Seized by the System

The Divine Gate had closed and the Divine Monument had left, so all of the different clans had begun to retreat.

Soon, cries of “Vigilante A, how could you kill me?” “Vigilante A, I’m under the watchful eye of the Heavens after entering the Divine Gate. How dare you go against the Will of Heavens?” could be heard from a distance.

Following those were cries of anguish.

Some of them shook their heads. ‘Why be so greedy and invite trouble unto themselves? Didn’t they know about Vigilante A’s infamy?

‘Could he really let antagonistic villains strut under his ever-judging gaze?

‘It was a miracle that he would spare them for an entire month. When they were still in hiding, he couldn’t do anything to them, but now that they had shown themselves, do they really expect to go back into hiding?

‘No matter good or bad Karma, it will come. It might come earlier or later, but it always does.’

The saying had not been true before, but now that the Heavens existed, it was an accurate description.

Unsurprisingly, China had the greatest success this time. The challenges were biased in favor of them, the invigilator was one of their own, they knew about the challenges beforehand. Furthermore, they were able to check out the testing ground and have two months of preparation time. With all those advantages, if they still could not place first in the test, something would be wrong…

The Truth Department began evacuating their members systematically. Thousands of employees, including executives and security, all departed in order.

The temporary commendation conference had already concluded, but just as the Indians had thought, it was more of a show-off session.

The actual commendation conference would be held after they had returned home. That would be the focus.

As soon as the Truth Department had evacuated, all the other humans began their retreat as well.

Soon, the airspace above the center of the Pacific Ocean cleared up after a full month of activity.

As the poem goes, ‘”After the cuisine had been cleared up, birds dove back into their woods, leaving an empty yard, it was all spotlessly sterile.” (TN: The poem originated from Dream of the Red Chamber of the Four Great Classical Novels. It was used to lament the brokenness of the four noble families due to the pursuit of fame and wealth.)

Hours later, in a certain conference hall of the Truth Department’s headquarters, “General Assembly for Summation of the Ascension of the Stairway to Heaven”.

Ren Ruofeng sat in the chairman seat with his face beaming with anticipation.

Within half an hour, after he had enough rest, the other attendees filed into the hall.

Everyone was smiling. Among the seven people they sent to the Divine Gate, five of them managed to get through the first challenge and ascend the first step.

Even though the Venerable Dragon God had much to do with their success, their own talents and wills were resilient enough to execute the deed. Their future could be predicted to be smooth sailing.

However, the two failed members were not as frustrated as they should be. After all, they still gained plenty of opportunities. As explained earlier, as long as they made it to the Divine Gate, they would be granted a great opportunity.

Whether or not they were trapped by the illusion, they had made great progress.

Probably, the only one who did not gain anything was the Spirit Bear who slept away its opportunity for an entire month…

However, who could say for sure? Maybe an unknown benefit was granted to it even though it basically hibernated inside?

“Zishan, Xu Rui, Xiao Cheng… all of you had done well!” Ren Ruofeng who stayed in his seat began calling out names merrily. These people had not disappointed him.

They could endure the stress of possibly being trapped like all those who came before them and adjusted their mindset to succeed in the first challenge. That showed their own resilience.

The only thing to pay attention to was to avoid letting them go with the devils like the talented one from the Greater Rat Clan…

Now that they had succeeded in stealing the show, the Heavens and the humans would remember them, but the devils would also remember them.

The other clans were far inferior to the devils in ways of seducing talents to their side.

The devils had too many ways to trick people theoretically and practically. They could amplify the desires of powerhouses that not even deities and beings that had attained Nirvana were able to resist before falling into the path of the Devils.

Holding that thought, Ren Ruofeng decided to himself that he would make sure to keep the talents from straying to the wrong paths…

The terror that devils could incite had struck a hint of wariness into him even though he had read many reports about him. The Devil Lord had yet to show the trick up his sleeves.

Undoubtedly, it was to tempt humans to turn to the Path of the Devils!

As he commented on his team, Ren Ruofeng had many thoughts in his mind, so he said, “You are representing the humans. When you obtained glory for the humans and China, you have already entered the Heavens’ eyes and tightly bonded with the Chinese.

“Remember, do not stray from your paths in the future. The Heavens and other humans have their eyes on you, and even the Venerable One is watching you now. Heed these words, don’t lose your initial intention, and you will be granted a happy ending!”

Qiao Zishan and the rest were pumped hearing the first part of the speech but were surprised to hear the final part.

They understood that he was warning them not to be full of themselves and forget their responsibilities. Only by keeping to their original intention can they achieve a happy ending.

Sharing a glance, all of them nodded in silence and memorized the words addressed to them.

…

Across the ocean.

Black Cat Tom’s mansion, nay, Devil Lord Zhi Nan’s mansion.

“This is XXX News, bringing you the real-time broadcast about the Divine Gate event.”

“The race to ascend the Stairway to Heaven had already concluded three hours ago. The humans had successfully championed the race. While we congratulate ourselves, we should ask ourselves this: Why has the United States of America, the lighthouse of the human race, contributed nothing?” A female, Caucasian reporter posed the question gravely toward the microphone.

“Aside from the Eastern Pharos of China, there were seven other Chinese candidates who attempted to ascend the stairs, of which five of them successfully ascended the first step. On the other hand, the American Robocop that we spent so many resources developing could not even step into the gate? Who fault is this, exactly?” The reporter chastised.

“If we continue this trend of failures, can we even call ourselves Earth’s Hope? We could only become a second-rate nation!”

Watching calmly at the reporter’s accusation, Zhi Nan quietly flicked his wrist and sent a wisp of black smoke into the television screen.

Shortly after, the reporter’s face darkened before she yelled into the microphone, “Citizens of the Land of the Free, we cannot fall this far from the top of our game. We need to rise up and retake the spot as humanity’s hope!”

“Let us stop being worried and afraid day after day, but to welcome every sunrise with fighting spirit!”

“I have a dream. I dream of reverting the present to the past when we were still the top of the world, when we were still the lighthouse that will lead humanity’s future!”

Zhi Nan smiled lightly.

Within that short period of time, he had completely mastered the human technology!

He could use the radio signal to reverse-track the person on the screen.

It was terrible, even hackers of the highest aptitude could not have achieved that.

In comparison, a certain procrastinating local person would be hard-pressed to even match up.

Black Robe asked curiously, “Owner, could this person also be one of the Nine Devil Generals?”

“No,” Zhi Nan answered casually, “I’m only doing a little experiment to see how difficult it is for people here to fall into the darkness…”

“They wouldn’t stand a chance,” confirmed Black Robe.

“Heh, you’re right this time. These normal people could not even control the slightest bit of desire and avarice, so they will definitely give into any temptation, let alone my Devilish Suggestions. Maybe the powerhouses will fare better.” At that point, Zhi Nan’s mysterious smile disappeared.

“Those powerhouses shouldn’t be able to resist our seduction as well. They are feeling great about themselves now, but they will still obey your orders in the end.” Black Robe sucked up to him.

“Heh, not bad. However, there’s one person who managed the impossible. He only has the resolve of a normal human, but even after I’d gifted him three of my most powerful Devilish Scriptures, I still couldn’t lure him into the Path of the Devil. That has confused me immensely. I wanted to ask Black Cat Tom to do some espionage work, but it betrayed me, which is a setback.” Zhi Nan said suddenly.

“Are you talking about that lad called Fang Ning?” Black Robe asked hesitantly.

“That’s him,” Zhi Nan changed the subject and said, “Forget about it, I don’t want to talk about him right now. He wouldn’t be able to mess with our plans. How did the main plan go for the past few months?”

“Master, the biological nutrient solution had been successfully created with the help of the Master Druid.” Claudia the Heliotrope answered quickly.

“What about the Chinese Spiritual Network? Did we manage to get a hold of it?” continued Zhi Nan.

“The Power Balance Association tried to steal it, and they succeeded partially before their vice president was caught. We have no luck locating this piece of information.” Claudia answered regretfully.

“Heh, looks like I am required again.” Zhi Nan smiled.