163: Chapter 164 Stripping Away the Omnipotent System: Your Cheat Code is My Nourishment

The pool of black blood on the ground was still steaming, mixing with the muddy water to emit a metallic, rusty smell.

Long Aotian's hands were clawing tightly at the marble floor tiles, his fingernails broken and bleeding.

He stared fixedly at Sun Xueer, who was clinging to Qin Yuan's arm, his face twisted like a dry rag.

"Qin Yuan... you... you despicable and shameless cheater..."

Long Aotian's mouth was filled with bloody, muddy foam, and his throat wheezed as he spoke.

Sun Xueer shrank back in disgust and threw the handkerchief in her hand onto the ground.

"Xueer, you didn't treat me like this before! Have you forgotten us..."

Long Aotian's eyes were bloodshot, and he roared frantically like a stray dog with a broken leg.

"Shut up! You lying charlatan, you're disgusting!"

Sun Xueer rolled her eyes at him, tugged at the corner of Qin Yuan's clothes, and spoke in a sweet, coquettish voice.

"You even dared to use my grandfather's illness to scam people; you really have no shame at all!"

At the head of the hall, Old Chief Sun sitting in the grand armchair had a face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

He slammed the table heavily, making the lid of the teacup beside him clatter loudly.

"Someone! Strip this fraud of his military uniform! Kick him out of the ranks overnight!"

The old man pointed at Long Aotian, his fingers trembling with rage.

"Cancel his military registration! Get back to your hometown! The Sun Family doesn't need trash like this!"

Several guards rushed up, pinned Long Aotian's arms behind his back, and held him down.

"Chief! I was framed! I really know medicine! I cured you!"

Long Aotian struggled on the ground, his face pressed against the floor, smearing dirt and champagne all over himself.

"Drag him out! Don't be an eyesore here; just looking at him makes one sick!"

Old Chief Sun couldn't even be bothered to look at him and waved his hand in disgust.

The guards dragged the howling Long Aotian out of the gate like a dead dog.

Qin Yuan looked down at Sun Xueer, who was clinging to his arm.

He pulled his arm away indifferently and casually brushed the wrinkles off his suit.

"Miss Sun, the show is over, and I should be leaving too."

"Young Master Qin, are you leaving already? I still wanted to spend more time with you."

Sun Xueer looked a bit disappointed; she swayed her waist and reached out to pull the corner of Qin Yuan's clothes.

Qin Yuan ignored her, turned around, and walked toward the gate, his black trench coat swaying in the wind.

The old butler, Afu, followed behind like a shadow, his palms sweating.

"Young Master, this brat's system seems to have crashed."

After walking out of the Sun Family courtyard, Afu whispered in Qin Yuan's ear.

"Crashing is exactly right."

Qin Yuan looked up at the cold rain in the sky and wiped the moisture off his face.

"Cheap goods wholesaled by the Heavenly Dao; it couldn't even withstand two thermobaric bombs. Useless."

"Go, catch this kite with a broken string and bring it back to me."

...

At two in the morning, cold rain mixed with mud started falling on the streets of the capital.

Long Aotian was walking with a limp, wearing old, washed-out casual clothes.

His military registration had been stripped, his epaulets torn off, and he had completely become a beggar.

Rainwater flowed down his buzz cut and into his collar, chilling him to the bone.

"System? System, are you fucking there? Answer me!"

He roared frantically in his heart, his fingers tightly clenched into fists inside his pockets.

The system panel in his mind remained dead gray; it didn't make a single sound.

Without the all-around enhancement of the system, his body felt as heavy as if it were filled with lead.

Every joint was aching faintly; it was the sequelae of the polio he had contracted in the past.

"Fuck you, Qin Yuan! I will definitely kill you! I'll kill your whole family!"

He kicked a broken plastic soda can on the side of the road, venting his rage.

The can hit a utility pole with a crisp sound and rolled into the gutter.

"Whoosh—"

A dilapidated gray Wuling Hongguang suddenly slid over silently.

The tires screeched against the wet road, splashing water everywhere.

"Who is it?! Are you blind?! Do you want to kill me?!"

Long Aotian wiped the rain off his face and cursed at the van.

The van's sliding door was pulled open with a "whoosh."

The inside was dark and unlit, emitting a smell of low-quality tobacco.

An old man dressed in a meticulous Zhongshan suit walked down slowly.

It was Afu.

"Mr. Long, standing in the rain in the middle of the night isn't good for your health; you might catch a cold."

Afu tucked his umbrella under his arm and pulled a black stun baton from his pocket.

"It's you, you old immortal! Did Qin Yuan send you here to die?!"

Long Aotian's pupils constricted; the instincts of a former soldier king made him instantly strike a pose.

He lunged forward, throwing a straight punch directly at Afu's temple.

His fist brought a cold gust of wind, whistling through the air.

"Soldier King? You're just a fool who never learns."

Afu sighed and leaned his body slightly to the side, like a slippery loach.

Long Aotian's fist flew past his ear, missing him completely.

Afu took the opportunity to jab the stun baton in his hand hard into Long Aotian's kidney area.

"Zzzzt—"

High-voltage current instantly surged through Long Aotian's entire body, with blue electric sparks flickering incessantly.

Long Aotian twitched violently, his eyes rolled back, and he couldn't gather his true qi at all.

"Thump."

He collapsed into the puddle like a pile of mud, spitting out a mouthful of muddy, sour water.

...

"Take him away. The Young Master is still waiting in the basement; don't keep him waiting."

Afu shook his hand, and two burly men in black carried Long Aotian into the car like a dead dog.

With a "bang," the car door closed, and the van quickly disappeared into the night.

Secret base, fourth underground level.

Long Aotian was tied tightly to an iron chair with nylon ropes as thick as fingers.

A hundred-watt incandescent bulb shone overhead, making his eyes stream with tears.

The air smelled of acrid rust and musty machine oil.

Qin Yuan sat on a leather sofa nearby, holding a lit cigar.

Gu Qianqian was holding half a watermelon, scooping it with a spoon with a crunching sound, her face covered in mud.

"Boss, he's awake."

She spat out a watermelon seed, which hit the steel plate by Long Aotian's feet with precision.

"Qin... Qin Yuan... you son of a bitch..."

Long Aotian struggled to move, but his hands and feet were tied so tightly that his skin was chafed and broken.

"If you have the guts, kill me! I won't let you go even as a ghost!"

"Kill you? That's too boring; it doesn't fit my aesthetic."

Qin Yuan stood up and crushed the cigar in the ashtray, sending up a wisp of white smoke.

He walked up to Long Aotian and scratched his slightly itchy neck.

"Your Almighty System is quite useful; I'll borrow it to play with for a few days as a toy."

"System? How do you know about the system?! What the hell are you?!"

Long Aotian's eyes widened, cold sweat streaming down his forehead, his whole body trembling.

"System, deprive him of his cheat and throw it into the recycle bin."

Qin Yuan ignored his wailing and issued the command directly in his mind.

[Forcibly extracting the 'Almighty Soldier King System' core...]

[Target's resistance is strong; initiating high-voltage electromagnetic interference...]

"Ahhhhhh!"

Long Aotian suddenly threw his head back and let out a miserable, pig-slaughtering scream.

The veins on his forehead bulged like earthworms, and the corners of his eyes split open and bled.

A seven-colored light, accompanied by countless streams of code, was extracted from the top of his head.

The light twisted in mid-air as if it had a life of its own, emitting a squeaking, shrill scream.

Qin Yuan reached out and directly grabbed the ball of light in his warm palm.

"Ding! Deprivation successful! Acquired one 'Almighty System Core'!"

Long Aotian was like a deflating ball; he instantly shriveled up, and half his hair turned white on the spot.

All his god-level skills and combat techniques were wiped clean at this moment.

"Boss! Quickly put this core into our Shadow Guard training network!"

Gu Qianqian shouted excitedly, and the watermelon spoon in her hand almost flew onto the wall.

...

"Distribute it; let the brothers under us learn some skills too."

Qin Yuan casually tossed the seven-colored core to Gu Qianqian.

"Let the brothers all learn it, so they don't end up unable to even operate an excavator in the future; it's embarrassing."

"Got it! I'll import it into the underlying database of the main control computer right now!"

Gu Qianqian typed rapidly on the keyboard, and the progress bar on the screen instantly filled up.

From today on, every Shadow Guard will be an all-around special agent.

As for Long Aotian on the ground.

His cheat was gone, his true qi was crippled, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up.

"Qin Yuan... you... you devil... you will face retribution..."

He lay on the ground, his lips trembling, his eyes filled with despair and resentment.

"Retribution? That'll have to wait until the Heavenly Dao comes back to life first."

Qin Yuan pulled out a wet wipe and carefully wiped the sticky liquid off his fingertips.

"Afu."

"I'm here, Young Master; the ticket has already been booked."

Afu stepped forward, holding a thick stack of paperwork.

"Find a coal freighter headed for Siberia and send him over."

Qin Yuan threw the wet wipe into the trash can without even glancing at the person on the ground.

"I heard they need long-term laborers to dig potatoes over there; let him go dig potatoes, just make sure he's fed."

"Yes, Young Master."

Afu waved his hand, and two bodyguards in black walked in and dragged Long Aotian out.

Long Aotian left a long trail of blood and urine on the floor as he was dragged.

Accompanied by his weak pleas for mercy, he completely disappeared into the cold, empty corridor.

Gu Qianqian wiped the watermelon juice off her mouth and handed over a yellowed file bag.

"Boss, the new target is a cook who runs a greasy spoon at the street corner."

Qin Yuan took the file bag, unwound the string, and took out the photo stained with oil.

"What, this time the Heavenly Dao wants to poison me with egg fried rice?"