Chapter 1 The Shameful System, Exploding on the Spot.
Douluo Continent, Star Luo Empire.
The Soul Master Cemetery of Yuming City is located at the highest point in the western part of the city. The rough black stone tablets are like a silent forest, all pointing towards the leaden gray, low-hanging sky.
The wind blows from the direction of the Mingdou Mountains, carrying the unique smell of dust and metal from the border region, sweeping past the rows of stones engraved with names, making a whimpering sound.
Two newly erected tombstones stand side by side, the stone is still very new, and the stone dust in the engravings has not yet been completely washed away by the wind and rain.
In front of them, a short figure stands, motionless.
He is too short; the two tombstones are as tall as two walls to him.
The black cloth covering him makes him look even more empty.
His white hair is not the withered white of old age, but like fresh snow, like the finest silver threads, softly clinging to his small head, exceptionally conspicuous in the dim light of the cemetery.
Not far away stood several men clad in the standard armor of the Eighth Soul Master Legion of the Star Luo Empire. The mud on their armor was still damp, and the metal surfaces bore scratches and dents from battle, their aura of menace lingering.
They silently watched the white-haired child, their eyes filled with complex emotions—pity, sorrow, and a barely perceptible hint of surprise.
One of them moved his lips, seemingly wanting to say something to an elderly man beside him, dressed in a worn gray robe and with gray hair, but ultimately let out a barely audible sigh.
Uncle Gray, his back hunched, his face etched with deep, heavy wrinkles, seemed to be carved by a knife and axe, brimming with grief.
Looking at the young master's striking white hair, his heart felt as if a boulder were pressing down on it.
Just a few days ago, this child wasn't like this.
When the Eighth Soul Master Legion knocked on his door with devastating news, the child was right there before him. In a burst of incomprehensible golden light and violent tremors, his black hair turned to snow in an instant, his pupils transformed into fragments of gold, and his appearance subtly changed, becoming the exquisitely beautiful child he was now, unlike any other.
The commander of the Eighth Soul Master Legion said this was an extraordinary phenomenon caused by the innate awakening of a Martial Soul, a rare occurrence throughout history, a sign of genius.
But Uncle Hui only felt heartache; the price was too high.
Yin Chen stood there, his small body ramrod straight.
The wind ruffled the silver hair on his forehead, and in his fragmented gold eyes, there were no tears, nor the usual bewilderment of a six-year-old.
There was only emptiness, a bottomless, deathly silence.
Only he himself knew what turbulent secrets lay buried beneath that silence.
A few days ago, when those two death notices bearing the legion's blood-red insignia were handed to him, something that had been imprisoning him shattered with a deafening roar.
It wasn't sadness. He couldn't feel any deep sadness for his parents, who were stationed on the front lines year-round and only returned home occasionally, their faces already blurred with memories.
The shock came from elsewhere—the barrier of his understanding had been shattered, memories and a personality belonging to another world, dormant for six years, were forcibly activated and awakened in a brutal way by this sudden bad news.
The last memories of his past life crashed into his mind.
The deserted streets after overtime, the blindingly bright high beams, the deafening horns and the screeching of tires against the pavement, and… that massive, irresistible, crushing shadow—the Hundred-Ton King.
Ha, this was what it meant to encounter the Hundred-Ton King on the road, to fight with all your might, but to be unable to defeat him.
Before the suffocating feeling of despair could completely engulf him, a cold, mechanical, lifeless voice suddenly rang out at the very end of his consciousness:
[Soul detected…Insufficient energy…Forced reincarnation program initiated…Target world: Douluo Continent…]
[Soul core enters dormancy…Maintaining minimum energy consumption operation…]
These were the last fragments of his memory before his confused reincarnation.
A few days ago, the shock of that death notice not only awakened his past life memories but also disturbed the dormant system.
He heard that cold voice again:
[Strong emotional stimulation detected… Energy absorption in progress… System restart…]
[Newbie bonus: Ten consecutive draws.]
Then, a dazzling golden light, enough to scorch the soul, exploded deep within his consciousness.
One, two, three… a total of five.
The golden light was so intense, carrying a power that seemed to burn the very rules themselves, illuminating his still-unstable consciousness space.
Immediately afterward, the cold system notification suddenly became rapid and sharp, like a machine overloaded:
[Error! Error! Energy overflow! Core protocol conflict!]
[…Collapse…Irreversible…]
[…Unbind…]
Boom!!
It was as if the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe, had directly detonated deep within his soul.
He even heard the sound of his soul being torn apart, a teeth-grinding cracking sound.
The excruciating pain instantly overwhelmed everything, a thousand times more terrifying than being crushed by a hundred-ton giant.
He thought he was utterly finished; awakening meant the end, his soul scattered, leaving not even a trace.
But miraculously, he didn't die on the spot.
The destructive energy shockwave from the system explosion primarily affected the connection points deep within his soul, violently tearing apart his soul space.
Three golden lights, carrying his torn half of his soul, were flung into the depths of the ripped spatial rift, disappearing without a trace.
The other two golden lights, while resisting the aftershocks of the explosion, merged with his remaining half of his soul, barely preserving his consciousness and his young body.
To the outside world, in the eyes of Uncle Grey and the legion's soul masters, it was a sudden, blinding golden aura erupting from Yin Chen's body. His white hair grew back, his golden eyes shone, and a soul power fluctuation far exceeding the scope of ordinary martial soul awakening spread out like ripples. Several battle-hardened soul masters were so shocked that they instinctively took a half step back, their faces filled with horror and disbelief.
They only witnessed the sudden emergence of a peerless genius.
But no one knew that in that split second, within the fragile body of this child, a cataclysmic change had occurred, a change so profound it could overturn all understanding.
To lose half of one's soul and still stand unharmed was a miracle in itself.
And Yin Chen's survival was also thanks to one of the golden lights.
At this moment, standing before the cold, hard tombstone, feeling the chill emanating from it seep into his body through his shoes, Yin Chen's emotions were as complex as a tangled mess.
There was a faint sadness for his adoptive parents' deaths in battle, but more than that, there was a deep-seated grumbling about that pathetic system. So what if it was a ten-pull for five gold items? Was it really necessary to just explode on the spot?
It was truly the worst system he had ever seen, bar none.
He thought to himself, trying to find a bitter laugh.
(End of Chapter)