Cannon Fodder – Chapter 9 – Harvesting Emotional Value!

Sitting back in his chair, Dongfang Yang gazed straight ahead, his index finger tapping rhythmically on the table in sync with his jiggling leg.

Before him stood a petite girl with twin tails, her eyelids lowered and her head bowed, her hands nervously clutching the hem of her skirt.

Reason told him that Chi Xiaocheng was putting on an act.

And it was blatantly obvious!

Yet his instincts whispered that no act could be this convincing. Such a stark contrast in behavior was something he’d only seen among seasoned actors in the entertainment industry.

Moreover, that adorable little face, tinged with weariness, made it hard to think ill of her.

Did removing her makeup really change her this much?

How had he never noticed before that this girl could be so endearing when she behaved?

Unconsciously, even his aversion toward Chi Xiaocheng had faded considerably at this moment.

He pointed to the seat opposite him and said solemnly, “Sit.”

Chi Xiaocheng nodded timidly, smoothed her skirt, and shuffled into the seat.

Today, her persona was that of a shy, timid little cutie.

Makeup had merely been her armor.

In her mind, the stream of emotional value points never stopped. Though it was only two or three points at a time, which was nowhere near as much as before, Chi Xiaocheng knew,

That Dongfang Yang was being influenced by her.

She acted like a flustered little rabbit, fidgeting uneasily. After a while, she decided to speak first and bowed her head toward Dongfang Yang. “Young Master Dongfang… p-please scold me!”

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Dongfang Yang laughed in exasperation, propping his chin on one hand as he studied her. “Why should I scold you?”

“Because… because I’ve been pestering you all this time, causing you trouble. I came to apologize, so you can scold me however you want!”

Dongfang Yang raised an eyebrow. “Really? However I want?”

Chi Xiaocheng peeked up at him with one eye, looking worried. “C-Could you go easy on me…?”

Hah. What an interesting woman.

Honestly, Dongfang Yang couldn’t tell if Chi Xiaocheng was acting. But according to his understanding of her, the contrast between her past and present self was too drastic.

He decided to cut straight to the point. “You said Su Tao counseled you in the basement, which made you repent. Honestly, it feels like you’ve become a completely different person. Tell me, what exactly did Su Tao say to you?”

Chi Xiaocheng nodded meekly. “Actually, when I kidnapped Su Tao.. W-Well, I guess it counts as kidnapping. I locked her in the basement mainly to warn her, to tell her to stay away from you.”

“Young Master Dongfang, you know Su Tao is very reasonable and gentle. Even when I threatened her, she didn’t get angry. Instead, she told me I’d just been misled by Xiuhua and the others.”

“Xiuhua?” Dongfang Yang interjected curiously.

Chi Xiaocheng quickly shifted the blame to the pre-prepared scapegoat. “She’s a friend of mine. She’s the one who taught me to wear makeup and target Su Tao. She said that both you, Young Master Dongfang, and Young Master Ye Liang, actually liked me at first, but Su Tao stole you away.”

“So… so….”

Chi Xiaocheng trailed off, bowing her head in shame.

Dongfang Yang picked up where she left off. “So you actually believed that?”

“Mhm.” Chi Xiaocheng hurriedly explained, “But when I was in the basement, Su Tao explained everything to me bit by bit. She was like moonlight within reach, shining on me and dispelling the darkness. I… I actually did such terrible things to her before!”

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“I’m worse than trash!”

She looked as if she were about to slap herself.

Then she rambled on, heaping praise upon praise for Su Tao.

Dongfang Yang listened with satisfaction.

After all, he also thought Su Tao was perfect. Chi Xiaocheng’s words resonated deeply with him, striking a chord in his heart.

Once that sense of connection formed, he instinctively believed a fraction of what this little girl was saying.

But his words remained dismissive. “You really are unbelievably stupid.”

“I… I’m sorry!”

“Look up.”

Hearing that commanding voice, Chi Xiaocheng obediently raised her little head, though her eyes darted around nervously.

Her delicate face was now fully exposed to Dongfang Yang’s gaze.

Even though this young master had seen countless beauties, he had to admit that Chi Xiaocheng’s bare face was quite pleasing to look at.

Still, she couldn’t compare to Su Tao!

He tacked on that thought internally before saying to Chi Xiaocheng, “I’ll tentatively believe you. But if I find out you’re lying to me, you’re dead!”

“I-I’d never!” Chi Xiaocheng acted flustered. “I know I’m not worthy of you, Young Master Dongfang. I won’t bother you anymore!”

“Good.”

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Dongfang Yang nodded deeply, then asked for more details about what happened in the basement before finally preparing to send Chi Xiaocheng on her way.

But then he noticed the little girl fidgeting as if she had something else to say.

“What is it?” he asked.

Chi Xiaocheng nodded lightly and pulled out her phone, opening her social media feed to the post where she’d shared her bare-faced photo.

With a serious expression, she said, “Um, this photo… it’s makeup-free!”

Dongfang Yang’s mouth twitched.

An hour earlier, he’d commented that if the photo wasn’t photoshopped, he’d eat three pounds of shit.

Was she picking a fight with him?

Just as he was about to snap, Dongfang Yang noticed that his comment under the post was gone.

Had she deleted it first?

How considerate of her.

He rubbed his nose and didn’t say anything else.

Meanwhile, Chi Xiaocheng happily reaped the final wave of emotional value before scurrying out of the café in a fluster.

From start to finish, she maintained her adorable persona.

It wasn’t until her petite figure disappeared down the street that Dongfang Yang scoffed, “What a performance.”

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Shaking off his thoughts, he snapped his fingers.

A man in black sitting at another table stood up respectfully. “Young Master, your orders?”

“Investigate Chi Xiaocheng’s relationship with that Xiuhua girl. You heard what she said earlier, right? Find out how much of it was a lie.”

“Understood, Young Master.”

Meanwhile, Chi Xiaocheng, completely unaware that her story would be fact-checked, walked out of the school gates with a cheerful expression.

“System, how much emotional value did I earn this time?”

[During this period, Dongfang Yang provided the host with 214 points of emotional value.]

[The female lead, Su Tao, provided the host with 32 points of emotional value.]

[The host now has a total of 271 points of emotional value.]

“Perfect! Purchase the content of chapters 100 to 120 of the novel!”

These chapters covered the arc where her character, the cannon-fodder villainess, exited the story. But according to typical novel tropes, when one villain was written off, another would rise to set up the next conflict.

Contradictions and clashes were the biggest drivers of emotional highs in stories.

They forced the protagonists, whether willingly or unwillingly, into action.

Chi Xiaocheng needed a way to covertly get close to Su Tao to execute her plans.

As the novel’s content integrated into her mind, Chi Xiaocheng stood at the school gates, her eyes gradually lighting up with excitement.

In these twenty chapters, the first ten depicted the original Chi Xiaocheng slashing Su Tao’s face and stabbing her chest before being killed by Ye Liang.

The next ten chapters, however….