Takeout

The System awkwardly added, “Ah, I don’t know how to describe it either!”

Its voice was filled with the frustrated helplessness of someone who couldn’t explain themselves, like a child who had done something wrong.

“Boss, you get it, right? It’s that kind of familiar feeling—so familiar that it’s like looking at your own hand.”

Chen Guan secretly shook his head.

He didn’t understand at all.

What did the left hand and right hand have to do with anything?

“I sensed this fluctuation back then, and my curiosity got the better of me, so I came over to take a look.”

The System’s voice was thick with grievance.

“Who would’ve thought it’d be so overbearing? The moment I got close, it dragged me straight inside. After that, I didn’t know anything until you came and woke me up, Boss.”

Chen Guan listened quietly in his mind, keeping his mental power fully focused to make sure he didn’t miss any information in Sys’s words.

“Kid, what are you making eyes at that broken coffin for?”

Baal’s lazy voice rang out again. Clearly, Chen Guan’s continued disregard had left him bored.

Even that human beside them had received a hand gesture in response. Why was he the only one getting nothing?

“Baal, can I take this coffin with me?”

The question left the demon god in his mental space stunned. Baal hadn’t expected Chen Guan’s first question to be this.

“Oh?”

Baal’s tone rose, evidently taking an interest.

“Your courage is a little greater than Lord Bael expected.”

“This thing is something even that Rank Eleven brat couldn’t do anything about, yet you’re thinking of packing it up and taking it away?”

Compared with Lord Bael, that human brat was far too weak. Still, Baal had to admit that he was indeed one of the strongest among humans. Against Chen Guan, he’d have no trouble winning nine times out of ten.

The kind of nine times he’d split apart in a single second.

“I’m only thinking about it,” Chen Guan replied cautiously. “After all, it has some connection to me.”

Baal let out a low chuckle. Put that way, it was true—they did have quite a connection.

“If that’s the case, then take it. Why not?”

His voice suddenly filled with temptation.

“Rules exist to be broken, and seals exist to be torn apart.”

“Of course, Lord Bael is only responsible for proposing grand ideas. How mortals carry them out isn’t within my sphere of consideration.”

“Still, if you’re willing to offer up some more interesting entertainment, Lord Bael might be able to give you a tiny hint.”

Chen Guan automatically tuned out the latter half of the demon god’s useless drivel and directed his thoughts toward the System that had just returned.

“Sys, do you have a way?”

“Boss, that’s easy. Just tell it that you’re taking it home.”

He looked at the black coffin before him—one that had even left the Rank Eleven powerhouse White Tiger at a loss—then recalled Sys’s suggestion, which sounded like something out of a kindergarten game of house.

Deep suspicion filled his mind.

“You’re sure?”

“Of course, Boss,” the System declared confidently.

“We’re of the same origin, like the left hand and the right hand. If you talk to your own hand, do you need to file a report first?”

The metaphor was still bizarre, but Chen Guan reluctantly grasped the logic behind it.

He stopped hesitating and placed his palm against the lid once more. This time, he used no force at all. He simply transmitted his will through his palm as a medium.

“Come with me.”

There was no voice, only pure intent.

A deep, muffled hum suddenly rang out from the depths of the earth. The frozen soil beneath his feet trembled visibly.

In the distance, White Tiger had been kicking snow around listlessly. The instant he sensed the disturbance, he straightened and shot a blade-sharp gaze toward the center of the valley.

Chen Guan didn’t notice White Tiger’s restless movement. All his concentration was focused on communicating with the black coffin.

It was responding—but it wasn’t submitting.

Chen Guan frowned. When faced with something that couldn’t speak, he genuinely had no idea what to do.

“Boss, it’s verifying your identity,” the System said at just the right moment, like a thoughtful simultaneous interpreter.

“How?”

“Just show it your own coffin. Let it sense your aura, and it’ll know who you are.”

Sys spoke as though it were obvious.

Chen Guan understood…

Or rather, he understood nothing at all.

“Sys, I’d like to spend popularity points to deal with this troublesome problem.”

Sys sounded troubled. “Host, growing up means learning not to rely on popularity points.”

“That isn’t called growing up. It’s called being useless…”

Sys immediately grew dejected. “You really are the worst host I’ve ever had.”

Chen Guan ignored Sys’s jeering and thought for a moment. Then he raised his hand. The black mark in his palm surfaced, and he pressed it down, attempting to unlock the coffin through his palmprint.

The black mark in his palm writhed like a living creature. Strands of black vapor spread along the cold metallic grooves, and the snowflakes around him melted into droplets of water before they even touched the ground.

The aura carried a powerful sense of savagery and resentment. It flowed backward along his fingertips, attempting to break through the mental barrier he had constructed.

Chen Guan clenched his teeth and mobilized the gray energy within him, desperately resisting the foreign intrusion.

Baal asked curiously, “Is this hunk of metal identifying the trace left behind by Astaroth?”

Chen Guan frowned, remembering the arm that had only just been healed by White Tiger’s summoned beast, Moonglow.

Guessing what Chen Guan was thinking, Baal said, “Something that has disappeared is different from something that never existed. At my level, it’s easy to see your connection to Astaroth at a glance.”

“But this coffin is actually alive. It can even identify Astaroth… How interesting.”

Baal clicked his tongue in wonder. He was becoming increasingly curious about the origins of Chen Guan’s coffin. Now, it wasn’t only Chen Guan who wanted to know. Baal also wanted to take it back and study it.

Chen Guan completely abandoned his attempt to suppress the black mark in his palm. The raging black vapor surged through his fingertips and bored into the gaps in the metal. The snowfield around him sizzled as though being scorched, while charred patterns rapidly spread outward from the bottom of the coffin.

Not enough… Just a little more…

Chen Guan had realized that he couldn’t succeed through a combination of coaxing and force.

“I’ll help you this once.”

Before the words had even faded, a violent force poured into Chen Guan’s arms. The lean, well-proportioned lines of his muscles instantly swelled and bulged.

“Rise.”

With Chen Guan’s muffled roar, the frozen earth buried beneath him was forcibly torn apart. Cracks crisscrossed like a spiderweb, spreading wildly outward from where he stood.

The shrill grinding sound sent snow flying into the sky.

This time, without the System’s cheat-like assistance, Chen Guan relied on Baal’s enhancement and his own mortal flesh to forcibly pull the ancient weapon, which had slept for countless eras, out of the ground.

He braced the black coffin against his right shoulder beneath a terrifying weight that seemed capable of crushing his spine. His legs trembled under the strain.

“Thanks, Baal.”