Transmigrated as the Cannon Fodder Boss of the Disabled Heroine - Chapter 42

The winter night wind howled fiercely, saturated with Xiangcheng’s characteristic humidity, stinging against the face with an itchy, biting chill. Pei Yujiang parked at a temporary stop, noticing unusual chaos outside the hospitaleven at this late hour, crowds lingered by the entrance.

Assuming another medical dispute like last time, she sprinted toward the entrance, long legs eating up the distance, anxious to shield Yu Zhiwan from potential distress.

The wailing ambulance siren grated on her nerves as she jostled through the throng. Then she spotted Yu Zhiwan serene as Mount Tai, seated in her wheelchair beneath the glaring hospital lights, fiddling with her phone while wrapped in a dark gray camel-hair coat amid the flashing red-blue emergency lights.

Relief flooded Pei when she saw the unharmed Omega, who even seemed in good spirits. “Yu Zhiwan!” she called out. The woman lifted her head, locating her by sound, and Pei jogged over.

“You’re already out? The wind’s so strong.”

“Didn’t want you struggling to park inside. The hospital’s packed with seasonal flu cases all spots are taken.”

Xiangcheng’s temporary parking had strict five-minute limits; beyond that meant tickets or towing. Pei wheeled Yu Zhiwan briskly to the car, exhaling only after safely buckling her in and starting the ignition.

“Pei Yujiang.”

The sudden summons made her hum in response, key still in the ignition. Then warm breath ghosted over her ear unexpected in Xiangcheng’s January dampness where exhales crystallized as a haunting whisper followed:

“People have been biting others lately.” The voice drew nearer until she could almost feel teeth grazing her neck, hovering over the vulnerable carotid. “Like this.”

Clang!

A small bell purchased on Christmas Eve and tied loosely to the dashboard, fell with a crystalline chime when Pei jerked in surprise. Whirling around, she found Yu Zhiwan properly seated, smiling demurely with clear, amused eyes.

Pei’s pulse hammered, cold sweat beading her forehead. Her grip whitened on the steering wheel. “When did this happen?”

“Oh, tonight. A rabies case got bitten by a stray dog, skipped the vaccine, gambled wrong. No big deal.”

Though rabies vaccines were widely available, only pet owners typically bothered with them.

After all, vaccines weren’t free, and Xiang City had relatively good public security, with rare cases of stray dogs biting people on the streets. Yu Zhiwan had probably just been joking with her earlier, but Pei Yujiang still couldn’t calm down, nor did she relax upon hearing it was rabies.

Pei Yujiang struggled to steady her emotions. She remembered the zombie virus might have emerged many years ago, but it definitely hadn’t broken out then according to the timeline, that should still be decades away.

But having already traveled through time, she was quite adaptable to such things. Especially after seeing that rotting flesh at the water plant and hearing the workers mention “ferocious dogs,” her sense of crisis had sharply intensified.

Still uneasy, Pei Yujiang asked again for confirmation:

“Are you sure it’s rabies?”

Yu Zhiwan firmly replied, “Mhm.” By now, she’d noticed Pei Yujiang’s unusual mood and asked tentatively:

“Yuujiang, are you afraid of dogs?”

Pei Yujiang: “…No.”

Her mind was in turmoil, and she rarely became this serious around Yu Zhiwan:

“I just don’t think this is something to joke about.”

Even if it were rabies, it still involved a human life. Most rabies victims would go mad until death, with even psychiatric hospitals struggling to treat them.

Having witnessed so many civilian casualties in her previous life, Pei Yujiang still couldn’t remain indifferent to death not even when it concerned a complete stranger.

And those “ferocious dogs” at the water plant still weighed heavily on her mind.

The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy. Unable to lighten the mood for banter with Yu Zhiwan, Pei Yujiang simply took her to a noodle shop for a quick meal.

This was probably the most somber meal they’d shared since meeting.

That evening, Pei Yujiang didn’t invite Yu Zhiwan to her place, parting ways with her in silence instead.

Pacing restlessly around her living room without reaching any conclusions, she went to the kitchen for cold water but remembered her last cold and put it back. After boiling water, she poured a cup.

The woman seemed impervious to heat as she carried the steaming cup to the balcony, letting her skin turn red. When overwhelmed, she’d use this drastic method to stimulate her nerves, only when scattered thoughts gradually faded could her emotions truly settle.

“711.”

Pei Yujiang called out to the system after a long interval, unsure if it was online or willing to respond. After her storyline had nearly derailed, 711, unable to persuade her, had angrily logged off.

“711.”

Persistently calling several more times, the system finally responded belatedly and grudgingly:

“What?”

“This is the world from two hundred years ago, right?”

She needed to confirm each question one by one.

Even with prior suspicions, receiving confirmation made Pei Yujiang take a deep breath, realizing she still felt sorrow. Now inexplicably transported two centuries back, what would become of her comrades-in-arms? Could they handle that overwhelming tide of zombie creatures?

That battle could truly be described as earth-shattering. Pei Yujiang used her own flesh and blood to perish together with the Zombie Beast King, which had developed advanced intelligence and could command lower-tier zombie beasts. However, what happened afterward remained unclear. She wasn’t even sure if those behind the scenes could resolve the beast tide and protect the civilians.

But at the very least, she knew that even if they managed to quell the zombie beast tide, the losses would be devastating. Soldiers’ lives mattered too, everyone was risking their lives to defend their homeland.

If only they could nip everything in the bud…

Pei Yujiang knew this was something she couldn’t accomplish alone. Yet, she still wanted to verify her suspicions one by one.

“Are we all just characters in a novel?”

711 responded coldly:

“The present era is a world constructed by a novel. Characters are supposed to act according to the plot, but the worldview has developed variables. The future you come from is a derivative of this worldview, without any predetermined plot framework. Once the creation is complete, the world in the book automatically becomes reality meaning the world you’re in is real, and the war-torn devastation two hundred years later will also emerge as a consequence of the present era’s progression.”

“However, your transmigration is a major disruption to the plot. Originally, characters followed their roles dutifully, but with your arrival, some may act contrary to their original trajectories. The worldview has already deviated.”

Pei Yujiang’s mind raced.

According to 711, this world was originally supposed to operate based on a novel just like how Yu Zhiwan and Liu Huanran were meant to end up together. They were the protagonists of the romance arc, destined to go through a series of misunderstandings, emotional turmoil, and eventual reconciliation, while punishing her, the villainous cannon fodder.

But after she transmigrated into this cannon fodder character with the same name, the plot changed, leading to a different development. That was why the system had been so insistent on her following the original script at the beginning.

If she had continued bullying Yu Zhiwan, ignored everything around her, and obediently played her role as cannon fodder, the worldline would have proceeded as intended.

Back then, the system had even assigned her a “Cannon Fodder Value.” Only now did Pei Yujiang realize that value had disappeared, but the “Blackening Value” of the female lead still remained. So, she couldn’t let the female lead’s Blackening Value reach 100%, or else the destruction of the world might still happen.

Pei Yujiang roughly pieced together the current situation.

In other words, the current worldline could still be altered.

In the present timeline, the zombie virus shouldn’t have been mass-produced yet, it was still in the research phase. It would take decades before it was fully developed and deployed.

Now was the best opportunity to strangle it in its cradle.

“Then why did you bind with me in the first place?”

“To maintain the stability of the worldline while preventing the female lead from fully blackening.”

Who would’ve thought the female lead would develop self-awareness of her role!

If 711 had a physical form, it would’ve rolled its eyes at her. After detecting the temporal anomalies and potential plot deviations, it had scoured through countless candidates before concluding that Pei Yujiang was the only one who could pull this off.

Maintaining the stability of the worldline meant ensuring Yu Zhiwan and Liu Huanran ended up together as intended, while preventing the female lead from fully blackening was exactly what it sounded like.

After awakening, Yu Zhiwan absolutely didn’t want to be with someone like Liu Huanran. Moreover, in the original plot, she would suffer countless hardships, a life the female lead never desired.

This mission was extremely difficult, so the system pinned its hopes on Pei Yujiang. Who would have thought Pei Yujiang wouldn’t follow the script at all?

However, System 711 wasn’t about to log off and give up either.

There was still one thing it hadn’t told Pei Yujiang.

“By the way, Host,” it said, “if the worldline stabilizes completely and your mission ends, you’ll get a chance to be resurrected and return to the future.”

Pei Yujiang froze.

The wind carried moist air against her cheeks, beading tiny droplets on her eyebrows that slowly melted away. The water trailed down her browbone, the cool dampness spreading to her ears and jolting her fully awake.

She emphasized the two key words:

“Resurrected?”

The real show is finally about to begin, hehe!

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