Chapter 9: Cannon Fodder, but Resilient

Chapter 9: Cannon Fodder, but Resilient

After much persuasion, the system finally agreed that if he succeeded in this mission, it would advance him one million.

With this promise, Ye Man’s anxiety eased a bit.

"But you must tell me what you need this money for."

The system wasn’t particularly concerned about the money; to the system, money was just a number. However, it couldn’t find any part of the plot that required Ye Man to spend so much money. The fact that its host was hiding something from it made the system both uncomfortable and curious. Ye Man always struck it as elusive and hard to pin down. But upon reflection, it seemed like it might just be overthinking, after all, Ye Man was just a young man with a humble background, incomplete education, and limited experience.

"I’ll tell you, but only if you agree to..." Ye Man extended two fingers, his eyes narrowing slyly, fox-like, negotiating with the system, "two hours of bedtime stories, and I'll tell you."

The system felt that Ye Man was deliberately teasing it. Two hours of bedtime stories? What kind of deal is that? It didn’t believe Ye Man was only after such trivial 'benefits'. Besides, what kind of benefit was that?

But after some thought, it still pulled up a bunch of children’s fairy tales, and with an emotionless mechanical voice, it read them verbatim, turning the lively fairy tales into a monotonous drone that made one drowsy.

Ye Man, however, was quite satisfied as he snuggled into the blanket. With the system's voice, even if it was just a machine, he wasn’t afraid of sleeping alone in the big, empty bed.

Otherwise, he’d always imagine hearing knocks on the door and could only sleep in some narrow, dark places.

Ye Man’s sleep was often troubled; he was frequently startled awake by dreams at night. At times, he’d hide in the shadow of the unit door, with the red and blue lights of a police car flashing in another world just beyond reach.

He overheard adults whispering about a 'break-in,' 'robbery,' 'suspect,' and how they 'didn’t catch him' or 'see his face.' The corridor behind him was very dark, the sensor light long broken, and at night there was no light at all, so dark it seemed like a monster might lurk behind him.

He didn’t dare turn around, but he could sense the chill creeping closer, a cold ghostly hand reaching towards his back.

One step forward, and he’d be in the bright world outside. But he just stood there watching, silent, his young face blank and unfeeling, until a hand grabbed his shoulder, and still he didn’t move an inch.

Hands grabbed his arms, his legs, his neck, more and more of them, and finally a large, filthy hand smeared with foul-smelling mud covered his face.

He watched as the red and blue police lights faded into the distance, as he was gradually swallowed by the deep cold, but he never made a sound.

At other times, he’d be surrounded by debt collectors, blocking out all light.

He always had nightmares, bizarre and vivid, and would wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. He’d wake up to a dark, empty room, his heart racing, unable to fall back asleep. The next day he still had to get up for work, his mind wandering, prone to making mistakes, so Ye Man came up with a solution: sleeping in the closet.

The Chi Family's room was bigger, the bed was bigger, and lying alone on it, with the lights off, he always felt like there were eyes watching him, which was quite creepy, so he reluctantly abandoned the soft bed and returned to sleeping in the closet.

But now, with the system making noise, the room felt more lively, and he wasn’t scared anymore, immediately lying down in the bed with delight.

He pulled the blanket up to just below his eyes, covering his nose, and rubbed it with the tip of his nose, feeling so comfortable he wanted to blow bubbles.

Recalling the day’s events, Ye Man quietly raised a hand to touch his head. It seemed he could still feel the warmth of the hand that had covered the back of his head.

He spread his fingers and compared; the hand of the big shot was much larger than his.

Unlike the cold, terrifying ghost hands in his dreams, that hand wasn’t scary at all, it was warm, and made him feel secure.

Ye Man hesitated in his heart.

If... if he could fall asleep with that hand on his head like during the day, would there be an extra hand in his dreams that wasn’t so scary? If so, would the nightmares also become less terrifying, and could he sleep a little better?

Thinking of it, he acted!

He clumsily imitated Xu Huaiting's actions, touching his own head, pretending it was the other person stroking his hair, and accompanied by the system's straightforward recitation, he earnestly coaxed himself to sleep.

As he drifted off, he thought, the big shot didn’t seem so scary after all.

He had even protected him during the day, he was quite nice!

The next half month passed quickly as Ye Man familiarized himself with the home environment and learned to use the blind cane.

It was the first time the system encountered a blind, villainous side character. Every time it saw Ye Man stumbling and groping his way forward, it couldn't help but reread the well-worn original plot.

Thinking that Ye Man was still diligently causing mischief despite his condition, in a way, it couldn't help but evoke a sense of awe.

He was truly a model of being disabled but determined.

It's just that he wasn't heading in the right direction.

Soon, the day of the shared birthday celebration for the legitimate and illegitimate sons of the Chi Family arrived.

The name on Ye Man's identification had already been changed back to the Chi surname. Since Ye Man had been called by that name since childhood and was used to it, they simply prefixed his current name with the Chi surname. Usually, everyone still called him Ye Man, so he didn't need to adapt to a new name.

As the system predicted, Meng Yao gave Chi Jue a very expensive gift.

The Chi Family's young master's birthday banquet invited many wealthy families from the capital. In front of so many people, Chi Jue couldn't afford to slight Meng Yao, even though the two were still in a cold war. Chi Jue had no choice but to accept the gift.

The Meng Family was nothing if not polite, so Ye Man naturally also received a gift from Meng Yao, though it paled in comparison to Chi Jue's gift.

Such events were rife with socializing.

In the plot, Ye Man, dissatisfied with the attention Chi Jue received, purposefully positioned himself beside Chi's parents, showcasing his status as the rightful heir of the Chi Family. He both subtly and overtly taunted Chi Jue, even intentionally spilling wine on himself and framing Chi Jue in a manipulative way.

In reality, Ye Man gripped his blind cane, tapping it rhythmically...

"Someone on the left!"

Tap, tap, tap...

"Ahhh! Be careful with the cup!"

Tap, tap...

The system was so nervous it felt like it needed oxygen.

"Be careful! Ye Man!"

"Ah!"

The Chi Family's four members, engrossed in socializing, abruptly turned towards the noise.

Chi Yan put down his wine glass and quickly walked over, "What happened?"

Ye Man clutched his stomach, eyes brimming with tears, "I bumped my stomach on the corner of the table."

He knew from experience it would bruise.

Chi Yan frowned, "Didn't I tell you to stay in the rest area and not roam around?"

There were many people at the banquet, and Ye Man wasn't adept with the blind cane. Chi Yan had specially set aside a private rest area for him, preparing all his favorite foods and drinks ahead of time. He had introduced Ye Man around to make his presence known, then brought him to the rest area, instructing him to call for assistance if necessary and not to wander off alone.

The last time he wandered around, he ran into the third young master of the Chu Family and ended up with a lot of injuries. The time before that, when Chi Jue took him out to play, he wandered off again and even provoked the head of the Xu Family. This time, Chi Yan had specifically arranged for someone to watch over Ye Man, but somehow he still managed to slip out.

He stared at his seemingly obedient younger brother, his eyebrows knitted into a deep frown.

It was hard to understand.

Chi Yan faced the biggest challenge of his life.

He thought his younger brother would be as easy to handle as Chi Jue, even though Ye Man seemed like a well-behaved child.

Ye Man agreed readily, but he couldn’t help but wander off.

As a villainous side character, he had to stir up trouble from time to time.

The impact to his stomach was hard, but Ye Man didn’t actually feel much pain.

His cry was more out of fear that the items on the table might fall.

It wasn’t that he was particularly tolerant of pain; on the contrary, Ye Man was actually very sensitive to it, but he had learned to brush off his injuries.

What else could he do?

Even if he cried from the pain, no one would come to comfort him.

If he irritated Ye Guowen, he’d just get hit.

Later, after his mother passed away and Ye Guowen left without returning home, he was left to navigate the world alone, and he couldn’t afford to cause trouble for others. Over time, he learned to ignore his injuries.

Ye Man thought it was no big deal and still wanted to continue picking on Chi Jue.

He quickly put on an act and pitifully said to Chi Yan, "I’m so scared being alone, with no familiar people around. Big brother, could you send Chi Jue over to keep me company?"

On such an important social occasion, instead of letting Chi Jue mingle and expand his network, he was being asked to accompany a blind guy who’s no use. How awful!

If they were alone together, wouldn’t he be able to bully Chi Jue as he pleased?

Chi Jue would be left helpless, trapped in the clutches of a villainous side character, with no one to call for help.

He really was a clever little troublemaker.

Ye Man was secretly gloating, hoping for recognition.

He was dead set on pulling this off!

Chi Yan paused for a moment, then his furrowed brows relaxed.

Li, the secretary who was following him, watched as his typically cool and composed boss quietly looked away in response to his younger brother’s soft complaints.

"I understand."

"Sorry," the boss murmured awkwardly, ruffling his brother’s hair.

Chi Jue, who had been eavesdropping on every word, walked over and took Ye Man’s hand, "I’m sorry, Xiao Man, I messed up."

Ye Man blinked.

He’d summoned him over on a whim, so why wasn’t he mad and instead saying sorry?