System, are you messing with me?

Ark 2 - If you want to have evidence, then catch him in the act.

After the elders finally dismissed the third army, Shu Ning dragged his heavy body up to his own room and fell into bed fully clothed. He had no energy left to care for his dirty shoes messing up his bed or the uncomfortable feeling of his tight pants and shirt rubbing his skin raw.

Shu Ning felt like he could sleep for days with how exhausting and stressful things have been lately and in a matter of seconds his breathing slowed down as he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

System: "Host..... Host..... HOST!"

Shu Ning turned around in his bed and squinted his eyes against the glaring rays of the sun shining right into his face. He felt like he only got one hour of sleep maximum and was in an accordingly bad mood. But instead of forcing himself completely awake just to yell at the system, the temptation of closing his eyes again and ignoring everything around him was way bigger, so with a grumbled 'shut up, Shu Ning pulled the blancket over his face and started drifting of to sleep again.

System: "Host. Don't fall asleep again. There is news at the side of the Protagonist ●﹏●."

Instead of waiting for the human to react to anything Alpha had said, a static noise roared to life inside of the others head, causing him to flinch awake as a huge headache pounded against his temples.

A satisfied smile spread across the System's face at his win. Well it would, if the glowing ball had a face. For outsiders, the only noticable change in the System's emotion was the slight bluish colour his body took on.

"Honey. This is taking way too long. I'm getting impatient. We need to do something."

The voice of Zhou Feng resonated inside of Shu Ning's mind and blew away even the last haze of sleep fogging his thoughts. With a jerk of his torso, he sat upright in his bed and rubbed his hand through the nest on his head in defeat. A few strands of hair fell in front of his eyes while the rest of it stuck up like the needles of a porcupine but this ruffeled appearance didn't bother Shu Ning one bit. There was no one to see him like this at the moment anyway and there were more important things to take care of right now than his looks. The Protagonist for example.

His System seemed to have connected their conciousness together, so that he could listen in to the Lead's conversation himself now. That Alpha was capable of doing that now was new though. It was probably one of the perks of updating him.

(Wu Kang): "I know. But what did you expect? You are already moving way faster than anyone else would. Most people don't rise a single rank in their entire life and those that do, take at least five years to do that. You only took four. Just be patient and work hard. The elders will pay attention to you now."

(Zhou Feng): "But darling. I'm afraid Yang Quan will get into my way. You know how he is. He won't take it lightly now that I became a Sergeant. He wanted that honor after all. You weren't there but when I was on stage to receive the golden star, Yang Quan looked at me with so much jealousy and loathing that I feared for my life. And the guy wrapped the General around his little finger. I will never be able to go against the General. What should I do now?"

(Wu Kang): "It will be alright my sweet angel. We will think of something to do. No threat to your safety is alowed to exist after all."

(Zhou Feng): "Will you help me? I'm really scared. With the backing of the General, Yang Quan can harm me in anyway he wants to. I need to get stronger and rise even higher in rank to be able to touch him. I need to at least become the vice captain."

(Wu Kang): "Vice captain? You would have the best chances to take up that position but the Vice captain of the third army doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon."