Introducing an Unwanted System

Standing in the middle of a dark room barely illuminated by the faint blue glow of a system panel like that of a video game's, a young man gazed blankly at the blue screen floating in mid-air before him in silence. He could have looked aggressively handsome if not for the fluffy mop of curls on his head and customary small smile that gentled his whole countenance into something less fierce. As it was, his usual smile had already stiffened at the sudden change in space from his sofa to what looked like a darkened version of a modern waiting room for a VR game complete with a system panel that was currently loading.

Finally the loading process seemed to show some progress and new words appeared on the screen making the vaguely stunned young man look closely at the panel to see what he had gotten himself into.

[ Loading…

Welcome Tasker Liu Rong to the Task Fulfillment System.

Completed Tasks - 0/??? ]

Liu Rong couldn't help but sigh at the information presented on the panel in front of him. He might have enjoyed reading about transmigration, unlimited flow, rebirth, and such in the plethora of novels he went through on a regular basis, but he didn't actually want to go through one. Liu Rong preferred sitting on his sofa cosying up with the variety of small pillows decorating it and reading a new book. Having to go through the annoying misunderstandings common for low EQ protagonists as well as the dangerous activities required whenever a system appeared was much too troublesome.

The initial information was terrible enough with the question marks glaring at him from the panel screen. The / mark denoted that there were usually a set amount of tasks required to be fulfilled, yet somehow his total number of tasks was replaced with what any genre-savvy reader would know to be question marks of foreshadowing. There was no way that he did not have some sort of important background or backstory just by looking at the appearance of those question marks. Hopefully, Liu Rong would soon be able to talk to other taskers and see if maybe this was all a huge misunderstanding and the system panel just wasn't kind enough to show the total rather than him having been right about the imminent foreshadowing.

Calming down at this optimistic thought, Liu Rong sighed one last time before requesting more information from the system panel, "How do I access the task information?"

Immediately, new information appeared on the panel detailing the requested information.

[ First Task Initiated: Solve the resentful ghost at Tian Senior Middle School within ten days.

Task Information: The ghost of the school flower has been haunting Tian Senior Middle School for the past three years. The ghost's classmates are now in their final year and college examinations are coming up soon. The tasker must solve the mystery behind the ghost's death and ensure the ghost moves on before the end of college examinations.

Tasker's Role: The tasker will take on the character of a first year student. Follow the school regulations.

Task Regulations: The tasker cannot inform anyone of the task with the exception of other taskers. Taskers can form teams at their discretion. No rewards will be given for task completion. The system panel can be used to confirm the task information, the time left for the task and task progress only. There are no other functions. Please be cautious about the usage of violence during tasks. Replacing one resentful ghost with another will result in the task being voided and not counted in the number of completed tasks.

…

Task information has been delivered to the tasker. The task will now initialize. ]

Before Liu Rong even had the chance to look more closely at the task information to analyze it after his first quick read through, the damned system panel initialized the task without even checking to see if he had any more questions. His surroundings blurred around him, and Liu Rong blacked out to that sickening dizzying sensation.

"Classmate Liu Rong, what is the answer?" a sharp female voice pierced through the fainted Liu Rong's head like an alarm.

"Wha - ?" he started to say, jumping up from his position slumped over a desk towards the back of a large classroom. Quickly gaining his bearings, Liu Rong asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch the question. What was the question again?"

Cut off giggles and the murmuring voices of the students in the class filled the air as the female teacher at the front of the class glared at Liu Rong and said, "You can't even wipe that smile off your face when it's clear you were sleeping through class. You didn't even hear the question? Go stand in the hallway until class ends."

Wondering if the character he was acting as was usually a bad student or if the teacher was just particularly strict, Liu Rong quickly tidied his desk and headed out of the class with a polite, "Yes, teacher," to show his sincerity.

Unfortunately, this sincerity failed to reach the teacher and the look she sent him became even more poisonous and the stifled laughter and speech of his classmates became louder or maybe just more poorly restrained. But this low EQ classmate had no cognizance of their reactions and happily stood out in the corridor analyzing the situation he found himself in.

I don't stand out which means I must look younger, Liu Rong pondered looking around for a reflective surface. He decided to make due with the windows lining the hallway that looked into the classrooms. Staring at himself in the vague reflection, he saw that he had apparently regressed in age to 15 years old or so. This matched the identity of a first year student given to him by the system.

As a thought popped into his head, Liu Rong patted himself down looking for his student ID. Feeling a protrusion in his pants pocket, he pulled the item out and looked at it to see a student handbook with the school regulations and a map of the school. Digging further in his pockets to find any other nice surprises, Liu Rong found the student ID he was looking for.

Humming in thought, Liu Rong found that the ID showed he was a male first year student of the same name in the science section's second class. This was a little unfavorable considering his predilection for literature subjects and the years it had been since he had left school for the workforce. It seemed the system did not say anything about staying in character which fit the situation of only having access to basic information on his character. But it also seemed that he could only talk about the task, and presumably any information related to the system, with other taskers.

Liu Rong smiled in delight at the thought of soon being able to meet other taskers to exchange information with. Often in novels, those with some experience were mixed in with the beginners to act as either mentors or cannon fodder. Either would work for him at this point.

It also didn't seem like it was a transmigration background with the focus being on tasks rather than on world hopping, and he was able to return to the real world after finishing the task for a break. Since that was the case, it must be an unlimited flow type of system. Unfortunately for him, it was not one of the easier types of unlimited flow he had read about where there was a system answering all of his questions. The system had even said that the panel would only provide the ask information.

There wasn't even a store to buy props to assist in his tasks. Hopefully, props existed somewhere within this setting to help with the task or the tasks were such as they didn't require any props.

The most curious point was that there was a set number of tasks for him to do. Usually in novels, the taskers had to explore how to get out of the unlimited flow setting, but here the system panel clearly showed how many tasks he had to do. There were other taskers on this campus, so he would have to ask around to see about their required numbers of tasks before he could further explore the reason behind the foreshadowing question marks.

The resentful ghost was the school flower who must have been a first year when she died if her classmates were going to be taking college examinations soon and she had been dead for three years. To be a school flower as a first year student, what kind of beauty was this classmate? Or would ghost be a more appropriate term now?

Ignoring that, the real question was how was he supposed to get a ghost to move on? Solving the mystery behind her death, sure. But getting a ghost to move on? Did solving the mystery automatically assist ghosts in going towards the light? Or was it just one step in the process? Even worse, was it totally unrelated?

If the mystery involved too much emotional drama, Liu Rong would end up being the pig-like teammate dragging the rest of the taskers down. Ah, that brought up the question of if taskers had to be actively cooperating to succeed in a task or if a single tasker succeeded, did that mean that tasker would complete the task by him or herself? That might make his first priority gathering information from other taskers or forming cooperative relationships… How truly unfortunate.

Ah, being genre-savvy apparently wasn't everything.

And all of these questions and issues didn't even take into account the big question of "using violence" and "replacing one resentful ghost with another" basically giving a tasker a negative review making the task completion invalid. It's not like violence was Liu Rong's first reaction or anything, but it was all his sister's fault that he reflexively attacked in reaction to being threatened or attacked.

He would have to wait and explore to see the exact situation. The first thing he should do now is find out who the other taskers are.

Preparing to explore the campus, Liu Rong reached out one of his little feet before hearing the bell chime to signal the end of class. That's right, wasn't he being punished by that teacher from before right now? He quickly retracted that foot and stood straight trying his best to act like the good little student he had been all those years ago when he was really 15 and not a 26 year old in a teenage body.

However, this attempt at pretending to be a good student was doomed to failure before it even really started.

As the last of the chimes ended, the loudspeaker came on and a young woman's voice announced, "All Taskers please gather in the first study room in the library. I repeat, all Taskers please gather in the first study room in the library. Only current Tasker members are expected, new members to the club will have to apply at a later time." The woman finished speaking and the intercom silenced with a dull click.

Liu Rong quickly grabbed the student handbook to see where the library was in relation to his current position and found it to be in the next building over. He glanced over his shoulder to see the female teacher who had asked him to stand in the hall was busy answering another student's question and decided to hurry to the library before she came to find him. Playing good student could wait. He was more interested in the Tasker meeting.

It seemed that either the Tasker that gave the information over the loudspeaker had experience with Tasks or was quick on her feet. Arranging a meeting like this as soon as possible allowed for an information exchange among Taskers.

Liu Rong started walking quickly at a pace just under a jog. Running in the hallways would likely get him stopped by a teacher or the disciplinary committee. Soon, he found the stairs leading down to the first floor and headed down before going out of a side door leading towards the library. After leaving the cooler building, the muggy heat of early summer hit him. Liu Rong quickened his pace across a lightly colored tile path to enter the building labeled "Library".

Once he entered, he couldn't help but stop for a second to smell the wonderful aroma of ink and paper that he so loved. But he had an important item on his itinerary and was unable to fully enjoy the grandeur of a library. Liu Rong shook his head and searched for the study rooms.

Just then, a fellow student entered the library behind him. This student was lanky like he had just had a growth spurt with the pinched look of someone who had grown too much in too little time. Before he had time to further observe the newcomer, the student asked, "Do you happen to know where the first study room is, classmate?"

Liu Rong immediately turned to fully face this student and said, "Ah, no. I'm currently looking as well for the Tasker meeting." Seeing a look of surprise on his audience's face, Liu Rong continued politely, "I'm Liu Rong. Might I ask this classmate's name?"

"My name is Gao Yiqin. You're a tasker too?" Gao Yiqin asked, a little surprised.

"Yes, is there any problem with that?" Liu Rong replied, wondering at the surprised tone of Gao Yiqin.

Looking a little embarrassed, Gao Yiqin hesitantly said, "Being sent out to the hall like that after sleeping, I just figured a Tasker wouldn't dare. But it's my first Task, so I could be wrong."

Liu Rong just continued gazing calmly at Gao Yiqin. If this was really his first task as well, then he might as well try for some information potentially sensitive right here and now. The other was being so careful not to offend that he might get more information than in the meeting. "I see, your first Task. How many do you have to complete?"

Gao Yiqin looked relieved at the lack of negative response from Liu Rong and answered, "Thirty tasks," easily enough.

Liu Rong nodded his head in thought. He then glanced around once more looking for the study rooms. Around the edges of a nearby bookshelf, he caught sight of the number one and started moving towards it without a word.

Behind him, Gao Yiqin was confused at the quick turnabout of this classmate but followed along at his heels after catching sight of his goal.

The two Taskers playing students circled around the bookcase and pulled open the wooden door to the study room to see just what awaited them.