Saving Cannon Fodders with the Villain

“Oh, don’t worry about these details.” System Eleven quickly changed the subject: “Let’s get back to the issue of task worlds.”

“We know that this failure has dealt a heavy blow to you, but we still hope that you can pick yourself up. Suitable taskers are hard to come by, and if you give up now, we don’t know when the next tasker will appear.”

“I know you think you’re ordinary and don’t have the ability to do these things, but regardless, your appearance is a hope for those who are destined to sacrifice in the horror worlds.”

“And, I bear a great responsibility for the failure of this task.” System Eleven’s tone was full of shame.

“I not only set the wrong time coordinates but also the wrong world coordinates. You were supposed to start the mission in a world with difficulty level D, but I accidentally placed you in a world with difficulty level A. It’s all my fault, and I’m truly sorry!”

It’s no wonder that a novice is sent to fight the boss alone.

“Is this really how you guys work?” Zheng Wei couldn’t believe it.

“I’m sorry, really sorry. I’ve already been punished. Please forgive me,” System Eleven said, now even using a whiny voice to try to soften Zheng Wei’s heart.

In order to make Zheng Wei more sympathetic, it even changed its voice to that of a child. It was really shameless. Zheng Wei was amazed at System Eleven’s behavior.

“Please continue with the mission. I promise there won’t be any more problems this time,” System Eleven pleaded again.

Before Zheng Wei could refuse, System Eleven said, “Don’t be so quick to say no. Complete one more task and then decide. This time it’s a D-level mission, and you’ll succeed.”

“Please, Mr. Zheng, if you don’t agree, many people will die. You’re their only hope,” System Eleven said, trying to appeal to Zheng Wei’s emotions.

Hearing System Eleven’s words, Zheng Wei hesitated for a moment and looked conflicted.

“You can’t give up just because of one failure. These missions are also a matter of life and death for you. Although you say it doesn’t matter, think about your parents and family. Maybe if you die, it’s all over for you, but can you bear to let your parents age prematurely?” 

The system continued to try to persuade and deceive Zheng Wei, finally touching his heart.

Saying that life and death don’t matter is just an emotional outburst. Life and death are serious matters, and now that he has calmed down, Zheng Wei is no longer as indifferent as before.

“I want to ask you, do you have anything to protect me?” After a moment of silence, Zheng Wei cleared his throat and asked. In other words, he was ready to continue with the mission.

“You’re agreeing?” System Eleven was thrilled to hear this. Of course, it doesn’t have a face, so whether it’s happy or not depends entirely on its tone. Its voice still uses the loli tone it used to apologize, which is very lifelike. Hearing that Zheng Wei has agreed, its sweet voice is almost too much to handle.

“You go ahead and tell me if there’s anything that can help me.” Zheng Wei’s teeth ached when he heard the voice of System eleven.

“As you can see, I’m just an ordinary person. My intelligence is not higher than others, and I can’t win a fight against others. A person like me, not to mention facing evil spirits, even facing an ordinary serial killer is a death sentence. You guys didn’t come to me just to make me die in every world, did you?”

If natural talent is lacking, one must make up for it with external help. Since he is a weakling, his cheat item must be strong enough.

“Yes, yes, of course, there is.” The system quickly said.

“In fact, after each mission, you will be rewarded according to your performance.” System eleven explained, “Although this mission was not successful, as compensation for our negligence, the system has decided to give you a mission prop.”

“Oh?” Zheng Wei became interested, “What is it? Where is it?”

As soon as he asked, a picture of a silver metal whistle and its functional introduction appeared in his mind.

[‘Assembly Whistle’: Blow this whistle, and companions within a radius of one thousand meters centered around you will return to your side within ten minutes. The cooldown time is one hour.]

“Ah,” Zheng Wei exclaimed disappointedly, “It’s just a whistle.”

Zheng Wei would rather have a defensive prop. His combat power was too low, he was even at a disadvantage against ordinary people, let alone non-humans.

“Because you failed the mission this time, we can only give you some auxiliary tools,” System Eleven also felt that the whistle was a bit disappointing.

Seeing that Zheng Wei was still very disappointed, it quickly comforted him, “Originally, there would be a punishment for your failure this time, but because we also have some responsibility for this failure, we canceled the punishment.”

But for Zheng Wei, this was not comforting at all.

“What? There’s still punishment?” Zheng Wei was shocked, his voice raised a few degrees instantly.

“Y-yes.” Eleven began to stutter again.

“You don’t pay me and now you want to deduct my salary too?” Feeling exploited, Zheng Wei was indignant. “Is there any justice in this world?”

“Uh.” Zheng Wei’s questioning left System Eleven at a loss for words.

“It’s not that we didn’t pay you, once your task score accumulates enough, we will help you fulfill any wish you have,” the system explained in a whisper.

“You may say that now, but how do I know how much is enough?” Zheng Wei remained dissatisfied with the punishment.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” System Eleven quickly explained. “We are a legitimate enterprise with organization and discipline, and we absolutely dare not withhold your labor income.”

“Every time you complete a task, I will tell you the score you earned, and different wishes correspond to different scores. As long as you have enough points, you can immediately withdraw them.'”

“Okay,” Zheng Wei sighed helplessly. “How many points do I need to return to my world?” 

“Oh, let me calculate,” System eleven fell silent for a moment.

“Your body is considered dead in your world, so I calculated that you will need about 1048 points. Among them, 800 are for repairing your body, 200 are for modifying time, and the remaining 48 points are for preserving your body.”

“Then how many points for each task?”

“It’s hard to say. It depends on your completion rate, ranging from 20 to 100 points. This is calculated based on the task completion rate and the difficulty level of the world.”

“Okay,” Zheng Wei sighed again.

It seemed that he still had some time to wait before he could go back. Actually, Zheng Wei didn’t want to go back so soon. When he thought of facing his parents, he felt that he would rather fight monsters here.

Thinking of his parents, Zheng Wei sighed deeply. He lowered his head, pressed his temples with both hands, and suddenly remembered something.

“System eleven, does mission failure mean that the medical staff at St. Philip’s Hospital have been killed by Julian?”

Andrew, Dr. Garcia, and old John’s faces flashed before Zheng Wei’s eyes. Thinking about the possibility of their deaths, Zheng Wei bit his lips tightly and looked unhappy.

“Not exactly,” System eleven understood what Zheng Wei was thinking.

“Mission failure doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve all been killed. As a member of the medical staff, your mission is to protect all medical personnel. If you die, the mission has already failed.”

“Although we don’t know why, after you died, Julian Cole did not go after the remaining people.” System eleven thought for a moment and decided to tell Zheng Wei about this.

“Why?” Zheng Wei was puzzled.

“We’re not exactly sure of the specific reasons,” System eleven was also full of confusion.

“Does this mean that the hospital staff have escaped danger?”

“We’re not sure yet,” System eleven replied.

“We’ll keep a close eye on Julian’s movements, and if he harms anyone at St. Philip’s Hospital, we’ll know. I’ll let you know then.” The fate of the hospital staff is still unknown.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Wei suddenly asked, “Can I have another chance?”

“Huh?” System eleven didn’t understand what Zheng Wei meant.

“Let me go back to St. Philip’s Hospital again. This time, I’ll definitely save them,” Zheng Wei said seriously.

“I’m sorry, we can’t do that,” System eleven said apologetically.

“As I just told you, accessing the world of a mission is not something we can do on a whim. It requires the right time, place, and people, which is why we need taskers to execute our missions.”

“The portal to St. Philip’s Hospital’s world is now closed, and we don’t know when it will open again. Even if it does, it’s not certain that it will lead to the time before the slaughter. That’s how all worlds are.”

The implication behind System eleven’s words was clear to Zheng Wei. This was not a game where you could simply reload and start over again after a failure. 

The reality of this weighed heavily on Zheng Wei’s heart, leaving him silent.

“Promise me,” after a moment, Zheng Wei said to System eleven, “if Julian continues to pursue the remaining people, you must tell me.”

Hearing his slightly hoarse voice, System eleven fell silent for a moment before replying, “I will.”

“Are you ready to move on to the next world?” System eleven continued, “Of course, you can rest for a while longer if you need to. We still have time.”

“No need, let’s go,” Zheng Wei stood up and said to System eleven. After hearing what System eleven had to say, he didn’t feel like resting anymore.

Although he wasn’t a brave superhero, he felt that he had a responsibility to the people of the task world since he had taken on the task. If he couldn’t save them, it would be his own failure.

“Alright then,” System eleven said, “let’s get ready to go. 3, 2, 1.”

A blue light flashed by and Zheng Wei lost consciousness.

At the same time, in the St. Philip Hospital in another world, an Eastern man in a white coat lay quietly on the floor, with a sharp axe inserted into the floor to his right. A white male patient in a hospital gown was looking closely at his face, which was vastly different from his own.

Julian’s hand was still on Zheng Wei’s chest, and his hand, separated by a layer of fabric, could no longer feel the sound of his heartbeat. The Eastern man had closed his eyes and stopped breathing, quietly entering eternal rest.

When he had just lifted the axe, he could feel something leaving the body of this small Eastern man. Then his heart stopped beating, and he became a boring corpse.

What was that thing exactly? Julian lowered his head, his face only a palm’s distance away from Zheng Wei’s face. His gaze slowly scanned Zheng Wei’s face and finally stopped at his well-shaped thin lips.

What was it exactly? He stared at those pale lips, his blue eyes filled with exploration.