The Return of Tongzi

He turned to study the young man beside him, rubbing his hands together with an evil grin. “Now it’s your turn.”

Chen Guan raised an eyebrow. “Me?”

To be honest, Chen Guan was having doubts too.

Even White Tiger, who was always full of clever tricks, had been unable to do anything about that coffin and had been sent flying instead. Could he really get close?

If White Tiger hadn’t exaggerated in the slightest when describing it, even a seventh-order wolf had been instantly given a fresh start in life. What if Chen Guan got restarted too the moment he approached?

His immortality was strange, and this coffin was just as strange. Chen Guan couldn’t be certain that he would still be able to rise from the dead.

What if he couldn’t and got his account permanently banned on the spot? Wouldn’t that be a huge loss?

White Tiger grinned. “Who else would it be?”

“We went to all this trouble to bring you here. It wasn’t so we could invite you to the Northern Frontier to admire the snow, was it? Don’t tell me you’re content to just stand here and watch.”

He jerked his chin toward the front.

“Go on, give it a try. Let’s see whether the genuine article gets any special treatment in front of that identical model.”

Chen Guan remained silent for a moment, but in the end, he stepped forward.

The closer he got, the stronger the faint yet indescribable attraction coming from the black coffin became.

The sensation reached straight into the depths of his soul, issuing a silent summons.

He stopped at the edge and stretched out his right hand, his fingertips reaching toward the black coffin.

White Tiger folded his arms and stared intently, gathering strength beneath his feet, ready to snatch Chen Guan away at any moment.

The terrifying recoil he had expected never came.

Chen Guan’s fingers passed straight through the invisible barrier. Then his entire body entered the area around the black coffin without hindrance.

Outside, the smile faded from White Tiger’s face. He muttered to himself, “You really did get in. Looks like I was worrying for nothing.”

Chen Guan paid no attention to what was happening behind him. His gaze remained fixed on the black coffin in the center of the valley, while the coffin on his back began to vibrate in resonance.

Baal’s tone suddenly became extremely strange.

“How interesting. This is too interesting.”

His words broke off halfway. Chen Guan stopped as well and withdrew his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s the scent of a Rule.”

“That’s the Rule of Emotion. There’s the power of emotions inside that coffin.”

The stranger Baal’s words became, the stranger his tone grew.

The Old Demon had been dead for who knew how long and even dismembered, yet why was he everywhere?

Chen Guan’s heartbeat skipped a beat.

The same question arose in his mind as in Baal’s.

Why is it you again?

Suppressing the thoughts in his heart, he continued forward.

No matter what was hidden inside, he had to uncover the truth today.

Now that he was only a stone’s throw away, he realized that this coffin was even more ancient than his own. Its age was unmistakable.

The patterns on the lid had been worn away by the passage of time, leaving them mottled and indistinct. The snow around it had been scorched completely black.

He raised his right hand, his fingertips hovering in midair. Then he pressed his palm against the cold coffin lid.

The instant he touched it, the wind and snow around him were completely cut off. The entire world seemed to have been muted.

A mechanical electronic voice, both familiar and unfamiliar, echoed deep within his mind.

“Ding! Host, I’m back.”

The voice was crisp, even carrying barely suppressed excitement. It clashed sharply with the deathly silence around him.

A pleasant surprise?

No. Extreme vigilance.

Not a single one of Chen Guan’s fingers trembled. He kept his hand firmly pressed against the coffin, while his mental power instantly contracted into the tightest possible barrier, firmly protecting the core of his consciousness.

“Who are you?”

He asked the question in his mind, his voice as cold as the snowstorm in the valley.

“It’s me, Host.”

The voice replied cheerfully, like a little pet happily reuniting with its owner after a long separation.

“I am your personal System.”

Chen Guan did not lower his guard. Everything about this was bizarre.

The Sys had been missing for so long, yet it had chosen this exact moment to reappear?

It was too coincidental.

So coincidental that it felt like a carefully laid trap. Baal had just said that remnants of emotional power existed inside this place.

He remained silent, his mental power sweeping out like quicksilver, but he couldn’t detect the slightest trace. It didn’t seem as though he had fallen under an illusion.

“You’d better give me an explanation.”

Chen Guan’s mental voice carried an undisguised threat.

“Why did you suddenly disappear without a trace? And why have you come back now?”

“Oh, boss, hear me out—I can explain. I didn’t want this either. I went to ask the Main System what was going on, but an accident happened. I couldn’t return. I only managed to come back after sensing you just now, Host.”

“Prove your identity.”

Chen Guan didn’t believe vague claims that could not be verified. He issued his final ultimatum.

The System seemed troubled, but it quickly spoke again.

“Boss, do you remember? On the day you first reported to Huaqing Academy, because of… ahem, a little accidental mistake, you went through the wrong door.”

A crack appeared in Chen Guan’s mental barrier.

“To save time and get on camera, you didn’t take the main road. You took a shortcut and made your first appearance in front of the audience looking utterly disheveled.”

The System’s voice grew more and more excited. “At the time, you even—”

“That’s enough.”

Chen Guan interrupted it expressionlessly. “Stop. I believe you’re the Sys.”

That embarrassing bit of history was something no third party could possibly know—not unless it had been there with him back then.

Seeing Chen Guan standing motionless in front of the coffin, White Tiger grew worried that something had happened and shouted, “Hey, kid! Are you over there trying to develop feelings for the coffin?”

Even Baal, inside his mind, began urging him on. “Kid, why are you standing there spacing out? What happened?”

Chen Guan came back to his senses. His confidence in the Sys’s return increased somewhat.

White Tiger was one thing, but since even Baal hadn’t detected anything unusual, it was probably really the System.

After all, even if that Emotional Demon had appeared at the height of its power, it would probably only have been a minor monster for Baal to farm. Baal’s presence was reassuring.

Ignoring the urging from the outside world, Chen Guan submerged his entire mind into his conversation with the System.

“You said you encountered an accident. What accident?”

“It’s like this… Didn’t I go to the Main System to ask about the situation? On the way back, I sensed a fluctuation of the same origin at this location.”

“I figured I’d come over and take a look. Maybe I could scrounge up some treasure for you, boss. But this same-origin entity… it played dirty!”

“Get to the point.”

Chen Guan’s patience was running thin.

“It locked me inside and forced me into hibernation! I only just got activated by you, boss!” the System explained rapidly. “Boss, this was absolutely an accident. Please don’t question my loyalty because of it!”

Chen Guan ignored the useless final sentence.

An entity of the same origin?

He gathered his mental power once more and examined the black coffin, half-buried in the frozen soil before him.

It was far more weathered than the one on his back. The marks carved into its body clearly showed their age; unlike his own coffin, this one did not look freshly manufactured.

“You mean this coffin shares the same origin as you?”

The System corrected him. “Well, it wouldn’t be quite right to say that we’re completely one and the same.”