Doc, Forever a God

Zhuang Xiaolin woke up once again beside a relatively warm campfire.

Zhuang Xiaolin looked around in confusion. This was a cave, with a campfire in the middle and a few logs serving as seats.

[Host life signs and area detected as normal. Restoring program.]

What was that?

Zhuang Xiaolin's groggy mind suddenly became clear. He looked around with a puzzled expression. Where had that voice just come from?

[Binding program initializing...]

The voice appeared in Zhuang Xiaolin's mind again. Rubbing his eyes, he felt as though he had overworked himself.

[Binding complete. Program initialization complete.]

[Distributing initial items.]

[Obtained: Rainbow Six Squad (Purple), Tal'darim Power (Purple)]

[Initializing mission module.]

[Daily missions online. Random missions online. Important missions online. Free missions online.]

More and more voices filled his mind, but Zhuang Xiaolin also confirmed one fact: he might have encountered the legendary existence known as a system.

Back when he had been an office worker in the city, Zhuang Xiaolin had loved starting with his customers' hobbies when talking to them. It was also one of the easier ways to make them lean toward his side.

Zhuang Xiaolin knew a little about novels and the like. Among them, the most unusual branch was the one known as systems.

With a thought from Zhuang Xiaolin, his words appeared in his mind as well.

Zhuang Xiaolin: System, open the skill panel introduction.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Zhuang Xiaolin said this and stared straight ahead.

[Rainbow Six Squad (Purple) LV1 (1/1000)]

[Introduction: When the world falls into danger, a legendary squad appears when the world needs them most. Its members come from every region. Some are officers and soldiers, while others are thugs or mechanical experts. Yet without exception, they all eventually become part of this squad. Amid explosive, magnificent fireworks, a shield and a banner stand tall before the world.]

[Initial effect: Randomly summon seven operators into reality. Operators may carry all weapons and equipment, and come with ammunition, food, and water. These refresh once every day. Depending on the characteristics of an operator's skill, skill refresh times vary.]

[Each level increases operators' physical attributes, weapon damage, and skill effects. Every ten levels unlocks one branch and seven new operators. A major branch unlocks at level 50, and the final branch unlocks at level 100.]

[Tal'darim Power (Purple) LV1 (1/1000)]

[Introduction: A race from a distant galaxy. Their creator bestowed upon them a unique power. Their system is rather special among their kind, and after a long period of evolution, the power known as Tal'darim Power was born.]

[Initial effect: Each life lost on the battlefield becomes one unit of death energy. One unit of death energy can be used as one unit of shield and one unit of energy. After battle ends, part of the energy will be retained to strengthen oneself.]

[Each level increases the proportion of energy retained after battle. Every ten levels unlocks a minor branch. A major branch unlocks at level 50, and the final branch unlocks at level 100.]

It really existed.

Zhuang Xiaolin sighed to himself, and another thought crossed his mind.

[Name: Zhuang Xiaolin]

[Ability Evaluation: E]

[Points: 0]

[Skill: Tal'darim Power (Purple)]

[Legion: Rainbow Six Squad (Purple)]

[Buildings: None]

[Inventory: None]

Zhuang Xiaolin felt that the system he had encountered was probably the aloof kind. It had only given him a few startup messages at the beginning, and he had more or less figured out how to use it. After that, the system made no more sound. Zhuang Xiaolin thought that was pretty good. There was none of that constant threat of execution, none of that pressure and sense of danger from having his life in someone else's hands.

[Program initialization complete.]

[System customer service activated.]

[Transferring to system customer service personality.]

A string of messages flashed before him. Before Zhuang Xiaolin could react, a somewhat tsundere voice rang out in his mind.

"Hey, hey! Are you this time's host? Why do you look so weak?" A rather pleasant female voice spoke, and Zhuang Xiaolin's previously good mood instantly changed.

"What kind of person are you? Don't you have any manners? At least say hello before calling someone, and I'm not 'hey, hey, hey'! My name is Zhuang Xiaolin." Without the slightest restraint, Zhuang Xiaolin immediately began firing back in his mind.

"Sorry~, I know I was wrong." After two minutes of Zhuang Xiaolin's complaints, the existence known as the system customer service actually backed down. That was right—it actually backed down.

Zhuang Xiaolin had not used a single curse word while complaining. He had merely explained what he thought of the system and commented on the customer service's rude attitude. That was all, yet the other party's tolerance limit was way too low, wasn't it?

That was what Zhuang Xiaolin thought, though he was much happier on the surface.

"Commander, you're awake. Eat while it's hot." A male voice sounded beside him. Zhuang Xiaolin turned around in surprise. He had not even noticed someone standing next to him. If he had been outside this cave, he would probably have been done for this time.

Zhuang Xiaolin looked at the newcomer, but the instant he saw him, he was too shocked to speak.

The man wore a bulletproof vest and a ballistic helmet, dressed in the standard combat uniform of the French special police. His most distinctive feature was the pair of white gloves on his hands.

This person was Doc from Rainbow Six, the revolver quack.

"I already gave you emergency treatment while you were unconscious," Doc said, holding a bowl of something that looked like porridge—or perhaps not.

Walking over to Zhuang Xiaolin, Doc handed him the bowl. "This is a mixture I made by heating up compressed biscuits with some water. It doesn't taste very good, but it'll replenish your energy and fluids."

Zhuang Xiaolin accepted the bowl of food and sniffed it. Apart from the wheaty scent of the compressed biscuit ingredients, he could not smell anything else.

Zhuang Xiaolin tried a few bites. The sticky texture truly was not great, but the warmth that spread through his stomach after swallowing it was real.

As he ate, Zhuang Xiaolin also asked in his mind why Doc had appeared here.

"When your life was in critical danger, you triggered the system's hidden criteria. The system automatically activated a skill that you could temporarily use to save yourself. Doc is the result of the system's emergency activation of the Rainbow Six skill. He will remain here until he dies and enters cooldown."

After the system customer service explained, Zhuang Xiaolin roughly understood. In other words, he could still summon six more operators to help him. That thing called Tal'darim Power was similar to Tall-nut's ability. To put it more simply, killing enemies restored health, and after killing enemies, he could even retain a tiny portion of that healing as something like permanent health.

After finishing the bowl of melted compressed biscuits and water, Zhuang Xiaolin looked at Doc, who stood quietly nearby with a P90 in his hands.

"Thank you."

"My job is to protect your personal safety. I don't mind if you give me a little challenge."

Doc is forever a god!

Zhuang Xiaolin could not help sighing inwardly. Though whenever he played games, he would always pull out the revolver and shoot himself in the head with it like a stim pistol, though he often used the stim pistol as a shot of courage, though sometimes he had not reloaded it after using it...

But a game was a game, and reality was reality. Doc's combat ability was enough to protect Zhuang Xiaolin.

Although Zhuang Xiaolin wanted to fiddle with the system screen some more, the exhaustion welling up from his body intertwined with the warmth of having just eased his hunger, and his drowsiness grew heavier and heavier.

When he saw Doc standing there with his weapon in hand, not leaving his post by even a single step, Zhuang Xiaolin fell asleep in peace.