Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Fang Ning chose to ignore the System’s questions. Instead, he asked, “Wait, let me ask you this first. Could you instantly pry out the parts in me and shift them into the Preservation Area in the System Space, or do you need quite a long time for it?”

The System still remained as its idiotic self. It did not understand which hands Fang Ning were playing, even though he had made it fairly obvious. It answered honestly, “You’re not wrong to say its instantaneous, as it wouldn’t take much time. The System Space is bound to you, there’s no distance between your tissues and organs. It would take no time to shift them to the Preservation Area! If we really want to measure it using the time units you humans then it would be less than a millisecond.”

“Then that would be amazing! The benefits of this skill, would be that when a powerful opponent suddenly knees us in the balls, and it was unavoidable and unsurvivable, you could take my ‘little brother’ away in a flash…”

“I know now!”

Then, Fang Ning saw a System Notification.

[Inspired by the host, the System has discovered Special Skill – Absolute Defence (Low-Level): When faced with undefendable attacks, certain parts in your body will be moved to the System Space, which would lead to a complete avoidance of the attack. Limitations: The current level of the skill cannot defend against area attacks and acupoint attacks from needles to the brain.]

Fang Ning could understand this limitation. The skill was still a low-level one; once it became middle-level, high-level, or even master-level…

“Hey, could this technique of yours be upgraded to the level where all of my body could hide in your System Space?” Fang Ning daydreamed of the scene. That would be the legendary way of saving one’s behind – by hiding entirely in the System Space!

“No idea. I could even move your heart for a few moments during extreme circumstances before putting it back, but the only thing I daren’t touch is your brain. If you died due to a total lack of brain activity, I would perish with you too. There’s also a hidden restriction; we don’t know how to upgrade this skill, and it does not work by using EXP or activation after cultivating in isolation.” The System was frank.

“Never mind. We need to be content with what we have. At least we’ll have a new card in our hand when facing most strength attacks on our points, as long as it doesn’t directly involve our head.” Fang Ning has always been an easily satisfied person.

Also, this was a rare chance to lecture the System and fortify his status, and all that happened while the System had acquired a life-saving skill. Hm, maybe he did not lose his will, despite being knee-deep in trifling games and novels.

Fang Ning was delighted with the turn of events, and had promptly forgotten the painful breakdown and disappointments he suffered just before. Now, he was wondering what else he should go play next…

The System was more happy with everything than Fang Ning was. After all, it wasn’t human; the sadness it felt dissipated with a flash, and this ‘Absolute Defence’ was most definitely a valuable technique that could directly increase its chances of survival. And the best part? The acquiring process only involved some reminders and feedback from the host. No time was wasted for cultivating in isolation in search of that inspiration, and no EXP was wasted on learning this Life Skill. It was almost like it fell out of the sky.

That’s not to mention how this technique was almost like it had been tailored for the System. Only a multi-minded System like itself could use this to the extent that it did; others who learn the same skill would not have the time to deploy it during the rapidly changing situations of combat. Only it, a non-human existence, could open up multiple threads to process and monitor the life-threatening attacks in real time, and automatically shift Fang Ning’s body parts in accordance to its data…

As a System that has survival as its priority, it naturally would not bother about Fang Ning’s disrespect after it has obtained such a great benefit. In contrast, it was considering to become more generous should Fang Ning ask for rewards, in an effort to encourage more out-of-the-box thinking like what had just happened.

It never expected the dude to only be triumphant about his success in working off his feelings for a period of time, and never said even a word about rewards. Maybe that was the advantages of seizing a male shut-in – less worries and hassle, and relatively easy to be satisfied.

The System sighed as it released the middle-level mechanical puppet as the stand-in of Fang Ning’s identity. It then continued its great career of farming monsters, in an effort to level up as fast as possible. The Celestial Weapon about to be done soon….

However, the truth has shown that our beloved Sir System has looked too much into the situation again. As a veteran gamer, how would Fang Ning forget a matter as important as the Mission Rewards? It was just that Fang Ning’s attention was currently on the newly released middle-level mechanical puppet. According to the functions of this thing, there should be other uses…

And right after the System released the middle-level mechanical puppet, it remembered one scenario Fang Ning had talked about before. Knowing that its host had a much higher intelligence, it asked, “Oh also, you did mention that some people would have powerful penetrative vision in the future. Even if the newly upgraded mechanical puppet has a Perfect Disguise, it could only fool the usual tracking technology and ordinary people. However, once those powerful opponents develop penetrative vision, they could easily realize that it was made of steel, wood, and leather parts as components. This replacement of yours will not work anymore…”

Fang Ning, who was entirely focused on the functions of the middle-level mechanical puppet, was surprised by the System’s sudden question. When he caught the question clearly, he answered in a worryingly relaxed manner, “What are you fumbling about this for? As long as you don’t lose my organs without my permission, which would indirectly cause Vigilante A to lose his and cause others to relate Vigilante A to my real identity as Fang Ning, nothing would happen.”

Fang Ning tended to not explain the entire situation before, and now he had taken the effort to clarify everything to the idiotic System. It would then stop thinking that it was as intelligent as its host, which would lead it to make its own decisions and do things behind his back.

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“Even if they found out that the mechanical puppet was not a real human, what negative effect would it cause? I’ve told you long before that there was no need to worry about this. If that really happened, then I could just announce to the world that I also have a superpower in mechanical puppet making, and that was one puppet that I made to help me deal with matters in the open. I’ll tell them that I had always been hiding in a deeper place to navigate it. Who could pick a problem out of that? It wouldn’t even be weird for a shut-in like me to be crawling deeper into the hole as the outside was getting more and more dangerous nowadays!”

“As long as they cannot find an evident relation, they would never relate the ever-traveling Vigilante A to a hermit like me. As long as they’re not related, the monsters your farm as well as the powerful opponents you have will only set Vigilante A as the target of their vengeance. Then, it won’t affect our daily business…”

The System thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Only a hermit like the host could think of a reason like this to escape suspicion.

The System went quiet. However, its words did remind Fang Ning of something, which led to him finally understanding that issue. He immediately asked for the unmentioned Mission Rewards, “Hey, I just got you an amazing technique. Say, what rewards should you give me?”

The System felt frustrated. It would never ask its question at this moment in time if it knew that Fang Ning would ask for them. Ah, how good would it be if the host has forgotten to get his rewards…

“What do you want?” grumbled the System. It decided to wait for the other to name a price so it wouldn’t have to give more than it had to.

“Oh. Since you can produce such a great remote-controlled mechanical puppet out of wood, steel and blood, and you’ve learned the art of healing and organ transplant, could you make a pair of artificial legs that could be easily controlled?”

“What are you planning to do? Are you getting us prepared in case we become lame in the future?” The System asked.

“Touch wood! I will never let myself lose an arm or a leg as long as you don’t do anything shady behind my back. Now, just tell me if you can do it…”

“Of course I can! However, if it was to be installed on another person’s body, then it’ll burn quite an amount of EXP.”

Fang Ning thought to himself. ‘I knew that the price would be high. If I didn’t have some contributions in my ledger, the System would never agree to sacrifice that much. However, this was something that I had been suppressing for so long that I needed to finish it as soon as possible.’

“I want this as my reward. Help me attach them onto a select person; secretly, of course, you can’t let anyone find out.”

Sir System was resigned. No matter what, the technique that the host had helped him to obtain was marvelous enough, and that had caused the System to agree after some contemplation.

////

The stars littered the night sky, and in an ordinary cottage in a random village in the outskirts of Qi City, a dim yellow light bulb hung on a slanted wooden pole. Numerous vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes, and celery laid quietly, almost serenely on a wide plastic sheet that was covered in a sheen of dew.

A man, almost, 40 sat in a wheelchair. His trouser legs were empty, hanging, he was bending down with difficulty to pick out vegetables that appear to be slightly spoiled. The bulb was not bright for the light to make its way through the dense darkness, and under the veil of the night, a young man was looking into the courtyard, from the outside.

This man was none other than Fang Ning.

“This is the person who you wanted me to install the artificial legs on?” Even if the System has a low intelligence, it could still identify that this was the intended target.

“That’s right. Do we need to extract his blood?”

“Naturally. We need to do that if you want the artificial parts to work seamlessly under his control.”

“Let’s get it over with, then. With your abilities, it’s almost too easy to knock out an ordinary person.”

“Hold up, a woman is walking out from the house.”