Cannon Fodder And The Protagonist Are A Perfect Match [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 15

Upon entering university, Yu Yan’s social life did not change much. Having completed over half a semester of classes, he only remembered his professor and the name of the committee member who pestered him weekly about youth study sessions. Despite his quiet nature, his name was famous across campus because he possessed a face hailed by his peers as the Light of the Engineering College.

When Xu Yansheng teased him about this, Yu Yan looked at his lover with a smile. “And what about you? My great school hunk?”

Xu Yansheng nodded seriously. “I am yours.”

Even with Xu Yansheng’s devotion, Yu Yan felt a brief moment of panic when Li Li, a character from the original story, appeared. However, because he and Xu Yansheng had already come out publicly, Li Li did not encounter the bullying described in the original plot. Instead, with the help of classmates, Li Li quickly found a partner of his own.

The four years of university passed in a flash. After graduation, Xu Yansheng began taking over the family business while Yu Yan chose to continue his studies. The two, who had never been apart, began a long distance relationship. On the day Yu Yan left for graduate school, Xu Yansheng handed him the mechanical puppy Yu Yan had once given him. “You must carry it with you at all times,” Xu Yansheng instructed. “It is as if you are carrying me with you.”

Taking the puppy, Yu Yan immediately noticed a miniature camera hidden in its eyes. He accepted it anyway, gently kissing the man who looked sharp in his suit despite his tearful eyes.

Yu Yan joined the National Space Agency at the age of 28. That same year, the mechanical puppy was confiscated due to confidentiality protocols, leaving Xu Yansheng to live like a lonely widower. As an aerospace designer, Yu Yan achieved many things, such as leading the first team to land on Mercury and extracting a new substance from its soil. Any of these achievements was enough to stun the world.

However, as a partner, Yu Yan was undeniably a failure. All he gave Xu Yansheng was a ring made from that new substance, while Xu Yansheng gave him a lifetime of waiting in return.

In the year 2082, Yu Yan passed away at the age of 72. Before closing his eyes, he tightly held Xu Yansheng’s left hand, the one wearing the ring, as if refusing to let go of his lover. While everyone in the hospital room was moved by the love between the two elderly men, Yu Yan heard the long-lost electronic voice of 001.

“Mr. Yu, congratulations on completing your first investigation. After 30 seconds of information extraction, you will begin your second.”

Yu Yan did not answer because, beneath the voice of 001, he heard sounds from outside the world. One voice was young, the other elderly.

“Teacher, the subject has developed resistance to the inducer. Are you sure we should increase the dosage?”

“Of course.”

“But what if it causes irreversible damage to the subject’s nerves?”

“What of it? A container does not need a brain.”

The younger person seemed to want to ask more but was interrupted by the terrified voice of the elder. “Quick, inject the neurotoxin! It is waking up!”

The voices stopped abruptly, but Yu Yan did not find it regrettable. At least it proved his theory was correct. One dimension is a line, two dimensions is a plane, three dimensions is a solid, and a straight timeline constitutes a world in the broad sense. So called parallel worlds are merely products of misaligned and overlapping timelines. Such changes are invisible to the naked eye or even electronic microscopes, but the new substance Yu Yan extracted from Mercury could capture them. It could weave a quantum cage the moment a surrounding magnetic field changed, trapping the frequencies within.

Because the material was rare, he only refined enough for one ring, which he placed on Xu Yansheng’s ring finger. From the voices he just heard, he confirmed this world was being interfered with. As for the target, he wondered if it was himself, bound to 001, or Xu Yansheng, whom 001 called the darling of the world. He truly wanted to know.

When Yu Yan regained consciousness, he felt a splitting headache, and his entire body felt as if it were being burned from the inside out by fire. Amidst the continuous, intense pain, 001 added fuel to the flames by shoving a massive amount of data into his mind. He struggled to organize his thoughts and extract the current situation.

This was a world derived from a book called Heart of the Apocalypse. It followed the protagonist, Shan Ze, a powerful lightning ability user who became a great leader and found love in a zombie infested world. Currently, the story was at its beginning. Shan Ze, a mercenary at a survivor base, had accepted a mission to rescue Dr. Shen Mian, the scientist most likely to develop a zombie serum, who was trapped in an underground research facility.

Yu Yan was now Shen Mian. In the original story, Shan Ze’s rescue failed, and he only brought back a half finished serum because Shen Mian had already fully turned into a zombie by the time he arrived.

Seeing this, Yu Yan forced his eyes open. The bright fluorescent lights above made his eyes ache, causing tears to stream down his face. Through his blurred vision, he struggled to kick away the male zombie next to his feet whose head had been destroyed. This zombie had been Shen Mian’s research partner and the one responsible for infecting him. If the partner had not insisted on going to the cafeteria for food and contracting the virus, Shen Mian could have lasted at least three more days in this bulletproof laboratory. By then, Shan Ze would have arrived, and Shen Mian would have been saved.

But there are no ifs. Shen Mian had been infected and had missed the best opportunity to inject the half serum because he had fainted. Feeling the fire surging within him, Yu Yan dragged his weak body, half walking and half crawling, toward the storage cabinet containing the half serum. With a light touch, the coded door opened. Of the three original syringes, only two remained.

Yu Yan glanced at the zombie he had kicked earlier, knowing where the third one had gone. The half serum was called such because it was extremely unstable. Even so, Yu Yan had no choice but to try. After injecting the half serum into his bitten arm, he collapsed from exhaustion.

When he woke up again, it was to the sharp sound of a hard object scratching against glass. He stared at the zombie outside the door scratching at the glass and thought darkly, “I wish this zombie would just die. It would be best if it jumped off the railing behind it.” A five story drop would surely shatter its fragile body like tofu.

At the thought of flesh turning to mush, a smile appeared on Yu Yan’s lips. As if the heavens had heard him, the zombie actually began to stumble toward the railing. However, because its movements were clumsy, it failed repeatedly.

Watching the zombie fall from the half meter railing over and over, Yu Yan thought irritably, “So stupid. It should just ram its head and die.”

Once again, his wish was granted. The fallen zombie crawled up in a distorted posture, walked to the glass door directly in front of Yu Yan, and slammed into it with immense force. The sound of the zombie’s skull hitting the transparent glass was loud. Yu Yan stared blankly at the stains of red and white on the door.

He finally realized that it was not the heavens hearing his heart, but the zombie. It seemed he could control them. Looking at the zombies gathering outside the door due to the noise, Yu Yan tried again. It was true; he could really control the zombies. However, the side effects were severe. After forcing two zombies to commit suicide, Yu Yan felt an intense thirst in his throat, and the previously faded burning sensation returned. He fell to the ground in pain.

In a half dreaming state, he seemed to smell the acrid scent of charred protein. It was pungent and disgusting.