Chapter 89: Gentle Human x Fierce Wolf Beast 01

System Space.

After many years, Lu Yan returned to the system space, but instead of a warm welcome from the system, he was greeted with a pile of “36 Strategies of Love” laid out before him.

【Host, take a look.】

System 729 stacked a thick pile of love notes at Lu Yan’s feet and handed him the electronic versions as well.

【Host, I got these after chatting with the systems from the Marriage Department. Study them well so you can handle the Demon God with ease in the future.】

Lu Yan: It’s really not necessary to be so formal.

He slowly lowered his eyelashes, his long, dark hair cascading over his shoulders. His face was as beautiful as a painting, as if he had stepped out of one.

“Since you’ve gone through the trouble, I’ll take a look.”

Lu Yan glanced at the surrounding love books and actually sat down obediently to read them.

After all, it’s just reading—it’s not like he’s losing anything.

He wasn’t curious, just studious.

While Lu Yan was engrossed in his reading, System 729 opened the task database of the Comeback Group and began seriously selecting the next mission.

【Hmm? This beast world mission looks simple. Let’s take this one.】

It would be a good chance for its host to take a break and avoid all the constant fighting.

It accepted the mission, which seemed more like a retirement task, and sat nearby waiting for Lu Yan to finish reading all the love notes.

After a long while, Lu Yan finally finished reading, but the more he read, the more confused he became. He felt like he had learned something, yet he was even more puzzled.

He didn’t even know what he had learned!

He asked doubtfully, “System, are you sure these love notes are really effective?”

System 729: 【Absolutely! These are the treasured collections of my system friends.】

It spoke with confidence, but Lu Yan remained skeptical.

With a mix of belief and doubt, Lu Yan packed away these treasured love notes, his strikingly handsome face regaining its usual calm composure.

“Next mission.”

The system nodded cheerfully: 【Alright~】

It quickly opened the system panel and transported its host to the chosen mission world.

Shenzhou Continent, 26th Century.

Deep within a lush forest, a hapless modern youth fell from the sky and landed on a tree. This unlucky soul, hanging from the branches, was none other than Lu Yan, who had just crossed over and was still in a daze.

He freed himself from the tree branch and stared speechlessly at the endless expanse of forest. He poked the system, which was playing dead.

“Care to explain where I’ve landed?”

He had fallen from the sky the moment he arrived, with no time to react at all.

Couldn’t it have picked a better time?

System 729 said with a blank expression: 【You’re in a primitive forest. You’ll need to find your way out on your own.】

It sent over the mission details and the original host’s memories, then quickly made its exit.

Left alone, Lu Yan sighed as he gazed at the forest. He felt like he had stumbled into a survival show, facing such a heavy challenge right from the start.

【Mission Objective: Escape the primitive forest and live to a natural death.】

He first looked at the mission content, but there wasn’t much important information there. In fact, the mission seemed ridiculously simple.

“Shouldn’t this mission belong to the retirement group?” It was entirely a retirement mission!

Lu Yan walked a few steps and sat on a clean rock, beginning to absorb the original host’s memories.

The original host, Jian Tong, was 25 years old and an excellent dancer. He had graduated from a prestigious dance school and had a bright future ahead.

He had started collaborating with the rising music star Xi Jing during his senior year, and their partnership had lasted three years, with plans to continue.

But Jian Tong never expected that Xi Jing’s future wasn’t to shine in 21st-century China but to travel five hundred years into the future to become a music legend in the 26th century—and to drag him along as a minor backup dancer.

To put it bluntly, Jian Tong was unlucky.

He had just finished a performance with Xi Jing and was changing backstage when he stumbled upon the plot point where Xi Jing was whisked away by a temporal rift.

And just like that, Jian Tong was taken along, without anyone asking for his opinion.

Since he wasn’t the protagonist, the temporal rift casually dumped him somewhere—the very primitive forest where Lu Yan now found himself.

“What a stroke of bad luck!” Lu Yan sighed, then checked Jian Tong’s fate.

When Jian Tong fell into the primitive forest, he unfortunately broke his left leg. But his sheer will to survive drove him to drag his injured leg in search of a way out, desperate to leave this unknown wilderness.

Sadly, Jian Tong searched for three whole days!

He never found a way out and eventually collapsed under a towering tree, dying helplessly. His body was later devoured by forest wolves, leaving not even a trace of bones.

His greatest wish before death was to escape the forest, live to a natural death, and stay far away from Xi Jing, the person who had brought him misfortune. He never wanted to be near Xi Jing again.

This intense resentment directly affected the development of the small world, leading to this seemingly retirement-like comeback mission.

After reading this, Lu Yan twitched his lips and couldn’t help but comment, “What kind of psychological trauma did this kid suffer to have such overwhelming resentment after death that it even influenced the world’s trajectory?”

He glanced down at his perfectly intact left leg and stood up steadily from the rock.

“Alright, I’ll get out of here first.”

He didn’t want to stay in such a vast forest.

The slender young man walked away, leaving without a trace.

Not long after, the once-confident young man began to doubt his sense of direction.

“Is it this way? But I think I’ve walked here before. Or was it that way?”

He stared at the two diverging paths ahead, feeling as though he had already walked both.

System 729 couldn’t bear to say: 【Host, Jian Tong is a complete and utter directionally challenged person. He couldn’t tell east from west in the forest.】

【You’re using his body now, so your sense of direction is just as hopeless as his.】

Lu Yan gritted his teeth in frustration, “Jian Tong may be directionally challenged, but I’m not! There’s no way I’m still lost. I refuse to believe I can’t get out.”

System 729: I’m serious…

Fine, let him hit the wall! The heavens will teach every stubborn person a lesson.

Lu Yan gritted his teeth and walked for another two hours, successfully confusing himself even more.

“System, open the system map. I refuse to believe I can still get lost with a map.”

System 729 dutifully opened the map and even thoughtfully marked the nearest exit.

But Lu Yan veered off course again, heading in a direction that was way off from the exit. No matter how much the system reminded him, he couldn’t correct his path.

【Host, it’s already dark. Stop for now. You won’t get out even if you walk all night.】

Lu Yan was utterly baffled, “Why? Why is this happening?”

“There’s no maze or traps in this forest. How come I can’t get out? Is the original host’s directional disability really that severe?”

System 729: 【Yes, it really is!】

【You’re now influenced by the original host’s directional disability and can’t tell which way is which.】

Jian Tong couldn’t even distinguish left from right, let alone east from west.

Lu Yan slumped down on the ground, picking up a small dry twig and drawing circles in the dirt.

“System, can you swear on it?”

System 729: 【Uh… Host, can you not be so childish?】

Lu Yan tossed the twig aside and looked up at the starry night sky.

“Fine, I give up.”

He completely gave up: “System, immediately buy a high-level teleportation talisman from the system store and get me out of this cursed place.”

System 729 said helplessly: 【Host, the mission requires you to walk out of the primitive forest. Please note, it’s ‘walk,’ not ‘teleport.’】

Lu Yan angrily jumped in place.

“Damn it! How am I supposed to walk out like this? It’ll take forever to get it right!”

System 729 cheered him on, 【Persistence is victory. I believe in you.】

Lu Yan: You really overestimate me.

After a moment of silence, he declared with determination, “System, I’ve decided to wait for a passerby to show up. When they do, I’ll follow them out.”

Since the system store could provide supplies, he wouldn’t starve here. Relying on his own sense of direction was hopeless, so he might as well use external help.

System: 【Whatever makes you happy.】

It purchased food and water from the system store and handed them to the hungry Lu Yan.

【It’s getting late. Eat first.】