Cannon Fodder Counterattack System (XI)

When Shang Li was just trapped in the crimson cocoon, he somehow suddenly remembered what Long Aotian said when they were in the seabed rift.

"My existence is a paradox. If a person from the past interferes with the present, it will lead to collapse."

This is what Long Aotian said at the time.

This is also the reason why he always stays in that abandoned timeline and is only connected to the timeline after the rift and the phone are restarted.

If people from the past interfere with the future, there will be a collapse, then the opposite may also be true.

He said "nothing good will happen" is now?

Now, for every error code that didn't work properly, a part of him would be annihilated.

Many of these error code data were created out of thin air without Shang Li's knowledge, as if God just found an excuse to completely erase him from this world.

Shang Li thought slowly and hard.

What should I do now?

Waiting for rescue? Will my wife find me before I disappear?

But he himself didn't know where he was.

My wife doesn’t have the ability to locate, so it might be difficult for her to find me. I’d better go find him...if there’s a chance in the future.

Is there any way to save yourself?

Seeing the dumplings running away in all directions, Shang Li suddenly had an idea.

Maybe I can...

He swallowed the system.

Shang Li tried to merge with something outside the universe and detach himself from this part of the world.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to solve these error codes smoothly in the future.

It's not even certain whether this hibernation is an upgrade or self-destruction.

But when you are in desperate situation, why not give it a try?

Shang Li completely distracted himself.

His body data was completely mixed with those of the systems. Those colorful data were soon all infected with the same crimson, and then reassembled, modified and rewritten.

It was as if an invisible hand was weaving new individuals out of them.

“Ka——”

【Host!】

【Host Host——】

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Li slowly woke up to the sound of tearing and the startled calls of two systems.

[Host, someone has found you! ]

“…”

The ghost used his slow thoughts to gather the upper half of his body with great difficulty, and then opened his eyes.

What jumped into view was still the cocoon made up of crimson bullet frames, and then the snow-white tip of the knife pierced through the cocoon shell.

The tip of the knife cuts down and easily cuts apart the layers of bullet frames.

Then, a slender black figure came in from outside.

It’s Cui Lan.

The man's black hair was almost knee-length, and his face looked slightly more mature than before, having recovered to the state it was five years later.

When Shang Li saw the familiar cold eyes, he was a little dazed for a moment.

Maybe I just fell asleep and my wife found me.

[Host, host, how are you feeling?! ]

Still not knowing where in the data, 031 asked earnestly: [Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere? ]

【Waistache? Backache?】

Shang Li responded calmly in his heart, "No."

The core codes of those systems that could neither be erased nor hacked into by him were all sealed in his body, and the rest were partially digested.

Apart from the fact that his body data no longer reported errors, he did not feel any other changes.

Shang Li thought.

Logically speaking, it should be considered a success.

After that, he calmly asked 031, "Why do you care about me?"

Hearing this, the 031 machine's voice suddenly expressed doubt, [If I don't care about the host, who else can I care about? ]

"I ate so many of your colleagues."

[But I don't care about them, I only care about the host! ]

“…”

Shang Li did not talk to 031 anymore. He raised his eyelids and silently watched Cui Lan slowly approaching him.

"Are you okay?"

Seeing that only half of Shang Li's body was left floating in the air, Cui Lan couldn't help but frown.

He subconsciously reached out his hand to touch it, but his fingertips went straight through the ghost's chest.

Seeing that he couldn't touch the ghost, Cui Lan suddenly didn't know what to do.

It was obvious that Shang Li was not in a good condition, otherwise he would have started jumping around a long time ago. Why would he maintain such a half-disabled look in front of him?

How about separating these concepts that make him abnormal?

His ability can have an effect on ghosts.

No, it's too risky.

Cui Lan shook his head and quickly gave up the idea.

Doing so is no less than performing a life-or-death surgery with a success rate of less than one percent.

While his brain was working, Shang Li was looking at him quietly.

Ah, you are really starting to worry about me.

He thought slowly.

Shang Li felt that he should laugh at this time, and then say with a smile, "Oh, Xiao Cui, how did you find me so quickly: 3", or something like "I knew you would worry about me", and then provoke Cui Lan to retort.

But he moved his lips and finally responded with a short and calm "hmm".

It's not that I feel physically unwell, or that I feel heavy in my heart or have any unspeakable reasons, I just simply feel so bored.

...Maybe the emotional module was accidentally damaged.

"Xiao Cui, my brain is broken."

Shang Li tried to use his reason to drag his stagnant emotions and tried to imitate the past, but he still said in a straightforward tone: "There is a bug in the code, and I can't seem to be alive anymore."

Like a dying fish hung on a hook.

Cui Lan: “…”

Why is the key point whether you are alive or not?

He held his forehead and sighed deeply.

After much difficulty finding someone in the pitch-black place, something strange like this happened.

"Are you in a state that supports free movement?"

Cui Lan took another step forward.

Shang Li nodded silently.

He tried to concentrate and gather his lower body.

Intellectually, he needed to leave this unknown place as soon as possible and find Xiao Jiang with his wife.

But when his legs were halfway through, he suddenly felt so lazy that he suddenly felt there was no need to move so quickly.

Reason and emotion instantly tore his consciousness into two.

“Shua——”

The ghost's thoughts scattered, and half of his body turned into red data again.

“…No rush.”

Cui Lan saw this and reached out to touch the ghost's long hair twice. "This place is probably the same as the seabed rift, a narrow space outside the timeline."

"No matter how long we stay, it may not affect the timing of our arrival in other timelines."

"I didn't encounter any danger on my way to find you. I'm safe for now."

Shang Li could tell that these words were mostly meant as comfort.

If it were my old self, my heart would definitely be warm and I would hug the person in front of me and cry.

But now he heard it and felt no pain or itching.

...As expected, my emotional system is damaged.

"What did you do before?"

Cui Lan asked again.

[The host has eaten up all other systems before! ]

031 was the first to answer for Shang Li, [Except for our two systems, all other colleagues have been integrated! ]

568 Piao nodded beside him.

“…”

Shang Li originally wanted to tell 031 that Cui Lan couldn't hear the system, especially since it was still hidden in his body, unlike 568 which could run outside.

But what was beyond his expectation was that Cui Lan actually reacted to his words.

"You are very courageous."

Cui Lan was so angry that he laughed when he heard this.

He grasped the hilt of the knife as if he wanted to beat Shang Li up, but after taking a few deep breaths he let go.

"Why can you hear the system?"

Shang Li asked directly.

He spoke out the suspicion that he had kept in his heart without any hesitation, "Are you also a time traveler?"

“…”

"What do you think?"

Cui Lan was silent for a while, then suddenly moved in front of Shang Li.

He raised his chin, with the tip of his nose almost touching the ghost's face, as if he was going to kiss it in the next second.

But there was no warmth in the words that came out of his mouth.

"Do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

"have no idea."

Shang Li rolled his eyes slowly, not wanting to guess, "What is it?"

"I'm thinking, you look like a time traveler with poor acting skills now. Should I really continue to treat you as 'Shang Li'?"

Cui Lan whispered in his ear: "Or should we get rid of you completely?"

[No, no! Cui Lanlan, please don’t kill me! ]

031 begged for mercy twice, then quickly surrendered to the enemy, [If you really kill the host later, can I go with you? ]

Shang Li: “…”

He didn't know that 031 was so close to Cui Lan.

"If we use the most stringent standards, I can't really be considered a business divorce."

The ghost spoke, interrupting 031.

He did not have any emotion towards these almost threatening words, and answered like a machine, "Theoretically, the real Shang Li died 22 years ago, and his supernatural power was activated and inherited his memory, personality and identity, and he lived on in his place."

"Secondly, I merged dozens of systems not long ago, and most of my body components now do not belong to the original data."

"Not even the Ship of Theseus."

Cui Lan continued, "It's almost a completely new individual."

Shang Li turned his head and met those silver eyes. "The ghost has been with you for much longer than your dead body. I tend to think that my feelings for you belong more to the ghost than to your body."

“…”

“It’s hard to deny.”

Cui Lan turned back.

"Since your brain is not completely destroyed, let's get out of here as soon as possible."

He crossed his arms and returned to the previous topic, "I don't mind you going out in your current appearance."

"In theory, a complete form is more respectable than an incomplete one."

Shang Li said.

Cui Lan raised an eyebrow, "You still care about your face now?"

"I don't care now, but if I leave like this, I think I'll regret it once I've recovered emotionally."

Shang Li blinked dully, and with a "bang" he turned into a palm-sized pixelated figure, and then sat on the man's shoulders obediently.

Not even into the scarf.

Cui Lan let out a sigh of helplessness and took him away from Hongju.

The moment they escaped, the crimson bullet boxes disappeared instantly behind the two of them.

"Which direction should we go next?"

Cui Lan stood in the darkness, turning his head to ask the pixel man.

[I know this, go to the left and back! ]

031 answered again.

The pixel man choked and could only nod in affirmation.

[Hey, what are you doing?! ]

568 whispered to 031: [Why do you want to steal the host's words? ]

[Ouch! My instinct is to...]

If 031 had a body, he would have been sweating profusely at this moment. [Host, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! Please don't eat me——]

In fact, I can't eat you at all.

Shang Li answered silently in his heart.

When he faced Long Aotian at the bottom of the sea, in order to show that he didn't care whether his identity was real or fake, he casually said, "Because I am System 031 who has all the information about Shang Li," which became more and more credible.

He had begun to wonder if his lost emotional system had been integrated into 031.

But this system has been whining from the very beginning, and now it is just getting closer to my wife. There is no evidence to prove it.

Shang Li waited for it to continue speaking to verify his hypothesis, but unfortunately, 031 remained silent until Cui Lan found the exit.

Facing a black world that was no different from before, Cui Lan drew his long sword.

"Is this where Xiao Jiang is located?"

"Um."

The pixel man responded briefly.

So Cui Lan no longer hesitated.

He raised the blade and unleashed his powers.

The tip of the knife cut through the void, making a crisp cutting sound, like a piece of paper being slowly torn apart.

As the long sword slashed downwards, dazzling light passed through the cracks and surged into the boundless darkness, enveloping them.

"brush--"

Cui Lan narrowed his eyes and took Shang Li into the gap leading to the outside world.

The crack behind them closed up, and what appeared before the two of them was a pure white snowfield.