"There are always a few times in life when you feel like you’ve seen the gates of Heaven open. I’ve waited seventeen years, and at my lowest moment, the gates finally opened." Lin Li looked at the back of the classmate in front of him and said softly. "Do you have a lion hiding in your eyes too?" His deskmate Bai Bufan turned his head to look at the suddenly eccentric Lin Li and teased, "Lu Mingli, could you use a quarter of your lifespan to trade me a girlfriend like Jiude Mayi? If that’s too much to ask, trading nothing is fine too—no other reason, just want to waste your lifespan." "Bufan, between us, there’s already a pathetic thick wall." Lin Li turned his head to look at Bai Bufan, and though there was no lion in his eyes, there was a lofty compassion. Bai Bufan rolled his eyes, clasped his hands in a fist salute, "Master Tree-man, please continue your eccentricity, I haven’t memorized the vocabulary for tomorrow morning’s English class yet, I have to continue cramming, farewell." "Foot fetish, disgusting." Lin Li shook his head with some disdain. Bai Bufan, who had already turned his head, took three seconds to realize he was being insulted, turned his head sharply back: "Cramming on the eve of exams counts as foot fetish?! You owe an apology to that saying! Besides, what’s wrong with foot fetishes, apologize to the Arknights players! Finally, apologize to me for wasting another precious minute of my life!" "No apologies, I prefer Azur Lane." "I’m quite interested in having a passionate XP battle with you, but definitely not during tonight’s study session. Wait till after I survive tomorrow’s English class, you’ll pay for your ignorance." Bai Bufan sneered, then turned his head back, immersing himself in his English textbook. And Lin Li also took a deep breath, gently exhaled, and pressed down his inner excitement. He really wasn’t suddenly acting crazy. Just now, he activated the system, and this was a heartfelt expression. This kind of thing truly happened to him. This is a system that can lead him to the pinnacle of life, and having observed others’ reactions just now, he confirmed that at least in this classroom, only he activated it. Lin Li was both nervous and excited now. If not for being in a crowded classroom, he might not have been able to resist humming softly to himself. After joking with his deskmate, his mood had calmed a bit, and Lin Li officially started checking his system. [Loading 99%...] Not fully loaded yet, Lin Li was so excited he couldn’t wait to sing and dance while waiting. Twenty minutes later, the progress didn’t change. Lin Li waited excitedly. Forty minutes later, it was still unchanged. Lin Li frowned while waiting. Sixty minutes later. Lin Li waited with a peaceful smile, as if entering the Wise One mode, seeing through the worldly desires. All is empty, Amitabha, free from worldly desires. Your mom— [Binding complete.] [Congratulations on successfully binding the Ascension System. This system will guide and assist your growth, helping you gradually become supreme in this unfamiliar world!] Your mom is in good health. Just kidding, this humble monk shall return to secular life first. Good, that’s the spirit! It should be like this! What’s wrong with waiting a bit longer? Good things should be like this. Like some items are originally priced at 33.9, after discount 32.9, does that mean the seller is stingy? It clearly proves it’s a good item, that’s why it can only be one yuan cheaper. The long loading time simply represents the abundance of content, as precious as the fingers of the Laughing God of Cooking Little Blessing. It certainly couldn’t be a bug, what a joke. The illusory screen in front transformed into the initial UI. Very simple, [Panel], [Shop], [Warehouse], [Quest]. Click [Panel]. [Name: Lin Li] [Age: 17] [Physique: None] [Passive Abilities: None] [Active Abilities: None] [System Currency: None] A very simple introduction, and the content is straightforwardly none. The system probably doesn’t account for those conventional abilities, Lin Li at least had some specialties, or maybe those specialties weren’t recognized. But this didn’t deter Lin Li, it excited him even more—if all his abilities weren’t recognized, does that mean only superpowers could be recorded? Wouldn’t that prove the system would grant him superpowers? Linking to the system’s initial words of "becoming supreme," he could become a superhero in modern times! For Lin Li, this was even better than those systems that offered money and power. Click [Shop]. [Unlock after accumulating 300 system currency.] It seems this door cannot be opened from this side for now. Lin Li then clicked on [Warehouse]. As expected, it was empty, but Lin Li still felt a bit disappointed, as he still held hopes of the system giving him a newbie gift package or something. No worries, having a system is already great, Lin Li comforted himself. It seems that getting something for nothing is not the system’s theme, Lin Li locked his eyes on [Quest], praying that the system’s task wouldn’t be too difficult. [Entering the Cultivation Realm, even mortals should have the ambition of swans, to cleanse the world of demons, starting from now!] [Quest Triggered!] [Quest One: Slay ten Little Demon Heaven Blood Crows that frequently attack and kill villagers around your village.] [Reward: Physical Improvement: Spiritual Qi absorption speed increased by 100%; System Currency * 50.] "..." Lin Li crossed his hands, resting them below his nose. Silence. No, no, something is very wrong ten out of ten. Lin Li patted Bai Bufan’s shoulder, and once he looked over, Lin Li sincerely asked: "Bufan, I have a friend who just downloaded a game. The newbie quest asks him to kill ten Little Demon Heaven Blood Crows, but he has no idea where they are. What should he do in this situation?" "Tell him to ask the nearby NPCs." Bai Bufan shrugged and said. "Hmm..." No wonder we’re good buddies, we think the same way. "That option was just tried by a friend of mine, and it seems even the NPC doesn’t know." Lin Li’s expression drifted back to Wise One mode, devoid of joy or sorrow. "Then it’s one of those disgustingly forced map exploration games. Your friend better hope the map isn’t too big." Bai Bufan waved his hand dismissively. The map shouldn’t be too big, just 5.1 billion square kilometers, and that’s not including the outer space DLC. Lin Li’s gaze continued to fixate on the system. Actually, it’s not like there’s no guidance. The task did say something about the Blood Crow appearing "around the village." Lin Li was at school, a key high school at the county level, unrelated to any village. "... " Lin Li felt he had to confront something; he could no longer deceive himself. His sight locked onto "First Entry into the Cultivation Realm" and "in this unfamiliar world," which were mentioned in the initial system message. Looking outside the window, the classroom was on the second floor. There wasn’t much of a view, as usual, no resurgence of Spiritual Qi. Just the ordinary world he had lived in for seventeen years. "Ha—" Lin Li took a deep breath. Could it be...? Did he skip the step where he was supposed to actually cross over? Lin Li thought more about it and found the situation might indeed be so. These days, where would you find creatures daring to frequently appear and hunt humans? Bold creatures would have long been gunned down by humanity’s adherence to truth. But... If he hadn’t crossed over, this task was probably impossible to complete, right? Without completion, the store couldn’t be activated, and rewards couldn’t be claimed... Then what use was this system?! Oh right, when he had Alzheimer’s in the future, it could be brought up at any time to check his age and name. His kids would never have to worry about their granddad forgetting their names, wow, he really was a genius! Just like that, he was no... fuck, still upset. Lin Li clicked through the entire system interface but couldn’t find an option to traverse. "System bro?" "Customer service?" "After-sales?" "..." "Daddy?" "If you don’t reply soon, I’m going to send the Earth coordinates to the Trisolarans!" Lin Li tried many methods and finally confirmed one thing—the system wasn’t alive. What a backward, low-level system, couldn’t they install an AI? Could the failure to load successfully just now actually have been due to a bug? Silence, an utterly painful silence. "Bufan, do you know which road around here has a lot of dump trucks driving by?" Lin Li turned his head mechanically. Maybe it’s still not too late to cross over. "How would I know that, what are you planning?" Bai Bufan was puzzled. "I want to make a video with me hiding in the bushes, and when a dump truck approaches, I suddenly appear in front of it to give it a scare. It seems like there are no bloggers doing such content on the internet. I might go viral." Lin Li said with a bitter smile. "... " "You’re talking about going viral as in getting cremated, right?" Bai Bufan gave a thumbs up, then looked at his desk mate with amusement and curiosity: "What’s up with you? You look constipated." "I’m breaking down," Lin Li said truthfully. "There’s nothing you can’t get through. Go home tonight and do some calculus; everything will be fine once you derive it all." Bai Bufan casually comforted him because, from his perspective, Lin Li suddenly turned like this within an hour, which in his mind meant it wasn’t anything serious. Must be those few days a month that happen to men. "You wouldn’t understand me, the kind of breakdown where I’m just one dump truck short of achieving the pinnacle of life." Lin Li sighed. The system was right in front, but unable to run. "No, I might understand you; I’ve been broken down before, and it was recent," Bai Bufan’s expression turned to one of experience, with melancholic vibes emanating from him: "Last weekend, I finally found a movie I was super excited about, but right when it was getting to the peak, the network lagged, and the screen froze on the male lead’s eyeless face. I staked everything, gave it my all, but couldn’t hold out; it backfired. It’s irritating! It’s irritating! It’s so irritating!! When I think about it now, it’s still immensely dissatisfying. That self-righteous damn guy, I’ll never forgive him in this lifetime!" Due to evening self-study, Bai Bufan lightly tapped his fist on the desk, but his face looked somewhat hideous. "... " Bai Bufan was undoubtedly a genius at comforting people; Lin Li suddenly found he wasn’t too broken after all. Oh well, what he lost was just what he had just gained. Rounding up, he realized he was just fooled for two hours. Lin Li couldn’t actually bet that a dump truck could take him to cross over; that would be too silly. However, the ups and downs made it unrealistic for him to concentrate again on studying. He decided to do nothing, let his mind go blank, and wait for school to end. Sleeping should make everything a little better. However, an oblivious mosquito with an annoying buzz flew over and landed on Lin Li’s hand. The classroom was on the second floor, and mosquitoes were always plentiful in summer. I’m already so miserable, and you’re still here sucking my blood? Why not go suck Bai Bufan’s instead? If it was just before, he might have willingly treated all the mosquitoes in the room to Bai’s blood to share his joy. But now, enough was enough! Lin Li’s left hand remained still, his right hand pretended to scratch his head, and then, in a lightning-fast move— "Snap!" A corpse lay in his palm, with barely any bloodstains as it hadn’t been able to suck much blood. Just about to ask the front desk for a tissue to wipe his hand, Lin Li paused. [Killed Little Demon Heaven Blood Crow (1/10).] Eh?!?!"