Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 26

Neither Yu Lin nor 007 knew what the disappearance of the world line truly signified. 007 had even taken a deliberate trip to disconnect and investigate, yet failed to bring back a single shred of information.

“Has this never happened before?” Yu Lin asked nonchalantly. He had loathed the original world line to begin with, so its disappearance held no real consequence for him.

【It is a first. You are the system’s first host; during previous testing.】 Realizing it had said too much, 007 abruptly cut itself off.

Yu Lin, however, did not pay it any mind.

Xie Zhirang was discharged from the hospital within a few days and began his university career in an orderly fashion. The workload for a medical student was heavy, leaving him perpetually busy, yet he somehow found time for a part-time job on the weekends. He lived as if he were a robot running a pre-set program.

Yu Lin’s university life also gradually settled into a rhythm. His international cooperative courses were not numerous; his only headache was the occasional class taught entirely in English.

Yu Lin remained a loner, always sitting in the window seat of the very back row. This was a habit seemingly etched into his bones that remained unchanged even after losing his memory. He often felt as though, in his own world, he had once sat in this exact spot and gazed at the back of someone in the front rows. Yet, whenever he looked toward that familiar direction in a daze, he was always disappointed to find that the person sitting there was not who he imagined.

Occasionally, he thought of the young man surnamed Lu from his dreams. The feeling the man gave him was strange, more profound than a mere chance encounter, but whenever Yu Lin tried to delve deeper, his damaged mental network would flare with a sharp, electric pain.

Time spiraled on for three months. Autumn faded into winter, and the chill grew biting.

Yu Lin was bundled in a cream-colored down jacket. The fur on the hood brushed softly against his face, and his delicate chin was tucked into a camel-colored sweater. His half-lidded eyes were glazed with a layer of mist.

As the bell signaling the end of class rang through the classroom speakers, Yu Lin stretched, and a physiological tear pricked the corner of his eye. Winter was truly the season for drowsiness. He intended to head back to the dorm for a nap, but before he could step out of the room, he was cornered by an Omega.

“Can’t you just give me Xie Zhirang’s WeChat?” The Omega was half a head shorter than Yu Lin, with a baby face and puppy eyes. His voice was soft and sweet, and the ends of his sentences lingered like a hook.

Anyone else might have felt a sense of tender pity for the fairer sex and found it hard to refuse, but Yu Lin merely spared him a glance and walked away, cold-hearted.

Information about Xie Zhirang’s awards was posted on the bulletin board in the hallway. Even before the semester had officially begun, this Omega had embarked on a sensational journey toward fame. From mathematical modeling to provincial competitions in advanced physics, Xie Zhirang spun like a top twenty-four hours a day, as if he were trying to prove something.

During last month’s sports meet, he had even dominated a group of Alphas in several events. He used the prize money to treat Yu Lin to a massive feast at the new hotpot restaurant outside the school gates.

Some department’s publicity team had captured a photo of Xie Zhirang doing the high jump. His cold yet innocent face, his slender yet upright frame under a white T-shirt, and his straight, pale, powerful legs in athletic shorts made him look like a statue. He was something to be admired from afar but not touched. Once posted, it gained massive attention, with several people inquiring about him on the school’s confession wall every day.

Among them were many Omegas; after all, who would not appreciate a cool and handsome member of their own gender? None of them had seen the version of Xie Zhirang that clung to Yu Lin’s waist and sobbed.

However, the relationship between Yu Lin and Xie Zhirang was common knowledge within their circles. Busy as he was, Xie Zhirang found time for Yu Lin whenever possible, either accompanying him to meals and classes or being seen together at the gym. Consequently, those who hit a wall with Xie Zhirang or were too intimidated to approach him would try a curveball approach through Yu Lin.

They did not realize that Yu Lin was an even more impenetrable fortress than Xie Zhirang. Take the Omega in front of him, for instance, who had been pestering Yu Lin for nearly a week.

“Can’t you really give it to me? Don’t be so stingy,” the Omega asked piteously, his large eyes blinking with a woe-is-me look.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” Yu Lin was pushed downstairs by the crowd. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. After seeing the message, he pivoted and walked in the opposite direction of his dormitory.

“Who can catch him?” the Omega chased after him relentlessly. “If you won’t give me his, can you give me your WeChat as compensation?”

Yu Lin tilted his head, meeting the Omega’s hopeful eyes with confusion. Lin Zhou’s original face was very handsome, and paired with Yu Lin’s usual lazy expression, he gave off the vibe of a clean, innocent youth.

The Omega guiltily lowered his gaze, his earlobes turning slightly red.

Yu Lin suddenly realized his motive. “You’re not here for Xie Zhirang.”

The Omega bit his lip. “Of course I’m here for him, but I’m here for you too. Only children make choices; can’t an adult have both?”

Yu Lin was shocked by his audacity for a moment before ruthlessly rejecting him. “There is only room for Xie Zhirang in my heart. You don’t have a chance.”

“Liar! If there were actually something going on between you two, you’d have been together ages ago,” the Omega huffed. “The way you look at him is more innocent than the way I look at my Advanced Math textbook.”

Yu Lin: 【What is he even talking about?】

007: 【He’s not exactly wrong.】

Yu Lin reached the school gate and scanned the area, but he could not see the familiar car yet. Seeing him stay silent, the Omega stamped his feet in frustration. “Are you two just acting as shields for each other? Just give me your WeChat! Consider me?”

Yu Lin’s eyes suddenly lit up. He pressed down on the Omega’s shoulder to move him aside and said quickly and earnestly, “You don’t understand. Sometimes, loving a flower doesn’t mean you need to own it. Just seeing it bloom is enough to be happy.”

This was a line he had stumbled upon in a romance novel in the library two weeks ago. After saying this, Yu Lin let go and bolted out the school gates, vanishing into the distance.

Lin He stopped the car at the school entrance, quietly watching Yu Lin remove his hand from the Omega’s shoulder and excitedly run through the turnstile toward him.

The cold wind blew Yu Lin’s hair into a mess, and the fur on his hood was matted to one side. Yu Lin pulled open the car door, climbed in, rubbed his hands together, and exhaled a puff of cold air. “It is so cold, Brother.”

Lin He did not see how he could be cold, but he turned up the heater anyway. Then he heard Yu Lin’s next sentence: “On a cold day like this, there must be hotpot, right?”

Lin He: “…” He knew Yu Lin had an ulterior motive. “That person just now.”

“Hm?” Yu Lin looked at him blankly.

Lin He said stiffly, “That is the fifth one this month, isn’t it?”

“What fifth one?”

【Counting that Omega just now, that is the fifth pursuer Lin He has seen this month. The previous four were: two Alphas from the Physical Education department three weeks ago, the ones who forced you to play ball; an Alpha from the Art department two weeks ago, that tall beauty with long black hair; and one from the Literature department a week ago.】

Yu Lin asked curiously: 【How do you remember so clearly?】

007 said sarcastically: 【I’m afraid someone else remembers it even more clearly than I do.】

Lin He took a deep breath, gritting his teeth, and did not press further.

“Don’t worry, Brother, they were asking about Xie Zhirang,” Yu Lin lied casually. A notification for a new increase in Affection Points popped up in his mind.

Over the past few months, due to the rise of various rivals, the points in the background had skyrocketed. Combined with what Lin He and that Omega just contributed, the total had just reached 2000.

Yu Lin had a strange premonition that he would be leaving this place very soon.

Xie Zhirang no longer needed him to teach him anything. He was more resilient, tenacious, and clear-headed than before. He knew what he wanted and what he did not, and he was steadily working toward his own goals. As for Xu Ze’an, ever since that day at the hospital, he had faded from their lives. Aside from a brief greeting when they crossed paths on the road, he and Xie Zhirang had almost no interaction.

Yu Lin could not imagine any more drama unfolding in the remainder of this story.

Back at Lin He’s residence, the apartment where he had lived during his senior year of high school, Yu Lin took advantage of the gap while Lin He prepared dinner to send a message to Xie Zhirang.

“Xie Zhirang, I wish you freedom.”

He did not like tearful goodbyes. If he really had to leave, this was enough.

The noise from the kitchen faded. Yu Lin saw Lin He bringing the ingredients to the table and eagerly moved over, but then he glanced at Lin He with a look of suspicion. The ingredients tonight were an exact match for the hotpot meal he had on his very first day in this world.

“Brother?”

Lin He looked at him. “What is it?”

Yu Lin shook his head and pulled out a chair to sit down.

It was the same split-pot setup. The cold-pot duck blood slid into the soup, pushed up from the bottom by the rolling red broth. The spicy, numbing juice of the duck blood burned his lips, and Lin He thoughtfully opened a can of Coke from the fridge and placed it in front of him.

Yu Lin poked out his tongue and asked mumbly, “Brother, why are you being so nice to me today?”

Lin He paused, then took a napkin to wipe a smudge of sauce off Yu Lin’s face. He said softly, “Weren’t you the one texting me every single night saying you wanted hotpot?”

“Oh, right.” Yu Lin rubbed the spot where Lin He’s fingertips had brushed. “But you agreed so readily this time.”

“If you have this many complaints about me being nice to you, next time you can go eat the North Wind,” Lin He said with feigned disgust.

Yu Lin was certain now: his brother was still his brother.

He had actually thought about whether he should say something to Lin He, but every sentence that reached his lips was instantly dismissed. He did not know if the original Lin Zhou would return after he left, if Lin He would notice the difference, or if he would treat his real younger brother the same way he treated Yu Lin.

Thinking of such possibilities made his heart ache with a strange sourness. Even his favorite duck blood lost some of its flavor.

Despite having lived away from Lin He for nearly three months, when it came to a real parting, Yu Lin felt a flicker of reluctance he had never experienced before. Even though he subconsciously felt he should not have such thoughts.

Yu Lin gloomily finished off most of the ingredients by himself. His stomach was so bloated he could only collapse onto the sofa like a salted fish.

Perhaps because he was full, or because the warm air in the living room was making him dazed, it did not take long before Yu Lin’s eyelids grew heavy. He leaned fuzzily against a pillow.

In his blurriness, he felt Lin He, who had finished cleaning up, walk over to him. Water-dipped fingertips brushed the hair away from Yu Lin’s forehead. A finger slid down the side of Yu Lin’s face, the pad of the thumb feeling as though it had lightly pressed a kiss onto his earlobe.

“Goodnight.”

That was the last thing Yu Lin heard before his consciousness sank into the dark. But up until the moment his mind went blank, Yu Lin still had not decided what he wanted to say to Lin He.