Chapter 53 Cannon Fodder Substitute Lover 1 Ranran, is it okay?

[What am I going to do, host? You've made me a little agitated too!]

As Li Qingran walked towards the door, a soft, sweet voice suddenly rang in his ears.

The other party called out "host," but it was clearly not the voice of 888.

888 was also startled. [What's going on, host? Do you have another system?!]

Li Qingran had always been curious about how 888 could express so many emotions with that mechanical, flat voice. For example, right now, he could actually hear the shock, resentment, and sadness of being betrayed and abandoned in that seemingly calm electronic voice.

Li Qingran: "...Don't think nonsense, okay? If I really had a system, wouldn't you be able to sense it?"

That makes sense!

888, who almost thought she was going to be abandoned by Li Qingran, realized what was happening and chuckled sheepishly. However,

Who owns this system?

If it was just the system itself that detected it, it might be due to an error in its internal program. But now, it's clear that Li Qingran also heard it, which means that this system that calls others definitely exists.

Could it be that their Bureau's competitors have also come to this world to capture energy and steal their business?!

888 immediately perked up, thinking, "Could they be here specifically to wipe us out?!"

I had heard from other senior systems that there is more than one Administration Bureau in the universe, and they are all in competition with each other. When they meet in the small world, they will not give each other a friendly look, especially when they encounter those mission takers from other Administration Bureaus who are full of hostility. They may even violently eliminate all mission takers except those from their own Administration Bureau in order to monopolize the energy of this world.

If this unknown system really comes from another administration, then they are in real danger this time.

888 became increasingly frightened and instinctively wanted to open the chat window to seek help from the main system.

Li Qingran stopped it, saying, "Let's wait and see."

Why? 888 is puzzled.

“You should first see if that’s what they really mean,” Li Qingran explained. “Besides, I don’t think so. Otherwise, if they’re in the dark and we’re in the light, they could kill me without even making a sound. Why would they bother to let us hear them?”

That makes some sense.

888 pondered for a moment, then decided to follow Li Qingran's decision: [Listen to your host. But if you're really in danger, use that useful item to escape immediately.]

"good."

Li Qingran nodded, then took a deep breath and continued walking towards the door.

If he wasn't mistaken, the system must have been carried by the person standing outside.

As he got closer to the gate, that soft, sweet voice became increasingly clear.

[Host, I think I hear footsteps. He's coming!]

I wonder if he's good-looking or not; it wasn't mentioned in the original work... but I guess he's probably average, otherwise why wasn't he ever chosen?

"Squeak—"

Before that soft, sweet voice could finish speaking, Li Qingran suddenly fell silent.

The person standing at the door was also stunned for a moment.

The gray-black metallic door was pulled open a crack from the inside. The entrance hall was dark, but the hallway was lit with warm yellow lights.

The warm orange light shone down from the ceiling onto his shoulders, as if draping him in a thin veil.

Li Qingran stood at the boundary between light and darkness, his eyes slightly lowered, sizing up the unexpectedly cute-looking... protagonist?

This shouldn't be the main character's dominant partner, right?

Although Li Qingran had never seen what the male lead looked like, judging from the words "aloof," "abstinent," "mature," and "sexy" in the original plot, he was completely unrelated to the boy with curly hair in front of her; in fact, he was just out of place.

So, are they really mission takers from other management bureaus who came to steal energy?

Li Qingran silently guessed in her heart.

Opposite him, the cute-looking boy, after a brief moment of distraction, began to subtly observe the young man who had appeared at the door.

Do such people really exist in this world? With a pale face and dark eyes, their perfectly sculpted bone structure combined with their stunning appearance gives one an indescribable sense of impact with just one glance.

However, despite her sexually charged and aggressive appearance, she possesses a calm and detached aura, completely isolated from the noisy world, like a dazzling and precious flower growing on a misty cliff.

Contradictory, dangerous, yet irresistibly alluring, even to the point of wanting to pluck...

The boy subconsciously moved his Adam's apple.

Despite being a seasoned veteran who had seen it all, he inexplicably felt a strange sense of shyness under the gaze of the young man.

Who knows if he just came here to see what the protagonist's stand-ins look like...

Li Qingran looked at the boy in front of her, first touched his nose, then pinched his ears, and put his hands behind his back. Three seconds later, he clasped them together and placed them on his lower abdomen.

Before the other person could change their posture again, he spoke up, "Excuse me, is there anything I can help you with?"

Oh my god, her voice is so beautiful!

Is it normal? Is it reasonable that such a perfect person ends up being just cannon fodder mentioned casually in the original work?!

Xu Luo internally screamed like a shrill chicken, clutching his cheeks with both hands.

On the surface, he smiled at Li Qingran with a serious expression and said, "Ah, I am Xu Luo. I recently moved next door, so I thought I would take advantage of my free time to visit my neighbor."

As he spoke, he pulled a tote bag out from behind his back.

"These are some of the best pastries from Liuxianju. Have a taste, they're really delicious, especially with black tea, they're absolutely amazing! It's just a pity I just moved here and haven't had a chance to sell tea yet..."

Xu Luo held the tote bag in both hands and presented it to Li Qingran. While recommending which pastry was the best, she stared at Li Qingran with her round, kitten-like eyes, full of longing.

Li Qingran: "..."

If the original plot is correct, then the person standing in front of him right now should be the protagonist, Xu Luo.

Is it because he was transported into another world? Xu Luo's personality is completely different from the original work. Doesn't this count as a character breakdown? Or is it that the mission taker on the other side doesn't have any role restrictions?

Li Qingran was a little curious, especially since Xu Luo in front of her practically had "I want to come into your house for a cup of tea" written all over his face.

So, after a brief hesitation, Li Qingran stepped back and made way for him:

"I happen to have some at home. If you don't mind, how about—"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Before Li Qingran could finish her invitation, Xu Luo immediately responded, his body sliding through the crack in the door like an eel. He then quickly took two more steps inside, as if afraid Li Qingran would change her mind and kick him out, until he reached a spot he considered safe and wouldn't be kicked out. He then turned and grinned at Li Qingran:

"Come in quickly, these pastries won't taste as good if they're left out for too long!"

Li Qingran: "..."

888: [...I have this feeling that this house belongs to him.]

"The protagonist, you could say this world belongs to him, so of course this house can too," Li Qingran said calmly.

Moreover, some people are just naturally outgoing, and this person on the mission probably has that kind of personality.

While boiling water, Li Qingran glanced at Xu Luo, who was standing beside him, staring intently at the kettle without moving. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly and said helplessly:

"It might take a while, Mr. Xu, why don't you wait in the living room?"

"You can just call me Lolo."

All Xu Luo could say was that he only caught the unfamiliar "Mr. Xu" in the young man's words about Li Qingran.

He couldn't allow himself to be so distant from the beauty!

Xu Luo puffed out her cheeks, thinking she was subtly moving closer to Li Qingran, while simultaneously trying to find a way to address her properly.

“That’s what all my friends call me. Look, we’re neighbors now. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. It’s fate that we live together. It’s like God is telling us that we’re going to be good friends. So Qingran, don’t be so polite. Just call me Luoluo, and I’ll call you Ranran. How about that?”

Li Qingran, who was originally called "Qingran" by Xu Luo after being introduced in the entrance hall, was referred to as "Ranran" again by him in just a few minutes.

Is this really true?

The mission takers have all transmigrated into the bodies of the main character, so the mission is most likely to be to seduce the main character, right?

Wouldn't getting close to a cannon fodder like him cross the line of the world's rules?

As a cannon fodder character who had to carefully maintain his persona in the early stages of the mission, Li Qingran was genuinely a little envious.

Meanwhile, the system, which had originally just followed its host to join in the fun, was also somewhat bewildered by Xu Luo's enthusiastic advances towards Li Qingran.

[This isn't the host; you've mistaken me for someone else. This is cannon fodder, not the main character!]

Just as Li Qingran guessed, Xu Luo's mission was indeed to have a girl with the protagonist.

But so what?

Who says employees can't have a little romance while on duty?!

Xu Luo rarely encountered someone whose appearance was so to his liking, so he naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to make a move.

Does he have to wait until the main character drives him away before he can find a needle in a haystack in this city?

By then, the daylily will be too cold!

Xu Luo's system: [...That makes sense, but host, have you forgotten that our mission is to fall in love with the main character?!]

The system is going crazy.

However, Xu Luo still asked the same question: "So what?"

Romance required for missions is just work; romance outside of missions is real life.

As Xu Luo thought this, her eyes sparkled as she looked at Li Qingran, her voice as sweet as honey.

"Ranran, is it okay?"

Li Qingran: "..."

He didn't speak.

In fact, he didn't even have a chance to speak.

Because after Xu Luo finished speaking, whether it was because the rules of the world couldn't stand his unreliable protagonist anymore, or because the protagonist's partner, who was about to be cuckolded, had a bad feeling, before the boy could finish speaking, a rapid phone ring came from his pocket.

This is the ringtone that Xu Luo specially set for the protagonist, noisy and chaotic, just like the protagonist's annoying personality.

She's acting crazy again because of that unrequited love.

Whenever the man starts missing his "white moonlight" who lives far away overseas, he comes to bother him.

No wonder the protagonist of this world fled the world immediately after awakening his consciousness; he probably found the protagonist too annoying!

A hint of annoyance flashed across Xu Luo's eyes, and then, right in front of Li Qingran, he took out his phone and hung up.

Li Qingran looked at the four words "Vengeful Sugar Daddy" clearly displayed on the huge screen, tried to hold back, but couldn't resist.

Aren't you going to answer?

Is this the phone call from the main character?

Isn't his mission to fall in love with the main character?

Having just learned about the mission from Xu Luo's system, Li Qingran had never seen such a capricious way of completing a mission before, and found it quite novel, so she couldn't help but ask a few more questions.

Unlike his impatience and irritability when facing the main character, Xu Luo subconsciously raised his head after hearing Li Qingran's question. The irritation in his eyes vanished, leaving only the glimmer of hope he felt when facing the young man.

"It's alright, it's nothing urgent. I'll call him back after we finish our pastries."

[So, he actually just wanted to eat pastries, right...] 888 couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

Li Qingran didn't say anything more. Just then, the water boiled, and he poured the hot water into the teacups with the tea bags inside. He then handed one of the cups to Xu Luo, and under Xu Luo's gaze, he took his own cup and walked out of the kitchen.

Xu Luo followed behind him like a little tail.

He probably really loves to talk, even on the way from the kitchen to the living room, he keeps chattering away.

They asked Li Qingran all sorts of questions, seemingly very interested in his life.

Especially when he learned that Li Qingran was a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, he excitedly walked up to Li Qingran, tilted his head and asked him if he wanted to go out for a spring outing the next day. He knew a place with beautiful scenery that was perfect for painting.

That way, you can have a date for two!

Xu Luo thought excitedly, her thoughts immediately jumping from the pastries in the living room to her date on a spring outing tomorrow.

When we get tired, we can have lunch together, and then plan our next trip together. Eating and traveling together will bring us closer together!

Xu Luo's plan was excellent.

Before he could persuade Li Qingran to accept his invitation, a chill suddenly washed over him from head to toe...

Li Qingran watched as the boy in front of her blinked, his bright eyes turning into confusion.

【What's going on? Personality shift?!】888 has really had an eye-opening experience tonight, not only meeting other mission participants besides Li Qingran.

It was watching as the other party, disregarding their target, made a phone call and tried to get close to its host in various ways.

But that's not enough.

At the very end, the boy even performed a face-changing act for it and Li Qingran.

Upon seeing what was in sight, the boy blinked twice, assessing his current position and situation, before taking a step back to create distance between himself and Li Qingran.

"I apologize for what I said earlier... Mr. Li, I'm suddenly feeling a bit unwell, so I'll head back now. We can have tea another time."

After Xu Luo finished speaking, without waiting for Li Qingran to reply, he turned around, placed the teacup on the coffee table, and prepared to leave.

However, at that moment, the door that Li Qingran should have been quiet all along, at least tonight, and should not have been knocked on twice in a row, welcomed its second guest.

The next second, Li Qingran's phone rang.

"Open the door, I'm at the door."

The protagonist, Gu Qingyan, spoke through the door, his voice reaching the ears of both people in the living room the moment the call connected…

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Author's Note: World Rules: My son! Come quickly! Otherwise, your two substitutes will be together! [crying][crying][crying]