THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

The pair of eyes disappeared from the shadow of the door, and a moment later they appeared on the shadow of the bed.

Then a man emerged from the shadow.

Chu Feng was sitting on the bed when he suddenly felt an intense pain in his neck. He looked up. The face of the man wearing grey clothes was in front of him. Blood flowed from his neck as the man drove the knife deeper, but Chu Feng did not look away. He stared into the eyes of the man.

”You have accomplished something incredible, and spoiled the Master’s plan. You made me act.”

”I am ashamed to admit a mere mortal like you shook us.”

”Consider it a privilege to die by my hands.”

Then Chu Feng smirked.

”You...” The man glared at the smirk of the dying man as he pulled out his knife. Chu Feng fell forward and breathed his last.

The assassin reached out and pressed his fingers against Chu Feng’s pulse.

After confirming the death, he dived back into the shadow of the bed.

---

The next morning.

Hua Fain had just woken up and was about to wash his face.

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!

His door was knocked on continuously. Hua Fain rushed toward the door and opened it. He found Hai Mazi standing outside as tears streamed down her face.

”Hai Mazi, what happened?” Hua Fain asked.

She did not speak, and her tears kept increasing.

”What happened?” Hua Fain asked again.

”Sir Chu Feng...”

Hua Fain immediately felt something ominous in his heart. He rushed past Hai Mazi and arrived at the next door. The door was already open.

His hands began shaking as he stepped forward. On the bed, covered with blood, Chu Feng lay on his stomach. A visible knife wound pierced his neck.The blood around him had dried. The bedsheet had turned dark red.

Hua Fain slowly walked toward Chu Feng and sat beside the bed. He held Chu Feng’s hands.

”Sir Chu Feng...”

”Sir Chu Feng...”

He did not say anything else. He simply sat there, holding the hand, for about thirty minutes. Then he stood up.

”ARRGH!” Hua Fain shouted.

Tian Che, who was outside the inn chatting with another person, heard the shout and immediately rushed inside along with the other person.

It did not take long for the news to spread all over Trade Miller City.

---

”Kilin, let’s play Merchant, Merchant.” Muja approached Kilin, who had just finished breakfast in her home.

”Not that again! You want to pretend to be Chu Feng again,” Kilin said, touching her forehead.

”I don’t pretend. I am the next Chu Feng.” Muja said as he smiled.

Right then, Uzopp and Gustin came running.

”This is bad, this is bad!” Uzopp panted as soon as he arrived.

”Uzopp, what happened?” Muja asked while looking at him.

”Chu Feng... Chu Feng is dead.”

Hearing the news, Muja froze. He felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his heart. An unexplained pain emerged from within him, and tears started streaming down from his eyes.

”Muja.”

”Muja.”

”Are you alright?” Kilin asked, but her eyes were not without tears either.

---

Somewhere in another merchant organization in Trade Miller City.

”Is it confirmed?” One man folded a book as he glanced up toward the other man who was standing.

”Yes,” the other man said.

”Send out letters all over the kingdom. The death of Chu Feng should not be buried in only a few cities,” the man ordered.

---

A few miles away to the south, in Jua town.

Near a pond.

”Elder Han, why didn’t you go all out during the spar with Mutai?” Zuzu asked while sitting beside the purple-robed man on a giant rock.

”I requested a spar, not a death match,” Elder Han said. Then he asked, ”Our surviving disciples, are they not here yet?”

”No, but they might be soon. You already asked them to regroup here if we lost,” Zuzu said.

”Sigh.”

”They might have perished under his schemes.”

But right then, he saw about three people coming over.

”Elder.” One came forward and cupped his fists.

”Only three of you alive? What happened?” Elder Han asked.

”Dead... all dead. Chu Feng had a blue flame cultivator who burnt many to ashes. We were only able to survive because they failed to track us,” the disciple said.

This book’s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

”Our Sword Sense Sect faced heavy losses this time.” Elder Han looked at the sky.

”Also, there is one more piece of news we heard while coming back,” the disciple said.

Elder Han and Zuzu looked at him closely.

”Chu Feng is dead.”

---

At the same time.

Yan finally woke from a bad dream. He was lying on a bed among other beds beside him, each with someone lying on them.

He understood that he was in a clinic. Yan then looked at his chest. There it was: the pendant Ren had gifted him. It was still with him.

With a thought, he summoned the system screen.

White texts appeared in front of his eyes.

The Overseer System

Resonance:

Ground (Foundation Cap), Mind (90% Foundation Cap)

Compatibility: 21%

Stability: 90%

Functions Unlocked: Memory Recall (active), Memory Extract (active)

Realm: Spiritual Qi Foundation — Layer 7

With a thought, the white text vanished.

After a few moments, a man in red clothes approached Yan. ”Shui, you are finally awake. Did your fever go away?”

”Yes,” Yan replied.

”How are you feeling? You have been out for more than a day,” the man asked.

”I am good,” Yan said.

”Well, stay here. I will call the doctor,” the man said and went toward the next room.

After a few moments, a doctor arrived with the man. He inspected Yan and said, ”Everything is fine, but it’s strange. I have never encountered such a fever. I thought you were a goner.”

Yan nodded.

”Doctor! Doctor!” Right then another man called out to the doctor, and the doctor left.

”Brother Shui, you are fine now, but many things happened outside while you were unconscious,” the man said.

”What happened?” Yan asked.

”Sir Chu Feng...” he paused.

”Is dead.”

Yan took a breath. Somehow, he did not understand why, but something inside him felt void, as if something had left him.

”How? Did we lose? Did the enemies win?” Yan asked.

”No, we won and completely crushed them.”

”Although we lost the mansion, Brother Hua Fain exterminated enemies like he was killing mosquitoes,” the man said.

”Brother Hua?” Yan raised his brows.

”Yes. He is so powerful. He has been hiding his strength all this time.”

Yan took another deep breath and asked, ”What about the Executioner?”

”You mean Executioner Mo? Sadly, he passed away in the collapse of the prison. We also held a mass funeral for everyone.”

Yan took another breath.

”Ah, wait. Brother Hua asked you to go and see him when you wake up. But it’s about time for the funeral. You can probably meet him there.”

”But Shui, what were you doing at the underground prison when the order was to move out with the wagons?” the man asked.

”I dropped my pendant in the prison accidentally that morning when we took out some green liquid bottles. I went in to search for it,” Yan said.

”Is the pendant more important than the mission?” the man asked.

”For me, yes,” Yan said.

”So much for a mere pendant,” the man murmured.

”Let’s go. The procession to the capital might have already begun,” the man said as he stood up.

Then Yan left the clinic along with the man.

When Yan walked out, he found the streets already filled with the poor, the merchants, and several others, all the way to the entrance of the city.

”Shui?” The man called out but Yan has already disappeared in the crowd.

Yan arrived in the sum where he buried his sword, he dug open the sword.

He stared at it for a moment, something that Ren had gifted.

And then he carried it along towards the Inn District.

Standing in the crowd around the Inn District, Yan silently observed.

Chu Feng was laid in a coffin. The coffin was already loaded into a carriage.

Around the carriage stood Hua Fain and Hai Mazi.

At the entrance of the city, Mutai arrived with goats, carrying his axe in his hand. Seeing the dense crowd, he became confused.

He approached a person and asked, ”What happened?”

”Sir Chu Feng is dead,” the man said.

Thud.

Mutai dropped his axe and immediately pushed himself inside the crowd.

He rushed to the inn district and saw Hua Fain and Hai Mazi. Then he saw the coffin.

He pushed the crowd away and arrived at the coffin. He stood still.

Hua Fain came forward and gave him a hug. ”Brother Mutai...”

”No... this can’t be... how did this...” Mutai said as his eyes turned moist.

After Mutai accepted the reality, he stood aside. Then a girl around thirteen squeezed through the crowd.

”Wait, little girl, this is not a place you can approach.” One of Chu Feng’s men near the carriage stopped her.

”Please let me. I want to speak to Sir Hua Fain,” the girl pleaded.

”No, it’s not the time for you to meet him,” the man refused.

The commotion did not escape the eyes of Hua Fain. He lifted his hand and said, ”Let her.”

The girl then passed by Chu Feng’s men and stood in front of Hua Fain.

”Sir Hua Fain, the other day my father called you a monster.”

”We all thought that because of the citywide extermination operation of the Saint Merchants.”

”We were just afraid. We could not think clearly.”

”If you wanted, you could have killed everyone, but you did not. It is because you are only wiping out the enemies.”

”I might have done the same if I were in your place.”

”Sir Chu Feng was such a great man. We cannot do much, but we can offer an apology by joining the funeral.”

The girl pointed toward her father and the crowd, where it was not just the poor but also many citizens of Trade Miller City.

Hua Fain looked over at the crowd, then looked at the girl, and said, ”Thank you.”

Then the girl left and joined her father.

After a few moments, the carriage started moving as they mounted the horses. Yan was at the very back, unable to reach them.

Muja and his group were also in the crowd. The carriage moved slowly. Behind the carriage, the slum dwellers and the poor held small sacks of grain Chu Feng had given them.

Others clutched the thin, worn books Teacher Bai had distributed.

As the carriage passed, a single name began to ripple through the crowd like a prayer.

”Chu Feng...”

”Chu Feng...”

By the time the carriage reached the open road to the capital, the procession had become a river.

Chu Feng’s men moved ahead and cleared the goats from the path.

Mutai looked down at his fallen axe and stared at it for a moment before bending down to pick it up. His grip tightened around the handle. His eyes did not leave the goats he had brought back, the goats that were meant for the celebration.

Thousands walked behind the carriage, refusing to let him pass alone. Yan was among the crowd, integrated deeply into them as he recited, ”Chu Feng.”

When they reached the gates of Ebonreach, the Royal Capital had emptied its slums to meet them.

The already filled crowd in the capital joined the procession from Trade Miller City.

The air was thick with the scent of a thousand burning sticks of incense. People were not protesting. They were not shouting for blood or gold.

”Chu Feng...”

”Chu Feng...”

They were simply calling the name of the man who had looked at the mud and saw people worth saving.

Yan, who was in the crowd, saw a similar face far away but decided not to meet him immediately.

---

Near dusk, at the funeral grounds.

”Chu Feng.”

”Chu Feng.”

The murmurs were still spreading.

”Brother Shui, come here.” Hua Fain, who had noticed Yan, called him near the carriage. Yan moved forward as people began to make way for him.

Yan stood beside the carriage. Mutai gave a sharp, stiff nod. ”It’s time.”

Yan stepped forward and lifted the coffin along with Mutai, Hua Fain, and Hai Mazi. He stood beside Hua Fain.

When they arrived at the burial site, the coffin was opened one last time.

Chu Feng carried a smile.

Then Yan remembered his new system function. He wondered if he could use it here. He directed his thoughts toward Memory Extract.

But nothing happened. Then he noticed that one of Chu Feng’s hands was twisted.

Yan reached out to Chu Feng’s hand, still wondering how to use Memory Extract.

Right then, a white prompt flickered across his eyes.

[Memory Extract — Activated]

The world blurred. His surroundings began to change, and the funeral grounds vanished. They were replaced by a smaller courtyard under a different sky.

A younger Chu Feng, a boy of no more than ten, sat beneath a tree beside his father.

”Father... why is the world filled with bad people?” the boy asked, his voice thick with a child’s frustration.

The older man laughed softly, resting a hand on the boy’s head. ”No, Feng’er. The world has both. But many bad people were once good. And no one is completely one thing.”

The boy frowned. ”Then what decides it?”

”Choice,” the father said, his smile fading into something serious. ”A choice of doing more good or more bad.”

”What kind of person do you want to be?”

The boy looked at the sky for a long time. ”I want to be good.”

”How good?” the father asked.

Chu Feng’s younger voice was firm, filled with a terrifying, innocent conviction. ”So good... that the world will cry when I die.”

”What if no one mourns you when you die despite being good?” the father asked.

”I still want to be good,” Chu Feng replied immediately.

The memory shattered.

Yan stood in the cold air of the funeral grounds, his hands still resting on the body.

Around him, thousands of voices rose in a soft murmur.

”Chu Feng...”

Yan looked at the still face of the man who had stopped a war, fed a kingdom, and adopted the poor.

He finally understood. Chu Feng had not been a merchant. He had been a sculptor of his own legacy.

He had become exactly what he set out to be.

After the burial, everyone stood still for a few moments without chanting anything.

Then Hua Fain turned toward the crowd and said, ”I have something to say.”