There was no other way; Jiang Kun had to keep a low profile, proactively applying for transfers away from the core regions and gradually marginalizing himself.
From the provincial capital to the prefecture-level city, from the prefecture-level city to the county town, from the small town to this remote city whose name few even remembered.
One step back at a time, he retreated until no one paid him any attention anymore. He estimated his file had been shoved into the bottom drawer, gathering dust.
Over these years, he had lived steadily as an ordinary investigator. No one came to bother him, no one noticed him, and eventually, no one even remembered him.
This was exactly what he wanted; he harbored far too many secrets.
The Heaven-Defying Fate-Changing System was still operational to this day, though it was temperamental and frequently went offline.
Sometimes it would remain silent for months on end, and then it would suddenly jump out to issue some troublesome mission before vanishing again.
The rewards were also becoming increasingly sinister. In the past, it at least gave out normal points, skills, items, or cultivation methods, but over time, they had turned into bizarre, ghostly things.
For instance, Deep Ones that could be commanded, tattoos with special effects, and an evil manuscript called the 《Record of Fleshy Excrescence Longevity》...
One look was enough to tell these things were no good, yet he still sought them out with feverish intensity.
At first, he had been very resistant to the harmful missions issued by the system, but he had been forced to complete them for the sake of the rewards.
Now, he could accept them with total composure; in fact, he would even act proactively without the system's prompting. He had come to love the sensation of committing evil and ruining others.
Jiang Kun had once wondered who had given him this system and why he was so lucky to be the one chosen.
And why were the missions getting stranger and stranger, as if they were specifically designed to push Zhongzhou into the abyss?
He couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. Regardless, the system was bound to him and could not be uninstalled.
Ding!
A crisp notification sound rang in his mind, like someone ringing a bell inside his skull.
Jiang Kun's body stiffened before he quickly relaxed. He was very familiar with this sound—the system was back online.
The familiar interface automatically popped up in his field of vision. But unlike before, a dialog box appeared in the center of the interface, reading:
【System update complete. Version: v4.2.7.】
【Update contents: Optimized mission issuance mechanism, fixed several known bugs. Please check the update log for new content.】
Jiang Kun was stunned.
An update?
This broken system actually received updates?
He had thought the system was broken, which was why it spent most of its time dormant, only waking up occasionally to issue a mission before dropping offline again.
The dialog box vanished, and a new window popped up: 【Update Gift】
Jiang Kun didn't hesitate and clicked the gift immediately.
A ball of light exploded before his eyes, and then a wave of information flooded into his consciousness.
It was as if someone had opened a door in his mind, engraving knowledge directly into his cerebral cortex.
An evil art to refine living people into medicine!
No, this wasn't some evil art; this was a goddamn immortal technique!
Jiang Kun's eyes lit up, his breathing grew ragged, and his fingers trembled slightly.
This technique was more precious than any reward he had received from the system over the years!
He was a man who had seen the world and encountered all sorts of bizarre things.
Yet, the refinement method for this "medicine" still left him in awe.
It was too exquisite, perfectly suited to his needs, and had no entry requirements. As long as he had enough materials and patience, he could refine a universal "medicine" that would perfectly augment himself.
The corners of Jiang Kun's mouth slowly curled up as he let out a heartfelt smile.
It had been a long time since he had smiled like this.
"Good, this is truly good stuff."
Outside the window, the sky was gradually darkening.
He needed to think carefully about where to find the materials for refining the medicine.
...
Yue Shi spent most of the day wandering Liming City.
He observed this city thirty years in the future, the citizens hurrying about their lives, and the anxiety and hope that permeated the streets and alleys.
The ground was damp, and the air didn't smell particularly pleasant.
Walking through a commercial street, the shops on both sides were filled with all kinds of merchandise.
A middle-aged man in a suit was shouting at a subordinate over the phone, his tone as harsh as if he were scolding a dog. After hanging up, a sudden, inexplicable surge of irritability welled up in his heart.
That irritability wasn't dissatisfaction with his work, but rather hostility toward everyone around him.
He glanced at an old woman waiting for the red light nearby and felt that her presence there was an eyesore; he wanted to give her a shove.
He didn't know what was wrong with him, so he could only grip his briefcase tightly and quicken his pace to leave.
Not far away, a couple was walking hand-in-hand. The man was looking down at his phone while the woman was saying something.
Suddenly, the man's gaze shifted from his phone screen to a nearby streetlamp.
A strong urge surged in his heart to let go of his girlfriend's hand and embrace the streetlamp.
The streetlamp was his true love!
The woman noticed his distraction and squeezed his hand hard. He finally snapped back to his senses, forced a smile, and suppressed that urge.
How terrifying. How could he have fallen in love with a streetlamp at first sight?
Yue Shi wore a faint smile. As he wandered, he would randomly bestow "blessings," leading people toward corruption.
Sometimes, he would use sinful connections to messily tie red strings between people, adding a bit of turmoil to their lives.
Everywhere he went, he would sow seeds of corruption, placing a minor curse on everyone. The victims themselves wouldn't notice, but as the curses accumulated, they would grow like a rolling snowball, getting larger and larger.
By evening, the sky had cleared.
The post-rain sky revealed a rare, washed azure, without a single cloud.
The sunlight shone obliquely from the west, casting the shadows of buildings across the ground like a massive ink wash painting.
Yue Shi stood on an overpass, looking toward the distant skyline. The glow of the setting sun made the entire city look like a piece of burning amber.
Just then, Yue Shi noticed a black arrow appear at the edge of his vision.
He subconsciously turned his head, trying to focus on the arrow.
But the arrow moved, remaining consistently at the edge of his vision. No matter how he turned his gaze, it always stayed just outside his direct line of sight.
What a familiar feeling.
"Silent Silhouette?" Yue Shi's brow furrowed slightly.
The ghost drifted out from his collar and looked in the direction of his gaze, seeing nothing. "What?"
"An old acquaintance," Yue Shi said.
An existence that always remained at the edge of an observer's vision, impossible to look at directly.
That black arrow seemed to be the other party leading the way.
Yue Shi followed the direction indicated by the arrow and walked down the overpass.
The arrow floated ahead, continuing to guide him.
The streets grew narrower, the buildings on both sides became shorter, and pedestrians grew fewer.
Suddenly, clumps of clouds rose around him, fluffy and soft like cotton candy.
The clouds drifted at low altitudes, and several of them condensed into small whales that swam through the air.
This was somewhat familiar. Yue Shi thought of the Bureau headquarters in the old world—the complex of buildings on the back of the Cloud Whale.
Rate on N.U.
