Special Chapter 2: The Birth of the System
Lu Li loved to hear the sound of an alarm clock. Like the sound of rain, it would calm him, his thoughts seemingly drifting into a forest dappled with light and shadow. Time passed as usual, from 7:15 AM to 7:16 AM. The earth continued to rotate on its axis. Everything was normal.
The date on the calendar was August 26, 2017. This was an ordinary day, but everything happening before his eyes had nothing to do with the word “ordinary.”
In front of Lu Li was a crystal that exuded an ominous aura—a whole, intact crystal. He always felt that this crystal was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, and he had a faint repulsion toward it in his heart.
Such a large piece of crystal, if sold, would surely fetch a lot of money. Would that be enough to get Yameng a new phone? Thinking of this, Lu Li finally reached out to touch the crystal that had suddenly appeared on his bed.
The moment he touched the crystal, a chilling voice sounded, like his own, but deeper and with an echo: “System booting, binding to host successful… scanning host’s attributes…”
The crystal suddenly melted, turning into a beam of light, and then, under Lu Li’s astonished gaze, it transformed from light into a… cat? A calico female cat, the kind you could see anywhere on the street, but bigger, its fur smooth and shiny, clearly a cat raised in a wealthy household. But what surprised him even more was that two small wings extended from the calico cat’s back. To put it impolitely, they looked like two fried chicken wings from a fried chicken shop. The small, winged female cat even humanly crossed its front paws over its chest and said with a disdainful look, “What’s with that look? Never seen a cat before?”
Lu Li felt his ability to organize language was being greatly challenged. What appeared before him was not a winged cat that could speak human language and float in mid-air, but an Iron Man No. 28, waving its iron fists and smashing his building of common sense—the kind of combat robot that looked like a chimney, full of the simple mechanical aesthetics of the last century.
He pinched his own arm and didn’t feel any pain. It was indeed a dream. He had heard that if you pinched yourself in a dream, you wouldn’t feel pain.
The calico cat flew a circle around Lu Li. “So useless. Are you my future master?”
“You… who are you?” Lu Li was still trying to find a scientific explanation for this flying cat, for example, it was a bionic robot designed by some crazy villain scientist, or it was the vanguard of an alien invader.
“Hmph, didn’t you just hear me? I’m your system, system! Understand?” This was clearly a little girl’s voice. “My name is Miss Lu!”
Miss Lu? This name was also surprisingly familiar. Where had he heard it before?
Lu Li, with a numb expression, grabbed Miss Lu and, ignoring her resistance, carefully inspected every corner of this cat’s body. It was indeed a living cat, not some robot or an alien invader.
Miss Lu, shamed into anger, went to bite Lu Li’s finger. “You pervert! What are you doing to this lady?!”
“…I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m having a little trouble accepting what’s happening.”
“You idiot! You’ve already been reborn. Isn’t it only natural to have a system with you?” Miss Lu was furious.
Reborn… Oh, right… Lu Li slapped his head. He was indeed reborn. If he remembered correctly, he had been pulled into a love suicide by An Baili before, and he had even made up his mind to never get close to An Baili again in this life.
That’s right. He had already been reborn. Isn’t it only natural to have a system with him?
Lu Li slapped his head and inexplicably accepted this reason. There were still some faint questions in his mind, such as where this system came from, why he could be reborn, whether this system was reliable… But when he tried to think carefully, these questions quietly disappeared, bringing his thoughts to an abrupt halt.
This system, what kind of system is it? The moment this thought popped into Lu Li’s mind, Miss Lu answered as if she had read his mind. “This system is a witch-conquering system. This system is a self-rescue system sent to the past by the survivors from the future to save the world.”
Lu Li’s mind was a complete mess. “What do you mean?”
Miss Lu ceremoniously extended her cat paws. Lu Li guessed that this gesture was imitating a human extending an index finger. “Lu Li, did you know? This world is actually ruled by witches.”
“Witches?” Lu Li looked at the people riding bicycles outside the window. He suddenly had a realization. “You’re from a prank variety show, right? You almost fooled me. Haha!”
Miss Lu’s pupils narrowed. She extended her cat paw, and a bright light shot out from it, grazing the edge of Lu Li’s hair and accurately cutting off a section of it. “Lu Li, do you believe me now? This is a power that surpasses the times!”
Lu Li looked at the short hair slowly floating to the ground and opened his mouth wide. “…You talk, I’ll listen.”
It couldn’t be wrong. The power this cat calling herself Miss Lu had just released was powerful enough to be compared to a pistol, and moreover, it had appeared out of thin air. Could it be… that there really was an “other” side to this world?
“That An Baili who committed a love suicide with you, she’s actually a witch too, and a notorious ‘Ravenous Hound’ witch at that.”
Lu Li took a deep breath. He calmed down very quickly. “What exactly is a witch?”
“A witch is a woman who has mastered extraordinary magical power. They have existed in this world since ancient times. All the famous Taoists, alchemists, angels, and mages in history were witches. The number of witches is small, but the power they command is enough for them to become the de facto rulers of this world. The wars between humans are actually just the struggles between witches.” Miss Lu sat on Lu Li’s bed. “The power I used just now is just like breathing to a witch. A powerful witch can even easily destroy a city.”
“In the not-so-distant future, the Tianlang Witch, Zhu Xi, will win the witch war and almost destroy human civilization. To change this future, the survivors sealed me in a system and sent me to the past to help the person I chose to be reborn and complete their mission.”
Lu Li pointed at himself. “You chose me?”
“Of course.”
“If witches are really as strong as you say, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to defeat them even with ten systems.”
Miss Lu shook her head. “That’s not right. No matter how strong you are, you’re still a male and can’t obtain magical power. So from a combat perspective, let alone ten systems, you wouldn’t have a chance even with a hundred. But this system is not a combat system. Its full name is the ‘Witch-Conquering System.’ It’s a system to help you conquer witches and recruit them. Look at your data panel.”
Lu Li opened the data panel, and his expression became strange. The attribute column didn’t have attributes like strength, agility, or intelligence, but some strange things like charm, perception, cooking, and X-ability. His other attributes were mostly hovering around eleven or twelve, but his charm was as high as twenty.
“This system of yours is not very proper, is it?” Lu Li said.
Miss Lu cleared her throat twice. “As long as it can save the world, it doesn’t matter if it’s a black system or a white system; it’s a good system.”
“You can increase your attributes and obtain skills by completing the system’s tasks. The system can also analyze the preferences of the witch you want to conquer through AI and help you formulate a perfect conquest plan. Your goal is to conquer one witch after another and finally defeat the demon king Zhu Xi, who will destroy the world in the future.”
Lu Li quickly stopped her. “Wait a minute. If the system really has this ability, why doesn’t it just go and conquer Zhu Xi directly?”
“You think I don’t want to?” Miss Lu said helplessly. “Zhu Xi is an indifferent and ruthless person. She won’t be conquered by anyone. We can only save the country through a roundabout way.”
“It sounds like this system isn’t very useful either.”
“Nonsense!” Miss Lu jumped up from the bed. “For this system, I injected all my power as a witch into it, which is why I can only move in the form of a cat now. And you’re still saying the system is not good!”
Afraid this cat would bite him again, Lu Li could only beg for mercy. “I misspoke. Then can I refuse?”
“Refuse what?”
“Refuse to be the system’s host. You see, I just want to earn enough money with Yameng and open a small shop. I don’t want to be some hero who saves the world,” Lu Li said seriously. “Those things are too distant from me.”
“Of course not! Once the system has bound to a host, it cannot be canceled! If you’re not willing, the world will be destroyed in thirty years! At that time, let alone you and your sister, everyone will disappear from the world!” Miss Lu said anxiously.
“Then why me?” Lu Li pointed at himself. “A poor boy living in the Low-Rent District, and Zhu Xi—she seems to be the current Fourteenth Princess of the empire, someone I have nothing to do with. Why me?”
“…” Miss Lu was silent for a long time before she squeezed out two words. “Intuition.”
“…That’s too rash.” Lu Li shook his head. “If I were to agree to you, what would I need to do?”
“You need to first conquer the ‘Ravenous Hound’ witch An Baili, who has the highest default favorability toward you, and then find a way to conquer the Swan Witch Chu Jingyi, who is in the same school and class as you and is known as the most talented witch in history.”
Lu Li interrupted her. “Chu Jingyi is also a witch?”
“Of course…”
“You can continue.”
“According to the route I’ve designed for you, you’ll also need to help your sister Zou Yameng activate her witch talent. She will also be a famous White Eagle Witch in the future. This way, you’ll have three top-tier witches in your hands. Next, you’ll need to go abroad to conquer the rumored indifferent and lonely Ice Witch, Shirley Amber. Only by gathering the power of the four great witches will you have a chance to face Zhu Xi head-on. Of course, just the four of them is not enough, you’ll also need…”
Lu Li was dizzy. “Since that’s the case, can I just wash my hands of it? I don’t think I can conquer any of them.”
“But the future of the world now depends on your one thought!” Miss Lu said anxiously. “If you give up, then the world will be destroyed!” Her eyes suddenly lit up. “By the way, after you successfully conquer a witch, you can also get their attributes and magical power. This way, you will also become stronger yourself. The more witches you conquer, the stronger you will be. Is this motivation enough? Don’t you men all like this kind of power-up routine?”
Just then, Lu Li felt the earth shake and the mountains sway. Was it an earthquake?
Miss Lu reacted immediately. “Not good. It’s the Fox Witch Zhu Qiao, the most perceptive one by Zhu Xi’s side! She’s found us! She actually chased us from the future!”
Before Lu Li could ask her for an explanation, he heard a young woman’s voice from outside the street. “Miss Lu, I’ll count to three. If you don’t come out, I’ll destroy this entire street…”
Such a familiar voice, and it doesn’t sound very smart, Lu Li thought for no reason. He was just about to poke his head out to look when he felt the world spin, and his whole person suddenly fell from a high place—
Bang!
“…Are you okay?” Zhu Xi was woken up from her dream and turned to look at Lu Li, who had rolled off the bed.
Lu Li finally opened his eyes dazedly. “…I just had a very strange dream.”
“What dream?”
“I dreamed that I had transmigrated to a world with witches and a system.” Lu Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It must have been the after-effects of playing an adventure game with Baili and the others last night. The girls had formed a team, and in order to limit Lu Li, they had even specially arranged for Miss Lu to be his teammate. In the end, that stupid cat had snatched his dice, causing Lu Li to have to use only one die in the following game, and he was beaten back again and again by the girls. That adventure game seemed to be called Witch War…
Zhu Xi rubbed her eyes and got up to help Lu Li up. “I told you not to play with them so late… It’s still early. Sleep with me for a bit…”
Lu Li looked at her sparse clothing, full of vigor, and reached out to hug her. “Let me see just how capable the Tianlang Witch really is…”
“…You pervert. What nonsense are you talking about again…”
