Seized by the System

Meanwhile, within Mars’ space.

Optimus Prime destroyed the Earthen Dragon by sacrificing its only arm and after that, it had succumbed to a state where it could not fight anymore…

As all of its limbs had already been torn apart by the Earthen Dragon in the previous battle, it was now close to being dismembered into multiple pieces.

This time, however, the dead Earthen Dragon did not reassemble itself. Only some stones could be seen floating in space, just like those natural meteorites that wandered about in the air.

“Hahaha! No doubt, victory only arrives when you tough it out till the end…” A broken and defective Optimus Prime laughed loudly as he saw this scene. “You wanted to kill me slowly and allow me to experience that sense of fear right before death, yet you gave me time to hold it out. You’re such an amateur!”

The Earthen Dragon could no longer answer him, and in space, no one could hear his speech of victory. This made the victor somewhat displeased.

“Boring, apparently it’s more fun to battle in a space with a lot of people… Then at least some passersby will cheer and clap.”

Lei Tian fell silent.

Not long after, a green dragon appeared and carried the damaged red and blue mech away.

In the System Space.

Sir System was busy bargaining with the Axiom Daddy while the macaw served as the middleman.

Just as Fang Ning had predicted, the Earth’s Heavenly Axiom indeed had nothing in its possession.

The Divine Gate was supposed to open on the third month to decide on the development of tens of thousands of clans, but it was never opened.

Fang Ning used to be confused about this for some time. He eventually found out that because the Heavenly Axiom had to defend itself against the Upper Realm, it could not place its attention on the Divine Gate.

Though now, it seemed as if there were other reasons for it to stay shut…

Getting a reward for succeeding in a mission was a must, just like how Vigilante A and Chong Daqing got their rewards.

“You tell it that I don’t want the Heavenly Merits, I still have a bunch of them which I can’t redeem. They are like invasion money and are only usable when you have won. It’d better not think of duping Sir System!” Sir System argued.

The macaw replied awkwardly, “But, the only things that the Axiom Daddy can give out now are large amounts of Merits. Ten thousand is possible, thirty thousand as well. Anything above that will be challenging but not unnegotiable. As for those precious resources you want, they have all been transformed into energy and can’t be used. You probably won’t be interested in the rest of those cheap items either.”

Fang Ning, on the other hand, was understanding. The availability of Earth’s precious resources depended on the year.

Earth’s Vitality had only been restored for 20 years or so. How many resources could it produce anyway?

As for the Heavenly Merits, they were good stuff that people would kill for.

Thanks to the protection from Merits, Gu Buwei escaped a malady that affected his entire clan. It was not that the God of Plagues could not overcome this, but it did not want to mess up the entire situation that as created because of this negligible matter.

These perennial gods would probably be more aware of the butterfly effect.

From this perspective, the gods would not overpower the Heavenly Axiom. Instead, there was a greater possibility that both sides will reach an equilibrium.

With that, the Heavenly Merits would still serve as hard currency in the future.

Nevertheless, Fang Ning would not bother Sir System’s bargaining. In this respect, a shameless individual like it had the upper hand.

It was a seller’s market after all. The core of Mars’ consciousness was obviously valuable to the Earth’s Heavenly Axiom.

The only question was, how would the other party use it?

It could not possibly use Mars as a shield by its side like how the Earth used the Moon?

Mars and Earth were planets that orbited around the Sun and shared the same rank; the leader of the planets in the Solar System was Jupiter.

The macaw was trapped in a sticky situation between two big bosses. After going back and forth for a while, passing messages to both sides, it directed a pleading gaze towards its Master.

Fang Ning was, by nature, a soft-hearted person and could not help but gave the System some advice, “Sir, I think that’s enough. After all, we still need to maintain a good relationship with the Axiom Daddy and we shouldn’t make things awkward.”

“You’re always the one who says the good things, but I was the one who took the risk just now!” Sir System retorted, ignoring Fang Ning’s advice.

“Sigh, you’re so short-sighted. Right now, our biggest enemies are the Upper Realm gods. We will definitely have a conflict with them when they decide to implement their policies in the coming days. By that time, it will be crucial that we’ve forged a good relationship with an ally like the Heavenly Axiom. After all, like us, it’s a local…” Fang Ning attempted to manipulate the System.

“Shut the f*ck up, I’m not gonna listen to you!” Sir System was way past its early stages of being manipulated by Fang Ning.

Fang Ning also knew that this phrase was rather sneaky. Trying to take advantage of Sir System was harder than wrestling a big bone from the Black Dog’s mouth.

“You’re secretly scolding me again, it makes me feel so sad. I keep finding ways to benefit us and yet you still want to hold me back…” Sir System nagged.

Speechless, Fang Ning did not say anything else.

He pondered for a while before he spoke again, “In that case, you should expand the Draconic Penitentiary and build a relief space. This time, Lei Tian had put in a lot of effort. As a master, I must be fair and give him at least some relief time.”

“Alright, as long as you don’t stop me from extorting that good-for-nothing Heavenly Axiom, you can do whatever you wish…” Sir System was rather cool with it.

System Notification: [The System has consumed three hundred million experience points and expanded the System Prison Area.

A Prison Relief Area has been added, 100 meters long from east to west, 50 meters wide from north to south.]

Fang Ning was immensely satisfied with it. With this implemented, a large number of sinful souls gathered in the Draconic Penitentiary would have greater motivation.

As a fellow who was constantly seized by the System, he had grasped the importance of relief time. If not for his habit of staying at home and having the System Cyber Cafe as a leisure outlet, it would be impossible for him to adapt to a state of being seized all the time…

It was not hard to imagine the everyday lives of those fellows locked up in prison.

However, Fang Ning would not sympathize with them. They deserved their punishment.

Fang Ning arrived at the Draconic Penitentiary. Accompanied by Anderson, he arrived at the top floor of the Evil Suppression Tower and stopped outside Lei Tian’s personal cell.

He said wanly, “Lei Tian, you have successfully completed your mission this time. From today onwards, you have two hours of relief time each day. You’re free to decide when and how to use it. The venue will be at the square in front of the prison.”

Without a change in expression, Lei Tian spoke wanly as well, “Thank you. Next time, do give me more enemies like these. Also, that mech of yours has a lot of faults and these are my suggestions for improvement…”

After that, he began to speak rapidly, covering various points about the mechanism, defenses and attack modes…

Fang Ning was befuddled as he looked at Anderson.

Anderson immediately responded, “Okay, Lei Tian, you can tell me everything afterward. Let’s not bother Sir Warden.”

Fang Ning nodded his head before he turned to leave.

“Too bad, this one’s no confidant of mine…” Lei Tian shook his head in disappointment.

Sorry for not being your confidant, but your confidant is busy bargaining with the Heavenly Axiom and has no time for you.

Fang Ning ignored his reaction and walked away. He was very busy right now and lacked the attention for matters pertaining to fighting abilities.

…

In the Morality City, at the Red Queen’s Cloud Computational Center.

Black Robe had just sent the Yellow Dog Xue Ba, who came by earlier to discuss new business opportunities, away before receiving a message that was sent by his master via quantum communication.

“There have been some strange developments on Mars and on the stars as mentioned in legends. Do take note of this.” The Great Devil Saint Zhi Nan’s voice resounded in the large building.

Black Robe immediately thought of the information he provided to Vigilante A. He had once informed the latter about the meteorite related to Mars. His aim at that time was to let Vigilante A probe around.

From the looks of it now, Vigilante A must have gone there to inspect the area and had done something major to the point of alerting the master who was in space.

He then reported every single detail to his master.

“Oh, is that so?” Zhi Nan’s voice was calm. “Looks like this fellow has become someone else’s killer again.”

“I’m too slow to follow, please elaborate, Master.” Black Robe was perplexed.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about this for now. I’ll give you a star chart and you use the humans’ astronomical tools to observe them closely and report to me from time to time,” Zhi Nan replied in an enigmatic manner.

“Yes, Master.” Black Robe had no further questions and accepted his task.