Cannon Fodder Chapter 26: Phoenix Awakened 26: Wrong

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

Exposed?

Yu Ze was surprised. The fact that his blood could cure the zombie virus was something only he and Long Yuan knew about. He really couldn’t figure out how it was exposed.

“What happened?” He sat down next to Long Yuan.

Long Yuan took his hand and lifted his chin, gesturing at the holographic screen in front of him, and at the same time a voice played out. The holographic screen was showing the research lab’s presentation, the topic was related to the antidote for the zombie virus.

The speaker was no stranger to Yu Ze, it was Professor Zhao whom he met just a few days ago. Yu Ze didn’t know what was going on, but looking at the excited faces of the people in the room, he could guess that Professor Zhao had said something powerful.

Long Yuan explained, “He gave a full report on the entire process of making the antidote, from extracting the mycelium-like substance from the Mushroom Awakened to the finished product, including the reaction of the antidote after it was used on the infected.” He paused, his tone cold, “After the demonstration, he reported on a newly discovered antidote, blood, that was even more potent than the mycelium-like substance.”

“That’s definitely your blood.” His grip on Yu Ze tightened and he tilted his head to ask, “Did he take your blood?”

“No…” Yu Ze shook his head but suddenly thought of something, and his fingers moved, “The day I went to get the antidote with my uncle, the syringe in his hand accidentally stabbed my finger.”

Long Yuan’s face sank, “He definitely did it on purpose.”

Yu Ze wondered, “If it was intentional and he took my blood for a purpose, how did he know that my blood is special?”

Long Yuan guessed, “Maybe something made him suspicious, or maybe your Awakened situation was special and piqued his interest.”

The reporter’s excited question came from the holographic screen, “Professor Zhao, is everything you said true? Is this newly discovered antidote really blood?”

Professor Zhao sounded certain, “Yes.”

“Then what kind of beast’s blood is it?” The reporter hurriedly asked again.

Professor Zhao looked at him and shook his head, “This is an accidental discovery. It’s not clear who the blood belongs to yet. The blood analysis is currently being done and I will send out a notice when the results are available.” He looked straight, “The reason I brought it up at the conference was to give everyone confidence. The appearance of the virus antidote makes me believe that we will witness history and all the lands occupied by the zombie beasts will be taken back! Watt will see a great unification.”

The reporters were infected by his words and became more emotional; the atmosphere was hot.

The press conference ended and Long Yuan turned off the holographic screen.

Yu Ze’s bracelet vibrated at that moment and it was an unfamiliar message with a link, “Feng Ze, you should be interested in this video.”

Yu Ze clicked on it, and it was a recording of the official launch video.

Long Yuan said, “It looks like he’s upset, I’ll contact him.”

Yu Ze grabbed his wrist, “I’ll contact him and see what he wants to do.”

Long Yuan hesitated for a moment and nodded his head.

Yu Ze dialed the communication and the other party quickly answered, “Feng Ze, I hope I didn’t disturb your rest.”

Yu Ze asked, “Professor Zhao, tell me straight, what is your purpose?”

Professor Zhao replied, “Then I will be straightforward, I hope you will cooperate with my research and provide me with blood in regular rations.” He explained, “I’m not doing it for myself, you should be clear that Watt needs a large amount of antidote for the zombie virus, and Mushroom Awakened ones are limited in number and complicated to make without the convenience of your blood.”

Long Yuan’s face was cold and he was about to speak, when Yu Ze shook his head at him. Yu Ze continued to ask, “I’m curious, why would you take my blood?”

Professor Zhao laughed lightly, “Don’t you know how intriguing your Awakened process was? Almost eighteen years old before the beast ancestor gene was tested, but a month later or so you became an advanced Awakened.” His tone was filled with admiration, “This really amazed me. I took your blood to study it, but I didn’t expect to unintentionally find more interesting effects.”

Yu Ze: This damned researcher’s curiosity!

“By the way,” Professor Zhao’s tone sank, “in addition to this, I also found a very serious hidden concern. You Awakened too quickly and it has put a great burden on your body. I think you need to do a detailed examination in my place.”

Long Yuan’s face tightened and he held Yu Ze’s hand.

Yu Ze, “…” Did he have a crow’s-mouth? Even though he was worried that he would disappear after the mission was completed and used this reason in order to prepare Long Yuan’s heart, in fact, he didn’t have any physical discomfort.

Thinking of this, his heart moved. Yes, he was the most aware of his physical condition and he had no problem! He smiled reassuringly at Long Yuan and said to Professor Zhao, “I regret that I cannot trust you after you took my blood privately without my permission. I will remember your reminder and find someone I trust for a physical examination.”

Professor Zhao sighed regretfully, “Student Feng Ze, you are really too cautious. I really am doing it for your health. By the way, don’t you want to know the reason why you Awakened abnormally?” His voice raised slightly, “If we find the cause, it may prompt more people to Awaken too, prompting the Awakened to strengthen their abilities, and the human strength to increase drastically against the zombie beasts. The less people will be sacrificed. You just need to cooperate with me and you can leave a strong mark in the history of the Watt!”

Yu Ze was unfazed by his compulsion, no one knew the reason for the abnormal Awakened better than he did — he was the taskmaster.

Although he wasn’t sure if he had Awakened so fast because of the taskmaster’s golden touch or a hindrance, the underlying reason he Awakened quickly was simply because he wasn’t the original anymore. What’s more, he didn’t have the great desire to leave a mark in history.

His tone was dry, “I refuse.”

“That’s a shame. Let’s talk about providing me with blood then, shall we?” Professor Zhao spoke in an unhurried tone, seemingly confident.

Yu Ze’s blood tumbled and instinctively generated extremely disdainful emotions deep inside.

‘What kind of thing dares to think about the noble Phoenix blood?’

Yu Ze froze, thinking that Phoenix Instinct was cool. He tried to restrain himself from grunting, but his tone was cold as he uttered the same words, “I refuse.”

“Feng Ze,” Professor Zhao’s tone intensified, “I hope you can consider carefully. Do you want to put so many infected and high-risk infected people at risk for the sake of your own selfishness? With the antidote, the soldiers on the front line will not be afraid on the battlefield, and their loved ones at the back will not be scared. You just need to provide blood, it will not endanger your life.”

“Bullshit.” Long Yuan didn’t hold back his foul mouth.

Blood was vital for Awakened people, but while it was true that blood loss was not life-threatening, blood loss meant weakness, which meant reduced combat power. The pain that weakness brought to a strong person was worse than death, and it also wore down the will.

Yu Ze squeezed Long Yuan’s fingertips, slightly soothing, and frowned, “Professor Zhao, this is moral kidnapping!”

“I can’t help it if you think so,” Professor Zhao sighed, “You can ask Young Master Yuan about the situation on the front line, how many people get infected every year.”

Yu Ze pursed his lips, “I know.”

Professor Zhao said, “You know, but you still refuse me? I’m really very disappointed.” His voice was slightly cold, “Either you promise to provide me with a hundred milliliters of blood every other day, or I will disclose that your blood can cure the zombie virus. At that time, the major legion forces will definitely hit on you, and their demands will not necessarily be as mild as mine.”

Yu Ze didn’t control his instincts and coldly snorted, “Whatever you want, go ahead and announce it.” He hung up the communication directly.

When he was a university student in modern times, he would donate blood once a year. Having heard the science, it was best to donate blood every six months, and two hundred or four hundred milliliters at a time.

Even if he was much stronger now, it was impossible to donate a hundred milliliters of blood every other day, unless he just lay in bed waiting to be drawn from.

“Good job!” Long Yuan rubbed the top of his hair and praised his move, then quickly stood up, “I’ll arrange for someone to keep him under control!”

Yu Ze grabbed his hand and shook his head. After the anger, he was unusually calm instead, “It’s useless, he released the information much faster than your people found him. But he just said at the conference that he doesn’t know the result so he won’t spread the news so quickly.” Yu Ze said while thinking fast about how to deal with the situation. He soon came to a decision, took Long Yuan’s hand and stood up, “Let’s go find Uncle.”

“You want to tell Dad?” Long Yuan looked down at him.

Yu Ze nodded, “It’s better to know from us than from others, and I have some ideas that I want to talk to uncle about.”

Long Yuan grabbed him and walked out, “You’re engaged and you’re still calling him uncle? My father will be happy if you call him the same as me.”

Yu Ze was embarrassed and whispered, “It’s against the rules.”

Long Yuan asked, “How is it? Why not ask my parents what they think?”

When the two of them went downstairs, Mother Long was counting the gifts, Xie Wan was helping to check the gift list, and Father Long was sitting aside, unable to intervene at all.

“Why don’t you rest a little longer?” Mother Long beckoned to Yu Ze, “Come and see if you like anything, take it and play with it.”

Yu Ze looked at the beautifully wrapped gift boxes all over the floor and was about to shake his head and refuse when Long Yuan pulled him over. Long Yuan picked a box of round pearls and handed it to Yu Ze, “Have someone scramble it up and hang it later, it will look great in the light, you’ll like it.”

Xie Wan said, “This is too expensive.”

Mother Long smiled, “As long as ZeZe likes it, it’s from the Lieutenant General of the Fifth District Resident. They have a lot of pearls there, it’s not worth much.”

Yu Ze looked to Xie Wan, Xie Wan nodded and he took it, “Thank you, auntie.”

Mother Long said, “Auntie? If you’re worried about confusion, call me Mother Long.”

Long Yuan gave a low laugh, “Say it!”

Yu Ze obediently called out, “Mother Long.”

Mother Long cheerfully answered, “You and A’Yuan go play. This place is very messy, it still needs to be tidied up for a while.”

Yu Ze looked at Long Yuan’s father, and only after a moment did he call out, “Dad, we have something to discuss with you.”

Long Yuan’s smile faded and he pulled Yu Ze to sit down, “Let’s talk about it here, Mom and Mother Xie should also understand the situation.”

Yu Ze made a sound of assent.

Father Long knew his son very well so when he saw his appearance, his expression also became more serious, “What is it?”

Long Yuan instructed Yu Ze to play the main scenes of the launch video once, and then told him about the recovery process.

Long Yuan’s father instantly understood, his eyebrows twisted and asked Yu Ze, “This blood, is yours?” His voice sank, “The syringe!”

The day he took the antidote, he and Yu Ze went together and knew exactly what had happened.

Yu Ze nodded, “It was the blood that day, he pretended to have done it unintentionally but actually took it on purpose.” He told them about Professor Zhao’s threat and then said to Father Long, “I am willing to provide my blood to the Green Dragon Legion for the antidote and research, within the context of my health. I think it is best for the Legion officials to put out the news that my blood can cure the poison before Professor Zhao announces it.”

Long Yuan’s eyebrows knitted up, “I don’t agree!”

Father Long glared at him and then asked Yu Ze, “Have you thought about it?”

Yu Ze nodded, “Mn,” he smiled reassuringly at Long Yuan, “a little blood is not out of the question. It is safest to take the initiative this way, and with Dad in the Legion, no one will mess with me.”

“Who dares to mess with you, I’ll get rid of them!” Father Long mused, “I agree with your idea, I’ll arrange it.”

This day was destined to be an eventful day for the newsmen.

In the morning Long Yuan and Yu Ze’s engagement party dominated the headlines, in the afternoon Professor Zhao’s launch was airborne, and before dinner time, the headlines and hot searches had all changed again.

[The Green Dragon Legion officially announced the heavy news: Legion member Feng Ze’s blood can cure the zombie beast virus, in addition, the Legion is recruiting people.]

The citizens of Watt ran to the official Green Dragon Legion to read the message.

“Really? Could it be that the blood announced by Professor Zhao’s launch is Feng Ze’s?”

“Looking at it, aren’t they rubbing off Professor Zhao’s popularity, right?”

“Fake news recruiting!”

“Would they give up their daughter-in-law to create momentum?”

“Too irresponsible. In order to lure people to join the Green Dragon Corps they even lowered the  limit?”

“Passerby to black, no lower limit!”

Green Dragon Legion, “If you have doubts, you can contact Professor Zhao to ask if it’s true or false oh~”

“Ah, it was officially flipped!”

“This swinging wave number, since it makes my questioning heart fluctuate!”

While the citizens of Watt discussed the uproar, Professor Zhao’s private communication almost burst. He directly blocked all strange communications. Professor Zhao sullenly brushed the news, and his face became even more ugly when he saw the comment that the Green Dragon Legion had posted for people to ask him if the news was true or not.

That wave number that swung up was definitely a mockery of him!

But soon, he calmed down.

Young people were just naive, how many people were in the Green Dragon Legion? The amount of blood needed was definitely more than he asked for, and it wasn’t him who suffered from gambling. He just felt pity in his heart, in his years of research, it had been a long time since he had encountered an existence as interesting to him as Feng Ze.

However, a few weighty communications in quick succession put him in a terrible mood.

“Professor Zhao, I heard that you and Admiral Long have gotten close recently, and you purposely held a conference to create momentum for the Green Dragon Corps? You chose the Long family over my family, this is looking down on my family!”

“Professor Zhao, our side is very interested in this cooperation, there are benefits. Don’t just focus on the Green Dragon Legion. You directly announced that the blood of a senior Awakened has the effectiveness of the antidote to poison, the benefits are not less than you.”

Professor Zhao: Damn conspiracy theory!

These people actually think that the whole thing was designed by him and the Long Family!

On the contrary, he denied working with the Long Family, and the other side still didn’t believe him, and thought he was deliberately pushing back and looking down on people, thus offending many families.

Professor Zhao:? How did things go so wrong!

 

At the Long Family’s residence, Long Yuan put his hand on Yu Ze’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows proudly, “A’Yan and A’Miao replied to me. Uncles have contacted Professor Zhao and he is now in a dilemma.”

If he admitted to it being Yu Ze’s blood, he would both offend other families and help the Long family; if he did not admit or say that the blood of the senior Awakened was valid, his lie would be punctured.

Long Yuan thought of Professor Zhao’s unhappy look, making his heart happy.

Professor Zhao responded only the next day, posting two reports on his private account.

“On the left is Feng Ze’s blood test, and on the right is the test result of the detoxified blood.”

With the text, “After comparing the two results, I searched a lot of information about Phoenix Awakened. The number of senior Phoenix Awakened is very small, and after comparing I found — they all have one thing in common, they have never been infected. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that the blood of Advanced Phoenix Awakened can cure the zombie virus. As to whether the conclusion is accurate or not, we still need Student Feng Ze to cooperate with the research.”

As soon as Professor Zhao finished the announcement, there were many replies immediately, and he replied to one of them.

[There is only one known advanced Phoenix Awakened, Feng Ze, do you think his existence can have any effect on the zombie virus?]

Professor Zhao, [I think the impact is great. His blood is different from the antidote made by Mushroom Awakened based people; a Mushroom Awakened person can only make one antidote, but he is different.]

A chill rose up from Yu Ze’s back when he saw that.

Yeah, of course he was different, a person who was alive would be able to keep providing blood.

“Ka…” Long Yuan’s body emitted a heavy cold air, and his fingers clicked with his bones due to excessive force. He wrapped his arms around Yu Ze, “Don’t be afraid, no one can hurt you.”

Yu Ze smiled, “I’m not afraid, and you don’t have to be nervous. I won’t mess around. I will only provide blood to the Green Dragon Legion within the scope of healthy blood donation.” He turned his head to look at Long Yuan, his eyes were bright and full of hope, “With my blood, plus the antidote you didn’t use, the researchers of the Green Dragon Legion will soon find a substitute.”

Long Yuan exclaimed, “Whether we find it or not, I won’t allow others to hurt you!”

Yu Ze said, “Then I have to be strong myself to do so, you be my coach.” He thought of Long Yuan’s ‘strict’ words and added, “Be very strict! I’ll tell you if I can’t handle it, so don’t be soft!”

Long Yuan frowned slightly, this was a little difficult, “I’ll try.” He tapped his finger on the bracelet, “Before exercising, I have to give a warning to Professor Zhao and people who want to hurt you.”

Yu Ze was curious, “How?”

Long Yuan actually wanted to beat people up, but it was unrealistic.

Long Yuan said, “To a law-abiding person like me, of course I will go through the formal procedure. You are my fiancé so it’s not strange that I know your blood can cure the poison, but how did Professor Zhao know? And where did he get your blood from? Besides studying your blood, could he also be studying the blood of other Awakened people in private?”

Long Yuan grunted, “Since he designed to take your blood, I’m afraid what he did in private is not clean either, we have to check it out.” He dialed the police communication, “This is Long Yuan, I’m reporting…”