Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

Zhou Wenqing tried his best to straighten his back, and his whole body fluttered like a large moth for a long time before finally changing from leaning forward to leaning backward.

"Ugh—!"

My back slammed hard against the rock wall, and loose rocks rained down.

He frantically grabbed onto a protruding rock on the edge of the cliff, his fingertips turning white from gripping it so tightly, his heart pounding in his chest, almost leaping out of his throat.

[Host, host...]

The voice in my head faded, replaced by a crackling, electrical noise.

[Sorry, I should have checked my surroundings before speaking. Are you alright?]

Zhou Wenqing, panting heavily, leaned against the cold rock and took a while to suppress the feeling of his heart condition relapsing.

Then, in a weak, teeth-grinding tone, he asked in his mind, "Who are you?"

[Ding ding, this is the strongest advisor system 007, at your service.]

"You're a system? So I have a system."

Zhou Wenqing frowned and rubbed his lower back, immediately wincing in pain—he was sure there was a bruise there.

This system... it doesn't seem very reliable.

He asked with a hint of skepticism, "Why are you only showing up now?"

[I didn't want to either, host!]

In the electronic sounds of 007, the initial mechanical indifference and inhumanity are gone, perhaps the magic has been broken, leaving only a pitiful electrical noise.

[The moment you transmigrated, you had a huge hole in your chest! To heal the wound and keep me alive, I exhausted all my energy and had to go into hibernation, only just now managing to accumulate enough power to turn myself back on...]

It paused, its voice growing weaker:

[As soon as I turned it on, I saw you jumping off a cliff... I... I was just in a panic, and the program overloaded! Waaah~ Host, please don't report me~]

Zhou Wenqing: "..."

He sighed deeply, then simply sat down on the cold boulder, supporting his lower back.

"Okay, okay, stop crying."

As Zhou Wenqing listened to the monotonous, mechanical, electronic fake crying in his mind, he rubbed his temples and felt a sharp pain.

"I won't complain about you, but don't keep crying in my head, it hurts. Tell me, what good are you?"

[Host, don't underestimate me!] 007's voice instantly brightened, accompanied by an electronic sound effect as if it were trying to puff out its chest. [I am the strongest royal advisor system, capable of providing you with all sorts of knowledge you want to know for your study and reference!]

"So it's just a learning machine?" Zhou Wenqing raised an eyebrow. "Isn't there any reward for completing tasks or anything like that?"

[As the host completes the mission, their quality of life will naturally improve, which is the greatest reward in itself!]

007's voice was completely innocent and self-righteous, but it quickly transformed into a fragrant tea aroma.

[007 doesn't come with a separate reward module... Waaaaah~ Host won't dislike me, will he~ Waaaaah~]

The fake crying started again, crackling and sizzling.

Zhou Wenqing's temple throbbed: "Alright, alright, I'm not disgusted by you, stop crying."

[Okay, host, 007 has stopped crying now. Does the host have any other requests? If not...]

Zhou Wenqing's expression changed quickly; he raised an eyebrow.

"etc!"

He raised his voice to interrupt, "Don't call me host. I have absolutely no interest in time travel or anything like that, and I certainly don't have the talent to be a great statesman. You should just send me back and choose another host with lofty ambitions."

My mind went completely still, even the static disappeared.

A few seconds later, 007's voice sounded again, but the deliberately crafted emotion was gone, replaced by a cold, inorganic, mechanical feel.

Sorry, this request cannot be fulfilled.

Zhou Wenqing's brow twitched: "What do you mean?"

[You seem to have forgotten, host. Please recall what you were doing before you transmigrated.]

"I remember I was... climbing a mountain, and then my foot slipped..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

Zhou Wenqing fell silent for a long time before gazing at the sky that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

"...You mean," his voice was barely audible, almost swallowed by the wind, "that I... have fallen to my death and can't go back?"

[Yes, host, your body in the original world has been confirmed to have lost vital signs, which is why you have been bound to the system. You are no longer able to return to your body at your original coordinates.]

Zhou Wenqing's fingers curled involuntarily, his fingertips pressing against the cold rock in his palm. He silently gazed down the cliff, where it was pitch black, with only the endless roar of rushing water. His eyes gradually darkened.

[…sizzle…sizzle…]

After a brief electrical hum, 007's voice rang out again.

[Ahem! Host, 007 is back! I have conducted a preliminary scan and analysis of all your behavioral records since arriving in this world—]

It paused briefly, as if organizing data, or perhaps carefully choosing its words:

Are you really... going?

Zhou Wenqing did not respond.

007's voice continued, this time with a strange rhythm:

This era, this dynasty, this monarch—isn't this the very one you've painstakingly studied and regretted countless times? Don't you want to…?

"I don't want to!" Zhou Wenqing's voice suddenly rose.

"I did that to write my thesis, to graduate, you understand?! Don't talk nonsense, I just want to live a peaceful life, don't spout nonsense—"

007 remained silent for a moment, until a strange anxiety rose in Zhou Wenqing's heart, and then the voice continued.

[If that's true... after acquiring the memories belonging to "Zhou Wenqing" at the beginning of your transmigration, why weren't you in a hurry to find your way home?]

Why bring out inventions like "garlic extract" and "refined salt" that are clearly ahead of their time?

And why... in the bamboo slips left for Li Yi, was it repeatedly emphasized that "elixirs are illusory"?

"I just... I just..."

His voice lowered, carrying a hint of helplessness and struggle.

"I just wanted to make myself more comfortable... and Li Yi, I misunderstood his identity back then, and I didn't want him to lose his life because of me, that's all."

His words were dry and strained; even he found his explanation laughably weak.

[Host, you've been here for so long, why have you only been wandering around this small village? Later on, you even just stayed in the yard sunbathing.]

He dared not look at the villagers' coarse clothes patched upon patched, nor at their faces tanned black by the sun and emaciated by hunger, yet they still smiled unreservedly and kindly at him, this "benefactor" of unknown origin.

He was afraid that if he looked at it too much, his desire to go back and "live a peaceful life" would crumble on its own.

[Host, our system doesn't bind people randomly. Since it has chosen you, it proves that you have the abilities required for my "Strongest Royal Assistant System." Why not give it a try?]

"You don't understand." Zhou Wenqing raised his hand to cover his face, his voice muffled as it escaped through his fingers.

"What right do I have to be so arrogant as to think I can manipulate the strings of history at will? That's too arrogant."

He lowered his hand, gazing down into the pitch-black cliff below, his eyes filled with a calm, almost cold rationality:

"The wheels of history turn according to their own laws. In every dynasty, and in every era, and even into the future... how many heroes and outstanding figures will emerge one after another? I study history, not just the Qin Dynasty. I admire every single person who steps forward in times of crisis and saves the empire from collapse."

His voice was calm and clear in the cold wind, each word seeming to be carved from the deepest part of his heart:

"They shouldn't just disappear into the annals of history because of me—an ordinary person like myself—making changes that may or may not be right."

Call me cowardly or pedantic, it doesn't matter.

Zhou Wenqing paused, then closed his eyes:

"I can't."

Silence reigned on the cliff.

Only the wind howled across the rocks, whipping up fine sand that stung his cold face.

【……I see.】

After a long while, 007's voice rang out again, then fell silent.

After waiting a moment, there was a hissing noise, and then the sound returned to its original, pure, mechanical smoothness.

[Host, please confirm—]

【Do you wish to refuse to bind with the 'Strongest Royal Advisor System'?】

[If you choose to refuse binding, according to Article 1 of the Cross-Time and Space Security Protocol, this system will immediately unbind and disconnect you.]

The system's mechanical tone, devoid of any emotion, carried an almost cruel calm:

[Host, your original body existed, but has been confirmed to have perished in the original world.]

After unbinding, you will lose the only spacetime coordinates you are currently maintaining.

There can only be one ending—

[Returning to death.]

Zhou Wenqing kept his eyes closed.

Her eyelashes cast subtle shadows on her pale cheeks, trembling slightly.

He could hear his own heartbeat, throbbing slowly and heavily in his chest.

Then, very softly yet very clearly, he uttered a single word:

"Yes."

[Command confirmed]

[Unbinding process initiated. Energy recovery in progress...]

[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]

The cold, counting sound echoed in his mind, word by word.

Zhou Wenqing remained in that position, sitting on the boulder at the edge of the cliff with his eyes closed, like a stone statue being slowly swallowed by the night.

The wind picked up.