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THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

Chapter 16: Deferred Action · Oct 14, 2026

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Chapter List (115)

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1 Chapter 1 : The Clinic Was Too Narrow For Death 2026-10-14
2 Chapter 2: Five Days of Silence 2026-10-14
3 Chapter 3: Spiritual Line 2026-10-14
4 Chapter 4 : The Steward’s Toll 2026-10-14
5 Chapter 5: Departure 2026-10-14
6 Chapter 6 : Filtration 2026-10-14
7 Chapter 7 : Correction 2026-10-14
8 Chapter 8: Disturbance 2026-10-14
9 Chapter 9: The Purchase 2026-10-14
10 Chapter 10 : The Cracked Ridge 2026-10-14
11 Chapter 11 : The Weight of the Name 2026-10-14
12 Chapter 12 : Selection 2026-10-14
13 Chapter 13: The Seniors 2026-10-14
14 Chapter 14 : Miscalculation 2026-10-14
15 Chapter 15: Divergence 2026-10-14
16 Chapter 16: Deferred Action 2026-10-14
17 Chapter 17 : The Hollow Victory 2026-10-14
18 Chapter 18 : Village Interlude 2026-10-14
19 Chapter 19: Residual Line 2026-10-14
20 Chapter 20: Drink 2026-10-14
21 Chapter 21 : Accretion 2026-10-14
22 Chapter 22 : Memory Recall 2026-10-14
23 Chapter 23 : The Threshold of Understanding 2026-10-14
24 Chapter 24 : Missing 2026-10-14
25 Chapter: 25 : The Market Manipulation 2026-10-14
26 Chapter 26 : Variables 2026-10-14
27 Chapter 27 : Extraction 2026-10-14
28 Chapter 28: The Classical Script 2026-10-14
29 Chapter 29 : The Market’s Throat 2026-10-14
30 Chapter 30 : Resonance 2026-10-14
31 Chapter 31: The Market 2026-10-14
32 Chapter 32 : Elder Tao 2026-10-14
33 Chapter 33 : Ripples 2026-10-14
34 Chapter 34: A Voice 2026-10-14
35 Chapter 35 : The Grain 2026-10-14
36 Chapter 36 : Division 2026-10-14
37 Chapter 37 : The Letter 2026-10-14
38 Chapter 38: Beneath the Drainage 2026-10-14
39 Chapter 39 : The Aftermath 2026-10-14
40 Chapter 40 : End of the Arc One - The Farewell and The Promise 2026-10-14
41 Chapter 41 : General Yan 2026-10-14
42 Chapter 42 : First Lesson - Five Years Ago 2026-10-14
43 Chapter 43 : Flesh and Soil 2026-10-14
44 Chapter 44 : Emerging 2026-10-14
45 Chapter 45 : The Art of Butchering 2026-10-14
46 Chapter 46 : Recruitment 2026-10-14
47 Chapter 47 : The Old Soldier 2026-10-14
48 Chapter 48: Into the Forest 2026-10-14
49 Chapter 49: Quite Authority 2026-10-14
50 Chapter 50 : The Golden Eagle City 2026-10-14

The storehouse was quiet that night, and livestock were selected as usual, Ropes untied, Hooves led across stone.

Then Yan finished tying bundles of rope and sat on a low stool near the indoor pens.

“She came,” he muttered.

The red-clothed girl.

The old ledger keeper’s shaking hand.

Steward Zhao’s single question.

His eyes narrowed slightly, sleepy, then closed.

Before sunrise, The storehouse was quiet, the doors remained shut.

Footsteps approached the door .

”Thud, thud, Yan wake up, wake up” The door trembled.

”Wake up”

After about some minutes, the door opened.

Ren saw Yan coming out from the doorway.

“Yan, why do you look so dull? Did you not sleep well?, We are getting late.. ”

”It’s our first mission, Let’s go.”

Yan glared at Ren who arrived very early in the morning.“I am not ready, and did you not say that we start in the afternoon”

”Well, we have to be early, what afternoon? that would be late” Ren said and then he smiled faintly. “What’s there to be ready? Come with me, I made all the arrangements.”

Yan rose with a tired body and went along with Yan

”Yan, smile a little, it’s our first mission” Ren patted him.

Yan glared back.

They left the sect while the sky was still pale and colorless.

On the Ridge

As they walked down the cracked stone path, Yan asked,

“Do you know anything about the Sect Leader?”

Ren shook his head.

“No. I’ve never seen him. No one tells us his name.”

Yan nodded once.

”Anything about a red haired girl?” Yan asked.

”Do we have such a girl in our sect? ” Ren asked.

Yan did not continue.

As they continued walking through the path between trees.

”Yan, do you remember the senior brother with the hat?” Ren asked.

Yan nodded.

Ren continued, “He chose this mission and he’s much stronger than me.”

“How strong?”

“Third level or maybe higher.”

“And he needs help?”

Ren exhaled lightly. “yes, but not fight with the berserker, we just need to find the whereabouts and tell him, that’s the mission I chose.”

They entered the tree line.

Morning light filtered through thin branches.

“The berserk cultivator has been seen near the village at the forest’s end,” Ren continued. “Livestock disappearing.”

“Livestock?” Yan asked.

“Goats. Cattle. A few sheep.”

Yan said nothing.

The village was called Westbrook Hamlet.

It sat at the edge of the western forest, pressed between uneven farmland and a shallow river.

It was neither poor nor prosperous.

Wooden fences leaned slightly inward as if listening.

Dry mud clung to doorsteps.

Smoke rose from chimneys, thin and colorless.

Men spoke in low voices.

Women worked without looking up.

The soil felt heavy beneath Yan’s boots.

“Where are we going?” Yan asked.

“Restaurant,” Ren replied. “Information always gathers there.”

The restaurant was little more than a wide wooden room with three uneven tables and a single iron pot simmering near the entrance.

The air smelled of boiled roots and animal fat.

Steam fogged the small window near the back wall.

Ren ordered two bowls before the steam settled.

While waiting, Yan noticed something.

Dogs and cattle are not visible to him as far as he could see.

The pens stood empty.

The owner personally arrived at Ren and Yan’s table.

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Ren immediately began asking questions.

“Do you hear strange sounds at night?”

“Yes.”

“Are animals going missing?”

“Yes.”

“Any Tracks?”

“Sometimes. But they end near the tree line.”

The owner’s hands trembled slightly while wiping a bowl.

“Only animals?” Ren asked.

“For now.” The old man looked up and trembled.

“For now?,” Yan repeated quietly.

The owner nodded but did not meet his eyes.

Outside, a cart wheel creaked past slowly.

The forest line in the distance looked darker than it should in daylight.

Yan finished eating last.

He did not waste broth.

When they stepped outside, the market noise felt forced.

Too loud.

As if people were trying to convince themselves nothing was wrong.

Yan looked at Ren and asked ”Where are the arrangements?”

Ren avoiding eye contact with Yan “We will make one, Let’s check the blacksmith first.”

They walked for a while and arrived at the Black Smithy.

The owner of the Smithy was sitting on an Iron anvil.

Ren approached him ”I need two swords”

The owner glanced at Ren and pointed at ordinary swords placed on the table ”You can make your choice”

Ren glanced over the table, among multiple swords, he took two out.

While holding one sword, Ren asked:

”Yan, do you know about the famous blacksmith of Noir?”

Yan stayed silent.

”Of course you don’t” Ren replied.

” It’s Master Blacksmith Hafia, I am planning to get a sword for myself from her”

”But first now, this Iron Sword would do”

The blacksmith glanced at Yan for a minute before looking away.

He handed one of the swords to Yan, accidentally his eyes fell on the knife on Yan’s pocket

“You should not rely only on a knife.It’s small, and harder to fight with.”

Ren paused.

”Shall we go and track the traces now?”

“Wait,” Yan said.

Ren frowned. “What?”

“Let other teams scout first.”

Ren’s eyes sharpened. “Why? They’ll get the credit.”

“Walking into the unknown is more dangerous than losing credit,” Yan said calmly.

Ren hesitated.

The sentence was too reasonable to reject.

“…Fine,” he said at last.

Ren and Yan left the place, and they arrived at the Black Smithy again the next day.

Not long after a man came running through the market, he arrived at the Smithy.

“Master, the disciples who bought swords from us last night..” he gasped.

The owner glanced at him.

“The guide came back alone. They didn’t return. He heard screams.”

”Ba Tao, I told you several times, it’s none of our business what happens to customers” The owner of the Smithy lectured.

But Ren arrived next to the man.

“Where is the guide?”

After about a few minutes, Yan and Ren arrived near a well, where a man was trembling.

The terrified man was shaking near the well.

Ren arrived next to the terrified man ”What happened?”

”Killed, everyone got killed” The man said while looking at the sky.

Ren spoke steadily. “Show us where they entered.”

”I...”

”Snap out” Ren grabbed him.

After hesitation, the guide agreed.

Following the guide, they arrived at the outskirts, there they noticed three outer disciples were already there.

The three looked at Yan and Ren, One of them arrived at the front of them ” We arrived first, we will search first”

Ren looked at Yan.

Yan spoke quietly.

“Let them go.”

Ren frowned. “Why?”

“If something is hunting,” Yan said, “it will attack the boldest first.” Yan said in a low voice.

The three disciples entered the forest as their footsteps faded.

After about an hour

“They should be back by now if nothing had gone wrong” Ren was sceptical.

Yan nodded.

Ren and Yan waited for a few more minutes but they did not return.Instead, The Senior Brother who wore the hat has arrived along with four more followers.

”Reporting to Senior Brother, three fellow disciples have gone after the traces of berserker, but they haven’t come back.

“How long?” he asked.

“More than an hour.”

His expression hardened.

“Show me.”

Ren and Yan moved towards the directions they went in, others followed.

They followed the foot prints of three people...the signs of steps after some time disappeared.

There were no signs of struggle.

No drag marks.

The tracks simply ended.

Ren’s voice tightened. “How is it possible?”

The Senior Brother crouched and touched the soil,

Under the ground, Senior Brother felt the dried group little red, he stood up, and said ”Don’t make a noise”

They smelled it before they saw it. Dry blood. It was not hidden but was visible and very large in amount.

Then they saw the Goats, and also some dogs and cats.Each with a clean cut across the throat,

They were not scattered but were placed.

Ren whispered, “This isn’t normal.”

At the center of the scene, a man bent, his hands were covered with blood.

He was cutting flesh from a body, his blade was not precise, it dug and sliced out flesh.

The missing disciples lay nearby.

Not torn apart, but opened in a similar way

The Senior Brother looked at them, and then his aura began to rise, the air gre heavier.

The enemy halted, then he turned slowly.

A weird smile hung on his face, Ren’s grip tightened around his sword.

For a brief moment, He imagined if they had entered first...If they had rushed in without waiting...

He saw the bodies on the ground, and then imagined two more.

His throat tightened.

Ren quietly looked at Yan ”I owe you”

Yan did not answer.

“You knew something was wrong,” Ren said.

“I suspected,” Yan replied.

Silence followed.

Ren’s jaw tightened, “…Next time, I listen.”

The Senior Brother stepped forward as his aura pressed forward.

The Berserker rose smoothly, and looked at them with a smile.

In that moment, The word berserk felt wrong.

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