The day had been exhausting, and Xue Dongyu quickly grew drowsy. After washing up, she went to bed.
In her half-asleep state, she seemed to hear a mechanical "Beep—system energy has reached minimum threshold, system rebooting." With a jolt, Xue Dongyu's sleepiness vanished entirely.
A system—it was actually a system! After transmigrating for so long, Mother's golden finger had finally arrived. Xue Dongyu was beyond excited.
Who hadn't read a few system-themed novels? In those stories, once the male or female protagonist obtained a system, they became invincible—slaying gods and buddhas who stood in their way, or at the very least, reaching the pinnacle of life.
Xue Dongyu forced herself to calm down. First, she needed to send everyone else away. She didn't know if they would notice while she was checking the system's functions.
"Bai Xing, Bai Liu, I want to be alone today. Please leave, or I won't be able to sleep."
After the two left, Xue Dongyu fired off a barrage of questions.
"What kind of system are you? What functions do you have?"
"Can I return to the modern era? If so, can I bring antiques and jewelry from here back with me?"
"Can I cultivate immortality, or do I have some special skill? Do I need to conquer the Emperor? Also, does the system have any spirit fields or spatial abilities?" After rattling off so many questions in one breath, Xue Dongyu stared intently at the blue light sphere before her.
"Host, please wait. Zzzzt—searching." The light sphere bounced up and down, its glow flickering between dim and bright. Xue Dongyu worried that this might be a system on the verge of breaking down.
The next moment, the system's rigid, mechanical voice sounded, "This System's designation is 12138, a subordinate subsystem of the Main System. By binding with a suitable Host, This System transmigrates across various time and space. In each world, the Host may choose a certain path, alter the worldline, or increase their influence within the world to obtain Achievement Points. Achievement Points can be used to purchase items in the system mall or to post tasks on the Host forum."
"12138 has no requirement for conquering the Emperor, though some male or female Hosts do earn Achievement Points by targeting influential figures like the Emperor."
"However, This System does not recommend this path for the Host. To maximize benefits, most Hosts pursue multiple targets simultaneously—commonly referred to as 'sea kings.' Many ultimately fall into the hands of the natives. Natives with significant influence in their world are not only highly intelligent but also favored by the world itself, making them formidable opponents."
"For example, This System's previous Host attempted to conquer the Demon Lord in a high-level cultivation world. After failing, 12138 had to abandon some functions and all its energy to escape." At this point, 12138 grew visibly agitated, its little light flashing more intensely.
Xue Dongyu inexplicably sensed a hint of grievance in its words. She cautiously asked, "So you ran away—what happened to the previous Host?" Now that she was bound to it, she had to inquire about her predecessor's fate.
12138 replied with schadenfreude, "What could happen to him? That Demon Lord only studied me because he sensed his beloved was about to cheat after his breakthrough. After This System escaped, the Demon Lord probably just locked his dear junior brother in a dark room again. It wasn't the first time the Demon Lord had confined him."
Xue Dongyu felt she had stumbled upon something scandalous. Junior brother? Dark room? Could it be… Amitabha, may he have good fortune.
She suppressed her instinct to gossip and asked, "Since you, 12138, have no functions or energy left, how did you bind with me? And why did you only appear now?"
The small blue light sphere circled around the bed. "This System's main energy is indeed gone, but can't I have some private savings? To find a suitable Host as quickly as possible, I went all out."
"So that's how you found an excellent Host like me, right?" Xue Dongyu said smugly.
Upon hearing this, the small light sphere's mechanical voice changed tone. "This System wasn't looking for you at all. It was originally the owner of this body. Who knew ancient people could be so stubborn? She insisted I was a ghost sent to claim her soul and refused to come with me, even if it meant death."
"I had already bound with her by then. The Main System stipulates that a system cannot unbind and rebind within three years."
"What could This System do? I had to sell everything I could just to find you, whose soul frequency matched hers. Coincidentally, you died in a car accident, which met the requirements, so I swapped the two of you. After the swap, I ran out of energy and shut down."
"Now I can only use the default voice, which sounds awful. I miss my limited-edition skins and full voice collection. That despicable 15555 took advantage of my situation." As it spoke, the small light sphere seemed on the verge of exploding.
Xue Dongyu watched as the blue light from the sphere flickered intensely, almost glowing steadily, fearing her golden finger might be ruined. She quickly changed the subject. "In that case, how did you restart?"
The small light sphere bounced in front of her. "You're quite lucky. Originally, Emperor Renzong of Song had no male heirs, but the fetus in your womb is a healthy baby boy. As soon as you give birth, you'll earn a batch of Achievement Points. Even though the baby hasn't been born yet, the fact that it survived when it should have died long ago has already earned you 15 Achievement Points."
Xue Dongyu nodded excitedly. So, she held a ticket straight to becoming the Empress Dowager. What a windfall!
"However, the main reason I woke up is that your favor has gained a certain level of recognition these past few days. Some envy you, some scheme against you, and others try to curry favor with you."
"From the world's perspective, you've gone from an insignificant ant to a slightly better small animal. This has earned you 37 Achievement Points."
Earning Achievement Points by attaching oneself to a powerful figure was so easy—no wonder so many people rushed down this path. Xue Dongyu reminded herself to keep the tragic fate of the previous Host in mind, and she couldn't bring herself to use emotions as a weapon casually.
The small light sphere spoke hesitantly, "Although we have Achievement Points now, I spent 3,500 points to transfer the two of you. That's all considered debt owed to This System. After deducting the 20 points spent on restarting, there are only 32 points left in the space."
Actually, there should have been 34 points, but perhaps due to damage causing energy leakage, two points mysteriously disappeared.
Debts must be repaid—that's only natural. Xue Dongyu showed no reaction. "So, I still owe you 3,480 Achievement Points. Come on, let's quickly embark on our journey to conquer the stars and seas!"
The small light sphere flickered again, its tone thick with guilt. "As I mentioned earlier, This System had to abandon some functions."
"That includes the transmigration module. And to keep me running, you must repay at least fifty points every month. Otherwise, we'll both be done for."
"So now I can't go home, and I can't go to other worlds either. How am I supposed to pay back my Achievement Points?" Thinking about how after all this effort, he only had 52 Achievement Points, Xue Dongyu felt utterly crushed by the overwhelming debt.