I also want to rest man."

    Shane repeated a mantra in his head that he didn''t want to deal with girls and turned toward the closed door,pletely ignoring a certain girl.

    Soon, the past Hope walked over with dark face and said, "Let''s stand in the garden."

    Shane: "Whatever."

    Since he has already messed up, he would vent his anger on the past Hope for creating this situation in his life.

    The past Hope felt veins popping on her head, but she still took a deep breath and forced a smile on her lips. "What kind of deal do we have? How do you know him?"

    "Let''s just say I was sent be someone from the past and the future," said Shane vaguely, indicating that he was a man of the past and the future.

    The past Hope should get an idea about who he was and stop asking questions.

    Sure enough, the past Hope did stop asking questions. She raised her head and said coldly, "I never thought you would be so rude."

    "I''m just an envoy sent here to aid your mission," Shane lied without batting his eyshes. "I was told you''d need help with Max."

    Past Hope really did need someone''s help, but her pride wouldn''t let her do that. She''d rather suffer than beg someone and owe them a favor. She raised her head and stared coldly at the man.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "What do you know?" Past Hope yelled at the top of her voice. "How can you be so sure that I need your help? Get lost!"

    Shane ignored her violent reaction and said, "You have a mole in your upper thighs."

    "You-" the Past Hope''s eyes widened, but to her dismay, Shane continued to speak.

    "Your breasts aren''t of the same size," Shane didn''t feel a single thing while speaking those vulgar words. "One of your-"

    Thest Hope quickly put her hand on the man''s mouth and red at him. A hint of cold aura escaped her body, hitting the person directly in his face.

    But who was Shane? He had already been used to having a cold aura around his body. He wasn''t affected at all. Instead, the corners of his lips curled up to form a cold smile.

    So this was why she would deliberately tease him at all times. He didn''t know it was so much fun.

    The Hope from his mind spoke coldly, "Hah, so you were the one who said that to me. No wonder."

    "No wonder what?"

    "Nothing," Hope was angry and wanted to punch his face, but she couldn''t. "I''ll get back at you when I wake up!"

    Wake up?

    Shane frowned, but he didn reply to her.

    The past Hope finally calmed her anger and said, "No need to give me more hints. You''re my future one night stand, aren''t you?"

    "What if I am?" Shane lied again, making the Hope in his mind choke on her food.

    "When the heck did we sleep?!" She yelled while throwing a bowl of food to the ground in anger.

    When she came back to herself, she regretted it. That bowl of soup was the thing that she liked. It was wasted just like that. Now she''d have to purchase another bowl.

    Shane ignored the voice in his mind and said, "Hope, I''m sure you know why I''m here. Let''s talk business, shall we?"

    The past Hope finally gritted her teeth and replied, "Fine. But on my terms. You will stay one feet away from me. You get any closer, you''re dead meat!"

    It''s not like he had any interest in her. Shane nodded coldly. "I''m bored by seeing your body again and again. How can I even get close without puking?"

    The past Hope felt her body was about to burst in anger. But she calmed herself and decided to stay calm.

    She really did need someone''s help, especially the one controlling her body. It''s like she knew that someone had controlled, but she didn''t sense a killing intent from that person. Instead, she got multiple hints about the person she was searching for.

    If not for that, she wouldn''t have trusted the person in her body either.

    But now an envoy was sent. Tch. Like heck she''d believe the man''s words. It could be that he was a stalker who had observed her for a while and approached her.

    She''d observe him for a few days before confirming the deal

    After determining what she''d like to do, she raised her head and said, "Follow me for a few days. Show me your worth if you''re so determined. Only then I''ll consider dealing with you."

    "Tsk," Shane spoke to Hope in his mind. "You were so cold."

    "And you''re ming me? After what you said? Dream on!" Hope was still angry about it as she chewed with her face red in embarrassment.

    Shane replied, "So what? You want me to coax you? Hah."

    "Who said I''d like to be coaxed!" Hope backfired, ring at the screen. "I''m fine just the way I''m!"

    Shane seemed to have realized something. "Wait a minute¡­. If it were me controlling Jake back then, then I was the one who met myself¡­. Doesn''t it mean I hate my own personality?"

    Hah, you realized it so soon. There''s really something wrong with your personality.

    But Hope wasn''t going to say those words. At this time, the man was in control of the body. She had to be a little cautious.

    So she thought and said, "No, sir. You''re very, very majestic. How can you hate yourself? It''s your own greatness and acting skills that made you even angry on yourself."

    Shane could sense a hint of sarcasm from those words.

 Chapter 163 162. In The Restaurant!

    Shane ignored the Hope in his mind and said to the past Hope, "I really don''t mind anything, but I should be given a chance to prove my words. You''re not wasting this chance just because of your prejudice against me, will you?"

    The past Hope looked at the man and sighed. "Fine. Whatever you want. But you only have a few days, almost a week. That''s all I can give you. If you fail to impress me, you''ll regret it."

    The corners of Shane''s lips curled up. "Sure."

    After saying that, he walked out of that ce and entered an inn. When he booked a room, he entered before closing the door behind him.

    Only then did he start discussing seriously with Hope. "So, what do we do now? How to convince yourself?"

    Hope wasn''t worried. "What are you anxious for? Don''t you remember this is the past? Everything has happened already. So just chill out, yeah? I already know what''s gonna happen."

    "So, your majesty," Shane said sarcastically, "Can youe out and deal with this?"

    "You already called me an Empress, and you still dare to force me to work?! You impudent soldier!"

    Shane raised his brows and yed along for a bit. "Why am I only a soldier, though? I should be a top-level minister or something."

    "Top level?" Hope cursed under her breath. "You don''t even deserve to be at the lowest. Making you a soldier is already my greatest mercy."

    Shane went silent after this. He sighed as he stood next to the window, staring at the sky in a daze.

    To be honest, this world had nothing to do with him. His small attachment to his master had also vanished after he arrived in the past. He also knew that, despite time travel, he couldn''t change his sister''s fate anymore.

    Even though he could have opted to change it, he knew the consequences of changing the past. It could either create another timeline or have urred without his intervention.

    In short, he was the cause of his sister''s death, but he couldn''t do a f*cking thing about it. He would probably have to watch her die all over again, and this time, he didn''t feel a single fleck of emotion for her anymore.

    She was his dead sister. Why should he feel sorry?

    Shane sighed again. He was slowly turning into a stone-hearted man for some reason.

    "Eh? Why are you sighing so much?" Hope casually asked.

    "Hope, tell me honestly," Shane randomly blurted out. "Is this world real?"

    The girl chuckled and said, "Everythinges to those who wait, and you''d have to wait a lot, my dear Shane."

    "So it is indeed not real? Then what am I?"

    "When the heck did I say it''s not real?" Hope refuted innocently.

    "Then¡­"

    "Shane," Hope replied in a serious tone. "You don''t have to worry about anything. Just wait and follow my instructions. You''ll survive. That''s for sure."

    For some reason, he felt a hidden meaning behind her words, but he couldn''t catch it any longer. He shook his head and went downstairs to eat something.

    A few days passed before Hope approached him again. Before leaving, the two of them had exchanged contact information, making it easier for Hope to call him when needed. For the past few days, she might have been tailing him while finding information from the government.

    Every system would have an ID registered with its former name and the system number. Even though it''s officially registered, not everyone can see the personal information. Nothing else is avable except the system number.

    So at this time, Hope must have used her hacking skills to get that information, and she probably must have found something strange.

    This person, Jake, should have died. ording to the information, the ID had already been suspended, which is a sign that the man had been dered dead by the authorities. So howe Jake was still alive?

    The past Hope was taken aback when she saw that, and it took her a few days to confirm the news. After that, she stopped thinking about it and finally approached Jake.

    The two of them arrived at their location. It was a restaurant filled with people. The premise of the restaurant could have been better. It was a simple ce with no frills. The food also seemed nd aspared to others.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Still, the restaurant was filled with people, mainly because it sold food at a low price. Some people even wondered if the owner of this restaurant was even earning something out of it.

    By the time Hope and Jake sat face-to-face at the corner table, people had already started chatting about the System God and his antiques. Many people considered him crazy for creating unreasonable rules that harmed people more than they benefited them.

    For example, the rule that people with dark energy were criminals was created by Max because he was the one who used it in the first ce. He didn''t want anyone else toe and take his ce.

    So whoever followed the dark path was either killed or detained. If someone was more powerful than him, they were detained by the authorities. But if there were someone he could defeat, he''d kill them on the spot.

    That''s right. There were people Max couldn''t defeat because he hadn''t reached past ny. The situation was so bad that no matter how much he practiced and meditated, he couldn''t improve.

    If Hope were to be with the man, she would have offered some guidance. She knew why Max was stuck, but she had no intention of saying a word or seeing the System God.

    At the time, everyone wasining about how dissatisfied they were with the System God and how they couldn''t believe no one had challenged him.

    "How ridiculous!" One of the men heavily put his palm against the table, making a thumping noise and vibrating the entire ce. "I want to kick his a**! How could that so-called System God be so shameless?! He actually refused to acknowledge that he was lower than a hundred. We all saw him fight a few days ago, and he was on level 90! Does he think the public is blind and deaf?"

    "That''s true. He dares to hide this truth and expects us to be faithful to him," replied the person sitting at the same table. "I haven''t heard something so ridiculous in a long time!"

    "I really wish someone could fight him and get him down the pedestal! He doesn''t deserve it!"

    "I say, let''s all gather together and fight him! I''m sure he doesn''t have enough power to fight the entire public!" replied the first man with a serious expression.

    After hearing his voice, everyone else went silent. None of them spoke, making the man himself feel strange. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and said:

    "Forget it, then."

    Even though the general public was angry at the system god, when it came to fighting the man himself, they all turned into cowards. The topic changed to something else, but Hope and Shane''s expressions didn''t change.

    Hope continued to tap on the table with a serious expression. At this time, she had worn the hood all over again, making her look a bit more mysterious.

    Shane sneered in his heart. This girl was pretentious in the past and hadn''t changed even after entering the future. She might remain the same throughout her life. It''s no surprise she hadn''t had a boyfriend in years.

    He deliberately ignored the fact that he had flirted with her several times already and even seen her naked. They already had an ambiguous aura around them that he couldn''t ignore.

    He had always been biased against her for some reason.

    The past Hope finally raised her head and looked coldly at the man sitting opposite her. "Let''s go."

    "Aren''t you going to tell me what to do anymore?"

    In the past, Hope sneered. "Like heck, I''m going to reveal my n to a snake like you. Aren''t you going to use it against me?"

    When Shane thought about it, he really did want to hold some advantage over the girl. He neither denied nor agreed with her im, sitting there silently like a statue.

    The girl''s anger red, but she controlled herself again by taking a deep breath. "Follow me."

    After saying that, she stood up and walked out, not even caring whether the man behind her was following her.

    Shane clicked his tongue and spoke to the Hope in his mind, "How willful! You should have gotten the best cold woman''s award."

    The hope in his mind didn''t reply. Or we can just say that she refused to reply. She continued to eat food, chewing in her mind.

    Shane raised his brows. Just how much could she eat? She had been eating a lot. He shrugged.

    It wasn''t like she was going to get healthier or something. The food in mind didn''t really add to the body. It was just for taste and to relieve the body''s nutritional needs. And if a person overeats, the food will stop providing nutrition.

 Chapter 164 163. My Disciple!

    The past Hope and Shane walked out of the restaurant and headed toward the pce. Shane wasn''t surprised by seeing this. He continued to follow the girl with a bored look on his face.

    Honestly, he was bored of constantly traveling around the ce. At the very least, he was mentally exhausted. It felt like he had been doing this repeatedly for several hundred years, and he didn''t want to continue.

    He frowned. Then he shook his head, thinking he had just imagined things. He took a deep breath and continued walking.

    They soon reached the pce grounds. On the way, Hope had already removed her cloak and put it back in her inventory before entering the pce. She was in Echo mode now, acting all haughty and serious.

    Shane scoffed after seeing her. He didn''t like the Echo version at all.

    The Hope in his mind instantly red up after hearing that scoff. "What are you ring at?! That''s the best of my acting skills, you know?"

    "Terrible."

    "Not terrible!"

    "Stop being childish already," Shane said. "And shut up."

    As soon as they reached the pce, they were stopped by the guards standing in front of the throne room. They both looked all bulky and serious as he said, "You can''t enter."

    "I want to meet master," said the past Hope, or Echo.

    The guard narrowed his eyes. "I have never seen youing here. Just who''s your master?"

    Shane raised his brows. Hadn''t Hope told her past self to be Max''s disciple? Then why couldn''t the guards tell that she was the man''s beloved disciple?

    Could it be that she hid this information? Or did she not follow it at all?

    But it wasn''t possible. He remembered that when he had entered the institute, Echo was popr as the top system and was Max''s disciple. So howe things are different now?

    In Shane''s mind, Hope knew what the man was thinking about. So she said, not even bothering with an exnation, "Just wait and watch."

    Echo''s lips curled up. "Max, the system god. Are you satisfied?"

    The two guards looked shocked as they stared at the girl. Just when they were wondering if they should confirm this, they heard footsteps echoing from the inside. The door was opened, revealing a familiar old man.

    He red at the guards and turned to smile at the girl. "Enter, my dear girl. How are you?"

    Then he turned toward Shane and frowned. "Who is this?"

    "Minister, this young man is why I wanted to meet master," She exined. "Can you let me enter?"

    "Of course!" The old man was polite to the girl as he made his way.

    When the two passed by him, the old man turned and red at Shane. Thetter found it intriguing. Why would the old man want to re at him while treating Echo with utter respect and gentleness?

    Could it be that he wanted her?

    The mere thought of it made Shane want tough. He pursed his lips to suppress his emotions as he coughed with his hands covering his lips that tilted upward.

    Hope could tell what Shane was thinking about. So she yelled at the man, "What the heck is the problem with you?! Can''t you think with your brain?!"

    "It''s your fault for not exining things beforehand!" Shane chuckled. "Don''t tell me what I thought really did happen!"

    Hope''s face turned red in embarrassment. That was exactly what it was! The perverted old man was interested in her body, but she repeatedly refused. That was the reason she stopped seeing Max regrly. She would rather wait for the System God toe out of his pce than ever see the man''s face again.

    But what could she do? Max always kept this old man with him at all times.

    Actually, the old man was sent here by her previously to keep an eye on Max while spying at the same time. The man hadn''t seen Hope''s real face because she had met him in the disguise of her hood. She even deepened her voice while speaking so that he couldn''t figure out her identity.

    She would see this old man every once in a while to get information and pretend that she was different from Echo.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Her efforts weren''t in vain. The old man never figured out her real identity.

    The two of them slowly reached the corridors as the old man spoke: "You know, dear, you''re just wasting away your beauty. I''d rather keep you in my arms than make you do all the menial work."

    Shane felt goosebumps all over his body. He yelled in his mind, "Dude, even if I hate this girl, it''s rather displeasing to see this old man trying to flirt with her."

    Hope was even more disgusted. He heard her curse a few sentences in his mind before she finally calmed down. He even ended up hearing something shattering.

    Did she throw something to the ground and make a mess?

    He scoffed and continued to walk. On the way, he silently walked over and stood between Echo and the old man, smiling widely at the man and saying, "Old man, I''m sure your body has stopped working effectively. And does it even harden anymore?" He lowers his head and points at a certain area down there. "I''m sure it doesn''t. Then why are you still trying? Go back and meditate."

    "You-!" The old man was so angry that he didn''t have any words to say as he pointed his finger at the man''s chest. "Curse you! Let''s see who can save you at this point. I''m the authority here! If I say someone dies, they''ll die for sure!"

    "Minister," Echo finally spoke coldly, "this young man is my guest. If you continue to speak this way, you will offend the system''s god. No matter what, the System God is the main authority, and I, his direct disciple, hold the second-greatest authority in the pce. Youe after me. So you''d better think before speaking."

    Then she turned to Shane and said, "No need to save me. I can do it myself."

    Shane shrugged and backed away. "With pleasure. I''m not interested in this anymore anyway. Continue flirting."

    The expressions on the faces of the two people weren''t good, but they didn''t speak anymore. The three of them finally reached the throne after walking for a while, and they opened the gate.

    There were two main entrances to the throne. One was where Echo had been stopped, and another was after passing through a corridor maze.

    Max was already seated on the throne with his hand on his forehead as if he were worried about something. His dress was even more dazzling than the previous System God.

    That man at least pretended he was wise and cunning, but no one could tell after seeing his posture toward Max that this person was a System God. He looked more like a servant or an actor who didn''t do a bad job of acting like a System God.

    Heh, so this Max had been turned into a coward.

    Echo bowed to the System God and said, "Master, I have something to say."

    She turned and pointed to the person standing behind her. "He''s Jake, and he wants to be my disciple. I want your permission."

    Finally, Max raised his brows and narrowed his eyes at the man behind his disciple. He felt a strange yet familiar auraing out of the man''s body, but he couldn''t tell when he had seen the man.

    They had never met in the past. So why did he feel that the man was familiar? This emotion got even stronger when Jake bowed.

    "Lord," Shane spoke, showing off his acting talent. "At your service."

    At your service, my foot! Max screamed in his mind. He felt a shiver go down his spine after being stared at by this young man. His intuition told him that he shouldn''t get any closer to this person, and if he could stay away from his dear disciple, it would be great!

    So he shook his head and directly refused. "You can''t take in a disciple in my presence. Only after I die can you do that."

    Echo was silent for a moment. She didn''t look surprised at all. She smiled and said, "Understood, master."

    After saying that, she turned and walked out. Shane raised his head as the corners of his lips curled up.

    Max, watching the young man intently, felt another shiver crawling down his spine. He took a deep breath and gripped the arms of his throne chair. It wasn''t until the two people walked out of the room that he rxed and rested against the throne.

    The old man walked over and asked with a frown, "Is there something wrong, your majesty?"

    Max rubbed his forehead as if trying to ease the hidden anxiety in his heart. "Keep an eye on Jake. I feel like there''s something wrong with him."

    The old man already didn''t like that man. So he nodded directly and said, "Should we kill him?"

    Max thought about it and shook his head. "Let''s first get more information about him."

 Chapter 165 164. Shanes Entrance!

    By the time the past Hope and Shane walked out of the pce, it was already afternoon. Hope looked at the time and sighed before heading in another direction. She waved her hand behind her back at the person following her.

    "Don''te after me anymore," she said. "I need to do some private things."

    Shane raised his brows, but he nodded. Even though he agreed, it didn''t mean he wouldn''t follow her anymore.

    He went into an alley and quickly put on the cloak before walking out of that ce. Then he continued to follow the girl through the crowd.

    As they moved forward, the girl seemed to have felt something wrong, as she turned back and frowned. She tilted her head, thinking something might be wrong, before shaking her head.

    Shane scoffed. "Your senses are strong."

    "That''s because it''s me you''re dealing with."

    Shane didn''t bother with her anymore. When they finally reached the ce, he wasn''t shocked to see where the girl was heading. It was the institute where he had spent a few months.

    "So you had spread your wings here already."

    "Shut up and continue watching."

    The past Hope didn''t stop until she walked through the corridor and entered a very familiar office. Shane''s expression turnedplicated when he saw such a scene.

    He was back in Ed''s office. Again.

    The moment he entered after Hope, he saw Ed''s familiar face who was marking his students with a serious expression on his face. Ah, he couldn''t help but feel nostalgic, negatively of course.

    Not that he ever wanted to go back into the past and relive those times.

    The moment Hope entered the door, it alerted Ed, who put down his pen and raised his head. He crossed his hands over his chest and stared at the girl in an arrogant manner.

    Then he said, raising his brows, "What do you want?"

    "I want to ept an assistant."

    "You are definitely talking about me, aren''t you?" asked Shane to the Hope in his mind.

    The woman scoffed. "Right, All I do is talk about you to other people like I have nothing else to do."

    "Why are you being mean?" Shane frowned. "You''re not on that time of the month, are you?"

    Hope''s face turned red when he heard those words as she said in an angry voice, "What the f*ck you''re talking about? You should know that there are a few things that you can''t talk to about in front of a girl, which also includes periods! How stupid of you! Get lost!"

    Shane sighed. "Alright, I''m sorry."

    She didn''t reply.

    "What? Are you seriously ignoring me?"

    No reply, again.

    "Good. Continue sulking. I''m not your boyfriend to coax you."

    "Shut up!" She finally reacted only by ordering him to stop speaking.

    He focused on Ed again after this, not bothering with the girl in his mind.

    Ed frowned after listening to her. "Who? Give me his joining application."

    Hope was silent for a moment as she lowered her head. "That''s why I approached you instead of going with the normal order. The thing is, this young man can''t really enter his private information."

    Ed raised his brows. "He''s a criminal, isn''t he?" he scoffed and waved his hand. "Don''t waste my valuable time. Go back."

    He focused on the pile of papers on his table again. Just then, Dirt also entered the ce. All of a sudden, he frowned and stopped walking. He nced at the ce where Shane was standing, directly meeting the man''s eyes.

    Shane felt a shiver down his spine as he looked at Dirt. he subconscious took a step back and only recovered when the robot shook his head and turned to Ed. "Boss, the new batch is ready to arrive. Do you want to take a look at the potential students?"

    Ed waved his hand as if he were bored. "No need. They are going to arrive here anyway. Why should we even bother ncing at that stream?"

    He sounded like a cold hearted teacher who didn''t have anything to do with his students anymore.

    Shane knew what his master was like. So he didn''t bother with the man anymore.

    At this time, just as he was about to do something, he heard Hope speaking from his mind. "Get ready. You''re going to arrive soon."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Shane widened his eyes. "Too soon?"

    "Yup," The Hope in his mind rubbed her hands as if she were a little more excited. "It would be fun to see your embarrassing events from the past all over again!"

    Shane felt a headacheing on, but he couldn''t do anything about it. So he just let it go.

    Just as they were still thinking about the situation, a bell rang outside the building, echoing throughout the ce. A strange robotic voice sounded through the speakers: "the new batch of students have arrived at Septo. Get ready to greet the surviving ones."

    Hope looked over at Ed and said, "Whether you like it or not, I''ll make you ept him as my assistant."

    Ed sighed and put down the file. "Why do you want an assistant so bad?"

    "Because you give me too much work."

    "I don''t. Stop making me your excuse."

    Hope pursed her lips and said, "He''s my distant cousin and needs to continue his studies. The only way for him is to be my assistant. But he had to face some official issues. Some people had faked evidence and made him spend a few years in the jail. So with those records, it''s impossible for him to enter the institute officially. That''s why¡­"

    Ed narrowed her eyes and waved his hand. "Then do whatever you want."

    Hope bowed and walked out of the office.

    Shane raised his brows. Howe the man epted her words so easily? He looked back and sure enough, the man was frowning.

    Dirt also noticed this. "Do you want me to do something about this?"

    Ed nodded. "Keep an eye on the new assistant for me. Check his ID first."

    "Okay."

    Shane didn''t bother anymore. He didn''t care about his fake ID here. In any case, Dirt was the first person to fake the ID in the first ce before dying.

    "Let''s go and see you!" Hope in his mind couldn''t take it anymore and urged him again.

    With nothing else to do, Shane could only ept it and go to the portal area. When he reached that ce, he frowned. He couldn''t really use his ID to transfer to a different continent. Since he was already dead officially, things would be difficult if he were to use even the altered ID. the police standing guard at the gates of the portal could identify that the ID was faked.

    So what else could he do?

    Just then, Hope said, "Don''t bother entering the portal here. I''ll tell you the address. Go there. Quickly!"

    Sahne sighed and followed only to be even more surprised. Wasn''t this the cave where he had found Ed and Dirt almost dying?

    He tilted his head and entered with confusion written all over his face. Indeed, at the end of the cave, there was a portal that hadn''t been used. He walked over and realized that it was just an empty portal without any energy. For it to work, he had to find a way to brighten it first.

    Just as he was wondering whether he should use his powers or not, he heard Hope speak first. "I''ll send you something. Use it on the portal."

    After a while, Hope sent him a disc-like thing that had multiple wires drawn over it. When he took it from his menu and inserted it into the portal, it solidified in his hands. The disc disappeared as it brightened up the portal.

    Hope sighed and said, "It''s a one-time-use portal. You can only use it for going there anding back once. Don''t misuse this rare opportunity and enter!"

    "Just what the heck did you do to find this thing?"

    "I made it myself," boasted Hope in his mind.

    Shane shook his head and entered the portal. He left a simr cave and continued heading toward the main gate.

    The area outside was simr to what he had seen before. It was a gloomy and dark night filled with darkness. The cave was currently located at the ce where monsters were there, and they walked back and forth the entire ce, making the ground tremble.

    Now that Shane had nced at these monsters again, he didn''t feel afraid of them anymore. He continued to walk and entered the ce where the group of newbies had started to gather.

    The first thing he heard and saw was himself poking his finger onto Frank''s shoulders and saying, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

    Darn it. How embarrassing!

    Then he heard himself saying another even more embarrassing sentence: "I''m Shane Cooper. What''s your name?"

    He almost wanted to go there and shake himself over and over again, saying, ''Dude, the guy doesn''t want to talk to you1 why the f*ck are you trying so hard for?!''

    At the same time, Hope was already clutching her stomach andughing hard at the scene.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 166 165. The Last Fight!

    ''But more embarrassing things areing my way,'' thought Shane dismayed.

    Then he heard himself saying, "Why are you all afraid?"

    "Are you not?" asked Frank.

    "I am, but that doesn''t mean I can''t talk. It''s therapy for me." The past Shane shrugged.

    Hope couldn''t hold it anymore: "HAHAHAHA! Look at how much you''re trying to act cool! As if you can lure the girls. How funny!"

    Vins popped on Shane''s forehead. He took a deep breath and continued to watch the entire scene unfolding in front of his eyes with aplicated emotion in his heart. He shook his head.

    Back then, he really did think he was acting cool, but looking at himself from a distance, he looked like a clown begging for attention. He really disappointed himself this time.

    The scene changed while he was still thinking, and the familiar robotic voice echoed in the background.

    [Now then, we wish you the best of luck. Try not to die.]

    "Can''t they make things clear?!"

    "I want to go home!"

    "I think we are supposed to survive. Didn''t you hear thest sentence that that voice spoke?"

    Frank finally asked, turning toward Shane, "Are you not afraid?"

    "What''s the point of being afraid? You could have entered that reincarnation door. We have all already died in the most embarrassing way possible. What could be worse than that?" replied the past Shane.

    Shane couldn''t continue watching this mess.

    "Can we fast-forward this?" he asked, quickly turning to Hope. "It''s embarrassing to watch myself act cool and haughty like this."

    "No, no. This is fun! Let me record all of your embarrassing events!"

    For a while, the voice exined the rules, and the people there talked about the live stream before the main situation of this scene arrived: the monsters!

    After a moment, everyone seemed to have woken up from the roars of the monsters and someone said, pointing finger at the past Shane''s direction: "You f*cker! This is all your fault! Why did you tell us to enter that door?!"

    "Yes! It''s this man who spoke such motivating words! Now, look what happened!"

    Shane rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I''m fast-forwarding this scene."

    He wanted to do this because he didn''t want Hope to see how he had ended up puking his guts out after finishing the scenario. It was way too embarrassing to let a girl watch his weakest moment.

    He quickly opened the time attribute tab that had been saved into his system by Hope and started turning the time forward a bit. Now, it almost looked like the scene was really fast-forwarded. Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and Shane only stopped when his past self had already entered the gates of the institute.

    He released a breath and sighed.

    "Now it''s time to meet my sister," Shane grumbled.

    Even though he would be seeing her, he probably had no way of saving her. Heck, he didn''t even feel any intention in his heart to save his sister anymore.

    By this time, the two people had collided, falling pitifully to the ground. The girl just now asked her brother:

    "Brother, what the f*ck! Did you end up dying too?!"

    Shane has previously been shocked to the point of being unable to speak. He finally gathered and eximed: "What the heck happened?!"

    "Well, we went on a long trip in the mountains. Had an ident," Tess exined.

    "Who else died?"

    Shane didn''t want to listen to this nonsense anymore. He shut himself out and said to Hope. "This is getting boring. What do you exactly want me to do now?"

    Hope grinned. "Then let''s go and see Max. we haven''t seen him for a while. I want to scare him a bit."<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Can''t we kill him with my level?" Shane raised his chin arrogantly.

    From what he could see, his stats showed a series of question marks, which could only mean one thing. His powers were so high that the system menu couldn''t determine his level. Was it necessary to do this when he could finish it with just a flick?

    Hope disagreed. She shook her head and said, "This has already happened in the past. Don''t you remember? Okay, then we can do one thing. We can leave everything up to the original Jake and fast-forward as before. What do you think?"

    Shane scoffed. "You should have said so. I was getting bored of this anyway."

    So Hope retook control of the body and wrote something on a piece of paper, detailing all the future events and what Jake has to do. If Jake doesn''t, she threatens to kill his body once she enters the future, which she almost certainly will.

    After half an hour, they were finally done with the job, as Hope said with a pleased expression on her face. "Let''s go."

    They sessfully fast-forwarded the time. Now that Shane thought about it, it really was Jake who had dealt with himself. So he didn''t annoy himself in any way.

    When he thought about it, he felt it was funny now that he had returned to that memory.

    When the flow of time finally stopped, Shane found himself standing in front of the window, staring at himself from the outside in the dead of night.

    He suddenly felt a chill go down his spine.

    Wasn''t this thest time he spent the night in that room? After that, he couldn''t go back to his apartment anymore. Now that he looked at that ce, he indeed felt a little nostalgic in his heart.

    He sighed and muttered, "I can''t go back to being a naive Shane anymore."

    He recovered soon after this and said to Hope, "Let''s go and meet this Max now. We should discuss something with the man."

    Hope also agreed with him, and the two of them quickly went to the pce wearing twoyers of the cloak. At this time, Max was pacing back and forth in his room as that same old man was trying his best to calm the man''s anxious mood. At this time, Hope said, "Let''s see whether this person has grown stronger or not. If possible, kill him now."

    Shane was surprised. "Why? Didn''t you say that you didn''t want me to meddle in the past anymore? Why did you want to kill me now?"

    Hope reminded him kindly. "Don''t you remember that everything that should have happened has already happened? Ed''s and Dirt''s bodies are already missing. The past Hope took care of it under mymand, and now, we must finish everything we had started. We have already reached this ce. Don''t tell me you regret taking up this job."

    "It''s nothing like that," replied Shane in aplicated tone. "Tell me, would someone have taken this job if not for us?"

    Hope was silent for a moment before she nodded. "That''s right. This world had to be destroyed whether it was us or someone else."

    Shane didn''t understand one thing, though: "Why would you ask the past Hope to steal the master''s body?"

    Hope chuckled. "Shhhh. It''s a secret!"

    Shane shook his head and removed the cloaks from his body, revealing himself. The System God and the old man both jumped up and down after seeing a stranger suddenly appear in the middle of the room. The old man recovered faster as he yelled, "Guards! Come forward and get him!"

    Shane scoffed and said, "In your dreams!"

    After saying that, he quickly pulled out his sword, the Kinyer, and started attacking the System God without any hesitation.

    Seeing that a familiar man had started to attack himself, Max cursed under his breath and pulled out his own weapon. "I knew there was something wrong with you! You weren''t giving off good vibes!"

    Shane sneered. Of course, he would give off dark vibes. He had a thousand-year memory and had already killed many people with his hands. Massacring the entire sect wasn''t a joke. Of course, his aura would turn into something darker and crueler.

    But Shane had no intention of going to reply to the man anymore. He simply kept attacking the man again and again.

    As he started fighting, Max''s expression changed. In the past, when Max was still learning and young, aside from Hope, he had also exchanged blows with Shane many times. So he had figured that the girl knew two kinds of fighting methods because Shane and Hope fought inpletely different manners.

    Now that he was faced with a simr attack pattern, he was stunned and shocked to the point of missing an attack. The sword attacked him as he was thrown back. His back hit the wall and broke the bricks, falling back into the throne room in a very embarrassing state.

    Ever since he had turned into the system god, he had started taking care of his so-called image in front of everyone. He would look good despite his moral conduct. But now, his entire face was covered with dirt and blood, making him look pitiful.

    He stared at the maning out from the inside and trembled from head to toe, saying, "It''s you...."

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 167 166. A Good Ending

    The color from MAx''s face drained in the blink of an eye as he stared at the familiar yet unfamiliar person. He didn''t know how the heck the other person managed to change bodies, but when he faced his master once again, he felt a dreadful sensation from the bottom of his heart.

    He didn''t want to die just yet. So he went on his knees and kneeled, begging: "Master! I''m sorry! I failed to recognize you. I''ll listen to you from now on. Please, don''t kill me."

    "Shane," said Hope. "Let''s exchange."

    Before Shane could agree, Hope had already changed the bodies, controlling Jake. She crouched and caressed the man''s face and snickered.

    "Did you really think I have so much time at my disposal to deal with you? Did you really not know why I ''dared'' to punish you today?"

    Max was silent. He knew clearly what she was talking about. How could he not? After all, he was the first one to refuse to follow her orders in the first ce.

    He was ordered to turn this ce into a miserable world, slowly hollowing it out from the inside. But how could he do it? He was the hero figure who defeated such a dreadful system god at the time. How could he do something even worse for the world? How can he be a hero if he hollows out the world?

    He was thankful that the hooded woman never came to him again and instead, he got Echo as his disciple. But honestly, he really didn''t have to teach her anything. She already knew everything.

    But he was fearful. He knew that his master mighte back some day. That was why he had used up the means at his disposal to protect himself from the ones using that invisible cloak. It was just that despite everything, this person still came to him.

    He trembled from head to toe.

    When others saw their dignified System God begging for his life like that publicly, everyone was stunned. Some of them even videotaped him and uploaded it to the livestream, causing a voc in the system circle.

    "Tell me this is a joke!" Someonemented, followed by others below him.

    Netizen 2: "I don''t think it''s a joke. He''s the system god. But why is he begging? And from whom? Just who is that guy?"

    Netizen 3: "I think I know him. It''s Jake from the institute! But he should be a student. How did hee about attacking the system god? And why? Just what the heck is going on?"

    Netizen 4: "Ah, I''m dying of curiosity."

    Netizen 5: "I think this should be a public stunt. Don''t you remember how the system God used several public stunts to make himself look like a generous person? This should be the same."

    Netizen 6: "But can you reallypare this with those stunts? Are you crazy?"

    The chat was a mess, but no one cared about it anymore. The scene at the pce was much more interesting at the moment.

    Max finally realized the situation around him was getting stranger and stranger as he got to his feet and rubbed his face bitterly. He took a deep breath and said to everyone else with a forced smile on his face, "This is just a public stunt. Don''t worry. Get out of here!"

    Everyone else sighed and scoffed. No one cared about the system god anymore after this.

    Max signaled Jake to follow him while ignoring the hints from the old minister in the throne room. He directly took Jake to his private garden where no one was given permission to enter. When he was sure that no one was listening to them, he turned around and said, "Master, why did you approach me like this?"

    "I want to talk business for now." Hope didn''t talk nonsense even for a moment and said, "Why did you think I allow you to be a system god? Were you that able? Your brother was better than you!"

    Max''s lips pursed. After all these years, his family''s affection for the man had already reduced to the point that he always considered Ed his opponent. Thetter had disturbed him several times already, scolding at him for being so stupid as to trust his master, but Max never listened to those words, and every time they met, they would fight.

    But now, they couldn''t even fight anymore.

    He took a deep breath and said, "What do you want me to do then?"

    Since it was already like this, he might as well agree with whatever the woman was saying. In any case, he was tired of trying to be a hero. All he ended up bing was a clown. Nothing else. At this moment, he couldn''t even bother pretending to care about this world anymore. It was already hollow from the inside out.

    Back when he still wanted to be a hero, his heart was filled with youthful energy that wanted to give something good to this world. But now, after living in this world filled with worse people, he didn''t want to do anything heroic. What did his master say? She wanted to destroy this world, right?<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Fine, he was going to support her for that.

    All this time, he was rather afraid to face his master''s wrath than to be a hero. He was still pretending that he cared about his little emotion from his youthful days.

    After facing his master, he changed all that and became honest.

    Hope could read his expression clearly. She scoffed and turned to Shane. "This is why I chose him. He''s so easy to control."

    Shane had already gotten back his bowl of popcorn as he chewed and shrugged. "He''s all yours."

    Hope wanted to exchange the bodies, but she still suppressed her emotions and turned to Max. She knew that if she were to give the body to Shane while dealing with this person, things would turn worse. Max shouldn''t know about Shane''s existence in this job. No one should.

    If anyone were to take the me, it should be her!

    In any case, Shane was going to forget all about this, wasn''t he? What was the point in making trouble for him? Let us enjoy her while she can.

    She stopped thinking about bitter things and said, "Do you know why I want to destroy this world?"

    Max shook his head. He was clueless.

    "There a secret in this universe." Hope raised Jake''s hands toward the sky as if she wanted to touch it. "As we had imagined, the universe isn''t as vast as we imagine it to be. It''s always getting created and destroyed based on karma. The current world is also about to be destroyed. It''s a natural force because of the passage of time. This universe is getting older and older. It cannot handle too many worlds, especially a powerful ce like the system world. It would end up sting automatically, creating a huge hole in the universe. It won''t be able to be destroyed."

    She lowered her head and stared profoundly at Max. "If we don''t do this, this universe cannot exist anymore, even if it''s for a little while. But don''t worry. Everyone will get a chance at living here. The mortal world will still have a few thousand years before it gets destroyed. So that everyone has a long life ahead of them.

    "So you realize why I want to do this, don''t you?"

    Max was shocked from the bottom of his heart. He didn''t think there was such a history behind this. And he dared to cause trouble for his master. Sure enough, his master wasn''t of this world at all! And she still took him in!

    His face changed from gratitude to tion as he excitedly said, "If I contributed, I''d get a better ending, right?"

    Hope smiled. "Of course. Just listen to me this time, yeah?"

    Shane scoffed in his mind. "You have a good lying skill."

    "Thanks a lot," replied Hope in a nd tone.

    Max said, "So what should we do?"

    "First, start making this world more and more corrupt. Then go to every dungeon to create a rift there. Every dungeon should be filled with monsters that cannot be controlled. When Ed was still alive, he alone was enough to control such events. Now that he''s dead, there''s no one who can stop the dungeons from exploding."

    Max still had a question that he wanted to ask. "But why choose me for this task? If you wanted, you could do it with a flick of your fingers, right? Why did you do it yourself?"

    "I''m an outsider," replied Hope. "I can''t interfere with this job anymore. So I can only find someone who can be as naive as you."

    Max nodded at first, then his face got angrier when he realized the meaning of that sentence. "What do you mean by that sentence?! Answer me!"

    Hope ignored and and said, "Do it, and you''ll get a good world with everything you need, even Ed."

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 168 167. Destruction

    Hope walked back to her hotel room without saying anything. This time, she didn''t bother using any magical technique or teleportation to get over to the hotel quickly. She didn''t care about her tired arms and legs and continued to walk.

    Shane also sensed that the girl''s mood wasn''t good. So he dared not say anything to trigger her. It wasn''t like he was afraid or anything.

    He just wanted to respect her silence.

    That''s right.

    Shane was a legend! How could he be afraid of a mere girl?

    As they were in their own world, Hope suddenly stopped and asked, "If you ever leave this ce, will you ever miss me?"

    Shane had question marks all over his forehead. Miss her? Well, yeah, he would miss the chance of not killing her. But that''s all there is to it.

    Just when he was thinking how to reply to her, he heard Hope say, "No, nevermind."

    "What the heck happened to you?" Shane frowned. "You''re behaving strangely."

    "Really?" The corners of her lips curled up. "I''ve always been strange."

    Shane frowned as he thought about it. He was about to ask more questions when he heard the woman say:

    "Now that we''re here, we are at the end of the rope," said Hope in a cheerful voice, making Shane imagine that mncholycoly tone from before was just his imagination. "How do you feel?"

    "I just want to die," replied Shane.

    Hope chuckled and shook her head, not continuing the topic anymore.

    Slowly, the world started to change. With no Ed to control everything from behind the scenes like the man usually would, things escted to the point that no one was able to do anything about it. Every system had a bad premonition in their hearts as if something bad was about to happen, but the only people who knew what was going to happen were only three people: Shane, Hope, and Max.

    Thetter burst out of thest dungeon after empowering it with powerful monsters. He just opened the demon realm''s gate on the inside and set up a timer on the portal. After a while, it would open automatically, letting the monsters roam about freely.

    This world was really going to be destroyed just like that.

    At this time, Hope had nothing to do, as she said while leaning against the window. "Shane, did you like this ce very much?"

    Shane thought for a while and said, "Nope. I still like my previous life better."

    "Then... would you mind going to that ce again?"

    Shane nodded innocently, with no hint of desire or anything else. "Sure. Count me in if we are jumping there."

    "Shane¡­ I have to say something. I-"

    The world started shaking before she could even finish her words. She quickly gripped the frame of the window and stared outside with narrowed eyes. A smile blossomed on her face. "It''s starting. Shane, I''ll show you a grand view now!"

    Shane tilted his head, not understanding why this girl was acting so strange.

    She was almost acting as if they were going to be separated forever. He was actually okay with separating. He knew it was heartless of him to think like that, but really, they weren''t even friends yet. Why would he feel bad about separating? He would, at most, feel nostalgic.

    So he didn''t understand the girl''s emotions anymore¡­ unless¡­.

    What, she didn''t end up falling in love with him?

    Shane''s eyes widened when he thought of this, but he quickly shook his head. No, that was impossible. He ignored his thoughts and focused on the screen.

    The entire ce was trembling in the worst way possible. It almost felt as if there had been an earthquake around this ce. But the system world had always been stable. Howe something like this happened all of a sudden?

    People starteding out of their houses, shops, and hotels. They were all afraid and had pale faces when they were out on the street. They nced about around the ce, but they couldn''t find anything out of ce.

    "What''s happening?"

    "Why is the ground trembling?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Damn it, a tree fell just now! What''s happening?"

    Just as everyone was discussing among themselves, they heard someone yelling from the end of the street, "Monsters!!!! Monsters areing! Run!!!!!"

    Everyone''s faces turned white as sheets of paper. They ran in another direction as fast as they could, not even caring about their houses anymore. They were only concerned with staying alive at this point.

    But that was probably the worst decision they had ever made. When they reached the end of another street, they could   hoard of monsters standing in front of them, staring at them with red eyes.

    All of the systems could feel their hearts racing up their throats. "No, why are these monsters above a hundred level?! Who can tell me what''s going on?"

    That''s right, the level of these monsters was 100 and above, and the street was filled with them. A strong, dark aura hit their faces, making them all kneel to the ground. Some weak people fainted directly, not being able to handle such a strong dark aura.

    Hope frowned and changed her body, directly entering the mind space. She said, "Since you''re the most powerful being, I think you can handle this situation. Use the cloak."

    Shane wanted to hit her for not even asking his permission before. Of course, he was stronger than the monsters in front of him. He could get rid of them with just a flick of his fingers, but he won''t do that anymore.

    He donned twoyers of cloak and proceeded to the street, where the monsters had already begun their rampage. Dead bodies and a hint of blood floated around the ce in the air. Shane wrinkled his nose, not liking this scent. But he didn''t have a choice as he nced around the palce without blinking.

    The monsters directly stuffed the live systems in their mouths like a bunch of carrots. They didn''t care about the people screaming at the top of their lungs as if the monsters didn''t have hearing capabilities. They just continued to eat one after another.

    It wasn''t until there was no one around that they stopped and nced around. They started running in another direction when they smelled the hint of flesh.

    They were on their way to another city on the continent.

    There was a reason why Hope waited until now for this moment. The demon world was unstable until now, and there was a power struggle going on. Because the monsters wanted to be powerful enough to take over the throne, they could do whatever they wanted. So this was the perfect method to get rid of the system world at this time.

    At this time, Shane also followed the monsters to see what was going to happen. Even though he disliked the smell of blood, he was curious to see if the system world had beenpletely destroyed.

    He wanted to make sure that his mission would be fulfilled.

    He didn''t know whaty ahead of him, but he didn''t care anymore. They had already arrived at this point. What was the point of hesitating?

    They reached the other city soon enough, and the monsters started killing people. The group of monsters was growing more and more powerful.

    At this time, Shane turned and looked at the person he didn''t expect to still be alive.

    was Wasn''t the man still in the previous city? He had expected the system god to die alongside the others, but instead he was fleeing for his life, pushing people out of his way.

    He scoffed when he looked at the man trying his best to survive by stepping on other people.

    Didn''t the man want to be a hero? Where had his heroic desire vanished?

    Shane knew that there were no heroes here. Only viins wanted to destroy anything and everything. This world was no ce for a goody-two-shoes type of person. Realistic people had deep darkness hidden in their hearts despite iming to be good people.

    Max was a good example of that. This person had two faces, and the man perhaps didn''t know that. On one hand, he would often say that he was a hero, but on the other hand, he would start stepping on people for his selfish desires. So hypocritic. Perhaps that was why Hope chose this person.

    Shane scoffed as he watched the monsters grab the system god and devour him in one go.

    He had no intention of saving anyone here.

    The entire system world was eventually destroyed, but the monsters were still hungry for power. As a result, they began to destroy the technology and sucked the power source.

    It was truly a terrifying sight.

    But Shane wasn''t phased.  Instead, he felt a deep sense of satisfaction that quickly turned into pleasure.

    Since when did he start to love destructive scenes? Perhaps he didn''t even realize that he had also turned into a viin.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 169 168. Waking Up

    Shane watched with his own eyes as the entire world got destroyed one after another. He coudln''t do anything about it as he looked at the scene expressionlessly. His heart was calm as always, not even feeling a small trace ofpassion for anyone who was dying.

    When thest traces of life finally ended, Shane asked, "Is it done?"

    "Yes," Hope smiled. "We have finished our mission. Shane, well done. You can finally be saved."

    "Saved?" Shane''s voice echoed that word, but he couldn''t make head or tail of what it meant. "Hope, why are you acting so weirdly? It''s been several minutes since you haven''t said a word. And this is a big thing for you. Seriously, what''s going on?"

    Hope was silent as she sighed. "Shane, Don''t miss me too much, yeah?"

    Huhhhh???

    Shane scoffed. "I won''t."

    Hope just smiled and said nothing. She typed something as he heard the sound of typing from his mind and said, "Shane, sleep on the ground. I''m preparing to eject both of us."

    "Oh," Shane was silent. "So this is a goodbye?"

    Hope nodded with a smile on her face. "I never regretted anything I did for you. So don''t me me for this when you wake up. Okay?"

    Shane tilted his head, but said nothing. Heid on the ground filled with corpses and stared at the sky. He stared and stared. He finally coudln''t help himself and opened his mouth.

    "Hey, Hope. What will happen to me?"

    "Do you finally know how to feel anxious?" Hope scoffed. "I thought you were heartless."

    "Hey, I''m serious. Tell me."

    Hope was silent for a moment and said, "Just trust me on this, okay?"

    Shane suddenly felt dizzy all of a sudden. At the end, he felt like he heard hope speaking something, but he was so dizzy that he couldn''t react. He repeatedly shook his head and tried to distract himself from feeling like this, but he still felt that way.

    So he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying his level best to control himself. The dizziness only got worse so much that he couldn''t even breathe properly. He almost felt like he was dying for real.

    A hint of pain simr to thousands of pins prickling his skin crawled to his entire body, making him feel even worse.

    After a second, the entire feeling disappeared all of a sudden. Even the feeling of pain vanished without a trace, making him feel dazed.

    What just happened?

    He wanted to move, but he couldn''t. He wanted to open his eyes, but he couldn''t. Again. The only way he could feel that he was still alive because he was still breathing.

    A frown crossed his forehead at that. Just as he was about to try speaking, he heard someone''s voice from the background. "He''s awake!"

    "Damn this viin!" an angry voice said, "He gave us such a headache. He was indeed punished for his crimes, but why did I feel like I was punished instead?"

    "Shh. he can hear everything, you know?"

    "That''s fine, but why did she have to sacrifice herself to save this viin?! She wasa the hope of this universe! Why did she do that, eh? Now, who will save us from the zergs?"

    Shane frowned deeper. What''s going on?

    Save who?

    And hope of the world?

    Someone, please tell him something.

    Just then, footsteps echoed indicating that someone had just entered his ward. The person sighed and spoke: "All of you, quiet."

    The man seemed to be young from his voice.

    Then after a pause, the man said, "I know you are awake. Try opening your eyes."

    Shane''s eyeballs moved, but he still failed to open his eyes. He sighed and stayed like that on the bed.

    The doctor lifted his wrist and checked his nerves. He frowned. "You''re alive, indeed. It shoudl be a good news, but it''s not. You should be dead for what you did."

    Shane didn''t feel good after listening to those words. He wanted to know what the heck was going on, but he was afraid.

    Was there something wrong? Did he end up transmigrating as a viin in some other world?

    That was highly possible.

    For some reason, he wanted tosh out on a certain girl, but when he realized that she wasn''t here, he could only sighed and forget about it.

    Let us try surviving in this world, shall we?<novelnext></novelnext>

    After deciding on what he should do, he quietly started listening to the voices outside the room.

    "Doctor, his body is not responding," the nurse said worriedly. "What should we do? Should we give him a shock theorapy?"

    Shane''s heart thumped in his chest.

    Whart the heck?

    A shock therapy?!

    Girl, let him at least try to wake up first, okay?

    Perhaps the eyeballs were mvoing at a great speed and his heartbeat had increased on the machine that indicated his anxiousness. The doctor chuckled and said, "Look, he''s getting anxious already. Good work, nurse."

    F*ck! What the heck was wrong with these people? Was this the way to treat a patient?!

    Ah, he wanted to get out of here!

    Shane knew that he couldn''t do anything about it. So he continued lying on the bed without saying another word.

    Just when he had resigned to himself, he heard the sound of footsteps again. This time, an olddy opened the door. She seemed to be crying.

    The doctor spoke in a shocked and guarded tone, "Mrs. Elliott, what are you doing here? This is a patient ward, and he hasn''t woken up. Please., go back."

    "Go back?!" The old woman spat and said, "After what happened to my daughter, you still dare to tell me to go back? This man was responsible for killing my daughter, and you want me to go back?! Let me tell you, if I don''t kill him right here, and right now, I''ll change my name!"

    Everyone was silent as a nurse approached him at a slow pace. "Mrs. Elliott, calm down, please. Let us treat him first. Then we will handle his punishment procedure in court. Everything will be fine."

    "Hah! Do what you want!" The woman started crying as she fell to the ground with a thud. "Nothing can bring me my daughter back, you hear me?!"

    Shane was confused. For some reason, he felt her voice was familiar.

    He tried moving his eyelids, but he was still unsessful.

    The old woman got up to her feet and wiped her face, staring coldly at Shane''s body. Even when the guy was lying to the bed with his eyes closed, he could still feel the coldness through her nce. He shivered from head to toe. Even his heartbeat increased because of her stare.

    The doctor frowned and dragged thedy outside the ward. "Mrs. Elliott, please listen to us. This is the court''s order. You have always known how your daughter was. Prim and proper. She never liked doing things like this. So please, let us do our duty."

    After that, everyone else went outside the ward, not ncing behind.

    Shane was only speechless after seeing what had happened. At this time, he decided to collect the information ording to his situation.

    First, the body he was in seemed to havemitted a serious crime that killed this Mrs. Elliott''s daughter. The court perhaps wanted to punish him because of that crime, but he got a serious medical issue that made him bedridden in the hospital with a paralyzed body.

    Third. Shane didn''t have a system.

    This meant he perhaps ended up transmigrating to a strange world where he didn''t know a single person.

    And he might be a criminal here.

    He frowned as he tried to process the information. Honestly, this info was too less to even think about how he should survive. He should just collect more information for now.

    After thinking about it, he continued to lie on the bed and decided to find more information about this world.

    For some reason, Hope''sst words shed in his head. She had said not to miss him too much.

    Why would he do that? He never liked her in the first ce. He never even had a friendship with her. So why would he miss her? She was rather a very annoying girl who looked more like a viin.

    Shane shook his head and decided not to think about it anymore.

    At this time, the doctor came again with a few more people in toe. This time, they were police officers.

    The chief officer seemed to have given a nce at the body lying on the bed and hmmed. "When will he wake up?"

    The doctor respectfully said, "We have no idea. The ident happened too suddenly, and it impacted his brain''s capacity to move his body. It seems there must be something wrong with his brain, and it might effect his memories."

    The officer was silent for a while and said, "Doesn''t that mean he will be innocent if he forgot everything?"

    "Yes¡­." The doctor didn''t know what to say."

    The man''s dark voice echoed in the ward. "Then make him remember at all cost!"

    After saying that, the man walked out of the ward.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 170 169. Ed And Dirt?!

    Shane''s days in the hospital were uneventful. He didn''t see the doctor again after that. The nurses also treated him terribly. So he rarely saw them unless it was an emergency. At this time, all he wanted to do was find a way to survive this ordeal.

    Currently, he had already healed enough to walk around the ce without disturbing anyone.

    Oh, when he opened his eyes, he''d wreaked yet more havoc in the ward. The nurses jumped and ran away as if they had seen a ghost when he opened his eyes. Then the doctor initiated a series of tests and didn''t even let him rest.

    Shane almost felt like he was in prison, not the hospital. He continued to sit back and let the doctor do what he wanted. In any case, this wasn''t his body in the first ce. Whatever crime the original owner of this bodymitted wasn''t really done by him. So Shane couldn''t be med for those gazes.

    That was how he ended up hypnotizing himself into thinking that he had done nothing wrong. But he still felt ufortable upon receiving such gazes.

    At this time, he was sitting beside the window when a nurse approached him with his file. She cleared her throat.

    After almost a month, everyone was surprised to see that Shane had done nothing. The man hadn''t even opened his mouth yet, and he would just sit around by the window and stare outside.

    Even the doctor was silent, and he had to confirm that Shane had lost his memories at this time. So he started the procedure to treat the man''s brain.

    But Shane knew that the memories would nevere back because the original person seemed to have died. Still, it would have been fine if he could get more information about this world. From what he could see outside the window, this world seemed to be modern.

    How did he end up in such a world? After dying as Shane Cooper, he had never thought he would get to breathe in such a world ever again, but howe he was so unlucky that he ended up in such a strange world?

    He sighed and turned around, smiling at thedy. He gestured to thedy to say something.

    When Shane was silent, his entire body was engulfed in the warmth and beauty of the sunlight, so much so that he seemed like an angel who had descended onto the Earth for the purpose of spreading peace and love. The nurse continued to stare at the man for a moment before hearing him clear his throat.

    She turned her head and coughed in embarrassment. She had forgotten what kind of person this was!

    After that, she pulled out the file and opened the pages. "Your file is ready. The doctor has prescribed your medicines, but you have nothing to worry about. The doctors in the institute will take care of everything, but you still don''t have freedom."

    Shane finally couldn''t help it as he asked, "Miss, can you tell me what kind of crime Imitted?"

    The nurse''s face paled at the moment as she stared at the young man for a long time. Only when she was sure that he was genuinely curious, she sighed and shook her head. "It''s fine if you can''t remember. Actually, it''s actually better that you have forgotten everything. You can still turn over a new leaf and be a normal person."

    Shane raised his brows and nodded, continuing to stare at her. He sat back by the window and turned his gaze outside. Children were still ying outside in the garden. Since his room was on the third floor, he could only hear yells from such a height. A few children nced in his direction and whispered something to one another. Then theyughed and turned away as if nothing had happened.

    But Shane knew that they were talking about him, or rather, the previous owner of his body.

    It was strange, though. Since he was here, he should have been given a mission or something, but he wasn''t. Was this because the entire system world was destroyed just like that?

    He couldn''t tell what was going on. So he could only wait to escape this ce and find a way to hack into the system.

    What he first wanted to do was find out who he was and what the previous owner did to receive such gazes from everyone else around him.

    From the nurse''s words, he could say that he was going to head over to some institute. It couldn''t be a normal institute, and he knew it could even be a mental institute. So he was ready to face any consequences.

    At this time, the nurse coughed again as she said, "Mr. Cooper, you''ll be taken to the institute tomorrow. So please be ready for that. You don''t need to pack any luggage for this trip. You''ll get everything at the institute. You just have to livefortably and try to be healthy, yeah? Here''s the file. Take care!"

    After that, the nurse didn''t dare to linger there any longer. She jumped up and rushed away from the ward, closing the door behind her.

    Shane sighed and continued to stare outside the window.

    He knew that he could escape, but he didn''t want to take a chance.

    He had noticed that his name and his face were simr to that of his real identity. This made him even more confused.

    Just what the heck was going on?<novelnext></novelnext>

    He spent the entire day in the hospital doing nothing until the next day arrived. The doctor did ast-minute checkup and confirmed that Shane''s body was fine. Then he nodded and said, "You''repletely fine. Now, get out of here. The chief inspector and his assistant will arrive here to take you back."

    Shane nodded as she sat on the bed with his hands folded on his chest. His entire body leaned against the headboard as he closed his eyes, as if resting at that moment. Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor outside the ward. The door swung open as he heard two people talking to one another.

    "Boss, are you sure we have to take him?" "We should have appointed subordinates; why do we have to do this hopeless duty?" said the young, very familiar voice. We are not in the business of transferring criminals! Boss, say something!"

    "Shut up!" A mature, very familiar voice spoke.

    Shane''s heart was so shocked after hearing those voices that his expression nearly distorted.

    What the f*ck?!

    That''s Ed and Dirt!

    How could this happen?

    Shane''s heart thudded in his chest faster than ever. He didn''t think he would still be able to see these people after such a long time. They were dead, but he had seen them grow from timid children into strong adults who couldn''t be defeated easily. It could be said that he was the master of his master.

    Now, the same people havee back into his life, all over again.

    Could he possibly end up seeing Hope as well?

    Shane frowned upon thinking that. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Even though the situation was against him, he could still make it out after seeing the situation.

    He needed to calm down first and see if he could get his hands on aputer or aptop.

    He opened his eyes and nced at the man who had just entered with a calm face. It didn''t seem like his heart had just received a shock.

    Ed nced at the young man and grunted. "Let''s go, kid. You''ll be under my care from now on."

    Under his care?

    For some reason, Shane didn''t feel good about this. He almost felt like this would be the case of his master taking revenge against him for treating the man that way when his master was still a kid.

    Shane averted his eyes and nodded.

    He silently changed into the regr clothes that Ed had bought and started walking with the duo. It seemed that Shane''s face was famous throughout the world. So when he walked out, the entire hospital started talking about him.

    "F*ck! So it was true? This person was really admitted here?!"

    "Damn it! Why did I bring my daughter here into his presence?"

    "Hey, Cooper, get the heck out of here! GET OUTTT!!!!"

    Soon enough, vegetables, shoes, and even medicines were thrown at his body, making him frown.

    Even though he had tolerance for these people''s behavior because he knew he wasn''t the one who had originallymitted the crime, that didn''t mean he would continue to stay silent.

    He wiped his face and red at those people. "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Didn''t the doctor say I don''t have any memory? I don''t f*cking know what kind of crime Imitted to make you all hate me like this, but right now, I''m as innocent as a child! I''m sorry for whatever I did!"

    Everyone was shocked by his outburst.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 171 170. Tess?

    Just then, Shane felt a smack on the back of his head, indicating that someone had just hit him. He turned around only to see Ed standing behind him with a dark expression on his face. His expression literally screamed the words ''if you dare to cause trouble, I won''t hesitate to kill you.''

    Shane was in a daze. He appeared to have returned to the time when his master treated him so harshly. He pursed his lips and shook his head.

    He really wasn''t as indifferent to emotions as he thought he would be.

    He finally reached his cell as his body was pushed inside. Ed finally closed the door and locked it from the outside as he said, "Your luck is good that you got to stay inside the mental institute, but it''s equally bad because this ce is filled with things you wouldn''t dare to imagine. In short, best of luck."

    After saying those words, he walked out of the ce with his hands in his pockets.

    Shane didn''t see the man anymore. In fact, he didn''t see anyone anymore. His cell was small. Even the door was made out of metal, hampering his vision from the inside. Other than a bed, a small bathroom in the corner, and a wash basin, there really was nothing meaningful here.

    For the entire day, he could only sit in bed and stare dazedly at the ventition.

    He almost felt like he was going to be turned into a bored, salted fish who had nothing to do butze around.

    Just when he thought his bones would melt because of the bored atmosphere around him, he heard the door being knocked as the person outside said, "It''s time to eat something."

    Shane patted the robes he wore and walked toward the door.

    Ah, yes. Their dresses were also changed. He was now wearing a white half-sleeve shirt with brown pants, making him look like a poord with health issues.

    As soon as he walked out of the room, he heard several people yelling at the top of their lungs. He looked around to see people of several kinds walking out of their rooms. Some people stared at the ground dazedly, while others kept yelling in a differentnguage all together. Some of them even looked normal, as if they shouldn''t be in the mental institute in the first ce. They even conversed with the guards,ughing and patting each other''s shoulders.

    Shane averted his eyes and lowered his head, walking behind the man in front of him obediently. The guard took him to the kitchen and gave him the basics of everything here.

    Apparently, it was a firste, first-served ce. If you entered quicker, you would get to eat food before anyone else. It''s even possible that the first few lucky people will get dessert.

    So everyone would especially line up in the first few minutes. It would always be crowded at this time.

    Shane watched the scene, and he hesitated.

    He didn''t really want dessert. Was that really so important that all the prisoners would go rushing to that ce like this?

    He saw that the counter was full of prisoners wearing dresses simr to his. They were so densely packed around the counter that even Shane couldn''t see what was beyond it.

    He stood on the tips of his toes, and he still couldn''t find anything out of the blue. So he just walked over to the end of the line andzily waited for the crowd to subside. As he went closer to the counter, he heard a familiar voice.

    "Hey! Don''t crowd. "I''ll give you a f*cking kick." The voice seemed to pause before continuing in a low and dangerous tone. "You guys really like to go over my nerves, don''t you? Fine. Those who stay silent will get two servings of dessert today! Line up if you want two!"

    That voice was so familiar to Shane that he almost thought that he must be dreaming. It was a female voice, of course, and this voice was really way too familiar to him.

    Shane pinched himself.

    No, it didn''t seem to be a dream.

    Then how did he hear Tess''s voice here? Could it be that he had started to get hallucinations because of being alone in his room?

    He was still thinking about it when his turn to get some food arrived. He took the te in  a daze and stood there, staring at the girl in front of him in a daze.

    The girl had her red hair tied behind her back, and she wore her dress properly this time. Her loose shirt hid her perfect figure, which she would often show off during her college days.

    Shane felt something blocking his throat as he stared at her.

    The girl suddenly raised her head and smacked Shane''s face, saying, "You dare to stare at me?! Do you want to die?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shane quickly lowered his head. Aspared to his sister, this girl also had a simr temperament. She was also very hard to get along with and always frustrated, speaking to him in an angry tone all day long. She would only talk slowly and gently when he wanted something from her.

    Ah, even here, she hadn''t changed.

    Shane kept his head down and dragged his feet to one end of the hall, where he sat in the corner at a table. Others seemed to have created groups where they sat and ate with one another. Some of them threw food at one another.

    But neither of them dared to approach Shane. They seemed to be afraid of him for some reason, right?

    Shane touched his face. Just what kind of crime did the previous ownermit?

    He was always given strange looks.

    He didn''t **** that dead girl, did he?

    Before he could continue thinking about it, the bell rang in the background as the officer standing at the door knocked twice. "C''mon! Time''s up! Clean up fast! Those with dirty shirts won''t get another set until tomorrow. So spend the entire night in filth!"

    After hearing that, several people wailed in response. A few people even med the guard because of his ruthlessness.

    Shane sighed and got up from his seat. Anyway, he was done with his food. He threw his te in the basin. He washed his hands before joining the other sober people outside the hall. Some of the patients still didn''t want to leave, and they were hugging the pir tightlytighetly, shaking their heads.

    The guards had no patience to speak of as they directly hurled the patients on their shoulders and dragged them away.

    On his way, a man who was shorter and rounder than him walked over while they were walking back to their rooms.

    "You''re that Cooper, right?"

    Shane looked surprised by the fact that someone actually dared to talk to him. He turned toward the fat man, not knowing how to reply.

    He was the man, but he wasn''t at the same time. He had lost his memories in the eyes of other people. So he really wasn''t that person anymore, was he? After thinking about it, he opened his mouth.

    "I have no idea. I lost my memories."

    The fat man showed an expression of ''as expected'' as he nodded. "No wonder you were so silent even aftering here. "So you were locked here because of your lost memories," he scoffed, "and they did give you a good reason to lock you up here." After all, you have just lost your memories."

    Shane felt like something was wrong, and this young man seemed to know something, but before he could ask, his room had already arrived. The guard didn''t let him stand by the corridor and chat. So he nodded at the fat man and entered the room.

    At the same time, the top floor of the same mental house

    There was a luxurious room packed with several dolls and other stuff. There was even a television set hanging off the wall with a huge crack in the center. A clock kept ticking above, making a clear, crisp sound that echoed in silence.

    Soon, the girl sleeping on the soft bed surrounded by toys groaned. Her silver hair shone in the sunlight as she opened her eyes and looked at the window in a daze.

    Her entire face seemed to have turned pale for a moment, as if she had just received a shock. Her entire body trembled as she moved about, and she btedly realized that her body was shackled. She wanted to bite something or someone, but it seemed to be far from her mouth. So she bit her tongue instead.

    The sound of rm red throughout the ce. Nurses dressed in white attire entered the ce with worried expressions on their faces.

    They soon approached the silver-haired girl and gave her an injection. As soon as the girl received the injection, her gaze started getting dizzy. She loosened her hold on her tongue as she fell back to sleep.

    Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth as the nurses attended to her wound.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 172 171. You Were Insane

    Shane woke up the next day to hear an rm ring in the background. He didn''t know what was going on as he leaned closer to the door and looked through a small space provided to him at the door. Only his eyes could be seen from the outside.

    He could see several officers walking here and there with panicked expressions on their faces. He saw them all pulling out their guns and yelling at one another.

    "Did you find her?"

    "Not yet!"

    "F*ck! How could she escape with Cooper in her presence?"

    "What do we do now? She''s nowhere to be found."

    "Maybe she heard he''s here and is after his blood?"

    "Damn, we have to be careful!"

    Shane was confused. He was desperate for the original owner''s memories at this point to learn what kind of crime he hadmitted. He had tried asking several people, but when they heard he had lost his memories, they didn''t dare to tell him anything about it.

    He had been in suspense for a long time already, but finally he got a clue today.

    It seemed his crime was rted to a strange girl. So she was also a mental patient here?

    Shane was just thinking about it when an officer knocked on his door. The officer said in a rude tone, "Hey,e out. You''ll be taken for some questioning."

    The door was unlocked as the guard came forward and tied his wrists in chains. Then he dragged the man behind him without saying another word.

    All the guards should know that he doesn''t remember anything. So why were they even bothering to question him like this?

    They took him to the main clinic, where the doctor he had never seen before was pacing back and forth. As soon as he saw Shaneing with a guard, he stopped walking here and there and rushed over, putting his hands on the man''s shoulders.

    The doctor even shook Shane from head to toe, asking, "Cooper, tell me, do you remember anything?"

    Shane shook his head; even if he did remember anything, it wouldn''t be his own memories. So he wouldn''t be affected even if he knew.

    The doctor rxed a bit after hearing that. He walked back and sat on his seat, making a gesture to the guard to make Shane sit in front of him. He coughed and opened a file.

    "Let''s see," the doctor said, pointing to a page. "ording to this report, you should have gotten your memories back a long time ago, but you didn''t. There must be something wrong with your body."

    Shane nodded. There was indeed something wrong. The soul itself had changed for some reason, and he didn''t even know why hope sent him here. He also didn''t know why Tess and Ed were here.

    The doctor flipped the page and said, "What we should do is take things a bit slowly at this time, not forcing your brain to remember things that your body deliberately tried to forget. It seems that you must have received a huge shock during the crime youmitted, which is a good thing. You must be guilty, right?"

    Shane shrugged, indicating he didn''t know anything about it.

    The doctor sighed and finally stopped at one page. "Here, do you remember this girl?"

    Shane''s eyes widened as he looked over at the photo pointing to the page.

    His reaction wasn''t missed by the doctor, whose heart skipped a beat. He asked, ''you remember her?"

    Shane came back to himself, shook his head first, then nodded. "I feel she''s familiar."

    The doctor cursed under his breath and rubbed his face. "She''s the victim in your case, the runaway patient from today. Shane, remember one thing. Don''t you dare try remembering anything from your past, get it? It won''t be good for your health this way."

    Shane nodded vaguely, but his mind clearly wasn''t on the doctor. So thetter waved his hand and said to the guards, "Take him back. Don''t let him wander today;, give him food in his cell."

    The guards heard this and dragged Shane back to his cell. He was soon locked inside his cell as he stared at the empty room in a dazed condition.

    The reason he was out of it was because he saw a very familiar face right there.

    It was Hope.

    Damn, what was she doing here? And she was a mental patient? Who got into such a situation because of the previous owner of this body?

    Didn''t it mean the two of them would be enemies the moment they met?

    Shane had always thought that if others were here, he might be able to find Hope too. If he did, he might even be able to stimte her memories.

    But he never thought that the girl herself would be this body''s number one enemy.

    If the body''s original owner hadmitted the crime in the first ce, would Hope seek revenge against him?<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t know.

    He continued to sit like that for a long time until food was pushed into his cell. He silently took the food and ate it at a slow pace. Then he ced it over the same spot down there in front of the door and knocked it gently, indicating he was done eating.

    Just a momentter, he heard the sound of knocking. Someone was standing outside and knocking at a steady speed. Shane frowned and leaned closer. He saw it using the small window on the door and asked, "What is it?"

    There was no one in front of him, making him frown. The window was too small. So he could only see the front part of the corridor. If someone would bend over and sit, he wouldn''t be able to see anyone.

    Shane suddenly felt a trace of difort in his heart.

    He suppressed his emotion and asked, "What is it?"

    No one asked, but the knocking continued.

    He took a deep breath. He had an intuition about who could be outside the door. He pursed his lips and wondered if he should take her name or not.

    But he was already in this situation. If he didn''t think of a way out, the girl might just end up knocking on the door throughout the night.

    Oh yeah, why wasn''t anyone doing anything about it? A runaway patient was knocking on his door in broad daylight, but no one wasing to fetch the girl.

    Don''t tell him everyone was dead....

    When Shane thought of the heartless Hope for a moment, he realized that it was possible.  He took a deep breath and walked closer to the door. Then he asked in a gentle voice, "Hope?"

    The voice abruptly stopped, indicating she was the same person he was thinking about. Shane didn''t rx, but he turned even more anxious at this time. His heart started beating at an unstable rate as he asked, "Wh-what do you want?"

    At this time, the knocking speed at the door suddenly increased. It almost felt as if the girl was trying to kick the door open.

    Just when Shane thought this would continue for a while, the guards came and grabbed the girl. The knocking sound stopped as he heard the guards yelling.

    "We found her!"

    "Damn it, we should have known she woulde here!"

    "Just how did she know the guy was hiding here?"

    "She has always been a smartass!"

    The girl yelled and screamed, asking to be left alone, but they all stuffed a cloth in her mouth and dragged her away.

    Shane reacted and leaned against the door. He never thought he would end up being afraid of hope. He suddenly missed her lively self, who would tease him, but at the very least, she would always stand by his side.

    Aspared to now, the situation was way better.

    Since Hope had sent him here, he might be able to get his answer at this ce.

    After deciding what he should do, he immediately started acting on it. The next time the door was opened, it was already dinner time. The prisoners were taken to the ground and left to wander on their own for half an hour. At this time, Shane was free to socialize with anyone else.

    He quickly turned around to try and find that fatty man from before.

    He didn''t have to search any more as he found the round man sitting in one corner. No one approached the man as he sat on the ground, making circles in the dust.

    Shane approached the fat man and sat beside him. Neither of them said another word as the fatty man nced above and asked, "You must want to approach Hope and ask her what''s going on, right?"

    Shane felt surprised after hearing that. He nodded and asked, "Yeah. How do you know?"

    "Don''t do it." The fat man stopped making circles and looked at me seriously. "She might just kill you."

    "But why would she kill me?"

    "If you had remembered what you did to her, you would have killed yourself. She is here because of you."

    Shane frowned as he felt a hint of difort in his heart. "What did I do? Why is no one telling me about it?"

    It was indeed very frustrating.

    The fatty man chuckled. "Because you were insane."

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 173 Attracted To Her?

    Shane continued his day without saying another word. He was still pondering what that fatty had said earlier, but he still couldn''t remember what was going on with the previous owner of this body. If there were any memories, he should have gotten them already since they could be stored in the brain, right?

    Even if he couldn''t get those memories, he should have been able to get more information about what was going on from the outside world, but unfortunately, he was a prisoner. He couldn''t get any information, even if he wanted to. For some reason, his powers were all gone too. He couldn''t ess anything else, and he couldn''t get in touch with Hope either.

    The Hope here though¡­. She seemed to be a mental case. If anything, he wanted to stay away from that girl, especially after that knocking scene.

    Shane felt a chill down his spine upon thinking about it.

    In short, he had nothing to do but get up early, do some exercise in the cell, get out and eat, wander for a bit and socialize, get locked in again, get out againter at night for dinner, wander some more, and sleep.

    What kind of boring life was that?

    Shane sighed as he wondered if he should just run away from this hell hole? But he still hadn''t figured out why Tess, Ed, and Hope were here in the first ce.

    He wandered around in the afternoon after eating. He needed to work out some more if he wanted to keep his body fit and firm in the cell. Otherwise, with the kind of life he was living, this body would surely get fat and round just like that of the patient he had met.

    Just when he was wandering about, he heard the sound of someone jumping down from a height. He frowned as he walked closer.

    The person seemed to have jumped outside the fence into the garden filled with bushes. He didn''t know what was going to happen. So he just stood there and stared at that ce with a frown on his face.

    Just when he thought he would see nothing, he saw traces of silver hair hiding among the bushes. He raised his brows and walked closer.

    Could this be¡­.?

    Well, he should try it. He was here anyway. So he opened his mouth and asked, "Hope?"

    The girl suddenly looked up with her eyes clear and stared at the man. The moment she stared at him, she started crying.

    ? "WUWUWUUU! Shane, I never thought I would meet you here in this hell hole! Let''s get out of here!" The moment she said that, she seemed to have thought of something and shook her head. "No, I have to be clear of my condition first."

    "Make it clear." Shane red at her, realizing that the girl he knew hade back. "What exactly happened?"

    Hope shook her head and took a deep bretah. "No time. I might end up forgetting you again. So let''s make a n first. When Ie back to myself the next time, I''ll tell you what to do. Let me figure out this body first. Ah yes, Shane, you don''t have to do anything. Just keep repeating your life here and do nothing else. I repeat. Do nothing else. If you do, you''d mess up my n."

    Shane felt veins popping up on his forehead. "Do you think I''m your robot or something? Speak human!"

    Hope poyted. "I went to such a great length to see you, and you''re giving me this kind of look. Shane, are you human?"

    Shane''s cold heart would have been melted if he were a young man who was still in college. But he wasn''t. He knew who this girl was and how much colder and darker her heart was inside her beautiful appearance. He didn''t want to have anything to do with her anymore.

    His cold and dark stare made Hope sigh as she stood up and patted dust off her body. Soon, she heard sirens going off in the background as she raised her head and said, "I have to go back. Remember, don''t do anything. I''ll tell you what to do when the timees. Just try collecting more information about yourself if you want. Yeah?"

    "And how do you suppose I do that? I don''t have my powers."

    Hope winked at him while climbing up the building from the back. "I know you can find a way out. After all, you''re as cold-hearted as me. Right?"

    Shane red at her as he crossed his arms over his chest. He didn''t say another word as he watched the girl go above, climbing bit by bit.

    Tsk. Was she trying to seduce him? She wasn''t wearing any pants and was climbing around just like this with only a small patient uniform that reached her mid-thigh. He continued to stare at her until she climbed back to her room and finally turned back.

    His entire face was dark at this time, and his mood clearly wasn''t that good. So he continued to walk around and didn''t mingle with anyone else.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At this time, he could do nothing but wait. Even though he wanted to rebel, he knew he should think rationally and make a decision. Since Hope had remembered everything, things wouldn''t be bad if he cooperated with her once again. They already had a history.

    But what the heck was he doing? The destruction of the system world was clearly her doing. But why was she doing this? What was her purpose?

    Shane frowned as he continued to think about it. He might have to stay with her to know what was all this about.

    The time passed slowly as night arrived. Shane and others had just entered their cells after dinner and a socializing event. Shane waited for a while until everyone settled down and turned toward the venttor. His eyes narrowed as he jumped to the venttor and grabbed the railings. He pushed his body up and nced outside.

    Since the venttor was above, it was impossible for anyone to climb there. But Shane wasn''t just anyone. After years of practice as a system, he had learned many skills that came in handy whenever he wanted to survive in a difficult situation like this one.

    His eyes narrowed as he hung from the venttor railings and stared down.

    The venttor wasrge enough for a person of his size to escape if they could jump as high as him. He was fortunate that he still had the ability to jump so high. After staring down, he nodded and started removing the railings one after another. He threw them on the bed inside until only one was left. Then he held the frame and removed the remaining one as well.

    Then he climbed out of the venttor itself as he stared at the scene outside.

    It could be said that the scene was scary as heck. There were several floors beneath him, and all he could see was a dark forest. If anyone were to fall from such a height, they would surely die.

    Shane sneered and reached out for the pipe on the side. He started climbing up.

    At this time, his main goal was to reach the doctor''s office and find out more about himself. Half of his worries would be solved if he found out exac exactly the original owner of this body did to the original owner, Hope.

    He continued to climb until he reached a window.

    He nced inside just in case. It was indeed the doctor''s office.

    Since he had nothing to do these days, he had made a mental shaort map of the entire area in case he had to flee. So he knew exactly where the office was in the first ce.

    After entering the office, he quickly started theputer and hacked into the server.

    Thanks to Hope, he had acquired good hacking skills. As a result, he was unconcerned about finding information because modern technology was not as advanced as that of the system world. At this time, he was just waiting for the bar to finish up after typing a few words of coding.

    When it was done, a window showed up, presenting his file.

    He started reading the file.

    The previous owner of this body was also named Shane Cooper. The picture on the side showed a youngster who didn''t know how to smile. The personality of this guy seemed to bepletely opposite from the kind of guy he was during his university days.

    dark and gloomy. Those were the only two words Shane could use to describe the previous owner.

    This man was an orphan with no one on whom he could rely. He had faced many difficulties growing up and ended up bing a dark and gloomy person who couldn''t socialize with others. That was until he ended up meeting a sunny girl named Hope at work. He was instantly attracted to her.

    At this point, Shane could feel bile rising up his throat.

    Him? Attracted toward her?

    When he thought of her thighs that were visible, he thought it wasn''t impossible if he ignored her personality.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 174 173. Married?!

    The previous owner turned into a stalker and followed the girl all the time. Things would have turned out differently if the girl actually had a boyfriend or something. But to her misfortune, she was alone and single. Her parents lived in the countryside, not even sending any mail. They werepletely isted.

    The only contact the girl would ever have with her parents was when she would go once a year for a few days during the Christmas holidays.

    After the guy was clear on Hope''s schedule and her entire life, per se, he decided to make her move. He approached her when she was in her most desperate situation.

    Actually, the previous owner knew that the girl would go to the bar with her friends once a month to drink. The previous owner had to stalk the girl for half a year for this.

    So whenever it was her outing day, she would get homepletely drunk. If she was unable to move, her friends would apany her and drop her off at home. Even if her friends left without dropping her off, the kind bartender knew her address and would send her home in a cab.

    So over the years, the girl never got into any idents. Even the drivers she hired would be kind enough to assist her without stealing or taking advantage of her.

    The previous owner entered by hiring an actor instead of a driver to transport her home. The driver pretended to take advantage of the girl while taking her to the wrong ce, and the previous owner went over and saved the girl from the evil man.

    It was a good thing that the girl remembered everything from the night when she woke up. The man hadn''t left any contact info with her, which was a deliberate act. The previous owner knew that the girl would get desperate to find him if he left just like that, and he wanted to create a desperation in her heart for him.

    He nned everything from start to finish, and they met ''identally'' as he bumped into her at the office. The two hit it off and became friends first. He became a person she wanted to meet and deliberately became her knight inshiningy armor multiple times. He forced her to fall for her through circumstances.

    For example, he sent people to kill her family in an ident. Then he showed the girl that he was a very good person who could handle everything well, even the funeral of her parents. He suddenly became a responsible man in the girl''s heart.

    Their rtionship grew even closer. The man then started controlling her even more. He forgot about his original wish, and his desire to monopolize her increased even more to the point that, by the time she saw his real face, she had been driven mad.

    He married her and turned her into a doll she liked to control. His threads moved her from behind the scenes, making her his most beloved puppet. Whenever he liked, he could make her cry. Sometimes he would make her go naked in public, while at other times he would force her tomit suicide.

    Even the girl''s mental state turned worse as she spent more time with him, but the girl never realized that her husband was controlling everything. She thought everything was her doing, and she jumped into the pool of guilt more and more.

    In the end, when she found out that her husband was a control maniac and a freak, she broke down and went crazy. That''s when the ident happened, as she pushed her husband down the stairs.

    When the cops arrived and the case was finally made public, they couldn''t believe how a perfect husband could have turned out to be a control freak whomitted his own wife to a mental institution. But when they saw how his wife was driven mad over the course of the marriage''s first three years, they couldn''t help but sympathize for her.

    Thus, that''s how their faces would change whenever they saw Shane.

    He didn''t think of anything after seeing this. He simply closed the window and removed his hacking traces before jumping out of the room, closing the window behind him. He soon returned to his room and closed his eyes after lying on the bed.

    Only then did he venture into his mind, thinking about what he had just learned.

    F*ck. He was married to Hope?!

    That was even worse than his most horrific dream! That was perhaps why she refused to say another word at that time and forced him to find out the critical information himself.

    Damn it. So f*cking terrible!

    Even if the previous owner was married to her, hemitted a gruesome crime. Wouldn''t it be logical enough to give them a divorce or something. Why were they still registered?!

    Shane covered his face as he felt a hint of frustration in his heart and another emotion that he couldn''t recognize.

    Let''s just wait for Hope to do whatever she wants to and meet him all over again.

    For a few days, Shane acted perfectly normal, as if there wasn''t anything wrong with him. Even though people were afraid of him, they still couldn''t continue to let their guard down in front of her.

    A few guards even started talking to him unreservedly. Even though he never spoke to Ed again, he still saw his sister almost every day. It was torture for him not to do anything about it and directly ask her if she remembered him.

    But over time, he managed to program his mind into believing that the girl wasn''t his rtive but a rude employee who looked like his sister.

    Things were going well until one day, when he was wandering around at night, Hope jumped down again and said, "Get ready. We''re going to run off."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Shane had many questions bursting in his belly, but he didn''t ask them. Instead, he pursed his lips and nodded.

    If they were running away, it meant that she must have managed to control her freaky self and take control of the body. So it could be that the girl was safe to wander outside the institute.

    But Shane was worried about something. "What are we going to do after running away?"

    "First," Hope said, pointing to his face. "Divorce."

    Shane rolled her eyes and said, "Anything else? Do we have a mission?"

    Hope nodded. "We have to destroy this world."

    Shane looked like he had expected this to happen. He shrugged and said, "I knew it."

    Hope nodded and said, before climbing back to the pipe, "Wait for my signal. And don''t look at my thighs again. It''s disgusting."

    "Really?" Shane sneered. "Then wear something proper."

    "So you''re saying it''s the fault of a girl to be teased and stared at?"

    "No," Shane said tly. "It''s your fault that I''m looking at you. You''re doing it deliberately, aren''t you?"

    Hope''s face turned angry as she was about to say something when the rm red. "We will continueter."

    "I won''t." Shane waved and turned back with a nk expression on his face.

    Oh, he forgot to ask her what kind of signal she would give. He turned around and had just opened his mouth when he noticed that the girl had climbed too high in such a short time. He sighed and turned around, returning to the group of people.

    Since she said she would signal him, she might as well wait and see what the girl intended to do.

    After this, thirty minutes passed before the rm red once again. At this time, everyone had returned to their cells, ready to go to sleep. Shane looked out of the door and turned to a guard at his door. "What happened?"

    "That girl ran away again." The guard sighed and rubbed his forehead.

    "The girl in my case?"

    The guard was silent for a moment as he sighed again for the millionth time. "Shane, tell me something; you''re not lying about your memories, are you?"

    "What do you think?" Shane scoffed. "I don''t even remember my own name. The only way I found out about it was through the doctors and you guys. I still haven''t figured out what I did to her in the first ce."

    The guard seemed to have rxed after hearing those words. "It''s fine. Just stay inside and don''t make trouble."

    "I''m sleeping. Knock me up in the morning."

    After saying that, he went to the venttor and started removing the rods, just like before.

    The girl had said she would send the signal. What could be a better signal than the voice he heard just now? It could only mean that she had run away to find him. He should just go to the backside of the institute and wait for her there.

    Since that was the only ce without any cameras, he knew Hope would go there.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 175 174. A Slaughter

    Hope was alreayd waiting for him at that spot, hiding in ths bushes. As soon as Shane arrived, she pulled the man down, almost making him fell to his face.

    Shane was thankful that he was working out in the cell. Otherwise, he would really have fallen to his face right now. He stablized his body and red at her.

    "What the heck you''re doing?"

    "Waiting for the fools to take the bait." Hope pulled out a remote that she got from God knows where and pressed the red button. "Just wait and watch the show."

    She looked like a little devil that hade out to y, and she had already started to act all crazy. She chuckled and waited for her n to work.

    Suddenly, the entire ce was shrouded in darkness. Not a single speck of light could be seen as the people inside the mental institute started screaming. Those were the patients.

    Hope licked her lips and asked, "Shane, tell me one thing. What''s the lock made of?"

    Shane thought for a while and said, "Electricity."

    "Exactly," Hope replied in excitement. "So as long as I cut off all the possibilities of getting back the power, guess what will happen?"

    The locks would open, resulting a greater havoc. The guards would be too busy to take care of Hope.

    Shane suddenly looked at Hope with an admiring gaze. "I didn''t know you were so ruthless."

    With this step, not only the patients will escape, but many individuals might die. It could be said that the majority of the patients here were critical who hadmitted serious crimes of murder. So they couldn''t be left alone no matter what.

    They were all of high priority. And when they escaped, guess what they would do first?

    They would all do what they yearned to do: killing people.

    Shane looked back at the building behind him for a moment as if he was pondering something.

    Hope snorted. "You aren''t regretting killing them, are you?"

    Shane immediately shook his head. "That''s not it."

    He fell into silence as he took a deep breath. Honestly, he didn''t feel anything in his heart. It was as if he had turned to a stone that couldn''t feel sympathy for anyone. Even if a group of people died right before him asking for help, his heart still wouldn''t be moved.

    It was almost as if he had turned into a program itself that had lost its ability to feel anything. This was a scary emotion. So he didn''t share it with the girl.

    He immediately urged her. "C''mon. Let''s go."

    Hope narrowed her eeys, but she didn''t urge the man to speak anymore. She nodded as the two of them waited for the entire building to end up in a messy state.

    As expected, the doors unlocked as the patients escaped one after another. They acted like prisoners who were finally given freedom. The officers and doctors tried controlling the crowd and even used tranquilizers, but the situation had already gotten out of their hands.

    Patients ran here and their as if they were hungry. They all startedughing and howling at the top of their voices.

    The foreheads of the guards were covered with sweat as they stared at the corridors filled with patients.

    One guard spoke through his speaker, "Hello, Group A, what''s your situation?"

    The group A included all the guards at the ground floor. So when he contacted them, almost everyone started yelling curses through the speakers, almost making the guard deaf. Atst, the chief of the group A cut off the connection and talked to the guard from the upper floor.

    "It''s not good. The patients have already reached the ground floor, trying to open the door."

    The guard on the upper floor cursed under his breath. He stared at the chaotic scene in front of him as he said, "What do we do? When will the power be back?"

    "The officials are on their way. Let''s get to the bottom of this situation first, shall we?"

    The guard nodded. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a patient stabbing on hi sback with a knife. He choked as he stood there frozen. His entrie body was shrouded with hints of pain as he held the speaker.

    He turned to look at the person who killed him only to receive another few stabs.

    His entire body fell to the ground as he screamed at the top of his voice. "HELP!!!!"

    But he didn''t get another chance to speak at all. The patient urately stabbed at the man''s neck and continued to stuff the knife into the man''s body. The scene ended up in a bloody mess of blood and flesh. Even bones seemed to be broken and scattered on the floor with the blood, but the patient still didn''t stop.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Heughed at the top of his voice and continued stabbing everywhere.

    The chief guard at the ground floor was shocked after hearing the voice. His heart filled with terror as he turned to nce at the havoc corridor in front of him.

    He felt like his death was also near.

    A momentter, someone stabbed his body with a knife.

    Screams filled the entire building. The mental institute didn''t look like a normal hospital filled with patients but a yground for a devil. Every nook and corner of the building was filled with screams and sounds of ughter.

    Shane waited for a while then turned to Hope. "The police might arrive. Let''s go before they see us."

    Hope nodded and wiped her fingerprints off the remote before throwing it somewhere into the bushes. Even though she wiped it carefully, she didn''t care even a single bit if they would be caught.

    After all, their main objective was to destroy this world together.

    Hope directly grabbed the man''s wrist and dragged him out of the ce. The two of them ran for quite a while. Neither of them talked as they ran. On their wayt, they also stole normal clothes from a house and went on their way.

    It was only when they felt like they were out of city did they stop.

    Shane leaned against a tree and looked around.

    They were already in a jungle area filled with trees and a wide road.

    He wiped sweat from his forehead and finally red at the girl. "What the f*ck is going on? Care to exin?"

    He was sure that Hope was just making things difficult for him. So that was why she did what she did. But when he looked at the girl, her face was paler than usual. She almost looked like she had been on the verge of falling unconscious.

    She clutched her chest and took deep breaths. Her brows furrowed. "Shane. I''m sorry."

    After saying that, her body fell forward, unconscious.

    Shane hurriedly grabbed the girl and sighed. He stared at her for a long time, wishing to shake her awake, but she was still asleep. So he had no choice but to princess carry the girl and find a safe ce to stay for the night.

    Damn it. What a headache.

    If she knew she was going to cause him trouble, why would she fall unconscious on him at such a point? He had a belly full of questions to ask, but he couldn''t anymore.

    At night.

    He couldn''t find anything else. So he found a big tree and climbed onto the top, carrying the girl''s body on his back. Even though it was a difficult task, it wasn''t that hard. He was able to finish his task as he reached the branch he was aiming for.

    He finally put the girl''s body on the branch and rxed his shoulders. His body stretched as he leaned back against another branch and closed his eyes. He slept through the night in that condition.

    Soon enough, he felt a gust of freezing cold wind passing through his body. He instantly opened his eyes and nced at Hope, who was only wearing one thin cloth that couldn''t even cover her thighs properly.

    He cursed under his breath and removed his shirt, putting it over the girl''s body. Even though it wasn''t enough, he wasn''t going to go full naked for the girl.

    The rest of the night passed by just like that, but at the end, Hope was still not awake. This time, Shane couldn''t stand back and let her be like that. He checked her forehead, which looked perfectly normal.

    He frowned.

    Just what was going on? Did she exert her energy too much to the point of falling unconscious?

    He sighed. He would have to find a doctor soon enough.

    After thinking about this, he grabbed her again and dragged her body at his back while walking toward the road. He took a lift on a truck passing by and told the driver to just leave them be if a doctor''s ce passes by.

    The driver agreed and took them to another city.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 176 175. The Menu

    Shane was forced to face reality as soon as he stepped off the bus. Even though Hope had prepared enough, she hadn''t been able to prepare enough money to even eat something.

    He got off the truck with the girl on his back and thanked the driver before staring at the street filled with people. He wondered if he would have to steal some money again. His eyes narrowed as he started walking.

    Perhaps he should resort to begging. But when he thought about Hope''s condition, he sighed as his heart turned even more frustrated.

    How troublesome!

    He didn''t want to deal with it at the moment. Should he just go ahead and destroy this world instead? Didn''t Hope say that was his mission in this world?

    Since he didn''t have any other idea about why he was here, he could only trust her words. He ced Hope''s body in a dark alley and surrounded it with garbage so that others couldn''t find her even if they tried.

    Since she wasn''t going to wake up anytime soon, he might as well just go ahead with the mission and destroy this world. In any case, the system world had ended already, and he didn''t think he would go back there again. If possible, he would like to be reborn as Shane Cooper in his previous life.

    He only wanted to be an ordinary college student. Nothing else.

    He hummed a tune as he walked around the street in a normal shirt and trousers. He looked like a normal man who had been heading to work at this time. So no one nced at him.

    Girls only turned their heads toward his body because he was particrly handsome. But other than that, nothing was different.

    This was a particrly normal society. So to destroy this world, he would have to force the government to start a war. Now, how should he do that without the menu?

    Shane paused his steps as he narrowed his eyes. He had tried to open his menu after entering this world several times in the prison already, but he failed. But he wouldn''t believe that the system menu had disappeared just like that.

    Even if the entirepany ended up getting destroyed, the programs and software it had developed in the past would still remain in the database because they were saved on the server, not in thepany itself.

    If only he could retrieve the files, he would be able to open the menu. The thing is, how could he do it?

    The first thing that came to mind was aputer. He could search for the server first.

    Fortunately, he had spent enough time with Hope to be able to understand the basics of the server that worked to maintain all the menus in the system world. He dashed into an inte cafe andunched a program. He typed a few words in a different codingnguage that wasn''t known to anyone else. Soon enough, the entireputer fell into a glitch before it turned off.

    Shane waited for a moment as he saw the screen turn on again.

    A familiar menu appeared on the screen. Seeing that, the corners of his lips curled up to form a smile.

    Finally. He got what he wanted. He immediatelyunched the shopping section. Even though the system world wasn''t there anymore, the menu came from the higher nes. He wanted to see whether he could still get a product from the higher realm now that he wasn''t in the system world anymore.

    He hacked into the server again, this time throuu this time. After half an hour, he finally got what he wanted. The shop he opened was that of the heavenly realm for people with levels 1,000 and above.

    So it would take a man a thousand levels to reach heaven, huh?

    He nced at his level, which still showed question marks for some reason. Could it be that his level was actually higher than those in heaven? Wouldn''t he be called a god if that were the case?

    He ignored this information and proceeded to buy some high-level stuff.

    Nuclear bombs, five million Crana each.

    Rejected.

    Thunderboltsers. Ten million Crana each

    Rejected.

    Fire spells. One billion Crana each.

    Rejected again.

    Shane sighed as he continued to read the list. Even though he was interested in buying them all, he didn''t want to waste his time here.

    His mission was to destroy this world and finally rest in a normal world. He would himself choose a modern world without any spiritual fluctuations, with good enough people without bad deeds on their heads. He didn''t want togo through the trouble of destroying worlds again.

    He immediately set up the program ording to his wishes. At the end of the program, the system asked him whether he wanted to bring someone along.

    A lonely figure shed in his mind, and he instantly put down Hope''s system number.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The menu acknowledged it and shut down, showing him the positive result.

    They could have gone to such a world and rested earlier as well. But Hope didn''t do that.

    Shane knew why. After destroying the system world, she wanted them to stay away from the eyes of the heavens. Even though it was a task approved by the heavenly officials, they didn''t have high expectations that anyone could finish it. If someone did, they would be granted the best of all seats in the heavens.

    But Shane knew that it wouldn''t be of any benefit. It would mostly be like a highly luxurious prison with no freedom whatsoever.

    Shane wanted to be free, and he knew that Hope was like that too. That was possibly why she chose another task to destroy the world in order to avoid the heavens'' radars.

    At this time, the systems on missions while he was destroying the system world were rather lucky. They would not only be saved from brutal deaths, but they could also get a chance to choose the world they wanted to go to and rest for the rest of their lives without doing any other missions.

    Shane became bored after a while of scrolling down the shop.

    Even though it was a risky job to hack into the server, he didn''t have a choice. He had long since created a VPN to hide his traces from the expert''s eyes.

    That was why he wasn''t very worried about it anymore.

    Just as he was about to refresh his search and type in a few random keywords, he saw a very interesting thing.

    Mind-controlling spell (unlimited use): Ten billion Crana.

    Shane looked at the cost and finally bit his tongue to buy this amazing spell.

    He could control minds. What would be better than this? It was the best of both worlds. He didn''t have to be the main viin and kill people. He could easily make others do his work.

    He smiled and firmly clicked the buy button. He still had enough Crana in his ount to let him spend his entire life without a hitch. As soon as he bought it, he decided to use it. He memorized the spell and closed the system menu.

    He looked around to find his first target.

    A man was sitting at the counter, yawning as he looked bored.

    Then he looked at a beautifuldy who had just entered. The young man''s eyes stuck to her body, especially the chest area.

    Shane immediately muttered a spell and directed his flow of energy toward the young man. He inserted some thoughts into the man''s head through his head.

    He almost felt like he had be a whispering ghost who could control thoughts.

    In a sense, he really was.

    The young man was ovee with desire. He instantly jumped on the counter and grabbed the girl. Then he tore off her clothes, making her stand in front of everyone in her bra and panties.

    Shane was satisfied with the result. The mind-controlling thing worked better than he thought. When the girl yelled at the top of her lungs, the young man proceeded to take off the remaining pieces of clothing before he could react. She pped the man senselessly across his cheeks.

    A few people approached and smacked the young man on the stomach. Some people helped the girl and handed her a coat as she ran out of the cafe.

    The entire situation turned into havoc as everyone started hitting the young man. Some people even stood by and watched the show.

    The young man cried as he hugged his head. He was probably thinking, ''Why did he even do it ording to his thoughts? What was he thinking doing something like this in public?''

    Shane was embarrassed to be using such a random girl. He wasn''t that much interested in lusting after a girl''s body. But after seeing Hope''s thighs and panties that day, he suddenly felt a hint of desire in his body that didn''t go away no matter what. He just wanted to see if other girls could make him feel that way, but he was wrong.

    Only Hope made him feel that way.

    Why?

    Because he hated her?

    Shane frowned as he continued to think about it.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

 Chapter 177 176. The War

    Since Shane could already control minds, he didn''t linger there any longer. He quickly caught a cab and started controlling the man''s mind to take him to the government office close by. He wanted to get more information about it.

    On his way, he managed to practice and roughly figure out this spell. One limitation was that he could only cast the spell on one person at a time. He couldn''t do it with multiple figures. Second, he could only control the minds for a certain period. For instance, once he used the spell and inserted a thought in someone''s head, he could stay there for a few seconds more before the spell stopped working.himself

    Lastly, he wouldn''t be able to ascertain that the target would do exactly what he wanted. As he said earlier, he was more like a ghost whispering into the minds of weak-minded people who couldn''t protect themselves. Those who didn''t have the ability would immediately do what he wanted. Those with mild power to choose would think twice before doing what he wanted. And those with strong wills could reject his idea that he put in their heads, but it would be extremely difficult.

    It was simr to how you were so hungry and watched to eat an ice cream while your throat hurt. So you use all your willpower to reject the idea of eating something cold. But at the same time, you can''t help but feel dissatisfied in your heart for not eating the ice cream when you clearly wanted it. At this time, if another thought appeared in your mind that could convince you to eat the ice cream, you wouldn''t hesitate to eat the ice cream.

    Shane smiled when he figured out everything.

    He quickly got off the taxi and walked away without paying even a single penny.

    Ah, why didn''t he have this ability from the start?

    Just as he was about to enter the main gate, he was blocked by two people standing at the door. It was a huge white building with a beautiful garden inside, right in front of the main building. The gate was made of silver-colored iron. It shone brightly, creating a majestic vibe.

    Shane smiled and raised his head toward one of the guards. He then turned to look at another.

    He controlled their minds as they slowly removed their hands and gestured for Shane to enter with confused expressions on their faces. He quickly entered the door and walked inside in a good mood.

    He could indeed do anything he wanted with this ability; it was just that there was a loophole. If he used it on many people at once, they might be able to find out something was wrong. If several people standing close were forced to think ording to his desires and do things in a confused manner, they would eventually be suspicious.

    So what?

    What if they be suspicious?

    This world was eventually destroyed by his own hands. Why should he hesitate anymore? He just wanted to be done with this world.

    After thinking about this, he massively controlled the minds of people around him without stopping. So that was how he was able to reach the main office of the city mayor without any obstacles. He opened the door and controlled the mind of the person sitting behind the table.

    The man sat in a daze as he stared at Shane with a confused expression on his face. Then his expression turned serious as he frowned, looking like he was struggling.

    Shane raised his brows. It looked like this person had more willpower.

    He started inserting thoughts filled with extreme infatuation.

    ''Why are you sitting around?''

    ''Just go ahead and do it!''

    ''Call the city next to you and attack!''

    ''It''s not about safety anymore. Your entire life is in question!''

    ''Your pride will suffer! Why the heck are you leaving people who want to kick you back? Isn''t that humiliating enough?''

    Shane saw that the man''s expression continued to darken, but he still didn''t make a call. It almost looked like he was on the verge of doing anything that Shane wanted. In the end, Shane nced at the table, staring at the picture over there.

    There was a beautiful girl in the arms of a woman standing at the beach. Both of them wereughing and wore simple beach attire with caps on their heads.

    Shane initiated hisst attack.

    ''What about your daughter? Will she be proud of you for being too weak to even fight back? They are clearly oppressing you. Are you willing to let your daughter mock you in public?''

    After that, the man didn''t hesitate anymore. He immediately called someone.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As soon as the other person picked up the call, he fired up. "I don''t agree to your arrangement! I want you to rewrite the agreement!... What? You don''t? Then get ready for the attack!"

    By this time, Shane had already started heading out inconspicuously. He would immediately remove his traces from the cameras to hide himself and watch the show.

    Actually, what he did today wasn''t just a small thing. He had researched the political aspects of this world before deciding on what he was doing.

    It was just a simple matter. The mayor wasn''t just the mayor of this city; the entire country ruled under his shoulders. The country he was living in had the highest GDP ever. So if this country were to initiate an attack against other small countries, the entire world would suffer.

    That was why he did what he did today. Just a small thing could help him bring down the entire world without him wanting to do anything.

    It was just that he knew it wasn''t enough. There would still be survivors

    But Shane wasn''t worried about it. He could use other weapons topletely destroy the world, killing all survivors in one shot.

    At this time, he walked over to the alley where he had hidden Hope.

    He found her quickly and took her back toward the forest area.

    Since the world was going to end up in a chaotic state, it wasn''t good for him and this unconscious girl to stay here any longer.

    While setting up the program, he also set up the time when they could leave. It was right after the world was destroyed. So he didn''t have to kill himself anymore and get a headache from killing the girl.

    Even though Hope was a headache to deal with, he didn''t want to kill her.

    Heh. He had be coldhearted recently. He wouldn''t even blink before thinking about killing someone.

    He wasn''t always like this. He had been apletely normal student, living a good life under the care of his parents. He even protected his sister and only focused on his grades. Sometimes, he would even y basketball, wanting to impress the girls around him.

    It could be said that he was a famous figure in his college. Girls would squeal at his nce, and people would run after him for a picture.

    How did he end up turning so cold and viinous? Would he ever be a normal person?

    He sighed and continued on his way. Soon enough, he reached a big tree and climbed on top of it. He had also ended up collecting as many food items as he could. Even though he had done everything he could, it would still take a few days for his idea to work.

    After this, he rested in the forest while also keeping an eye on the situation. Hope still didn''t wake up. So he could only s*ck it up and clean her body every day. But damn, why did her body have to be so alluring?

    His body would react almost every day while bathing her in the river. He felt like giving up, but he still ended up bathing her every day.

    At the end of a week, he almost went crazy because of his desirous body. If it weren''t for his self-control and the Hope situation, he would have done the deed already.

    This girl was such a headache! How could she stay unconscious for such a long time? Didn''t she realize that he was a man, after all?

    He resentfully red at her, but he couldn''t continue to re after seeing her naked body. He sighed and dragged her to the shore, wiping her up before dressing her body into a gown he stole from a nearby shop.

    As for the situation outside, it was indeed chaotic. A few days after that phone call, war broke out between two countries on arge scale just because of a small disagreement. The situation got even worse when other countries started taking sides, almost creating huge havoc. Several people started creating hidden chambers underground to hide when the war was going on.

    As he ced Hope on the tree, he felt the entire ground tremble as dust rose in the air. He looked up to see something red shing across the sky.  Ah, a nuclear bomb.

    He needed to hide in that case. He quickly changed the location and pulled hope down on his back, walking in another direction.

    <quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

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