Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

Zhou Wenqing also wanted to wake up; she wanted to wake up so badly.

His fingertips trembled with the last vestige of his will, as lightly as a withered leaf touching a cold pond, not even enough to create a ripple. No one around noticed, and even he himself, lost in chaos, was unaware of this tiny movement.

He felt his consciousness sinking into boundless darkness and chaos, like a drowning person whose limbs were tightly bound by countless water plants. The more he struggled, the tighter the vines became, cutting into his bones and blood. No matter how hard he tried, he could not float to the light beyond the clouds.

But he can hear everything.

Han Fei's heavy sigh, Li Yi's deliberately light footsteps as he left, the sharp sound of Fu Su wielding his sword and cutting through the wind outside the window, and the soft rustling sound of Xia Wuqie rummaging through his medicine box and wiping his silver needles in the corner.

Those sounds drifted from the distant horizon, blurred and intermittent through a thick, damp, and impenetrable fog, yet they penetrated the ears and pierced the heart without missing a single word.

He understood everyone's anxiety and determination, and he tried his best to respond, to tell those who were by his side—I heard you, I know, I'm here.

But his body had long since become a clay sculpture frozen in ice, so heavy that he could not move, and even lifting his eyelashes or moving his lips was as difficult as climbing to heaven.

All the surging emotions and desperate struggles were suppressed deep within the consciousness, like a giant boulder falling into a bottomless abyss. The moment it hit the surface, it sank silently to the bottom without a sound or a splash, and was swallowed up by the boundless darkness in an instant.

A deathly stillness returned to my body, and a chill seeped into my bones.

He felt as if he were firmly sealed in a bottomless ice well, with slippery, cold walls, barren of vegetation, and nowhere to cling to.

Every so often, a faint ray of light would pierce through the well, accompanied by a familiar voice. He would immediately strain with all his might, leaping and grabbing at the cold well wall, but each time he fell just short—

Watching helplessly as his fingertips were about to touch that warm light, all his strength was instantly drained, and he could only fall heavily back to the bottom of the well, all in vain.

This time it's the same...

As the faint light completely closed and dissipated, Zhou Wenqing helplessly relaxed in the boundless darkness, slumped against the icy well wall, and felt a deep sense of self-mockery.

After practicing the Eight Pieces of Brocade for so long, it was all for nothing!

He buried his face in his palms, trying to find a bittersweet feeling in his thoughts.

In fact, we have to thank Xia Wuqie.

If it weren't for those first few needles, he probably wouldn't even have had the strength to struggle and climb like this. He would have been all alone at the bottom of the well, watching the light come on and go out again and again, waiting for the darkness to completely engulf him.

It hurt, it really hurt, so much so that he almost cursed out loud.

So—I'd better not thank him, Zhou Wenqing thought to himself, feeling rather willful.

He gathered his strength, kept his eyes fixed on the direction where the light might reappear, and was ready to climb again at any moment.

It looks like we'll have to wait a long time again...

He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and once again focused his thoughts, calling out to the system.

That's right, besides climbing continuously, Zhou Wenqing was also looking for other ways to save himself.

He could enter the system space, but he had no interest in learning any skills; he simply "watched" the ball of light floating in his mind.

Like a ripe persimmon, it hangs there limply, neither salty nor bland, neither fast nor slow, "lazily" emitting a faint light.

Zhou Wenqing was immediately furious.

He reached out and forcefully rolled and flattened the ball of light, then picked it up and kicked it on the ground like a ball. But it bounced around and rolled back smoothly.

Zhou Wenqing: "..."

I got even angrier.

Seemingly sensing his displeasure, the ball of light trembled, floated before his eyes, and a line of striking red text appeared like a bullet screen, jumping out word by word, complete with flashing effects—

[Ding ding, please treat the basic AI system well, host!!!]

Treat him kindly? He's practically withered to death at the bottom of the well, and you're talking about treating him kindly?!

What kind of intelligence is this? It's more like idiocy. How can it be so good at stirring up trouble?

If it weren't for the fact that it was the only source of light besides the wellhead, he would have "torn it apart" long ago.

Ignoring the words, he slapped it again, then thought to himself, "I'm too lazy to waste my breath on you. Where's 007? Call him back."

As expected, it was that line of large text again, this time even bolded—

[Ding ding, Personality Data 007 is currently assisting the host in a mission in another world and is temporarily unable to leave. Please wait patiently...]

"On a mission again? What kind of mission is it that I can't even leave for a moment? It wasn't like this when he bound me!" Zhou Wenqing gritted his teeth and questioned angrily.

How could he not know that the 007 who had only exchanged a few words with him before disappearing without a trace and never reappearing, actually had some kind of assistance function?

The ball of light flickered twice—then it stopped moving.

Zhou Wenqing: "..."

Knowing to play dead at this point means it's not entirely a stupid system!

He stared at the ball of light, gritted his teeth, and felt a renewed urge to tear this idiot apart.

and many more!

It was demolished...

Suddenly, a giant baseball bat appeared in my mind, and then—

"Bang!"

[Ding ding! Ding ding! Warning! Warning! Violent actions against basic intelligent systems are prohibited!]

The red light flashed wildly, darting around the world like a police siren.

Zhou Wenqing pretended not to see it, and swung the baseball bat around and hit the ball of light again and again, making it jump up and down.

"Your idiotic system is also part of 007, isn't it? You've been damaged, shouldn't 007 come back and take a look?"

He swung with unbridled joy, having not felt so exhilarated in a long time, venting his pent-up resentment.

"You promised to come back and visit often, and look what happened! So much time has passed, and you haven't even shown your face! Don't you deserve a beating?"

"Stop playing dead. I know you're not that easily broken. Call 007 back right now!"

不知抡了多少下，棒球棍都抡出了残影，那光团被他揍得忽明忽暗，时不时还崩飞出去几个细小的光点，终于——

[Ouch, ouch, host, stop hitting me! I'm back! It hurts so much!]

It is 007.

Zhou Wenqing finished swinging the stick one last time before lazily stopping.

"Finally you're back! Where have you been gallivanting off to?"

[I'm innocent, host! I was really trying to complete a mission and couldn't get back!]

The ball of light hopped pitifully, ran to the "parts" that had been knocked away, and reluctantly reassembled itself.

[Waaaaah, it hurts so much! Host, couldn't you have been a little gentler? Do you know how much energy it takes to forcibly pull me back like this? My host in another dimension is riding his Lu horse off a cliff right now, I wonder if he made it across yet... Waaaaah...]

Zhou Wenqing raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh? Your other host is in the Three Kingdoms period?"

[Yes, that's right, host. Let me tell you, it's so chaotic over there. I'm really afraid that if I don't keep an eye on him for a second, he'll "go offline." He doesn't even have time to squeeze out time to enter the system space to study. It's really...]

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Zhou Wenqing quickly interrupted it, feeling a headache coming on. He hadn't seen it for so long that he had forgotten that this guy was a chatterbox.

"You're only concerned about the danger over there, what about me? Look at me, I'm the one who's really about to 'go offline'!"

[Ding ding, host detected as ill, but a professional healer from this plane is on their way. Their medical skills are up to standard, and there is no fatal risk.]

Zhou Wenqing breathed a sigh of relief without showing any emotion; Doctor Lü was indeed reliable.

However, this battle has worsened his heart condition and made him even weaker, which seems inevitable.

[Don't worry, host. Even if your physical condition declines, you'll definitely be fine and able to complete the mission successfully. You're the best host I've ever managed!]

007 seemed to sense his low spirits and offered a word of comfort, then added after a moment:

[And even if I were to arrive, I wouldn't be able to intervene in the world's dimensions. I'm sorry, host.]

Zhou Wenqing sighed and rubbed his temples.

"You really can't intervene? Then what are you doing in other dimensions? Isn't that also intervention?"

[You're wronged, host. I couldn't interfere over there either. It's just that you were under constant stress and on the verge of a breakdown, so 007 was with you. If you need help too...]

"No need," Zhou Wenqing refused decisively; he didn't want a chatterbox in his head.

"Fine, just let me wake up first, okay?"

Zhou Wenqing had always felt that the reason he was "conscious" and trapped here was because the system had done something.

Similar to barrier protection?

But this experience was just... terrible.

[Sorry, host, your being trapped is not due to the system, and the system cannot interfere. You are currently experiencing a nightmare.]

[Don't worry, host. The healer will wake you up once he arrives.]

nightmare?

Zhou Wenqing was taken aback.

So... it was a nightmare...?

[Host, if there's nothing else...] 007 cautiously probed.

Zhou Wenqing immediately recognized the familiar rhetoric.

"etc!"