Chapter 26: Origins, Quack Doctor Harms People Part 3

Feng Jin originally had no connection to their world. That is, until the day she died, when something calling itself the Strategy System approached her.

Bo Xuenong was puzzled. “Strategy System?”

“That’s right.”

From Feng Jin’s explanation, Bo Xuenong roughly understood that the Strategy System was an almighty artifact that shuttled between different worlds. Those who formed a contract with it could accumulate points to exchange for all sorts of things from it—money, spirit tools, pills, special abilities… The more powerful the item, the more points it required.

Points were obtained by completing system tasks, conquering Strategy Targets.

Feng Jin’s initial Strategy Targets were her birth parents in her original world. Unfortunately, she failed all ten conquest attempts.

Feng Jin had congenital deafness. Her parents despised her for being unable to hear and abandoned her to her elderly grandmother in the village. After parting ways, they each formed new families. At first, they still sent her some money, but once they had new children, they stopped caring about her—or even the elderly grandmother.

That year, when she was ten, her grandmother broke her leg and could no longer care for her. The news reached her parents, who only replied, “If she can’t survive, then just die.”

Later, her grandmother died, and she starved to death as well.

That was the day the System found her. As long as her parents’ affection value toward her reached one hundred percent, she and her grandmother would both gain healthy bodies and happy lives.

Whether for herself or her grandmother, Feng Jin had no reason to refuse. So the System took her back to the day she was abandoned by her parents. At first, things went smoothly. She used points from tasks to cure her ears. But recovering her hearing only let her stay with her parents half a month longer. The rest of the story didn’t change at all.

Feng Jin died again.

This repeated several times. Feng Jin finally realized this was an impossible task. Because the System had set her parents as the Strategy Targets from the start, every task it issued revolved around them. This practically doomed Feng Jin’s tasks to failure. Without points, she couldn’t get any help from the System.

No matter how many retries or changes, it only altered the timing of her abandonment, the manner and place of her death.

Her parents would never love her.

As the failures mounted, the System’s energy dwindled. Finally, it decided to give her new Strategy Targets. But the System’s level was too low to change them in her original world, so it brought her to a slightly lower-level novel world.

As a result, because it was the System’s first time in a novel world and it lacked experience, an accident occurred during the world connection. Not only did it pull in countless souls who had died at the hands of other System hosts, it also mass-sent the tasks originally meant for just Feng Jin alone. That was why Guan Caimei came from another cultivation world, knew the full plot of this world, and sought out Shen Yanting.

Bo Xuenong understood. Her gaze gradually turned dangerous. “You’re saying Guan Caimei sought out Master because of you all?”

Feng Jin’s heart sank. She hurriedly said, “Senior Sister! Without us, you wouldn’t know the plot. If you didn’t know the plot, you and Elder Shen would both meet the deaths written in the book! Even if you’re willing to die, what about Elder Shen!”

“You’re right.” Bo Xuenong’s fingertip pressed against Feng Jin’s neck. Her eyes gradually turned crimson. “But you turned Master into prey. I don’t like the way Guan Caimei looks at Master.”

Feng Jin nervously grabbed Bo Xuenong’s hand. “Senior Sister, there are many Strategy Targets. It… it was Guan Caimei who chose Elder Shen herself. It has nothing to do with us.”

Bo Xuenong released Feng Jin. “Explain clearly.”

Feng Jin let out a light gasp of relief and glanced at Bo Xuenong, still shaken. Then she said, “In novel worlds, the Strategy System usually picks important characters revolving around the protagonists. This book is quite long, with many important characters: Female Protagonist Yu Cenwan, male lead Cheng Huaizhou, Female Protagonist’s master, male lead’s master, Female Protagonist’s arch-rival, male lead’s confidante… and you and Elder Shen.”

“Me?”

Feng Jin nodded firmly. “Yes, you’re both. There are around twenty people in this book who can be Strategy Targets.”

Bo Xuenong remembered now—Guan Caimei’s memories also had the option to choose her. She just hadn’t expected there to be so many other selectable targets besides them.

Bo Xuenong pursed her lips slightly. “Guan Caimei deserves to die.”

Feng Jin hurriedly agreed. “Exactly!”

Bo Xuenong glanced at Feng Jin. “You and the System deserve to die too.”

Feng Jin was scared into silence. Bo Xuenong was just venting her frustration deep down and had no real intention of killing her. She continued asking, “Did you pull in many people like that?”

“The System’s energy could only draw souls from worlds with backgrounds similar to this one—those who died complete under other System hosts’ swords. There probably aren’t too many. After all, cultivators’ souls rarely remain intact after death. And without suitable bodies, those souls would just drift in this world without any chance of waking.”

So that meant one of those drifting souls had now possessed Fu Aoqing?

Bo Xuenong grew even more irritated. “Can’t your System check?”

“It can.” Feng Jin lowered her head sheepishly. “But it’s very expensive. I don’t have enough points.”

Bo Xuenong gave Feng Jin an odd look. “How long have you been here?”

“Two hundred years.”

Bo Xuenong felt puzzled. “You haven’t saved up any points in two hundred years?”

Feng Jin lowered her head, not very embarrassed. “I saved a little, but I used it all on you.”

“On me?”

“Senior Sister.” Feng Jin nodded, rubbing her sleeve cuff guiltily. “Senior Sister, why don’t you check it yourself? Anyway, the System… you have a share in it now too.”

Bo Xuenong hadn’t figured out what she meant by “you also have a share” when Feng Jin handed her a black token. The moment Bo Xuenong took the token, a light screen suddenly appeared before her eyes. The light screen was divided into three panels: two task panels and one exchange panel. The two task panels were named Love Firmer Than Gold and Punish Evil, Promote Good.

At the top of the Love Firmer Than Gold Panel was the name of a strategy target, divided into gold, silver, and black categories. Bo Xuenong spotted Shen Yanting’s golden name at a glance. Her own name was there too, but it was only silver. The female protagonist Yu Cenwan and the male lead Cheng Huaizhou’s names were also gold.

Below the strategy target names were the tasks Feng Jin had completed.

【Host Feng Jin received praise from Shen Yanting. Points +5】

【Assistant Bo Xuenong had intimate contact with Shen Yanting once. Points +10】

【Assistant Bo Xuenong received sweet praise from Shen Yanting. Points +5】

……

The Love Firmer Than Gold task panel surprisingly only had three task points, two of which were completed by Bo Xuenong.

After a brief silence, Bo Xuenong turned her gaze to the second Punish Evil, Promote Good panel. The names there were also divided into gold, silver, and black, but there weren’t as many as in Love Firmer Than Gold. Here, Bo Xuenong saw the names He Yongshi and Guan Caimei. Guan Caimei’s name was gold, He Yongshi’s was black, and the rest—dozens of names—were all from the Imperial Serenity Sect, mostly black, with only Cui Huaizhou’s being silver.

There were many completed tasks on the Punish Evil, Promote Good panel, but the points weren’t high. The highest one was still the one where Bo Xuenong killed Guan Caimei.

【Assistant Bo Xuenong successfully killed the peerless evil person Guan Caimei. Points +100】

Apart from that one for Guan Caimei, the rest were mostly adding five points at a time, even one or two points.

【Host Feng Jin crippled the early stage evil person He Yongshi. Points +5】

【Host Feng Jin injured the early stage evil person Feng Fei. Points +1】

【Host…】

……

Bo Xuenong scrolled all the way down without reaching the end. She finally understood why Feng Jin pretended to be fierce. These past two hundred years, she had been scraping together points by injuring others.

Given the way she earned points, it was already impressive that she had any left.

Bo Xuenong finally turned her gaze to the exchange panel. When she saw what Feng Jin had exchanged for, she nearly blacked out.

Beast taming pills and beast essence pills cost five points each, and Feng Jin had spent a full sixty points to exchange for these seventh-grade pills. She spent twenty points on this conversation space. Bo Xuenong had thought it was amazing that the system could exchange for pills at first, but now seeing how hard Feng Jin worked for points, she only felt it was too inefficient.

Bo Xuenong scrolled further down. Feng Jin really hadn’t lied to her; nearly all the points she had saved were spent on her.

【Congratulations, host! Spent one thousand points to successfully bind Bo Xuenong as your assistant! Ding! Points from assistant-completed tasks will be halved.】

【Congratulations, host! Spent five hundred points to exchange half-price Mind Reading Technique for assistant Bo Xuenong.】

【Congratulations, host! Successfully exchanged Qi Condensation Cultivation Halo for one hundred points.】

【Congratulations, host! Successfully exchanged Infinite Strength for two hundred points.】

【Congratulations, host! Successfully exchanged Foundation Establishment Cultivation Halo for one hundred points.】

【Congratulations, host…】

Feng Jin had spent fifteen hundred points on her, while she herself had only spent over eight hundred, half of which went to those cultivation halos. The most recent exchange was the Golden Core Cultivation Halo. Bo Xuenong roughly guessed the purpose of the cultivation halos but still decided to ask Feng Jin, “What are the cultivation halos for?”

Feng Jin forced a smile. “I haven’t completed the primary task, so I don’t qualify to live in this world. That’s why my body can only grow to ten years old. Even with a spirit root, I can’t cultivate. I can only use cultivation halos to make myself look like a normal cultivator.”

Bo Xuenong frowned. She hadn’t expected Feng Jin’s golden core early stage to be fake. “What is your primary task?”

Feng Jin could see the same light screen as Bo Xuenong. She pointed to the names on the Love Firmer Than Gold Panel. “To make one of them love me wholeheartedly, with affection at one hundred percent.”