Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 25

When Xie Zhirang woke from his dream, his head throbbed with a splitting pain. Merely forcing his eyelids open was an arduous task, as if a thick black cloth were tied tightly over his eyes.

His throat was so parched and raw that he could not make a normal sound. The pheromones of the Alpha who had marked him acted like a lethal aphrodisiac; even the slightest hint leaked the night before had been enough to instantly ignite his desire, reducing him to a beast stripped of all reason.

The back of his neck, repeatedly marked, felt hot and abnormally swollen, as if he were wearing a collar that belonged exclusively to Xu Zean.

His limp body lacked any strength. He struggled to prop himself up, but his toes had not even touched the ground before he collapsed.

A pair of long legs entered his blurred vision. In the next second, he was pulled up and carried back to the bed. The Xu Zean before him looked steady and profound, dressed in a formal suit, evidently having just returned from outside.

Xu Zean sat down beside him, his warm chest pressing against Xie Zhirang’s back. With a gentle pull, he confined him in his arms. This intimate yet alien gesture made Xie Zhirang’s entire body go rigid; his tense spine bristled like a startled cat.

“Xie Zhirang, how about I help you quit this job?” Though they were the gentle whispers of a lover, they felt like plunging into ice to Xie Zhirang. “There is no need to go to such a disorganized place anymore. It will save you from running into people who lack eyes next time. I do not want to worry like I did yesterday.”

Xie Zhirang sat on pins and needles in his embrace, his gaze drifting aimlessly. He pursed his lips and remained silent. The spot where his lip had been bitten stung slightly, and he moistened it repeatedly with his tongue.

“Why are you not speaking? Are you unwilling?” Xu Zean pressed his face affectionately against Xie Zhirang’s cheek, just as he had playfully kissed him during their youth. The scent of pheromones, like strong liquor, permeated everything. “Or are you unhappy?”

Xie Zhirang blinked, his mouth opening and closing slightly, managing only a faint, breathy whisper. “No. I will listen to you.”

Xu Zean’s eyes lit up. He tightened his hold, nuzzling his head into the crook of Xie Zhirang’s neck with the excitement of a puppy. His tone turned upward. “I thought you were going to refuse again like last time. I told you long ago that the place pays little and demands much. Instead of wasting time there, you should spend more time with me. I can pay you double.”

Xie Zhirang stared at the plain band on Xu Zean’s ring finger, his voice soft and muffled. “My opinion is not important anyway.”

In any case, every instance of his resistance ended in futility. If that were the case, it was better to yield to Xu Zean’s wishes from the start, rather than waste energy praying for decisions that could not be overturned.

“What?” Xu Zean did not hear him clearly.

Xie Zhirang shook his head.

“If you really like it that much, I will set up a shop for you downstairs at the company. You can play however you like, and that way, I can see you anytime.”

Xu Zean’s broad hand moved ambiguously down Xie Zhirang’s chest, slipping under the warm covers to find his fingers. He forced his way into the gaps between Xie Zhirang’s fingers inch by inch, humming a few unknown tunes happily, as if he had captured his favorite toy.

He pulled Xie Zhirang down onto the bed. As they rolled, something hard pressed against his back. He let go and reached behind him, pulling out Xie Zhirang’s phone.

Xie Zhirang had no secrets from him. Bored, he unlocked the phone; the first message on WeChat was from Lin Zhou.

Xu Zean’s face darkened uncontrollably. “Why are you still in contact with him?” he asked coldly.

As he spoke, he clicked on the chat with Lin Zhou and saw a photo cropped from a news page. In the photo, Xu Zean was leaning close to a minor actor in a dimly lit restaurant. From the camera’s perspective, it looked as though they were kissing.

Xie Zhirang glanced at the photo listlessly and turned his head, meeting Xu Zean’s complicated gaze.

“I just had dinner with some other investors. They brought those people along. We just sat together and nothing happened. It is all just gossip photos,” Xu Zean explained with an unpleasant tone.

Xie Zhirang pulled his lips into a faint smile and said calmly, “Yes. I did not believe it.”

Relieved, Xu Zean flipped over to press him down, hugging his waist while kissing and pinching him. “I only love you. I have no interest in any of those other monsters and demons. You should delete that idiot Lin Zhou soon; all he does is try to drive a wedge between us.”

Xie Zhirang stared blankly at the ceiling, unsure of what he had promised. Xu Zean continued to whisper sweet nothings affectionately, but Xie Zhirang’s heart felt as empty as a misty, desolate wasteland.

Everything in the dream had been so real. If it were not for Lin Zhou’s appearance, this might have been his original fate. No, that was not right either. The Lin Zhou in the dream was completely different from the real one. In the dream, he was the cherished young master of the Lin family, brash but pure-hearted; he was devoted to Xie Zhirang but powerless to resist Xu Zean.

If the Xie Zhirang in the dream was a drowning fool, then the Lin Zhou in the dream was a small boat drifting with the current, forever helpless in the face of his plight, while Xie Zhirang himself could never grasp the distant wooden planks.

Xie Zhirang raised his hand to touch his bandaged gland. The pain and helplessness from the dream seemed lingering. His eyes were dim as he whispered, “After waking up, I have been thinking. Even if it was not Xu Zean, I might have become someone else’s accessory in some other accident.”

“Accessories do not have the ability to resist,” Yu Lin yawned, speaking nonchalantly. “Are you still the same Xie Zhirang as before?”

Xie Zhirang’s eyes moved, and he slowly turned his head to look at Yu Lin with a stunned expression.

“Did I not teach you how to fight back? Vulnerable spots, easy targets, the use of weapons, you did very well this time too.” Yu Lin leaned his chair against the hospital bed, rocking it back and forth rhythmically. “Those things have not happened. What are you overthinking for?”

“As long as you are unwilling, it will not happen.”

Xie Zhirang watched him in silence for a long time. Finally, his eyes welled up, and he threw himself into Yu Lin’s arms, nearly knocking the chair over.

Xie Zhirang hugged his waist tightly, as if he had finally found a piece of driftwood in the vast deep sea. Tears flooded down his face, and his features crumpled with grief.

He sobbed, “If I had not met you, I really would not know what to do.”

He did not like that kind of life. It was as if he were always resisting fate, yet seemingly never able to escape it. Mountains and floods came one after another, always delivering a heavy blow just when he thought he could escape and start over.

He kept asking himself if he loved Xu Zean. Was the emotion of constant concern and accommodation truly love? Was years of entanglement and exhaustion, of settling for the status quo and fearing separation, truly love? Xie Zhirang himself did not seem to know.

Or rather, he did not dare to know.

Because knowing would mean admitting his life was one of powerlessness.

Yu Lin thought for a moment, then reached out and patted his head, pressing Xie Zhirang’s head down slightly before soothingly stroking his hair.

The texture felt good, like petting a large dog. Yu Lin suddenly understood why Lin He liked to rub his head so much.

“Do not cry. There is nothing to cry about,” Yu Lin said. “It was just a nightmare. Do not be so cowardly.”

“Besides, you still owe my brother several hundred thousand. There will be plenty of days for you to cry in the future. Work hard to pay it back, Xie Zhirang.”

Xie Zhirang’s eyes had been stinging with tears, but hearing this, he suddenly burst into a laugh.

“I will.”

Yu Lin did not understand what there was to be happy about. However, the last hurdle of the original plot had been cleared; there probably would not be any more trouble from now on.

He had nothing more to say to Xie Zhirang. After sitting in silence for ten minutes, he became restless and left.

In the hallway outside the ward, Xu Zean leaned against a metal chair, staring up at the lights on the ceiling.

Hearing Yu Lin’s footsteps, he turned his head to meet his gaze. His once handsome face appeared inexplicably haggard.

Yu Lin did not speak, so he did not open his mouth either. However, the constant gaze following him made Yu Lin feel uncomfortable. Instead of rushing away, Yu Lin stood there openly, letting Xu Zean scrutinize him.

After about two or three minutes, Xu Zean finally asked, “Is he okay?”

Yu Lin replied, “Why do you not go see for yourself?”

Xu Zean was choked by the response, his expression stiffening for a moment before he said, “He probably does not want to see me right now.”

Yu Lin told the truth. “You are right.”

Xu Zean reflected silently. It was not necessary to be that blunt.

He had actually arrived outside the ward long ago, just a step behind Yu Lin. He had heard everything Xie Zhirang said. He could not deny that, knowing himself, the things in the dream were indeed things he would have done.

Since childhood, there was nothing Xu Zean could not get. As for whether those things were discarded or loathed after he got them, he did not care. Xie Zhirang’s words were the first time he felt shaken by his own predatory, self-centered nature, to say nothing of what Xie Zhirang had just said to Yu Lin.

The feelings he thought he held in the palm of his hand, the privileged and comfortable life, and the possessive, critical care he gave, in the other’s heart, they were nothing but shackles for a lifetime. Xie Zhirang wanted to be a wild weed by the roadside; even if weathered by wind and sun or fallen into the mud, he would still be free. Meanwhile, Xu Zean, who tried to force him to be a hothouse flower, was the villain and antagonist in his fate.

“Do not give me that look. I am not going to comfort you the way I comforted Xie Zhirang,” Yu Lin said coldly.

Xu Zean froze, realizing he had just shown his confusion and vulnerability. He sneered, “I do not need your comfort either.”

Yu Lin turned to leave.

“Hey, you will be good to him, right?”

Yu Lin replied heartlessly, “Xie Zhirang is not a giant infant. He will be good to himself.”

Xu Zean did not say another word.

When Yu Lin had walked a long distance away, he suddenly heard 007 let out a confused sound in his head.

Yu Lin asked half-heartedly, “What is it? How much more deep affection value did he contribute?”

007 said in surprise, “No. The world line for this world, it seems to have suddenly vanished from the system.”