At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

The moment that mechanical voice exploded in his mind, Su Mu froze.

He waited eighty years.

He thought his life would end like this, like any other ordinary old man, dying silently on his broken bed on some unknown night.

But then the system arrived.

He came when he was one hundred years old.

Su Mu's throat tightened, and something churned in his eyes.

He gripped his cane tightly, his knuckles white like withered tree branches, and his whole body trembled slightly.

I'm so excited!

The anger that had been bottled up for eighty years, endured for eighty years, and suffered for eighty years has finally found an outlet!

"System!" he roared inwardly, "Eighty years! Do you know how I've spent these eighty years?!"

The system did not respond.

A cold, impersonal interface floated before his eyes, golden lettering shimmering in the darkness, as if saying: I know, I know everything.

Su Mu took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently, which triggered a heart-wrenching cough.

He coughed for a while, bent over, before slowly calming down.

He looked up at his granddaughter beside him.

Su Qingxue was squatting on the ground picking up the jars and pots that had been overturned by the soldiers, her small figure bustling about in the dilapidated courtyard.

She picked up the scattered grains of rice one by one, blew them dry, and put them into a bowl.

The movements were slow and meticulous, as if they were doing something of paramount importance.

Su Mu's eyes immediately reddened.

This girl has been sensible since she was little.

She was only seven years old when her parents died, and she cried for seven days and seven nights.

From then on, she learned to cook, do laundry, chop wood, feed chickens, and keep the house tidy without ever complaining of being tired.

But she's only twelve years old.

While other children are still being pampered in their parents' arms, she is already supporting a family.

Su Mu's throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and his voice was hoarse: "Qingxue, be good, you go and tidy up the house first, Grandpa will think of a solution."

"Don't worry, as long as Grandpa is here, he will never let you be conscripted into the army."

Su Qingxue raised her head, her eyes still red, but she forced a smile: "Okay, Qingxue will listen to Grandpa."

She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, put down her basket, turned around and went into the inner room, where she began to put away the things that the soldiers had smashed one by one.

As Su Mu watched her retreating figure, his heart ached as if it were being squeezed.

He couldn't afford to lose Qingxue too.

Absolutely not.

He endured the aching pain that seemed to seep from his very bones, hunched over, and slowly shuffled to the kitchen door, where he slid down against the doorframe.

A hundred-year-old body is like an old house that has been neglected for many years; it may look fine on the outside, but it is riddled with holes inside.

Every time I bend over, lift my leg, or turn around, I can hear my bones creaking and cracking, as if they might fall apart at any moment.

Su Mu closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sank his consciousness into that dark space.

He didn't want to waste a single moment.

The system was his only hope of rescuing his granddaughter.

"System, please introduce your functions."

As soon as he finished speaking, a golden light unfolded before his eyes.

[Centenarian War God System: As long as the host continuously completes the tasks assigned by the system, they can obtain various rewards, such as lifespan, cultivation techniques, skills, weapons, and items.]

Su Mu squinted and read it word by word.

Is it really that simple?

The interface switched to his attribute panel.

[Host: Su Mu]

Age: 100

[Remaining lifespan: 3 days]

[Reverse aging: 0 years]

[Skills: None]

Item: None

Weapon: None

[Task: None]

hiss……

Su Mu gasped, feeling as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his chest.

three days?

Does he only have three days to live?

He raised his hand and looked at the back of his hand, which was as dry and withered as old tree bark.

His veins were bulging, and his skin was as thin as paper, covered with age spots.

This hand trembles even when holding a bowl, and it can't even hold a cane steadily.

"That's right, having lived to be a hundred, he's definitely an 'old thing nearing the end of his life.'"

Su Mu slowly lowered his hand, a bitter expression on his face.

He lived for a hundred years, saw off his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, and watched his acquaintances pass away one by one. He thought he had long since become indifferent to life and death.

But now that he truly saw the words "only three days left," he realized that he was afraid of dying.

It's not the fear of death itself.

But what I fear is what will happen to Qingxue after I die?

That girl is only twelve years old. She has lost her parents and her grandfather. How will she live on her own?

Just then, the system interface switched again, and a golden taskbar appeared.

[Main Quest: Please enlist in the army within two days to receive the following rewards: 3 years of reverse aging, 30 days of lifespan, and max-level Five Tigers Severing Gate Saber Technique!]

join the army?

Su Mu's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He had originally planned to join the army in place of his granddaughter.

The problem is, who wants this old man?

A 100-year-old man, panting when he walks and trembling when he holds a bowl, is going to join the army?

What are we going there for? To be live targets for the enemy? Or to become a burden to the army?

Those recruiters aren't blind, how could they possibly be interested in him?

Su Mu frowned deeply, his wrinkles deepening.

He instinctively gripped his cane, his knuckles turning white, and another bout of coughing rose in his throat.

Just as he was frowning in worry, the system's voice came again.

[Ding! New player gift pack has been sent. Please check your account!]

The sound was like a thunderclap, shattering the gloom in his heart.

A glint of light suddenly flashed in Su Mu's cloudy old eyes.

He impatiently shouted in his mind, "Claim it!"

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have successfully claimed your newbie gift pack!]

[You have received the following rewards: one Brain Rejuvenation Pill and one Power Pill.]

[Brain Rejuvenation Pill: After taking this pill, the host's brain function can be restored to the state of a 20-year-old; one pill can maintain this state for 60 days!]

[Power Pill: After taking this pill, the host will have the strength to lift 2,000 jin (1,000 kg) with one hand. One pill can maintain this state for 60 days!]

Su Mu stared at those two lines of text for a long time.

A twenty-year-old's mind.

Two thousand pounds of strength.

Even if it's only thirty days, that's enough.

He slowly opened his eyes and returned to the dilapidated kitchen door.

Looking down, he saw two round pills lying quietly in his withered palm.

One is as white as jade, the other as red as fire.

This centenarian's hands trembled when he held a bowl, when he wrote, and even when he touched his granddaughter's head.

But at this moment, when he put those two pills into his mouth, his hand was surprisingly steady.

The pills melt in your mouth.

Like two warm springs, they slid down my throat and then transformed into a warm current flowing into my body.

That warm current surged forth from my internal organs like a flood bursting its banks, instantly washing over every meridian and every bone in my body.

Su Mu shuddered and straightened his back abruptly.

He couldn't remember the last time he had straightened his back.

Five years ago? Ten years ago? Or twenty years ago?

It's been so long, so long that he's almost forgotten what it feels like to "stand up straight."

The warm current rushed from my chest to my brain, like a lightning bolt cleaving through the fog.

In an instant, the buzzing in his ears disappeared, the hazy vision cleared, and even the tangled mess in his mind that had been stirred up for decades was washed away clean.

He could hear the sound of ants crawling across the fallen leaves in the yard.

You can see the texture of every crack in the wall.

I can recall every book I read and every word I wrote fifty years ago.

Those memories, buried by time, surge back like a tide, clear, vivid, and unmistakable.

Su Mu held his head in disbelief, his withered fingers digging into his white hair, his fingertips trembling.

"This...this is..."

His voice was no longer as hoarse as a broken bellows; although it was still an old man's voice, it had become clearer.

A twenty-year-old's brain.

It really has the brain of a twenty-year-old!

The feeling was like walking in a thick fog for eighty years, and suddenly someone cleared the fog, allowing him to see the world clearly again.

Su Mu stood up shakily, leaning on the door frame.

He straightened his hunched body little by little, his withered hands gripping the door frame, his knuckles turning white.

He strode towards the stone table in the courtyard.

That stone table must weigh at least a hundred pounds.

Normally, he struggles to move even an inch. Once, he tried to move it to the wall to use as a stool, but he almost broke his back and had to stay in bed for half a month.

At that moment, he stretched out his withered, twig-like hand and grasped the edge of the stone table.

The stone table was cold and rough, but his hands were as steady as iron clamps.

With a gentle push, the stone table lifted off the ground.

Su Mu was stunned.

He looked down at his withered hand, watching it steadily lift the hundred-pound stone table as if it were a ball of cotton.

The hand is still the same hand.

His veins were bulging, his skin was as thin as paper, and he was covered with a dense array of age spots.

But the power within is no longer the power of a centenarian.

"That's...that's amazing..."

Su Mu's voice was trembling.

He gently placed the stone table back in its original position, his movements as steady as if he were placing a fragile piece of porcelain.

Then he lowered his head, looked at his withered hands, and slowly clenched his fists.

It's been a hundred years.

He raised his head, looked at the gray sky, and slowly a smile appeared on his lips.

"The feeling of youth," he murmured to himself, his voice hoarse yet radiant, "is wonderful."

Sunlight filtered through the clouds, falling on his full head of white hair, on the deep lines of his face, and on his hunched but gradually straightening back.

He lived a very pathetic life for the past hundred years.

He took the imperial examinations for twenty years and only managed to pass the lowest level, becoming a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations).

After ten years in business, he was robbed clean by bandits.

He fled to the northern border and watched his son and daughter-in-law die at the hands of the northern barbarians.

He accepted his fate for the rest of his life.

Now, he doesn't want to admit it anymore.

So what if you're a hundred years old?

With a system, even a hundred-year-old can live a different life.

"Qingxue." Su Mu turned around, his voice steady, "You stay at home, Grandpa is going out for a bit."

From the inner room came Su Qingxue's crisp reply: "Okay, Grandpa, please be careful."

Su Mu lowered his head, picked up his cane, hunched over, and strode towards the courtyard gate.

The steps were slow, each step feeling like walking on cotton.

His back was still bent, his legs were still weak, and he walked unsteadily, like a paper doll that could be blown over by the wind at any moment.

But his eyes were different.

There was fire burning in those old eyes that had been cloudy for eighty years.

Outside the courtyard gate, the autumn wind blew, swirling up the fallen leaves all over the ground.

Su Mu stepped into the wind, his white hair disheveled and his robes fluttering.

He walked step by step toward the village entrance!