System's POV

“I found it!” A boy around ten to twelve years old happily picked off a scarab beetle from a tree bark. “Isn’t it amazing, Thirteen?”

[Hah…]

A fed-up sigh spread inside the young man’s head, after which he heard his System reply to his question.

“Oh, I’d better put it in my container before it gets away,’ the boy muttered as he placed the beetle inside his transparent bug container.

[Xylen, you should go home now. It will start to get dark very soon.]

“Ehhh… but the sun is still high up, you see?”

[Knowing you, you will forget about time and simply head deeper inside the forest. Do you want that old hag to nag at you again when you return?]

After being reminded of the old hag, Xylen shuddered.

“F-Fine. I’m going home now because you managed to convince me.”

[Good. Be a good boy and go home, so your mother will not get worried.]

After that short discussion, the young man hurried home to a big villa, not far from the forest.

As soon as he approached the gate, the guards greeted him respectfully and bowed their heads as he walked past them.

He had just passed the gates when he saw an old woman, who immediately gave him a disapproving glare.

“You went to the forest to collect bugs again?” the old woman clicked her tongue in anger. “When your father was of the same age, he buried himself in books and became a scholar.

“What’s so good about playing with dirt and insects, huh? You must have inherited that trait from your commoner mother. What are you waiting for? Get out of my sight, and make sure you stay in your room. Guests will soon arrive, and I don’t want them to see your face.”

The boy nodded and ran to the back of the house, where a small wooden cottage was built.

The moment he entered the door, a lady who seemed to be in her early thirties smiled at him and put down the embroidery in her hands.

“You went to the forest again?” the lady asked. “What did you catch this time?”

“I got a scarab beetle, mother!” Xylen replied with a big smile on his face. “Doesn’t it look amazing?”

“It does look amazing,” the lady replied. “But you should return it to the forest tomorrow, okay? Just like we agreed on.”

“Un!” Xylen nodded before bringing the box to his room.

Every day, he would catch a bug, but he would release it the next day.

He became fascinated with insects since they were the only ones that he could play with.

His brothers and sisters from his father’s other concubines looked down on him and often called him a stink bug.

They would even cover their noses when they see him, as if to make him understand that he stinks.

But Xylen didn’t stink.

In fact, he smelled really good.

So good that insects seemed to be attracted to him like butterflies, even flying around him and landing on his head.

Perhaps it was because of this that he became so engrossed in catching them and making them accompany him for a night.

But there was someone who knew what kind of power was hidden in his small body, and that someone was none other than his System, Thirteen.

Insect Sovereign Blessing.

That was the power gradually awakening inside Xylen’s body.

Individuals who were born with the Insect Sovereign Constitution had a unique connection to the insect world, transcending mere communication.

They could control, command, and even empathize with insects on a deep level.

Right now, Xylen was too young to understand how powerful his abilities were.

But once he mastered it, those who had hurt him and his mother would be erased from the Jade Tiger Clan overnight.

It was a pity that he was far too young, innocent, and ignorant to be taught more about his powers. However, Thirteen made sure to lay some groundwork.

Actually, the system had been the one to propose that Xylen start catching insects inside the forest and bring them home overnight.

He wanted Xylen to tap into his power at an early age, so that he would be able to master it sooner.

[Now, try to communicate with the Scarab Beetle. Ask it any question that you have in mind.]

“Okay!”

Xylen excitedly took out his new friend from the container box and placed it on top of the table in his room.

“Scarab beetle, do you poop?”

*Chirrr—Chirrr.*

[… Times like these, I’m happy I don’t have a hand. I would have already slapped you silly if I had one.]

“Eh?! But I always wanted to ask that question!” Xylen protested. “Mr. Scarab Beetle also answered that he poops. Wow! I didn’t know that insects poop as well!”

[Hah… fine. Ask it another question.]

“Mr. Beetle, are you married?”

*Chirrr—Chirrr.*

[…]

“Um? He said he doesn’t know what getting married is. Do bugs not marry?]

[… System will go on Sleep Mode. Will wake up after an hour.]

“Oi! Don’t leave me, Thirteen! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

[I’m not listening! I’m not listening!]

Thirteen never felt more frustrated dealing with his system hosts than he did being Xelyn’s system helper.

Perhaps he had not become too jaded from all the heartbreaks that he felt after seeing his hosts die one after the other or maybe Xylen was simply too pure for his taste.

Deep inside, he already knew what fate awaited this sweet summer child. And yet, he couldn’t bear to see someone as pure and innocent as Xylen be used as a stepping stone, used by others to climb that grand stage where the Villains and Heroes would fight against each other.

Yes.

Cannon fodders were merely the stepping stones of Villains and Heroes, and seeing that Xylen was one of them frustrated Thirteen terribly so.

But, just as Thirteen and Xylen were arguing with each other, the door of the teenage boy’s room opened, and the boy’s mother entered with an anxious expression on her face.

“Xylen, let’s leave!” Xylen’s mother, Miriam, said anxiously.

“What’s wrong, mother?” Xylen asked.

“Don’t ask, sweetheart. Let’s just go before they come here.”

“Okay.”

Xylen had always been very obedient, so he followed his mother as they escaped through the back door of the cottage.

Screams reverberated in the surroundings, and the sound of fighting could be heard in the distance.

Miriam didn’t hesitate to carry her son and jump off the wall of the residence, despite its three-meter height.

She was a cultivator, albeit a low-ranked one.

Miriam had sensed that a fight was happening inside the residence, and judging from the sounds he heard, the Jade Tiger Clan was being attacked by Demonic Cultivators.

As Miriam desperately tried to escape, a voice filled with disdain reached her ears.

“As expected, some will choose to flee into the forest.” A middle-aged man appeared several meters away from Miriam. “Fortunately, we have already anticipated this to happen.”

Four more people appeared and looked at the lady holding her son with a grim expression on her face.

She could tell that the people in front of her were several levels stronger than her, and there was no way that she could beat them in a fight.

“Mother, what’s wrong?” Xylen asked. “Who are these people?”

The five people looked at the boy and smiled faintly.

“We are people who came to take you and your mother to hell,” the middle-aged man replied.

“Hell?” Xylen blinked in confusion. “Are there bugs in hell?”

The middle-aged man paused for a bit before laughing out loud.

“Yes, there are bugs in hell,” one of the men replied. “Because we are going to send two of them to hell right now.”

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