Mid-August. The roof clattered as though a hailstorm of pebbles was pounding it relentlessly. Outside, the sky growled and boomed with the fury of an enraged god, a cacophony so intense it could make a doomsday prophet pack up early and call it a day.
Inside, a young man lay on his bed like a salted fish drying under the sun, staring blankly at the ceiling. Zhang Xuan, 20 years old, a freshman majoring in computer programming, couldn't have cared less about the end-of-the-world spectacle outside.
Zhang Xuan came from a simple, middle-class family. His father grew seasonal vegetables on their farm, selling them at local markets, while his mother owned a noodle shop that always had a line of hungry customers stretching out the door. Life was steady and good for their family.
But Zhang Xuan wasn't feeling steady or good. He was bored out of his skull. The manga he had been chasing for years had just ended, leaving a hole in his soul. The novels he used to devour every day? They have gone downhill faster than a drunk cyclist. The authors, it seemed, had collectively had their heads kicked by donkeys, producing storylines so messy they could double as spaghetti diagrams. Zhang was in despair. Life, for him, was as exciting as a bowl of plain rice.
Being an introvert with the social skills of a rock didn't help either. Talking to girls? Forget it. He sooner rewrite his college assignments by hand. Zhang Xuan preferred a low-profile life, one free from unnecessary complications or drama. If trouble didn't come looking for him, he wouldn't bother seeking it out.
As he lay there, debating how to waste the rest of his uneventful day, a sudden ding! ding! rang out in his mind. Zhang Xuan flinched. His first thought was that he had played with his "younger brother" a little too much and was now hallucinating.
But then it happened again, louder and clearer.
A mechanical voice echoed in his head: "Great Heavenly System is loading..."
Zhang Xuan blinked. A system? His mind instantly conjured memories of all those novels he read about systems granting protagonists absurdly overpowered abilities. But instead of excitement, his face scrunched up like he bitten into a sour lemon. He had read so many system novels that the genre had lost all appeal. They were all the same—constant trouble, never-ending drama, and every chapter stuffed with face-slapping and arrogant villains. Worse, every system seemed to end up dragging its host into cosmic-level nonsense involving aliens, demons, or some chaos-filled abyss. Zhang had long since decided: if he ever got a system, he wouldn't steer clear of the spotlight and avoid trouble like the plague.
The voice returned after a while: "System loaded 100%."
Zhang Xuan lay there, still as a corpse, his face showing the enthusiasm of a brick wall.
"The Great Heavenly System is successfully bound to the host,"the voice declared confidently.
A glowing panel appeared in front of him, listing his stats:
Host: Zhang Xuan (Mortal)
Physique: Weak (as a dog)
Skill: None
Cultivation: None
Task: None
"Host, open the newbie gift pack?" (Y/N)
Zhang Xuan stared at the panel, his face completely blank. He sighed internally and thought, "No."
The system froze for a moment. Perhaps it misheard? It asked again:
"Host, open the newbie gift pack?"(Y/N)
"No," Zhang Xuan repeated in his mind, even more firmly this time.
Now the system was genuinely panicking. It ran a full diagnostic. All functions were operating perfectly, the data was intact, and there were no signs of bugs or corruption. Yet the host had refused the gift pack. Twice.
The system remained silent, attempting to understand this anomaly. It began scanning the environment through Zhang Xuan senses, observing his mundane surroundings. Finally, it came to a shocking conclusion:
"Host is abnormal!"