When the Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Role Picks Up the Script - Chapter 78

When the Floating City Lord is mentioned, the two demons immediately fall silent, not daring to say even a single word.

The heart demon asks curiously, “Brother, who is the Lord of the Floating City?”

Everyone looks over. They’ve already passed Shuanglu Pavilion, but they don’t expect to get dragged into an even more difficult task just because of their hesitation with the teleportation array. No one knows the specifics of the task yet, but judging from the sea of fire ahead, it’s obvious that this is going to be dangerous—enough to make people frustrated.

Everyone’s frustration takes a different form, but Gu Jinping directs hers straight at Yun Zhuoran. “It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t come in, we would’ve left long ago!”

Gu Jinping’s harsh, shrill voice makes those standing next to her step away, giving her strange looks.

Feeling isolated, Gu Jinping snaps, “Am I wrong? If Yun Zhuoran hadn’t come in, how could we be involved in this damn nightmare of a task?”

Li Jianming is completely lost—when will Miss Gu ever act normal?

Jiang Zhibai frowns. “Now that we’re here, what’s the point of complaining? Miss Gu, don’t forget—it’s thanks to the little island master that we got through Shuanglu Pavilion.”

Gu Jinping’s gaze flickers for a moment, but she still stubbornly points toward the magma. “No matter how dangerous it was earlier, it wasn’t like this. And we didn’t even need that kid. If we worked together, we could’ve passed the second round on our own!”

“There are plenty of people here. Are you the only one with a mouth?” Ji Ruo shoots her a glance, then turns to Yun Zhuoran and asks in a muffled voice, “Do you know who the Lord of the Floating City is? Is he here?”

Compared to Gu Jinping’s sarcasm, Ji Ruo’s grumpiness feels surprisingly reasonable. Behind him, Master Yin of the Xingxiu Sect also stares at Gu Jinping with a faint smile—but his eyes are icy cold, as if warning her to shut up or lose her tongue.

Gu Jinping, spooked by her own imagination, goes pale. She instinctively covers her mouth and retreats into the crowd, not daring to speak again.

Yun Zhuoran simply says, “If you don’t want to go in, just jump down.”

Gu Jinping’s eyes widen—then she notices the little island master beside Yun Zhuoran silently baring its fangs…

Clearly, even Yun Zhuoran is showing no patience, and the others aren’t about to indulge the spoiled temper of the young lady.

Frustrated, Gu Jinping turns to Shen Lingshu with a pitiful look, but he only backs away further, clearly wanting nothing to do with her.

After the interruption passes, Ji Ruo, Master Yin, and the others continue waiting for Yun Zhuoran’s answer.

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” Yun Zhuoran finally says. “What matters now is how we get out.”

Master Yin smiles faintly. “Then what does the young island master propose?”

Yun Zhuoran glances at the two demons on the ground.

The heart demon immediately understands. He squats down and grabs the last remaining tail of the little fox.

“Speak. How do we get out?”

The little fox trembles and whimpers, “M-my tail…”

The tiger demon says anxiously, “This is a chess game too, but we really can’t control it!”

Seeing that the heart demon refuses to let go of the fox’s tail, Yun Zhuoran makes a mental note to try and get that tail later. He says, “The system prompt just now mentioned the number of participants needed?”

“The chess game in Shuanglu Pavilion also requires 8 to 10 people…” Still holding the fox’s tail, the heart demon glares at them.

The tiger demon quickly adds, “This advanced chess game is similar to the beast-fighting chess just now. It’s divided into red and blue teams, but this time, no one controls the enemy’s pieces. And since there are more players, there will be more pieces. In fact, this game can have an unlimited number of pieces…”

Ji Ruo groans, dizzy from all the rules. “Can’t you slow down?”

The little fox sobs, “This game is much more dangerous than the beast-fighting chess…”

The heart demon gives a look that says, you’re just making things up. “Be specific!”

He only figures out the last game’s rules at the last second!

The fox, still being pulled by the tail and shaking in fear, cries so hard it can’t speak. Yun Zhuoran silently pulls the heart demon up by the arm.

The little fox buries its face in the tiger demon’s fluffy chest, sobbing. The tiger demon breathes a sigh of relief and explains to everyone:

“The sea of fire below is the chessboard. Based on your numbers, both teams should start with ten pieces each. You take turns rolling dice—blue side chases, red side escapes. If someone rolls a six, they get an extra piece. If all red pieces are captured, blue wins. But if even one red piece escapes to shore, red wins, and all previously captured red pieces can resurrect…”

Ji Ruo and Weiran—who have no chess background—are already lost, and even the others find these rules bizarre. Plus, with the sea of fire below, how are they supposed to even see the board?

Suddenly, the platform beneath their feet begins to vibrate and crack like a spiderweb.

The tiger demon curls his tail protectively around the fox and shouts urgently, “The chessboard is forming!”

Everyone scrambles to stabilize themselves. Below, small stone peaks begin rising from the sea of fire.

“The platform is going to collapse! Jump—now!” the tiger demon yells.

Even as he speaks, he grabs the little fox, climbs up, and leaps off the platform.

“Brother!” the heart demon shouts, reaching out to grab Yun Zhuoran’s hand—but someone else grabs his shoulder. The platform collapses beneath them with a violent shake. Pieces of stone drop into the molten lava and instantly vaporize.

With a deafening crash, the floating platform breaks apart completely and disappears into the magma.

At the moment they jump down, the hot wind and waves brush against their skin. Yun Zhuoran and Weiran both feel a strong suction force coming from the magma. The dazzling fire obscures their vision, making it very easy to lose their way.

Fortunately, the slowly rising small stone peaks are not far from the platform. Before they are pulled too strongly by the magma, they follow the heat wave’s wind and successfully fly to one of the small stone peaks, standing on the flat top that can only fit two or three people.

Finally standing still, Yun Zhuoran breathes a sigh of relief and helps Weiran steady himself, but he smells a faint burnt odor. Looking down, he sees a large hole in the hem of Weiran’s clothes, likely burned by the sparks splashed by the gravel midway. His sleeves are also burned through with many fingernail-sized holes.

The heart demon is mostly fine, but the fabric on his shoulder has been burned through, leaving an egg-sized hole. The sparks are extinguished, but the layered clothing cannot be saved, revealing a small patch of snow-white skin, particularly eye-catching.

Yun Zhuoran’s eyebrows tighten, and he takes off his outer robe and drapes it over the heart demon’s shoulders.

“Brother?”

Yun Zhuoran asks, “Does it hurt?”

Without the loose outer robe covering him, Yun Zhuoran’s slim red long gown is exposed, and his slender waist bound by the belt appears even more slender. The heart demon stares blankly at him and shakes his head.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

It’s just that my brother’s waist is so thin… The heart demon couldn’t take his eyes off him.

“Hey! What’s going on!”

A voice comes from not far behind them. Yun Zhuoran looks back and sees Cheng Ruyi, who is squatting on a stone peak nearby, pointing at the purple lines spreading across the sea of fire, gradually dividing it into squares.

After the lines divide the sea of fire, it really looks like a chessboard.

The location of Yun Zhuoran and Weiran is only two squares away from Cheng Ruyi’s stone peak. The others aren’t far either. They all land safely, with at most three people on each three-meter-high stone peak. Some peaks are still unoccupied. In total, there are about ten peaks, aligned within two adjacent vertical lines. Every two stone peaks are separated by one stone peak, equivalent to one square’s distance. Yun Zhuoran and Weiran are standing on the outermost peaks.

The purple light spreads across the sea of fire with fifty vertical and horizontal lines, covering a wide area. Their group is concentrated between the sixth and seventh rows from the left, roughly in the middle horizontally. Outside the leftmost purple line, ten small volcanoes line the edge of the first row, while the far right is the distant, but safe, opposite bank.

The ten people have no casualties for now, and they all notice something strange about the magma.

After the chess game formation completes, a half-meter square platform appears above it. On the platform, the figures of the little fox and the tiger demon squat. On either side of the platform, two suspended red and blue dice float quietly.

The heart demon’s eyes light up. He excitedly grabs Yun Zhuoran’s sleeve. “Brother, look!”

Yun Zhuoran doesn’t understand why the heart demon is so interested in this, but he shakes his head helplessly and bends down to roll up the heart demon’s sleeves. The clothes are still a bit too big for him. After the heart demon puts them on, it isn’t as exaggerated as a child wearing adult clothes, but the sleeves are still too long and inconvenient.

After rolling up the sleeves, Yun Zhuoran pinches his fingers together and draws a barrier over the clothes. This robe was originally a level 1 item, but after adding his defense array, it should now be able to resist flying sparks.

The group separates into pairs and stands on the small stone peaks to calm themselves.

At this moment, no one doubts the danger of this chess game anymore.

The chess game gradually completes. After the dice appear, the voice of the fox demon sounds from the platform above:

“These ten stone peaks are your chess pieces. There might not be people on every piece, but each piece can hold at most three people. If there are more, the chess game automatically selects the extra people and throws them into the magma. You are now automatically grouped into the blue team—the escaping team. Your destination is the opposite shore, while the volcanoes behind you represent the red team. If the volcano catches up, your chess pieces are smashed…”

Young Master Yin asks cautiously, “What happens to us if the chess pieces are smashed by the volcano?”

The fox demon’s tone is no longer timid, now sounding proud of its reversal of fortune. The earlier crying tone is gone. Squatting on the tiger demon’s head, it snorts and laughs: “Then you fall!”

Young Master Yin’s expression grows heavy.

Shen Lingshu, who happens to share a chess piece with Gu Jinping, asks, “Can we be resurrected?”

This is the question everyone cares about most at the moment.

The fox demon swings its tail and says, “This game is decided in one round, but our city lord is not so inhumane. Those who fall into the sea of fire enter a pending state until the game ends. They also suffer a corresponding punishment. If the blue team wins in the end, those in the pending state can be resurrected.”

The fox demon looks down at the ten people scattered and trapped in the sea of fire and says: “If you can’t endure the pending state, you can beg for mercy from us. But we won’t agree to the deal unless you offer a treasure of equal value to my tail.”

Isn’t the fox demon hinting that it wants its tail back?

Everyone silently looks at the culprit.

The heart demon hugs Yun Zhuoran’s arm, leans against him, and blinks innocently.

The calmer he is, the angrier the fox demon becomes, but it doesn’t dare to jump down to settle the score with him.

“The red side goes first. I let you go last time. This time, I can’t make the decision…”

“Wait a minute!” Ji Ruo suddenly asks, “If the red side rolls a six first, wouldn’t we in the sixth row be finished from the start? And the other side can add another volcano!”

As soon as he says this, everyone turns to look at the five people standing in the sixth row: Master Yin, Yun Zhuoran, the little island lord of Penglai, Cheng Ruyi from Zhuyin Sect, and Ji Ruo himself, squeezed together on one chess piece.

Ji Ruo, who feels extremely unlucky, looks grim, but the fox demon laughs happily, “Whose fault is that? You were unlucky when you jumped down.” However, the fox demon still honestly explains the hidden rule: “Don’t you have your own chess pieces nearby? If you are smashed by a volcano, and there is one of your own chess pieces within a four-square distance around you, you can jump over.”

Everyone falls silent.

At that moment, the red die suspended in the air suddenly drops, startling everyone. They see that when the huge die falls onto the magma, it is held up by an invisible force.

Now, everyone can clearly see the number the red die shows.

In this game, one side attacks and the other escapes. The attacking side obviously has a huge advantage. Therefore, the escaping side, already disadvantaged from the start, pays close attention to the initial roll of the red side.

The red side’s luck at the beginning isn’t great. The die stops at 3.

Thus, the small volcano in Ji Ruo’s row enters the chess game and advances to the third square.

Before the other side makes a move, Ji Ruo is already drenched in cold sweat. Seeing that it’s his row, he feels lucky but can’t laugh. He can only silently raise his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Everyone understands why he’s lucky. His row is temporarily safe for the first round.

The red die turns into a beam of light and floats back into the air, while the blue die shrinks to the size of a fingernail and falls in front of Ji Ruo.

The fox demon reminds at the right time, “The order is the same as last time. Both sides take turns, and you can only move one chess piece at a time. The blue side will prioritize the first person on each chess piece who entered Shuanglu Pavilion.”

Master Yin smiles and looks at Ji Ruo, who is trying to distance himself on the stone peak.

Ji Ruo is almost stunned by the surprise. Is he lucky or unlucky?

Some are happy, and some are worried. Cheng Ruyi points at himself. “Am I the last?”

Yun Zhuoran looks at the heart demon.

The heart demon pats his chest and says, “Don’t worry, Brother! I’m ranked fourth!”

According to their entrance order into Shuanglu Pavilion, Yun Zhuoran is second to last, while the heart demon is fourth. So their turn to move will be somewhere in the middle.

However, it still depends on whether the red team will roll a six first and directly smash their unmoved chess piece.

So, this chess game still depends largely on luck.

Yun Zhuoran’s eyes flicker slightly. He grips the heart demon’s hand tightly and says nothing.

Ji Ruo closes his eyes nervously and throws the die into the sea of fire. The die grows larger in the air before landing. He rolls a 4.

This allows Ji Ruo and Young Master Yin to move to a safe distance and pull far ahead of the others.

The second round starts with the red side again.

No one knows who controls the red side’s die, but this time the number is 2, still not high. This time, the chess piece in Cheng Ruyi’s row is moved.

Cheng Ruyi is temporarily relieved. He lies flat on the stone peak platform for a long time without speaking, a strange smile on his face.

Next, it’s Gu Qiuming’s turn.

Gu Qiuming, the second to enter Shuanglu Pavilion, happens to be on the same chess piece with Li Jianming and Jiang Zhibai. Gu Qiuming holds the die for a long time without throwing, while the other two comfort him.

Fortunately, carrying the luck of three people turns out to be unexpectedly good. He rolls a 5.

This time, the leading chess piece becomes the one with Gu Qiuming and the other two.

Li Jianming is ranked third, but since he and Gu Qiuming are on the same chess piece, no matter how many people are on it, they only have one chance to throw the die and escape forward each round.

Thus, it’s the heart demon’s turn next.

However, before the heart demon can move, it’s still the red side’s turn. This time, the red side rolls an astonishing 6, adding another small volcano at the starting point. But this time, it’s Gu Qiuming’s row.

The heart demon breathes a sigh of relief.

From the current situation, it seems the opponent plans to send all the small volcanoes onto the chessboard first and then start chasing. But because Gu Qiuming and the others are moving too fast, they seem to be the first target.

When the die finally falls into the heart demon’s hands, he is extremely excited.

“Brother, watch me!”

Yun Zhuoran smiles and nods. “Okay.”

The heart demon laughs proudly. He’s played dice with Song Shao many times and never lost!