The System's Proxy Beatdown Diary - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When I was seven years old, a being called the “System” took up residence in my mind.

[Are you Shen Xingyi?]

Little as I was, I didn’t understand why a voice had appeared beside me when there was clearly no one there.

I didn’t know how to talk to it. After mumbling for a long time, I barely managed to squeeze out a single “I’m sorry,” which drifted through the empty, dark room.

[It’s all right.]

Its voice was calm, polite and distant, yet it patiently taught me how to speak with it.

My adoptive parents often took their anger out on me. It taught me how to protect my head when I was being beaten, and how to treat my own wounds afterward.

The worst time was when my adoptive father and adoptive mother started fighting each other. They fought until they lost their minds, and he hacked her to death with a knife.

My adoptive father raised his bloodshot eyes and saw me standing in the doorway.

The stench of alcohol and blood mingled in the room. My adoptive mother’s eyes were cloudy and rolled white, staring even in death.

“Come here.”

[Go upstairs!]

The two voices rang out at the same time. Without hesitation, I followed the System’s instructions and ran up to the third floor.

The front door of the little earthen building had been locked tight by my adoptive father in advance-he had wanted to do this for a long time.

Liquor had lent courage to a coward, letting him use drunkenness as an excuse to hack my adoptive mother to death.

My adoptive father’s staggering footsteps and furious curses followed right behind me.

“You damned brat, get back here!”

I opened the window.

[If you trust me,] the System said calmly, [close your eyes and jump.]

I took a deep breath.

Then I jumped.

The moment I closed my eyes, my body gradually became light and weightless. I landed safely on the ground.

Behind me came a loud thud.

My adoptive father’s bulky body broke apart like a crumbling hill, black-red blood pooling beneath him.

Chapter 2

I returned to the orphanage.

Everyone looked at me as if I were a freak.

Her adoptive parents died after taking her home-

Why was she the only one who survived-

Could she be the real murderer-

“Am I a murderer?”

My adoptive father had jumped after me because he was chasing me.

I didn’t die. He did.

[The police have finished their investigation. It has nothing to do with you. He committed suicide.]

I nodded.

No one was willing to talk to me, but I didn’t feel lonely. I had the System with me.

Squatting in a corner and spacing out became my daily routine, which only seemed to confirm the label of “freak” even more.

“Ants walk so slowly.”

The System said flatly, [If ants walked as fast as you, they’d be sent to a laboratory.]

“I don’t want to get up.”

[You can stay in bed for five more minutes.]

“Will you always talk to me?”

[I require sleep mode.]

All right, then. I pursed my lips.

With a splash, a basin of hot water was poured into the anthill.

A boy built like a young calf swung the empty basin in front of me and giggled.

“Hey, little freak. Isn’t it boring sitting here every day?”

[Talk back to him.]

I said, one word at a time, “I am not a freak.”

“You got your own mom and dad killed, and you still say you’re not a freak? The police sent you here. You’re a murderer!”

He made faces at me, openly releasing his malice without the slightest attempt to hide it.

People always say children are the most innocent and pure. But don’t forget: the evil of children is also unmasked, pure evil. Naive cruelty chills you to the bone all the more.

The System said, [Close your eyes.]

I obediently did as I was told. When I closed my eyes, my body became light and weightless again.

At the same time, my eyes opened once more. In their place was a pair of pale irises, sharp and cold, looking down from above.

The System said, “Who are you calling a murderer?”

Seeing the sudden change in my aura, the boy’s legs somehow began to tremble, though his mouth remained stubborn. “So what if I called you a murderer? That’s what you are!”

Amid the crackle of static, the System snatched the empty basin, leaped up, and brought it down on his head with a swift, precise, ruthless clang.

The boy’s gaze instantly cleared.

When the System lifted the basin as if to hit him again, he scrambled away, bawling.

I opened my eyes, tears streaming down uncontrollably as I clutched tightly at the director’s sleeve.

The director crouched down, ignoring the boy who had rushed to complain first.

“Xingyi is so frail a gust of wind could knock her over. How could she possibly hit you with a basin? Xingyi, you tell me. Did you hit him?”

I shook my head fearfully.

“He said I was a murderer…”

The director’s face grew darker and darker.

The boy was terrified. “She’s lying!”

The director snapped, “Shut up!”

The System hid its achievements and fame.

After that, every time the boy tried to cause trouble for me, those pale irises would come online.

Over time, he no longer dared to provoke me.

I continued to squat in my little corner and talk to the System.

“Will you always protect me?”

[Yes.]

“What should I call you?”

[I am only your System.]

I was stubborn. I believed the System ought to have a name too.

The System couldn’t win against me. It had never imagined I would be so obstinate about wanting to know its name.

[…Code 738.]