ITVCFITB CHAPTER 116

Chapter 116 – The System That Yielded

After spotting that tiny, glaring red dot, Luo Shuyu was left with a problem: how exactly was he supposed to pull it out of Shen Mingyun’s scalp?

Li Mingjin noticed where his gaze lingered. “What is it? Did you find something?” He didn’t know what Luo Shuyu was searching for, Luo himself hadn’t been able to describe it clearly, only following instinct. But Li Mingjin understood at least this much: Luo Shuyu was after the source of Shen Mingyun’s strange, unnatural power.

Luo Shuyu handed him the magnifying glass. “Look. Here. See how this little red spot looks nothing like the rest of the skin? I want to get it out.”

Li Mingjin leaned closer. “It… moved.”

Luo Shuyu bent nearer, too. “I didn’t see it before. So it is alive. Your Highness, can we get it out?”

To Luo, it was like a thorn embedded in flesh. The usual method was simple: prick, squeeze, and pull. Since it didn’t seem to be hurting Shen Mingyun’s brain, perhaps it could be treated the same way.

While Li Mingjin considered, Luo Shuyu had already summoned two elderly attendants famed for their skill with needles. “Treat it like a splinter,” he ordered.

The women worked carefully, pressing and prodding until, with great effort, they teased the thing out. It wriggled feebly, but in the end, it was plucked free and dropped onto a smooth porcelain plate with a faint clink.

“Master,” one reported, “the red thorn is out.”

Through the magnifying glass, they got their first real look: no mere splinter, but something with its own shape and strange vitality. A system.

For years it had hidden in Shen Mingyun’s head, confident no one would ever detect it. Yet Luo Shuyu had found it. The thing quivered, furious, humiliated, and… weak.

“Say your purpose,” Luo Shuyu demanded.

It stayed silent. Li Mingjin prodded it with a needle, rolling back part of its red casing to reveal four spindly, mechanical legs.

The system’s indignation only grew. These hateful humans! How dare they poke and prod it like a bug?

Luo Shuyu’s expression was cool. “Maybe it can’t survive outside his body? Maybe it’s already dead.”

Li Mingjin added drily, “Shall we toss it in water to find out?”

They didn’t wait for its permission. A pair of chopsticks plucked it up and dropped it into a steaming cup of tea. The system flailed, four tiny limbs thrashing in the scalding liquid.

It wanted to scream: These people aren’t interrogators, they’re sadistic children pulling a cat’s tail!

But when it was fished out again, it wasn’t spared. This time, they held it near the flame of a lamp. Heat seared its casing, leaving it dizzy and overwhelmed.

Finally, it broke. A sharp, tinny voice rang out: “Stop! Enough! You vile humans!”

Luo Shuyu and Li Mingjin exchanged a glance.

“Did it just talk?” Luo asked.

Li Mingjin gave a slow nod.

“Yes! It’s me!” The voice came again, mechanical and shrill. “I am the system!”

Luo Shuyu pretended to be enlightened. “So you really are a system.”

Before their eyes, the tiny object grew, transforming from the size of a fingernail into something as tall as a finger segment, its legs lengthening, moving more fluidly.

It lifted its head in defiance. “I am the system! What do you want? Luo Shuyu, are you a transmigrator?”

Luo Shuyu pressed a needle against its body. “Transmigrator? Isn’t Shen Mingyun the one? Answer me. Why did you use him to help the Fourth Prince seize the throne? What’s your true purpose? Where did you come from?”

“You ask too many questions,” it snapped.

Luo’s smile was sharp. “Do you have another choice? We can always try smashing you with a rock. I’ve never seen a system before. Neither has His Highness.”

The system froze. Water and fire it could withstand, but a stone? That might really destroy it.

“…I’ll talk. Just don’t smash me.”

Luo Shuyu leaned back slightly. “Then explain. If you hide even a little, the rocks are waiting.”

Cornered, the system yielded. “I don’t know if you’ll understand, but… I’m a villain system. You know what a villain is, don’t you?”

Luo Shuyu’s gaze sharpened. “A system that helps villains succeed?”

The system nodded. “Exactly. That’s my role.”

“Then why choose Shen Mingyun?”

“He fit the data,” the system said bitterly. “Simple-minded, full of flaws, greedy but easy to control. A petty man, with no vision. For me, he was the ideal candidate.”

Luo Shuyu pressed further: “He always insisted this world is a novel. Tell me was he right? Is this world truly a book?”

The system jolted. How did this man know so much?

“Yes,” it admitted at last. “This world is a book. My mission was to bring Shen Mingyun here and rewrite the original story.”

Luo Shuyu’s eyes narrowed. “And what was the original ending? What was the world supposed to be before you meddled?”

If that was true, then the Fourth Prince was never meant to be a righteous figure at all, he was the original villain. Which meant… what roles did Li Mingjin and Luo Shuyu himself truly play in that lost story?

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