Chapter 3628: Strength and Resilience

She was simply too terrified. She was afraid of death, and there were still so many things she had left to do.

Ning Shu hugged her knees and curled into a ball, silently chanting a mantra in her heart to calm herself down and fill her timid heart with courage.

When she finally came out of her daze, she was not in a good state. Wisps of black smoke were coiling around her soul.

She had succumbed to her inner demons!

“You’re so scared you wet yourself over this one little thing?” 2333 said with some irritation. “When I was imprisoned for eons, enduring total isolation and loneliness, I didn’t act like you are now.

“The strong are resilient and unyielding. If you’re truly this afraid, you might as well just die. I’ll send you back to Tai Shu and let him blow your brains out so we can be done with it.”

Ning Shu took a deep breath. She sat cross-legged on the sofa, breathing in the scent of the agarwood as she began to cultivate.

The black smoke in her soul gradually dissipated. That man’s failure to kill her this time was his own mistake.

When Ning Shu opened her eyes again, they were clear and filled with an even firmer resolve.

“You have your memories?” Ning Shu asked. “You said you were imprisoned for eons. Who imprisoned you?”

2333 spoke evasively. “I suppose I must have been some great demon king in my past life, so I was locked up before I became a system.”

Ning Shu instinctively felt that 2333 was lying, but she didn’t intend to press the issue. The fact that the system had snatched her back from the king of hell himself proved that 2333 was a master at hiding his true abilities.

Ning Shu didn’t care who 2333 really was or what he was capable of. She just wanted to keep moving forward.

The chat system gave a ding-dong. Ning Shu opened it to find a message from Ah Wan. “Are you still alive?”

“I’m alive,” Ning Shu replied.

Ah Wan’s reply came quickly. “You went too far this time. You actually drew in the ordinance energy from outside the city. If you hadn’t been careful, the city could have been swallowed by that violent power.

“Still, Hong Yu is dead and you are alive. You’ve come out ahead in the end.”

Ning Shu managed a strained smile. “Thank you for stepping in. Truly, thank you.”

Regardless of what she had done, the situation had ended the way it did.

“Do not feel wronged because you think Young Master Ronghua and Wen Yan weren’t punished,” Ah Wan added. “Everyone starts out weak. Ronghua, Wen Yan, and even I—we all moved forward one stumbling step at a time. Even when we fell, we crawled. If the strong didn’t have some privileges, why would anyone work so hard to become powerful? It would be an injustice to those who succeeded.”

For some reason, Ah Wan chose to share these words with her. Ning Shu’s mouth curved into a small smile. “I understand. Thank you.”

This was exactly why Ning Shu wanted to become strong. Only after putting in the blood, sweat, and tears to climb to the top would she have the right to speak, the right to decide her own fate, and even the right to decide the fates of others.

If one didn’t contribute anything, they were destined to be like livestock—fed and watered only until the day they were slaughtered.

By now, Ning Shu had recovered slightly from the ordeal. If she survived such a great disaster, she was bound to have good fortune later.

“As long as you can wrap your head around it, it’s fine. If you can’t, well, that’s just how it is.” Ah Wan prepared to close the chat.

Ning Shu thanked her one more time. “Thank you for your help.”

“No need. That was a grudge between Hong Yu and me. I was tired of her anyway.” Ah Wan stopped responding.

Ning Shu blinked, suddenly realizing that Ah Wan was actually quite cunning herself. The moment Ning Shu made a move, Hong Yu was bound to be provoked into acting as well. By fighting in the city, Ah Wan would only receive a minor punishment at most, but someone like Hong Yu was guaranteed to be obliterated.

Hong Yu had a backer. If Ah Wan had killed her personally, it would have created a rift between her and Wen Yan. It wasn’t worth the trouble. Instead, she had used the adjudicator’s hand to deal with that buzzing fly.

Ning Shu clicked her tongue. Truly, no one here was a fool.

Ning Shu took a deep breath and asked 2333, “If I construct my own world, will I be less vulnerable in situations like this?”

“Mhm. There is always someone better and a mountain higher; the road of the strong never ends. Once you construct a world, perhaps new paths will open up to you,” 2333 said. “Don’t be in too much of a rush. Those other task-takers have been accumulating for tens of thousands of years. Everyone moves one step at a time. They all face the risk of being obliterated and can die at any moment, but that doesn’t mean they are invincible.”

“Actually, since you became a Ultra Task-Taker, not even five hundred years have passed. To reach this level in that time is quite good.”

2333 was likely being less cynical than usual because he saw how traumatized Ning Shu had been.

Ning Shu only grimaced. Her lack of strength was painfully obvious whenever she dealt with those people.

The most important thing now was to construct her own world.

She rested her head on her hands and stared at the plain white ceiling, lost in thought.

After a while, she opened the chat system and messaged Mei Ziqing, asking how the incubation of the two world origins was going.

Mei Ziqing replied, “I don’t know. Probably nothing yet. There haven’t been any changes, so they likely haven’t hatched.”

“Are you sure those things are actually world origins? Xiao Huo has been sitting on them this whole time and they haven’t done a damn thing.”

After just experiencing a brush with death, hearing Mei Ziqing’s casual chatter made Ning Shu feel as if it were from another lifetime. It was a wonderful feeling to be alive.

To be able to hear, see, and feel… to be able to laugh, cry, love, and hate…

If she had been obliterated, everything would be gone. She wouldn’t even have a next life.

This path was a point of no return. She could only run forward until she transcended and became the master of her own existence.

“Ning Shu, are you there? Answer me, you moron!” Mei Ziqing sent another message after waiting a while for a response.

Ning Shu replied, “I’m here. Maybe it’s just not time yet. Let him sit on them a while longer.”

“What’s wrong with you? Your mood seems off.” Mei Ziqing noticed she sounded wilted. “There is nothing you can’t get over. Just look at my ex-boyfriend situation.

“I’m tearing open my own scabs just to comfort you. We task-takers are immortal, but everything comes with a price,” Mei Ziqing added.

Ning Shu had finally regained her composure. This wasn’t the first time she had faced obliteration, but it was the closest she had ever come to death. Her amulets had been useless. Those could only be used after a task failure. Facing obliteration directly in soul form meant she was essentially a fish on a chopping block.

“Your trouble was your boyfriend dying. Mine was almost being erased from existence,” Ning Shu said. It was her man who died, not her.

Mei Ziqing was silent for a moment. “…What did you do this time? Until we possess absolute power, we should not challenge authority. Authority is only for those with the strength to challenge it. To overestimate yourself is simply foolish.”