The system screen floated in front of me, glowing that familiar blue. I had been staring at it for hours now—Just sitting in my chair, reading the same lines over and over, making sure I understood every single word or if I was not hallucinating. But then again how could it be after this hell?
[CORRUPTION PATH UNLOCKED]
[New Skills Available]
Three skills. That's what I got.
[Skill: Silver Tongue - Level 1]
Increases persuasion effectiveness.
[Skill: Identify Weakness - Level 1]
Reveals basic information about the target's emotional vulnerabilities and desires.
[Skill: Mask of Sincerity - Level 1]
Others perceive your intentions as genuine.
I tested the last one on Scarface Liu when he came to report about some merchant caravan passing nearby.
I told him I was thinking about going straight and becoming an honest man, and for a second that idiot actually believed me, his face going all confused before I laughed and told him I was joking.
The skill worked, and that was a good thing.
I closed the screen and leaned back as my cave went quiet except for the sound of wind outside and distant voices from my men drinking around the fire.
"Six months," that's how long I had before the next Chosen One showed up to kill me and yet also to figure out how to deceive this hero.
But the strange thing was... I didn't feel a single drop of guilt or regret about what I was planning.
Seventy four times—swords went through my chest, blades across my throat, cultivation techniques burning me from the inside out cooking my organs until they turned into charcoal.
And every single time, watching some teenager brat with a righteous expression before everything went dark.
It does something to you, dying that many times and watching it become routine.
And the worst part is you remember the pain, you remember your own death. And what can you do?
Nothing!
I didn't care anymore, not about right or wrong, not about these fucking brats. I just cared about not dying again, and if corrupting these chosen ones and making them sinners is how I survive then I would do it.
I would do it without hesitation.
Three days passed before I left my cave.
I had spent that time reading everything the system gave me. There was a full section on corruption mechanics—like a tutorial, which was pretty funny considering I was supposed to BE the tutorial.
[CORRUPTION GUIDE]
[Chosen Ones arrive with strong moral foundations. Direct corruption will fail. Build trust first. Understand their fears and desires. Offer them power, help or solutions that require small compromises. Over time, these compromises add up.]
[WARNING: If the player somehow loses its life, ************************************]
"Mmm." I tapped on the screen but nothing changed. "What's the warning."
I stared at it for a moment longer.
"Haah." This system was fucking with me, but still this was the first chance I had gotten, so I had to be careful and patient.
With that thought I walked out of the cave in the afternoon where my twelve bandits were scattered around the camp doing… "ugh."
A few were supposed to be on watch but I could see them sleeping against rocks.
Useless.
For these years I'd barely paid attention to these guys, they were just there, like NPCs who reset with every cycle, never really changing or growing or doing anything interesting, but now I looked at them properly.
Old Chen was stirring something in a pot over the fire. He had been a soldier once before he deserted after witnessing his whole unit get slaughtered by demonic beasts and deciding he'd rather live as a bandit than die for some noble's war.
Little Feng was sharpening his knife nearby, fifteen years old and only joined us last year, or what felt like last year to him, because he had nowhere else to go since he was an orphan whose parents were killed by a cultivator from a big family.
Suddenly a thought passed through my mind. (Why wasn't he chosen?) He was also an orphan who had suffered hardship, so why wasn't he given a chance.
And there I was looking at him and remembering those other kids.
"What a shitty world," I said, for Little Feng's face was covered with ugly marks, maybe from birth, and probably that was why he was never chosen.
Continuing on, Scarface Liu was gambling with two other men and losing badly from the looks of it. He had been a merchant's guard before he killed his employer over an unpaid debt.
They all had their stories and reasons for being here, and I wondered if the system had made all that up or if they'd been real people once before getting stuck in this loop with me, though it didn't really matter either way.
"Boss!" Scarface Liu waved me over. "Want in on the next round?"
"No."
I walked past him toward the edge of camp where we kept our weapons stored. My sword was there leaning against the wooden rack so I picked it up. The weight felt wrong in my hands since I'd never been good with it, and even after thirty years of practice I was barely competent.
Being at Foundation Establishment stage meant the system had locked me at that level and I couldn't break through. And while that stage should have been enough to handle average bandits or beasts and even put up a fight against Chosen Ones, it never was.
Because they carried destiny. Heaven's blessing! Whatever you call it.
The world itself wanted them to win.
Which simply meant fighting them directly was pointless.
I had to try something different this time.
"Scarface," I called out. "Get everyone together. We need to talk."
It took twenty minutes to gather all twelve of them. Half were drunk already even though it was barely past noon. I made a mental note of that—if I was going to use these idiots as part of my plan I needed to discipline them first.
"Listen up," I said once they were all assembled. "Things are going to change around here."
A few groans. One guy actually rolled his eyes.
I pulled out my sword and put it against his throat before he could blink.
"You think I'm JOKING?" My voice came out flat and cold. "You think this is the same as before?"
The guy froze and everyone else went quiet.
I'd never really used my cultivation pressure on them before and never bothered but now I let a bit of it leak out—just enough to make the air feel heavy, to make their breathing a little harder.
They all straightened up real fast.
"Better." I pulled my sword back. "Now listen. In six months, someone's coming here. Young, probably around sixteen or seventeen and they'll have a quest to kill me."
SILENCE
"Boss… a kid?" Old Chen asked.
They didn't know about the system, so their confusion was acceptable.
But, who cares.
"Just do as I say, don't ask me useless questions. Get better. Train. Stop drinking yourselves stupid every night. When that person arrives, I need you to put on a convincing performance."
"Performance?"
"Yes, we're going to stage a fight and make it look real. Some of you might need to play dead and I'll take a wound that looks fatal then 'escape' into the forest so they will think they won and completed their quest."
"But can't we directly kill them?" Scarface Liu interrupted.
I only gave him a serious look and he closed his mouth immediately.
"Then what?" Little Feng asked as his eyes lit up.
"Then I will approach them later with a different identity." I smiled. It didn't feel warm. "And I will threaten their beloved for money."
"Oooh." Understanding flashed on a few faces…At the end they were bandits who loved riches more than anything..