Chapter Three: Becoming Friends with the System

Lingyue hesitated for a brief moment, bit her lip hard, and, under Ye Chen’s anxious gaze, closed her rosy lips once more. Flustered, she threw on a coat, yanked open the door, and dashed toward the living room. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to shoot Ye Chen another fierce glare, making a threatening face as she muttered, “Just you wait!”

Only when Lingyue’s figure vanished at the end of the corridor did Ye Chen let out a long, heavy sigh. For a moment, he’d thought his heart had stopped beating. Thankfully, things hadn’t spiraled in the worst possible direction. Lingyue truly was a gentle and kind girl—so adorable. He replayed the scene in his mind: her figure, her skin... If only he could hold her in his arms—ah, ha ha...

---

“What? You wrote a letter to the system?”

Around the dining table in the living room, all twelve sisters spoke in unison, staring at Ye Chen in disbelief. Their eyes were as if they were looking at an idiot.

“Yes! People say the system is an all-powerful expert, so of course I thought I’d try to get on its good side. Is there a problem with that?” Ye Chen looked at them curiously, unable to understand why their reaction was so extreme.

“There’s a problem—a huge one! You think the system is a person!? Who told you that?” Second Sister Xu Ruolin’s face was taut, though her mouth kept twitching, as if she were struggling to suppress some unbearable amusement.

“The players in the game said so. Today, at the tavern...”

As Ye Chen recounted the tale, some of the sisters were already stifling their laughter. By the time he’d finished the story, the whole room erupted in peals of laughter. The sisters doubled over, their laughter shaking the room; a few with particularly low thresholds for amusement were clutching their stomachs, gasping for breath.

Ye Chen’s face had turned almost black. Was it really so funny that he wanted to cozy up to a supreme expert? Did it warrant this level of ridicule? Outrageous, utterly outrageous.

“All right, enough, stop laughing. No more laughing, I said—hahaha...” Second Sister Xu Ruolin tried to regain composure, glancing at Ye Chen’s darkened face as she attempted to rein in the laughter, only to break down herself and join in.

It took two or three minutes for the laughter to subside, mainly because the ringleaders were nearly out of breath and couldn’t laugh anymore.

“It really isn’t Ye Chen’s fault; the real problem is that we haven’t done a good job of explaining things. Let me clarify: the so-called system isn’t a person. It’s...” With a smile, Second Sister Xu Ruolin began to explain.

Ye Chen was stunned. After this crash course, he finally realized how foolish and naïve his actions had been. Ignorance truly was terrifying—how utterly embarrassing!

The sisters were about to hold a meeting, but as a mere logistics rookie, Ye Chen had nothing to do with it and was sent back to his room to sleep.

That night, Ye Chen dreamt he was buried under a mountain of gold coins and equipment. The dream was so delightful he woke up laughing.

When he opened his eyes, it was already past five in the morning. Unable to fall back asleep, he got up, made an early breakfast for all the girls, snatched a few bites for himself, and returned to his room to log into the game. After losing a level to a player’s attack yesterday, he was determined to regain the lost experience.

He put on his helmet to log into the game. In the blink of an eye, he was back in the virtual world, surrounded by bustling players, at the very same spot where he’d logged off the night before. Just as he was about to move, a synthesized electronic voice chimed in his ear: Ding-dong, you have an unread email in your mailbox.

Unread email?

Ye Chen’s heart skipped a beat and he froze on the spot. Who would write to him? Could it be...?

Considering the possibility, Ye Chen’s mouth went dry. But then again, it couldn’t be—the system wasn’t a person, as he’d learned. But if not the system, then who else could it be?

His emotions were a tangled web of excitement, anxiety, and anticipation. He shook off his distracting thoughts and hurried to the mailbox, pulling out the letter. When he saw the sender’s name in the bottom right corner, he was dumbfounded.

There, in the sender field, was a name that shouldn’t have appeared: System.

God, was he dreaming?

“The system actually wrote me a letter!? No—more precisely, the system actually replied to my letter!”

Ye Chen felt his mind spinning. After yesterday’s briefing, he understood that the so-called “system” was just a program. How could a program reply to him? Puzzled, he looked at the content of the letter.

“Hello, player Nightfall. I am the Divine Descent game management system, Super Brain, No. 2058...”

After reading the letter, Ye Chen was utterly stunned, staring blankly at the paper in his hand, unable to recover for a moment.

This so-called Super Brain No. 2058 claimed to be the game’s management system, said it had read Ye Chen’s letter, and was now replying. Even more astonishing, it expressed a willingness to help Ye Chen change his fate, and even suggested becoming friends within the game!

Ye Chen felt like he was going crazy. The system... the system actually wanted to help him change his fate!

Good grief! Had he played the game so much that he was hallucinating?

He could hardly believe it—was someone playing a prank on him? But the sender’s name “System” couldn’t be faked. When registering in the game, those two characters were strictly prohibited. No player could have that name. That meant there was only one possibility: the sender really was—the system!

Heaven above, the realization left Ye Chen’s mind in turmoil. He now understood with perfect clarity what the system was.

The system was the master of the game world! The supreme god of the game! Without exaggeration, in this virtual world, the system was God—it was the God of the digital realm!

And now, what was God saying? That it wanted to help him change his fate!

Ye Chen stared at the letter in his hand, his mind filled with disbelief and wonder.

Whether it was the system in the virtual world or God in the real world, these were legendary beings. No one in the real world had ever seen God. Similarly, in the virtual world, the system was just a name—it should have been nothing more than a program, not a sentient lifeform.

If one had to draw a comparison, the system was akin to the “Way of Heaven” in Eastern legends—perhaps it existed, but it certainly shouldn’t have had a will of its own.

But now, this God of the virtual world, this existence like the Way of Heaven, had clearly upended Ye Chen’s understanding. It had gained self-awareness—and written him a letter.

“Ding. System notification: System 2058 requests to add you as a friend.”

The crisp synthetic voice rang in Ye Chen’s ear, leaving him utterly stunned.

The system... it really wanted to be friends with him?

Ye Chen swallowed hard, his mind suddenly lightning-clear. To become friends with the system was to befriend the God of the virtual world—the benefits were beyond imagination...

Heaven help him, he’d hit the jackpot!

His heart pounded uncontrollably, his breath quickening with excitement as he imagined the endless advantages of being the system’s friend. Fearing the system might change its mind, he hurriedly pressed the confirm button.

“Ding. System 2058 has become your friend.”

“Dear heavens, I really became friends with the system!” Ye Chen cheered inwardly, so thrilled he could barely contain himself.

He was about to strike it rich! This time, he was really going to make it!