Cannon Fodder 014

Xiaotao had sent off many spirits, some old acquaintances – her earliest "classmates" – and some newly met ones.

After following the traveling Xiaotao to his former residence, Poet Li looked rather agitated. He caressed everything he could see and slowly walked into the house. Xiaotao, Fang Zhiyi, and the others followed him inside.

Poet Li pointed at a painting on the wall. "That's it! That's it! It's fake!"

Xiaotao was stunned.

"Fake! Remember that! Fake!" His body gradually dissipated, but seeing Xiaotao nod, he smiled.

No one had expected his lingering attachment to be about a fake painting.

Little Hei explained, "Back then, he was destitute and wanted to sell a painting a friend had given him for money. Turned out the painting was a fake. He was furious and ended up freezing and starving to death while clutching that very painting... Who would have thought that people years later would believe he painted it himself."

Fang Zhiyi also read the description beneath the painting.

"Li Huang, the great poet, lived a life of pure poverty yet was generous and charitable, befriending countless scholars and refined gentlemen. He had many friends. Upon his death, he held a painting close to his chest. Later generations believe this to be the only painting Li Huang ever created, making it extremely valuable."

Fang Zhiyi sighed. "The whole thing feels utterly ironic." Generous and charitable, yet he starved to death himself. Had many friends, yet not only did no one help him, but the painting he was given was fake. Most crucially, later generations completely misunderstood the painting's significance.

This wasn't a major issue. Xiaotao now had another identity, so after making a few calls to find the right people, someone soon came to change the description.

"Though it doesn't seem romantic anymore, this was his true wish, right?" Xiaotao looked at the newly replaced description.

Fang Zhiyi nodded. "Legends are romantic, and what the public wants to see. But for us, truth is the indispensable thing."

Xiaotao said playfully, "Teacher, it's been a while since you lectured me."

Fang Zhiyi waved his hand. "You've graduated now. No need for my lectures."

No one expected Zhang Wenhao's lingering attachment to be for a taste of crab.

"It was my first time eating that thing!" he said, gesturing animatedly. "Gotta have some sense of ceremony, right? So I was carefully picking the meat. Do you guys eat sunflower seeds usually?"

He waited for Fang Zhiyi, Xiaotao, and Little Chao to nod before continuing.

"I'm the type who likes to shell a whole bunch and then eat them all at once. Feels great." He looked wistfully at the huge advertisement banner featuring two bright red crabs.

"So, I finally had the crab almost all picked. The roe here, the meat here," he gestured. "Then guess what happened? One stubborn strand of meat just wouldn't come off. I decided to put the shell with that bit of meat in my mouth to suck on it. Don't laugh, this was a real delicacy for me back then."

"Just as I put it in my mouth, a friend patted me on the back from behind. Probably saw me and wanted to say hi. But that shell got lodged right in my throat."

Little Chao's eyes widened. "And you died?"

Zhang Wenhao scratched his head. "Yep."

"But didn't they say you died of illness?"

Zhang Wenhao glanced at him. "A shell stuck in your throat counts as an illness, doesn't it? Ah, I get it. They thought telling the truth was too embarrassing. I think it's embarrassing too. Dying of illness sounds better than dying from a crab shell, right?"

"True."

"So... you want to...?" Fang Zhiyi began to understand.

Zhang Wenhao couldn't eat anything, but with Little Chao's permission and Xiaotao's help, he successfully possessed Little Chao's body and ate an entire crab, completely and thoroughly.

As he left, he pretended to pick his teeth and waved at them.

Now, the one giving the group the biggest headache was Xiuniang. She didn't know what she wanted, nor did she know how to leave.

Fortunately, Fang Zhiyi and Xiaotao were clear-headed about it. She could leave if she wanted, or stay if she preferred.

Xiuniang was different from the other spirits. Aside from being a ghost, she was no different from a little girl.

After traveling to another place, Fang Zhiyi saw a familiar face.

Wu Lei had been hiding for a long time. He still couldn't figure out what the black creature beside that Hunter was, but he knew he was in trouble. He never expected Hunters to die so easily, one after another, as if it were a game.

Luckily, he was experienced and had evaded many searches.

Today was another ordinary day. After finishing some odd jobs and getting paid, Wu Lei returned to his temporary lodgings. He habitually cursed the Hunter a few times, scheming in his heart about how to leave this world.

As he fell into a deep sleep, a familiar face appeared in his dream.

"I'm a fair person. You gave me a knife, I'll return a knife. That's all." Fang Zhiyi said it lightly.

Though terrified, Wu Lei was powerless. After all, in terms of experience as a ghost, Fang Zhiyi was far more seasoned than him.

As the knife plunged in, Wu Lei woke with a start, feeling an intense pain in his chest, but looking down, he saw nothing.

The next night, as soon as he fell asleep, Fang Zhiyi entered his dream again.

"You said one knife! You already returned it!" he said fearfully.

Fang Zhiyi looked at his chest. "Where is it?"

Wu Lei looked down and was momentarily speechless.

After a week of such torment, having endured the pain of a knife through his heart seven times, Wu Lei finally couldn't take it anymore. He forced himself not to sleep. After holding out for two full days, his eyes were sunken, and he was listless. While walking on the street, he caught the attention of a patrolling officer.

When the handcuffs snapped onto his wrists, Wu Lei actually felt a sense of relief.

His crime had a severe impact, so he was sentenced to death. Wu Lei felt a notion that maybe after he died, he could finally leave. But he never expected that someone, he didn't know who, spent money to hire a powerful lawyer for him, who managed to get the death sentence reduced to life imprisonment!

Wu Lei felt like crying but had no tears.

He didn't have the courage to take his own life. Fortunately, the Hunter never appeared again.

Instead, a fat man started sharpening a knife in his dreams.

"Who are you?!" he asked, mustering his courage.

The fat man turned around. "A contractor. Boss Fang outsourced your job to me! Don't worry, one knife a day, no more, no less!"

Wu Lei fell into extreme terror. Because he often screamed in the middle of the night, he received special attention. After a while, they transferred him to a prison cell for the mentally ill, where he couldn't even manage to die.

Half a year later.

"Teacher... you..." Xiaotao looked in shock at Fang Zhiyi's body.

Fang Zhiyi looked down and breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally done.

"I'll go first. You've graduated. I'm very pleased!" Fang Zhiyi encouraged her.

Xiaotao's eyes reddened slightly, but she nodded. "Teacher, don't worry about me."

Just then, Little Chao whispered something to Xiuniang beside them. Xiuniang's face instantly flushed bright red, and then she actually began to dissipate as well.

"Whoa! What did you say?" Fang Zhiyi quickly pressed.

"I, I, I just..."

Looking at Little Chao's anxious face, Fang Zhiyi understood.

As they were leaving this world, two systems, black as charcoal, fell out of the suddenly appearing portal.

"It sure feels good to have connections," Fang Zhiyi sighed. "I just never expected the Heavenly Dao of this world to be so erratic—who changes the female lead at the last minute?"

He had already suspected it back then, but it wasn't until the female lead died outright that he confirmed his theory. The Heavenly Dao of this world isn't foolish; in fact, it's quite shrewd. Upon realizing that the male and female leads weren't following the destined path but were instead intensifying their conflicts, it decisively chose the supporting character Xiaotao, who possessed greater fortune.

"What do you mean? They even reselected the male lead," Little Hei remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Speak properly," Fang Zhiyi chided.

"Heh," Little Hei chuckled, glancing back. "It's more or less the same. Only, the original ending had one 'Waiting-for-Husband Stone,' and now there are two."