Zhu Yuanzhang was in a terrible mood. After dinner, just as he was about to bury himself in the mountain of memorials as usual, a continuous string of notification chimes suddenly rang in his ears!
The unexpected sound made Zhu Yuanzhang's heart clench. Who would dare make such a racket in the heavily guarded palace, disturbing him while he worked? Furious, he immediately roared, "Outrageous! Who's making all that noise and disturbing me?"
Er Hu, the personal guard serving at his side, jolted at Zhu Yuanzhang's sudden outburst. He instantly sprang to attention, hand on the saber at his waist, his keen eyes sweeping the surroundings like a hawk's.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly looked around as well, but found nothing unusual and saw no one. Suspicious, he turned to Er Hu and asked, "Er Hu, did you hear any strange noises just now?"
Er Hu looked utterly confused. Shaking his head, he replied, "Your Majesty, I didn't hear anything."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. Suddenly, a strange object appeared before his eyes. It was square, with what looked like words on it. He glanced at the object, then at Er Hu beside him. The other man still had a tight grip on his saber, watching every direction with utmost vigilance.
Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang understood that Er Hu couldn't see what he could. He casually waved a hand and said, "Never mind, Er Hu. There's no need to panic. I'm probably just tired today and hearing things."
Then Zhu Yuanzhang paid Er Hu no further attention and looked at the square object in front of him. It said something about the Myriad Worlds Chat Group, and his own information was displayed there as well.
Next, some fellow calling himself Almighty God of All Heavens kept trying to talk to him. Zhu Yuanzhang ignored him out of caution—until the man claimed that, in the Fifteenth Year of Hongwu, his younger sister and his eldest grandson Xiong Ying would both die.
That instantly set him off. But he didn't believe the man right away; murderous intent was already in his eyes. Instead, he pretended to panic and promised a handsome reward to lure the man to his Ming Empire to save his younger sister and Xiong Ying.
If that fellow dared to come, Zhu Yuanzhang would make sure he learned that anyone who cursed his younger sister and Xiong Ying would meet a terrible end.
But soon he saw that something had gone wrong with the Chat Group. It had been attacked, the group owner had been stripped away, the group's dissolution had failed. In the end, it told him to fend for himself.
Zhu Yuanzhang's lips curled into a cold smile. If the man didn't dare come, he should just say so. What a coward, making up so many excuses.
After that, a song began to echo in his ears.
[Flowers bloom and fade, petals fill the sky; you appear and disappear without a trace...]
As Zhu Yuanzhang listened to the song, he inexplicably felt as if his wife, son, and grandson had all died. He felt utterly wretched.
With a crash, he swept the memorials off the table and sprang to his feet. His eyes were bloodshot, and tears welled in them. He shouted into the empty air, "Bastard! Who are you? Do you dare come face me?"
After roaring, he couldn't hold back his grief any longer. "My Biao! My younger sister! My Xiong Ying!"
Though he didn't know why, Zhu Yuanzhang had acted on instinct.
Watching Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction, Liu Bing chuckled. Teasing people for fun really was entertaining. He didn't go to see Zhu Yuanzhang; he simply left a message in the group.
[Hong Huang Little Shrimp]: Old Zhu, don't get so worked up. I'll optimize this Chat Group in a few days, then we can talk. Oh, and keep an eye on things over there lately. Some strange people and events will probably show up, so stay alert. They're all Outer Realm Demons.
Liu Bing thought of a certain Ming Dynasty world that had almost no locals left. Transmigrators were everywhere, and people with famous names had all been replaced by them.
That's right, he was talking about the Shrimp Ren crowd.
Liu Bing didn't have time to deal with that right now, or even to go to the factory. He had to handle matters in his own world. The invasion had begun.
Xu Youqian slowly opened his eyes. His awareness gradually returned, though his head still felt heavy from traveling through time and space.
He looked around, but didn't see the ancient world he'd been expecting. He was still in his familiar rented apartment.
The unexpected turn of events left Xu Youqian confused. Hadn't the Chat Group's newcomer benefits let him travel to the Ming Dynasty and strike a deal with Zhu Yuanzhang?
For that, he'd even bought a smallpox vaccine and gathered various tonics, intending to offer them to Empress Ma to help her regain her health and vaccinate Crown Prince Zhu Xiong Ying.
So what was going on? He'd clearly felt that strange sensation of traveling through time. Why hadn't he ended up in the Ming Empire? Had his trip failed?
Xu Youqian asked the Chat Group in his mind, puzzled. "Chat Group, what happened? How can time travel fail? This won't affect my newcomer benefits, will it?"
Time passed, but Xu Youqian still received no reply from the Chat Group. Worse still, even the group panel had disappeared, as though the Chat Group had never existed.
Xu Youqian panicked. The Chat Group was the key to changing his fate. He'd been planning to travel to all kinds of worlds with its help, cultivate immortality, seek eternal life, gather beauties from different worlds, and reach the pinnacle of life.
Now that the Chat Group was gone, did that mean he'd have to go back to being a miserable wage slave?
Just as Xu Youqian was getting desperate, he heard a mechanical notification in his mind.
[Ding! Binding Weirdness Descends System.]
Xu Youqian's eyes lit up. The Chat Group was gone, but now he had a system. As expected, he was the chosen one!
[Ding! The system is under attack from an unknown source and has been forcibly stripped away. A message has been sent to the Main System...]
Xu Youqian was dumbfounded. The system had been attacked? What was going on? Was there some mighty being in this world capable of attacking systems? He asked in disbelief, "System? Are you still there?"
After a while, the system still hadn't responded. Xu Youqian knew it really had been forcibly stripped away. Now he understood why the Chat Group had disappeared, too. That unknown being must have forcibly stripped it away as well.
He slumped to the floor, then couldn't help cursing. "Who the hell has this much free time? Damn it, can you stop messing with just me? Were you the one who stripped away my Chat Group earlier? What did I ever do to you? My cheat!"
Liu Bing couldn't be bothered with Xu Youqian. Instead, he marked him for observation. This guy had something going for him—two systems had sought him out in a row. He was probably someone worth keeping an eye on.
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