Zhen Li sat in the bathroom hugging his knees. He didn’t know where the great master behind the scenes who had rescued him was, and he didn’t know when he would appear. So as not to miss any messages, he sat dozing on the floor of the bathroom. After all, he also hadn’t slept all night. He was very sleepy now. 

His head nodded. In his daze, a field of red appeared before his eyes. Zhen Li quickly opened his eyes and saw that densely crowded little words had appeared in front of him. He squinted. The words were blurry. He couldn’t read them clearly. 

The mirror that had appeared in front of him this time was only 5 cm in diameter, and the words again seemed to have been written in blood. This person had used some tool to write the words very small. At first Zhen Li would have been able to read the words on the mirror clearly, but once they were written, the blood had flowed down and the handwriting had gradually blurred. In his doze, Zhen Li had missed when the words had been clearest. Now he could only clearly read a few words.” 

“…go to…wait…wear…shake off…studio…launder…money…time…Sys…” Zhen Li struggled to distinguish the handwriting. “What are all these words? Don’t, don’t vanish, I haven’t understood!” 

It seemed that the great master couldn’t hear him. Before Zhen Li could understand the writing, the mirror shattered and disappeared. 

Zhen Li: “…” 

Judging from context, he could dimly guess that the great master wanted him to shake off a tail and go to some place to meet the great master, but he hadn’t been able to read the place! As for the parts afterward about “studio” and “launder money,” Zhen Li didn’t understand them at all. 

What should he do? Zhen Li clutched his head. 

He turned in circles around the room. When he had waited another half an hour, a small mirror appeared in front of him. On it was written succinctly: “Noon, go to a crowded mall, eat.” 

When Zhen Li had just understood the words, the mirror hanging in the air broke again. 

He thought about it, named the mall where he had shot hoops yesterday, and arranged to meet the great master in the crowded food court. The mall’s food court had many different stalls to pick up food and public seating for eating. In a public place like that, two strangers could meet without making anyone suspicious. 

Zhen Li went through his wardrobe, found a fiery red ancient-style robe, and put on a wig with an ethereal air. He looked at himself in the mirror, thinking he was really extremely handsome. 

This wasn’t clothing that the System had provided. Zhen Li had equipped it himself. After he had cleared his first world, the System had told him he could use his points to equip one item from the store to carry around with him. This item would accompany him to every world, becoming the basis for him to clear; therefore, he had to choose carefully. 

Zhen Li had spent an age picking before choosing a big wardrobe where he could store over ten thousand articles of clothing. He had also equipped many attractive and cheap articles of clothing from the System, stuffed them into the wardrobe, and taken them along to different worlds. These clothes were so cheap, all brand-name, and a 10-point pack could buy over a hundred. It really would have been too much of a loss not to buy them. 

Later, when he had been caught by the Clearing League, the Clearing League’s bad guys had wanted to seize his starting carry-on item. When they’d opened the System and seen that it was a big wardrobe, each one of them had looked at Zhen Li as though looking at an idiot. The starting carry-on item was a great gift from the System, an opportunity that was hard to come by. All levelers would choose a functional item that suited them. And Zhen Li had chosen what? A wardrobe? 

Zhen Li dressed in front of the mirror and said, “What about the wardrobe? What’s wrong with a wardrobe? Looking good is also an asset. With so much pretty clothing, if I change each day, it’s enough to wear for fifty or sixty years.” 

After doing his makeup, he looked in satisfaction at his bewitching red clothes and nodded, saying to the mirror, “Great master, I’m dressed very noticeably, you’re sure to see me at once!” 

An age passed, and a small mirror finally appeared in front of him. On it, very big, was written the word “sure.” 

Contented as a peacock, Zhen Li once again looked in the mirror. 

Looking at the third broken makeup mirror, Yu Hua rather feebly pinched the corners of his eyes. 

He had thought originally that he could get all the information across clearly in one message. He hadn’t expected Zhen Li to be dozing and not see. A makeup mirror was too weak and would give out after being written on once. There was nothing to be done; he'd had to go to a makeup store and buy ten little makeup mirrors and an eyebrow pencil (to use for writing with the blood). With the shop assistant’s surprised and wondering gaze on him, he’d put the mirrors and the eyebrow pencil into his briefcase, refusing the shop assistant’s suggestions of brow stickers, eyelid tape, false eyelashes, eye shadow, blush, foundation, and other such products. 

Having managed to explain things clearly and seeing Zhen Li in the mirror putting on false eyelashes and drawing in his eyebrows before the mirror broke, Yu Hua had felt pained by the sight. After quickly responding with the word “sure,” he had removed the ability to see through mirrors. 

This was the ability to use a mirror as a medium to send messages to another leveler using the System. While writing the words, Yu Hua could also see the leveler in the mirror. When he had seen last night that the leveler was the peacock man who had been shooting hoops next to him earlier, Yu Hua had been very surprised. 

Yu Hua’s danger awareness was exceedingly acute. His sixth sense had let him dodge the sickle of the god of death countless times. If this had been fifteen years ago, a leveler would only have needed to appear within a hundred-meter radius of Yu Hua for him to notice. Yesterday Zhen Li had been showing off his basketball skills next to him for ages, and Yu Hua hadn’t caught a trace. This made him feel an intense sense of crisis. 

With his vigilance so low, how could he face the enemies to come? 

The anxious-looking Yu Hua went to take a couple of turns around the job center. He received a few forms, saw that it was just about time, then went to the pre-arranged mall to eat. 

As soon as he came into the food court, he saw Zhen Li in ancient dress sitting eye-catchingly in the center, with a crowd around him taking pictures. 

Yu Hua: “…” 

In fact, he had recognized him at a glance, but there was no way to get close. 

Beautiful Zhen Li in his red ancient costume was slurping malatang. The stark contrast between the ancient dress and the malatang assaulted the vision. Everyone was filming videos and posting them online, creating an even bigger sensation than yesterday’s basketball throwing. 

There were also people who recognized that this was the hot guy who had gotten five basketballs in at once yesterday. Consequently, the number of people in the food court increased further. 

Yu Hua took a deep breath and walked expressionlessly into the restroom. He wrote, “In five minutes, throw your phone out of the crowd towards the roujiamo¹ stand.” After making sure Zhen Li had seen it, he left the restroom and went to order a roujiamo. 

He had chosen this type of food because roujiamo were wrapped in paper bags, and the food itself was soft and could stand up to being squeezed. It didn’t need to be eaten with chopsticks. There was no need to worry about breaking dishes or snapping chopsticks and so on while eating roujiamo. It was very safe. 

Yu Hua stood carefully in front of the stand waiting for his roujiamo. He had to hold his body perfectly straight, not bump into anyone, to avoid breaking the bones of innocent passersby. 

Zhen Li saw that it was about time. Under cover of his sleeve, he casually dropped the phone next to him onto the floor. At any rate, Zhen Li had gone through four levels. His physical quality was excellent. This sort of skilled movement took him no effort. 

At that moment, Yu Hua was just receiving his roujiamo. He was listening, from among the noise of voices distinguishing the sound of a phone sliding along the ground. 

Yu Hua packed up slightly and stepped accurately on Zhen Li’s phone with the System app downloaded onto it. 

Holding the roujiamo, he turned, and, using his body as a shield, he tapped lightly with the tip of his foot. The phone flew up from the ground and dropped precisely into Yu Hua’s slightly open briefcase. 

A phone with the System downloaded onto it was very sturdy. It wouldn’t break from falling or being boiled. Even if it was dropped into the sea, it would still return to the leveler’s hand. However, the System’s plan to trap the levelers was just what Yu Hua wanted now. There was no need to worry about breaking the phone. 

Yu Hua quietly walked to a place where there weren’t many people, naturally getting the phone out of his briefcase as he ate the roujiamo. 

When Yu Hua had asked for the phone, Zhen Li had cancelled the lockscreen code. Yu Hua effortlessly accessed the phone and found the System app. 

He opened his hand, covering the System app interface with his palm. He gently closed his eyes. 

A not especially strong power flowed into Yu Hua’s body. He was absorbing the energy of Zhen Li’s System. 

A minute later, Zhen Li, who was eating malatang, felt his body go numb. He put down the big bowl and looked at his hands in surprise. 

If there hadn’t been too many people around, Zhen Li probably would have shouted in happiness. 

A moment ago, Zhen Li had felt the power in his brain that had always been controlling him disappear. The System he’d been carrying in his soul was gone. He was free! 

He didn’t need to do missions anymore, didn’t need to live a life where he might die anytime. Zhen Li really couldn’t resist. He started to cry. 

There were too many people filming around him. Zhen Li suddenly weeping made the hearts of the people around him clench. A girl carefully asked, “What’s the matter? Is it bothering you that we’re taking pictures?” 

“No…” Zhen Li shook his head, holding back the wild joy inside him. He put on an act with difficulty, saying, “The malatang…is too spicy! Boo-hoo…” 

“I have iced tea. I haven’t broken the seal!” A passerby quickly passed over iced tea. 

“I have a tissue, hurry up and wipe your tears!” Another girl wasn’t to be outdone. 

Everyone vied to give Zhen Li tissues and water. The feeling of being alive and cared for was so strong that Zhen Li cried harder. He took a tissue and wiped his eyes while saying, “It’s too spicy, really too spicy. I won’t eat anything so spicy after this.” 

While Zhen Li cried from joy, in the corner, Yu Hua slowly opened his eyes. He had absorbed the energy the System had left in Zhen Li’s body and used that energy to seal a portion of his own power. Though he wasn’t at the level of an ordinary person, he had sealed his ability to interrogate through a mirror, sealed his turtle breath, and reduced his arm strength to one ton; it was basically controllable. 

Very good. Yu Hua smiled faintly. 

After he had cleared, he had made a vow to become an ordinary person and peacefully go through one last world. 

Yu Hua had escaped the System; he was free. But he knew that as long as the System still existed, new worlds would be controlled by the System, new levelers would become the System’s offerings. 

Yu Hua hadn’t used his power to seal himself; he had drawn off the better part of the System’s energy to use to seal himself. 

He could have drained all the System’s energy, made the so-called Chief Deity vanish, but the System still commanded countless levelers. It would have killed all the levelers to make up for the power it had lost. 

To protect the levelers, Yu Hua had only taken a part of the power, forcing the System to sink into a defensive hibernation. And the System’s control interface had degraded from a floating interface into a manually-operated app. 

After he left, while the levelers couldn’t escape the System, new levelers wouldn’t be added, and the difficulty of the levels would greatly decrease. There would be countless new clearers. 

The more clearers there were, the less energy the System would have. One day, all the levelers would have obtained their freedom. After the final leveler cleared, the System would lose all its power and come to the end of its road. 

Yu Hua hadn’t thought that after fifteen years, not a single clearer would have appeared. Instead, the System had risen from the ashes once more, possessing the ability to issue missions. Disregarding everything, it had sent the levelers to hunt and kill Yu Hua to recapture its energy. 

These levelers were too weak. If they had been his companions from before, the System would have been drained dry long ago. 

Yu Hua sighed lightly. Unfortunately, his companions had been gone by then. 

While absorbing Zhen Li’s System, Yu Hua had obtained some information. He knew that the System had used a hidden method to issue the mission to kill him. Quite a few levelers had received this mission. There would be other people coming to this world. 

The World Protection Organization that Zhen Li had encountered would probably put Yu Hua in the same camp as those levelers, regard him as an enemy. Therefore, he had to not only get rid of the levelers, he also had to avoid the World Protection Organization. His identity couldn’t be discovered. 

Why was it so hard for him to live happily with You Zhengping like he wanted? Yu Hua sighed helplessly. 

He typed a message on Zhen Li’s phone, remembering at the same time to eat up the roujiamo to fill his stomach. 

Yu Hua got up and quietly walked around the crowd surrounding Zhen Li. He held the phone between two fingers. As he brushed past the crowd, he flicked his wrist, and the phone flew like a poker card through a gap in the crowd to Zhen Li’s chair. Now, while the phone no longer had the protection of the System app’s power and had become as fragile as an ordinary phone, Yu Hua had used Zhen Li’s System to seal the greater part of his power, so the phone didn’t break when it fell. Instead, it safely reached its goal. 

Zhen Li’s robe screened the phone that had flown over. He felt the phone hit his thigh. Quickly using his sleeve as a shield, he picked up the phone on the bench. 

Zhen Li casually excused himself, saying he was going to the restroom, and squeezed out of the crowd. In a toilet stall, he accessed the phone and saw the words written on it:

[Go register a studio, then recruit people. It doesn’t matter what work it does. The important thing is to be able to launder money. Also, your presence will definitely attract other levelers. You’ll make good bait. Delete this message after reading it.]

Zhen Li: “…” 

He’d managed to get free, and he still had to engage in such dangerous work? 

Also, what was that about laundering money? 

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Author's Note

The System: You all treat me like a big villain, but have you considered my feelings? I’ve nearly been drained dry. Can’t I engage in self-defense? Ah!!! (shouting itself hoarse)

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Translator's Note

¹肉夹馍, literally “meat sandwiched in bread,” a street food that is exactly what it says on the tin.