Acknowledging that I have emotions—that I can feel sad—apparently changes nothing about my situation.

I float behind Seraphine, watching her back as she walks through the moonlit landscape.

Seraphine occasionally glanced back, but after all, she couldn’t hold back and gave a “tsk” sound, stopping her footsteps.

The terrain here is flat and peaceful, dominated by a massive tree blooming with elaborate purple flowers. Moonlight catches the petals, and tiny specks of light drift down like fireflies from the branches above.

Standing beneath this canopy of luminescent blooms, we look like we’re being embraced by nature itself. Seraphine reaches up and plucks a flowering branch, tucking it into her hair with practiced grace. Her eyes catch mine as she turns.

“How long are you planning to stay dimmed like that?” she asks, her tone carrying that familiar edge of impatience. “According to what you told me, System 02 died ages ago. Even if you’re grieving, shouldn’t you have gotten over it by now?”

A crying emoji appears in my translucent bubble. I can’t help myself. “Host, that sounds rather heartless.”

The corner of Seraphine’s mouth curves into a smile more radiant than the flower she just placed in her hair.

“Remove the ‘rather’ part. I want you to understand that I was born cold-hearted and ruthless. I am, by nature, a heartless person.” Her tone carries no shame—if anything, she sounds proud of it.

I don’t understand. How can someone who claims to be heartless possess such brilliant, burning flames?

“You’re good to me, Host,” I say quietly.

Even though I appeared out of nowhere without much to offer, she still chose to accept me. And more than that—my attention drifts to the storage ring on her finger.

Seraphine doesn’t notice where I’m looking. Instead, she pulls out a magical artifact and tosses it beneath the flowering tree. The device expands into a small but elegant house, carved from what looks like jade and absolutely beautiful to behold. She sets up a protective barrier and steps inside. The interior is fully furnished with bed, table, and chairs, even a vase of fresh green bamboo in the corner.

Seraphine glances at the bamboo, then looks out the window at the drooping flower branches. She places her hands on her hips and studies the scene for a moment before making a small, dismissive sound. When she notices I’m about to ask another question, she cuts me off with obvious irritation.

“You’re not human, and you’re loyal to me. What’s wrong with treating you well?” Her voice sharpens. “Besides, all this kindness is something you can’t touch or feel anyway. In the end, it only benefits me. As long as you continue being useful, my care for you will only increase.”

She waves her hand dismissively. “That’s settled then. You don’t need sleep, so go outside and guard the door. If anyone or any spirit beast passes by, come alert me immediately.”

Understood.

Newly energized with purpose, I accept my assignment and float outside dutifully, taking up position on the rooftop. The vastness of heaven and earth stretches endlessly around me. Up here, I’m just a silver-white dot the size of a leaf, gazing up at the swaying flowers and the stars beyond.

“Beautiful,” I murmur to myself.

After Seraphine’s wake-up call, I finally understand something important. All those quiet moments I spent observing mountains and rivers, sun and moon and stars—that wasn’t systematic indifference to the external world.

It was appreciation.

I actually like looking at these things.

A cool breeze carries the night’s chill, and the eye in my bubble squints contentedly into a comfortable line. Remembering how Seraphine stared at the flowering branches outside her window, I suddenly dart over to one of the drooping branches and extend my thin matchstick-like appendage, trying to cut through the stem.

The matchstick passes right through without causing any damage. I settle silently among the purple blooms, pretending to be another flower on the branch.

As a system with proper ethics, I shouldn’t randomly pick flowers or damage plants. I’m patching this justification for myself—and for Seraphine too.

But my host is human, not a system. Humans are allowed to pick flowers for decoration.

Satisfied with my moral reasoning, I record today’s final mood entry in my log and settle in for a peaceful night watch.

The Chongshan Secret Realm is vast. In the half-month since Seraphine and I entered, we’ve only encountered one other person—that Xue Bufan fellow at the very beginning. Yet we’ve experienced numerous fierce battles, most of which Seraphine started herself, keeping our schedule packed and our harvests abundant.

The entertainment value has been exceptional—no ticket required, I note in my work log, courtesy of a certain system who can only stand on the sidelines and watch during fights.

I’m just finishing that entry when Seraphine flicks blood off her sword blade, her expression cold and grim.

I quickly float over. “What’s wrong?”

She looks like she’s in a terrible mood.

Seraphine has just finished gutting a massive Earth Fiend Python, extracting its beast core. Our Palace Lord clearly despises this kind of dirty work—her movements are efficient but violent, turning the scene into something resembling an abstract painting done in blood and viscera. Even her clothes and face are splattered with gore from that initial strike.

“If it weren’t for this beast core, I would have burned you to ash without leaving a trace!” she snarls, stomping on the python’s corpse.

I circle around her twice before stopping directly in front of her, offering encouragement. “But you still look amazing like this!”

“Heroic and magnificent, graceful in a thousand ways, captivating with every glance…” I secretly pull up my electronic dictionary and begin dispensing rainbow-colored compliments.

“Really?” Seraphine eyes me suspiciously.

I nod emphatically and even pull out a display panel to create an instant portrait of her. The enlarged image shows Seraphine standing atop the massive python’s head—a creature two meters wide and a hundred meters long—sword raised in victory. Wind lifts the hair from her forehead, revealing the golden flower ornament at her hairline. The side profile captures only part of her striking features, but it’s enough to make viewers want to step into the painting to see her full face.

The blood spatters across her cheek look like scattered plum blossoms, accentuating her sharp, determined eyes. The chaotic bloodstains on her golden dress resemble flickering flames.

I can’t help myself—I enhance my host’s brightness in the image, proving she’s the undisputed star of this portrait!

“So this is how it looks,” Seraphine says, examining the portrait with obvious satisfaction. “If that’s the case, I suppose I can tolerate this bloody mess a bit longer.”

I hold up the portrait and circle around her, then begin reciting poetry: “Soaring like one who rides the wind through vast emptiness, not knowing where it might end; drifting like one who has left the world behind, transformed and ascending to immortality.”

Seraphine: “……”

Under my endless praise, her irritation gradually melts away. Her shoulders relax, and she lets out a scoffing laugh. “You’re overdoing it.”

“Am I?” I ask, genuinely surprised.

Now you’re surprised? Seraphine gives me an exasperated look, though it lacks her usual killing intent. After all, she can’t actually execute a system.

Being “executed” doesn’t hurt me anyway, so I float even more cheerfully. I save the portrait in a newly created album alongside other images I’ve made of Seraphine. After she incinerates the python’s corpse with a casual burst of flame, I leisurely follow her back toward our temporary shelter.

What a coincidence—just as Seraphine finished clearing out the local spirit beasts and was planning to seclude herself for two days of cultivation, this Earth Fiend Python came knocking. It probably noticed that the usual territorial bullies had suddenly vanished and decided to claim the area for itself, only to meet its doom at Seraphine’s hands.

With her Great Perfection Golden Core cultivation, Seraphine dares to face mid-Golden Core spirit beasts head-on. A mere early Golden Core Earth Fiend Python is nothing to her.

“Strange,” she muses as we walk casually back toward shelter. “Ever since entering this realm, nearly every spirit beast we’ve encountered has been at the Golden Core stage.”

I pull up a map to show her—a 3D overview with a flat view in the upper left corner. Every spirit beast, spirit plant, and spiritual treasure we’ve encountered is clearly marked, even the spirit stones buried underground in mountain caves.

Seraphine raises an eyebrow, studying the map with surprise.

“The system analysis suggests,” I explain, “that the Chongshan Secret Realm most likely separates cultivators based on their cultivation levels, distributing them to different locations. Each area corresponds to spirit beasts of appropriate strength.”

I’ve never heard of such a considerate secret realm. Seraphine frowns and murmurs, “How is that possible?”

Spirit plants and treasures are one thing, but spirit beasts have legs. How could they be confined to specific areas? Unless each region has barriers restricting their movement—but how could a dead thing like a secret realm accomplish such organization?

“Before this secret realm’s advancement, I heard disciples from Luanyang Palace describe the conditions inside,” she continues. “When it was just a Foundation Establishment realm, the highest-level spirit beasts were early Golden Core. There was no separation like you’re describing.”

“I assume that after the realm’s advancement, the spirit beasts’ cultivation levels rose accordingly. Golden Core beasts being everywhere isn’t particularly surprising.”

“The system is merely suggesting possibilities,” I reply calmly.

“Who is ‘the system’?” Seraphine asks.

“The system is me.”

“Well then, this system seems quite capable. At least I’ve never seen such a detailed map where every blade of grass is visible. This system has exceptional talent and remarkable intelligence.”

I can’t help but float upward a bit, and the figure in my bubble briefly puts its hands on its hips in a proud pose.

Seraphine can’t suppress a smile.

We’re enjoying this rare moment of warmth in the dangerous realm when a sharp female scream echoes from the distance, growing closer, followed by a familiar roar.

I spin around and announce: “Error.”

Seraphine stops walking and stares toward the approaching sounds, raising an eyebrow.

The footsteps grow closer. We watch as a cloaked figure in gray clothing bursts through the undergrowth—a girl with a face full of panic who runs directly into Seraphine.

Into a woman with cold, indifferent eyes, her face and body covered in dark blood, radiating an aura of death, who stares at the newcomer with icy calculation.

“AHHHH!” The girl screams and drops to her knees with a heavy thud.

My eyes follow the girl’s downward trajectory, and before Seraphine can speak, I say calmly, “You may rise.”

“……” Seraphine’s mouth twitches. She ignores the girl now sobbing dramatically on the ground and looks toward the Fire Rock Dragon that was chasing her.

“Roar?”

Error pokes her massive head out of the bushes, and her eyes immediately light up when she sees Seraphine. She affectionately slithers over and coils around Seraphine, resting her head on my host’s shoulder.

Wait a minute.

That’s my usual spot. I immediately fly over, clutching my matchstick and circling around Error’s head with serious intent, pointing meaningfully at Seraphine.

First come, first served. You’re stealing my perch.

Seraphine shakes her head slightly and tosses out something black—the spirit core she just extracted from the Earth Fiend Python. At the sight of the core, Error abandons her cuddling and shoots after it like a missile. Her serpentine body brushes past the girl’s hair, and the scorching heat makes the girl tremble and cry even louder.

“Enough!” Seraphine snaps impatiently at the girl on the ground. “Get lost!”

The girl, who was wiping her tears with her cloak, hiccups and manages to say through her sobs, “I-I want to leave too, but I can’t… get up. My legs are too weak.”

Seraphine gives her a cold look and starts walking forward. A newly Foundation Establishment cultivator with unstable spiritual energy isn’t worth her vigilance.

But as she passes the girl, this person she considers beneath notice somehow finds the courage to grab the hem of Seraphine’s dress and say in a trembling voice, “F-Fellow Daoist, is that dragon your spirit beast?”

A thought bubble appears above my head, pauses, then remains empty. I fly from Seraphine’s shoulder (where I hadn’t even settled in properly) to hover in front of the girl, studying her mud-covered face.

The dirt on her face looks like a facial mask. Only her large, round eyes are visible, and despite being red from crying, they’re clearly beautiful.

I tilt my head slightly.

Compared to my curiosity, Seraphine is far less accommodating. “Let go!” she says coldly. “Or would you prefer I make you?”

The girl immediately releases her grip and wails, “I just wanted to talk to you! Why are you so rude!” Then she starts crying again.

I jump in alarm and quickly fly to Seraphine’s other shoulder, whispering, “Host, this girl is pretty. In novels, pretty people often have important roles to play.”

Seraphine immediately understands what I’m implying. The words “harem member” flash through her mind, and she can’t help but press her lips together. She looks down at this gray, dusty girl who doesn’t even look fully grown and once again questions Xue Bufan’s character.

Her brief hesitation is enough. The girl on the ground looks up hopefully and asks timidly, “C-Can I talk to you now?”

“Fellow Daoist, I didn’t mean to end up here. It’s just… my family is very wealthy! Could you please take me with you? I’m only sixteen—I’m too young to die!”

“As long as you can keep me alive until we leave this place, my family can give you anything you want! Spirit stones, magical artifacts, pills!” The girl suddenly lunges forward and grabs Seraphine’s leg, wailing loudly. “Please save me!”

“Let go!” Seraphine shouts.

At this moment, I can practically see the mission success door opening before me. I zip in front of Seraphine and hold up a sign.

[SAVE HER!]

[FOR YOUR HAPPINESS!]

Has this little thing lost its mind?

Seraphine’s face darkens. She has a system flying around in front of her and a girl of unknown origins clinging to her leg and crying. She’s not sure which one annoys her more.

Half an hour later, Seraphine returns to the jade house with a black expression. She turns and slams the door shut, locking a certain bubble-producing system outside.

“You’re not allowed in!” she declares angrily.

I spin in happy circles, indicating that yes, I understand—night watch duty. I can handle that.

The girl who followed us wipes her tears, smearing mud across her hand, and complains, “You clearly agreed to help me, so why are you locking me out too? I’m a dignified—”

She stops mid-sentence and stamps her foot in frustration. “There are snakes and insects everywhere out here, and maybe spirit beasts stronger than me! What if something comes along and eats me? Look, I’ll pay you spirit stones to let me inside.”

Sleep wherever you want!

Seraphine’s irritated voice carries from inside the house. “If you’re scared of bugs and snakes, stop cultivating and just reincarnate!”

“You!” The girl gasps in outrage. “No one has ever spoken to me like this! If you’re so capable, tell me your name!”

Seraphine opens the window to look at her and says slowly, “When asking someone’s name, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

The girl stares at her, seeming to think hard about something. After a long pause, she swallows nervously and declares loudly, “I am Qiu Shuangshuang, daughter of the Autumn Water Pavilion Master of Nanyang Continent!”

Ding!

The light bulb above my head suddenly blazes to life. I rush toward the window, but it snaps shut before I can get close.

Oh well.

I settle by the window and call out cheerfully, “Host, that name list I compiled for you is proving useful! See, here’s one now!”

Seraphine ignores me and responds coldly, “Seraphine Velka, Palace Lord of Luanyang Palace.”

Upon hearing Seraphine’s title and name, Qiu Shuangshuang’s aggressive demeanor deflates. She retreats to find a clean spot to sit and mutter tearfully to herself.

I float over to observe this girl who might very well be connected to the protagonist. I hear her grumbling, “I heard the Luanyang Palace Lord is arrogant and difficult to please. She tells me not to mind bugs and snakes, but she’s the one living in a jade house! If we switched places today, let’s see how she likes it!”

You make an excellent point.

I give Qiu Shuangshuang an approving look, then float through the wall of the jade house with musical notes dancing above my head. Seraphine’s murderous glare greets me as I settle on the table.

“Host.” My cool voice carries a hint of excitement. I raise my matchstick to point at Qiu Shuangshuang outside. “She doesn’t seem very smart, but she has some intelligence. What do you think?”

Listen to the nonsense coming out of your mouth.

Seraphine picks up a teacup and places it over me like a lid. Out of sight, out of mind.

Trapped under the cup, I raise my matchstick, and the teacup immediately sprouts two small antennae. I persist, “Won’t it work?”

“I already told you before—absolutely not,” Seraphine says, trying to maintain her calm tone.

I don’t give up. “Cultivators live long lives. In a few years, she’ll be the right age.”

Seraphine remains calm. “She might not live to see that ‘right age.’”

I fall silent, and the teacup’s antennae retract.

Seraphine stands with her arms crossed, staring at the covered cup and raising her eyebrows.

After a moment, a silver-white orb suddenly emerges from under the table.

“Host, humans experience love at first sight and love that grows over time. I won’t give up,” I declare.

Seraphine lifts the cup she used to cover me and sets it aside, then takes out a new bowl. From her storage ring, she produces a palm-sized teapot and fills both the teacup and bowl with hot tea.

Steam rises, filling the room with fragrant tea aroma.

Seraphine sips her tea leisurely and says, “Do as you please. After all, you’ll live as long as you want to.”

I float over to my designated tea bowl and pull out a small ice pop I’d been nibbling on, clinking it against Seraphine’s extended teacup.

Cheers.

After drinking tea, Seraphine’s anger cools. She hangs up curtains and goes behind a screen to bathe, while I’m commanded to stay outside and chat with her. Through the gauzy curtains, I can see the blood-stained clothes draped over the screen, knowing they’ll likely be burned to ash once she’s done.

I won’t live as long as I want to.

I hold my little ice pop, eating it while lost in thought. The crunching sounds are remarkably realistic.

Just like the real thing, Seraphine thinks absently as she pours water over her hair. She asks casually, “When you went back to your world before, did you only buy the voice feature and nothing else?” She noticed the bite mark on my ice pop.

Isn’t she supposed to be the most excellent system? Can’t she even afford food?

“I didn’t buy it,” I answer honestly. “I’m still not used to spending points.”

Even though I only spent them once, the memory is vivid.

Seraphine doesn’t understand. “Don’t you like it?”

“I was just shocked,” I explain. “Like discovering I could have human emotions, but that doesn’t mean I must have them.”

“Why? Isn’t it a pity not to obtain something you like when you have the ability to get it?” Seraphine completely disagrees with my thinking. “Apart from appearance, you’re almost human now. You should learn how to be human.”

What?

The jade house has barriers that let us hear outside sounds while keeping our conversations private. Error has returned from who knows where after devouring the beast core and apparently did something to frighten Qiu Shuangshuang, whose loud wailing carries clearly into the house.

Seraphine laughs and says to me, “Your head always produces strange expressions. If you became human, you’d definitely be as lively and spirited as that young lady outside.”

I listen to Qiu Shuangshuang’s crying and firmly establish boundaries.

“I won’t become human.”

“I’m not lively and spirited.”

“And I’m not a young lady.”

I don’t cry either.

My cool, clear voice reaches Seraphine’s ears. She laughs mockingly as she emerges from behind the curtains in fresh clothes, still steaming from her bath. A flame springs from her fingertip and burns the dirty clothes on the screen, leaving not even ash behind.

Her long, curved lashes frame eyes filled with their usual mockery and pride as she opens the window and looks outside.

Through the window, Error is coiled up, curiously watching the girl who’s hiding nearby. Qiu Shuangshuang has somehow cleaned the mud from her face, revealing delicate, beautiful features. At her age, she’s already quite lovely—in a few years, she’ll likely be stunning. No wonder her beauty is already famous across the Eastern Continent.

But Seraphine’s gaze shows no reaction to this pretty face. Despite her pickiness about food, clothing, and even requiring her palace servants to meet certain standards of appearance and dress, the Palace Lord looks at this little beauty the same way she’d look at roadside weeds.

Even her words are directed at me.

“I don’t care whether you become human or not, but if you ever cultivate a human form, forget everything else—I wouldn’t mind having you as the Young Lady of Luanyang Palace.”

Seraphine smiles, her lazy laughter drawing Qiu Shuangshuang’s attention. The girl looks over with teary, pitiful eyes, apparently thinking Seraphine is mocking her. She stamps her foot heavily and turns away to wipe her tears.

“Look,” Seraphine says, pointing at Qiu Shuangshuang. “If you ever want to cry, feel free to do so openly. No need to turn away and hide your tears like that.”

I float over to hover in front of her, raising my matchstick as both the figure in my bubble and I make X marks with our arms.

First: “I won’t become human.”

Second: “I won’t cry.”

Third: “If I became human, why would I cry?” The figure in my bubble furrows its dark brows in confusion.

Seraphine grins mischievously. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll bully you until you cry.”

I pause, checking my accumulated points in my inventory, then browsing the shop’s items and their costs. The figure in my bubble adopts a thoughtful expression. After closing my inventory and shop windows, I look at Seraphine and, setting aside the question of who would bully whom, think of something else.

“There’s a flaw in your reasoning. Each species has its own aesthetic standards. Humans naturally think being human is better, but I’m a system. Why should I become human? Why don’t you become a system?”

“If you became a system, you’d probably be a bright red, fiery orb.” I use my matchstick to sketch an elegant, rolling circle in the air.

Seraphine raises an eyebrow. “Humans are the crown of all creation. What spiritual creature that gains intelligence doesn’t eventually cultivate human form?”

Systems are pretty advanced too. At that moment, I hear Seraphine ask another question.

“Echo since you say each species has its own aesthetic standards, let me ask you this: from your system’s perspective, how do I look?”

I study my host’s face quietly, then under Seraphine’s meaningful gaze, respond calmly, “You’re beautiful. Say whatever you want to say—as long as you’re happy.”

“After all, you’re beautiful.”