Defeat the system! Kiss my little monster!

It's nothing, just a casual question.

Yinqiu felt a little uneasy. He pulled back the covers and lay down in Helan's arms so that he could hold him for warmth.

It's getting late. Take your medicine and go to bed early. Don't overwork yourself.

He Lan hummed in response. His bedside table was filled with all sorts of medicine bottles. He picked out one or two from them and swallowed three or four pills without expression.

“Yu Zhuo is going to the riverbank tomorrow to check on the situation. His injuries haven’t fully healed yet, and he wants me to go with him.” After taking her medicine, He Lan threw the medicine bottle back into the bedside table.

"But you know my situation. With my body, I can't go very far, and it would be difficult for me to protect him."

Silver Ball seemed oblivious to the meaning behind his words, simply clinging to He Lan's clothes without moving.

【so? 】

"So I want you to go out with him. You need to be a little bit better than me." He Lan affectionately rubbed the surface of the silver ball. "How about it?"

I'm not going.

Silver Ball felt irritated.

He's got hands and feet, he's not brain-dead, why should I protect him? My intuition is usually right, I'm telling you, he's just hanging around here trying to fool you!

"What is he trying to trick me out of?" He Lan chuckled. "Money? A house? Or this deformed body? He wouldn't do that."

【How do you know he won't? The way he looked at you was off, it wasn't innocent. He was eavesdropping on our conversation before, he's a bad guy!】

He Lan: "..."

The silver ball was burning hot to the touch. He Lan gently stroked its body, as if trying to soothe its sudden outburst of anger.

"You seem... to dislike him?" He Lan hesitated for a moment before asking.

The silver sphere is a system from the outside world, and it has never had much emotion towards the creatures that exist in this world.

Besides being over-polished.

The moment Silver Ball saw Yu Zhuo, he launched an electric attack, and to this day, he still harbors obvious hostility towards Yu Zhuo.

No, I'm just stating the facts.

He Lan nodded: "You really dislike him, why?"

【…】

The silver ball spun around and stared at He Lan's face with annoyance.

Why do you like him so much?

He Lan was taken aback: "What?"

[You refuse offerings to the sea god, forbid outsiders from entering the castle, and tell me you dislike outsiders... But now you've let him stay here, chat with him, go out with him, and even prepare soup and medicine for him every day. What do you mean by this?]

This was the first time Yinqiu had suddenly uttered so many words. He Lan heard the crackling sound of electricity in the air and knew that he was quite angry.

"...Don't you want me to be with someone else?" He Lan said slowly. "Yu Zhuo is a very well-behaved child. He doesn't have any bad intentions."

Silver Ball paused, and said coldly.

He's not a good kid; he's taller than you now and is a grown man!

“I know all of that,” He Lan said helplessly. “Actually, I don’t know why, I just feel like I know him very well. This feeling is even stronger when he helps me with housework and chats with me. He’s different from the others.”

The silver ball froze in mid-air for a moment.

Unlike the rest of the people...

They had only met for two or three days, yet He Lan's evaluation of Yu Zhuo had already reached this level.

Why are they different?

Yinqiu's voice gradually lowered, and his tone revealed a deeper hostility towards Yuzhuo.

What's the difference?

“Hmm…he’s like my child.” He Lan pondered for a moment and came to a conclusion. “Every time I’m with him, I feel happy.”

【…】

Do you treat him like a son?

The silver ball was somewhat unbelievable.

"It's not quite like that, it's just a strange feeling," He Lan said, his pupils turning towards the direction of the silver ball. He continued, "And you? Why don't you like him?"

Silver Ball turned its head and immediately changed its tone.

I didn't dislike him; I treated him like a son.

He Lan: "..."

The silver ball snuggled back into He Lan's arms, nuzzling against his chest, its silver light flashing.

I'll go out with him tomorrow; you can stay home and rest.

His attitude changed so drastically that He Lan became suspicious upon hearing Yin Qiu's words: "You wouldn't be thinking of secretly beating him up, would you? You seemed to want to electrocute him before."

That's because I wasn't sure how much of a threat he posed to you before. Now that the crisis has passed, of course I won't attack him again.

"Really?"

Of course. You are my host, I will do whatever you say.

He Lan gave a soft hum, then hugged Yin Qiu again and lay down in the bedding with him.

"Come back early tomorrow, I'll be waiting for you."

【OK. 】

The silver ball removed Yu Zhuo's name from the text box of the object to be eliminated.

*

Yu Zhuo got out of bed at six or seven o'clock the next day.

He and He Lan had arranged a place to go out together, and Yu Zhuo planned to take this opportunity to ask He Lan about everything related to the system.

He Lan looked quite pale when he woke up in the morning. He had difficulty moving around and had to rely on crutches and a wheelchair to walk for some time.

"I'm sorry, we made plans before, but now I might not be able to go." He Lan coughed twice in the chair.

Yu Zhuo helped He Lan up and took a few steps forward. Seeing her condition, he could only say, "It's okay, I can go by myself. Shall I help you upstairs to rest?"

“No need, the more I sleep, the dizzier I get. I can just sit here.” He Lan closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’ll have Su Hui go with you. He’s very familiar with this area, so you can ask him any questions you have.”

Yu Zhuo paused in his packing, looked up uncertainly, and asked, "...Su Hui?"

The sphere, radiating silver light, drifted to Yu Zhuo's side at some point. Its edge was wrapped in a thin layer of electric current, and it kept a safe distance from Yu Zhuo.

【Let’s go. 】

Yu Zhuo: "..."

"It's alright, he won't hurt you." He Lan smiled at Yu Zhuo. "I've already programmed him."

Yu Zhuo looked up at the sky, and the silver ball scoffed, then flew out of the door without even glancing at Yu Zhuo.

“Okay, I’ll go with him.” Yu Zhuo withdrew his gaze, pondered his next move, said a brief goodbye to He Lan, and then walked in the direction the silver ball had flown away.

Going to the riverbank was just an excuse for Yu Zhuo to be alone with He Lan. He Lan had a gentle temperament and would easily tell Yu Zhuo some secret information.

Unexpectedly, when he left, his companion suddenly changed, and this silver ball accompanied him.

While secretly observing the state of the silver ball, Yu Zhuo quickly followed it out.

The castle was surrounded by dense forest, with moss-covered trees and boulders often teeming with giant brown pythons. As Yu Zhuo walked through, he saw many venomous creatures crawling past his feet.

The silver ball seemed not to notice, maintaining a distance of neither too close nor too far from Yu Zhuo as it flew in the air, without uttering a single word to him.

Yu Zhuo looked up: "You're just going to stay silent like this? He Lan mentioned you to me before, do you want to get to know me?"

The silver ball was flying overhead when he heard this. He glanced down at Yu Zhuo and revealed a warning sign.

I have nothing to say to you.

“But I have something to say to you.” Yu Zhuo followed behind the silver ball at a leisurely pace, and asked directly, “You’re a system, right? What are your abilities?”

The silver ball maintained its flight speed without speaking.

Yu Zhuo didn't seem to care. He continued, "I've tested you. Generally, systems have numbers and markings on them, which are characteristics that connect them to headquarters. But you..."

Yu Zhuo glanced around at the silver sphere: "It seems not."

Silver Ball sneered and made no comment.

Yu Zhuo raised an eyebrow and followed the silver ball forward, saying, "It's okay if you don't tell me, I'm just guessing. He Lan said before that you haven't given him any missions, and you've never talked about your own missions either, which is quite strange... You're actually not a system, are you?"

Before Yu Zhuo could finish speaking, the silver ball suddenly stopped in mid-air.

He turned the ball around, and the various values ​​on the data panel jumped around, surprisingly forming the shapes of some human faces.

"Ha... You say I'm not a system? Then let me ask you, are you even human?"

Yu Zhuo looked up at him and smiled slightly: "What do you think?"

You don't need to pretend. You've examined me, and I've examined you. There's plastic and machinery embedded inside your body.

You are a system.

“Yes, I am the system.” Yu Zhuo admitted directly, “I have never said that I am a human or a dragon, and He Lan has never asked me.”

A cold light spread across the silver ball.

He sees you as one of his own; you cannot deceive him.

"And what about you? You didn't deceive him?" Yu Zhuo narrowed his eyes. "You're not a system either, are you? You hid inside this system shell, approached him, and became intimate with him... What are you trying to do?"

I am the system.

Silver Ball said, enunciating each word clearly.

I am the system.

"What's your identification number? And how do you contact headquarters?" Yu Zhuo easily pointed out the flaws in his story. He said slowly, "You're so close to your host, does the main system... know about it?"

[...Main system?]

The silver ball seemed a little dazed. It paused for a moment, and a strange laugh came from inside its body.

He didn't know.