ALL NOVEL
Chapter 70: Rumor Has It
【MY HOSTTTTTT!!!】
【WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!】
System 12345 screeched in despair.
I don’t get it! I don’t get it at all!
What in the world did I just see?
Shu Yichao had entered an underground cellar and had one of his men drag a feeble woman out. That woman happened to be a familiar face to System 12345.
Isn’t that Vernier’s cousin, Governor-General Giraud?!
【No, my host! You… This war… Venice…】
System 12345 was so flustered that it struggled to speak coherently. It had tried to convince itself earlier that this war was a part of the plotline, but with Shu Yichao tying Giraud up and hanging her on the wooden cross, there was no way for it to deceive itself anymore.
Shu Yichao was indeed here to fight, but the one he was fighting was Venice!
【W-WAIT!】
【Y-you need to put a c-c-con—NO, THAT’S NOT IT!】
System 12345 was so anxious to stop Shu Yichao that it forgot that its words were incapable of reaching him.
That is a capture target! She can’t die! I know I haven’t had time to introduce her to you, but…
【Eh? Wait, my host… Have I not explained the worldview to you, such as the plotline and the character trajectories?!】
System 12345 was stunned.
It reviewed what it had done thus far, and all it had done so far was explaining character profiles. It hadn’t mentioned a word about the plotline or anything related to it.
No wonder Shu Yichao didn’t know better and chose to stand against Venice!
【Wait, that isn’t the main problem! I haven’t established communication with the host, so it would have been futile even if I had tried to explain the plotline to him!】
【…】
System 12345 felt like its CPU was about to overheat.
It feels like there are problems everywhere, and they are compounding on one another.
And now that I think about it, if Shu Yichao is unaware that his goal is to conquer the femme fatales all along, doesn’t it mean that the zeroing of the favorability thus far was caused by…
The more System 12345 thought about it, the more terrified it felt.
【UWAAAAA!!!】
It burst into tears.
【WHYYYY!!! UWAAAAAA!!! THINGS SHOULDN’T HAVE TURNED OUT LIKE THAT!!!】
It was cathartic to vent its emotions, but System 12345 forgot that crying wouldn’t solve the problem. By the time it was done crying, Giraud’s body had already turned cold. It couldn’t save her even if it wanted to.
【(tot)】
【It’s over, it’s over. My points. My internship points…】
Not only was it not going to earn any internship points, but it was also going to lose academic credits over this…
My graduation will be delayed. My peers will laugh at me, and my juniors will look down on me when they see me taking the examination again with them. And if it still doesn’t go well, I might just be kicked out of the school…
A series of scenarios popped up in System 12345’s CPU. It had to admit that things had gone haywire, and it didn’t have the means to fix the situation.
Thus, it immediately revised its internship goal from being the starting point of its meteoric ascend toward the pinnacle of Systemhood to just securing a pass. What it had to do now was to call for backup!
【Senior, help me!!!】
System 12345 quickly sent a message to a senior studying under the same mentor.
【Who are you? Who’s your senior? Don’t get chummy with me!】
However, the other party refused to acknowledge their ties.
【…】
System 12345 had no idea why its senior was taking such a tone, but it couldn’t fuss over it right now, given the urgency of the situation. It quickly typed out its situation and sent it to its senior.
A few grueling seconds later, the other party replied.
【6】
(T/N: It’s a Chinese slang similar to the meaning of ‘Respect, bro’.)
System 12345 failed to understand what that meant.
【Senior, do you mean to say that the program I sent to my host has 6 bugs?】
…
In a certain town in Italy…
“Is that him?”
A few people discreetly approached a tavern and peeked in.
“Father, that’s the one. He kept uttering nonsense from the moment he arrived, so I suspect a demon has possessed his body.”
“We’ll be counting on you, father.”
“Leave it to me,” the priest replied with a bible in hand, “I have exorcized my fair share of demons, and I have never failed before.”
“That’s good to hear. We’ll enter in groups later on and move at the signal,” the leader ordered. “We must capture him!”
Meanwhile, inside the tavern, an unkempt man covered in mud was exaggeratedly waving his hands around as his saliva flew everywhere.
“It’s true! I saw it with my own eyes! The Khitans took over Venice!”
His face was scrunched like a demon, and his eyes were filled with fear and despair.
“So many people died that the canals turned red! I saw crosses everywhere, with people hanging on them!” The unkempt man trembled. “They must have killed all the Venetians. The city was also razed to the ground. For such a great city to disappear overnight…”
“You must be pulling our legs.”
The unkempt man’s words were met with skepticism from the surrounding crowd.
“Haven’t you seen the heavy rain we had?”
“So what if it has been raining?!” the unkempt man roared. “That’s the Scourge of God passing judgment on us, sinners! Don’t you get it?! The world is on his side, whether there be a typhoon or a hurricane!”
He curled up on the floor and whimpered, “It’s over. We’re all over. The apocalypse is coming. None of us will survive the upcoming ordeal. The Lord will punish all of us…”
“This is our chance! Capture him!”
Several people suddenly rushed out of the crowd and lurched at the unkempt man. To be safe, they stacked on top of the unkempt man like a mountain of meat, crushing the unkempt man at the bottom.
Unprepared, the unkempt man was caught by the attack. He struggled, but he was unable to struggle free of the weight piled on him.
“Let me go! Who are you people?! What do you want?!” the unkempt man roared with a reddened face.
“Everyone, calm down.” A priest stepped forward to placate the alarmed crowd. “This man is uttering nonsense because he has been possessed by a demon. However, you don’t have to worry. I have brought my bible and holy water with me. I shall exorcize him, and he will soon return to normal under the Lord’s protection.”
“No wonder.”
The surrounding crowd sighed in relief.
“I thought his words sounded ludicrous. So, he’s talking nonsense!”
“Indeed, indeed.”
The others nodded in agreement.
‘Venice has fallen.’
‘The Khitan Caesar attacked them in the middle of a storm.’
For a bunch of cavalrymen to assault a naval powerhouse in a storm and crush its army, hang its governor-general and its senators, and take countless as prisoners…
Tsk.
Only a madman would ramble about something as ridiculous as that. It would be good to vanquish whatever demons were lurking inside that unkempt man.
However, there were also those who offered an alternative opinion.
“But I heard many people saying such things recently…” someone murmured, “They can’t all be possessed, right?”
“Hm?” The priest glared at that person.
That person immediately shut his mouth.
Before the priest could exorcize the unkempt man, a local tax officer and a couple of soldiers suddenly rushed out.
“You still have money for alcohol?” the local tax office roared. “Don’t even think about running away. Pay your taxes! Pay every single cent of it right now!”
“Ah?!” The crowd was stunned.
“Haven’t we already paid this year’s taxes? We don’t have money to pay it again!” someone grumbled.
The local tax officer marched forward to grab that person’s cup and sniff it. Then, he spat in that person’s face.
“You dare say you have no money when you’re drinking wine?! Who are you trying to fool? Besides, do you think that I’m taking this money for myself?”
The local tax officer leaped onto a table and looked at the crowd with a hint of fear on his face.
“Our fief lord said that the Khitan Caesar, the Scourge of God, is headed our way. All of us will die if we can’t raise enough money to placate him—every single one of us!”