Chapter 213: System Destruction

They entered the building and went straight for the elevators.

A few small robots could occasionally be seen moving about the lobby, but other than that, there was no one else.

Sun Ci tentatively tried to make conversation with Naiwa, but Naiwa only had one response: “Find my boss.”

The elevator went straight to the top floor. Outside the window was a vast expanse of white. The building was so high that for a moment, she couldn’t tell if the white mist was clouds or energy.

There was only one room on the top floor. Naiwa stood on its tiptoes and strained to press the button. The large door opened, revealing a man sitting inside.

He wore a long, white coat and safety goggles, sitting at a desk, intently typing something.

Seeing them arrive, he waved his hand, and the panel in front of him vanished.

“You two stay here. Shi Zhile will come with me to see it. A1, get them some water.”

With that, the Main System stood up and was the first to leave the room.

Shi Zhile followed behind him, surveying her surroundings.

The elevator descended one floor, opening to two rows of rooms with windows.

He stopped at the first room, entered a string of numbers on the door, and pushed it open.

In the center of the room, Jiang Yuxing was enclosed in an Energy Shield. His limbs and neck were bound by iron chains, which were connected to the base of the shield and occasionally pulsed with a faint blue light.

His eyes were closed and his head was slightly bowed. He was as still as death.

“The person you wanted to see is here.”

Shi Zhile stood at the doorway, her gaze shifting between the two of them.

“Main System, I’m very curious. He captured so many of your subordinates and stole so much energy, so why did you agree to his request to see me?”

The Main System’s expression was indifferent. “To put it bluntly, systems are just robots. I grant them energy and create their programming. All their emotions are defined by me. Frankly, they are just puppets I control, with no life or sense of self, generated from a single chip. I’ve created many systems—low-level, mid-level, and Advanced—but the one thing I haven’t figured out is how to give a robot genuine human emotions. And it, is the only system to possess human emotions. I’m curious how it evolved, so I’m willing to indulge it.”

Shi Zhile asked, “If all the systems are robots, then what does that make the Main System?”

The Main System didn’t answer. With a flick of his hand, a force pulled Shi Zhile into the room.

The door shut behind her. The Main System sat down to one side, watching Jiang Yuxing in the Energy Shield.

Jiang Yuxing’s eyelids fluttered open. His gaze was devoid of joy or sorrow.

At just one glance, Shi Zhile’s scalp tingled with alarm.

“No! That’s not Jiang Yuxing! That’s Xi Nan!”

The Main System chuckled. “How sharp!”

Shi Zhile whipped her head around to look at the Main System, her eyes filled with deep suspicion.

‘Xi Nan and Jiang Yuxing aren’t the same person. If the one in the Energy Shield is Xi Nan, then where is the real Jiang Yuxing… the real Corpse Rot System?’

The smile on the Main System’s perfect face was extraordinarily familiar—so familiar that Shi Zhile’s heart nearly stopped in terror.

‘Could he be…?’

“You…”

“Me what? Shi Zhile, you don’t actually think I’m Jiang Yuxing, do you?”

The smile on his lips was malicious as his thin lips parted. “Alright, you got me. I am!”

Hearing him admit it, Shi Zhile, contrary to expectation, calmed down.

She looked at the Energy Shield, carefully observing the person inside.

‘He’s too calm. The Xi Nan from my memories was certainly sinister, but he was never this quiet.’

‘That emotionless look in his eyes does match the expression I saw in the game, but… what if it was Jiang Yuxing in the game all along?’

‘But how can one person have two different faces?’

‘System… Robot…’

The threads in her mind connected.

Shi Zhile stared at the Energy Shield, her gaze meeting the Main System’s in its reflection. “Main System, you’re really pathetic. Is it fun to put on a show and try to trick me just because I asked what you are?”

The Main System’s expression turned icy again. “Yes!”

He waved his hand to summon a panel and tapped it a few times. The chains connected to Jiang Yuxing completely lost their luster.

The faint blue light vanished entirely, and emotion quickly colored Jiang Yuxing’s eyes.

‘Self-mockery?’

‘No!’

‘It’s disdain!’

“I ran the experiment ninety-nine times. Shi Zhile, you died ninety-nine times. I never expected that you would turn the tables on the one hundredth.”

‘When I was lying in that hospital bed, I had so many fragmented dreams. I can’t remember any of them clearly.’

“You were too arrogant. Chuyi’s information, the Energy Balls, the Wish System, the Food System, the Planting Space, the Breeding Space, the Teleportation Gates… If I had lacked even one of these things, I’d be dead by now. You gave me such a huge ‘golden finger,’ it actually made me wonder whether you wanted me dead or not.”

The Main System interjected, “He wanted you to die, but not too easily. The purpose of giving you so many ‘golden fingers’ was simply to give you hope, only to plunge you into despair right when you thought you had a chance.”

Jiang Yuxing didn’t deny it, because what the Main System said was true.

“Shi Zhile, you’re truly impossible. I deliberately tried to seduce you, taking off my clothes, carefully feeding you… I clearly felt you were moved, so why were you still on guard against me?”

Shi Zhile: “…Moved? What ever gave you the idea that I was moved?”

‘Wanting to touch his abs was just because I’m a pervert, and flirting with him was just for fun.’

‘I knew from the very beginning that Jiang Yuxing’s intentions weren’t pure, so how could I possibly have been moved?’

‘It was a matter of life and death. Supplies were life. In that kind of situation, no one would be generous enough to hand over heaps of supplies, especially not to a stranger.’

‘Before entering the game, my legs were crippled, not my brain!’

‘He had so many tells. How could I possibly have trusted him?!’

‘Without trust, how could there be any feelings?’

‘Is this system some kind of lovesick fool?’

Jiang Yuxing’s face twisted slightly.

Shi Zhile was silent for a moment. “To be honest, I was very moved by your supplies. I knew exactly how many supplies I had, so every time you surpassed me on the supply leaderboard, I was wildly moved. I was paralyzed in bed for five years. I wanted to stand up more than anyone. What made you think that to a patient who had just regained the ability to walk, a man would be more important than her own body? We were short on food and water, just staying alive was a struggle. Who has the energy for all that pure love nonsense?”

Jiang Yuxing: “Of course. You’ve been that kind of person from the very beginning.”

Shi Zhile retorted, dissatisfied, “What kind of person?”

Jiang Yuxing said no more, closing his eyes and waiting to be destroyed.

The Main System stood up. “You’ve seen him. Now it’s time for me to take the chip.”

He then looked at Shi Zhile. “Is there anything else you want to say?”

Shi Zhile: “Yes. There are so many players on Earth, and so many people made it to the interstellar stage in the last life. This time, why did you choose me?”

Jiang Yuxing remained silent.

The Main System said, “He has entered hibernation. I can tell you what you want to know, but first, I must destroy it.”

He walked to the side of the Energy Shield and tapped the panel a few times. The figure inside the shield slowly faded, then instantly shattered.

After the body disappeared, a blood-red chip was revealed. The Main System took it and placed it in a small box nearby.