Vicious Cannon Fodder? No, He’s a Darling Wife! - Chapter 9

It was itchy.

Yuan Su wanted to scream. The sensation was unmistakably a “caress,” a slithering friction that sent jolts of revulsion through him.

This thing had appeared out of nowhere like a ghost, bringing with it the clammy dampness of a rainy day. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet instantly.

He fought the urge to spring up and bolt. Instead, he remained rigid, allowing that thick, dark tentacle to coil around his slender neck. The tip tentatively brushed aside his collar, and a slow chill began to slide downward…

No, this isn’t right!

Where the hell is it touching?!

Horrified, Yuan Su struggled uncomfortably against the table, feigning a nightmare. He furrowed his brows, pursed his lips, and hunched his delicate shoulders as if in distress.

Suddenly, the cold, descending object paused.

It seemed resistance was effective.

Encouraged, Yuan Su decided to push further. His breathing became ragged and trembling as he forced out a few decorative tears. He let out a restless, unconscious murmur: “So cold…”

It was a voice that would make anyone stop in their tracks—soft as sand, thin, muffled, and incredibly submissive.

A phantom sensation of scales brushed against his skin. The pitch-black, mist-shrouded tentacle buckled and contracted strangely. What looked like veins on its surface flickered with a faint, pulsing blue light. It was visibly excited!

How incredibly rude.

Yuan Su felt a deep physical discomfort from this transgressive touch. His steady breathing grew erratic, and a few involuntary whimpers escaped his parted, rosy lips.

“Husband… I’m so scared…”

The tiny voice carried a sob. His words were broken by whimpers, blurred as if he couldn’t quite hold his breath, trembling enough to make one’s heart sway along with it.

The monster froze instantly. Its glowing blue eyes fixed unblinkingly on the youth’s pale face. Its pupils—jagged like cracks—shrank into needle-thin slits!

The remnants of human consciousness and aesthetic appreciation forced “his” drifting, scattered sanity back into focus. “He” stared intently at his wife’s beautiful, pearly face.

He’s crying. He’s afraid…

And he’s looking for me.

The youth’s hair was black as night. His lips were so red they looked as if a single stroke from a tentacle would cause them to bleed sweet, nectar-like blood.

The tears… they smell so good.

The curve of his protruding shoulder blades was frail and elegant. His wife was so small; “he” could swallow him in one bite, crush him in two. The sweet flavor would be enough to drive “his” taste buds into a frenzy.

Suddenly, Yuan Su’s heart began to race uncontrollably. The roar of his own blood hammered against his eardrums. Biological instinct screamed at him to leave, to run!

But Yuan Su’s weakness was being held in a firm grip; there was nowhere to run.

The monster watched him.

His wife was not well-behaved, nor was he settled. He had even ruined his human body. Yet, he was so delicious that “he” wanted to chew him up slowly and swallow him whole…

Become a part of me.

It was a wonderful thought, but another fragment of logic tugged against this extreme impulse.

Overwhelmed by an unprecedented sense of dread, Yuan Su asked the system in a near-breakdown: “What does he actually want?!”

First the nightmares, and now he was haunting reality. It was a detached, high-dimensional playfulness the casual toyings of a superior being.

341: [You are hateful; he wants to kill you.]

341: [You are delicious; he wants to eat you.]

Well, yeah. He had killed Qin Zhao, betrayed him, and shortly after his death, sold out the Guild to his rival and flirted with his brother… He was hypocritical and loathsome.

But so what? Isn’t that exactly what a villainous cannon fodder is supposed to be?

The invisible weight pressing down on Yuan Su’s back didn’t lighten. It was heavy, cold, and slimy, like a giant jellyfish encasing him completely. The dangling tentacles wrapped around him, creating a stifling, airtight sense of suffocation…

Yuan Su wondered if he needed to act like his heart was literally stopping from terror before this unpredictable monster-husband would let him go.

Just as he was debating whether to perform a full-blown fainting spell, the “tentacles” finally ended the torment.

The invisible pressure and the feeling of suffocation vanished abruptly, as if erased by the air itself.

He’s gone?

The blue pendant hanging from the youth’s neck swayed in the air, resembling a roving eye maintaining its silent vigil.

The dreamlike, dark light within it flickered, magnificent and macabre.

Unaware, Yuan Su’s pale cheeks were wet with tears that clung to his lashes. He looked utterly fragile, helpless, and harmless.

He lay on the table for a long time before finally moving his stiff neck. He propped himself up slowly, his long black lashes drooping listlessly, his amber eyes filled with resentment.

“Stupid, brainless creature.”

After a few seconds of silence, 341 snapped out of it, staring in horror at Yuan Su’s clean, bright, yet dangerously beautiful face. [What did you just say?]

Yuan Su stood up and stretched, working out the kinks. He pursed his lips and complained in a soft, silky voice, “I said he’s so mean.”

The system glitched. [You better mean that…]

This host is seriously not right!

Yuan Su reviewed his performance and thought his reflexes were sharp, but remembering the sensation of being pinned and those weird touches through his clothes, he hugged his arms and shivered with disgust…

He was getting goosebumps just thinking about it!

Seeing his face go pale, the system asked: [Are you scared?]

“A little, but for the salary, it’s worth it,” Yuan Su nodded with professional modesty.

With the interruption from his “dead-ghost” husband, Yuan Su’s sleepiness vanished. This reminded him of his current flirting target, Qu Zhilan, who was still outside the base.

He was about to send a check-in message when he suddenly heard a strange noise coming from a dark, unlit corner of the warehouse!

“Who’s there? Come out!” Yuan Su looked over warily. He could vaguely see a small figure hiding behind a pile of farming tools and harvesting equipment.

Yuan Su consulted the system: “Is that a person?”

341: [Yes.]

Why is there a kid here?

Relieved it wasn’t Qin Zhao, Yuan Su relaxed slightly. He pulled some leftover candy from his bag and walked over slowly, softening his voice. “Little one, I have candy. Do you want some?”

Perhaps candy was an irresistible temptation for children in this era. When the figure saw the colorful wrapper, Yuan Su heard a distinct “slurp” of saliva.

A slender little hand gripped the edge of a wooden board. It was a young girl, about seven or eight years old, looking timid.

Fortunately, Yuan Su’s face was fatally attractive to any creature with functioning eyes. Combined with the lure of snacks, the girl swallowed her spit and stepped cautiously out of the shadows.

She was very thin and wore a mask. She looked as if she had been there for a long time; her soft hair was messy and dusty, and her eyes, which should have been bright, were bloodshot and filled with exhaustion and confusion.

The youth squatted down, stopping a short distance away. He held out his hand. The girl hesitated, then darted forward to grab the candy before retreating several steps, shrinking back as if sensitive to the light.

It seemed the girl hadn’t seen the tentacles coiling around him earlier, or she would have run away screaming long ago.

Yuan Su didn’t know where she had come from, but the child’s condition didn’t look good. She was very different from the energetic kids outside—she looked sick and listless.

He opened his bag again and fished out a bag of crackers. “Little sister, I have crackers too. Want to try some?”

341: [Saying it like that makes you sound like a predator. You’ll scare her.]

Yuan Su popped a cracker into his own mouth, his tone upbeat. “Oh, I see. Noted. I didn’t realize you had so much parenting experience.”

341: [?]

Why does it always feel like there’s a hidden meaning in his words?

The girl stared intently at Yuan Su’s hand. Summoning her courage, she stepped closer again. She pinched a cracker from the bag, but her gaze lingered on Yuan Su’s fair, delicate neck.

“Gulp.”

Yuan Su heard another heavy, wet sound of swallowing—something that definitely didn’t sound like it should come from a child.

The girl’s voice was low and raspy as she whispered, “Thank you, big brother.”

Yuan Su simply placed the remaining crackers on the table and pointed to another stool. “I can’t finish them. You have the rest.”

Seeing that he wasn’t chasing her away, the girl looked surprised. She seemed desperate to get closer to him. After sitting down obediently and saying thank you again, she bowed her head, pulled down her mask, and began to eat.

Seeing that food had bought her over, Yuan Su watched her for a moment and asked, “How did you end up here? Where are your parents?”

Was she an employee’s child? It felt like she had been here a long time. She was filthy, and her clothes clearly hadn’t been changed or cleaned in ages.

Thinking it through, Yuan Su asked gently, “Are you lost? I can take you to find your parents.”

The girl paused her chewing. Her lowered head shook slowly, and she didn’t speak.

Yuan Su felt a bit worried. He could easily just leave the food and walk away, but this girl looked like she was… infected.

Employees brought their children into the sector specifically to avoid infection, as there were independent disinfection rooms here.

The child was swaying as she walked, and her skin had a greenish-white tint. She didn’t seem entirely lucid, moving only out of pure hunger.

He had already interacted with her. If something happened later and she didn’t get treated in time, wouldn’t he be held responsible?

He sighed and said, “Tell you what, I’ll go ask around the two sectors and see if anyone has lost a child. You wait here for me, okay?”

“Daddy said… it’s dangerous outside… I have to wait here for Daddy… Daddy is working. I wait for Daddy…”

The girl shook her head again. She kept her head down, but her voice sounded muffled and strange, as if her mouth were full.

At the same time, the child grabbed a handful of crackers and stuffed them into her mouth, accelerating her chewing. The “crunch-crunch” sound of the crackers in the small space sounded like bones snapping as if teeth were grinding violently against each other, like a wild beast gnawing on prey.

The sound made Yuan Su’s scalp tingle. A sense of foreboding rose in his chest. He was just about to find an excuse to leave when the girl stopped chewing and spoke again.

“Big… big brother…”

Her voice was even raspier than before. To be more precise, it sounded like the low, huffing growl of a starving canine. Her head drooped at a bizarre angle, almost touching her chest.

“Not full… I’m still… so hungry… I want more…”

Then came a massive, wet “gulp” of someone swallowing their saliva.

“Big brother… you look… so delicious…”

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