Seized by the System

The old railroad tracks, Grand Canyon.

Half an hour had passed since the black Spectral Train had disappeared.

An old steam train painted a light gold color had appeared instead. The train shined with golden light, which filled everyone’s hearts with warmth, and it sat on the railroad tracks quietly.

Qiao Zishan, Qiao Zijiang, Ding Xiang, and the other members of the Special Investigations Unit had their jaws agape in bewilderment.

The Venerable One really did not lie, he really was busy just now…

The Spectral Train was over 200 meters long; it was such a large workload, so if it were anyone else, how would they finish something like this in half an hour?

Let alone renovating everything from the inside out too.

The original Spectral Train had a sinister aura and was eerie beyond belief; its sight alone was enough to scare anyone and give them nightmares.

However, this golden train that emitted almost-blinding golden light had two words painted across its body.

“Ferrying the dead into Heaven, ferrying the living across seas.”

“Special Train of the Dragon God, 20180718.”

After the golden train appeared, Vigilante A calmly walked towards it and the doors of the exclusive carriage opened automatically to let him in.

Huh, the VIP Box treatment automatically activated for the Venerable One.

Right after the Venerable One boarded the train, the other carriages opened their doors as well. However, there was no dreadful aura emitting from within the carriages. Instead, there was a light smell of sandalwood, which made everyone relax.

Everybody else was stunned for they had no idea if they should follow or not.

Qiao Zijiang was still the sharpest one among them all, for she immediately followed after Vigilante A and picked a soft berth carriage.

Right after she entered, the doors to the soft berth carriage closed immediately.

Everybody else then finally understood what was happening. However, the Venerable One was being much too wasteful, was he going to let everyone have a carriage all to themselves?

There was a total of 20 carriages, and there was only slightly more than 10 of them, so everyone could stay in the train comfortably.

After everyone boarded the train, the golden train slowly started moving and not long after completely disappeared in the western direction of the canyon.

…

The Source of Yin Energy, Undead Realm.

The peripheral area around the shallow pool.

About a thousand meters away, in a withered forest atop a hill.

Valery and Alex were watching the pool intently.

According to the negotiation, if they saw anyone go near the pool, they would kill that person immediately.

However, they had no idea that the other parties that had agreed to lie in ambush with them had slipped away long ago.

Black Cat Tom had already withdrawn from its designated place of ambush together with its subordinates.

One of its subordinates asked, “Sir, where are we heading to”

Black Cat Tom spared him a glance before answering, “That fellow will be joining us very soon, so I want to play a game of being the oriole behind the cicada stalking the mantis once more. However, all of you are too weak, so we have to find a safe place for you all to hide. Once I become the owner of the arcane realm, then you all can leave.”

Its bunch of subordinates felt moved instantly, there was no need to mention that Master Tom treated its subordinates well.

Tom nodded his head then, it knew that have a stable foundation would mean increased potential for further development.

With a stable foundation, if Tom failed once dealing with matters on the outside, it would still be able to return to power.

If it was able to get a hold of the Undead Realm, even if it were just a third of the realm, it would definitely be able to fortify its foundation.

Everybody else was expanding at a steady rate, so Tom did not want to fall behind either.

After all, it was still a powerful Lake-level cat…

Yet, this time that Vigilante A had followed along as well… Master Tom wanted to gain great advantage from him this time too.

Suddenly, Tom’s black cat eyes flashed.

A moment later, it ordered its subordinates to stop whatever they were doing.

It looked around, its gaze sweeping across the sinister valley and the jagged bones that littered all around.

It was actually quite perplexed, ‘Where did all these bones come from?’

It then planned to have scientists come in for tests after it obtained this piece of land, he needed to know if it was related to Earth or something…

“Alright, hide here. No matter what happens, do not leave and wait for news from me.”

Its subordinates all nodded their heads at its order. Then, it leaped into the air before it disappeared completely.

…

Claude, along with his sister and a group of Heliotropes, were also leaving the proximity of the pool.

His gaze swept across everyone else as he said, “From the expression of that black cat, the Eastern Pharos probably has the true candidate of the Undead Realm.”

Claudia was shocked at her brother’s words. She finally understood why he had given those hand signals that ordered her to prepare for retreat.

She replied with an unwilling tone, “Are we really going to just give this valuable arcane realm to Vigilante A?”

Claude snickered coldly and said, “That’s impossible. Vigilante A reeks of Morality, so he’ll stand out like a sore thumb, he would never obtain permission to enter the arcane realm.

“Besides, that candidate he has under his control should be one of the convicts from that mysterious Draconic Penitentiary of his, which means their true character is similar to ours. Vigilante A would never willingly let that person become the owner of the arcane realm.”

Claudia caught on immediately and replied, “If that were the case, he would never take over this place. He’ll probably stay for a day at most, we still have a chance.”

Claude really possessed intelligence beyond reason, the fact that he has never been bluffed by Black Cat Tom even once was good enough.

His analysis was dead-on for Fang Ning never did plan to let Ma Dechun become the owner of the Undead Realm.

He knew human nature much too well, for how many were ungrateful to him after he became emperor? Too much to count.

Claude nodded his head, “Yes, we will have plenty of chances. Vigilante A’s presence may not be a bad thing exactly. However, he has Heaven’s Eye, which makes him quite perceptive, so none of you can be present.”

Claudia immediately looked towards everyone else once Claude finished his statement.

The other Heliotropes nodded their heads before one by one, they turned into stones. From within the stone sculptures, blood-red stone imprints flew out and into Claudia’s chest.

With the imprints gone, the stone sculptures fell to the floor one by one before they all turned into pieces of pitch-black stones.

Claude then nodded his head before his silhouette swayed.

His entire body started transforming and not long after, he turned into a Whitestone person!

He then laughed, “Haha, now I can finally and openly use Vigilante A to obtain this Undead Realm!”

“How brilliant, Elder Brother.”

Claudia tried to sense for the fragrance of blood that she was used to, but all she could feel from Claude was the disgusting smell of the Whitestone people. She felt a strong sense of admiration.

Claude nodded his head and said, “From now on, refer to me as Claus. Remember, don’t call me Elder Brother. Just hide here and don’t go anywhere.”

“Understood, Mr. Claus.” Claudia’s face was solemn as she said this. Right after, she too turned into a pitch-black stone and fell towards the ground, blending in with the rest of the other stones.

Claude’s gaze swept across the stones one more time before he pointed at the ground beneath him and lifted his hand upwards. Clumps of soil unearthed from the ground beneath him on their own and the stones were soon covered by soil.

After he was done with his task, he finally turned and walked towards the pool once more.

…

Some time had passed when a streak of golden light appeared directly above the pool. From within the golden light, a train seemed to appear from nothing.

The withered forest atop a hill about a thousand meters away from the pool.

Valery and Alex, who were watching the pool intently, noticed this of course.

“Valery, look, look. They’ve appeared, and riding on a golden train too nonetheless. When we came, we had to ride an old train. There’s no room for comparison at all.”

“It would seem that they really are delivering the true successor. How despicable, such a difference in treatment! According to what we discussed, now is the time for us to kill that person so that he’ll become part of my ghoul collection!” Valery raised his black hammer and geared up to rush towards the pool.

Alex immediately held his partner back and gave a grave reminder, “You forgot one thing, when that fellow saved us the last time, we had to promise we would not commit any more bad deeds. Murder is something we can talk about simply, but we can’t actually do it. I think it’s better if we leave it to the other two evil b*stards. Let’s act as the oriole for once too.”

“Hmm, you’re right too,” said Valery excitedly. “This must be what they call ‘looking at the world through the window’.”

“I think that’s the wrong saying. You’re talking about ‘watching the fighting from the rampart’.”

“Same difference.”

The pair of them then watched as the people aboard the golden train disembarked.

When the last person disembarked from a VIP carriage, the pair shared a shocked glance.

“Huh?” The pair of Russian men rubbed at their eyes, seemingly in disbelief as they said, “That’s the great hero! Didn’t that Claude person say that he would never enter this place?”

“Sh*t, he must’ve been lying to us! Now that he can’t be the oriole anymore, he’s trying to kill somebody by another’s hand instead!” Valery seemed to have finally gained some intellect.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like we committed any wrongdoings recently, we just resumed an old profession. The most that would happen to us is that we would get beaten up… Uh, Valery, you should still be more cautious.” Alex thought of something suddenly, which prompted his reminder.

Valery was stunned for a second before he immediately started unearthing the soil in an area with less rubble.

“Come and give me a hand, I need to hide my hammer properly.”

“Remember to make a marking, just in case you forget it after drinking.”

“You’re right. Then I’ll have it say that there’s a bottle of aged vodka here.”

“How smart. That great hero has no interest in liquor. You definitely won’t forget it too, even if a hundred years have passed, you’ll definitely remember to dig it up.”

…

In a brief moment, Vigilante A became the focus of three separate parties. Whoever wanted the Undead Realm would have to deal with him first.

However, who was willing to?

The great wheel of history rolled forward, but no one knew which fork way it was headed towards.

Fang Ning looked at the pool water and its greyish-white aura, and a great sense of amazement rose up in him.

With this amount of energy, it was no wonder the System had to board the Spectral Train.

The two evil spirits had mentioned that the Spectral Train could travel to countless realms; it could also obtain fuel from the Undead Realm despite a long distance separating both. It was truly a wonder.

However, refueling came at a high cost for they could only refuel once for every ten beings they sent to the realm.

The best choice was for them to use their own Yin Energy instead.

The conventional force that the Spectral train operated on was actually the scary monsters it carried in the carriages at the further back of the train.

However, all of those monsters had been converted into a total of 300 million experience points, since the System had farmed them all.

As for the golden train, it directly sent all of them to its former master under the order of the pair of evil spirits.

Right now, Fang Ning could feel the calm pool of water before his eyes, However, it was actually shivering due to Vigilante A’s overbearing presence.

After all, Fang Ning was still a Pond-level powerhouse comprehensively. A perceptive ability of this level was to be expected.

This area of the arcane realm was like a fortified support base, when combined with the treasure of war—the Spectral Train, it would be so strong even Vigilante A would have his hands tied.

However, once both parties were separated, both would become extremely weak. Any spy would be able to wreak havoc.

“From the looks of things, this is the source of Yin Energy and the core of the Undead Realm. How should we go about dealing with it?”

Fang Ning fell into deep thought.

The Demonic Realm was the last time was given to Bodhisattva Spirit King to turn into a base for the Spiritual Insects as he had lent them his strength; Sir System was still waiting for its grand reward from that…

Fang Ning believed that the reward would definitely be as valuable as an arcane realm.

At this moment, the System interrupted, “Aiya, this source of Yin Energy doesn’t seem to be a living being. It doesn’t have good or evil attributes. We can’t farm it, let’s just leave.”

Fang Ning was stunned speechless, ‘What? When did Sir System ever ignore a treasure?’

He asked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

The System retorted, “I don’t mean anything else. I’m just saying we shouldn’t waste any time more and that we should leave.”

Fang Ning immediately refused, “No, this thing is just like nuclear energy. It may not possess any good or evil attributes, but there’s a possibility that it falls into the wrong hands. We have to destroy it before it becomes a pain in the neck.”

[The System is evaluating…]

[The System is evaluating…]

[The System decided to return home to sleep.]

‘There’s definitely something wrong.’

‘Sir System has never wanted to sleep before.’

Fang Ning immediately realized what the System was trying to do and said, “Don’t leave first, don’t you want to lend some experience points?”

The System “I don’t understand. I’m just too tired and I want to go home and rest. I’ve never slept once this past year, so what does this have to do with borrowing experience points? Are you saying you want to lend me some experience points right now?”

Fang Ning instantly exposed the System’s wishful thinking, “Don’t act dumb, I know you want to keep another monster for a pet again. But you don’t know the severity of the situation, this isn’t the outside world. The potential of the Yin Energy in this arcane realm is limitless, it would be like nurturing a snake in one’s bosom.

“Previously, you were already at your wit’s end with only one of its treasures. If you allow it to keep growing, the consequences would be disastrous.”

The System finally answered honestly, “Oh, I see. I guessed I thought wrong again… What do you suppose we should do then?”

Fang Ning thought for a moment before an idea came to mind, “I have a plan. Didn’t I mention before that your Morality can’t compare to that Spectral Train? The properties of this arcane realm are perfect for solving that problem of yours.”