Who Wants to Be the Affectionate Cannon Fodder?! [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 9

Yu Lin’s way of answering questions could no longer be described as merely unique; it was bordering on “contrarian.”

For instance, on a Chinese literature test, the question asked: “What is the meaning of the sentence ‘This time, I am watching the apricots ripen’?”

His answer: It probably means they’ll taste good once they’re ripe.

Another question asked: “What does the scarecrow in the field represent?”

His answer: How should I know?

As for the multiple-choice reading comprehension in both Chinese and English, he had simply picked at random; not a single one was correct. Surprisingly, his math and physics homework had a staggering accuracy rate. However, the complex calculation problems lacked any steps, just a few simple numbers dropped into the middle of the empty workspace.

If Xie Zhizhang hadn’t witnessed Yu Lin’s every move with his own eyes, he would have assumed he had simply copied the answer key.

Xie Zhizhang looked at his own scratch paper, which was densely packed with calculations, and asked the question burning in his mind: “How did you get the result without showing any steps?”

Yu Lin replied simply: “Can’t you tell just by looking at it?”

Xie Zhizhang: “?”

007, who had “personally” watched Yu Lin write down the answers, was also clearly shaken: 【That really is a bizarre talent.】

Xie Zhizhang had no choice but to start teaching him earnestly from the basics, including the required formats and key points for earning marks. Privately, he found it strange. Lin Zhou might usually be rebellious, but after a decade of schooling, he shouldn’t be this clueless about standard procedures.

Perhaps it really is as his brother said, he’s been overly spoiled by his family since he was a child.

“This is so troublesome.” After Xie Zhizhang explained the answering format for a physics problem for the umpteenth time, Yu Lin collapsed onto the table, burying his face in his arms. He refused to look another second at the dense, neatly written formulas in the other boy’s hand.

He even began to entertain the thought that hot pot wasn’t a strict necessity after all.

Xie Zhizhang, seemingly unaware of his resistance, leaned in a bit closer. The rounded tip of his pencil, sharpened by a small knife, traced patterns just above Yu Lin’s head. “In a place like this, you have to—”

The sound of the front door opening suddenly echoed through the foyer. Hearing the noise, Yu Lin snapped up from the table with sharp reflexes, nearly colliding with Xie Zhizhang’s chin.

The latter also scrambled back a bit, looking toward the source of the sound.

Lin He, just walking in from the entryway, paused. His gaze darkened instantly.

[Affection Value +10. Contributor: Lin He.]

The reason was simple: from Lin He’s perspective, the scene just now looked exactly like two teenagers in the throes of first love whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears. Before the romantic atmosphere could even settle, they were caught off guard by the sound of a parent returning and had to separate in a panic.

“Brother, why are you home so early today?”

Combined with Yu Lin’s question, it looked even more like the guilty behavior of someone caught red-handed.

Lin He raised his hand to rub his brow, shielding his eyes with his broad palm. He let out a self-deprecating chuckle, as if mocking himself for his inexplicable mental projections.

“You don’t want me back?” In his other hand, he carried a beautifully packaged pale yellow paper box. Lin He walked to the table and placed the box in front of Yu Lin. While the latter poked his head out to investigate, Lin He flicked his finger lightly against Yu Lin’s forehead, scolding him: “You little ungrateful wolf.”

Yu Lin didn’t care about the slight pain; his eyes remained glued to the box. He asked, “What’s this?”

“Cake.” Lin He took off his suit jacket, draping it over his forearm. Seeing Yu Lin impatiently reaching out to open it, he pressed his palm against the boy’s forehead again to stop him. “It’s not just for you. Remember to share with the guest.”

The light in the food-protective Yu Lin’s eyes dimmed instantly, and he let out a disappointed “Oh.”

But then he heard Xie Zhizhang say, “It’s okay, I don’t really like sweets. You don’t have to worry about me.”

As soon as those words were spoken, he noticed Yu Lin’s eyes light up again like stars.

Xie Zhizhang couldn’t help but find it strange. After spending the last few days together, he hadn’t discovered much else, but he did notice that Yu Lin was sometimes excessively childlike—every thought was written clearly on his face.

Xie Zhizhang watched him finish more than half the cake by himself without getting sick of it; he even seemed to want more. But in the end, Yu Lin left a small piece, carefully packed it up with a look of reluctance, and pushed it toward Xie Zhizhang.

“For your grandmother. Thank her for the dried fruit.”

Xie Zhizhang was caught off guard and became quite flustered.

Yu Lin didn’t pay much attention. He noticed the Affection Value in the background had climbed several points again. However, when he looked curiously toward Lin He’s bedroom upstairs, he only caught a fleeting smoke-gray shadow.

Can he hear us from that far away?

Monday afternoon, PE class. Xie Zhizhang’s family owned a battered old bicycle. He parked it at a bus stop halfway between the tenements and Yu Lin’s house, riding half the way and running the rest. After a few days, his endurance had actually improved significantly; he wasn’t even out of breath during the pre-class warm-up.

Xie Zhizhang didn’t like interacting with people his own age because, for a long time, most of their interactions had been filled with malicious sarcasm. During times like PE, he preferred to hide in the shade and read.

But today was different. Today, Lin Zhou actually called him over to play ball.

Lin Zhou was quite popular and had a few friends in class he could talk to; his front-row neighbor, Xu Yi, was one of them. However, it seemed that since the incident in the warehouse, Lin Zhou had become less talkative and interacted with those people less frequently.

Initially, Xu Yi wanted to use PE class to mend his relationship with his friend. To his surprise, Lin Zhou—who used to love dominating the court—hesitated. Although he quickly agreed after a few seconds of dazed silence, his playing style was completely different from before.

The old Lin Zhou was skilled at showboating and loved to gloat and provoke others after scoring. Today’s Lin Zhou started conservatively for a few minutes, then began breaking through their defense in an extremely simple yet rapid manner: through sheer speed.

The problem was that no one in their group could outrun him.

And the other problem was that he was incredibly accurate every time he shot.

In just ten short minutes, Yu Lin had used his startling talent to master the high-end sport of basketball.

After seeing the group chasing him until they were out of breath, Yu Lin waved to Xie Zhizhang, who was hiding in the corner, and shouted, “Xie Zhizhang, come over and test the results of the past few days!”

Xie Zhizhang didn’t actually know how to play basketball either, but since Yu Lin had called him, he couldn’t just stay where he was.

However, before he could walk over, a basketball flew straight past Yu Lin’s arm and slammed into the hoop stand behind him, making the metal structure emit a dull, vibrating hum.

Xu Ze’an and a group of Alphas were standing at the edge of the court. The sunlight hit his face, making his aggressive features look even more arrogant and wild. “Do you dare to play a match against us?”

Xu Yi leaned in behind Yu Lin and whispered, “I told you to stay away from Xie Zhizhang. See? You’ve provoked him again.”

Xu Ze’an’s Class 1 and Xie Zhizhang’s Class 13 had PE at the same time.

Since being rejected by Xie Zhizhang that day, he had stayed quiet for a few days. Even when they bumped into each other on the stairs, he would just leave with a cold, disdainful expression.

In Xie Zhizhang’s understanding, Xu Ze’an treated him like a novel toy. There were all sorts of toys in the world; once he got bored of this one, there would be a next one—there would never be a “only one.” Even if he had once been furious about losing this toy, it was merely the result of a twisted sense of possessiveness.

Even the provocation directed at Yu Lin now was the same in Xie Zhizhang’s eyes. They were probably just an eyesore to him again.

Xie Zhizhang lowered his head and fidgeted with his worn school uniform. Then, gathering his courage, he lifted his eyelids and secretly shook his head at Yu Lin, signaling him not to pay attention to Xu Ze’an.

Once Xu Ze’an finds a new toy he likes, he will forget about this boring one.

To his surprise, Yu Lin just curled his lips into a light smile, his tone lifting: “Sure.”

“But whether they are willing or not is none of my business.”

Xu Yi was the first to speak up: “Let’s play then. It’s more interesting with more people anyway. Brothers, let’s show Young Master Xu what we’re made of.”

The other side replied: “Don’t cry when you lose.”

After exchanging harsh words, the match began.

Among the group, everyone except Yu Lin was an Alpha, and Yu Lin was the only novice who had never watched a game or played basketball before, he didn’t even understand basic positioning.

Xu Ze’an’s group was very professional, with forwards, guards, offense, and defense; everyone had a task and followed his lead. On Yu Lin’s side, Xu Yi was able to analyze the situation and make decisions at first, but he was soon completely thrown off by Yu Lin’s rule-breaking, chaotic running across the entire court.

“Pfft—Friend, do you even know how to play?” One of Xu Ze’an’s teammates voiced the first insult. “You sounded so confident just now, I thought you were actually good!”

“He’s just a Beta after all; it’s normal for his skill level to be low. Don’t talk so much, or you might be the one who falls the hardest later.”

“I feel sorry for your teammates, a pro carrying a bronze player.”

A mocking smile also curled on the lips of Xu Ze’an as he faced off against Yu Lin. He dribbled the ball, his chin lifted, his eyes looking down contemptuously at Yu Lin standing before him. His thin, cold lips parted: “I’m going to break through—”

Yu Lin looked at him expressionlessly, completely indifferent.

The next second, Xu Ze’an let out a cold snort. Using a deliberate feint to show off his skills, he faked to the left, then hooked the ball back to break through to the right.

Unexpectedly, Yu Lin had anticipated his move. With a light reach, he intercepted the ball right from under him.

Then, with a backhand motion, he pulled it into his own chest.

Xu Ze’an froze. He reacted quickly, his brain working fast and his feet moving to block him.

However, Yu Lin simply took a step back, jumped, and the ball flew from his hands. It soared across half the court and landed squarely in the basket.

“What the hell was that?”

“Holy crap, look at that distance!”

“Lin Zhou shot that?”

At the end of it, Yu Lin didn’t even give him a glance. Like a gust of wind, he brushed past him and ran toward the falling ball.

Furious, Xu Ze’an was the first to block Yu Lin’s path in the next round.

Yu Lin stopped with the ball and said, “That move you just did was quite interesting—is it like this?”

Then, Yu Lin used the same feinting method to break past Xu Ze’an.

After that, he secured almost every basket in a crushing manner. He used no complex techniques, relying solely on his own speed and shooting accuracy.

Midway through, Xu Yi was so bored that he begged Yu Lin to let him have the ball for a bit. Yu Lin complied and even passed the ball to his other teammates several times, treating it like a game of tag, which completely blew Xu Ze’an’s and his friends’ composure.

After a few rounds, Yu Lin had his fill. He tossed the ball to Xu Yi and ran toward Xie Zhizhang without looking back.

As he ran, he said, “I’ve pretty much learned it now. I can teach you.”

Xie Zhizhang: “???”

Everyone else: “???”

Xu Ze’an, who had been used as a teaching aid and a free practice partner, was fuming. He barked an angry curse: “You’re fucking playing with me, aren’t you? I’m done, dammit!”

Then he stormed off in a rage.

Xie Zhizhang looked at Xu Ze’an’s retreating back, then at Yu Lin, who was completely oblivious. “Is… is this a bit too much?”

Yu Lin: “What?”

He froze for a couple of seconds before slowly realizing that Xie Zhizhang was talking about Xu Ze’an.

Yu Lin said innocently, “What does it have to do with me if they can’t catch up?”

“Besides, getting this angry over such a small thing, no wonder you don’t like him.”

Xu Ze’an, who hadn’t walked far yet, heard this sentence. He spun around abruptly, his eyes looking as if they were about to spit fire.

How the fuck was Xie Zhizhang not done yet? He would rather team up with this ordinary Beta to make a fool of him than come back to his side?