Cannon Fodder Chapter 2: Phoenix Awakened 2: Looking

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

Yu Ze arrived at the fifth floor and poured different amounts of nutrient solution for different flowers according to the original’s memory. As he was watering, the door was heavily pushed open with a clang. He was startled and looked over to see a young man in a dark red suit and tie staring at him angrily, his face red from the wine he had consumed.

Feng Hai!

His heart tightened. From the memory of the original, he had received Feng Hai’s communication before he died, and the emotion of anger and resentment attacked him. He tightened his grip on the handle of the watering can and took a small step back, staring at Feng Hai warily.

Why did Feng Hai come over in person? Didn’t he send someone over to have him send him flowers to the banquet hall?

“What did you do?” Feng Hai raised his hand and pointed at him, questioning loudly.

Yu Ze steadied his mind and pointed to the brightly colored flowers in front of him, “Watering the flowers.”

Feng Hai waved his hand, “That’s not what I’m asking! Why did father ask me to take you to him?”

Yu Ze’s heart was shocked and his scalp tingled. Feng Hai’s father, Feng Sheng, was the one who started the death of his predecessor. He was not mentally prepared to meet Feng Sheng.

Without waiting for Yu Ze’s answer, Feng Hai then said viciously, “I’m warning you, be honest. Don’t think you are a Feng family member because your last name is Feng.”

“I am not a Feng family member.” Yu Ze said immediately. If he could, he wouldn’t want to be named Feng at all.

When the Feng family name was mentioned, he would feel a chill on his back.

If he could, he wanted to take Xie Wan and leave the Feng family immediately. Unfortunately, Xie Wan’s salary was almost entirely spent on Feng Ze’s studies and her own medical treatment, and they had no savings at all.

He was helpless. For the first time in his life, he was worried about money.

“You know what you’re doing,” Feng Hai grunted lightly, muttering ‘wimp’ with contempt, then turned around, “Come with me.”

Yu Ze was a little hesitant to leave the watering can. There were still two pots of flowers that had not been watered with the nutrient solution, and most of all, he was a little scared to see Feng Sheng. He didn’t understand why things were going differently when he had only been here for less than an hour!

Feng Hai took two steps and realized that Yu Ze was not following him, so he impatiently urged, “Hurry up.”

Yu Ze saw him like this and knew he didn’t want to wait for him to finish watering the flowers. Also, it was impossible for him not to see Feng Sheng, so he had to put down the can and follow him.

When he arrived at the first floor, Feng Sheng was already waiting there.

Feng Sheng’s tone was gentle, but his words were very direct, staring at Yu Ze as he asked, “Did you meet Long Yuan on the third floor?”

Yu Ze was surprised, he didn’t understand why Feng Sheng cared about such a small thing. Thinking about Long Yuan’s previous situation, his heart tightened. Could it be that after he left, Long Yuan jumped off the building again?

He nodded his head, “Yes.”

Feng Sheng asked again, “What happened?”

Yu Ze promised Long Yuan that he wouldn’t say anything, and he didn’t do anything bad, so he said, “Nothing.”

Feng Sheng lightly pressed his eyebrows, releasing the pressure of an Intermediate Awakened, “Answer honestly. If it’s nothing, why did Long Yuan ask to delete the surveillance?”

Yu Ze raised his eyes in shock, the sudden pressure made him uncontrollably nervous, like a prey being watched by a hunter. Was this the power of the top existence in this world, an Awakened One?

He clenched his fists tightly and restrained his panic. Then it dawned on him. No wonder Feng Sheng sought him out, Long Yuan asked to delete the surveillance.

The fact that Feng Sheng was suspicious, he certainly did not think this was just the young man trying to save face. No, Yu Ze had a flash of light, perhaps not only to save face, but also for security concerns.

Long Yuan’s situation was very dangerous. If someone knew about it, they might deliberately lead him to climb high and coax him to jump down.

He tried to calm his breathing, “I just passed by the third floor, nothing happened.”

Feng Sheng stared at him closely, obviously not satisfied with the answer, his brow furrowed as he pondered what would make Long Yuan delete the surveillance and make Feng Ze help hide it.

“Father.” Feng Hai couldn’t bear the intimidating pressure and so he spoke, his tone was weak.

Feng Sheng instantly withdrew the pressure, his face was not very good, both because releasing the pressure consumed energy and because Feng Hai reminded him that he was only an Intermediate Awakened.

Only advanced, that is, fully Awakened people, could release the pressure on the target precisely and without accidental injury.

Among the four families, the Feng family was the only one that did not have a Senior Awakened person, and was gradually showing its decline.

Without the pressure, Feng Hai’s slightly white face quickly recovered its color, “Father, I know what happened,” he pointed at Yu Ze, his eyes filled with detest, “he must have seduced Long Yuan!” He spoke quickly, “Long Yuan is not willing to say anything because of the face of the Feng family, so he has no face to say it.”

Yu Ze was stunned and couldn’t keep his composure, “Don’t be ridiculous!”

The reality was that he was twenty-one years old. Even if Long Yuan was very handsome, he couldn’t even think of him laying hands on a sixteen year old.

Feng Hai sneered, “Father doesn’t know, but don’t tell me you thought I didn’t know? Your usual coolness is all pretend! You like to dabble in flowers at school, and there were two seniors who fought over you before.”

Yu Ze, “……” He searched his brain for a while and was speechless, that incident was caused by Feng Ze’s appearance and Feng Ze himself didn’t say a word. Those two people fought by themselves and said who won was the one who would be worthy of Feng Ze.

Feng Hai saw that he did not retort, and became more complacent, “Father, he is usually such a person. He isn’t part of the Awakened Department in school, so when he saw a chance to get Long Yuan, how could he let the chance go?”

He glanced at Yu Ze’s wrist and snorted, “He will be eighteen in two months, and the chip hasn’t detected the Beast Ancestor gene yet. He is destined to be an ordinary person. He probably wants to get Long Yuan and find a backer.”

Yu Ze squeezed his wrist, his thumb brushing over the inside of his wrist.

As soon as someone on Planet Watt was born, they would have an identity chip implanted under their wrist, which had a genetic detection function.

Some Watt people would awaken to the Beast Ancestor gene at the age of sixteen when they reached adulthood, and the chip would send out an alert when it was detected. Official research results showed that there was a chance that the Beast Ancestor gene would appear at the age of eighteen. In fact, almost all Awakened people had it detected before the age of seventeen.

After the age of seventeen, all those who had not had their Beast Ancestor gene detected basically failed to awaken and became waste — non-awakeners.

The closer they were to eighteen, the lower the probability of the Beast Ancestor gene appearing. Once they were eighteen years old, and it was not detected, they were considered to be ordinary people.

Yu Ze was very sorry that Feng Ze turned out to be an Awakened. If he was an ordinary person, he wouldn’t have to face the danger of the original’s death.

“I’m not, I’m not.” He denied Feng Hai’s words in a firm tone and glared at him, “You are only sixteen, don’t be too nasty in your thinking.”

When Feng Hai heard this, he instantly became angry, “You dare to scold me?!”

He turned his head to Feng Sheng and quickly spelled out his purpose, “Look father, not only is he morally corrupt, he also curses. Someone like him staying in the Feng family will only ruin the reputation of the Feng family. Throw him out!”

“Alright,” Feng Sheng sighed softly, hiding the consideration in his eyes, “A’Hai, take Feng Ze to the living room to have something to eat.”

“Father!” Feng Hai was incredulous and ready to say something else, but Feng Sheng’s eyes glanced at him, so he dared not to say more.

Yu Ze opened his mouth and was ready to refuse, but was angrily pulled away by Feng Hai.

After they left, Feng Sheng contacted the butler to give some instructions before returning to the living room to greet the guests.

Feng Hai let go of Yu Ze at the door of the hall and warned, “Eat something and leave. When Father asks you, tell him I took you to eat, you hear me?”

Yu Ze was very happy not to stay with Feng Hai and nodded his head, “Yes.”

Feng Hai was satisfied and walked into the hall with a light hum.

When Feng Hai was no longer visible, Yu Ze turned around and left. Tonight’s guests were rich and famous, and there were many Awakened ones, so if he wasn’t careful, he could get into trouble.

“Feng Ze,” he had only taken two steps when he was shouted at. He turned around, discovered it was the butler of the Feng family. “The crowd is tight tonight, please help out and take this plate of pastries to the snack shelf in the corner on the right.”

Things were not going the same way as the original’s life. Yu Ze did not want it to differ too much since he’d be safe for at least two months that way. He was worried about the danger of there being too much difference. He looked embarrassed, “Sorry, I have to study for my final exam tomorrow.”

Feng Ze was a sophomore in the horticulture department. The horticulture department’s summer final exam happened to be the next day. On the eighth afternoon after the exam, his chip would be tested for the Beast Ancestor gene. Thinking about it, his lips pursed slightly, the image in his memory was too bloody.

“Also,” the butler did not resent him for refusing, “you are not a Feng family employee. I shouldn’t have asked you to help. Go back and call your mother over.”

Yu Ze’s ears immediately rang with the sound of Xie Wan’s cough, so he quickly explained, “Mom is sick and keeps coughing.”

The butler frowned, “In that case, I’ll find someone else to deliver the pastries, and she’ll take over the cleaning aunt’s job.”

Yu Ze had the memory of the original and wasn’t worried about the exam, and refused only because he was worried about something happening tonight.

Seeing that the butler wanted to let Xie Wan do the work, he worried about Xie Wan’s health and suggested, “I’ll replace mom, and I’ll help with the cleaning.”

“You can’t, you’re a man. You can’t go into the women’s room,” the butler gave him the tray in his hand, “Go deliver the pastries instead.”

The reason was so hardcore that Yu Ze just had to accept it. He took the tray and walked into the hall. The crystal lights in the ballroom dome were spinning, the soothing sound of the music was darting into his ears, and the scent of perfume was lingering in the air.

The Yu family was a wealthy family, and Yu Ze had attended countless banquets since he was a child, so he was not nervous. He focused on the tray to avoid touching the guests. When he almost reached the right corner, he swept his head up to determine where the pastries were to be placed — the snack rack behind the U-shaped sofa — and carefully headed that way.

“Yuan, don’t dawdle.” At the sofa, Bai Yan patted Long Yuan’s shoulder and pointed to the open wine glasses on the table, “Drink it all without saying where you just ran off to avoid the wine.”

The corners of Long Yuan’s mouth twitched imperceptibly as he withdrew his eyes from the front and leaned back with his hands on his chest, “I said I wasn’t hiding from the wine, I went to the bathroom.”

Bai Yan hooked up the white hair strands hanging over his right shoulder, “Such a poor excuse, are you insulting my intelligence?”

Sitting on the inside quietly eating, Xuan Miao, who was eating seaweed, turned his head. His voice was steady and slow, “I went to the bathroom to look for you.”

Long Yuan gave a tsk, “You guys are boring.”

Bai Yan handed a piece of seaweed to Xuan Miao’s mouth and rolled his eyes at Long Yuan, “Who let you be unfriendly, leaving us to face a bunch of elders’ cordial condolences. A’Miao is almost drunk.”

Xuan Miao, “Not drunk.” He lowered his eyes and bit into the seaweed, finished eating it, and without looking back, said, “The new pastries are here.”

Bai Yan raised his eyes and saw Yu Ze carrying the pastry and raised his eyebrows, “Beauty yo,” then he bumped Long Yuan with his elbow, “Did you just stare at him?”

Long Yuan quickly replied, “No, you are too gossipy.”

No sooner had the word ‘too’ fallen from his lips, a loud ‘bang’ was heard coming from not far away.

Long Yuan’s eyebrows twisted.