Chapter 123: Reclamation

Early morning, Evil Spirit Mine camp.

Fan Bei lay on a wooden cot, with Dabai’s makeshift dog bed tucked underneath. Being on the road meant one couldn't be too particular, but fortunately, they kept their most important belongings on their persons, so there was no need to worry about being targeted.

Dabai was currently catching up on sleep, snoring away, while Fan Bei checked the status of the Sword System page. The Sword was, well, a sword—efficient and decisive. Once it broke free from the constraints of the system, it acted with bold, sweeping strokes.

"The host has paid a tribute of 70,000 spirit cores to the system. The system has gained 7 million points of spiritual power, with 350,000 points prepared to be returned to the host."

A quick check revealed that the fatty had secretly been hoarding a large sum of private funds. His method was simple: inflate the expenses and under-report the losses—after all, no one would ever check his accounts. However, in a single day, all these private coffers were completely confiscated.

Excellent. He had recouped his initial investment all at once. Indeed, if you are going to bind yourself to someone, bind yourself to those at the top. This was the apocalypse; resources were already heavily concentrated. Who had the time to slowly nurture some loser to rise to power? Every underdog hoped for a system to drop from the heavens, but from the manufacturer’s perspective, it was always better to arrange them for the wealthy. The truth was, the less you lacked, the more you received, and the more you lacked, the more heaven would deny you. If a loser was wealthy, that was one thing; but if they were also poor, they had no choice but to rely on their own two hands.

After processing the fatty's sword log, Fan Bei began his recycling operation. He intended to reclaim the Heavenly Dog System and the Good Person System, leaving only the Butler System behind. It was a tragedy, wasn't it? What happens when you lose your system? Anyone who thinks having a system is a shortcut to permanent success might as well wash up and go to bed.

Dabai was still asleep. "Host, due to your long-term laziness, playfulness, and lack of ambition, you have been eliminated. You are a failed dog..."

"Need to sleep a bit more... mmm, smells so good," Dabai drooled, completely oblivious, until it suddenly jolted awake. "What? I’ve been eliminated? This must be a dream! Let me bite myself to see."

"Ow!" Dabai leaped up from under the bed.

"Bang!" Fan Bei was shoved against the top of the tent, nearly tearing through it. Sure enough, one cannot escape the consequences of one's own actions. A mist shrouded Fan Bei, slowly lowering him back to the ground.

"Dabai, what’s wrong with you?" he asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Master, just now the System Brother said I was eliminated. But I practice and level up every day, working overtime and staying up late!" Dabai said, depressed.

"Is that so?" Fan Bei sighed. "There’s nothing to be done. A dog’s life is hard; you have to accept reality."

"Even though the System Brother often zaps me, I know it’s for my own good. I don’t want it to leave me," Dabai said pitifully.

Fan Bei felt a pang of softness. After all, Dabai was different; it had always been by his side. It had no other companions, which was why it was so tolerant of Xiaobai, who constantly deceived it—it just wanted someone to talk to. By comparison, the Heavenly Dog System, which had always been sincere toward it, naturally earned its absolute trust.

"I don't know what to do either, but if you give your heart, you might be able to win your System Brother back," Fan Bei said helplessly.

"What does it mean to give my heart?" Dabai asked, dejected.

"Always thinking of it whenever you have something good—that’s what giving your heart means," Xiaobai suddenly rolled out, hurriedly explaining. It had been happy when it heard the system was eliminating Dabai, but then it realized that if Dabai were gone, it would surely be doomed too, as it wasn't nearly as hardworking.

"Oh, I see," Dabai thought for a moment and immediately began to work.

"Host has paid a tribute of 12,000 spirit cores to the system..." Fan Bei saw the new notification. Well, after three months of hard work, Dabai’s results were quite remarkable.

"The system has sensed the host’s sincerity and has decided to take on a new look to continue accompanying the host’s growth."

Then, a collar appeared around Dabai’s neck.

"What is this?" Dabai twisted its neck, surprised.

"I am your System Brother. Though I am no longer a system, I am still your brother. From now on, whenever you get something good, you must offer it to me," the collar spoke.

"Fine, as long as you don't leave me, I'll give you what I was saving for Xiaobai," Dabai said helplessly.

"That’s not right! Dabai, this guy is clearly playing hard to get, retreating to advance, just like men and women among humans threatening divorce to force a concession!" Xiaobai immediately grew anxious and rushed to expose the truth.

"Do you know how to write the word 'death,' Xiaobai?" the collar asked, glaring.

"I know dozens of ways to write it! Oracle bone script, bronze script, large and small seal scripts, regular script, clerical script..." Xiaobai argued righteously.

The next moment, it couldn't speak, because the collar clamped onto the iron ball, squeezing it until it took the shape of a gourd.

"I’ll print a few dozen 'death' characters on you right now and be the death of you!" The collar tightened further.

"Let me go! I’ll beg for mercy, okay?" Xiaobai said helplessly. "I used to think you were quite upright, but now that you've broken up with Dabai, you’ve become so unreasonable, resorting to violence at every turn."

The collar said triumphantly, "This is called setting oneself free. The feeling of not being a system is great... By the way, from now on, you two can call me Brother Xiang or Brother Collar, but you are not to call me 'system' ever again."

"Brother Xiang, do you still have the abilities you gave Dabai before?" Xiaobai took the opportunity to ask.

"The task module is gone, and the leveling-up points are gone too. Dabai has reached its limit and needs to cultivate and break through on its own. However, the space and the mall are still there. You can put your good things in my space, and I’ll keep them for you. Naturally, I’ll charge a small fee," the collar explained.

"I always feel like this system of yours is too casual; it's different from what I know," Xiaobai said suspiciously.

"Tch, systems are everywhere. A maggot can carry a life system from birth," the collar said with disdain. "I’ve simply combined many mysterious abilities together."

"Then why did you stop being a system and change your appearance?" Xiaobai probed.

"Hmph, that’s because Dabai was too much of a loser. I lost the ability to evolve further, so now I can only maintain the status quo. The rest depends on your own efforts," the collar said helplessly.

"Uh, then are there any other systems in this world?" Xiaobai continued.

"You talk too much, and I haven't seen you offer me a single thing. Ask fewer questions and get to work," the collar said impatiently.

"I understand!" Xiaobai said triumphantly. "Actually, you were just a reserve system, but you chose a loser as a host, so you were eliminated. There must be other reserves out there right now, charging ahead on the path to becoming official systems."

After saying this, it transformed from a gourd into a barbell.

"You might as well just turn me into a Calabash Brother," Xiaobai said sulkily.

"In your dreams. You want to be a Calabash Brother? You aren't even qualified to be a gourd vine."

The same thing was happening to Lang Sheng...

Fan Bei’s path as a system creator was destined not to be smooth. Like a mortal’s growth, it required growing pains and twists and turns, but he believed he was constantly ascending.