Change the Fate of the Cannon Fodder

Prologue

He stood there with emotionless eyes backed up against the wall of an isolated alley. The dead end gave him no way out but there was no fear or anger in his eyes. His eyes reflected the muzzle of the gun pointed at him. The young man holding the gun was shaking with tears, anguish and manic anger on his face.

"Yun Heng you never felt anything for me? Not even once? After all this time?" The young man questioned with desperation in his trembling voice.

Yun Heng was silent for a minute and then slowly responded monotonously with a deadpan expression, "No"

"Hahahahahaha" The young man's eyes turned crazed and vicious, "If I can't have you then in this lifetime nobody can!" His hand steadied and he shot three consecutive times.

Yun Heng's body jerked as each bullet found his target and he fell back onto the floor. His face slightly scrunched up in pain, but there was no other expression on his face. The young man walked up to him and looked down at his face. He seemed to search for something in Yun Heng's eyes but never found it.

"Yun Heng you are so heartless, even at the end your expression never changes. Even at the end you won't look at me." The man's body wracked with sobs and he fell to his knees beside him.

Yun Heng's eyes seem to look through him and stare at nothing. As his vision darkens he feels no regret, longing, fear or attachment. His eyes are empty and unfeeling. The strength leaves his body and he closes his eyes for good.

In the alley the sound of many boots hitting the ground is heard. A squad of police officers arrive at the scene and see a young man clutching onto a cooling body.

"He Chao you are under arrest for murder. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be used against you in court."

He Chao just looks up with a desolate smile and surrenders himself into custody. He gave that man everything but now he returns with nothing but regret and anger. Anger at himself for clinging to someone he knew would never give him what he longed for.

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"System 069 you have been ordered to take a host. You have been on 'vacation' for way too long. We have already selected a host for you and you don't have a choice in the matter." A man handed a folder over to System 069 and gave her a pointed stare. The system looked through the folder and looked up at her boss in panic. "You can't do this to me! I know that I've been careless but you can't punish me with this guy! I'll lose the high position I've worked for all of these 10,000 years. C'mon Greg you can't possibly hate me this much!" Greg looked at the system with a faked look of innocence, "What you mean by punishment? We are being so kind in choosing a host for you so that you don't have to wait for years to find a suitable one." The system looked up at her boss with her best pitiful expression and pleaded for mercy but the man wasn't moved. "Sorry Ni Ni the higher ups have decided. You might as well try to make the best of it. Who knows... this guy might actually turn out to be pretty good. You might even get a promotion if you work hard." Greg walked away before she could say anything else and leaped through the system portal to return to the Headquarters.

Ni Ni stood rooted to the spot with anger and resignation on her face. She wanted to throw a tantrum but she knew nothing would change. She just sighed and left to get ready to contract her new host.

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Yun Heng opened his eyes and he was surrounded by darkness. He couldn't see a thing but he wasn't panicked in the slightest. His face was absolutely calm and expressionless. He didn't know how long he stood there as there was no way to tell time, but it felt like years had gone by. All of a sudden the room filled with light. He winced as his eyes squinted trying to adjust to the light.

In front of him stood a slim woman wearing a black sundress with bright red lipstick and 9 inch red heels. She had pale skin and waist length silky black hair. She had a slightly annoyed look on her face and she looked up and down at him appraising his worth. She seemed satisfied with what she saw and her expression looked slightly better. "At least you look hot so it's not all bad." She muttered to herself.

She looked up at his unchanging expression and started to feel irritated. "I'm System 069, you can call me Ni Ni. You have died, in case you haven't noticed." She paused waiting for some kind of reaction, but was disappointed. "Your soul has been selected to bind with a system to world-hop and complete tasks. You can either choose to agree or move on to the reincarnation cycle. Do you have any questions?"

Yun Heng looked at her with unreadable eyes and calmly asked, "What are the terms of the binding and what benefits will I receive?" Ni Ni looked slightly relieved that he actually spoke. For a minute she thought he might have been a statue. "As you world-hop in each world you have to complete missions. For each mission you successfully complete there are points that you will gain. With those points you can buy skills and objects that could be useful to you for your missions. After you successfully complete the set number of missions you can ask for a single wish. It can be anything and it will be fulfilled. You could return alive to your world."

"How many missions do I need to complete to be able to get the wish?" Yun Heng asked. "It hasn't been determined yet. It depends on your skill and what the higher-ups ultimately decide." Ni Ni replied. "Higher-ups?" Yun Heng questioned. "You don't need to know about that yet." Ni Ni dismissively stated. Yun Heng was deep in thought considering the offer. There was nothing he wanted. He had no desires or wishes. It all seemed rather pointless, but maybe it could help alleviate his boredom. Yun Heng had gone through his entire life without feelings. He didn't know what it meant to love or be happy or sad or angry, and he didn't have any desires. He passively lived his life just going through the motions. He got average grades in school, went to an average university and got an average job. At a young age his parents tested his IQ and he was deemed a genius but he never put any effort. All of the work was easy and he could have been extraordinary but what was the point?

Ni Ni could see through his hesitation and lack of interest. While she wasn't that happy at contracting him as her host, she knew that if she lost him she would be heavily punished. She speed read through his file again and a certain point caught her attention. Her host had been diagnosed with extreme apathy and Schizoid personality disorder (A/N: not the same as schizophrenia and I'm not being super accurate about all the symptoms Yun Heng has). He had little to no emotions and had almosts no interests in social contact or anything really. She decided to use this to try and get him to agree to the contract. "Host...if you agree to bind with me you might be able to feel emotions." She wasn't being completely honest because it wasn't a sure thing, but it wasn't a lie. He really might be able to gain the ability to feel strong emotions again.

Yun Heng looked thoughtful and considered the possibility. He was kind of curious about feeling emotions. He had been scorned and avoided for being a so called 'freak'. There were many times when people tried to 'teach' him how to feel. He Chao was just one of the many people who thought they could 'cure' him, but it never worked. Maybe He Chao couldn't stand his lack of interest anymore and decided to end it by ending him. Yun Heng didn't feel any resentment or anger towards He Chao, he never had any deep attachment to life anyways. Oh well, trying this thing - whatever it is, is better than nothing. Maybe learning to feel will change his perpetually bored and detached mind. "What are the consequences of failing the missions?" he asked. 

Ni Ni replied, "If you fail 4 worlds then your soul will be obliterated and unable to re-enter the reincarnation cycle. You will truly disappear." She worried that this might cause him to back out but it was an ironclad rule that she must give him all of the information so that he could make his choice. Yun Heng didn't seem fazed by the possibility of disappearing. "Okay, I'll bind with you."

Ni Ni internally cheered at her luck. "Host do you agree to Bind with system 069?" Yun Sheng replied, "I Agree". A flash of yellow light emerged from Ni Ni's heart and pierced into Yun Heng's hand. There was a small four-leafed clover mark under his thumb.

"I forgot to ask but what's my task in each world?" Yun Heng looked at Ni Ni. She looked back meeting his eyes and said, "I'm the Change the Fate of the Cannon Fodder System. In each world you will rescue the poor cannon fodder from their distressing fate... Ready for the first world?"

Ready...

Transferring to the first world: 3,2,1...