The System Arrived, The System Died Again

In a space where time had ceased to flow, Tokiju floated in silence.

Because time was frozen, he was currently unable to even form a single thought.

Time in the outside world passed day by day, but Tokiju, trapped within this space, remained completely unaware.

It was not until a cold, emotionless mechanical voice forcibly recalled a portion of his consciousness.

[Ding! Abnormal environment detected. System activation forced.]

[Ding! Abnormal time flow detected in the host's surroundings. System will intervene.]

[Ding! To resolve the host's current state, the system will self-destruct to provide a targeted Newcomer Gift Pack.]

[Ding! Host's consciousness detected as unstable. System will automatically distribute the Newcomer Gift Pack.]

[Ding! Newcomer Gift Pack distributed.]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining Right Eye of Light x1.]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining Regenerative Custom Mechanical Puppet x1.]

[Congratulations to the host for obtaining System Storage with 100 slots.]

[Ding! Newcomer Gift Pack distributed. The Dual Eyes of Time and Light have been automatically equipped. The Custom Mechanical Puppet has been stored in the System Storage.]

[Ding! System violation detected. Self-destruction will commence in 3 seconds.]

[3, 2, 1, 0. System self-destruction initiated. Wishing the host a wonderful life in the future.]

As the mechanical voice vanished, Tokiju's eyes snapped open.

His right eye, originally a pale yellow, had transformed into a vivid orange-gold, while the pupil within had turned a deep cyan-blue.

That was not all; the entire iris was scattered with emerald light spots like shimmering stars, resembling a vast galaxy.

His left pupil had turned pure white, with twelve black markings evenly distributed along the outer edge.

At the center of the pupil were three black hands of varying lengths, the longest of which was slowly rotating clockwise.

Whenever the longest hand completed a full rotation, the second-longest hand would advance by one increment.

If only Tokiju could see his own eyes right now.

He would have realized at a glance that his left pupil was a clock ticking according to the twelve traditional double-hours.

"Haa... haa... haa!"

Regaining his senses, Tokiju floated in the void, gasping for air, his heart racing with lingering fear.

Because time did not flow here, he had been unable to think or even perceive his own existence.

It was only through the intervention of the system's awakening that he could barely grasp his state, which was the source of his terror.

Of course, he had heard the system's mechanical voice, but it felt like a delayed realization, leaving him unable to respond.

The good news: like other transmigrators, he had a system.

The bad news: the system had self-destructed to save him.

At the thought of this, Tokiju was left speechless.

He looked around, discovering that he was in a peculiar space.

There was no sense of gravity here; the pitch-black environment was illuminated by faint, floating specks of light, preventing it from being completely blinding.

After a brief survey, Tokiju withdrew his focus and whispered internally, "System? System, are you still there?"

He received no response, but a strange light screen appeared before him.

It was not the typical character status panel one might expect, but a translucent interface featuring three buttons.

The buttons were labeled: 6:00~8:00, 11:00~13:00, and 17:00~19:00.

Looking at the numbers, Tokiju immediately realized they corresponded to the three periods of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The button representing noon was lit up, while the other two remained dark.

Seeing this, Tokiju shrugged and pressed the noon button without hesitation.

Whether it was good or bad, he would only know once he pressed it.

Upon pressing the button, a circular roulette wheel appeared and began to spin rapidly.

With his current dynamic vision, he could barely make out the various rewards flashing by.

But once he saw them clearly, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

The wheel was filled entirely with sunflower seeds, peanuts, bottled water, milk tea, spicy strips, instant noodles, and a whole array of snacks to satisfy one's appetite.

There was nothing else—no heaven-defying ninjutsu, no legendary weapons, nothing but food.

"So these three buttons really are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner..." Tokiju smiled helplessly.

The roulette wheel stopped spinning, landing on the section labeled "Milk Tea."

Then, nothing happened.

If the system were still alive, Tokiju would surely hear the mechanical chime: "Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining X number of milk teas."

But now, only silence responded to him.

Staring at the interface that had reverted to the button screen, Tokiju pondered for a moment before suddenly slapping his palm, silently chanting in his heart: "Open system storage."

As Tokiju's thoughts stirred, a translucent panel containing 100 slots arranged in a 5x20 grid immediately appeared.

Apart from the first two slots, all the others were completely empty.

The first slot contained a plain, unadorned doll.

This must be the mechanical doll from the beginner's gift pack, Tokiju thought to himself, then turned his gaze to the second slot.

It displayed the image of a cup of milk tea, with a small "*2" printed in the bottom right corner of the slot.

It seems I actually won two cups of milk tea from the draw.

As Tokiju's thoughts moved, a cup of milk tea appeared in his hand.

Feeling the chill in his hand, Tokiju hadn't expected the milk tea to be iced.

As for whether the ice stored in the system space would melt, he had no way of knowing.

Shaking the milk tea in his hand, he inserted the straw and took a deep sip.

Mm, the same familiar recipe, the same familiar taste.

After finishing the milk tea, Tokiju felt a great sense of satisfaction.

He put the empty cup back into the system storage; he didn't want this space to be filled with all sorts of trash, especially since he didn't know how long he would be stuck here.

Scanning the panel before him again, Tokiju was surprised to find a trash can icon in the bottom right corner.

Seeing this, Tokiju immediately moved his thoughts and dragged the empty milk tea cup onto that icon.

Watching the empty cup vanish without a trace, Tokiju smiled knowingly; it seemed he had found a way to dispose of items in the future.

However, through this simple experiment, Tokiju also realized that the system had indeed self-destructed.

It was just the system's AI that had destroyed itself, while some basic functions remained, such as the check-in and draw for three meals a day.

Although they were just ordinary foods without special effects, it was nice to satisfy his cravings occasionally.

Of course, the system's functions were certainly more than just these, but now that the system AI was gone, the system had naturally stalled.

As for whether he could discover other functions in the future, he had no idea.