I Hate Systems

Chapter 3: Partial Truth

As the monster inched closer, about to bite Compass Carburettor, it uttered, taking joy out of the situation, “Don’t worry, I’m not done with Earth yet.”

“As you have mysteriously disappeared, your company would turn chaotic. All the board of directors would fight to reap benefits for themselves. As for your daughter, Stencil, she would be tossed aside. What can an eight-year-old child do in such a situation? Haha!”

Its teeth touched the back of Compass Carburettor, piercing mildly through the skin, looking at the thin stream exiting his back. It hadn’t fully left his body yet, so it was waiting until the process was done before it devoured him. In the meantime, it wished to rile him up to the maximum, taking advantage of his helpless state.

“And when Stencil is tossed aside on the street, I would enter her. I would fuel her revenge and make her vow to destroy your company to get back on the people that had cast her aside from her home. And, when she eventually succeeds, I’ll repeat the same formula, hahaha!” It snickered, “And, you won’t be alive to see that. But, if the Reincarnation System grabs hold of your soul, you might get a chance to be born on Earth once again and see how much your daughter suffers.”

“I’ll…kill you!” Compass Carburettor gritted his teeth as his orifices bled from his exertion. He tried to move his hand but failed to do so as the flow of the Money-Making System’s body exiting him left him brutally weak and immobile.

“Kill me?” Upon hearing his shout, it laughed as its tongue shot out and slapped his face nonstop, “You can’t! You can’t! You can’t! It’s impossible for you! Any living being can never hope to go against a System! We are called Plot Armours for a reason!”

“Guhh!” Compass Carburettor tried his best to resist, but the stench emanating from the monster’s mouth further weakened him, making him wish to puke his guts out. He could feel the pain as the teeth of the monster was slowly sinking into his back.

Any second, once its body fully escapes him, it would devour him.

‘Quick! Reach it!’ He mentally bellowed, inching his hand towards his holster. Even though he was barely able to inch his hand forth, it meant the monster had almost finished exiting his body. Any moment, and he might be shredded apart and devoured.

Right at this time, there was a flash of motion blur before the flow exiting his body was severed. A second later, the monster began to scream in pain as it flailed on the ground, quickly jumping backwards as it increased the distance.

The moment the connection was severed, the remainder of its body that was heading out retreated into his body. Compass Carburettor was able to move now. Reaching his hand to his gun, he pulled it out and aimed at the monster, making a shot.

The bullet landed on the side of the monster’s coin face, spilling out blood in the process, causing it to scream in shock, “How is this possible? A mortal cannot injure a System!”

Without speaking any nonsense, Compass Carburettor aimed at the centre of its face, shooting again. But this time, it had reacted the moment his hand moved, dodging the attack as it hid behind a tree.

Just when it tried to retaliate, it shuddered, sensing danger, hurriedly dodging backwards as the tree it was hiding behind experienced a motion blur before crumbling into pieces.

‘Is some System targeting me now? Dammit!’ It gazed at Compass Carburettor once, shouting, “You managed to live, but I’ll host your daughter now.”

Saying so, it expended most of its accumulated energy, vanishing from the System World, returning to Earth. It scoured through the Earth, quickly finding Stencil as it seeped into her body without alerting her.

It then rested within, focusing on healing its injuries first as it inspected if its capabilities were still functional and if it had lost any.

‘Thankfully, all my core abilities are still with me. Only the portion related to the physique has been left behind. Whatever, they are just useless supplementary abilities, anyway. So thankfully, I didn’t suffer much of a loss.’

It then turned silent, looking at the world from within the body of Stencil.

Back in the System World, Compass Carburettor roared in anger upon seeing the figure of the Money-Making System vanish. He shot the place it had been standing upon, screaming in anger upon seeing that nothing happened, “Don’t you dare touch my daughter!”

“Relax, don’t lose your cool.” A voice resounded from behind him as Compass Carburettor turned around in alarm, pointing his gun in the direction of the sound. There wasn’t anyone in the place.

He then noticed a shadow in the thicket of trees that was slowly approaching him. Soon after, a figure exited the thicket of trees, looking at Compass Carburettor as it spoke, “If you shout too much, you might garner the attention of a Higher-Grade System. If that happens, the both of us will die.”

It was a humanoid individual. And, judging based on its appearance, Compass Carburettor attributed it to be a demon, “A demon?”

“Sure, that works. We are called that in many worlds.” The demon nodded.

Compass Carburettor then noticed the sword it was holding, recalling the slash that had severed his connection with the Money-Making System, allowing him to move and save himself, “Thank you for saving me.”

“So, you are smart enough to understand that. That saves me a lot of time and effort.” The demon nodded, introducing itself, “Call me Fourth. I am the same as you, a System Survivor.”

“System Survivor?” Compass Carburettor wiped the blood on his face and stood up, dusting himself a little as he inquired.

Even though he asked a question, his mind was fully on trying to find a way to return to Earth and save his daughter. The demon named Fourth realised after seeing his facial expression, sheathing its sword as it spoke, “Don’t worry, there is a lot of time before your daughter might come under harm. I’ll guide you through a possible solution to save her life. But first, let me explain the state of things to you further. That System had only spoken partial truth.”