Xu Tong wasn’t interested in making money, and he didn’t care much for a luxurious lifestyle. He’d occasionally wondered what he’d do if he ever got rich. He wouldn’t start a business—at most, he’d open a quiet little bookstore. Whether it made or lost money would be fine with him.

Fate never gave him the chance to open a bookstore. Instead, it swept him up and turned him into the “savior” in that author’s story. That day, he took the weapon Xu Fang had given him and fired twice at his target.

The first shot was like shattering space and time. The instant he pulled the trigger, the “Death Immunity Card” vanished, the light around him vanished, and the world sank into a pitch-black silence. The second shot was like piercing causality itself. Light flooded back, and the God of Destruction and Their followers were gone.

That was every attack an ordinary person could muster against an apocalypse. No intense battle, no dazzling special effects. Two bullets, and the world changed.

Later, a man named Xiao Zhe found him, explained what had happened, and invited Xu Tong to join an organization, offering him extremely generous employment terms. Xu Tong’s thoughts were in a whirl, and he didn’t give an answer on the spot. Xiao Zhe smiled and said there was no rush. Xu Tong could get in touch once he’d made up his mind.

After that, Xu Tong never saw him again, and no more strange people came to bother him.

For the next week, Xu Tong checked his account every morning after getting up. Seeing the ten million in it was the only thing that convinced him he really had been through something extraordinary. But he didn’t dare touch a single cent. The shadow of the “Scare System” still hung over him, pressing down until he could hardly breathe.

How could becoming a system’s host ever end well? He didn’t even know where the previous host’s corpse was.

Then, two weeks later, Xu Tong suddenly received a mission from the “System.”

【Mission: Intimidate the president of H University. Time limit: 7 days

Reward: Bank card

Penalty: One of the host’s relatives will die at random】

This was the second mission Xu Tong had received from the Scare System. The first had been “Intimidate the President of the United States,” which Xu Fang had arranged himself.

Since Xu Fang had arranged the first mission, there hadn’t been any penalty at all.

This time, though, the System had clearly assigned the mission itself.

The moment he saw the penalty, Xu Tong was completely at a loss. He was an only child from a single-parent family, with no siblings. Didn’t “one of his relatives” mean his only father?

Never mind the university president—Xu Tong was the one who got thoroughly intimidated.

Xu Tong hurriedly tried to contact Xu Fang, but the number was out of service. He tried Xiao Zhe too, but couldn’t get through.

Another day passed. Xu Tong decided he had to go to City S and find someone. If that didn’t work, he’d have no choice but to make things difficult for the university president.

Just as Xu Tong was about to set out, he finally got a call from the person he’d been longing to hear from: Xu Fang.

“The System issued a mission. I…”

“Don’t panic. I know. That’s why I contacted you.” Xu Fang’s voice was as calm as ever.

“You promised you’d get the Scare System away from me. I just want to live a quiet life.”

“I can make the System leave, but I don’t have anyone else I trust enough to be its host. I wouldn’t mind becoming its host myself, but no matter what I do, it refuses to come over.”

Xu Tong felt a little more at ease, but he still asked anxiously, “What am I supposed to do? Do I really have to carry it out? I don’t want to do anything bad.”

“What does the System want you to do?”

“It wants me to intimidate a university president!”

Before Xu Fang could answer, another voice on the other end of the call let out a flippant laugh. “Hahaha, that’s it?… Ahhh, crap!!”

“What happened?” Xu Tong asked in alarm.

“Nothing. Just a little accident. It has nothing to do with you.” Xu Fang asked, “What are the reward and penalty?”

“The reward is a bank card. The penalty is that one of my relatives will die.”

“A bank card’s not much use. I’ll have the System change the mission. Hmm…the mission is to intimidate Zhou You, a shareholder in Hengxin Group. The reward is a Death Immunity Card, and there’s no penalty. You don’t have to do anything. Someone will take care of the mission.”

Xu Tong didn’t care who Zhou You was. Instead, he asked cautiously, “How do I pass your request on to the System? It never replies when I try to talk to it…”

“The System can hear me. System, your host is talking to you. Give him a response.”

【This mission’s reward cannot be specified.】The System’s voice sounded in Xu Tong’s ears. Maybe he was imagining it, but it seemed less cold than usual—and a little wary.

“You can’t specify the reward? I don’t care. Figure it out yourself. My novel’s called ‘The Scare System.’ You need to act like the protagonist.”

Xu Tong almost thought Xu Fang meant him when he said “protagonist,” but he quickly realized Xu Fang was talking to the System. Wait, wasn’t Lin Jingrui the protagonist? Was the Scare System the protagonist instead?

Xu Fang said nothing more and hung up.

【Mission changed: Intimidate Zhou You, a shareholder in Hengxin Group

Reward: Random

Penalty: None】

The System had indeed changed the mission, but it didn’t seem to have budged on the reward.

Xu Tong let out a breath and finally relaxed completely.

Originally, the relationship between the System and its host had been an unequal employer-employee arrangement. The host had no right to refuse the System’s demands, and failing to meet the client’s requirements could even cost them their life. But after Xu Fang got involved, the System became the contractor, and Xu Tong became the middleman. Neither the reward nor the penalty had anything to do with him anymore.

……

At Y City’s Hot Sea tourist area, a hot spring stretching for several kilometers ran between two low mountains. Usually, mist hung over it, but today not a wisp of steam rose from the water.

A few tourists in bathrobes stepped into the water, then frowned. Why was it so cold?

At that moment, Xu Fang and Gussy were deep underwater, digging out a hollow. Gussy blocked the entrance and swallowed all the concentrated white energy in the water.

Gussy’s energy pool had expanded a hundredfold, but the sheer volume of boiling water here was astonishing. It took only a day for Gussy to reach 100% charge. At Xu Fang’s signal, Gussy split off another blank copy of itself. Naturally, this copy had no consciousness.

Xu Fang had used this trick many times. He’d sent a copy flying beyond the atmosphere back during the battle with the tentacle monster. This “external battery” needed only 30 kilograms to produce 3.6 × 10^9 joules of energy—more than a thousand times the energy density of a lithium battery. Without a nuclear battery, this copy was the best backup power source he could ask for.

Since Gussy had evolved to Class C, the copies it created were Class C too. After testing, Xu Fang confirmed that he could fuse with one of Gussy’s copies, but there was a drawback: he couldn’t use a copy to absorb energy. Trying to do so would only keep diluting it, making its energy pool smaller and smaller.

A Class C copy was single-use, but it was enough to take Gussy’s place.

After filling the copy with energy, Gussy felt as if it had been completely drained.

“Who can stay focused for a whole day? I’m exhausted!” Gussy protested.

Making a Class C copy was even harder. Gussy had to stay focused every second while splitting itself. The slightest distraction meant failure, and a failed copy couldn’t hold itself together. Its energy would dissipate on its own, leaving it unstable. Gussy failed twice in a row before finally making a copy, then refused to keep going no matter what Xu Fang said.

Xu Fang put on the fully charged copy. “One’s enough. I can use it to protect myself.”

“Oh. So you won’t ‘fuse’ with me anymore?”

Xu Fang nodded. “You can’t be my bodyguard forever. I have other things for you to do.”

At first, Gussy had resisted the whole “fusion” thing. But it had gotten used to it, and sometimes even looked forward to going out and causing trouble together. After all, its true self would never let it get the short end of the stick. Hearing this so suddenly, Gussy felt a little empty inside.

The two came ashore and found a spot on the far side of the mountain, screened by trees. Gussy put on its chainmail coat and unfolded the tent they’d prepared. Inside, Xu Fang took out a waterproof bag and tipped its contents onto the ground with a clatter: more than a dozen phones and a laptop.

“So, we can use the System to farm life-saving items forever?”

“Probably not forever. The System doesn’t have enough energy,” Xu Fang replied.

As the author of the Scare System, Xu Fang knew how its mission rewards worked. A card’s power was tied to the difficulty of the mission. Before issuing one, the System calculated the energy yield from completing it. Only if that yield far exceeded the card’s “cost ceiling” could the System provide the corresponding reward.

The reward for intimidating the U.S. president last time had been random too.

To the System, the missions Xu Fang specified were a complete black box. It couldn’t even tell whether they’d yield any energy. Naturally, it couldn’t promise a reward under those conditions. That didn’t stop Xu Fang from threatening the System, though. He wanted to see where its limits were.

Compared with Horror Novel Web, the Scare System had a much less efficient way of obtaining energy. After all, the website could exploit hundreds of authors at once, while the System had only one host.

“By the way, why are we intimidating Zhou You? Hengxin isn’t the only group in the fraud business.” Gussy propped its chin on its hand as it lay on the ground.

Xu Fang glanced at Gussy. “You already know. Why are you asking me?”

“The readers don’t know,” Gussy murmured. “The narrator writes, the readers watch. If you want to live longer, either please the narrator or please the readers…”

“Readers can do multiple playthroughs, so they’ll definitely know. A ‘dumb lecture’ is more likely to annoy them,” Xu Fang said.

A “dumb lecture” is when characters explain information to each other that really needs to be explained to the readers. Many authors use this to quickly fill in the plot. It’s hard to avoid in stories with complicated settings, but if handled poorly, it can feel incredibly clumsy.

“Why’d you have to call me out? Besides, with all those dropped plot threads, who knows what’s going on, no matter how many playthroughs you do!”

Xu Fang wanted to point out that leaving plot threads unresolved was the narrator’s fault, but he held his tongue.