The system glanced at its new host, who was still unconscious, and then at the 0.01 seconds on the life timer. Thinking that the host would earn 100 survival points for each year of survival, the system felt a surge of anxiety.

It was unaware of Yu Ling's plan, and seeing the imperial physician slowly treating her, it wished it could take her place.

Unfortunately, the emperor's reaction to the imperial physicians' lack of diligence was rather indifferent, but this was understandable, given that the two had been mortal enemies just moments before.

An Jingxuan couldn't possibly utter any grand pronouncements like, "If he dies, you will all be buried with him."

After instructing the regent to take care of his life, An Jingxuan dismissed the imperial physician, casually ordered his subordinates to lock Yu Ling in the dungeon, and then turned and left.

He still had many things to deal with, such as restoring the regent's power to the outside world, as well as the accumulated political affairs of the past few days. The vacant official positions also needed to be reorganized, so he really didn't have time to care about this defeated opponent.

After the emperor left, Eunuch Li led his personal guards to catch up with him. Only Gu Cheng and two soldiers who had been ordered to bring Yu Ling to the main hall remained.

The armored soldier roughly dragged Yu Ling by the arm, letting her wounded body rub against the ground, leaving streaks of blood.

Gu Cheng was powerless to stop them and could only watch the tragic scene without uttering a sound. He allowed the two to take away his traitorous savior and silently followed the palace maid's guidance to retreat and leave the palace.

[Waaaaah, poor host! Those two are just too much!]

In the system space, a white ball of light rolled around, biting a handkerchief, while sobbing and lamenting that its host had finally survived the plot-driven death at the beginning of the mission, and cursing the protagonist An Jingxuan, the female lead Gu Wen, and the female lead's brother Gu Cheng.

The two soldiers who rudely dragged Yu Ling into the dungeon received particular attention from the system.

Why make things so bad for the host? The healing medicine in the store is so expensive, it can't afford it.

As the sound of the cell door locking faded, the dark figure, who had been thrown onto the muddy, overgrown ground of the dungeon, slowly opened his eyes. He collapsed to the ground and coughed and vomited violently, spitting out large amounts of black blood along with the poison stuck in his throat.

Yu Ling had never been so disheveled.

"Stop arguing."

[Oh, host, you're awake! That's so good.]

The ball of light started biting the handkerchief again. It's not easy, it's really not easy. This host is so calm, he will definitely survive a year and get the guaranteed reward!

"What exactly are you? Can you explain yourself clearly now? Hmm?"

So far, all Yu Ling knows is that the orb of light in her mind (which is actually the system space) is called the system, and that it is used to possess various dying people to save their lives. Apart from the memories of the original owner that she obtained when she transmigrated, she knows nothing else.

[Aww, host, you can talk to me in your mind, you don't need to say it out loud.]

The system first presented Yu Ling with a package of rules, such as "You are not allowed to reveal knowledge that is not from this world," before cautiously speaking.

[I am Self-Rescue System No. 00375, your guide and companion, assisting the host in surviving in various dimensions. Currently, I have the functions of story transfer, memory reading, system shop, and system inventory.]

Before she could even understand what the system meant, as if she were supposed to know, the Survivor's Rules suddenly appeared in Yu Ling's memory.

"This feeling is the same as when I received the memories of this body..."

A system? Just what... is it?

[Besides the Survivor Rules, the host can also view their own personal data!]

Seeing Yu Ling frowning and looking unhappy, the system understood. No one would be happy to become the scapegoat for the villain.

[Ahem, let's open the system panel!]

With a command from the system, a semi-transparent light screen, visible only to Yu Ling, unfolded in the dungeon.

Name: Yu Ling

Gender: Male (variable)

Age: ? ? ? (Ages exceeding three digits will not be displayed)

Race: Demon

Level: Beginner Survivor

Main Quest: Survive

Side quests: None

System Level: Level 1

Skill slots: Empty

System Backpack: Empty

System Shop: Not Enabled

Survival Points: Zero

[Um... cough cough, the shop will open when your survival points reach zero~ But, the host is actually a demon?]

The system was also a newly randomly bound host, so it knew nothing about Yu Ling's past and only communicated with her based on how it had interacted with the previous hosts.

No wonder this host didn't react to the word "system"; it turns out he had no idea what his system was!

"Ah, yes..."

Yu Ling responded indifferently. Ever since he learned that he could communicate with the system in his mind, he had closed his eyes and lay down like a corpse, plotting how to escape from this filthy place.

"I see. It seems I need to find you a modern world to learn some basic common sense..."

The system muttered something under its breath.

"Huh? What?" Yu Ling didn't hear clearly.

[Oh, I mean, what kind of demon are you, host?]

The system kept making small talk, afraid that the host might suffer alone and commit suicide. There are many, many hosts with criminal records!

"It's just an ordinary tree spirit."

The system nodded thoughtfully. Tree race members typically live for a thousand or eight hundred years before becoming demons; no wonder their ages exceed three digits.

"Speaking of which, host, you were born a long-lived great demon, so how did you die?"

"Oh? How do you know I'm already dead?"

"Because only the souls of the dead can be bound to us!"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!