Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
That night, instead of only reading novels and playing games like usual, Fang Ning did both things while occasionally checking the System Map…
In contrast, Sir System was less worried. It still caught and locked up any criminals, all the while creating high quality pills to be sold by Butler Zheng online during its free time.
Right after they went on sale, Ren Ruofeng immediately bought three Face Rejuvenating Pills, which cost him three million excluding labor charges and the costs of the materials needed for refining the medicine. All in all, it was the usual price that he had to pay.
Sir System saw Ren Ruofeng’s location on the System Map and immediately went over, serving as the express delivery as well.
One of the buildings near Lintian Stadium of Kuoluan City was now temporarily serving as a command center. Ren Ruofeng, who was on standby here, suddenly rose from his seat and went to open one of the windows, where he received the pills from Vigilante A.
After paying the amount he owed in cash, he gave Vigilante A, who was already leaving on his flying sword, a thumbs up…
A powerhouse like him was still willing to get down and dirty to earn money himself. He truly deserved to be the model of the powerhouses of all Extraordinaires; depending on their power to earn money was honorable, depending on their power to oppress others was shameful, depending on weaknesses to oppress other was downright disgraceful…
“Old Man Ren, why did you suddenly go towards the window? I even saw a silhouette?” Behind him, Principal Xu confusedly asked.
Ren Ruofeng turned and answered, “Oh, the Venerable Dragon God was eager to do good, so he came over again to ask me if there were any updates about the enemy. I could only tell him that there’s still nothing yet…”
Hong Yunjiao faintly said, “I thought I saw that Space Ring of yours move, did he come to deliver a parcel instead? Didn’t your Face Rejuvenating Pills run out last week?”
Ren Ruofeng remained quiet. (How unlucky. This old hag knows me too well and watches me too closely. She’s always looking for ways to cause trouble for me, and she seems to know just when an opportunity like that arises. Who would be able to live like this?)
Principal Xu’s wrinkled his brows in response at Hong Yunjiao’s words. He then said, “Old Man Ren, you better get into the frame of mind for work. The situation is grave right now, if we fail, three countries will have to mobilize their troops. Ever since the Wise Grand Tutor of Guifang died, Russia has been targeted by a great number of Extraordinaires.
“According to the reports from the intelligence officers, this battle will decide Guifang’s official ownership, so the battle is highly likely to be a great one. We must properly deter the other party’s Extraordinaires and stop them from breaching our borders, or we’ll lost our citizens as collateral damage. However, we cannot reveal too much of what we have, so we can only use a large number of regular Extraordinaires to form a military parade. Unfortunately, they’re used to slacking, so how to form a proper formation that would let them exhibit their power is a serious problem we’re facing right now. We cannot afford to relax.”
Ren Ruofeng replied in dismay, “Senior Elder Xu has taught me a powerful lesson, this junior will take note of what was said.”
Hearing this answer made Principal Xu’s head throb in pain. He didn’t feel like speaking anymore. Ren Ruofeng’s was actually older than him by four years; Ren Ruofeng is 73 while he is only 69, yet Ren Ruofeng constantly addressed him as the senior just because Ren Ruofeng looked younger than he did…
That “Evergreen Supreme Technique” was something that a lot of people were interested in, since learning it was equivalent to living an extra lifetime.
Ren Ruofeng had too high an opinion of the technique either; like the Qiao family, he too had to turn over the method to learn the technique. Elder Feng of the Hall of Lores had tried to secretly learn the technique numerous times, but he just couldn’t make it work…
Nobody else knew why it was so either. The Truth Department didn’t lack outstanding Extraordinaires, yet only the pair of them were able to learn the technique. This caused quite a deal of people to wonder why; however, even if they asked either of them the trick of mastering the technique, the pair of them only remained silent.
People have even went to the Chairman personally about this matter. However, the Chairman drove all that came to him about this matter and threatened to break their legs if they were to mention this in front of him again.
The sky gradually brightened; it was already 8 in the morning the next day and an officer had arrived to make a report.
“Leaders, there are currently 380 Extraordinaires gathered at Lintian Stadium. According to our statistics, there are 330 Bucket-level or C grade Extraordinaires, 45 Basin-level or B grade Extraordinaires, four Pond-level Extraordinaires, and 1 Lake-level Extraordinaire.”
Principal Xu’s face pulled into one of confusion as he asked, “Why is there only so little of them? According to the official registration records, there should be more than twenty thousand D grade and E grade Extraordinaires alone. Did not one show up?”
The officer hesitated for a bit before answering, “The Dragon’s clans new standards of evaluation for strength have spread across China; I clarified things earlier and found out that a majority of the D grade and E grade Extraordinaires are merely Cutlery-level or Mug-level in strength…
“A lot of people had no idea how powerful they actually were before and yet they still dared to come out and loaf about. With the new standards in place, a lot of our associates have released new rules; ‘no leaving unless you’re of Bucket-level’, yet we issued an extraordinary emergency notice this time…”
Principal Xu was speechless.
Instead, Ren Ruofeng said, “With this number of people, we can train everyone within two hours. Do not worry, Senior Elder Xu.”
Principal Xu pulled a long face before he said, “Go look for Elder Hai and ask him to send people over. We must be ten thousand strong to look imposing…”
…
Fang Ning glanced at the time and couldn’t help but quip a reminder, “There’s only four hours left, why don’t we go now?”
The System retorted, “Why the hurry? Don’t waste the time I can spend farming monsters.”
Fang Ning pondered on it a while but still could not relax. He then said, “Then you should at least go outside to do some recon on the enemy. We are dealing with a foreign enemy, it would be best if we were more careful.”
“So what if it is a foreign enemy? We’ve already farmed two before, and they were only so-so… However, you’re right, why do we have to wait for their preparations? I’ll go make a round myself and farm all those sinful and highly-experienced ones first. I don’t want them being stolen from me, none of them are Bodhisattva Spirit King after all.”
Fang Ning nodded his head, “Just as I expected, the circuits in your brain are so different from humans.”
The System deadpanned, “I don’t have any brain circuits, they’re all yours…”
Fang Ning then watched as Vigilante A rode his flying sword in a circle before he rushed towards the outside of the realm.
A few minutes later, Fang Ning discovered through the System View that the landscape below them had changed drastically. The great plain was replaced by a grand coniferous forest, and greenery extended as far as he could see.
A slacker like Fang Ning would never be able to differentiate the different types of trees.
He only saw that all the snow had almost melted away; trees were regaining their green and wild grass started sprouting everywhere. It was the very picture of spring.
While he was busy admiring the foreign scenery, he realized that Vigilante A had stopped moving.
He looked below him and saw that beneath the dense coniferous forest was a huge structure of numerous cottages. The structure was shrouded in a black fog.
He had to depend on the powerful System View to see the cottages through the black fog.
These cottages were not connected to the outer world in any way; there were no roads or railroads, nor were there any alleys either. It was obvious that it was no gathering place for common folk.
Fang Ning checked the System Map yet it only showed him the same blackness. He could not confirm his own suspicions at all.
He then asked, “Sir System, why have you stopped? Have you found our target?”
The System answered, “Ugh, I shouldn’t have followed you and stayed in like a hermit, the outside world is so vast…”
Fang Ning was speechless; he was caught in the crossfire again.
He deadpanned, “What’s happened?”
The System replied, “It would be better if you didn’t know, just in case you get scared. Just go into the blacksmith’s forge and stay there.”
Fang Ning was shocked at the System’s reply, he immediately said, “Could it be we’re directly above a demon den?”
“As expected of someone that reads a lot of novels, what an accurate guess. This place is wide and deserted, and it doesn’t seem to be managed by anyone either since these evil demons were able to develop into such a size… It seems that I would have to walk around more.”
While they were in the middle of their conversation, Vigilante A had already silently landed in the middle of structure.
A majority of the cottages were noiseless, giving off an extremely strange atmosphere.
Only noises could be heard from the biggest cottage located in the middle; two people with low voices were speaking in Russian.
However, Fang Ning could understand them quite well. He didn’t spend the past half a year slacking; he’s managed to master the major languages of the world so that he would be able to play the original versions of translated games…
Russia used to be a major developer of electronic games.
Waiting for Chinese versions of games was terrible, people who have experienced them would know just how painful an experience it was.
“Valery, how are preparations for your Sea of Ghouls coming along?”
“Alex, preparations are almost done. I have a total of 7350 ghouls, and they’re all above D grade in power, some could even be B grade in power. Oh, I heard from the Chinese that they have new standards now, I think it’s Cutlery-level and Basin-level Power Levels. I have them hidden in the surrounding cottages; without my orders, they won’t move a muscle, so there’s no need to worry about being exposed. We have to show those b*st*rds our ferociousness, then Guifang will belong to us.”
“Very good, Valery, after taking that great piece of land, we will finally have a real foundation. You will no longer have to rob the graves of those shabby villages around here for freshly-buried corpses. Once I become the Grand Tutor of Guifang Country, I will make you Vice Grand Tutor and I’ll order the citizens to send the recently-deceased to your sacrificial altar. That Wise Grand Tutor could rule them for so long, and we’re so much more merciful than him.”
“No, Alex, I should be the Grand Tutor, and you should be the Vice Grand Tutor. I’m the primary this time around, since I was the one that spent all these years collecting all those ghouls.”
“How could that be? You’re so weak, Valery, you’re only at Cutlery-level. Any Basin-level powerhouse could take you out in the blink of an eye. Although I’m only at Bucket-level, I possess powerful sorcery that was passed down in my family from generation to generation, and it is more than enough to scare away even Pond-level powerhouses! I should be Grand Tutor!”
“If that’s how you want to put it, Alex, then you don’t even have to be Vice Grand Tutor, you can just act as my sorcerer bodyguard instead!”
The pair of them instantly fell into a heated argument on their positions. Their voices gradually grew in volume and it was not long before sounds of a tussle emitted from within the cottage.
Fighting tribes really did earn their names…
Fang Ning was speechless after listening in to their conversation. Was the monster den only like this? There was not much they should be afraid of.
At this moment, Sir System was already sweeping up the surrounding cottages one by one…
Fang Ning secretly peeked into one of the cottages and jumped in fear. Sir System really wasn’t lying when he said the sight really would scare him,.
Inside the cottage was a pile of ghouls, all as pale as chalk as if they had merely died not more than a few days ago.
The ghouls were mainly robust old Russian men, but amongst them were a number robust young Russian men as well as a handful of Asians. Their limbs were still twitching and their eyes were all wide open. It was truly a frightening sight.
Although Fang Ning’s courage has improved quite a bit, it was still his first time seeing so many ghouls. It wasn’t exactly a sight that could be withstood by just anyone.
Sir System naturally felt nothing at the sight; Vigilante A was expressionlessly sweeping up the cottages as he went. He went at the task if he was merely harvesting beans.
After he had deposited the ghouls into the System Space, Sir System proceeded to use bursts of fire-based vital energy to burn them into dust. It was a fast and efficient process that Fang Ning could only watch in awe…
He predicted that the two demons were in for the shock of their life after they were done arguing.
The System Notifications kept refreshing nonstop.
[The System captured Ghoul XXXXX.]
[The System executed Ghoul XXXXX.]
[The System obtained 3200 experience points.]
[…]
Fang Ning expressed his admiration, “Look at those numbers. Sir System, you fiend, you’ll obtain more than 20 million experience points, which is equal to farming two Pond-level powerhouses. It’s no wonder you won’t stop.”
The System replied, “But of course. After I’m done sweeping everything up, then I’ll deal with the two inside. They haven’t committed a lot of sinful deeds, they’ve probably only stolen corpses. I can’t kill them, so I’ll be merciful and only beat them up.”
Fang Ning wondered aloud, “Don’t you usually knock them out before sending them to the local security agencies?”
“That was back in China, but I don’t know any Russian security agencies, and I don’t want to waste any effort into locating them. I’ll just teach them a lesson and let them turn over a new leaf by themselves.”
Fang Ning pondered for a bit before he exposed the System’s sinister intentions, “They would never turn over a new leaf… You just want to raise them like livestock. Aren’t you afraid of it affecting your chivalrous attributes?”
“Hmm, you managed to make such an accurate guess again? I’ve already done what the Maxim ordered me to do, so why would it affect my chivalrous attributes in any way?”
Fang Ning then came to a realization. The System was never acting as a hero, which would explain why it never restricted itself according to chivalrous behavior.
It was very different from himself, who was gradually changing due to the promotion in status and the change in perceptions. The System had never once forgotten its original intentions.
It had only been restricted by the System’s principles, for its only aims were to never stop growing stronger and to never stop increasing its survival rate. Otherwise, it would have never seized Fang Ning’s body.
The reputation of being a hero was just a natural outcome of it acting according to heroic Maxims .
However, if anyone were to want to restrict it using this label by saying that it should do what heroes should do, they would be extremely strong.
Anyway, Fang Ning would never have imagined a true hero like Li Xunhuan 1sending parcels…
