Seized by the System

The second test crept by silently.

When Fang Ning still had his eyes closed in contemplation and was making sense of the previous incident, his surroundings changed suddenly.

He was in a living room and the sickening stench of blood wafted through the air.

Apart from that, there was a familiar but indescribable smell.

Furthermore, the wind around him groaned and low cries and wails could be heard. This, this was a standard horror movie opener…

“Sir, couldn’t you be a bit more creative? It’s pointless if you keep coming up with all these scary things.” Fang Ning remarked dismissively and transformed himself into a light gust of clear wind.

However, his tactic proved useless this time. A strong gust of wind blew and he died…

“…” Fang Ning was taken aback.

“Why did I die so unreasonably?”

Sir System still did not answer him. He was already well prepared.

All of a sudden, Fang Ning was scared. He knew that the enemy in this round could not be outsmarted by simply fusing himself with the Path of Mother Nature.

Ghosts were always unreasonable when killing people!

He only had surface knowledge of the Heavenly Axiom. As for those unknown and mysterious events, he knew nothing about them.

What he was familiar with was the materialist education he had as a child, where everything existed on the objective plane and the objective preceded the subjective.

He used to believe that all manner of ghosts were non-existent and not real.

If he could turn himself into theHeavenly Axiom and fully understand its changes, he would not be harmed by any ghosts.

Unfortunately, his knowledge was insufficient. He could only resist attacks from corporeal enemies, such as venomous snakes, ferocious beasts, machine guns, canons and atomic bombs.

“System, your tricks are incredible. I give up.” Fang Ning was breathless.

Some time ago, he was able to manipulate Sir System into getting him out of trouble via a bit of smooth talking.

Was this the distortion of human nature, or the corruption of the System? Fang Ning felt that it was the latter.

Fang Ning respawned inside the old house.

He scanned his environment and realized this was the most common rented house. It used to be a house with two bedrooms and a living room. Now, it had been separated into five rooms for rent.

All five of the rooms were locked tight and Fang Ning was in the small living room.

Four of the room doors had bloodstains on them. Only one door was clean.

“What the heck? Is this an escape room game?” Fang Ning was flabbergasted.

He needed a strategy to solve the puzzle and beat the level…

Something like killing the rabbits and escape room games.

“System, say something. Which room can be entered?” Fang Ning pleaded.

There was no response. Another gust of wind blew and Fang Ning died.

“…”

He died twice for no reason. It was not the same as being heavily poisoned the last time, nonetheless, Fang Ning was disoriented and he felt chills all over his body. That kind of feeling was no different from the feeling he had when he finished watching a horror movie as a group in university and went to the toilet alone after that…

Nope, Sir System’s plan was precise. His confidence, which soared when he defeated the venomous snake, plummeted.

It regularly peeked at his thoughts, so it knew what he was afraid of. Fang Ning thought of this helplessly.

When he respawned in the living room for the third time, Fang Ning did not dare move around aimlessly, and neither did he cheat by hollering at Sir System.

He observed carefully. Aside from suspicious objects like the bloodstains on the doors, there was a shoe rack to the left of the living room door.

When Fang Ning rented his own place, he would never place shoes at that area…

There were five pairs of shoes with varying sizes and designs on the rack. They were easy to identify based on their appearances. Three pairs of sports shoes with different sizes were for men, whereas the other two pairs of high-heeled shoes with different heights were for women.

Those were shoes for five people.

Fang Ning noticed this for the shoes were stained with blood.

There was a problem with this. Only the murderer had the time and effort to rearrange the bloodstained shoes on the rack.

Victims or survivors would not go through such an effort.

Did that mean that five people died?

There were five rooms, but that did not mean that only five people lived here. It was very common for couples to rent a room together.

What a headache… Fang Ning’s head throbbed with pain as he analyzed this matter.

Sir System was reluctant to provide hints. He obviously wanted Fang Ning to solve this locked room murder mystery first.

However, judging from the situation, in order to solve this mystery, he had to die countless times and reload endlessly before he could beat this level.

Fang Ning had extensive gaming experience. His way of tackling this sort of puzzle game was to reload constantly. He never picked the right option at the first try.

Once upon a time, he became a detective for a short while and gained some experience.

Later, as Sir System grew more and more powerful, the System Map became even more reliable and there was hardly any use for a detective. The System could be hacked straightaway and monsters could be farmed. He was too lazy to play detective games…

As he pondered, Fang Ning slowly began to realize something.

Using brute force against guile was the key to victory.

In the days of the Second World War, one country relied on various tactics like coup de mains and Kamikazes, but it eventually got obliterated by two atomic bombs…

“Hey, Richie, it’s one thing being lazy. Is your brain still functioning?” Sir System spoke suddenly.

Fang Ning knew at once that his train of thoughts was on the right path. In spite of its silence, this third-rate crap was still peeking at his thoughts.

He had no choice. His body had been seized by the System for nearly three years. The System was fully aware of the structure of his brain, so it was easy to interpret his thoughts.

“Hmph, did you think I was an idiot?” Fang Ning replied smugly.

A gust of wind blew yet again, and he died…

“Hahaha, you forgot again that you can’t simply speak here. If you say something, you might trigger a murderous curse.” Sir System gloated.

F*ck, you idiot, you dared to trick me.

Fang Ning contemplated viciously. His mind conjured a hundred and eight ways to torture the System.

“Your thoughts are futile. I’ll never take on a corporeal form. I’m the amalgamation of Maxims. I’m intangible and conceptual, so what can you do to me?” Sir System commented cockily.

Dammit! Fang Ning could not do anything, so he simply ignored the System.

The most pressing problem was about overpowering this haunted house with a murderous curse!

I am a Lake-level powerhouse!

That thought formed in Fang Ning’s mind and his entire body shook and radiated authority and confidence.

Then, the wind blew and he died again…

“Hahaha, acting tough doesn’t work! Only your true power can help you beat this level!” Sir System roared with laughter.

True power?

Fang Ning contemplated for a moment and finally grasped Sir System’s meaning. It wanted him to stop being a loser and start mastering his power.

He thought, what did he know?

Hmm, it looked like he did not know anything…

Nope, he knew how to recite scriptures.

“At least you have some shred of self-awareness. You’re often so lazy to cultivate, and now you can’t even come up with a strategy to defend yourself.” Sir System chided.

“You’re making false accusations again. I got it!” Fang Ning announced proudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the wind arrived once more.

“Transform!”

A joke flashed across his mind. What are your last words when you fall off a cliff?

A god uttered the aforementioned word.

However, that was only an imagination. On the contrary, Fang Ning was able to pull it off! That was the difference!

In the blink of an eye, a yellow ray of light flashed and he turned into an ancient stone slab.

The wind blew but the slab of stone stood still. Bright lights shone from its insides and the dilapidated house exploded with a loud “bang”.

Where was the eerie ambiance? Where were the wind and the ghostly wails?

Everything stood under the sun! No evil could penetrate it!