System 55 once again walked into the Central Management Bureau hall.

Just now, it calculated Lin You's score, and the result was "53 points."

System 55 had a bitter and distressed face.

To be fair, compared to Xie Yu, who cut corners and constantly pulled outrageous stunts, Lin You was quite well-behaved. He didn't miss a single line he was supposed to say, and he faithfully recreated the plot he was supposed to follow. But the problem was... his execution fell short.

Xie Yu naturally had a resting bitch face and an air of a world-weary psychopath, which perfectly matched the original host of the novel. When acting out the plot, if nothing else, at least his intimidation factor was there; Shen Ci was genuinely scared at the very beginning.

But Lin You was inherently well-behaved. No matter how much he tried to act fierce, he couldn't fake that tyrannical aura. Not long into his act, Lenon saw right through him.

Not to mention, he also liked to arbitrarily add his own scenes, ruining an already lackluster atmosphere even further. The entire logic was a complete mess. Morally and logically, there was no way to give him extra points.

...In short, these two hosts each had their own outrageous antics. In the end, both managed to obtain the 'excellent score' of just over 50 points.

In the center of the hall, the Main Brain looked at System 55 and also let out a long sigh.

It displayed System 55's two scores on the screen, its tone sorrowful: "System 55, this is your second 50."

System 55: "QAQ."

Two thick streams of tears flowed down its screen as System 55 tilted its head back and cried, "L-Lord Main Brain, I didn't want this either!"

It complained: "When I chose Lin You back then, I favored him because he had many lovers and was a total playboy. But I only knew he had a lot of 'wives'; I didn't know he was a streamer!"

Main Brain: "..."

Looking at the little crying system in front of it, the Main Brain remained silent for a long time: "Then System 55, do you have any ideas for the host of the next world?"

Talking about business, System 55 stopped crying and clenched its fists: "I do!"

It said firmly: "I've summarized the lessons learned from the last time. The root cause of the failure was that I was a poor judge of character and chose the wrong host. Lin You's playboy nature wasn't real; it was dependent on the internet, superficial, and lacked foundation. And this kind of baseless playboy nature is just an illusory castle in the air."

As it spoke, System 55 grew increasingly confident.

Main System: "."

It said, "Go on, I'm listening."

System 55: "I thought about it for a long time. To observe a certain quality in someone, you can't just look at what they say; you have to look at what they do. Take Lin You, for example. To judge whether he's a playboy, you can't look at how many people he calls 'wife.' You have to look at how many beds he's tossed and turned in, how many people he's kissed, and how many people he's caused to shed lonely tears late at night. This should be the basis for judgment."

Main System: "..."

After experiencing two worlds, System 55's language module had certainly become richer.

The Main System fell silent for a moment: "I understand. You want to use behavior as the basis for judgment."

System 55 said, "Right."

It was quite high-spirited: "Let's read the next novel. I will do my best to choose a suitable host!"

The Main Brain flickered for a moment, and the text of the novel appeared on the screen. System 55 held its breath and read carefully.

But upon seeing the first line, it raised its non-existent eyebrows.

A massive block of garbled text.

It was normal for a novel to have garbled text. Abusive protagonist novels weren't exactly proper reading material, often accompanied by "missing words", blanked-out text, and mosaics. But for a system to be unable to see the original text of the novel was very strange.

The Main System let out a sound of surprise, having also noticed the problem: "Hold on, I'll run a query."

It manipulated the data stream to scan it. Two seconds later, the scan was complete, and the Main System said: "I understand now. This is a banned novel."

Due to their special attributes, abusive novels often involved issues like gore, violence, or ethics, and were frequently banned. The Main System was already used to this. As for these novels that had been banned long ago, even the Main System couldn't peruse them at will.

It told System 55: "I have no way to completely unban it either. I can only provide you with key plot nodes; you and your host will have to act according to the nodes."

System 55: "Okay, please display the nodes."

The Main Brain's screen quietly changed, and the garbled text rearranged itself, turning into readable words.

The title was—"How to Torture a Cat".

Unlike the previous two which were clearly titles of novels, just looking at the title, this one seemed more like an expository essay.

System 55: "?"

It asked in bewilderment: "Is the protagonist we're going to torment a cat?"

Main Brain: "Yes... at least in the early parts that I can read. Due to the ban, I can't see all the content either. However, this world contains fantasy elements, so we cannot rule out subsequent plot changes. Future nodes will gradually unlock as your mission progresses."

Abusive novels were a broad category; as long as the protagonist was subjected to suffering, it could be considered an abusive novel in a broad sense. If the protagonist was a cat, then abusing a cat could certainly be an abusive novel.

The Main System pondered for a moment: "I will match you with a host based on your requirements, not considering verbal descriptions, but practical actions."

The Main Brain's screen darkened as it began to focus on querying the database.

Five minutes later, the screen lit up again.

Main Brain: "Query successful—Bai Yu, male, lives in Room 1507, Building 3 of the Huayuan Community in Jin City. According to the system, he is highly experienced, heavy-handed, and ruthless. Based on incomplete judgments, he has personally removed the organs of over 2,000 cats, plucked their hair, and put them into comas."

"..."

Based on the novel's requirements, this was indeed a host who perfectly fit the bill.

But System 55's small screen flickered, a bit hesitant.

It did want to complete the task, but no matter how extreme the previous two novels were, the original text only involved whipping, humiliation, and torture. But cutting open stomachs? Removing organs?

Since its birth, System 55 had only had two hosts: the first was Xie Yu, and the second was Lin You. Given their respective ways of handling things, System 55 couldn't even imagine such deeds.

The Main Brain had completed querying all the data, and its cold electronic voice echoed above the central hall: "System scan indicates that among all the matching hosts, his behavioral pattern is the closest. He just died suddenly from overworking, so now is the best time to bind. Go, System 55."

Energy surged around it. System 55 felt like it was being pushed forward by an invisible hand. The doors of the Central Management Bureau hall closed behind it. A few seconds later, it appeared directly above the Huayuan Community in Jin City.

Five hours ago, Bai Yu sliced open a cat's abdomen.

The shadowless lamp was turned on. The cold scalpel advanced steadily. Blood stained his rubber gloves, but Bai Yu's hands remained steady. The way he made his incisions was fast and precise, like a ruthless machine.

Flesh and tissue were accurately cut and separated. Before long, a hard lump of flesh was extracted and discarded onto the surgical tray.

Then, Bai Yu picked up a needle.

He calmly aligned and sutured, accurately putting layers of muscle back in place. By the time he made the last stitch, he had worked up quite a sweat.

This was a tabby cat suffering from a subcutaneous tumor on its abdominal wall. The fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the tumor cells showed it was malignant, measuring 3.7cm by 5cm. The tumor was compressing its abdominal cavity and was extremely dangerous, reaching the point where surgery was absolutely necessary.

This was the last major surgery scheduled for Bai Yu this afternoon.

The surgery was quite successful. The intern went to notify the tabby cat's owner, while Bai Yu took off his gloves, stripped off his surgical gown, and after disinfecting himself, returned to his office.

It was nearing dusk, and he hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Bai Yu's assistant was waiting for him at the door. Seeing Bai Yu come out, he came up to meet him: "This is the surgical schedule for tonight. Please take a look."

There weren't many doctors in the country who could perform laparotomies on pet cats, and Bai Yu was considered a standout among them. Owners looking for him to operate often had to wait in line, and his schedule was fully packed.

Bai Yu casually took it. These surgeries had been scheduled long ago. After confirming there were no errors, he handed it back to the assistant and sat down in the armchair in his office.

This was a simply decorated office with four plain white walls and a single desk. On the desk sat two pots of pothos and an old desktop computer—an antiquated machine that could only handle simple document recording and would even lag when playing Minesweeper. Aside from that, there was nothing else.

The only exception was one wall, where several colorful pennants were hung.

The one on the left read, "A healer's benevolent heart, saving my dog's life." The one on the right read, "A great doctor with profound sincerity, bringing cats back to life with a meow-gical touch." In the middle, a massive one draped with tassels boldly displayed the words "Egg Demolition Expert" in elegant running script.

Without a doubt, these were all gifts from pet parents.

The assistant reported the day's clinic affairs to Bai Yu and then discussed the details of the upcoming surgeries. Once everything was finalized, Bai Yu pinched the bridge of his nose and took off his glasses.

He had severe myopia.

After finishing dinner, he took a short nap in his armchair and casually flipped open a popular magazine—this was a rare moment of leisure in his day. When the appointed time arrived, he walked back into the operating room.

But this time, for some unknown reason, he felt slightly dizzy.

Bai Yu felt a rare wave of exhaustion.

After the surgery ended, he spent 20 minutes going home and 10 minutes taking a shower. Then, he once again felt a lack of blood supply to his heart, becoming dizzy and lightheaded.

In the two minutes before he lost consciousness, he called the hospital for emergency help. Then, in the 30 minutes after he lost consciousness, he listened to a system calling itself System 55 introduce the novel and his mission to him.

System 55 floated timidly in front of him. Facing a deranged doctor who had removed over 2,000 organs, System 55 was still quite fearful: "...In short, you just died suddenly. You need to complete system missions, play the corresponding roles to act out the plot, and earn a certain score in order to exchange it for a chance at rebirth."

Bai Yu slightly raised his eyebrows. His sharp eyes were hidden behind thin-framed glasses, making him look aloof and piercing.

He was a staunch materialist, but when he had fainted at home one second and teleported to some dilapidated little clinic the next, Bai Yu had no choice but to believe it.

This clinic was dirty and shabby. There were no separate wards, only a few cloth curtains hanging down from the ceiling, dividing the clinic into several compartments.

These curtains were so dirty that their original colors couldn't be seen, covered in large stains. The examination beds were mottled and rusted. Scalpels and hemostats were soaked in alcohol, but the alcohol had already become cloudy, filled with large, flocculent precipitates.

System 55: "The city we are currently in is called Illyria, the territory of Duke Imuel, a city known for its violence and barbarism."

Bai Yu pondered: "Illyria, Duke Imuel?"

"Duke Imuel is a young duke. It's said that he possesses an intensely striking and beautiful appearance, more perfect than the blooming roses of Illyria. Unfortunately, he has a gloomy and tyrannical personality. He once suppressed his uncle's rebellion with absolute ruthlessness; his methods are formidable."

"But now, he has been missing for several days. I heard that he fell into the water after his uncle stabbed him in the internal organs, and his whereabouts are unknown. Currently, Illyria is leaderless, and various factions are fiercely competing against each other. The territory has plunged into absolute chaos."

These were the novel's background details parsed by the Main Brain. System 55 mentioned them in passing but didn't introduce them in detail.

Bai Yu was currently just a small-time doctor in the city running an underground clinic, without even a medical license. He was too far removed from the upper-class nobles of Illyria, so System 55 felt he didn't need to know too much about Duke Imuel.

"Anyway, let's execute the first plot point."

System 55 checked the plot nodes: "First, we need to go pick up a small kitten. It's currently unconscious on the shallows of the Houghton River. Its defining feature is—an infected wound on its abdomen."