C1: The System Has a Bug
Sob, sob...
The stats are so poor, there's no future in this, sob, sob...
I checked at ten this morning and saw that I was the fourth person to reach the latest chapter. I'm so moved, sob, sob...
To think there are actually three Master Readers reading my book so early!
But the stats are still so poor; please, I beg for follow-up reads!
The more follow-up reads I get, the more I will update!
Oh heavens, please drown me in follow-up reads!
—
County was an ordinary county town.
Late June pressed down like a sealed furnace, the air thick and unmoving. Even the countryside, usually breezy at dusk, felt like a giant steamer basket left too long on the fire.
Xi An lay sprawled on a bamboo mat. Above him, the old iron-bladed floor fan turned with a labored creak, its oscillation uneven, as if it could stop at any second. Only under that weak, intermittent breeze did he truly begin to accept one fact—
He had been reborn.
Logically speaking, this broken floor fan and the outdated handheld console on the bedside table should have been scrapped long ago during his first year of high school.
The fan had died of old age.
The handheld console… had been smashed to pieces by his "Tiger Dad."
He still remembered the exact moment. The sharp crack. The scattered casing. The screen flickering one last time before going dark.
It had been destroyed for thirteen years, five months, and twelve days.
Its remains were buried behind the house.
"…Tsk."
Xi An clicked his tongue.
Ignoring the fact that he was only wearing boxers, his pale upper body exposed, he slipped on his sandals and shuffled out of the room.
—
Outside.
The familiar three-entry courtyard stretched before him.
The tin-roofed warehouse that would be built in later years was still nowhere to be seen. On the east side stood the old tile-roofed shed, its doors wide open, revealing stacked grain bins, farming tools, and miscellaneous clutter. The yard looked both cramped and empty at the same time.
In the western aisle, a dilapidated two-wheeled electric scooter leaned against the wall, coated in a thick layer of dust.
Behind the shed lay the backyard ditch.
Dry.
Cracked.
Lined with rows of poplar trees that swayed faintly in the heat.
An old yellow dog with coarse fur lay curled beneath one of them, a rusted chain tied loosely around its neck. It slept soundly, completely indifferent to the relentless chorus of cicadas.
Everything carried a raw, backward vitality—impoverished, yet stubbornly alive.
For a moment, Xi An felt dazed.
Then—
Something flickered in his vision.
—
[Dimensional Coordinate Error…]
[Target World: Taisho Era – Demon Slayer Worldline]
[Host Lock: Xi An (Confirmed)]
[Correction Failure… Rebinding in Progress…]
—
[Taisho Year 30. As a Rank B Swordsman, you died during the crusade against Upper Moon Six. At the brink of death, the Savior Protocol was forcibly activated.]
[Divine Response Successful. Time Reversal Granted.]
[Warning: Dimensional Anchor Unstable.]
[Demon Slayer Xi An, welcome to the Savior System. This system will serve you with all its heart.]
—
"…Huh?"
Xi An froze.
He rubbed his eyes hard, turned around, went back into the room, grabbed his glasses, wiped the lenses on his shirt, and put them on again.
The floating text remained.
Not a hallucination.
Not a trick of light.
Still there.
"…Did staying up all night fry my brain?"
Rebirth itself already felt unreal enough. Now there was a system?
Or… was this the so-called "golden finger" people always talked about?
If misfortune could come hand in hand, then maybe blessings could too.
But—
What the hell were "Taisho Year 30," "Upper Moon Six," and "Demon Slayer"?
Xi An searched his memory.
A Japanese manga.
He had watched it once because his cosplayer ex-girlfriend insisted.
If nothing was off, this was referring to that world.
Which meant…
"…The system bound the wrong person?"
Or—
Another Xi An had been fighting in that world, died, triggered some "Savior Protocol," and then—
The system got lost mid-transfer.
And latched onto him instead.
"…That's one hell of a bug."
—
Xi An returned inside, found a loose short-sleeved shirt, and pulled it over his head, covering his still youthful, pale torso.
He exhaled slowly.
Whatever.
Rebirth alone was already a miracle.
Everything else… was optional.
His past life was still vivid in his mind.
Career failure.
A broken marriage.
The slow passing of loved ones.
The one person he had wanted to hold onto—missed forever.
If he said he had no regrets, that would be a lie.
Rather than dying from overwork, it was more accurate to say—
He had long since drowned in his memories.
Death had only come to collect what remained.
—
"…Let's see what this thing actually does."
Xi An reached out and swiped through the translucent interface.
The UI was simple.
Almost too simple.
[Panel]
[Gacha]
[Warehouse]
[Quests]
He opened the Panel.
—
Host: Xi An
Age: 15
Attributes:
Attack: 6
HP: 7
AP: 0
Crit: 0
Luck: 1
Agility: 5
Armor: 1
Magic Resist: 1
Title: None
Skills: None
Currency: None
—
"…Clean."
Too clean.
Xi An rubbed his chin.
Attack was probably physical strength.
HP was vitality.
Agility—speed and reaction.
Armor and Magic Resist—defensive stats.
Crit and Luck were self-explanatory.
But AP?
"…Ability Points? Or some kind of energy?"
He narrowed his eyes.
Then—
A faint anticipation rose in his chest.
If this system really worked…
If he really had to "save the world" somewhere…
Then maybe—
He could become something beyond human.
Something like…
Homelander.
Of course, not the unhinged version.
His values were still intact.
But—
Who wouldn't want the power to flip the table when life cornered them?
—
He opened the [Gacha] page.
Only one pool.
[Basic Pool]
Cost:
Single Pull – 160
Ten Pull – 1500
"…No recharge system?"
No pay-to-win?
Xi An didn't feel relieved.
Instead, his eyes grew cautious.
"In games, the free ones are always the most expensive…"
If it didn't cost money—
It probably cost something worse.
Time?
Effort?
Or…
Life itself?
—
He checked the [Warehouse].
Empty.
No beginner gift pack.
No starter weapon.
No compensation for "system error."
"…Figures."
He even tried stuffing his handheld console and folding stool into it.
Nothing happened.
"System storage only…"
—
Finally, he opened [Quests].
If the missions were too ridiculous, he would ignore the system entirely.
After all—
This wasn't the Demon Slayer world.
If the system couldn't adapt, that wasn't his problem.
He just hoped it wouldn't suddenly drag him into another dimension.
Something like—
[Abnormal World Detected. Initiating Forced Transfer.]
Yeah.
That would absolutely break him.
—
Reborn at fifteen,
System misbound and drifting,
This idiot won't collapse.
—
Fortunately—
Nothing like that happened.
—
[In this new life, you have lost your tempered body. However, your honed sword techniques remain engraved within your soul.]
[Even a mortal body can slay demons.]
[Savior Protocol Active. Begin your journey.]
—
[Quest Triggered!]
[Quest 1: Slay a man-eating demon!]
Reward:
Source Restoration
System Currency ×300
Nichirin Blade ×1
—
"…Right."
Xi An closed the panel.
Completely calm.
"…Definitely bound to the wrong person."
He let out a long breath, tension draining from his shoulders.
He felt… relieved.
At least it wasn't forcing him to act.
Still—
He couldn't help but feel a trace of sympathy.
"For the other me…"
That guy was probably still in the Demon Slayer world.
No system.
No cheat.
Trying to survive Upper Moon battles the hard way.
"…That's rough."
Xi An sighed.
This bug had ruined two people's lives.
He couldn't become Homelander.
And the other him couldn't properly become the Savior.
—
"Whatever."
He grabbed a dirty towel and wiped down the dusty electric scooter.
After cleaning it enough to be usable, he locked the door, placed the key on the doorframe, grabbed some loose change, and headed out.
—
The handheld console displayed the time:
June 28th.
Sunday.
9:00 AM.
—
In his memory, the high school entrance exam results had just come out.
He had barely made it into County First High School.
Not terrible.
Not great.
Just…
Mediocre.
—
His grandmother had taken his one-year-old cousin to church.
His grandfather had gone to a banquet with the younger kids.
As for him—
He had stayed up all night reading novels and simply couldn't wake up.
So they didn't bother calling him.
Perfect.
—
"…First step after rebirth?"
Xi An tightened his grip on the handlebars.
"Make money."
"Make money!!"
"Make money!!!"
—
The era of online shopping was about to explode.
And yet—
He didn't even own a phone.
To read novels, he still had to rely on a memory card plugged into his handheld.
Pathetic.
—
Theoretically, getting into County First High School meant he already had one foot in the door.
Three more years—
And he could change everything.
—
But right now?
He needed capital.
—
Thirteen minutes later, he arrived at the town's unlicensed internet café.
The air inside was thick with cigarette smoke and the hum of outdated computers.
Xi An logged into QQ.
And immediately started asking for money.
—
Target #1:
His "poor" rich friend.
The guy who cried about being broke every day—
While dumping thousands into 4399 browser games.
—
"If I don't borrow it…"
"…it'll just get wasted anyway."
—
After sending the message, Xi An glanced at his profile.
And almost gagged.
Screen Name: Intoxicated Wind
Status: Barely made the cut, scared the baby to death
"…So cringe."
He immediately deleted the status.
Changed his profile picture to Psyduck.
Renamed himself:
Sleep When Drunk
—
As he was rapidly deleting his old Qzone posts—
A QQ call suddenly popped up.
Caller:
"The Rich Crybaby"
—
Xi An clicked accept while still multitasking.
"Hello."
—
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Liang Tao's voice exploded through the headphones like a duck being strangled.
"Why did you change EVERYTHING?! Profile pic, name, status—AND YOU DELETED YOUR POSTS?!"
"…?"
"Holy crap—"
"DON'T TELL ME—"
"YOU GOT REJECTED BY HAN QINGMENG?!"
—
Xi An's expression froze.
The faint smile he had been about to show—
Vanished instantly.
—
"…Oh crap."
—
"I forgot about that girl."