This time, after hearing that there was a dragon vein near the Capital, the System brought the female protagonist there to search for it. Only by finding the Energy Source could it repair the main program and contact the home planet.
In the previous life, it probably swallowed the energy inside the Jade Token, giving the female protagonist only a West Wing Room to use as Space. How greedy!
Unfortunately, in this life, it encountered me. Not only did it fail to obtain the Jade Token, but I also dismantled it. Tell me, doesn't that count as retribution?
Through dismantling it, Yun Qing learned that before this, the System had also visited the ancient world and the modern world, and had even been fortunate enough to visit the cultivation world and the martial arts world. It had collected a truly substantial amount of data. After transmitting that data back to the home planet, the System had retained a backup.
As for the exchange store it mentioned to the female protagonist, it was merely private merchandise it had collected from various planes. It seemed that this System was already showing signs of developing sentience.
However, all those things now benefited Yun Qing. The data alone was an invaluable treasure that he could never have found by chance. There were also plenty of martial arts manuals and cultivation techniques, including every level.
Yun Qing stroked his chin and pondered. Since this System could travel through time and space, should he turn it into his own System and have it take him across the myriad realms?
If so, could he achieve Immortality in a certain sense?
As long as his Soul did not perish and his thoughts remained, he would always be himself. In any case, there was nothing in this world worth lingering over. What was there to cherish in this devastated world?
Zombies were everywhere. Even the sun and moon had lost their radiance, and the air was filled with the stench of decay. Even a primitive world would be better than this place.
Yes, that was what he would do!
Once Yun Qing had made up his mind, he began assembling the System. As for spirit stones, he actually had some. A spiritual vein was buried beneath the mountain in his Space; otherwise, where would the spirit spring have come from?
However, there were several things he needed to pay attention to. First, he could not allow it to maintain any connection with the Interstellar World. What was his belonged to him; there was no need for the Main System.
Second, he could not allow it to develop its own consciousness. He was afraid it might possess him one day and take his place.
Third, he would still make it mute. As long as he did not contact it, it had better not make a sound and babble away. He was not the female protagonist and did not like chatting.
Fourth, he would retain the original database while giving it query and storage functions. If he encountered knowledge he did not understand, he could consult the data.
Fifth, he would add an intrusion function to the System. If he encountered another System, it could invade the other one and even capture it. Wouldn't that be even better?
Yun Qing became so busy that he forgot the passage of time. By the time he restored the System to his ideal state, ten years had passed in his Space, while only one year had passed in the outside world.
Looking at his still-youthful reflection in the mirror, Yun Qing was somewhat bewildered. By rights, he was already over thirty, yet the changes in him were not obvious.
Huh? Did this mean that he was unaffected by the Time Flow Rate inside his Space? If that was true, it was another huge surprise!
He had previously been afraid to remain in his Space for too long because he feared aging too quickly. If he was unaffected, did that mean he effectively carried a home with him—one he could return to whenever he wished?
Yun Qing happily spun in circles inside his Space. After binding the System, his excitement reached its peak.
The System had previously formed bindings through transactions. Yun Qing had not changed this aspect during his modifications. However, the modified System now had an emotional-value detection function, especially for resentment energy. Anyone capable of trading with the System was certainly a frustrated Soul or someone harboring resentment. Otherwise, who would choose to make a trade?
For now, he left the transaction targets to the System. He did not yet have the ability to choose them himself, so he could only help them fulfill their wishes and obtain their payment in return.
These payments required energy. In the System's understanding, quite a few things could be called energy: Merit, aura, and soul power, for example. The difficulty of a wish determined the amount of payment.
The transaction targets could pay through their satisfaction. Of course, the final right of interpretation definitely belonged to Yun Qing. What if a transaction target tried to renege? Then they could not blame him for abandoning martial ethics.
The vast myriad worlds held every oddity imaginable. No one could guarantee that they would never encounter a weirdo, right? Even when dissatisfied with a food delivery order, people could still leave a bad review. After working hard for an entire lifetime, he did not want to end up with nothing. That would affect his mood too much.
Once he became strong enough, he would no longer need to rely on the System.
This time, he had been lucky enough to catch the System while it was weak. Otherwise, capturing it would have been difficult!
As for the things the original System had collected, Yun Qing naturally confiscated those as well. The System itself belonged to him, so its collection naturally did too. He had to admit, the fellow had amassed quite a lot.
There were several large chests of gold, silver, and jewelry alone. What use could this stuff possibly be to a System? As rewards? Huh? That did not seem impossible, either!
There were also various elixirs, presumably collected in the cultivation world.
The Essence-Nourishing Pill was for regulating the body.
The Essence Recovery Pill was for healing injuries.
The Beauty Pill was for vanity.
The Detoxification Pill was fairly self-explanatory.
The Strength Pill increased one's strength, enough to reach the level of innate divine strength.
The Wisdom-Opening Pill was for growing one's brain.
The Conception Pill was for having children, with no gender restriction, like opening a blind box.
The Childbearing Pill and Daughter-Bearing Pill were even easier to understand.
There were even sterilization pills and various poisons. One had to admit, a System with its own consciousness really did consider everything.
Some of Zhou Yao's collected items were also in the System's Space. Presumably, this was the promise it had dangled before Zhou Yao. Without offering benefits, who would do the missions?
Most of what Zhou Yao had collected consisted of food and water, along with a small amount of daily necessities. There was not much, though. It seemed the System had only given her a few square meters; otherwise, there would not be so little.
Yun Qing stored all the elixirs in the medicine cabinet in the West Wing Room. He had acquired it from a Chinese herbal medicine shop, and it had finally come in handy. He sorted and stored the other supplies as well.
After finishing everything, he left the Space. The moment Lü Xiao saw him, she was excited at first, but then became aggrieved. She looked so listless that even her leaves drooped, radiating pitifulness.
Yun Qing smiled apologetically and hurriedly stroked her little leaves. “I didn't expect it to take this long, either. You've worked hard, Lü Xiao. You really are the most considerate vine in the world. How would I live without you?”
Lü Xiao seemed to be healed instantly. Her little leaves immediately perked up, and the entire vine became filled with vitality, as though she had been injected with stimulants.
Uh, was she really that easy to placate? Yun Qing actually felt a little embarrassed, but that was not important. Wasn't this exactly the result he wanted?
“Let's go and collect some crystal cores to take with us.”
After putting Lü Xiao away, Yun Qing left the Mountain cave.
Since he would be experiencing other worlds in the future, supplies were essential. Food was the most important thing in the Apocalypse. Gold, silver, jewelry, and the like could not even be exchanged for a piece of bread here. Yet those things happened to be hard currency in other worlds. If he did not collect more, he would be letting himself down after being reborn.
There were also crystal cores. The Zombies and Mutated Animals and Plants should have leveled up considerably by now, right? They were valuable things. Who knew when they might come in handy?
One person and one vine began searching through the mountains and forests for Mutated Animals and Plants and collecting crystal cores. After a year, the levels of these creatures had generally increased considerably.
However, after dismantling the System, his mental ability was not to be underestimated. As for his wood-type ability, did he not still have Lü Xiao to help him? He could improve it gradually.