Editor: SimoB
"Beep- Beep-"
Shi Qing stood before the hospital bed, staring at the patient on it. He had comely features, obscured by sickness. There were tubes and needles sticking out of various parts of his body, and the doctors were still working hard to resuscitate him.
The clock ticked down in his ears in his last moments on Earth, alongside a voice that seemed to prattle on. "Host, are you really going to refuse to do the tasks? You're definitely going to die then. All you have to do is guard the protagonist of the world and make sure that they follow the storyline of the original book without arousing their suspicions."
Seeing that Shi Qing was still only interested in his old body, the System began to panic. "Host, please accept! When you finish all the tasks your body will still be alive."
Shi Qing: "No. Laozi wants to die. Fuck off."
The System wanted to cry. "We're already bound to each other, so if you don't accept then I'll die too. I'm begging you, please just accept the tasks. They're super simple. I'll even activate a golden finger to make you a badass in every world, okay?"
Shi Qing: "Hehe."
He pointed at the him on the bed. "I'm good. Just look at that."
Regardless of the System's promises, he would still be confined to the hospital, forced to rely on the goodwill of others.
The System was about to burst into tears at any moment. He had only heard about hosts eager to get to work after binding to a System. Why was his host complacently waiting for death instead?
It decided to go all in. "I'll activate the biggest golden finger for you! Every time you enter a new world, you'll always have the power to protect yourself!"
Shi Qing glanced at the System dispassionately from beside the bed. "Is that it?"
System: "Wuwuwuwu... This is all I have! Even this big golden finger will have consequences..."
When the System stopped bargaining and just began to cry, Shi Qing started to believe that this was the most lenient it could be. "Let's go then."
The teary eyed System was taken aback. "Huh?"
Shi Qing glanced down at this little round ball. "Didn't you say there were tasks to be done? Let's go."
"Oh? Oh oh! Let's go!"
The system wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. It hurriedly flew into Shi Qing's hand and whisked him away to another world.
In an instant, they were in a space between worlds. For some reason, Shi Qing seemed to know that hosts had absolute control here. The scenery suddenly changed to that of a sunny beach.
Its Host laid comfortably on a beach chair. He wore sunglasses and was sipping a drink from a coconut.
The System couldn't help but ask weakly, "Host, was your previous refusal meant to get more benefits?"
Shi Qing drank some more coconut juice. He didn't deny it: "In an unknown situation, it's natural to want to secure the best deal possible for yourself."
System: "But I was so nice..."
"Even if you were the nicest person in the world, you would only put me first if we were in the same boat."
Shi Qing tapped the little round ball. "Relax. Now that I know we're inseparable, I won't do anything to you."
System: ......
After finding out that it had been played with by its host for the last few days, it began questioning its life choices.
But regardless of its own reservations, it had a job to do.
The System tried to comfort itself. Its host seemed like a smart cookie, which was much better than being stuck with a newbie. It presented the information it had on the first task to Shi Qing carefully.
The info was downloaded directly into his brain, but Shi Qing only raised an eyebrow at the experience. He examined the files closely.
***
This world used to be a modern monster leveling novel. The main character was called Yin Mingzheng. The plot was based on the idea that the location of 21st century Earth was suddenly revealed to intergalactic warlords. To them, a technologically backward but temperate planet like this was ripe for the taking.
And so the invaders came in droves. They were more advanced than Earth and naturally gifted in offense, so it was like taking candy from a baby to them.
Following the massacre of their fellow humans by the invaders, many were able to awaken supernatural abilities and begin to counterattack. The protagonist Yin Mingzheng was the most fearsome existence among them, gifted with both brains and brawn.
He established a base and defended it alongside his friends, gradually leveling up from fighting monsters. According to the original plot, Yin Mingzheng would continue to beat them up, one by one, until he repelled all the invaders.
But unfortunately, since the book was written too realistically, the wishes of its readers allowed it to become a reality. In this world, however, the aliens were not waiting patiently for the protagonist to grow. They sent countless monsters to overrun the Earth.
The plot had already changed, but the important characters kept their personalities and achievements. After discovering they couldn't face humanity's elites head on, the aliens began to sow discord among their ranks. Everyone is out for themselves even in the best of times. Someone like Yin Mingzheng, who focused solely on protecting humans regardless of profit or emotion, was a thorn in the eyes of many.
In addition, since the location of Earth was already exposed, a set of new invaders quickly arrived. In time, Yin Mingzheng would be forced to sacrifice himself to end the second wave of invaders, leaving Earth undefended for the first group to take.
Shi Qing's task was to guard Yin Mingzheng and make sure that didn't happen.
The System knew that he was finished when he opened his eyes. It quickly reminded him, "I will randomly place you in the body of an authority figure of this world. I promise that they'll be strong. You can look over their histories if you'd like."
"Is there anything else I have to do other than looking after the protagonist?"
After getting to know the System in the past few days, Shi Qing knew that it wouldn't lie to him on purpose. It did seem like a bit of an airhead though.
As he expected, the System quickly continued, "Right right right. There's more. Host must be careful because this world is centered around the protagonist. Those that he disdains will be ejected from the world. Although this only applies to foreign entities like transmigrators, like Host. If you are kicked out, the task will be considered to be a failure."
"There will be a grace period of one month provided. No matter how the protagonist feels towards the Host during that time, the World's Consciousness will not react. So the Host must make sure to become friendly with them quickly. If the first task is failed, your points will enter the negatives and it will take ten times that value to bring it back to zero."
"I see."
Shi Qing snapped his fingers and a new coconut appeared in his hand.
He narrowed his eyes. He wasn't too worried about being kicked out.
The protagonist was friendly to all the major characters in this world, so he would be fine no matter who he became.
As long as the System hadn't left anything out.
The System was still chattering on: "To assist the Host in lowering the chances of being ejected, the System has provided an animosity meter. If it is above 50%, the host will be forced to leave. Please be careful!"
The System moved forward: "Okay, I'm ready to start! Remember to receive the original body's memories to better blend in! 3- 2- 1-"
***
A large protective dome covered a civilian refugee camp. There was an endless sea of robots, about half as tall as a human adult, unloading their weapons relentlessly into the barrier. There were just too many of them, and they had already broken through several layers of the six layered dome.
Inside, civilians huddled in fear as they looked to the sky. Mothers embraced their children, husbands sheltered their wives, and sons and daughters were pulled close to their parents. Their eyes were all filled with the same sense of despair.
There was a spaceship, larger than the entire dome, floating above the robots. Its cannon was aimed downwards.
A cold mechanical voice repeatedly stated its message, "Humans, surrender Yin Mingzheng within sixty seconds, or we will truly begin our assault."
"Humans, surrender Yin Mingzheng within fifty-nine seconds, or we will truly begin our assault."
"Humans, surrender Yin Mingzheng within fifty-seven seconds, or we will truly begin our assault."
The countdown from above was like the reaper's scythe, hanging over the heads of these refugees. They could only cry out in fear and hug their loved ones tight.
This was a hostage situation.
Using millions of lives to force Yin Mingzheng to give himself up.
Everyone knew what would happen to a leader of Earth in the hands of the invaders. No one was innocent enough to think that Yin Mingzheng would sacrifice himself for them. They could only cry harder in their last few moments.
"Fifty-seven...."
"Fifty-six...."
"Fifty-five...."
Finally, at t minus ten seconds, a plane approached from afar.
The spaceship that covered the sun finally fell silent as it received a transmission from the plane.
"We have brought Yin Mingzheng. Please release the hostages immediately."
Shi Qing, who had already been sitting on a throne in the spaceship for 30 seconds, lowered his eyes to watch as a man was shoved from the plane. His incredibly acute sight allowed him to see Yin Mingzheng's features, ones that agreed with his sense of beauty. His limbs were powerless and there was a deep resentment in his eyes.
It seems he had been secretly drugged, just enough to render this formerly fearsome defender helpless. He could only allow himself to be tossed off the plane like cargo.
Shi Qing sent the nearest unmanned drone to catch Yin Mingzheng. He wouldn't die from a fall of this height as he was an ability user, but it would still hurt quite a bit.
He commanded the drone to return as he continued to assimilate the memories of this body.
The System was right. He was powerful enough that no one would dare mess with him... Because he was the greatest enemy to ever grace this world since its formation. He was the leader of the second group of invaders, the ones that were taken out by Yin Mingzheng's sacrifice.
According to the memories, even other alien races were afraid to come close to the Robotic Army.
And what did this top-grade identity mean to the protagonist Yin Mingzheng?
This was an existence that, right after arriving on Earth, had threatened the lives of millions, simply to force humanity to forsake him. To him, he was just...
-- An invader.