"Knock knock--"

A knocking sound broke the silence in the room. The slightly raised raven-black eyelashes of the boy nestled in the soft bedding quivered, revealing a pair of clear, dark eyes.

Those clear black eyes, placed on the young boy's face, carried a hint of indistinct bewilderment.

Su Duan propped himself up with his arms and sat up from the bed stiffly, as if he couldn't control his body very well during the movement.

The quilt slid down along his waistline. He quietly leaned against the head of the bed, tilting his head to examine the light leaking through the gap in the window.

The person outside the door waited for a long time without hearing an answer. Remembering the butler's instructions to push the door open and enter if there was no response, the door was gently pushed open after half a minute.

Su Duan slowly moved his gaze away from that faint beam of light.

The figure walked up to him. It was a thin young man with short, neat black hair, wearing a black vest and trousers. Although he didn't look very strong, he had good proportions with broad shoulders and long legs, like a walking clothes hanger.

However, this clothes hanger seemed a bit nervous at the moment, his entire body tense.

The young man placed the tray on the table beside the bed, picked up the glass on it, bent over and handed it to the boy sitting on the bed, respectfully saying, "...Young Master, water."

Su Duan glanced at him, keeping a straight face without speaking. He slowly took the glass and drank quietly.

The warm water flowed down his throat, dispelling the slight discomfort from waking up early.

This body had a small appetite. Su Duan estimated he had drunk about half a glass before moving the glass away, stiffly raising his hand to signal the young man beside him to take the glass.

Their fingertips touched for a moment in between. Su Duan was too dull to react, but the young man's hand paused for a moment, nearly failing to hold the glass steady.

The young man put the glass back on the tray. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Young Master, please allow me to dress you."

Su Duan still didn't speak, but he cooperated by slowly crawling out of the quilt and sitting on the edge of the bed, motionless as if someone had pressed a pause button, allowing the young man to take off his loose, soft cotton pajamas, exposing his fair, thin upper body to the air.

Today Su Duan was to wear a camel-colored vest set with a simple white shirt inside. It had been selected the night before, ironed and placed by the bed, waiting for the servant to shake it out.

The slender body was gradually wrapped in the plain-colored shirt. Qin Zhi knelt on one knee on the ground, his expression serious, carefully buttoning up the round buttons from the bottom up.

The buttons on this shirt were small and dense, very troublesome to fasten, not to mention the person buttoning them was a bit nervous, making the process even slower.

When the boy wasn't throwing a tantrum, his entire being seemed clean and soft. The bright morning sunlight shone unabashedly through the pulled-back floor-to-ceiling windows, kissing his soft, fluffy black hair with a few strands sticking out, as if even the tips of his hair were permeated with a warm, sunny aura.

The boy suddenly called out, "...Qin Zhi?"

The boy seemed to not be fully awake, his pronunciation a bit unsteady, the ending syllable trembling slightly, like a cat lightly scratching at one's heart.

Qin Zhi's hand shook and he failed to successfully insert the button he was holding into the buttonhole.

Seeing the young man's flustered appearance, Su Duan lowered his eyes and inwardly called out, "System."

The system instantly replied, "My dear host, what's the matter?"

Su Duan: "Are you sure he's the one I need to treat in this world?"

With a ding, the system pulled out Qin Zhi's information. "Qin Zhi, male, one of the many illegitimate children of the Qin family head in City A who was cast out. Because he looks 30-40% similar to the Qin family's legitimate heir, he has always been deliberately targeted. Left with no other choice, he is now a servant at the Su residence. That's right, host, it's the person in front of you!"

Su Duan: "Mm, got it."

System: "If you need anything, please summon me anytime, mwah mwah~"

Su Duan was not originally from this world, and his identity was not a young master pampered in a wealthy family, not even human.

He was actually a Poria, a type of Chinese medicinal herb. He had lived for several thousand years, from the era of abundant spiritual energy on Earth during the cultivation period, through the stage where spiritual energy gradually declined and technology rapidly developed, all the way to the vast interstellar era.

However, he was quite unlucky. After gaining intelligence, he was unable to take human form for several thousand years. In the end, he fell into a deep slumber along with the Earth's catastrophe and the mother planet.

Su Duan originally thought he would continue to sleep like this, so last night when he opened his eyes and found himself lying on a soft, big bed with all four limbs intact, he was in disbelief for a long time.

Then, an electronic voice claiming to be a system suddenly sounded in his mind, explaining the situation to him.

The system introduced itself like this: "In the year 2333 of the Star Calendar, humans rebuilding their homes in the interstellar era returned to their mother planet Earth to search for lost civilizations. While exploring ancient ruins, they discovered the slumbering host."

Su Duan: "Me?"

The system pulled out a photo. In the soil-covered ground, a half-excavated black object was buried.

System: "Originally, the researchers thought the host might be a type of ingredient called potatoes from the ancient Earth era. Since this ingredient had long gone extinct with the slumber of the mother planet, after the exploration ended, the researchers brought the host back to the capital star for research. However, when the research began, they detected a violent energy fluctuation within the host's body."

Su Duan was silent for a moment, then said, "...Oh."

His original form as a Poria was completely black and flat-round in shape. Due to his low-key appearance, he was sometimes mistaken for a black potato in the mud.

System: "The researchers then studied a large amount of information from the ancient Earth era and discovered that the host was not a potato, but a plant called 'Poria' in Chinese medicine. They also combined the cultivation classics from the ancient Earth era with modern special ability models and conducted a large number of tests and studies, finally concluding that the host is a special plant about to take human form!"

Su Duan listened very quietly, feeling enlightened but not quite understanding.

The technological power of the interstellar world sounded quite impressive, to the point of being able to thoroughly research something as unscientific as cultivation.

The system continued, "Anyway, after the research results came out, in the spirit of fraternal love and mutual assistance, the research institute developed me to help the host transform!"

Su Duan politely followed the system's words and asked, "You are?"

System: "My full name is the Central Paranormal Research Institute's Ancient Earth Project Black Potato Tempering System 1.0. The host can call me by my code name 111, or directly call me System."

Hearing a certain term, Su Duan was stunned for a moment, "...Wait, I'm really not a potato." And he wasn't black either!

System: "Yes, we all know this, but the research project has already been entered into the database. After the name is recorded, the application process for a second modification is too troublesome, so we'll just make do with it."

"..." Su Duan really wanted to express that he didn't want to just make do like this, but considering that he was only research material, he seemed to have no right to speak, so he could only remain silent.

After being silent for a while, Su Duan, who had accepted reality, said, "Then I'll call you System for now? May I ask what your working principle is?"

System: "My working principle is to collect virtual world plot energy fluctuations to simulate heavenly tribulation. As long as the host completes the tasks in each world, they can accumulate experience points - of course, using the terminology of the host's era, it can also be called merit. As long as enough experience points are accumulated, the host will be able to successfully transform!"

They even knew about the heavenly tribulation. Su Duan thought for a moment and asked, "What tasks?"

System: "This is related to the host's attributes." As it spoke, it pulled out a short piece of information from somewhere and explained, "Poria, sweet in taste, warm and neutral in nature, is commonly found in various medicinal formulas, so the host's task is to - cure people's illnesses!"

Su Duan was confused for a moment and said truthfully, "...But I don't know how to cure illnesses."

He really couldn't figure out if there should be some necessary connection between "he is a Chinese medicinal herb" and "he can cure illnesses".

System: "Host, don't panic! Host, you must believe in yourself!"

Su Duan: "..." How did he suddenly feel that this system was a bit unreliable?

The system continued to introduce, "Each world will have a target character who is ill. As long as the host cures the specific disease they have and the cure value reaches a full 100, they can obtain a certain amount of experience points - that is, merit."

In any case, a consensus was reached with difficulty. Although this system seemed a bit unreliable, there seemed to be no other way except to follow the system's direction.

In any case, things couldn't be worse than his original situation where he wasn't even sure if he could keep his life...

According to the system's introduction, this was his first task world. The target was called Qin Zhi, an illegitimate child of a wealthy family who had experienced a bumpy life and career, and suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.

Stockholm Syndrome, also known as hostage mentality, refers to a distorted psychology in which victims of criminal incidents develop feelings for the perpetrators and even help the perpetrators in return.

People with Stockholm Syndrome are often in the position of victim in a relationship. Under the influence of this syndrome, they develop affection, dependence, and even become accomplices to the perpetrator, refusing to let others rescue them.

In this world, the "perpetrator" who caused Qin Zhi to develop Stockholm syndrome was the young master of a wealthy family surnamed Su.

This young master was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had a weak body. He was sick every three days and seriously ill every five days. From elementary school to high school, he studied at home. In university, he directly took a leave of absence and hired a tutor.

It can be said that he was spoiled by the whole family to the point of having an extremely pampered personality. As long as it was something he set his eyes on, basically there was nothing he couldn't get.

But even though the Su family was powerful and influential, they couldn't cover the sky with one hand. When this young master fell in love with the Qin family's legitimate heir, Qin Feng, and cried and made a fuss about wanting to be with him, all the Su family could do was try their best to appease him and not let him act recklessly.

As for being together with Qin Feng, that was simply impossible.

The Qin family was just as powerful and influential as the Su family. As the Qin family's proper biological son, Qin Feng had been raised as the heir from a young age. In the future, barring any accidents, he was to inherit the Qin family and naturally had to marry a wife of equal status.

After being heartbroken and devastated because he couldn't obtain Qin Feng due to his identity, the young master Su found a substitute - Qin Feng's half-brother, Qin Zhi.

The current head of the Qin family was an extremely promiscuous man. In addition to the one son and one daughter he had with his proper wife, he had at least a dozen or even twenty illegitimate sons and daughters outside. Among these illegitimate children, Qin Zhi looked the most like him.

It just so happened that Qin Feng also looked very much like his father, so this led to Qin Zhi and Qin Feng, this pair of half-brothers, having a facial similarity of up to 30-40%. Anyone who saw them would subconsciously think they were biological brothers.

Because of his pride as a wealthy scion, Qin Feng greatly despised this illegitimate half-brother who looked a lot like him and used many methods to subtly make things difficult for him. This led to Qin Zhi, after graduating from a top national university, being inexplicably fired every time before his probationary period was over, and in the end, he could only rely on odd jobs to make a living.

And after accidentally seeing Qin Zhi working odd jobs outside, the young master Su's eyes lit up since he couldn't get the real deal. He found a way to bring this substitute to his side.

However, although he had the intention of treating the person as a substitute, he also despised Qin Zhi for not being Qin Feng. He looked down on Qin Zhi and had a very unfriendly attitude towards him, tormenting him from time to time and venting all his resentment from not being able to get Qin Feng on Qin Zhi.

After all, Qin Zhi was a naive young man fresh out of school. He had already been under great psychological pressure due to his elder brother's friction. Being tormented like this by the young master, plus the blow of his mother's death, his psychological defense line collapsed and he actually developed a hostage mentality towards the young master Su, that is, he developed Stockholm Syndrome.

And this young master surnamed Su was the role he was using in this world, and coincidentally, he had the same name as him - also called Su Duan.

According to the system's explanation, this was to give Su Duan a greater sense of immersion. Each identity he traversed in different worlds would have the same name as him.

Su Duan found it hard to express his feelings in words: "...Thank you." Although he didn't want to imagine himself as someone who seemed mentally unstable.

System: "You're welcome. My task is to help the host complete the mission. The host must work hard!"

Su Duan: "..."

Since it was the first world, in order to let him adapt to the mission's pace, the difficulty of this world was set very low. When Su Duan arrived here, Qin Zhi had just arrived at the Su residence and hadn't even met the original body yet. The events in the plot also hadn't happened.

Because he hadn't fallen ill yet, Qin Zhi's initial healing value was as high as 50. As long as Su Duan cut off all possibilities of him getting sick, he could complete this mission.

...

After tentatively calling out to Qin Zhi, Su Duan found that the target in front of him stiffened for a moment.

But he didn't care whether Qin Zhi was stiff or not. After finishing talking with the system, he was immersed in the novelty of speaking for the first time.

The boy's voice was clear and pleasant, actually very likable, but Qin Zhi seemed to have heard some threatening words. His Adam's apple rolled uncontrollably a couple of times, his voice tightening: "...Yes, what are your orders, young master?"

Before accepting this job, he had heard that the person he was to serve had a bad temper, often getting angry for no reason, and would fire people if they displeased him slightly.

The youngest son of a top wealthy family, with exquisite looks and poor health, was cherished by the whole family. One could imagine how pampered and willful he had been raised.

He had only arrived at the Su residence yesterday, but had already heard the servants reveal several "glorious deeds" of this young master. And just before he came, the butler had also solemnly told him to be cautious and never anger the young master.

However, the young master showed no signs of anger. He lowered his eyes and looked at him calmly with black, moist eyes, then quickly looked away, not responding to his inquiry at all, as if he had just called his name on a whim.

Qin Zhi's hands stiffened for a moment. Seeing no follow-up, he slowly buttoned up the young master's clothes.

After helping Su Duan get dressed, Qin Zhi consciously withdrew.

As soon as Qin Zhi left, Su Duan's tense body relaxed. He leaned against the head of the bed for a while, then commanded his body to go to the bathroom to wash up.

It was twenty minutes later when he finally went downstairs to eat.

Su Duan's father and mother had been busy at the company's overseas branches for the past two years, rarely even returning to the country, let alone staying at home. His only older brother was also stationed at the domestic company, so busy that he wished he could be two people. It was rare for him to stay at the Su residence even two days a week.

So in the huge Su residence, there was often only the sickly young master Su Duan and a bunch of servants who only dared to do their work with their heads down, without even a single person to talk to.

Su Duan held the stair railing and walked down the stairs at the pace of an old man, then sat down slowly at the dining table.

Seeing his sluggish appearance, the butler asked with concern if he was feeling unwell somewhere. Su Duan brushed it off, saying he hadn't woken up yet.

The butler didn't ask further. He quietly set the tableware for him. Qin Zhi brought out breakfast from the kitchen, carefully placed it in front of Su Duan, then silently stood to the side.

Of the three people in the dining room, only Su Duan was seated.

Because the system had generously gifted half of the healing value, the mission seemed easy. But in fact, before Su Duan even started the mission, he encountered a problem: he couldn't control his body well.

And of course, he couldn't use chopsticks either.

After being a spiritual herb that couldn't speak or move for thousands of years, suddenly having hands and feet to move around was not something that could be adapted to in just one night.

Staring at the set of bowls and chopsticks in front of him, Su Duan couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

After hesitating for more than ten seconds, he finally cautiously chose the spoon, which seemed to have the lowest difficulty to use.

Just as he picked up the spoon and was about to eat, a servant came in and whispered something in the butler's ear. The butler said something to Su Duan and quickly left.

After the butler left with the servant, only Su Duan and his treatment target Qin Zhi were left in the dining room.

After the butler left, Qin Zhi lowered his eyes, what he was thinking was unknown. His jaw was slightly clenched. Su Duan didn't bother with this treatment target whose mood seemed a bit off. He carefully held the spoon handle, focusing on trying his first meal as a human.

This was the first time he had tasted human food. The taste sensed by his tongue was rich in layers, quite different from the spirit spring water that only tasted sweet.

...It was a bit unfamiliar, but didn't feel too bad, Su Duan thought as he licked the spoon.

This body's stomach seemed to be very poor. The butler was very strict about his diet, and breakfast was very light.

But even so, perhaps because he had some difficulty calming down after crossing over yesterday and didn't pay attention to keeping warm at night, after just a few bites, Su Duan suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his stomach, as if it was being grabbed and kneaded by a large hand.

His hand lost strength. The spoon, which he wasn't very skilled at holding to begin with, hit the edge of the bowl, making a crisp sound. The soup in the bowl splashed out onto the dining table, and his body also curled up in pain.

It wasn't that Su Duan was delicate, but this body itself was not pain-tolerant. Moreover, he was not used to using a human body and couldn't control this instinctive reaction for a while.

The butler was not there. Qin Zhi hesitated for a few seconds. Seeing that Su Duan's body was about to fall to the side and slide off the chair, his pupils slightly contracted. He subconsciously reached out to support him.