Chapter Six: Unexpected Complications

Hei Yu was force-fed a mouthful of fate threads by the system.

Then, the system took control of his body again. With a swift motion, he turned over the parapet of the building, slipped into a house along the alley, leapt up to the second-floor balcony, and then vaulted onto the rooftop of the third floor.

His movements were smooth and seamless. Hei Yu watched it all as if he was a mere spectator living inside his own body. Under the system’s influence, his breathing remained steady, but inside, his emotions surged like a raging tide.

Under the system’s control, this overweight body—one that had suffered from years of neglect and lack of exercise—could actually execute feats found only in martial arts novels, like running up walls and leaping across rooftops?

If someone had recorded the scene that just happened, wouldn’t he become an internet sensation?

People nowadays were always filming things with their phones. What if someone had captured it and posted it online?

Now that control of his body had returned, Hei Yu looked around warily for anyone who might have recorded him.

As it turned out, he had chosen a spot so remote that his view was entirely blocked by other abandoned buildings. Other than Yi Ren Zhi Shu, who lay in the alley, there was not a soul in sight.

Hei Yu felt a little disappointed, but then he thought, if only he could master such moves, he could shoot an action film or something.

I’d film fight scenes and never use a stunt double.

He could already picture himself standing before reporters, rehearsing what he’d say.

Ha! Maybe he really could become a star and earn a hundred million in the process.

Hei Yu’s thoughts raced, his heart brimming with delight.

Suddenly, a string of text floated before his eyes, shattering his daydream.

[System: Fate thread absorbed. Body stats have changed as follows:]

[Stamina +5, now 7 points total]

[Charm +2, now 3 points total]

[Agility +9, now 1 point total]

[Magic Power +0, now 0 points total]

[Luck +10, now -39,000 points total]

Pathetic. Hei Yu looked at his original stats, and when he saw that last luck value, he nearly coughed up blood in frustration.

No wonder his luck had been so abysmal these past ten years.

He seriously suspected that someone, some shadowy organization, had been secretly siphoning away his luck through underhanded means.

He glanced down at the stat sheet again. After a long blank space, a line of small text appeared.

[Resentment Points +50, now 100,000,050 points total]

Hei Yu counted—did he originally have a hundred million resentment points?

He strongly suspected that the system had misunderstood the “earn a hundred million” mission, thinking he was supposed to accumulate a hundred million resentment points instead.

But after a while, the stat sheet vanished, replaced by that familiar line of mission progress.

[Mission: Earn a Hundred Million. Current Progress: 0%]

Hei Yu felt a little more at ease.

But now his thoughts turned to the matter of resentment points. He remembered Zhong Kui saying he could pay him twenty thousand resentment points as a reward for retrieving his phone. Did that mean resentment points actually had some use?

As Hei Yu’s mind wandered, the text faded away completely. The sudden appearance of the stat list had almost made him forget that he was still standing on the rooftop of an abandoned building.

Now, looking around, he realized just how unnerving it was.

He glanced down into the alley and saw Yi Ren Zhi Shu get up and leave.

Hei Yu hurried after him, taking the stairs—he had no intention of risking his life leaping across rooftops. If he died, that hundred million would vanish into thin air.

He almost believed he really had a hundred million now. Well, he did, but only in resentment points.

He’d have to figure out exactly what those were.

Thinking further, if he died, wouldn’t the system just forcibly take over his body to complete its world-ending mission?

I have to stay alive, for the hundred million… ahem, no, for the sake of protecting the earth.

Hei Yu had already left the abandoned house, following after Yi Ren Zhi Shu.

But halfway down the road, someone blocked his path.

It was a middle-aged man in a gaudy floral shirt, a fake gold chain glaringly obvious around his neck.

“Hey, little fat pig, hand over some pocket money, or I’ll send you to the slaughterhouse to be sold by the pound.”

Hei Yu smiled, patted the man gently on the shoulder, and in the next instant, the middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, his eyes rolling uncontrollably. A silvery-white thread glimmered, wrapped around Hei Yu’s palm.

Hei Yu didn’t want this thing—taking it meant having to swallow it again.

Disgusting.

But the thread coiled around his middle finger wouldn’t come off, and seeing that Yi Ren Zhi Shu was about to leave the urban village, he had no choice but to snap the thread.

[Fate thread acquired. Host, please ingest it as soon as possible.]

The system’s voice sounded again, but Hei Yu ignored it for now and hurried after Yi Ren Zhi Shu. Unless he saw that man walk into the police station to turn himself in with his own eyes, he wouldn’t let him run rampant in the country.

Hei Yu seemed to move with the wind beneath his feet and quickly caught up with Yi Ren Zhi Shu again.

Perhaps because of the bonus gained from the previous fate thread, Hei Yu now felt strength surging through his body. Recalling how the system had made him leap onto the rooftop moments ago, he realized it wasn’t just the system’s power—it all came down to these improved stats.

Maybe he really could be a martial arts superstar.

The End-of-the-World System truly lived up to its name.

Thoughts tumbled through Hei Yu’s mind, but he didn’t stop tailing his target.

The nearest police station was over seven hundred meters away, but Yi Ren Zhi Shu was heading in the opposite direction.

“System,” Hei Yu muttered under his breath.

[Host, please ingest the fate thread as soon as possible.]

“Are you sure that guy is really going to turn himself in?”

[Host, please ingest the fate thread as soon as possible.]

“If I don’t eat it, you won’t answer me, right? Well, I won’t eat it. What will you do then?”

03:00… 02:48

“What’s with the countdown?”

Was this a threat?

Hei Yu frowned. If he really refused to eat it, the system would probably take over his body and force him to do it again.

Sighing in resignation, Hei Yu swallowed the fate thread in his hand.

Boom—

Unlike the last time, when the system had controlled him, this time his mind felt as if it had been struck by something. He saw a series of rapidly shifting images.

In those images, a woman in a blue dress was blindfolded and tied up, being led into an abandoned house.

The house was overgrown with weeds. The man left, but before he did, he glanced back at the building.

Hei Yu recognized it immediately—it was the same house the system had just brought him into. Was there someone inside?

He’d left in such a hurry that he hadn’t checked the house at all. If someone was trapped inside waiting for him to save them, he’d have to give up tailing Yi Ren Zhi Shu.

What a headache.

Yi Ren Zhi Shu was right in front of him, and if he let him go, who knew how many more innocent people would die?

But there might be someone in that house needing rescue. He didn’t know when the scenes he saw had actually happened. While in the house, Hei Yu hadn’t heard a thing. He’d made some noise both entering and leaving, so if anyone was inside, they should have noticed. Maybe the woman had already been taken away.

Still, the fact that the middle-aged man had blocked his path just now suggested he knew Hei Yu had gone into that house.

No more hesitation.

Hei Yu turned back. Saving a life took precedence. He’d already taken some of Yi Ren Zhi Shu’s fate; even if the man wasn’t going to surrender this time, next time he acted, he probably wouldn’t be so lucky.

As he ran back into the urban village, Hei Yu consoled himself with these thoughts.