The Belated System

"Mmm~"

As Yuqing sank into the comfortable whirlpool bath, breathing in the scent of the expensive essential oils in the water, her whole body relaxed, but she once again felt a sense of unreality. Her mind was still on high alert for the dangers of the apocalypse, while her body was experiencing a relaxation it hadn't known in a long time.

The pull of those two contradictory sensations made Yuqing feel like she was about to develop a split personality.

Yuqing instinctively gripped the identification tag hanging around her neck. It was a thin sheet of metal, and as she tightened her grip, it sliced open her palm. Blood welled up at once.

But a little pain like this was an everyday occurrence for an apocalypse survivor, so Yuqing paid it no attention at first. It was only when she suddenly felt a scorching heat against her palm that she let go of the tag.

"What's going on?" Yuqing placed the tag in her palm and examined it carefully. She knew every detail of the tag that had been with her for ten years. Its surface still bore the basic information of a base ability user: initials, birthday, blood type, squad, and so on.

Could the chip inside the tag be heating up?

That shouldn't be possible. The chip inside was the base's access card. She hadn't even used it, so why would it be hot?

[Mental connection established.]

[Bzz... Hello, host. System... bzz... No. 01010 has been activated.]

"Aaaah! What was that?!" The sudden voice in her head startled Yuqing so badly that she nearly stood up in the bathtub. "Where did you come from?!"

[As you can see, I am a system.]

[I've been in your tag all along. I've been by your side since the moment your information was entered into the chip.]

[I've been with you for ten years.]

"With me for ten years?" Yuqing breathed a sigh of relief. If the system had been with her for ten years, it surely wouldn't hurt her, right? "Then why are you only coming out now? Do my other teammates have systems too?"

[Every ability user with one of these tags has a corresponding system, but very few can activate them.]

[Most systems can only silently watch their hosts live out their lives.]

"Why?" Yuqing's head was full of questions now. "Then why were you activated now?"

[Because of energy.]

[After the apocalypse, Earth lost a great deal of its energy. A system without energy is like a car without gas; it simply cannot function. Only after ability users appeared did a very small number of high-level ability users manage to meet the requirements by chance and activate their systems.]

"High-level ability users?" Yuqing considered herself extremely talented, but because she was too young, she had only reached the intermediate level. She didn't rank highly at the base at all. "But my level isn't that high."

[This world's energy field is too strong. Combined with your blood just now, it forcibly awakened me.]

"Could it be... the special connection between the city lords of the various bases... was also because of their systems?!" Yuqing suddenly remembered that although her own city lord never traveled far, he knew even the most trivial things happening in the other major cities.

[Yes.]

"Then does that mean I can contact Yun Qi once her system is activated?" Yuqing was beside herself with excitement. She had been worrying about how to find someone in such a vast interstellar territory.

[Not for now. Your level is too low at present, but once both your level and hers have stabilized at Lv5, you'll be able to talk whenever you like. At Lv6, you can even see from each other's perspective.]

"What level am I now? How can I level up?" Yuqing wanted so badly to see Yun Qi. At the very least... she wanted to make sure Yun Qi was safe.

[The host is currently Lv0.]

[There are many ways to level up. You only need to improve your ability attributes.]

[The host has both water and mental abilities. Once your water ability becomes powerful enough, it can mutate into an ice ability with immense offensive power.]

[In this world, theoretically, you can be both a guide and a sentinel.]

"Really?!" Yuqing's eyes lit up.

Back in her squad, she had been a healer, little more than a support. When they actually encountered a large zombie horde, her teammates had to divert their attention to protect her, so what she was best at was keeping her head down and staying alive. But now it was different. If she could upgrade her healing water ability into an offensive ice ability, what would she have to fear? She could just go straight out and find Yun Qi.

[Host, I suggest you lie low here and develop your mental ability first. I just scanned this place, and it's practically a "mine," full of an endless supply of energy that can promote mental power development. Suck them dry, and I guarantee you'll reach at least Lv3. Heh heh heh...]

The system's villainous laughter made Yuqing's skin crawl. She asked timidly, "What energy?"

[Outside the fog, the crystal cores inside Corrupted Species and mutants are the best nourishment. The raging Spirit Toxins inside high-level sentinels are an even greater tonic!!!]

[Host, believe me, opportunities like this are hard to come by.]

"I understand. Let me sort this out first." Yuqing quickly organized what she currently knew about this world in her head. "So I need to purify those high-level sentinels to improve my mental power, but how can those crystal cores improve it?"

[Host, have you forgotten your Spirit Entity?]

"That white cat?" Yuqing had been keeping it inside her Mindscape for fear it would get lost. "Kitty, come on out?"

"Meow~" The white cat jumped out of the Mindscape and stretched before hopping into Yuqing's arms and lazily licking its paws.

[Host, have you considered the possibility that it isn't a cat? What kind of normal cat has horns?!]

"If it's not a cat, what is it? You couldn't find another cat this normal anywhere in the apocalypse." Yuqing refused to accept it. She had seen zombie cats with three heads, zombie cats ten meters tall, and zombie cats with dozens of eyes on their faces. So what if this one had horns? Even with horns, it was still the cutest little kitty!

"Meow~" The Spirit Entity in her arms meowed at just the right moment.

01010: ...

After all, a Spirit Entity was the physical manifestation of Yuqing's mind. The young auspicious beast's understanding was influenced by its master, so since Yuqing thought of it as a cat, the Spirit Entity thought of itself as one too.

[This is the auspicious beast Bai Ze.]

[However, it's still young and needs crystals to develop.]

[Water- and ice-attribute crystals are also a great help to your water ability.] ```

"The Ninth Military District is a land of treasure!"

Digging out crystals was her old trade. She was best at it. Before, her teammates would kill zombies while she dug out their crystal cores behind them. It felt just like she had spent ten years gutting fish at RT-Mart: her hands were fast, precise, and ruthless.

Just thinking about how her water ability could mutate into an ice ability and let her slaughter everything in sight made her let out an excited groundhog scream.