The Wicked System: Path of the Devourer Chapter 11 Morning Market and Old Debts

The shuttle bus driver loudly grumbled, "Then hurry up and get off the bus! I need to go eat my breakfast."

Zhang Wenbin hastily grabbed his backpack and scrambled off the bus. The moment his feet hit the pavement, he saw that the town's morning market was incredibly bustling and noisy. The demure, beautiful widow Qin Lan was standing elegantly a short distance away, appearing to be conversing with several local villagers she recognized.

Knowing full well how incredibly thin-skinned and modest she was, Zhang Wenbin absolutely didn't dare approach. He stood off to the side, quietly smoking a cigarette. Once Qin Lan finally separated from the group and began walking west with her head bowed, Zhang Wenbin promptly crushed the cigarette butt beneath his shoe and shadowed her.

The morning market was incredibly lively. Qin Lan eventually selected a small noodle stall and sat down. Zhang Wenbin immediately slid into the seat directly beside her, asking softly, "Sister-in-law, where exactly are you living right now?"

Qin Lan's expression slightly darkened. She offered a remarkably bitter smile. "I rented a single room in someone else's house for me and my daughter. She's currently attending school here in town and has exams coming up very soon. I absolutely refuse to let our family's tragedy affect her studies. Initially, I had planned on moving back in with my maiden family, but... there simply wasn't any room left for us in their house."

The profound bitterness lacing her words was utterly impossible to hide. Hearing this caused a fierce ache in Zhang Wenbin's heart. Living with her child in a single rented room inside a stranger's house was incredibly inconvenient. Judging by the sound of things, practically nothing could actually be done in such an environment.

"Wait for me for a minute."

There was an ATM situated relatively close by. After punching in his PIN, Zhang Wenbin couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself. His total account balance was a truly pathetic 3,000 RMB—every last cent of which he had painstakingly saved over an incredibly long time. After only a second's hesitation, he decisively initiated a full cash withdrawal.

Returning to the humble noodle stall, Zhang Wenbin forcefully grabbed her hand and shoved the thick wad of cash directly into her palm. "You're at a point in your life where you desperately need money. Take this for now. Wait until I return from the city... I'll figure out a proper way to fully settle the two of you."

Staring at the massive stack of cash shoved into her hands, Qin Lan's expression violently changed. Biting her silver teeth, she immediately flared up in genuine anger. "Y-You... exactly what kind of loose woman do you think I am?!"

Zhang Wenbin instantly realized his colossal blunder and hastily attempted to backpedal. "Sister-in-law, please don't misunderstand! I absolutely don't mean anything like that. I genuinely just don't want you to have to suffer so much."

Besides, it's only 3,000 RMB. If he were to visit the most disgustingly extravagant, high-end nightclub in the city and hire an elite prostitute for the entire night, aggressively fucking her brains out until dawn wouldn't cost anywhere near this much. Even demanding a high-end blowjob in Dubai probably wouldn't cost three grand!

Of course, these were merely his internal, highly vulgar grumblings. He absolutely didn't dare utter a single syllable vertically.

Qin Lan's furious expression softened significantly. She adamantly attempted to shove the money back, but Zhang Wenbin aggressively forced it deep into her pocket. He plastered on his trademark, shameless grin. "Sister-in-law, reconsider who we are to each other! Stop being so incredibly petty and arguing with me over this. It's really not that much money. As long as you don't look down on it, I'll be incredibly happy."

"T-This... this is an incredibly large amount of money!" Qin Lan was genuinely utterly strapped for cash. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to adamantly refuse. She merely lowered her head, murmuring tightly, "Once I manage to find a stable job, I will save up every penny and pay you back."

"We are essentially one family, there is absolutely no need to speak like strangers. Since I already consider you my woman, it's my absolute duty to support you. There's no rush to find work; prioritize spending more time keeping your daughter company."

His incredibly masculine words were dripping with intense responsibility. To a newly-made widow who had abruptly lost her sole pillar of support, it sent an incredibly moving, profound wave of warmth straight to her highly vulnerable heart. This profoundly beautiful, emotionally resonant moment would have been absolutely perfect... if Zhang Wenbin's hand hadn't chosen that exact moment to slide under the table and brazenly begin groping her thigh.

Just as the stall owner approached carrying two steaming bowls of noodles, Qin Lan blushed a furious red. She violently slapped Zhang Wenbin's roving hand away and whispered furiously, "You shameless bastard! Who exactly is 'your woman'?! My husband hasn't even been properly dead for half a year, and I'm still strictly observing my mourning period!"

"Hehe, yes, yes, yes! Everything you say makes perfect sense. Eat the noodles. Hurry up and eat the noodles."

The bowls were placed heavily on the table. They were incredibly simple vegetarian noodles with a few sparse green leaves. Yet, Zhang Wenbin devoured his bowl with wildly exaggerated, incredibly loud slurps of absolute appreciation. Whether it was purely the result of having stayed awake the entire previous night or not, in this exact moment, the cheap noodles genuinely tasted like an unparalleled, peerless earthly delicacy.

Qin Lan was still using a heavily outdated, incredibly battered elderly cell phone. After securely exchanging phone numbers, she departed first. Just before walking away entirely, she glanced back at him several times over her shoulder. Her expression was a complex mixture of unmistakable reluctance, heavily intertwined with a deep, paralyzing confusion as to exactly what she was supposed to do next.

Zhang Wenbin entirely lacked the luxury of time to properly address her delicate, sentimental melancholy. After quickly polishing off his food, he immediately rushed to catch a long-distance coach headed straight back to the city. The moment he boarded the hour-long ride, he deliberately selected an highly isolated seat, sat down, and promptly closed his eyes.

His newly remolded body remained exceptionally robust. The moment he closed his eyes, the highly detailed, computer-screen-like interface instantly materialized within his mind's eye. The only stark difference was that the Attribute Points he had painstakingly earned from completing his inaugural task had completely vanished.

Furthermore, the entire 《Bone-Displacing and Sinew-Splitting Hand》 martial arts manual had utterly disappeared! He couldn't even recall a single shred of its contents within his memory. It seemed his Godfather System had not been exaggerating in the absolute slightest; it had completely, utterly obliterated the original System that had viewed him as a disposable lab rat, erasing its rewards out of existence.

Wait a minute...

"Son..."

The voice distinctly echoed from deep within his brain, yet simultaneously sounded as though it were being projected directly from the ring currently worn on his hand.

Wait, the ring?! Hadn't the ring physically melted entirely into his flesh and disappeared?!

Zhang Wenbin immediately raised his hand to inspect it. Defying all logic, the incredibly ancient, bone-textured ring was situated perfectly on his finger once more. Just as he was intensely struggling to comprehend the situation, the Godfather System's voice echoed in his mind again. "Your dear old dad is firmly reporting in! I successfully completely obliterated that absolutely worthless System. However, actively suppressing the vicious, evil soul of the Ancient Heavenly Demon requires an incredibly horrific amount of my power. My consciousness absolutely cannot constantly remain wide awake."

Hearing this, Zhang Wenbin frantically formulated an urgent response. "Are you serious, Godfather?! What exactly am I supposed to do now?! Your precious son currently lacks a stable residence or a single tile over his head! I'm so incredibly broke I'm about to start violently drinking the northwest wind for sustenance!"

He wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. When his parents—who had been rural migrant workers toiling in the city—tragically passed away, they had left him absolutely zero physical assets. Zhang Wenbin currently rented the absolute most dilapidated, rundown shanty deep within the city's slums, completely devoid of any basic amenities, which still managed to cost him a steep 400 RMB a month.

Having already aggressively gifted his entire life savings to Qin Lan, he currently possessed a grand total of exactly 1,300 RMB to his name. And 1,000 RMB of that sum was strictly the meager compensation money he had received for the demolition of the small wild temple.

"My son shall naturally not be permitted to suffer..."

Hearing his distress, the Godfather System practically exploded with intense paternal love. Its voice sounded as though it were tightly clenching its teeth. "Although your father is undeniably a marginalized tiger who has descended to the flatlands, I must constantly direct my full might towards violently suppressing the Great Demon to ensure you are not forcefully possessed by it! Furthermore, I am currently heavily bound by the internal rules governing the System. I am heavily shackled, yet I absolutely dare not break my own chains."

"Were it not for this incredibly precarious situation, with my heaven-defying capabilities and divine powers that explicitly transcend the binding laws of the Six Paths of Reincarnation... forget mere mortal riches! If my son wished to violently seize the imperial throne and conquer the entire mortal realm, it would be as effortless as flipping my hand!"

Zhang Wenbin was incredibly stunned by this revelation. Suddenly, his vision went entirely black as a highly distinct, terrifyingly clear image violently materialized in his mind.

The bizarre, gargantuan skull was currently tightly bound by an innumerable number of heavy, glowing chains. The energy signature radiating from those chains felt intensely familiar—it was the exact signature of the previous, now supposedly dead System. Furthermore, firmly clamped between the skull’s massive jaws was a violently thrashing, highly menacing creature that superficially resembled a monstrous snake, yet was clearly something else entirely.

The creature's physical power appeared to be continuously, exponentially increasing. It constantly violently thrashed and emitted deafening, terrifying roars. Even though this horrifying image was a minuscule, fleeting flash, Zhang Wenbin instantly, fully comprehended that his Godfather—composed entirely of thousands of violently resentful souls—was currently utilizing every single ounce of its strength to desperately protect his life.

His eye sockets instantly grew slightly damp. Zhang Wenbin aggressively gritted his teeth, his hand instinctively reaching to try and physically pry the ring off his finger. He demanded urgently, "Godfather! Is there absolutely any way I can help you?! If I completely renounce this grand fortune and strip the ring off... will that successfully allow you to finally return to the Six Paths of Reincarnation?"

"Hahaha! Your father is a literal amalgamation composed entirely of tens of thousands of deeply evil souls and malefic resentments! Yet, to discover I possess a son with such an incredibly kind heart, who actually understands the profound value of filial piety... this is truly an unparalleled, heaven-defying fortune!"

"Rest entirely at ease, my child. Your father has absolutely zero desire to participate in the pathetic Six Paths of Reincarnation. We fear absolutely no karmic retribution! Roving, intensely resentful souls whose malice pierces the very heavens were fundamentally incapable of ascending to Nirvana to become immortals or Buddhas to begin with! Furthermore, the Underworld refuses to accept us. Among this collective of ten thousand vicious, evil souls... there are quite a few terrifyingly ruthless, lethal heavyweights that even the Underworld's grim reapers and the Heavenly Court's celestial masters absolutely wouldn't dare intentionally provoke!"

Hearing this, Zhang Wenbin felt profound sorrow. He choked out, "Godfather... but I absolutely do not want you to suffer like this. What exactly can I do?!"

"To think... my hands are stained with rivers of blood from indiscriminate slaughter, yet I somehow managed to accrue the divine fortune of receiving such an incredible son..."

"To be cursed to absolutely never achieve reincarnation for all eternity... yet to successfully experience the profound warmth of human filial piety... I incredibly adore this child."

"Ah, my dear son... your father is profoundly gratified. Had I possessed descendants in my past life... why the hell would I have ever aggressively cultivated to the point of catastrophic Qi Deviation and frantically begun indiscriminately massacring the mortal realm?"

The gargantuan skull violently flickered. A massive, deafening crescendo of thousands of distinctly different voices abruptly overlapped in harmony. Whether it was merely an illusion or reality, in that fraction of a second, Zhang Wenbin distinctly hallucinated a massive, sprawling crowd of individuals dressed in wildly varied, ancient attire, all congregating tightly together and laughing uproariously in profound approval.

The skull instantly re-stabilized. It chuckled warmly, "For my son to possess such deep filial piety is more than sufficient. Your father will naturally never force you to witness the horrific suffering of the mortal realm."

"If you truly wish to assist your father, there relies only on one singular path available! It is entirely possible to aid your father in completely suppressing and ultimately fully devouring the Ancient Heavenly Demon. However, the exact and only method requires explicitly activating the brand new System that your father has directly mutated into..."

"Absolutely no problem!" Zhang Wenbin decisively agreed without a microsecond of actual hesitation.

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