"Ding!"
[Dear host, a suitable 'low-level resentful ghost' that can be used as the purification target to complete the new major task has been identified.]
[Would you accept the major system task, Task no.1?]
'...'
Luo Jingya now felt stiff all over as she stared at the increasingly fading figure of the little dog.
Yep, just now, her eyes hadn't been playing tricks on her. Even as she looked, it was just fading away. Almost like someone took a picture, only to suddenly decide that it was too bright and colourful, and started to bleach it anyway.
The effect was uncanny, not to say frightening, at its best.
[It has been detected that the host hasn't given a positive response to the acceptance of the system's major task, task no.1.]
[Initiating automatic acceptance of the task.]
[Successfully accepted the task no.1]
[Countdown to task completion deadline: 7 days 0 hours 0 minutes
[Punishment for failing to complete the task within the given deadline:
Deducting 50 death points.]
[Special reminder: If the host couldn't fulfil the punishment upon failing a task, their soul would be destroyed, losing its chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation]
.
.
[Dear host, I wish you a successful task completion. Please work hard to execute this major system task and earn death points to extend your life span!]
*****
Even after coming back to her place, Luo Jingya honestly didn't know how she actually got back.
The walk back– it had felt like the most hellish few hundred meters she had ever experienced in her entire life of 26 years!
Ears ringing, Luo Jingya shakily opened the door to her bedroom when her eyes suddenly fell on her grandma's old mirror hanging on the wall next to the bed..
The mirror was old, alright. The plastic frame was either chipped off or broken in many places, and the stained, yellowed surface exhibited this well-pronounced jagged crack running across the middle. And it didn't help that the mirror itself was quite small to begin with.
So when she drew nearer, it could only reflect her face and then some. But, with all the yellowish stains and the crack running in the middle distorting her deathly pale face to appear like someone took a knife to it... It didn't exactly help either.
'If grandma knew…' Her grandmother had been a typical elderly lady who had grown up in the countryside surrounded by superstitions. And a broken mirror– a big no-no! Broken mirrors are bad luck!
Bless the old lady, but if she knew her granddaughter had been keeping this thing with her for years... if not a beating, she would at least get a good scolding ah!
Luo Jingya carefully touched her cheek, but only felt smooth skin. Cold and clammy, but unsurprisingly intact.
'...'
Yet as she stared at the distorted face reflected in the mirror, she found herself wondering whether her grandma had been right.
'Heh.' Funny how a single day's experience can shift the way you look at even the smallest thing.
The mirror had been with her for how many years– always hanging next to her wherever she slept, day and night. After all, it wasn't just a simple mirror, but a keepsake as well. But only now…
Luo Jingya was debating whether to buy a new one or not when her eyes suddenly fell on the Buddha beads bracelet wrapped around the raised wrist reflected in the mirror.
At this short distance, the fine, hair-thin crack running over the surface of all the beads in the bracelet was clearly visible, forming a perfect full circle.
'...'
Luo Jingya wasn't clear whether it had been there this morning, but it definitely hadn't been there before that! Not yesterday and not the day before that! Having worn the thing for nearly two decades, she could swear on this.
Luo Jingya sighed and finally turned away from the mirror, prepared to face the inevitable. No matter what she did, what she thought, she won't be able to avoid this problem, right? She should at least stop trying to frighten herself like this, thinking all sorts of random stuff and seeing ghosts hiding in literally every corner.
And as if it was reading her mind, the… system, finally spoke.
[Dear host, your remaining life span is 6 days, 12 hours, 54 minutes.
Your remaining death points are zero.]
[You currently have one ongoing task and one target of purification.]
.
.
[Would you like to learn more about your current task target?]
*****
Staring at the transparent, game screen style interface, giving off a futuristic vibe, Luo Jingya now felt a lot calmer than she expected. Having already come face to face with this thing once this morning, maybe she had already grown used to it?
"It's real?" Though she felt as if she could barely get the words out, she sounded surprisingly even-toned when she actually started to talk. "You are really a system?"
[...]
[Yes. I'm what you humans would call a– system.
And before you ask the question, yes, for the most part, I'm made of data.]
"..." Luo Jingya stopped the sudden urge to ask about what the other part was made of. She… had this feeling that she won't get any answer to that question.
"So, that wasn't a dream then? I really… died?"
[Yes.]
Again, the answer was curt. And quite short as well. But then, the system started to explain.
[Your predestined fate wasn't originally supposed to be this short. But due to some changes in the flow of the world's energies, you were affected and died early.]
[I simply stopped your soul from entering the underworld before your intended time. Since our compatibility is high, I could bind with you, and you were able to be reborn because of our connection.]