Chapter 1: Manor Level 1

This is a primeval forest, filled with all kinds of strange and ancient giant trees.

They intertwine and crisscross, soaring high into the clouds, completely obscuring the blue sky.

Beneath the treetops, on the tangled ground covered in roots, all sorts of bizarre and exotic flowers and plants grow, along with countless brightly colored mushrooms.

Underneath a red umbrella-shaped mushroom that’s as tall as two people, a girl wearing a T-shirt, jeans, white sneakers, a round face, and a ponytail is facing off against a fluffy little ball.

“What did you just say? Who are you? Who am I?”

The little ball of fur glances at her with disdain, its eyes narrowed. Could this person be stupid? I’ve explained it three times already, and she still doesn’t get it?

“I am your assassination guidance system. You are Assassination Subject No. 5. This is C4835 Blue Star.”

The little ball patiently continued, “Your only mission here is to assassinate the Demon King. Once you kill him, you will become the ruler of Blue Star. This is the highest reward in the entire universe.”

The girl instinctively bit her lip and fell into another long period of silence.

Her name is Ai Ling. She used to be a chatterbox who loved talking to herself, but now she’s quiet because she’s confused.

She clearly remembers that during her summer vacation in her third year of university, she was shopping with her grandmother when suddenly—bang—a Porsche hit an old man. Just as the car was about to escape, her righteous and courageous grandmother was about to stop it.

Ai Ling, who had always been timid and valued her life above all else, only cared about her grandmother, so she quickly grabbed her and rushed forward, spreading her arms wide, “If you want to run, you’ll have to run over me first…”

Bang!

Before she could finish her sentence, a flash of white light appeared, and Ai Ling found herself here. She felt a red dot on her forehead, making a constant “beep, beep” sound.

Instinctively, Ai Ling slapped at her forehead, and the red dot immediately disappeared, revealing a little ball of fur.

The little ball of fur was white and soft, looking squishable.

Ai Ling reached out to grab it, but the ball suddenly opened its black, shiny eyes and quickly recited the earlier lines.

What Blue Star? What system? What Assassination Subject?

Could she have crossed over?

After asking the same question for the fourth time, Ai Ling finally accepted the reality. Besides being a bit worried about her grandmother, she didn’t feel too bad. There were too many people on Earth, and she had some social anxiety. This planet seemed almost empty… and it appeared there was a mission—kill the Demon King.

She finally asked a different question, “Who is the Demon King?”

The little ball of fur immediately transformed into a large screen, still surrounded by a fuzzy halo.

The screen played a video showing an animal resembling a chimpanzee, carrying a massive cannon to attack a cave. After two shots, a loud roar was heard, and before the chimpanzee could comprehend the situation, a bloody hole appeared in its chest.

In front of it stood a massive silverback gorilla, several times larger than it, holding its heart and squeezing it with force…

The little ball of fur reverted to its original form: “Did you see that? The smaller one is the last batch’s Assassination Subject No. 1, and the bigger one is the Demon King, but the Demon King can transform into different…”

Ugh!

Ai Ling couldn’t hold it in any longer and threw up. She didn’t hear a word the little ball said after that. All that was in her mind were the horrifying images of the bloody hole and the heart being crushed.

After nearly emptying the acid from her stomach, Ai Ling finally straightened up.

The little ball gave her a disdainful look again: “Did you understand everything I just said?”

Ai Ling nodded furiously: “I have only one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“What happens if I don’t kill him?”

The little ball immediately became alert, its fur standing on end: “You can’t not kill him. You’re an Assassination Subject. Your mission is to kill the Demon King, kill the Demon King, kill the Demon King.”

Ai Ling sighed: “I know, I just wanted to ask what would happen if I didn’t kill him. Why are you so nervous? I didn’t say I wouldn’t kill him. You’re being so petty!”

Only then did the little ball relax: “If you don’t kill him, Blue Star will be destroyed by the interstellar fleet in a hundred years. The C4835 star will no longer exist, and you’ll die along with it.”

“A hundred years?” Ai Ling carefully repeated.

“Yes,” the little ball said firmly. “There’s no time left. You are the last batch of Assassination Subjects. If you fail this mission, then…”

“Alright!”

Ai Ling clapped her hands. “I’ve made up my mind. I will work hard to train my body, study assassination techniques diligently, and strive to kill the Demon King with one blow. I vow to protect C4835 star with my life!”

Heh, a hundred years? She’s already 21, there’s no way she’ll live that long.

Looking at how flourishing the plants are on this planet, she probably won’t starve to death. Why not just live a carefree life, growing some crops and flowers, and enjoying peace?

Hmm, killing the Demon King isn’t going to happen. She’s not killing anyone. She’s choosing to farm and live a happy life.

The little ball nodded in satisfaction: “Good. Now let’s assign your skill points! Just to clarify, these skill points won’t be added to you directly, they’re used in the store. For example, if you add points to attack, the store will offer more and better weapons for attack. The same applies to survival. Most other Assassination Subjects add points to attack since your mission is assassination.”

“Enough with the nonsense, just let me choose!” Ai Ling felt the system was way too talkative. She was already chatty enough, and this little thing was no better.

The little ball transformed into a small tablet, and sure enough, there were several options:

Remaining skill points: 100

Skills: Survival 0, Attack 0

Ai Ling didn’t hesitate and immediately clicked all the points into survival: Survival 100, Attack 0.

Then, she confirmed.

The little ball of fur suddenly turned back into its original form, its fur bristling: “You actually put all the points into survival? Then how do you plan to kill the Demon King?”

Ai Ling leisurely replied, “Ah, don’t worry about it. I have my own ways.”

The little ball stared at her for a long time, then suddenly said, “Do you want to hear the rules for exchanging in the store?”

Ai Ling quickly stopped it, “No, no, no, I can’t handle that much information right now. I’m hungry, thirsty, and tired. Can you take me somewhere to rest first?”

The little ball, unable to endure any longer, snapped, “Fine, I’ll show you. We’ll find a place near the Demon King’s cave.”

Ai Ling hurriedly stopped it, “No, no, no, don’t worry about how far it is from the Demon King’s cave. Just help me find a place with water, flat land, and plants. I’ll handle the rest.”

The little ball gave her a sideways glance, “I have everything arranged. I won’t let you get yourself killed. So talk less.”

Oh, this system is really bossy.

The little ball led the way in front, while Ai Ling followed behind, stumbling over her feet.

The forest was full of strange flowers and trees, and the air was thick with strange insects.

There were mosquito-like creatures that chased after her, trying to suck her blood. They looked like spiders, spun webs, and had triangular heads with long needle-like proboscises, scaring Ai Ling into picking up a giant leaf and swatting them away.

There were caterpillar-like creatures covered in sharp spines, but these caterpillars were as thick and long as snakes. One of them blocked her path, making it impossible for her to move forward.

Of course, where there were larvae, there were also adult insects—huge butterflies, as large as eagles. Just one flap of their wings could create a strong gust, not to mention the dust-like scales in the air, which made Ai Ling almost choke.

There were also ants with barbed stingers, ladybugs that were as hard as steel and couldn’t be crushed, dragonflies that spewed venom, flying insects that could spit small flames, and so on.

These creatures were at least familiar to her from common knowledge, but there were many more that completely exceeded Ai Ling’s understanding, almost scaring her to death.

The little ball kept enjoying her distress from the front: “Scared by this? There’s worse…”

“Danger—”

Before it finished speaking, the little ball suddenly disappeared, leaving Ai Ling standing there, wide-eyed and alone.

Not far in front of her to the right, several massive trees, as thick as five people’s embrace, were coiled with several snake-like creatures. These creatures had long, rhinoceros-horn-like spines growing from their heads and thick, white-glowing scales.

They appeared to be “chatting,” hanging their heads down from a height of six stories, flicking their tongues at each other and entangling together.

The sound of their scales rubbing against each other gave Ai Ling goosebumps.

Standing in front of them, Ai Ling felt as insignificant as an ant that could be easily crushed.

At this moment, she regretted it a little. Maybe she should have added a bit to her attack skill, even a weapon for self-defense would be useful.

Or perhaps, she should have just gone straight to the Demon King’s cave and let the Demon King kill her by tearing out her heart. That would be better than being bitten by insects or eaten by snakes in this forest.

Although she thought this way, her human survival instincts still dominated. She slowly began to step leftward, moving cautiously and making sure not to make a sound.

The strange snakes hadn’t noticed her yet, she still had a chance.

She carefully moved inch by inch and finally managed to hide behind a large tree. Just as she was about to relax, “Smack!” Something that looked like a frog but also like a bat suddenly jumped up and landed on her face.

An alien?!?!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Ai Ling, terrified for her life, slapped the creature off her face, closed her eyes, and screamed wildly while running away as fast as she could.

Her piercing screams startled a flock of strange birds. With a flap of their wings, they flew through the treetops above, letting beams of clean sunlight shine down, like searchlights from another world, giving this clueless little lost lamb a bit of light.

At this moment, the “Demon King Slayer Project” live stream, which had been silent for a long time, started showing a few scattered comments:

【I think this is the 11806th batch of Demon King Slayer Project, right? Didn’t they say each batch evolves based on the previous one? What’s up with this No. 5? It looks like the first batch, no, it’s even worse than the first batch.】

【This show has been airing for almost ten thousand years. I have grandchildren now. I didn’t want to watch, but my grandfather insisted. His grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s will told the descendants to watch and visit his grave after seeing the end. Alright, I’m also preparing to write my will now…】

【I guess the old witch has already given up. It’s the last episode, so only old people are watching. Everyone, let’s stay calm!】

【Can’t say calm, I’m furious! Send me to Blue Star, I’ll kill the Demon King!】

【Huh, where is this? I think I’ve switched channels by mistake.】

【Hey, me too! I came in and saw an ancestor running like crazy. By the way, where is this place? Why are there so many plants? My eyes are completely cleansed.】

【Why do I have to watch an idiot running?】

【Old folks, why aren’t you rambling anymore?】

【Forget it, I’m out!】

【I’ll keep watching. That ancestor’s crazy screaming is actually kind of exciting, hehe!】

—

At this moment, Queen Wa Star, Supreme Commander of the Star Federation Fleet, planner of the Demon King Project, and creator of the Demon King Slayer Project, Luo Ling, was also standing behind the screen, quietly observing the scene.

Her long snake tail swayed gracefully, and her emerald green eyes glowed with a poisonous light, like flowing venom that could eat away at one’s soul. The final batch of Demon King Slayer Project, please don’t disappoint my extraordinary modifications…