Chapter 148: The System’s Purpose Revealed

[Detected that a survivor has obtained "Rare Filthy Blood", re-acquiring "Rare Filthy Blood" sample...]
[Attempting to send a reminder...]
[Attempt failed, but not entirely failed...]

"The message went out, but it was wiped out again..."

Colin recalled the situation back then, feeling lingering fear to this day. At that time, he genuinely thought he was about to suffer a sudden cardiac death.

Not just him, but probably everyone could never forget that day.

That trace of terrifying aura from a higher plane, even when spread evenly across more than a billion or a couple of billion people, still made one feel as if they were having a myocardial infarction.

It was also on that day that they first came into contact with the "Night".

However, the subsequent information remained in a loading state, seemingly unable to be sent out.

"Basically, everything that followed was content about confronting the 'Night', which indeed wasn't suitable to be sent out anymore..."

Colin pondered. The "System" had once attempted to communicate with the "Night", but the attempt failed.

The reason for the failure was temporarily unknown, and the specifics of their communication were also unknown. For safety reasons, the "System" had not reported it...

Colin had no objections to this comparison. Through several encounters, he had gained a tiny bit of understanding regarding the traits of those entities.

The more one understood them, the easier it was to be perceived by them. Then, a trance-like, inadvertent peek was enough to drive an ordinary person from sanity into madness.

Nowadays, facing such entities whose mere comprehension could trigger a disaster, he didn't even have the qualification to face them directly.

Without the corresponding strength, all Colin could do was suppress his excessive curiosity.

Do not seek to know things you ought not to know.

Therefore, curious as Colin was, he didn't try too hard to dig into the related information.

[...Event concluded. Affected by this event, the System damage rate has reached ninety-six point nine percent...]
[Adjustments to existing functions are imminent...]
[Missions will soon be issued for survivors to recover the lost parchment rolls...]

"It directly skips to after the Night, and the computing power left to maintain us is only 0.1. No wonder even functions like chat have to be provided on a time-limited basis..."

Colin understood the reason.

Judging by this, the parchment rolls themselves carried some "computing power," and accumulating them was also a very important matter.

However, at this moment, a new message from the System stunned Colin.

[Detected that the impact of the "Unknown" is about to fade; the System will enter a temporary dormancy state...]

"Dormancy state? Does that... mean another round of 'System reinstall' is about to begin?"

Colin couldn't help muttering aloud, his inner thoughts manifesting within his spiritual world.

Were people like them going to be abandoned?

Using Russell as a benchmark, the emergence of a new system would completely sever ties with the previous generation, after which they would no longer be able to reconnect to the "System."

There would be version differences between systems, thereby preventing the pollution from the previous generation from spreading to the current one.

"According to the previous content, 'Descendants' are survivors polluted by certain unknown entities. They can use the connection to the system to reversibly pollute the system from the inside. Before the 'Sanction' function was snatched away, the 'System' still had ways to deal with them..."

"But after the 'Sanction' function was lost, the only way the System could face them was to be forced into another reset and a complete severance..."

Colin realized that every reorganization of the System was a decision made out of absolute necessity.

He didn't know what the situation was like before, but the main reason for the previous generation should have been the "Descendants."

This sort of thing didn't seem to exist in their current generation...

Therefore, the dormancy should just be a simple dormancy without any reorganization...

"By the way, the System's self-rescue behavior also shows that we haven't been abandoned..."

Thinking of this, Colin let out a sigh of relief. Once abandoned by the system, a large number of system functions would fail...

Just thinking about it made his scalp tingle...

However, the next second, his heart skipped a beat...

[Detected the appearance of "Descendants" among the current batch of dropped participants...]

This...

Colin was slightly shocked, but didn't find it too unexpected. He would have found it impossible if there weren't a few traitors among a billion people...

Only... if they lost system communication, trading, and other functions, everything would become exceptionally troublesome.

The "System" no longer had the capacity to deal with the "Descendants"...

It might have the ability, but the price to be paid was disproportionate, making it as good as nonexistent...

[Evaluating the number of "Descendants"... Estimated quantity is less than one in ten thousand, within a tolerable range...]

Seeing this, Colin let out a sigh of relief, his mood riding a roller coaster: "I thought you were going to reorganize again, but it's fine now; it should still be salvageable..."

Worthless as this generation's system was, they couldn't do without it once it was truly gone...

Aside from basic functions like the infinite backpack, features such as "Mission Function," "Infinite-Distance Social Function," and "Infinite-Distance Trading Function" were simply too important.

Having said that...

The "Descendants" couldn't be resolved by the System, but could he resolve them? Physically resolve them.

The next second...

[The System will attempt to let survivors resolve the "Descendants" on their own...]

Seeing this message, Colin's expression suddenly turned peculiar. He felt that this "System" fellow had laid the groundwork for so long... and was finally stating its true purpose.

Sure enough, after the next message "hesitated" for a while, Colin saw: [Selecting personnel... Detected that ID 654321 possesses the ability to purge the "Descendants"...]
[Exclusive mission "Purger" is about to be issued: will gain special perception towards "Pollution"...]
[Related mission has been issued to "Parchment — Mission List".]
[This mission can be declined...]

Colin didn't rush to decline or accept, but activated his hint to observe the problem.

[Hint: You realize that the "Descendants" may not possess overly immense direct power, but they are like a plague, highly contagious...]
[Taking "Purification" measures can effectively prevent the spread of pollution among you.]

"Viewed this way, it is indeed more appropriate for me to handle this matter..."

Colin thought for a moment. He still wasn't clear what his body would be like after getting through the most agonizing state of "Wither."

But one thing was certain...

He had stepped onto the path of "Light" and could be called an "Extraordinary"...

He just didn't know how much power he would be able to retain by then...

"Actually, even without you telling me, I'm already prepared to face these 'Descendants'. It's just that after understanding things more deeply, it's become even more urgent now..."