Chapter 5: The System Was a Bit Unorthodox

Liu Heming was woken by the cold. It was already a bit chilly here. Even though he had spent the night in a hole in the ground, it did little to keep out the chill. He touched his forehead and felt a big lump there. The moment his finger made contact with his skin, a sharp pain shot through him, making him grimace.

The sky was just beginning to lighten. He started searching the bottom of the pit, hoping to find the meteorite he had been thinking about before he passed out.

“Damn it, where the heck is the meteorite? What hit me and gave me such a big lump?” Liu Heming grumbled angrily after searching for a long time.

There was nothing at the bottom of the pit. He was actually lucky he had not drowned in the groundwater that had seeped into the pit. The only results of his ordeal were his muddy clothes and the big lump on his forehead. He had gained nothing at all. In other words, all that suffering was for nothing.

Frustrated, he began kicking around wildly in the hole. He was already upset that things had not turned out as he expected. He had spent the whole night sleeping here in a daze and still felt a bit dizzy. All his pent-up anger finally burst out.

It would have been better if he had not kicked around like that. As soon as he started kicking wildly, he felt the sloping hole begin to shake. Terrified, he scrambled out on all fours.

With a loud rumble, the surrounding soil began to collapse, and water started gushing from the bottom of the pit. He dared not delay any further. His heart was in his throat. If the exit collapsed, he would be buried alive.

Perhaps he had unlocked some hidden potential for survival. Even though he was exhausted, had swallowed some mud, and was now breathing weakly, he stubbornly managed to crawl out.

When he turned back to look, his jaw dropped in shock.

The hole was still there, unchanged. But not far from the hole, an even larger pit had appeared, covering over two hundred square meters. From where he stood, he could see water continuously gushing up from the bottom of the pit, carrying with it chunks of rock and mud.

“Damn, could there be oil here? That would make me rich,” Liu Heming muttered to himself.

It turned out he was truly desperate for money. There was no oil—it was just a large sinkhole caused by some unknown reason, and now the pit was filling with water.

From the perspective of the ranch, this was a good thing. It was like a natural lake. But for his current situation, it brought no real benefit. He needed money.

The sky was still overcast, and the mud on his body made him uncomfortable. At least the lake was here now, which could help solve some of the ranch’s water supply issues. He decided to leave it for the moment and focus on drying himself off.

He hurried back to the rundown house. Due to the recent tremor, another layer of dust had settled on the floor.

After taking a shower, Liu Heming shook his head while drying his hair.

In the mirror, he saw himself in a bathrobe. But on the surface of the mirror, a few lines of eerie green text appeared: Magical Ranch System starting up…

Mission Name: A Farmer’s First Steps.

Time Limit: Three months.

Mission Details: Become a qualified Farmer.

Reward: Three Strength Points, Two Spirit Points.

Penalty for Failure: To be determined.

Liu Heming shook his head, thinking he was hallucinating from the blow to his head. But when he opened his eyes and looked at the mirror again, the eerie green text was still there.

Frightened, he quickly closed his eyes, then secretly opened them a crack. The text remained.

He stopped drying his hair, rushed out of the bathroom, and climbed onto the bed. Wrapping himself in the blanket, he looked at the wall of the room. The damn text was still there.

“Damn it, what the hell is this?” he shouted, unable to contain his panic.

He remembered the second legend about this ranch. It was said to be haunted. A serial killer had used this place as a hiding spot a few years ago, and according to rumors, many people had been killed here.

Now, wherever he looked, he saw this green text. It had to be a sign of a haunting.

Strangely enough, shouting seemed to help a little. The green text on the wall disappeared, and the wall returned to normal. But before he could feel relieved for long, another line of text appeared: Why the hell are you running?

He was both terrified and furious.

When he was a child, people in the village had said that if you encounter a ghost, don’t be afraid. If you are braver than it, you can scare it away.

Thinking of this, Liu Heming mustered his courage and said, “I don’t care what kind of ghost you are, but I’m not afraid of you. Stop writing in my house. If you keep writing, I will burn this place down, and you along with it.”

He had summoned all his courage, but it still wasn’t enough. As he spoke, he trembled uncontrollably. The text on the wall also shook, frightening him once again.

The text on the wall changed again. But this time, after Liu Heming read it, he kept shaking his head and blinking.

The words on the wall said: Are you an idiot? I’m displayed on your retina. Who’s writing in the house? Why are you so useless?

After reading this, he remembered an important detail he had overlooked. Even if this place was haunted, it would be by a foreign ghost. How could it write in Chinese? Then he felt as if he had encountered something miraculous. And the tone of the text felt vaguely familiar.

“Then who are you? How can you write on my eyes?” Liu Heming asked after a moment of thought.

“I already told you, I am the Magical Ranch System,” a flat electronic voice replied, echoing directly in his mind.

“Now I am bound to you. For my sake and yours, complete the tasks obediently from now on. Finish the tasks, and you get rewards. Fail to complete them, and we both die. You might want to kick the bucket, but I’m not done living yet, you lowly third-level organism.”

“Damn, what does your death have to do with me? Get away from me. I need to figure out how to make money and support my kid,” Liu Heming retorted stubbornly.

“Now we are one. If I die, you won’t survive either. My energy is running low. If you have questions, just think them in your mind,” the cold electronic voice said again.

Half-believing, half-doubting, Liu Heming thought of a small question in his mind. A line of green text appeared before his eyes, providing an answer.

After going back and forth with questions a few times, he began to understand a little of the situation. But it still left him feeling confused.

Logically speaking, he had stumbled upon incredible luck by being bound to this so-called Magical Ranch System. According to the System itself, it was very powerful. But Liu Heming felt that while the System might be good, it was also a bit unorthodox.