Chapter 2: System Task

While everyone else was arguing, what Xiaojiu was thinking about was that voice in her head—it had said, “Protect the villagers to receive a reward.”
But it hadn’t said how she was supposed to protect them.

After a bit of thought, Xiaojiu snatched the stick from Zhao Hu’s father and swung it in a wide arc—one swipe sent a bunch of people from Xiàhé Village sprawling.
A few more swings, and not a single person from Xiàhé Village was left standing.
Everyone on the ground was either clutching their leg or holding their head, groaning in pain.

Hmm.
All of Xiàhé Village’s people were down.
All of Táoyuán Village’s people were still standing.
If that’s not protection, then what is?

Feeling quite satisfied, Xiaojiu waved for everyone to head back.

The villagers stared in disbelief at their tiny Village Chief, who was carrying a stick taller than herself and had just flattened more than ten grown men from Xiàhé Village. Their jaws were practically hitting the ground.

On the way back, everyone had different thoughts.

The clan elder thought: The old village chief’s dream was right—she really is extraordinary at such a young age.

Zhao Dalang thought: Holy crap, so that’s how powerful my stick is? I’m putting it on the shrine when I get home.

Zhao Hu thought: Thank heavens my dad didn’t use that stick on me.

Other villagers thought: No wonder she’s our little immortal—took down a whole village all by herself.

…

And so, the previously stunned crowd now marched proudly behind the Village Chief back to the village, bursting with energy.

They couldn’t wait to get home and tell the others who had missed the scene what just happened.

The moment they saw anyone, they started bragging:

“Did you know? Our Village Chief is amazing!”

“She knows martial arts! She’s a master fighter!”

“She has divine strength!”

“She took out a whole group of people with just one swing of her stick!”

“…”

And as the stories spread, they grew more and more exaggerated.

By the end, it had turned into:
The Village Chief just waved her hand, and the entire enemy side fell down!

The villagers were absolutely thrilled.
They had no idea their Village Chief was this powerful.

As for whether Xiaojiu actually knew martial arts?
The answer was—nope.

Shi Xiaojiu remembered she used to be a little zombie.
Before the apocalypse hit, she had been in elementary school.
Then somehow, she turned into a little zombie. After that, she was constantly hunted by groups of ability users.

Apparently, according to them, she was some kind of Zombie King—and a very powerful one at that.
They all wanted to crack open her skull and steal the crystal inside her brain.

But they were all so weak!
A whole bunch of grown-ups, ganging up on one elementary school kid—and still losing.

And so, she wandered all over the place.
She didn’t need to eat because she never got hungry.
Nobody wanted to play with her because everyone was scared of her and only wanted to dig into her head.

Her only entertainment each day was fighting with those ability users.

Until one day, she saw her mom and dad.
They were holding her little brother and waving at her from afar.
She happily ran toward them—
But before she could reach them, she was blown away by an explosion.

Oh, right—before she was blown up, she saw her parents crying.
She figured they had been searching for her for so long that they cried from happiness upon seeing her.

When she opened her eyes again, she was lying under a banyan tree on the back mountain—and had turned into a baby.

Then a group of people found her.
She thought they were another group out to hurt her and was about to use her mental powers to knock them out and go back to wandering again.

But instead, they insisted she was the village chief and brought her home to raise her carefully.

And just like that, Shi Xiaojiu’s wandering days were over.
She followed those people back to Táoyuán Village.

These past few years living in Táoyuán Village had made her very happy.

The villagers were kind to her.
The aunties kept their houses spotless and styled her hair in pretty braids.
The kids were willing to play with her.
Every time the villagers went to town, they brought back tasty food and fun trinkets for her.

Xiaojiu really liked them.

She had never learned martial arts.
But she did have mental powers.
And she was very strong.

As for how strong exactly—she didn’t know.
She just knew that none of those ability users back in the apocalypse could beat her.

Back at her residence, the voice in Little Jiu’s mind rang out again:

“Successfully protected the villagers of Taoyuan Village. Reward: 50 points + one bag of sweet potato seedlings.”

Little Jiu stared blankly at the bag of sweet potato seedlings that suddenly appeared on the ground.

She remembered that the voice in her head had first appeared just a few days ago.

It said it was called the System.

It claimed to be here to help her become a qualified village chief.

Little Jiu felt that she was already a qualified village chief—just look at how much the villagers liked her.

But she was still very interested in the rewards and this thing called “points.”

The system told her that points could be used to exchange for items in the System Store, and that sweet potato seedlings could be planted to grow sweet potatoes, which were a kind of food that could keep the villagers full.

Little Jiu glanced through the items in the System Store and thought it was just like playing a game—earn points to exchange for things. She found it very fun. Right now, her account showed that she had 50 points, and the currently exchangeable items were all snacks, including:

Candy — 1 point for 20 pieces

Instant noodles — 1 point per pack

Cola — 1 point per bottle

Snail noodles — 3 points per pack
…

Looking at all these snacks, Little Jiu began to drool.

Seeing her mind filled with nothing but food, the system had to remind her again:

“Host, one of the necessary requirements for becoming a qualified village chief is to ensure the villagers have enough to eat. Please make an effort to grow sweet potatoes.”

“But it hasn’t rained at all lately. The ground is all cracked. How am I supposed to plant anything?” Little Jiu said as she used 1 point to exchange for 20 candies with various animal wrappers.

Twenty candies appeared in her hand instantly. However, the candy wrappers were different from the ones she had seen in the modern world. They were wrapped in ancient-style candy paper, each with cute animal drawings in bright, colorful patterns—adorable and pretty.

She unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth. Mmm, so tasty.

Little Jiu squinted her eyes happily.

“Please strive to become a qualified village chief and stop eating,” the system reminded again.

“But I don’t know how to plant sweet potatoes.”

The system immediately played a tutorial video on how to plant sweet potatoes for her.

“But it’s still not raining. How can I plant them now?” Little Jiu complained.

“It will rain tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Our system never lies.” After saying this, the system went silent.

Upon hearing the news, Little Jiu quickly stuffed the remaining candies into her pocket and ran out to find the clan elder. She thought the elders would be very happy to hear this.

Along the way, she encountered many villagers, all greeting her warmly.

“Village chief, where are you going?”

“Going to see Grandpa Clan Elder!”

“Village chief, walk slowly!”

“Okay!”

“Village chief, want some candy? My dad bought it in town today!”

“No thanks, I’ve got candy!” she said as she stuffed two White Rabbit milk candies into the hands of the little girl who had offered her some.

“……..”

Little Jiu was extremely satisfied. See? She was clearly a very qualified village chief.

Soon, she arrived at the clan elder’s courtyard.

She saw Clan Elder Zhou’s little grandson, Shi Tou, playing at the gate. Little Jiu took two candies out of her pocket, unwrapped one and popped it into his mouth, and put the other in his pocket.

Three-year-old Shi Tou, with a candy in his mouth and eyes wide open, thought this candy tasted way better than the ones his grandpa brought back from town.

He happily flailed his hands and feet:
“Thank you, village chief! Are you here to see my grandpa?”

The voice in her head came again:

“Caring for the villagers. Reward: 5 points + one egg-laying wild chicken.”

Wait, seriously?

Little Jiu looked around, confused: “Where’s the chicken?”

She thought the reward would appear right away like before.

The system responded: “Please be patient, Host.”

“Alright then.”

Little Jiu patted Shi Tou’s head and asked, “Is Grandpa Zhou home?”

“Yes!” Shi Tou said, as he grabbed her hand and led her inside, shouting in his milky voice,
“Grandpa! The village chief is here!”