Chapter 23: Stealing the Cheat System

Su Nianzhi wore a bright smile on her face, her small dimples appearing and disappearing with each movement.

But to Lu Shanshan, the woman standing before her looked like a demon.

Her instinct was to step back, but her body, still weak from the miscarriage, refused to cooperate.

The reason she was still awake so late was because the system had unexpectedly declared her mission a failure—
and had retracted many of the benefits she had previously obtained.

The blow made her feel worse than death.

For example, she had previously fed Lu’s mother the “Favor Pills,” which were the reason Lu’s mother had begun to dote on her.
But today, the effects were gone. She could clearly sense Lu’s mother’s blatant disdain.

However, due to the accumulation of memories over time, Lu’s mother felt conflicted. Her real thoughts were clashing with the emotional residue of those memories. So, for now, she still acted on habit and instinctively fed her and gave her water.

But Lu Shanshan knew clearly that as time passed, Lu’s mother’s true nature would inevitably come to light.

“Zhizhi, w-what are you talking about?”
Her face looked panicked, but inwardly she was screaming at the system:

【System! System! How does that little bitch Su Nianzhi know about your existence?!】

In her mind, the system was equally flustered:

【Host, something’s wrong with this Su Nianzhi—I can’t control her. Kill her!】

Lu Jiajia was stunned. Kill someone? She…

【Host, kill her, and I’ll clear all your current debt and give you 100 bonus points.】

Lu Jiajia’s previously conflicted expression instantly lit up.

Such a good deal…

Su Nianzhi, watching the woman’s shifting expression, knew right away that she was making some kind of deal with the “thing” in her head.

She had no patience for small talk.

She directly used her mental power to restrain Lu Jiajia.

“Say what you were going to do.”

Lu Jiajia’s eyes went blank. “Kill Su Nianzhi.”

Su Nianzhi narrowed her eyes. “Who told you to do that?”

“The system.”

At this moment, the system in Lu Jiajia’s mind panicked too. It realized it couldn’t wake her up, nor could it launch an attack on Su Nianzhi.

It instinctively sensed danger.

It immediately began forcefully unbinding itself from Lu Jiajia.

Su Nianzhi sensed a strange shift in mental energy.

Her expression turned cold. Heh, trying to run now? You think it’s that easy?

She drove her spiritual energy directly into the glowing cluster inside Lu Jiajia’s mind.

With almost no effort, she accessed the system interface.

“Heh, you really are pathetic.”

The system immediately let out a blaring alarm, trying to expel her from its space.

Su Nianzhi watched the flickering light cluster and split a thread of her mental power to wrap around it tightly.

“Little thing, you’ve got guts—trying to kill me?”

【Let me go, let me go! I can give you whatever you want. I can bind with you—just let me go!】

Su Nianzhi nearly burst out laughing. Did it think she was an idiot? Or a mindless zombie from the apocalypse?

Let something like this bind with her? Work for it?

Pfft.

The system thought Su Nianzhi was tempted.

It kept dangling bait:

【If you bind with me, you’ll become a winner in life. You can have limitless wealth…】

Su Nianzhi gave the system a disgusted look—just like someone watching a scam artist pitch a pyramid scheme.

She sealed its “mouth” shut with her mental power.

She didn’t want to hear anything it had to say.

Things like this—whatever it dared say, she wouldn’t believe it anyway.

First rule of survival in the apocalypse: trust no one.
Sometimes, not even yourself.

Su Nianzhi wove her spiritual power into countless delicate threads and wrapped the entire glowing orb.

She began invading every corner of its structure.

The more she saw, the more shocked she became.

Her face grew darker and darker.

This lousy system had harmed countless people.

It always used small, enticing benefits to deceive people into binding with it.
Then, after squeezing them dry of their value, it would abandon them without a care whether they lived or died.

Heh.

Su Nianzhi’s mental power dove even deeper toward its core.

Heh—so this wasn’t even a real system.

It was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

In truth, it was an ancient artifact spirit of a spatial tool.

It disguised itself as a system to bind with people, but what it really established was a master-servant contract.

It was the master.
The so-called “hosts” were just slaves.

How amusing.

This artifact spirit’s goal was to eventually take human form. That’s why it constantly made people complete missions—it was actually stealing the world’s fate energy.

Lu Jiajia and Zhang Wenliang… so they were actually the male and female leads of this entire plotline.

Now it all made sense.

Su Nianzhi stared at the glowing stone in the core.

The so-called system began to scream madly.

【I-I was wrong! I’m willing to sign a contract with you, master! Please spare me!】

Of course, Su Nianzhi wasn’t having any of that.

Her spiritual power fully enveloped the system’s true form.

The system, realizing resistance was futile, began fighting back, trying to tear at Su Nianzhi’s mind.

Sharp pain echoed in her brain.

【I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you…】

A centipede dies but never falls stiff.
Even damaged, this “system” still had power.

A surge of resistance tried to counterattack and invade Su Nianzhi’s mind.

Su Nianzhi gritted her teeth and pulled together every ounce of her spiritual strength.

She launched it back like a tidal wave at the “system.”

The glowing orb began to dim.

【Spare me! Spare me!】

It let out a shrill, miserable wail.

Su Nianzhi didn’t hesitate for a second.

She erased the artifact spirit completely.