The Cannon Fodder Character in Four Infinite Flow Novels
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Bai Jin asked System in his mind: "Then who am I now?"
System told him: "Do you remember who the first minor character was at the beginning of this book?"
Before Wu Xian updated his new work, Bai Jin had practically memorized his other three books. The first one he read was The Human Elimination Project, so of course he could recall every detail of the first scenario in this book.
But trying to remember exactly which minor character he would be playing made Bai Jin hesitate. Because he remembered that many people died in the first scenario, some didn’t even have names, while others appeared for only two or three chapters before dying.
Bai Jin asked System: "How much screen time do I have?"
"Not too much, not too little," System gave this answer.
Bai Jin asked again: "Do I have a name?"
System said: "Yes."
This narrowed it down significantly. In the first scenario of The Human Elimination Project, the most memorable named minor character Bai Jin could recall was that malicious cannon fodder who constantly caused trouble for the protagonist Jiang Yu and ended up dying the most gruesome death..
"I’m not Zhang Liu, am I?"
"No."
Although System assured him he wouldn’t feel any pain, Bai Jin still hoped he could die somewhat decently when he remembered the description of Zhang Liu’s death. However, System’s next answer didn’t exactly ease his worries, because it said:
"You’re Yu Xiaoyu, the little lackey by Zhang Liu’s side."
Letting Bai Jin think carefully, it seemed Yu Xiaoyu’s fate wasn’t much better either. If Zhang Liu was the one who instigated bullying Jiang Yu, then Yu Xiaoyu was the one who carried out the bullying.
In the first scenario, aside from the protagonist Jiang Yu, everyone else died. The one who died the most horribly was Zhang Liu, and the second most horribly was Yu Xiaoyu. Realizing he was Yu Xiaoyu, Bai Jin didn’t bother struggling pointlessly. He continued walking forward with the same indifferent expression.
System said he only needed to deliver a few lines, just do his best with the script.
This batch of people sent into the disaster world were randomly assigned to different disaster zones. The one Bai Jin’s group entered, he remembered the author named it: [Toad Sacrifice].
The disaster world wasn’t too different from Earth, but there were subtle distinctions. For example, the air here contained a substance Earth didn’t have. A certain sturdy metal from Earth would melt upon contact with this substance.
So the shackles on their wrists and ankles would disappear completely once they entered this disaster world, granting them temporary freedom of movement. However, they still had tracking chips implanted in their bodies.
Essentially, they weren’t truly free.
There were ten people in their group, all arriving here. The place resembled an ancient tribe, entirely enveloped in desolation and silence. The barren ground was littered with bones—whether human or animal was unclear.
Crumbling old houses exuded a rotting stench under the sunset. One of them, finally free from the shackles, kicked away a skull at his feet and said: "Finally let me out. What kind of shithole is this? What kind of disaster could even happen here?"
Bai Jin listened coldly as this person recited the exact same line from the original text. Through this line, he remembered how this guy died—his neck hung from a door, nearly severed but still barely attached to the bone, leaving his head swaying in the wind without fully detaching. Bai Jin truly realized now—he had really entered this terrifying survival horror world.
"Hey, who are you?"
Bai Jin heard a voice outside the original script and saw someone looking at him. Over there, the other NPCs who existed solely as stepping stones for the male lead’s growth were already harassing Jiang Yu, triggering their own scenes and lines according to the original plot.
Those not described by the author, like this person talking to Bai Jin, could act freely outside the script. Probably noticing Bai Jin’s gaze, the man grinned.
"I don’t remember you looking like this before? Why don’t I have any impression of you?"
So this was what he wanted to say to Bai Jin.
System reassured Bai Jin in his mind: "Don’t worry, even if side characters see you, they won’t remember your appearance later."
Bai Jin didn’t respond. He was a true introvert—he disliked interactions. Since everyone in this scenario was doomed anyway, excessive communication seemed pointless. So Bai Jin remained silent.
His gaze instead turned toward the group that had already restrained Jiang Yu.
Because Jiang Yu had a high academic background and social status—even higher than ordinary Citizens—with access to the technology center, he enjoyed considerable privileges. He had even been featured in nationwide reports, anyone who followed social news would know who Jiang Yu was.
Those marked for elimination almost universally resented and hated the upper social class. In the disaster world, free from societal hierarchies and contribution point restrictions, seeing the fallen Jiang Yu naturally incited them to trample him underfoot. Jiang Yu was surrounded and overpowered—even if he wasn’t physically weak, he was outnumbered, pinned to the ground and humiliated.
Bai Jin watched, knowing his scene was coming.
Sure enough, someone over there shouted: "Watch this, even trash like him can stomp on you!" Then, as the speaker’s gaze swept around, he spotted Bai Jin standing nearby.
If the aggressive ones were obviously the criminal type from the elimination program, then someone like Bai Jin—frail and timid-looking—was clearly the "useless waste" type. So the man pointed at Bai Jin and ordered.
"You, come here."
System projected the script and scene in front of Bai Jin’s eyes. Honestly, Bai Jin didn’t need to read it carefully to know what he had to do. But due to his social anxiety, Bai Jin’s acting skills were far from ideal. His default cold expression often served as a shield against unwanted interactions.
Now, being asked to contort his face into the leering, malicious expression described in the book was genuinely difficult. Bai Jin ultimately decided not to overthink it—he simply performed Yu Xiaoyu’s actions as written. He walked over, lifted his foot, and stepped on Jiang Yu’s face, which was being pressed into the ground.
One side of Jiang Yu’s cheek was already scraped bloody from being ruthlessly ground against the floor. His eyes, gazing up at Bai Jin from below, reflected utter ruin and darkness.
Bai Jin kept his foot on the other half of Jiang Yu’s face. He glanced at the lines System provided, unsure what expression to make, so he simply stared down at Jiang Yu with the same detached look. Bai Jin knew his face was numb and expressionless as he carried out the task—but to others, it appeared as utter indifference and disdain.
Only when looking closely would one suddenly realize—since when did this "Yu Xiaoyu" have such striking features? Though his skin was pale from apparent lack of sunlight, his jet-black hair fell softly against the nape of his neck. His delicate facial features and slender frame made him seem like he was meticulously carved from jade.
Now, with that same aloof gaze, he stared at the thoroughly humiliated face beneath him and uttered a single word:
"Disgusting." Then he twisted the sole of his dirtied shoe against Jiang Yu’s face once more.
Anyone who followed social news knew Jiang Yu was a rising star in academia, highly sought after by research institutions. Born into a family with superior genes, his looks were equally refined. Combined with his research-heavy lifestyle, Jiang Yu’s face carried an air of cold, ascetic pride.
Now, seeing such a person being stepped on—not only marked with a dirty shoe print but also a reddened grind mark—was an intensely humiliating act.
Everyone watching erupted in excitement, crowding around to hurl more insults at Jiang Yu. Compared to the rest, Bai Jin’s "disgusting" sounded almost polite. Bai Jin knew his original line wasn’t this—but the actual script was too vulgar for him to say, so he improvised. After delivering the line, he asked System: "Will changing the line cause any problems?"
System replied: "No major issues. You’ll just lose half your merit points."
Bai Jin blankly muttered, "Oh."
Then he consoled himself: "At least I still get some points."
Having completed Yu Xiaoyu’s scene here, the others’ memory of Bai Jin quickly faded. Even if they had marveled at his appearance earlier, they now completely forgot what he looked like and paid him no further attention.
Bai Jin was satisfied with this. He didn’t want anyone noticing him. As a minor character with negligible screen time, Bai Jin often had nothing to do but watch the live-action adaptation of the novel unfold.
Now, following the plot, after humiliating Jiang Yu, the group started planning how to eliminate the disaster in this world. They tied Jiang Yu to the central pillar of the area.
Of course, compared to these criminal types, the actual dirty work wouldn’t be done by them. They could easily identify the 'trash' discarded by society among the group—preferring to order them around instead.
As one of the 'trash' Bai Jin was assigned this task. Even if they didn’t quite remember his face, they recalled Bai Jin being the one who stepped on Jiang Yu earlier, so they commanded him to tie Jiang Yu up.
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