When the Cannon Fodder Male Supporting Role Picks Up the Script - Chapter 83

The sky suddenly darkens. The corridor goes pitch black, and the lobby is shrouded in darkness. Footsteps echo from upstairs, clearly audible from all directions. After Yun Zhuoran and Weiran descend, the footsteps gradually fade—then suddenly stop—replaced by an eerie silence.

Li Jianming gathers his courage and follows them downstairs, terrified. He sees Yun Zhuoran and Weiran standing quietly in front of a table, the orange candlelight dimly illuminating their faces.

Clutching his spirit sword tightly, Li Jianming creeps over and lowers his voice. “No movement?”

The candles in the lobby are lit after Yun Zhuoran and Weiran come down. Just as Li Jianming finishes asking, a sound comes from the second floor. Gu Jinping hurries down and finds the three of them staring at her blankly—especially Yun Zhuoran and Weiran. The look makes her face go pale, and she freezes.

They glance upstairs, then look away at the same time. To them, Gu Jinping is a disturbance they don’t want to approach.

Yun Zhuoran speaks. “Do you feel it?”

Li Jianming glances around, tense. “Feels like… someone else is here too…”

The strange thing is, none of them can see it—but all of them can feel it.

Noticing no one is paying her any attention, Gu Jinping quietly walks down along the wall.

Everyone finds Gu Jinping unpleasant, but when only one person comes down from upstairs, Weiran can’t help but ask, “Brother, where are the others?”

Just then, a cry comes from the backyard patio—it sounds like Gu Qiuming.

“Let’s go.”

Yun Zhuoran reaches to grab Weiran’s hand, but Li Jianming bolts ahead as if afraid of being left behind. Yun Zhuoran and Weiran exchange a glance and chuckle.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Jinping is the only one left in the hall. She looks at the dark corner untouched by candlelight, heart pounding in fear. Like the others, she feels as though someone is right beside her.

When the group hurries to the backyard patio, they find no fight taking place. Jiang Zhibai is supporting Gu Qiuming. Shen Lingshu and Ji Ruo stand far apart, but Ji Ruo’s face is pale.

Gu Qiuming pants lightly, a trace of fresh blood on the corner of his lips.

A faint firelight glows from the kitchen, slanting out through the open door. A shadow grows across the paper window. Young Master Yin steps out holding a candlestick.

Yun Zhuoran and Li Jianming live on the third floor—they’re probably the last to hear the noise. Young Master Yin and Ji Ruo on the second floor came down earlier, so those on the first floor would’ve noticed the commotion first.

“What happened?” Li Jianming walks toward Jiang Zhibai in shock. “Are you hurt?”

Jiang Zhibai’s expression is grim. “Junior Brother Gu and Young Master Ji are injured by a strange person.”

Young Master Yin walks slowly beneath the trees toward Ji Ruo, who stands alone.

“Is Young Master Ji alright?”

“None of your business.”

Ji Ruo doesn’t appreciate the concern. He snaps and then lowers his head, pressing his arm. It looks injured—though there’s no blood, so it shouldn’t be serious.

Young Master Yin doesn’t get angry. He simply smiles and turns to Yun Zhuoran and the others. “Young Master is here.”

Yun Zhuoran asks, “Where’s the strange person?”

The courtyard is empty—no one else is there.

Young Master Yin smiles faintly. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone.”

Jiang Zhibai takes the initiative to explain to Yun Zhuoran. “We heard noise in the backyard and came out to check. As soon as we stepped into the courtyard, Junior Brother Gu was attacked. I didn’t see anything. There seemed to be no one there, but he’s injured. Young Master Ji is near him and gets hurt trying to help.”

Those who arrive later are surprised—Ji Ruo goes out of his way to help Gu Qiuming?

Ji Ruo scoffs immediately. “Who said I’m saving him? I’m trying to catch the freak!”

“That’s what happened. I didn’t see anyone… When I walk under the trees, it feels like I bump into someone—and then I’m attacked. Looks like we can’t see who’s doing it,” Gu Qiuming says, confused. He knows that if Ji Ruo hadn’t pulled him away, his injuries might be far worse.

Gu Qiuming bows sincerely to Ji Ruo. “Thank you, Master Ji.”

Ji Ruo turns his head with a casual expression, but it seems he tugs at the wound accidentally. He sucks in a breath, frowns, and then notices everyone staring at him. His frown deepens.

“What are you looking at me for? I didn’t see anything. I think I caught a hand when I fought back…” Ji Ruo’s eyes narrow with disgust. “It felt cold, and there’s a demonic aura.”

“Demonic aura?” Yun Zhuoran repeats.

Ji Ruo shoots him a sideways glare, still annoyed, and turns away with a snort.

“Yuelai Inn is small. There aren’t many places to hide, and yet this person vanishes right under our noses.” Young Master Yin looks at Yun Zhuoran with a smile. “A real strange person, this one.”

Yun Zhuoran pretends not to notice the implication, turns around, and leaves with his heart demon.

“Let’s go back.”

That feeling of being watched still hangs over everyone in the inn. Seeing Yun Zhuoran—who has the highest cultivation level—head back, the others follow quickly, afraid to be left alone and targeted by the strange person.

When he returns to the lobby again, that strange, crowded feeling—like being surrounded by invisible people—still lingers. Yun Zhuoran stands in front of the table and checks the strand of hair he and his heart demon placed under the candlestick before leaving. It hasn’t moved. He exchanges a glance with the heart demon, then they both sit down, silently waiting for the others to return.

After the strange person’s sneak attack, no one dares go back to their rooms. Everyone gathers in the lobby and takes a seat.

Young Master Yin, seemingly having forgotten Yun Zhuoran’s earlier warning, sits smilingly across from him. Seeing this, the yawning heart demon immediately straightens his back and sits upright.

“Don’t be nervous, Little Island Master,” Young Master Yin says kindly, glancing around. “I think we should all work together to catch this strange person. If anyone has any clues, don’t keep them to yourself. After all, we can’t see this strange person, but he can attack us.”

Li Jianming raises his hand in agreement. “As long as Young Master Yin doesn’t do anything strange, we’ll have no problem working together. Speaking of which, you fought with him—did you see what he looked like? Is he invisible?”

Only Gu Qiuming and Ji Ruo have come into contact with the strange person.

 Ji Ruo looks annoyed, as if he’s already explained it and doesn’t want to repeat himself. Ming Ze answers patiently instead. “Before I’m attacked, I really don’t see anything. But… I have a feeling that the person I bump into earlier must be the strange person.”

“That’s odd,” Li Jianming murmurs, rubbing his chin. “You heard the noise and went to the courtyard, bumped into something invisible, and were attacked. But Yun Zhuoran and I are on the third floor. We heard footsteps too—lots of them—coming from the third floor down to the lobby…” He pauses and looks around warily. “I keep feeling like those people haven’t left. It’s like they’re still here, sitting among us.”

Ji Ruo scoffs. “Nonsense. There’s only one strange person.”

“How do you know for sure?” Li Jianming asks.

“I…” Ji Ruo falters, then snaps, “There’s only one!”

Just as Ji Ruo is about to get angry, Yun Zhuoran says, “Did we hear different things?”

Ji Ruo calms down slightly and replies sullenly, “I only know there’s noise in the next room. When I go out, I see Master Yin and follow him downstairs. When we get there, people say they hear voices in the courtyard.”

“I hear someone coming downstairs from the next room too,” Young Master Yin adds, turning his gaze toward Gu Jinping in the corner. “Was that you, Miss Gu?”

Gu Jinping quickly shakes her head. “I don’t come down until after you leave!” Noticing Shen Lingshu looking at her, she adds honestly, “I hear no fewer than four doors open. It doesn’t sound right. The noises come from the empty rooms on the second floor. I’m too scared to go out.”

Li Jianming rubs his arms as goosebumps rise. “So the second floor is like that too?”

Young Master Yin and Ji Ruo say they come down early after hearing sounds. Only Gu Jinping, who stays with the demon sect’s two young masters, is nervous enough to notice something off on the second floor.

After hearing what Li Jianming says, everyone starts to suspect something’s wrong with the third floor as well.

Young Master Yin asks again, “And on the third floor?”

He keeps watching Yun Zhuoran, silently urging him to speak, but Yun Zhuoran doesn’t respond further. Even the little island master dozes quietly against his shoulder, not saying a word.

Li Jianming picks up the thread. “Yun Zhuoran and I both hear a door opening next to us. We think it’s each other, but when we step out and see each other, we realize something’s wrong… But here’s the thing: there are only two Tianzi rooms on the third floor. So where do those other sounds come from?”

Suddenly, Li Jianming clutches his spirit sword tightly, scoots his bench closer to Yun Zhuoran, and mutters, “Yun Zhuoran, I keep thinking… there are only two rooms, but something doesn’t add up. Could there be more rooms—hidden ones we can’t see?”

Yun Zhuoran asks, “And then?”

“Wait! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?” Li Jianming slaps his forehead. The fear in his heart fades slightly as an idea hits him. “So those noises we hear could be fake—meant to split us up and pick us off one by one!”

Young Master Yin adds, “Whether the sounds are real or not, we know for certain now that the strange person who attacks Junior Brother Gu exists. The problem is, we can’t see him, don’t know where he comes from, and don’t know when he’ll show up again…” He sweeps his gaze across everyone. The whites of his eyes seem unusually pale and cold. Perhaps due to the unease, his voice wavers slightly. “Everyone knows there’s no path outside the inn. In that case, the strange person must be hiding inside. Or rather—he’s hiding right beside us.”

The room falls silent.

Li Jianming and Young Master Yin’s reasoning makes sense. This inn is strange. Everyone hears different noises on different floors. And now there’s a strange person who can launch surprise attacks without ever being seen.

If he really can hide among them, then unless he attacks again, it’ll be nearly impossible to find him. And all of them will have to stay on constant alert.

The most unsettling part is that they don’t even know if the strange person is human. If Li Jianming is right—that the strange sounds are a ploy to scatter them—then someone inside the inn is orchestrating it.

And if that’s true, then… is the strange person afraid of someone in the inn?

Involuntarily, everyone turns toward the person with the highest cultivation.

But aside from the little island master sleeping on Yun Zhuoran’s shoulder, Yun Zhuoran himself seems lost in thought. His cold face remains expressionless, as if the matter doesn’t concern him at all.

A glint flickers in Young Master Yin’s eyes. He asks, “Young Island Master, do you have any thoughts?”

Yun Zhuoran quickly shakes his head. “None.”

Li Jianming looks unconvinced. “Then what are you thinking? Yun Zhuoran, you have to know—you’re the smartest, the strongest, the most beautiful… ah, wait, not the most beautiful. But do you know how powerful you are? You’re a Fusion Stage cultivator! Do you know what that means? It means even if all of us here team up, we still wouldn’t be able to take on a single one of your fingers!”

Yun Zhuoran calmly interrupts Li Jianming’s exaggerated praise. “Can we go back to the room?”

Li Jianming hesitates and stops his flattery. “What?”

“Aren’t you asking what I’m thinking about?” Yun Zhuoran lowers his eyes and gently supports the heart demon leaning on his shoulder, his head slowly tilting down. The heart demon, who is struggling to stay awake, mutters, “Weiran and I want to sleep.”

Everyone: “…”

Young Master Yin smiles after a long pause. “Young Island Master doesn’t want to catch the strange person?”

Yun Zhuoran replies, “Besides the fact that the strange person can be invisible, are there any other clues?”

Young Master Yin falls silent for a moment. “Young Island Master, we still don’t know if the strange person is a person. We can’t see him, and it might be dangerous for everyone to split up. Besides, Young Master Ji and Little Friend Gu are injured. It’s better for us to stay together tonight. If you and the Little Island Master don’t mind, you can rest here.”

Yun Zhuoran glances at the heart demon, then slowly nods under the nervous gazes of everyone. “Okay.”

Young Master Yin lets out a sigh of relief, and so do the others. They have been worried the strange person might attack again, and Yun Zhuoran’s presence reassures them. As long as he stays, they feel safer, even though some of them don’t like him.

One major reason Yun Zhuoran doesn’t refuse is that the heart demon has already fallen asleep, and it would be difficult to move him. Yun Zhuoran gently wraps an arm around the heart demon’s shoulder to keep him from sliding off as he sleeps. In truth, the heart demon sleeps deeply and isn’t easily disturbed. He instinctively snuggles closer into the familiar embrace, his arms naturally wrapping around Yun Zhuoran’s waist.

Because the heart demon can’t control his strength well in his sleep, Yun Zhuoran feels a bit uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to argue with someone who is asleep, so he simply sighs in resignation.

This rare display of gentleness surprises everyone. No one expects Yun Zhuoran, who is usually indifferent and ruthless, to have such a soft side.

Yun Zhuoran stays out of goodwill, but since he is always distant with outsiders, everyone fears he might change his mind. Instinctively, they all fall silent.

Gu Qiuming and Ji Ruo need treatment for their injuries. None of them are skilled medical practitioners, but fortunately, they have brought plenty of elixirs. Ji Ruo, who has helped Gu Qiuming, is asked by Jiang Zhibai and Li Jianming if he wants to assist with the healing.

Ji Ruo, as usual, looks down on the righteous cultivators, rolls his eyes, and sits down to meditate and heal. Young Master Yin, a demon cultivator himself, quietly observes everyone, though it’s unclear what he is thinking.

Shen Lingshu, meanwhile, watches the intimate and natural movements between Yun Zhuoran and the little island master. A thorn of discomfort pricks his heart. He can’t understand why Yun Zhuoran is so close to this little island master, whom he isn’t even sure is a demon or a monster. After all these years of brotherhood, has it really been replaced by this brief connection? It frustrates him.

Shen Lingshu’s gaze becomes more obvious, and it’s hard for Yun Zhuoran not to notice. He looks up and meets Shen Lingshu’s eyes. Shen Lingshu is momentarily caught off guard, then quickly gives a calm nod.

Shen Lingshu isn’t embarrassed, though his actions are still somewhat conspicuous. The distance between them remains unmistakable.

Yun Zhuoran slowly averts his gaze. He has long grown tired of Shen Lingshu’s increasingly strange behavior over the years, and he doesn’t want to engage with him further. Shen Lingshu has kept his distance since entering the floating city, and Yun Zhuoran thinks that’s for the best.

In the silence, the sky slowly brightens, and soft light filters through the window paper. Half an hour passes, and it is dawn.

Yun Zhuoran has figured out the timing. At Yuelai Inn, one hour feels like a day, and half an hour is dawn, while the other half is night.

As the sky brightens, the half-burned candles in the lobby suddenly extinguish. The strange atmosphere that has felt like a crowd around them recedes like a tide, disappearing without a trace.

Young Master Yin, who has been searching for clues at the counter, glances at the light outside and then looks back at the gathered group. He exchanges a knowing look with Yun Zhuoran.

Ji Ruo stands up, looking slightly paler than before. He seems about to speak, but seeing that the heart demon is still sleeping on Yun Zhuoran’s shoulder, he closes his mouth and quietly heads upstairs.

No one stops him.

Everyone has already accepted the pattern: the intruder only appears at night, and daytime is safe.

Everyone exchanges glances, unsure if they should return to their rooms and rest like Ji Ruo, taking advantage of the half-hour before it gets dark.

But Yun Zhuoran stands up, gently lifts the white-clad little island master into his arms, and heads upstairs.

Watching the three of them leave, Young Master Yin’s eyes flicker with a smile. “It’s dawn. I think I’ll go back to my room too.”

After they go upstairs, the others hesitate but eventually return to their rooms to rest.

It’s as if time has stretched. They have only been in the lobby for half an hour, but everyone feels as though they have stayed up all night. The high cultivators seem unaffected, but those with lower cultivation levels are obviously exhausted.

The half hour before it gets dark is the only time they can rest.

For a cultivator at Yun Zhuoran’s level, the physical toll is negligible, but that doesn’t mean Yun Zhuoran doesn’t notice. After gently laying the heart demon on the bed, he sits nearby cross-legged and closes his eyes to meditate.

The time in the floating city differs from that in the outside world, something Yun Zhuoran has already noticed. Judging by the small amount of physical strength he has just expended, he realizes that time in Yuelai Inn is not only several times longer than the outside world, but also comes with a mandatory drain on physical strength for everyone who enters. Even if it feels like only half an hour has passed, it inadvertently saps one’s energy over the course of the night. This seems to serve as a warning to everyone: the monster has to be caught quickly. Otherwise, those with low cultivation will soon find themselves without the strength to fight.

About half an hour later, the sky outside the window gradually darkens. Yun Zhuoran circulates his spiritual power through several small cycles and regains the energy he has lost.

Hearing a rustling sound behind him, he opens his eyes and glances over. It is the heart demon. The heart demon has woken up from his nap and is now lying on the bed, reading a book, his mouth slightly open and his face a picture of confusion.

Yun Zhuoran catches a glimpse of the book’s yellow cover and notices the heart demon’s intense focus. It is clear the heart demon doesn’t quite understand what he is reading, but his attention is fixed on the book. He has never been so serious about practicing calligraphy in the past.

Curious, Yun Zhuoran asks, “What are you reading?”

“Ah! Brother!” The heart demon jumps in surprise, pounces forward, and buries the yellow book under his belly. Fortunately, the bedding is soft, and he isn’t hurt.

Yun Zhuoran sighs in relief and tilts his head, noticing the corner of the book page still exposed under his belly. He can faintly see a portrait.

The heart demon squirms, trying to push the book further under himself.

Yun Zhuoran raises an eyebrow, intrigued. “What’s hidden there?”

The heart demon quickly shakes his head, rolling further into the bed while clutching the book under his belly. In the blink of an eye, he stuffs the book into his storage bracelet, then sits up and raises his empty hands, lying without skipping a beat. “Brother, you must have seen it wrong! Weiran wasn’t reading any book!”

Yun Zhuoran quietly observes the silver-white storage bracelet on the heart demon’s wrist, which is embedded with a five-color spirit stone defense array. For the first time, his heart demon has attempted to hide something from him… Yun Zhuoran can’t help but feel a slight pang of displeasure.

The heart demon’s ears slowly turn red under the gaze, and he speaks in a soft voice, “Brother…”

Yun Zhuoran looks at him and thinks, I’m not an unreasonable guardian. The heart demon is still so naïve, and Yun Zhuoran worries he might pick up bad habits.

Sighing, he asks, “Can’t I take a look?”

Under Yun Zhuoran’s gaze, the heart demon obediently hands over the yellow book he’s hidden in the bracelet. “Brother, I’m studying. The fox demon told me that I can grow up by reading this book.” He looks puzzled and mutters, “But I don’t understand it. Does that mean I won’t grow up?”

Yun Zhuoran’s guilt grows as he takes the book. He exhales lightly and flips it open, but his eyes freeze and widen slightly. Isn’t this the fire avoidance map that everyone talks about?

His expression immediately darkens, but when he looks up and sees the heart demon’s curious gaze, he suppresses the urge to throw the book into the fire. The heart demon has been deceived by the fox demon. The more Yun Zhuoran thinks about it, the angrier he becomes. How wicked can the fox demon be, teaching the heart demon to read such a thing?

If he ever encounters that fox demon again, he will never let it off easily!

Taking a deep breath, Yun Zhuoran pretends to study the fire avoidance map seriously, turning the pages until he reaches the last one. He glances at the heart demon, who seems a little restless from the long wait. With a straight face, Yun Zhuoran stuffs the entire fire avoidance map into his robe.

“Brother doesn’t understand it either.”

The heart demon looks at the book Yun Zhuoran has confiscated and opens his mouth, as if to say something.

Yun Zhuoran’s face softens with a rare gentleness. He raises a hand and gently ruffles the heart demon’s hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you when I understand it.”