Shen Du, 22, dressed and ready, lands in Journey to the West.
The System activates, but it's not a normal one. It's called the [Anything But the Usual System], and it has just one core rule:
“Follow the original story, and you get no reward. Wreck the plot, and the rewards go through the roof.”
Shen Du stares at the screen for a long time. “So I have to do the opposite?”
The System displays a green check mark.
Guanyin comes to enlighten him and tells him to find Tang Sanzang. Shen Du doesn't go. Instead, he runs off to Five Elements Mountain and spends three days drinking with Sun Wukong, giving him the full rundown on everything that's happened over the past five hundred years.
Sun Wukong: “You're a good person. Old Sun is following you.”
System notification: “Successfully persuaded Sun Wukong to acknowledge you as his big brother ahead of schedule. Reward: A tuft of monkey hair (can summon monkey clones).”
Shen Du: That works, too?
Later, Tang Sanzang arrives, and Sun Wukong immediately bows to become his disciple. Tang Sanzang is delighted, thinking this disciple is so eager. He has no idea Sun Wukong had already been “briefed” by Shen Du.
Along the journey to obtain the scriptures, while others fight monsters, Shen Du negotiates with demons; while others beg for alms, Shen Du livestreams (with the System's built-in camera); while others chant sutras, Shen Du plays the original recording of the Great Compassion Mantra.
At first, the demons think he's crazy. Then they realize that no one can predict this lunatic's moves.
Watching him cause chaos from the South Sea, Guanyin rubs her temples. “Tathagata, are you sure he's the one Heaven destined?”
The Tathagata is silent for a long time. “He is destined by Heaven... but he doesn't seem to think so himself.”
