Why Does the Wicked Cannon Fodder Always Pick the Wrong Side?

In his first two lives, Feng Chen did whatever it took to survive. As the most troublemaking villainous side character in an apocalypse novel, he served as a lackey to both the righteous male lead and the villain, but things never turned out as he expected.

In his first life, he sided with the villain Mu You and did everything he could to get his attention, licking his boots to perfection, all so he could gloat in front of the male lead who had once distrusted him. In the end, the “X” faction, which had been best positioned to control the entire resource zone, was wiped out, and Feng Chen was branded a traitor for being the villain’s lackey.

Only when death was staring him in the face did he realize that their world was a novel called “I Save All Humanity in the Apocalypse,” a power fantasy about the protagonist’s rise to greatness. Luo Guangyi, who would ultimately be crowned humanity’s savior, was the protagonist.

Reborn into his second life, Feng Chen finally figured it out. If he couldn’t change his fate, he might as well go with the flow. What did it matter whose coattails he rode? So he gave up his former arrogant ways and shamelessly clung to the famously cold-faced male lead, Luo Guangyi, claiming he wanted to strengthen their brotherly bond. He ignored the olive branch offered by the X faction and firmly joined the side of justice.

But, as luck would have it, this time the villain was reborn and won in the end. As the villain’s lackey, Feng Chen found himself facing another deadly predicament...

Damn it! What is going on?

When he saw the original “I Save All Humanity in the Apocalypse” change, amid new upheavals, into “After Being Reborn, the Villain Rises to Power in the Apocalypse,” it became impossible to tell who the real protagonist was and who was the fake...

And when he was reborn for a third time, Feng Chen had to make his final choice if he wanted to escape this loop.

Should he trust Mu You, the villain who had treated him like a trusted confidant from the very first life, yet was so paranoid and possessive that he constantly wanted to lock Feng Chen in a cage?

Or should he trust Luo Guangyi, the male lead who seemed righteous and dependable in his second life, but secretly craved a sense of security more than anything?

*

A System that exists only in the mental realm tells him he must complete Quest One and Quest Two to escape the loop. Quest One, figuring out who the real protagonist is, is easy enough to understand.

But what does Quest Two, recovering his past identity, mean?

Did he have some kind of history with those two that was erased from his memory?

And who set this so-called loop in motion?

*

As Feng Chen agonizes over which side to choose this time, the male lead and the villain, who are now in opposing factions, have already begun to recover the memories of their first two lives as they spend time together.

When Feng Chen passes information to the opposing side one moment and returns to his own side the next to suck up to them, both men pretend not to notice. Behind the scenes, however, they have already reached out to wrap around him like vines.

Then one day, his lies are exposed. Their little schemes are brought into the open, and the two interrogate him one after the other, leaving him with nowhere to run.

“Speak.”

Whether it’s the villain glaring darkly or the male lead, whose expression hasn’t changed once, they have just one thought: to keep this utterly selfish fence-sitter trapped at their side.

Their voices sound at different times, yet overlap in perfect unison, as though they’re staring straight through Feng Chen’s eyes and into his soul.

“Who are you choosing this time?”

*

After being a simp who picked the wrong side in both his first two lives, Feng Chen finally realizes he can’t devote himself to just one person. So until he finds the real protagonist, he decides to bet on all three sides: win over the male lead, keep the villain in check, and raise the little zombie king.

After all, triangles are stable.

But he never imagined that even this perfect plan to have a foot in three boats could go spectacularly wrong...

Reader’s note

A custom setting, not a conventional apocalypse: Humans are divided into survivors and ability users, zombies have several stages, and mutated monsters lurk in unknown places. The protagonist will lead a team outside the city to fight monsters in the early stages. Monster-fighting and romantic tension each make up half the story.

The true star of this story is Xiao Feng, a handsome, shameless shou who can bend without breaking. He says whatever suits the person he’s talking to, being smooth with those above him and cutting with those below. He may give the impression of flirting with everyone, but he’s actually straight... And until his plan goes off the rails, he never realizes that his targets’ “love” for him is not the “friendship” he assumes it is...

Theme: The brave get to enjoy the world first