Return 02

He took off the shoulder straps and gently set his own coffin on the ground, placing it beside the black coffin they had just carried back from the Northern Border Valley.

Aside from being newer and older, the two coffins were identical.

“All right, Sys. Can you properly explain where this coffin came from, and what that so-called ancient bloodline is all about? Have you asked the Main System yet?”

“Host, don’t get worked up. Just listen while I slowly make my excuses… I mean, explain.” Sys’s voice rang out in Chen Guan’s mind, sounding inexplicably guilty.

Chen Guan did not press him. He simply stared quietly at the two identical coffins before him, waiting for Sys’s excuses.

One of the coffins was the foundation he had relied on to survive ever since crossing into this world. Its lid still carried the lingering warmth of his body.

The other had come from the bitterly cold Northern Border. Just standing there, it caused the temperature throughout the entire dormitory to plummet.

“Start with the two coffins.” Chen Guan’s voice was so even that it did not contain the slightest fluctuation, making him look exactly like an interrogator conducting a torture session.

“Um… Boss, it’s actually very simple.” Sys cleared his throat, trying to make himself sound more reliable. “These two coffins were probably made on the same production line. Yours came through legitimate channels, while the one from the Northern Border was stolen. I just checked the records. Many years ago, a system passing through this place was robbed.”

“It was the Emotion Demon God.”

Baal spoke in a distant voice. “I finally remembered. This coffin belonged to the Emotion Demon God. When I was a child, before I became a god, I saw him once.”

“How could Lord Bael only remember something so obvious now?”

Hearing Baal’s words, Chen Guan’s mind immediately descended into a storm of speculation.

Although the ages of demon gods and humans could not be compared, Baal’s childhood had certainly been several thousand years ago at the very least. This coffin had already existed back then.

Combining that with what Sys had said, Chen Guan could roughly piece together the truth.

Some unknown system had been passing through this place when it was robbed by the Emotion Demon God, who had already become a god at the time. Among the things taken was this coffin.

As for why it had ended up in the Northern Border, perhaps it had been lost during the struggle. Or perhaps the famous god had casually discarded it after discovering that, aside from being exceptionally sturdy, it was completely useless. Chen Guan had no way of verifying that part.

“Wait!”

Chen Guan suddenly noticed a crucial point. He asked, “The Emotion Demon God you mentioned—is he the same one whose hero fragment I picked up?”

He asked because he had suddenly realized that the timeline did not add up.

“Of course not.” Baal’s answer confirmed Chen Guan’s suspicion. Baal continued, “The Emotion Demon God I’m talking about was a genius demon god much like me.”

“I remember that not long after the old-era Lord of Nothingness died, this Emotion Demon God suddenly emerged. I suspect he was the previous generation’s Demon King—the chosen child of fate of the demon realm.”

The mockery rarely heard in Baal’s voice faded, replaced by the silence of someone who had lived through countless years.

“After the Lord of Nothingness fell, his destiny scattered, giving rise to the later era when countless demons rose together.”

“That Emotion Demon God was one of the most outstanding among them. His rise was too fast—so fast that it felt unnatural, as if…the entire world were helping him.”

“And then he died.”

Chen Guan ignored the details of the story and went straight to the heart of the matter. “How did he die?”

“I don’t know. Also, don’t interrupt Lord Bael while he’s reminiscing. Do you have any idea how poor an old man’s memory is?”

“Overnight, every trace of his presence vanished. Even his divine authority shattered and scattered. That was how the fragment you found came to exist. The Emotional Demon of later generations probably picked up a fragment left behind by the Emotion Demon God, and that was how he embarked on this path.”

“And it was only after his death that Lord Bael truly became unstoppable.” Sys’s voice finally carried unconcealed pride.

Chen Guan thought it over again and felt a headache coming on.

Why were the affairs of the older generation so complicated? And why was everyone so mysterious? Even old Baal had no idea what had happened in those distant eras.

Baal ignored the minor matters and could not remember the major ones. That was the problem Chen Guan was facing now.

On the other side, Sys continued speaking, adding even more information to Chen Guan’s already muddled mind.

“Boss, as for that ancient bloodline, it was actually a beginner’s gift from the Main System when it created your identity shell.” Sys’s voice was filled with the excitement of someone presenting a treasured gift.

Chen Guan pressed hard against his throbbing temple and urged him on. “Speak plainly.”

“It means the Main System lagged a little at the time and automatically selected the hidden benefit of ‘optimal identity background.’” Sys gave his explanation with complete confidence. “It counts as compensation for a system error. You were simply lucky.”

Lucky?

Chen Guan had never believed in luck. As he had always said, every gift fate bestowed came with a price already marked in secret.

He did not want to end up like Marie the Beheaded Queen, only realizing that good fortune would not favor her forever when she had already been pushed onto the execution block.

He had never believed in luck—especially after everything he had been through. He believed in it even less now.

Still, Chen Guan did not want to question Sys any further. He had more or less figured it out: Sys was less useful than Baal.

…

One week later.

Chen Guan and the others set out on their journey back to school.

“Get yourselves ready. The freshmen arrive tomorrow.”

The moment they got off the plane, Sima Ming threw a new assignment at them. Chen Guan immediately felt his heart turn cold—colder even than the blizzards of the Northern Border.

An Changqing checked the time and let out a surprised sound. “The semester starts early this year?”

He stared at the schedule on his screen, swiped twice, then added, “I wasn’t mistaken. It’s been moved up by a full half-month.”

Long Ao kept one hand in his pocket and kicked an empty can by the roadside, sending it clattering away.

“Who cares if it’s a few days early? We have to attend class either way.”

Chen Guan took half a biscuit from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing expressionlessly. “Do we get paid for welcoming the freshmen?”

An Changqing turned to him helplessly. “No. It’s volunteer labor.”

Chen Guan swallowed the dry biscuit, not even bothering to savor the last bit of its texture, and immediately declared, “I have a feeling I’m going to fall ill tomorrow. I’ll need to stay in bed for half a month.”

Su Yuehe was amused by how serious he looked. Covering her mouth, she caught up with them from behind.

“Chen Guan, Sima Ming said that anyone who asks for leave will lose ten credits.”

Chen Guan’s face fell. He wanted to report someone for abusing their authority.

Baobao circled around his feet, then tilted his head up and rubbed his furry head against Chen Guan’s trouser leg.

“Hungry.”

Helplessly, Chen Guan tossed him another monster core. With a gold-devouring leopard around, he was growing poorer by the day.