Chapter 380: Earthquake in Dongqing (12)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Pengji curled her lips mockingly and said, “I’m not done talking yet. You’re not showing me any respect.”
The System was silent. If it did not make an escape now, was it just going to wait for death?
If it was in its perfect state, it would have definitely been unafraid of her, as if it had a 3S mental brain domain as well. Neither of them would have been rewarded if they really had a confrontation about the mental brain domain. However, at present, it was not a match for Jiang Pengji at all.
“Tsk, why do you have to do this?” Jiang Pengji asked with hostility. She clasped her hands together, confidence exuding from her body. “I’ve already backed down again and again. I can’t stand you constantly looking for trouble. You’ve really stepped on my last nerve this time.”
The System did not say a word. It tried to break through the spiritual confinement, but Jiang Pengji did not give it any chance to do so. It tried several times. It did not cause any damage to the spiritual confinement; instead, it used up a lot of energy. The System simply did not bother to try again. It questioned Jiang Pengji coldly. “Did you do all of this on purpose from the start? Have you been toying with me for the past few years?”
“You’re too stupid, and you have a low IQ. Are you trying to blame society?” Jiang Pengji rolled her eyes. “If you could have a discussion with me properly about the exchange ratio and not touch my last nerve, then I wouldn’t have to shed all pretenses of cordiality.”
The System was like a sheep––wool was being pulled out from it at intervals. Other than that, it was really stupid. However, dealing with such a foolish enemy out in the open was better than dealing with one in the dark.
“When did you start to doubt me?” The System knew all along that it had a bad relationship with Jiang Pengji, and she was even suspicious of it several times. The System did not take it to heart, however.
It had seen and worked with all kinds of hosts. Like Jiang Pengji, many of them doubted it and put their guard up against it. However, humans were born with compassion. After getting along with it for years, was there any host who would not trust it wholeheartedly?
Therefore, taking warning of its failures, the System had modified its countermeasures towards Jiang Pengji.
To put it simply, one would advance when the enemy advanced, and one would retreat when the enemy retreated. They would keep a distance that was neither close nor far. Time would slowly wipe out the alienation between the two. However, the strategies that had proven effective every time did not work on her.
It only came to realize that day that she had never trusted it. She had even watched its passionate performance as if she was watching a drama.
“You forced me to be reincarnated. I hate it when others make decisions without asking for my opinion.”
The System was not willing to give in and responded, “I gave you a new life.”
How ungrateful, it thought.
“Who do you think you are to be merciful to me? Who cares?” Jiang Pengji was too lazy to even lift her eyelids.
It was good that she did not bear grudges, but it still hoped she would be grateful towards it. She was a heartless person if she was not grateful and did not trust it. Why was it so full of itself?
“Although you’re very full of yourself, ambitious, and extremely greedy, I have to admit that you’re still somewhat useful,” Jiang Pengji continued, “If it wasn’t for your heartfelt help, my mental brain domain wouldn’t have recovered so fast… So, in order to prove that I’m not an ungrateful person, I’ll support you. Don’t worry.”
If the System’s facial expressions could have been expressed, it would probably have looked livid. “One would prefer to die with honor than live with disgrace. If you have the balls, kill me to get rid of any troubles in the future! Otherwise, an eye for an eye.” As a System with dignity and pride, how could it stand being trampled on by lowly, undignified human beings?
“I’m a girl, so I don’t have balls. Only fools would kill you. Do you think my IQ is as low as yours?”
The System almost choked to death. It could not self-destruct, because in Jiang Pengji’s mental brain domain, she was the god. It could not escape. It was not a match for her in spiritual confrontation, so it could not break through the confinement… It was about to cry.
Jiang Pengji could not stop sneering. She hummed a bubbly song and reopened the System interface. For the former Regimental Commander of the Federal Forces, the manual operation was not even a problem.
The person that had been conversing with Jiang Pengji all along was a self-virtual awareness program. Strictly speaking, the so-called System was actually a virtual creature that was made up of self-virtual awareness programs and basic mechanical data. The basic mechanical data was a cold body, and the self-virtual awareness program provided the data awareness. The former’s noumenon was data. The latter was the data awareness created from data. The combination of the two formed a virtual creature.
In Jiang Pengji’s era, intergalactic science was already highly developed. The federal brain was the first virtual creature. As the influential Regimental Commander, she did not just read confidential documents for fun.
She gently swiped with her finger, and a simple operation interface emerged. If the virtual mall the System showed her previously was a giant intergalactic supermarket, then what she saw now was the school canteen. Not only had things changed, but the commodity prices and redemption data had changed as well.
The interface data the System showed her had already been photoshopped. There were not tens of thousands of pages on types of rice. In fact, there was only one page. The price of rice was very low. Even if the “cross-dimension delivery fee” was included, it was still cheaper than the packed rice in the streaming room.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk… 10,000 points for 50 kilograms of food? Why don’t you go to heaven?!”
Profiteers were not even that unethical.
Jiang Pengji looked at the contents of the System, feeling disgusted. Her brain was carrying out complex data calculations and hypothesis formations. She raised her hand and searched for the medicinal herbs. There were hundreds of kinds of medicinal herbs, all of which were not vintage, ordinary, or of common varieties.
As for the thousand-year-old and hundred-year-old ginseng, lucid ganoderma, or snowy lotus… They were nowhere in sight.
She also searched for the skills book on lyre-painting, chess, and calligraphy, which the System once enthusiastically recommended. Its price had dropped tenfold. After each book was opened, the introduction page had a huge section of description, which made Jiang Pengji’s gastric acid churn. She was so disgusted that she almost vomited.
The price of the lyre-playing skills––at the highest level––was 10,000 popularity points.
The description was, “This skill had been refined by the third host, XXX, the fifth host, YYY, and the sixth host, ZZZ, and it has already reached a high level… By purchasing this skills book, one would be able to obtain the soul fragments of their seniors, and thus learn quickly after they study the material.”
The first part was nonsense. The last sentence was enough to make someone’s hair stand on end.
“System, you treated your previous hosts really well. You exploited them while they were alive and made them work for nothing. In the end, you still wanted to take their souls back for recycling and produce the so-called express skills book… You’re really making the best use of everything.”
Jiang Pengji was transported back in time. She’d had difficulty writing with a writing brush, so the System had recommended the skills book to her. She hadn’t trusted the System at that time. She didn’t care about such “express” things, so she had rejected it. Looking back at it now, rejecting it had been the right call.
The so-called “express skills book” was just a book of forcibly absorbed, countless soul fragments. All of the soul fragments were from the System’s previous hosts, and they were controlled by the System.
If she had used the skills book, her soul would have been doped with an element that would have made it impossible for her to ever escape from the System.
