Volume 2, Chapter 87 – The System’s Purpose

My little Tianyin?

“W-who’s your little Tianyin?!”

Tianyin couldn’t understand why this glowing orb had suddenly appeared.

If the System wanted to stop her from speaking, couldn’t it just directly prevent her from saying the words? Why did it have to show up in person so dramatically?

And more importantly…

Calling her so affectionately like that, “my little Tianyin”? Did it ever think about how weird that sounded to her?!

“You’re something I created. Doesn’t that make you my little Tianyin?”

‘Wuu, well… that actually kind of made sense…’

Tianyin was at a loss for words.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, she was a creation of the System. There was nothing technically wrong with what it said.

“So, all of this was your doing then, huh, big Light Orb?”

“Mhm. As you can see, it was a necessary measure.”

The System Orb admitted it quite frankly.

“The reason I came to see you this time was actually on a whim, little Tianyin.”

“I don’t care what your purpose is. Can you at least undo whatever status effect you gave to Sister Xiaomu?”

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Tianyin didn’t know why the System Orb had come to find her, but she really didn’t like how Xingyu Muxi was frozen stiff like some lifeless doll.

“Status? There’s no status effect.”

The orb’s surprised voice echoed.

“I just froze time in this area of the game. As for your Sister Xiaomu, I simply severed her consciousness link with the game.”

Freeze the flow of time in the game and sever a player’s consciousness link.

Tianyin had to admit, those were terrifying abilities.

“But won’t Sister Xiaomu notice something’s wrong?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Once I remove the restrictions here, your Sister Xiaomu’s memory will stop right at the moment before you tried to tell her your secret. She won’t notice the time freeze at all~”

The System said it so casually.

But still…

Preserving memory at the instant before Tianyin spoke her secret.

Freezing the flow of time in this entire area.

Temporarily severing a player’s consciousness.

And most unnerving of all, the way it spoke as if these things were as normal as eating or drinking.

For the first time, Tianyin found herself truly facing the entity before her, the System Orb.

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Up until now, her impression of it had been that of an artificial construct, an immensely powerful computational system, with intelligence that merely imitated humanity, a kind of super AI like those in movies and novels.

But now…

What exactly was this System Orb that stood before her, acting so much like a living being?

Was it a special existence within the game?

Or perhaps… some kind of Throne-class being with unique powers?

Without realizing it, Tianyin stopped thinking of it as a mere piece of technology. To her now, it was a mysterious, intelligent lifeform.

Even if this silver-haired loli body and all her abilities came from it, she couldn’t lower her guard.

Because if her assumption was correct, if the System Orb truly was some kind of strange, powerful entity, then there was no way it had given her this NPC body for no reason.

No, it had to have a purpose behind creating her.

If that was true, then without a doubt… she was nothing more than a pawn in the System’s grand design.

A pawn…

Thinking that, Tianyin’s gaze toward the System turned cold.

“Little Tianyin’s eyes look like she hates me. Hahahahaha, how amusing! My little Tianyin, you must understand, it was me who gave you a second life. Without me, you would have already died~”

“One thing has nothing to do with another. I’m grateful that you gave me a second life, but if you only did it to use me for your own goals, then—”

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Before Tianyin could even finish, the orb trembled and burst into a string of manic laughter.

“Hahahahahahaha! This is… this is just too funny! Hahahahahahahaha…”

“Wh-what are you laughing at?”

Tianyin was utterly confused. She had spoken seriously, shouldn’t a cornered System be getting angry, issuing threats, or throwing out some kind of “warning message”?

Why was this one breaking all the rules instead?

“I’m laughing because you’re just too adorable, little Tianyin~ As expected of my creation! Only I could make such a cute silver-haired loli~”

Just a moment ago, this System Orb had seemed mysterious and ominous.

But now…

To Tianyin, it just felt… stupid.

Yes, genuinely stupid.

The shift in tone was so abrupt it was almost comical.

“Hey, can you be serious for a second? I’m trying to have an actual conversation with you here!”

Tianyin was getting annoyed. She had taken the time to think carefully about all of this, yet the System acted like it was watching a comedy show.

“You’re so cute, little Tianyin. Fine, I’ll tell you the truth. Even if I said I came on a whim, there is a reason I came to see you.”

“But don’t worry, I truly bear you no ill will. You can rest easy on that.”

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After its laughter subsided, the System Orb spoke again, this time in a tone that was almost exasperated.

“Then how do you explain why you gave me an NPC identity in the first place? I’m from the real world, remember? How did you even turn me into an NPC? Explain that!”

Tianyin blurted out all the doubts that had been piling up in her heart.

“Well… honestly, I’m not sure how to explain it myself.”

Hearing her questions, the System Orb paused for a moment.

“To be honest, I didn’t really understand what you were either, back then. You were a human from the real world, yet your soul somehow cros—uh, well, let’s just say it came to my side. To be frank, I was quite puzzled myself…”

“But we don’t have time to talk about that today, little Tianyin. The reason I came to see you wasn’t because you were about to tell other players that you’re an NPC. Even if you’d said nothing at all, I would have come to find you anyway.”

The System abruptly shifted the topic back to its true reason for appearing.

Of course, Tianyin understood that if the System didn’t want to talk, there was nothing she could do to force it.

“So what you’re saying is, even if I’d done nothing today, you’d still have come to me?”

“Exactly.”

“I see… Then what is it? What’s so important that you had to go through all this trouble to find me?”

“Tell me, little Tianyin, have you ever heard of a player named Yunchou?”