THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

After Lin left without another word.

Yan’s gaze drifted to the white letters.

Compatibility: 5%

Functions Unlocked: Memory Recall (Active)

He focused on the Memory Recall

The shift was immediate.

The store house vanished and was replaced with a ceiling, the air around thickened with the smell of damp soil and boiled grain. Light filtered through a cracked wooden shutter.

Yan heard the voices.

“The Dan Seed Merchant has hoarded everything.”

His young father looked frustrated, who looked younger and frustrated.

“We have no choice. We have to buy at his price, or we don’t plant at all.”

Yan turned.

His mother stood near the doorway, sleeves rolled. She looked tired, but not yet worn down by the years that would follow.

He tried to move but couldn’t and looked down.

Small fingers. Soft knuckles. A child’s hands.

Three years old.

Then he saw his father again, who was looking at the harvest outside the home, and said

“If he controls the seeds, he controls the harvest.”

The memory collapsed.

Stone replaced dirt. The smell of grain vanished.

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Yan was back in the storehouse.

Compatibility: 5%

Functions Unlocked: Memory Recall (Inactive)

Yan stared at the white text for a while before dismissing it.

He did not dwell on the unease.

Instead, he considered the words.

Control the seeds. Control the harvest.

”Damn it, damn, why did he increase the amount of sacrifices? first five per night, seven, ten and now fifteen, and I had to reduce disciple allowances again to make the sect running, and the amount of purchase being made, sect might die of starvation, and those damn disciples, why don’t they just...shut up” The old man ledgerer complained and crushed the ink in his hand.

Yan stood near the pens and watched the animals shift in the dark.

Extraction was accelerating.

Supply was not infinite.

He remembered his father’s voice..

If he controls the seeds, he controls the harvest.

The sect controlled extraction.

But it did not control supply.

Not entirely.

Yan waited.

Ren arrived in the afternoon with wounds on his body again ” Yan,”

Yan looked at Ren ”you beat up someone again, well, I need your help, do you have anyone who trades in livestock nearby”

Ren looked at Yan ”Of course, My uncle lives in nearby town, what do you want? Don’t tell me you started loving sheep by staying with them and want to open your own pens”

Yan glared at Ren..”this is serious...he is the only one who can help me to escape the fever”

Ren glared back at Yan ”Yan, you want him to kill Tan Suzi, I said I will take care of her, no need to involve my uncle”.

Yan looked at Ren and head butted him ” what the heck? I never said I want to kill her”

”So how do you want to solve things with her” Ren rubbed his head.

Yan took a deep breath, and sat on the table nearby and said: ”Tan Suzi got nothing to do with the fever”

Ren looked at Yan with widened eyes.

”Okay, so what do you want my uncle to do?” Ren continued..

Yan’s gaze did not waver.

“If the demand for livestock continues to rise, who controls the price?”

Ren frowned slightly. “The supplier.”

“Yes.”

Understanding did not fully form in Ren’s expression., but interest replaced confusion.

”Let me meet him” Yan requested.

“Why?” Ren asked.

Yan looked once toward the pens.

“Because someone is already buying at any cost.”

Ren hesitated.

“…We can visit him.”

Yan nodded.

Outside, the ridge remained quiet.

The soil did not move.

But the wheels had started turning.