System Arrives

Pain is a metaphor that healing must pass through

Suffocation floods the chest, in the shattered abyss

You become a flame that burns through the endless night

Love-was always a bloodstained rose among thorns.

"Blood On A Rose" by Everybody Loves an Outlaw

"Sherlock! Watson, could you please tidy up your rooms in a little while? My niece will be here very soon."

Mrs. Hudson was serving the two ravenous men plates of mashed potatoes, garnished with two slices of pan-fried bacon curled into flowers and some tender green peas. The elegant presentation whetted Watson's appetite.

"Mostly you, Sherlock."

Looking at the two travel-worn men before her, Mrs. Hudson sighed softly.

She knew the two boys had just rushed back from a murder scene, but at her age, she simply didn't have the energy to tidy up Sherlock's room, which was full of things that "couldn't be touched or moved."

"If those heads and eyeballs and whatnot of yours frighten my girl, I swear I'll never make you coffee again!"

Sherlock looked up and gave Mrs. Hudson a fake smile in tacit agreement. After swallowing the food in his mouth, Watson raised his fork and promised to make sure Sherlock tidied his room.

Having received their answers, Mrs. Hudson turned away with a haughty air and tottered back to her quarters on the first floor, apparently muttering something about how she wasn't their housekeeper.

"Mrs. Hudson's niece should be about our age, shouldn't she?" Watson asked the man across from him, making conversation as he ate the peas on his plate one by one.

Sherlock raised an eyebrow and put down his fork. Clearly, he'd already cleaned his plate.

"In fact, your guess is entirely wrong. Judging by the pink room Mrs. Hudson decorated a week ago, with its peculiar taste and utterly hideous aesthetic, her niece should be a young woman no older than twenty-five."

"And she's still in school. Mrs. Hudson mentioned it at breakfast a couple of days ago." Sherlock wiped his mouth with a napkin, stretched, and headed for his bedroom.

"Please put my plate in the sink. Many thanks."

Watson, who was only halfway through his meal, frowned and called after him in annoyance, "Hey! I'm not your servant, you know."

The only answer he got was Sherlock's firmly shut bedroom door. Watson chewed his food angrily, and when there was still no response after he finished, he resigned himself to putting both plates in the sink and rinsing them.

Although dishwashers were already available on the market and were extremely convenient, one was out of the question in this apartment with its old wiring.

"Day in, day out, I'm his assistant and his errand boy, and now I have to do his housework too? Honestly... Oh, right, Sherlock! Remember to tidy the living room!"

There was no telling whether he'd heard. After a long while, there was still no sound from the room. Watson braced both hands on the edge of the sink, sighed helplessly, and looked heavenward in exasperation.

"Jesus! I absolutely, absolutely will not help you. Absolutely."

"If you still won't say anything, I'll pack up your dear Mr. Skull and Ms. Eyeballs and all the rest and throw them in the bin."

Before he'd finished speaking, Sherlock's bedroom door creaked slowly open. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, his undersized dark purple shirt stretched taut over his restrained, lean muscles.

He hadn't wanted to move, but finally, under Watson's reproachful gaze, the two of them joined forces to tidy the living room.

"Now I can finally get some rest. I ran flat out after you for five blocks today. All I want is a good sleep for the rest of the day. If I don't go to work tomorrow, I'll be fired!"

Yes, although he'd dozed off on his first day at work and been caught red-handed, he still held his job at the hospital. That was thanks to the good impression he'd made on Sarah, the receptionist nurse, and the life-and-death bond they'd formed during the Suzhou cipher case they'd solved some time ago.

"Indeed. Have a good sleep, then. It's time for me to read blogs."

"Go right ahead."

"Aunt Hudson, it's Sitangna. I've left the train station and just gotten into a taxi to your place. See you later."

With the driver's help, Tangna stuffed her bulky, oversized luggage into the boot. After making sure it was stowed properly, she got in for the journey to 221B Baker Street.

The train station wasn't far from Baker Street; the Underground would only take a few minutes. Unfortunately, it was rush hour, and Tangna couldn't squeeze in with the crowd while carrying two large suitcases.

Although the taxi would take about half an hour with all its twists and turns, at least she'd be more comfortable.

"All right, sweetheart. Auntie will start cooking now, and you'll have a hot meal when you get here."

After hanging up, Mrs. Hudson was overjoyed. Humming an unfamiliar tune, she went to the kitchen to check on the food in the oven.

Her light steps revealed the joy welling up in her heart. To welcome the girl, she'd gone to the trouble of baking a whole apple pie that afternoon!

Meanwhile, in the taxi, the youthful, beautiful Asian girl confirmed her destination with the driver once more, then closed her eyes to rest. She'd just arrived after a tiring journey, and she was sleepy now.

Seeing how exhausted she was, the considerate driver told her they would be there after a short nap.

Tangna-no, Sitangna. She'd almost forgotten her brand-new identity again.

She came from a thoroughly orthodox parallel world without a trace of magic (orthodox: its logic was grounded in reality). She'd been a junior employee at an internet company and had gone camping with the rest of the staff at a national 5A-rated forest park for their year-end team-building trip.

She wasn't especially interested in camping. She'd mainly wanted to use the ideal location to watch the Perseid meteor shower, a once-in-a-century event. According to analyses by all sorts of people online, this meteor shower would be the biggest and most spectacular of the century.

One person after another had described it in glowing terms. Having only recently fallen in love with astronomy and nature, of course she couldn't miss it. And the result was obvious: that meteor shower really was big!

Extremely big. Its firelight illuminated almost half the night sky, and the stunning sight made her unconsciously follow the meteor closest to her that she could see with the naked eye.

While she was exploring nature alone and climbing toward the summit, she was lucky enough to catch up with it, making intimate contact at less than zero distance. The two-meter-wide meteorite struck her squarely and flattened her into a meat patty-the sort that would make even King Zhou shake his head.

Before her body was roasted to charcoal by the flames, she was astonished to find that she could still sense her consciousness. She'd thought she would either dissipate then and there or reincarnate as the myths said. In the blink of an eye, when she opened her eyes again, the vast, boundless starry sky before her nearly scared her into wetting herself.

This time she really had become an astronaut.

She was indeed lucky enough to be caught by a higher-dimensional being brought by the meteor shower before her brainwave signals dispersed.

Perhaps the being was feeling merciful, or perhaps it was bored. Whatever the reason, Tangna obtained a system like those often found in novels with remarkable ease.

Yes! She'd gotten a system!!!

The higher-dimensional being didn't speak much with Tangna. Before she could thank it, it left at high speed, leaving one person and one system floating in the universe to adjust the factory settings.

[Host detected to have wanted facial plastic surgery 1,085 times and body contouring 2,632 times. Recommendation: universal template.]

[Host has read 213 everyone's favorite novels, 265 British and American crossover fanfics, 72 forced-love...]

"Stop, stop, stop!"

"That was just admiration for the gorgeous women on the internet. Why does it sound so sleazy when you say it?"

"Also, revealing anything from the novels someone likes to read is a huge, huge, huge offense!!"

"If I hadn't gone straight up into space, I'd crawl back and wipe my phone right now..."

Tangna stopped the system in time from spilling her excessively embarrassing former interests and fantasies. Those thoughts had all been her admiration for the handsome men and beautiful women online while she surfed the internet. Could that really count as her wish?!

Although there was no one around, the system's voice was deafening in her ears. If it kept talking, her already precarious string of brainwaves would probably overheat and collapse.

[Sorry, this system has limited permissions and can only scan the host's recent thoughts.]

"...Then scan away, but you don't have to read them out..." Tangna helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead, if she had one now.

After the scan was complete, Tangna promptly bound the theme automatically generated to suit her preferences. Based on the differentiation of Tangna's previous personality, the attribute-less system successfully upgraded according to her wishes into the [Everyone's Favorite System]. Registration was successful, and from then on it was Tangna's very own system.

Only after reading the beginner's manual did she learn that there were planets and races in the universe dedicated to developing systems for all kinds of beings. Their lives existed in the form of systems.

They explored all kinds of missions in different worlds, and once they'd obtained enough energy, they could leave their hosts and complete the systems' own "coming-of-age ceremony," bringing about universal harmony and a situation where everyone was happy.

They sounded like a very loving race.

[Quick, Nana, please select a mission theme.]

Headquarters had thoughtfully explained each theme using labels familiar to people on Earth.

"Transmigration into a book, quick transmigration, bodily transmigration, spirit transmigration, soul transmigration, rebirth... Can I even be reborn like this...?"

Although Tangna was only a string of brainwaves now, she thought it over briefly and chose her favorite theme, quick transmigration.

Living one extra life was a great bargain; living several more was an even greater one!

[Ding! Please select a quick transmigration genre. These were generated based on genres that have appeared in your worldview.]

[Anime crossovers, horror crossovers, British and American crossovers, wuxia crossovers, film and TV crossovers...]

"British and American crossovers, British and American crossovers!"

Before the system had finished, Tangna hurriedly picked a genre she knew. Although she loved all sorts of genres, British and American crossovers were where she truly found happiness.

If she happened to gain some magical powers and become a superhero in those worlds, then her life wouldn't have been in vain!

[Selection complete. Please name your system. A nickname or code name will do.]

The system's voice gave no indication of gender. After the upgrade, it sounded a little like an adolescent, and its voice was very gentle. After asking its opinion, Tangna decided to name it Candy. It was catchy and pleasant to hear.

"Tangna and Candy, let's set out and conquer the world together!"

Candy didn't echo Tangna's sudden enthusiasm, merely expressing her feelings with a soft laugh.

Apparently, she was a mild-mannered system. At least, Tangna could tell from their conversation that she wasn't simply a cold machine.

[Everyone's Favorite System - British and American crossover quick transmigration - system no. KCJ96, code name: Candy - host: Tangna. Mission application submitted successfully.]

[Nana, the energy collection ratio for the quick transmigration theme is 2:3:5. Energy is settled after each mission: twenty percent for the system, thirty percent for the host, and fifty percent for the main system.]

"Ah! The main system is such a rip-off? It's practically sweatshop labor!"

Tangna's brainwaves were about to twist into a pretzel over this unreasonable distribution. After she'd worked so hard to finish a mission, she'd check her account and find only thirty percent left for her!

[Don't get worked up. The main system is responsible for deploying us to the various worlds, as well as entry, exit, and maintenance. It's perfectly normal for it to collect more energy. To ensure we can do missions safely and without distractions, that bit of energy is nothing~]

Candy comforted Tangna. Although it was her first time going out on a mission too, she'd long since learned about the main system's various functions and roles at the system academy, and she understood the esteemed main system sitting on high.

"I see. All right, then it does make sense for it to take a little more energy. It's fine; we'll just do more missions and aim for a quantitative change to bring about a qualitative one."

She'd always had this easygoing personality, and she was especially accepting and exceptionally adaptable.

After their mission registration application was successfully submitted, Tangna and Candy entered the main system's mission space to rest and prepare.

It was a perfectly square, blank, solid-colored space of about twenty square meters. Before Tangna could explore its functions, she was startled by her own transparent body.

"Why don't I have a body?! Oh, right, I was crushed to death. Guozi, how am I supposed to do missions without a body? Do I transmigrate into someone else's soul?"

Tangna's hands passed through her hollow, phantom form. Now she'd become a ghost in the truest sense, and it felt rather strange.

[Don't worry, Nana. I remember there's a body-shaping card in the beginner's gift pack, specially prepared for mission takers without physical bodies. Hurry and open it.]

With Candy's guidance, Tangna successfully used the item, which could be called top-tier black technology. The scene before her eyes turned directly into a character-creation game, with every aspect of the human body displayed before her in minute detail.

"I can customize my own face! And my figure too!"

Character-creation enthusiast Tangna was ecstatic! She could simply create a great beauty, beloved by everyone and making flowers bloom at the sight of her, and the everyone's favorite mission would be half complete. But the system's words poured cold water on her excitement.

[There's a lot of freedom, right, Nana? Take a look at the payment terms.]

Uh-oh. She'd been so absorbed in the character-creation screen that Tangna only now noticed the confirmation panel on the far right charged energy. Fortunately, the main system supported credit: she could create her body first and slowly pay it back through missions afterward.

[And a special reminder: every mission taker gets only one body-shaping card. This character body is also one of a kind, and barring accidents, you'll need to keep using it. If the mission body is damaged, repairs and treatment will cost extra energy.]

[If the body is accidentally damaged beyond repair before we leave a mission world, we'll have to complete at least three regular missions without pay to reconstruct it.]

[Be sure to protect yourself. In later missions, unless a "soul transmigration" mission condition applies and this can be disregarded, this body will belong to you in the mission worlds forever.]