The Most Unreliable Cheat Ability

"Michelle, you have to believe me!"

If his hands had not been tied so tightly, Gu Bei would have loved to cover Annie's mouth.

His ears had practically grown calluses from hearing it all the way here.

Ever since Gu Bei guessed that Annie had killed Sally, Annie had kept repeating those words, trying to defend herself. Unfortunately, Michelle gave no response. She merely pulled Gu Bei down from the chair in silence, escorted him out of the basement, and acted as though Sally had never existed.

They began heading toward the Riser Family Treasure Vault.

It was deep in the night, and they were walking through a dark forest.

Michelle walked at the front, identifying the path and leading the group toward their destination. Gu Bei walked in the middle with his hands bound behind his back. Annie was responsible for watching Gu Bei and walked at the rear, keeping an eye out for whether any pursuers had caught up.

The group moved very slowly.

It was not because the two women lacked stamina, but because of Gu Bei.

On one hand, Gu Bei wanted to stall for time.

On the other, his body genuinely could not hold up much longer.

No, it was not Gu Bei's body. It was the body of this "Lord Riser" that Gu Bei had acquired after transmigrating. It was simply far too frail!

Even to Gu Bei, a standard shut-in who never exercised, this body was absurdly weak. It was probably only that of a teenager, yet it was as sickly as someone dying of consumption. After quickening his pace for only a few steps, his throat would go dry and he would nearly pass out. The weakness seemed to seep from his bones, occupying every cell in his body. It felt as though he might lose consciousness at any second.

Not to mention the headaches that came and went.

Gu Bei suspected that even if he successfully escaped Michelle, he would probably collapse in this forest and be eaten by some unknown beast.

More than half of his escape options were instantly ruled out.

Relying on himself would not work...

"Then I can only rely on the Riser Family's pursuers."

Gu Bei silently told himself that.

"Based on the degree of suffering inflicted upon this body, you have been kidnapped for three days. They have not caught up after three days, indicating that the Riser Family has poor tracking abilities. Analysis result: the probability of escaping by relying on the Riser Family's rescuers is only ten percent."

An icy mechanical voice sounded in Gu Bei's mind.

Gu Bei was not surprised in the least.

That voice was tied with Annie for first place on Gu Bei's list of people he most wanted to strangle. On the way out of the basement, he had already suffered plenty because of it.

It had appeared about three hours ago.

Just after Gu Bei and the others left the basement, accompanied by an incomparably violent headache, the voice had come into being inside his mind:

"System initializing. Please wait... Hello, how may I assist you?"

At the instant it appeared, Gu Bei thought he had transmigrated again.

However, he quickly noticed that neither Michelle nor Annie could hear the voice. So he began to wonder whether he had developed schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations.

"You may choose to believe that you have gone mad and commit suicide. Or you may choose to believe that an incomparably precise, invincible artificial intelligence has appeared in your head, capable of helping you turn the tables in desperate circumstances and reach the pinnacle of life."

That was what the mechanical voice in his head told Gu Bei.

He found it perfectly reasonable and had no way to refute it.

Having a personal system was something that appeared in many transmigration novels. Since he had already transmigrated, what was strange about something like this?

This was probably what they called a cheat ability.

"Then, incomparably precise invincible artificial intelligence, please tell me how I can escape these two crazy women and survive in this forest by my own strength."

Gu Bei asked that with anticipation.

"For human assistance, please press zero."

A numerical interface appeared before Gu Bei's eyes.

Gu Bei jumped in fright.

He looked around, front and back. Only after seeing that Michelle and Annie showed no reaction did he relax.

Since both his hands were tied up, Gu Bei could only use the sway of his body as he walked and press the zero with his nose.

He did it very discreetly, and no one noticed anything strange.

"Beep... beep... beep... Hello, what may I assist you with?"

Gu Bei asked again, "How can I escape these two crazy women alive?"

"For human assistance, please press zero."

The numerical interface reappeared before Gu Bei's eyes.

"..."

Gu Bei decided to believe that he had schizophrenia. That inexplicable mechanical voice and the somewhat familiar numerical interface were merely hallucinations.

Under the double pressure of transmigration and death, his mind had developed some problems.

Yes, that was right!

Gu Bei ignored the hallucination.

But the hallucination clearly had no intention of letting him go.

"Beep beep beep beep... You have a new email. Please check it."

"Recently, I've been playing a game called Legendary Hegemony..."

"In twenty meters, please turn right."

"...Recalculating route."

Along the way, Gu Bei felt that he had heard more junk messages than he had in the first half of his life.

Still, if it could play those things, then the voice was probably not a hallucination.

Looking on the bright side, at least Gu Bei had identified the source of the mechanical voice. Judging by those junk messages, it should have come from his original world and somehow been stuffed into his brain during transmigration.

It felt extremely unscientific, but he had already transmigrated. Was he really in any position to argue about science?

All he felt now was regret. Why had he not cherished iQIYI's ninety-second ads back then? Now ninety minutes of advertisements were playing on repeat in his mind, and it was already too late for him to buy a membership.

Gu Bei had never felt so hopeless.

If this was the cheat ability meant for him, he chose death.

"Can you stop? Or shut down or something? Please be quiet for a while, thank you," Gu Bei said in his mind.

"Hello, this function is unavailable."

Gu Bei could not even be bothered to get angry.

"Fine. Then tell me, what the hell are you even useful for?"

The system replied, "I possess the largest database."

Hearing that, Gu Bei finally became somewhat interested.

Collecting data did not sound like a powerful ability, but he still did not understand what this world was like. Perhaps it could prove quite useful?

Maybe possessing a powerful database would allow him to possess great power here?

His transmigration journey was not quite so terrible after all.

After thinking for a moment, he asked the system, "Then what data do you currently possess?"

"Searching hard drive... File found. Opening file. Please wait." The mechanical voice finally sounded a little less annoying. "File opened successfully... Beneath the sails of the times, we ride the wind and break the waves. Within the jungle of steel, we struggle with all our might. On this day filled with laughter, we are delighted to welcome everyone who is able to come to..."

"..."

The more Gu Bei listened, the more familiar it sounded, and the more something felt wrong.

Was this not the speech draft he had written for his boss before transmigrating?

"You can shut up now."

At last, Gu Bei understood. This system was his battered old laptop that he had not replaced in five years, and it had probably somehow mixed with his phone system too.

Before transmigrating, he had been staying up late in front of his computer, writing something. He had been too exhausted and fell asleep facedown on the computer. So during transmigration, the computer's system had somehow merged with his consciousness.

His phone had been sitting beside the table and had come along as well. After all, his navigation was installed on his phone.

The setup seemed even less scientific now, but what could he say? He had already transmigrated. This thing had appeared in his head, seemed to have gained intelligence, could not be turned off, and kept looping junk messages.

Gu Bei completely resigned himself to it.

Why were the systems in other novels all so overpowered that even the most useless protagonists could coast all the way to the pinnacle of life? Yet after finally transmigrating and getting a system himself, why was his system as useless as the protagonists in those novels?

His heart hurt.

He should have run a virus scan on his computer.

"There is a grammatical error in your speech draft. The system recommends revising it to..."

"Shut up."

The system fell silent for a moment, then said, "Your writing is terrible."

"Shut up!"

"The system recommends that you..."

After thinking it over, Gu Bei said to the system in his mind, "Have you thought of a way for me to escape successfully?"

"..."

At last, the world became quiet.

Gu Bei let out a long breath in his heart. His situation was dangerous enough already. He had no time to let this broken system make things worse.

With one wrong move, Michelle might discover his lie and kill him.

He was like someone trapped in an escape game on hell difficulty. The enemy was watching him closely, there were pitifully few items available, and the damn game was timed!

Once the time ran out, the game would end in an incredibly bloody fashion.

Now that the system had finally shut up, he should use this tiny bit of peace and quiet to hurry up and think of something!

Unfortunately, heaven did not grant people their wishes...

"Michelle, you have to believe me!"

Less than half a minute after the system's voice disappeared, Annie's sincere yet pitiful voice rang out again.

Gu Bei had truly reached the limit of his patience.

"Michelle, I..."

Before Annie could finish, Gu Bei interrupted her.

"Isn't it just killing someone? Can you stop already?"

Annie was behind Gu Bei, so he had no idea what expression she wore. However, the moment his words fell, a powerful force struck him from behind. Gu Bei's body was weak, and he lost his footing, falling to the ground with a mouthful of dirt.

Annie had kicked him to the ground.

From the corner of his eye, Gu Bei saw Annie's face twisted with fury. She looked completely different from the respectful woman she had been before Michelle!

Then came another two lashes.

Burning pain shot through Gu Bei's waist and back. The pain made him clench his teeth as cold sweat poured down his face.

Gu Bei finally understood how the previous "Lord Riser" had died. Even if this body had been healthy and strong, it could never have endured such frenzied whipping. Much less Lord Riser, a pitiful child born with a weak constitution.

Anger surged up within him.

He had long known that Annie might look timid and insecure, but she was actually ruthless. What he had not expected was that she would dare reveal such a vicious face even before Michelle!

And Michelle was not surprised at all.

"Stop hitting him, Annie. He'll die."

She merely advised her calmly.

"Michelle, he's slandering me! This cunning noble is trying to drive a wedge between us! You absolutely must not believe him!" Annie raised her head and looked at Michelle with utter sincerity. "I swear, Sally's death has nothing to do with me."

Gu Bei suppressed the anger in his heart and struggled to his feet.

Given the circumstances, he could only endure it for now.

That did not stop him from rolling his eyes internally.

"Didn't she just say that Sally had merely disappeared? Why has it now become Sally's death?"

The mechanical voice suddenly sounded again, startling Gu Bei.

"That's why I said she's a stupid woman." Gu Bei shook his head and said to the system, "By the way, could you not appear so suddenly in the future..."

"For human assistance, please press zero."

"..."

Forget it. Gu Bei was already too lazy to bother with this out-of-sync system. He turned his attention back to Michelle. He wanted to know what Michelle would do in the face of Annie's excuse, which was so full of holes.

If the two of them came into conflict, perhaps it would be his chance to escape.

However, Gu Bei was disappointed.

Michelle was just as stupid as Annie.

"It's fine, Annie. I believe you." Michelle walked over to Annie and took her hand.

The atmosphere immediately softened.

"We crawled out from the darkest corner of Havenlight's outer district together. We depended on each other beneath The Church's shadow." Michelle tightly held Annie's hands as she spoke. "After all we've been through these past years, what reason would I have not to believe you?"

Gu Bei was somewhat dumbfounded. This was not the right direction at all.

"Michelle, I..."

Annie looked at Michelle, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.

"Annie, do you still remember our dream?" Michelle's voice became incomparably gentle.

"Mhm!" Annie suddenly threw herself into Michelle's arms and said through sobs, "One day, we'll establish a nation. The Church will not be allowed to set foot on a single inch of its land. Every mage will be able to walk freely beneath the sunlight without fearing that they'll be tied to a stake and burned."

She burst into loud sobs in Michelle's embrace.

Gu Bei stared blankly from the side.

Actually, this conversation was quite useful to Gu Bei. He had heard about things like The Church and mages, and he roughly understood the setting of this world.

That information was useful. He should have been happy.

Yet inwardly, he could not help saying, What the hell?

Two eccentric crazy women—just moments ago, the atmosphere had been tense and silent, and Annie had been trembling before Michelle. The next moment, they were holding hands like loving sisters. What kind of development was this?

The absurd bewilderment was like seeing Obama get torn apart and eaten alive by Bear Grylls.

The plot had turned too quickly for Gu Bei to process it.

Yet the affection between the two looked so genuine.

Gu Bei shook his head. Michelle and Annie were embracing each other, and neither of them paid attention to whether he shook his head or not.

Even the system popped up and said in its icy mechanical voice:

"What a touching pair of lilies!"