A Novelist’s Guide for Side Characters to Survive

Chapter 20: “Stay… Away from My Dad…”

Luciano Esposito hadn’t checked on Chu Zu’s condition for a long time.

Earlier, he was too busy with affairs to spare the time, and after Lazar’s report, he actively avoided related information.

Sometimes, Luciano Esposito wished Chu Zu’s condition would worsen.

He genuinely wanted the man to return to his former self, but fate was cruel enough that he could justifiably pin all the blame on Tang Qi.

But Chu Zu was too tenacious.

He could hear sounds and perceive his surroundings but might not respond.

Wasn’t that the most frustrating situation?

Yet, when he saw Chu Zu, all the thoughts Luciano Esposito had on the way vanished.

The man was almost as thin as when they first met at twelve.

Cybernetic enhancements were common in the Upper District—replacing an entire body wasn’t unusual.

But Chu Zu seemed naturally incompatible with metal cables.

The familiar cybernetic body looked deformed on him.

Deformed and barely clinging to life.

Luciano Esposito silently approached, sat by the bed, and propped the man up against the headboard.

A glass of water sat on the nightstand.

Luciano Esposito picked it up and fed him a little.

He kept staring into Chu Zu’s eyes, but the man remained unresponsive, like a factory-fresh android yet to be activated.

Chu Zu’s presence had always been defined by his aura.

Luciano Esposito thought he was almost nonexistent, yet others seemed to sense him from miles away, avoiding him like the plague.

Opinions on Chu Zu often focused on his “glorious deeds,” ultimately circling back to Luciano Esposito’s personality—because Chu Zu didn’t need analyzing, wasn’t worth analyzing.

Few paid attention to his appearance: a clean, sharp face, features not as harsh as imagined, long lashes that, when covering most of his red eyes, gave him an oddly “pure” aura.

This was fine.

Dying in this pure state might even let Luciano Esposito briefly forget the man’s betrayal.

Luciano Esposito looked for a while, then said softly, “I forgive you, Chu Zu.”

The man didn’t react.

“We’ve known each other a long time. I don’t remember much, but I always recall that day at twelve. Seems like such a young age now. When Father agreed to take you in, who’d have thought you’d end up dying by our hands?”

Luciano Esposito’s eyes grew distant, as if his thoughts drifted back to a far-off past with his words.

“While I was busy getting you an identity, you couldn’t stay put at home and became a plaything for my foolish brother. I was furious when I returned, but I couldn’t scold him for you—Jeeves would tell Father.”

A sly smile curled the blond man’s lips.

“I told him, touch you again, and I’d cut off his head to kick around. The kid didn’t take it seriously until I had you go take his head off.”

“Honestly, I regret it a bit,” he sighed, murmuring, “Forgot to make him apologize to you. He probably thought I’d kill him just because of the will.”

Chu Zu still showed no reaction.

“I’ve done so much for results that I forgot to explain, causing misunderstandings between us. By the time I wanted to explain slowly, those people were dead, like Mitoli’s two kids.”

“Trading with their uncle was one reason. I forgot to tell you—they were after your painless condition, wanting to borrow you for experiments. How could I tolerate that? I had to warn them with the kids.”

“So now I’m here to explain.”

*

“I’m thinking we can’t let him sink into reflection,” Chu Zu said in his mind.

“What if he convinces himself?”

The system hadn’t anticipated this scenario but realized it made sense.

“Looks like Little Luci hasn’t gone completely mad…”

Chu Zu was blunt.

“He’s practically in late-stage delusion, making up his own narrative. You think he’s talking to me? He’s talking to himself. Why else would I care?”

System: “…”

“You didn’t take him seriously, did you?”

“I don’t know,” the system admitted honestly.

“The original text lacks Little Luci’s inner thoughts. Analyzing his current behavior and words… uh… he might be telling the truth.”

No way.

Chu Zu knew Luciano Esposito’s mindset well—not that he was equally perverse, but that self-deceptive vibe was too familiar.

People say kids are natural liars, denying obvious facts, pouting, and wailing with overwhelming grievance.

That’s not entirely true.

The more unsteady someone’s sense of self, the easier they fall into a dead end.

Finding no way out, they flail and wield lies as a defense.

Like kids, half-strangers to the world and themselves.

Luciano Esposito wasn’t a child, far from a giant baby, but he was obsessed with being the perfect Upper District figure.

Ambition was part of it, being a ruthless bastard was part, and maintaining decorum was another.

What was decorum?

Even if I’m steeped in sin, with haters lining up from the Lower District’s edge to Esposito’s lobby, I can still adjust my collar, brush off nonexistent dust, and casually say.

That’s just how Upper District people are.

I’m just better, more practical, doing what they want but can’t.

Luciano Esposito wouldn’t define himself outside the Upper District elite—it was his proudest identity.

But Upper District people were still human.

Killing an entire family for a goal went beyond their limits—beyond “human” limits.

So Luciano Esposito needed Chu Zu, not just as a weapon but as a medium to reflect his moral character.

“Whether he’s nice or cruel to me doesn’t matter. As long as I’m alive, he can keep fooling himself. If things go well, he could fool himself forever.”

Chu Zu summed it up sharply.

“You believe he has hidden struggles he can’t voice? You might as well believe I’m secretly tender.”

System: “…”

It almost said, You’re pretty tender with Sidney.

But that sounded gross and risked host mockery, so the system dropped it.

*

Luciano Esposito sank into a long reverie until Jeeves interrupted: “Sir, excluding return travel, you have thirteen minutes left. The scheduled meeting begins at 22:00 sharp.”

An Esposito-wide meeting, even for the typically willful Luciano Esposito, required punctuality at such a critical time.

“I’m here to explain,” Luciano Esposito snapped back.

“I don’t need family or friends. This world’s designed so cleverly that everyone only cares about themselves.”

He laughed harshly, his lips curling into a sharp arc.

“Whoever takes value from me dies—you too—but I forgave you. We could still get along as agreed—but what can you give me now?”

“Give me your life,” Luciano Esposito coaxed, his voice gentler than ever, laced with faint madness.

“Give me your life, and I’ll still give you the world’s best things. If you can’t take them, I’ll give them to your son.”

“I said, your son is my son. I’ll take good care of him, even better than I did you.”

“I’ll explain everything I do clearly to him. I’ll raise him, be the closest father and son in the world. I—”

His melodious tone echoed in the room.

Chu Zu, previously unresponsive, suddenly stirred.

His lips twitched, almost uncontrollably, and his eyelids slowly lifted, emotions in his eyes like a tidal wave ready to shatter glass.

Luciano Esposito’s throat tightened, stopping mid-sentence in shock.

He’s awake?!

“Luci…”

Chu Zu hadn’t spoken in months.

Aside from instinctive groans of pain, he’d made no sound.

His voice seemed to carry the memory of pain, even saying the name laced with raw agony.

“You gave… Sidney to me… My child…”

Luciano Esposito’s shock sank like a boulder in his chest.

He hadn’t expected Chu Zu to fight so hard just to say this, as if he didn’t care about his own life, only hearing about the child.

Was that kid that important?

At that moment, Luciano Esposito lost his prized analytical ability.

His mind was flooded with questions.

I explained so much, why won’t Chu Zu answer?

Is that fair?

You don’t explain your betrayal, don’t care about my demands, discard the troublesome past, discard your sacrificial life.

And you slammed the brakes just for some mongrel kid from who-knows-where?

Why?

When he came to, his hand was already on the man’s throat, veins bulging, fingers digging into the little flesh Chu Zu had left.

Luciano Esposito watched Chu Zu’s limbs convulse reflexively, the temperature under his hand growing colder.

He didn’t know his own expression, but Chu Zu’s face showed an unfamiliar pain.

It was as unfamiliar as Luciano Esposito’s mood these past days.

Suddenly, he didn’t want answers.

He didn’t need to be responsible for a pain-feeling man.

That was part of their agreement.

The stormy blue eyes calmed.

Luciano Esposito said, “Chu Zu, I don’t owe you anything anymore.”

*

Sidney climbed over Brei’s back wall, behind which were metal poles cloaked in holographic projections.

As the boy scaled the pole, the hologram flickered briefly before blending his figure into the dark green leaves.

Humans needed sky, air, greenery.

The first two were Upper District privileges, but greenery was hard to maintain—so they made cheap artificial green.

For this, the community periodically upgraded equipment around homes, with holographic projections adjusting to time and season for a comfortable environment.

The metal poles connected Brei’s house to Sidney’s.

The boy was agile in the Lower District and had trained in the Upper District; this effort was nothing to him.

In a few moves, Sidney reached his house’s back wall, close enough to touch his bedroom windowsill.

The room’s light was on, the window shut, the curtain slightly parted.

It was a strange perspective.

Inside the room, Sidney thought it was big and bright, ten steps wall-to-wall, eight from door to bed.

Even pushing Chu Zu’s wheelchair, it didn’t feel cramped, not even with Dai Xi’an there.

But from outside, through the gap, Sidney saw how small the room was.

Small and empty.

To accommodate the wheelchair, daily care items for Chu Zu and entertainment devices were piled outside, leaving only the oversized bed.

The gaunt Chu Zu lay on black sheets, like floating in a black sea.

His eyes half-closed, expressionless, no longer as robust as before, but Sidney cared for him well, not as pale as when he first arrived.

Then Sidney saw a blond man in a black trench coat.

The man sat by the bed, propping Chu Zu against the soft headboard, feeding him water from a glass.

After setting the glass down, the man said something, inaudible through the window.

But as he finished, Chu Zu’s lips suddenly moved.

In three months, Sidney had never seen him respond to anything.

The man was like a drowned ghost, indifferent to the real world or his own existence.

Hoarse pain in his sleep was the only proof he was alive.

Sidney saw Chu Zu slowly, arduously lift his eyelids, the red in his eyes deepening, like waves surging in his pupils.

Chu Zu spoke.

Even inaudible, Sidney could make out parts from the familiar lip movements.

Ignoring the unknown, the only clear syllables were.

“Luci,” “Sidney.”

Luci, Luciano Esposito.

On the night Chu Zu agreed to take him to Brei’s birthday, Sidney heard the name from a terrified Dai Xi’an and a weak Chu Zu.

Back then, Sidney thought knowing too much was bad and ignored it.

“Ignored” wasn’t quite right.

Luciano Esposito’s presence was strong in the Upper District; even without seeking, Sidney caught it in passing.

The real reason he ignored it was Dai Xi’an’s warning.

She said, if you meet Chu Zu or an adult who looks like you and you can’t escape, kill yourself immediately.

After Chu Zu took him in, Dai Xi’an revised: Chu Zu is the only one who wants you to exist.

It was easy to understand.

Chu Zu was the Lower District’s grim reaper—running was natural.

Once his stance was clear, the danger lifted.

An adult who looked like him?

His parents, obviously.

From what Sidney pieced together, it narrowed to “father.”

He was a child his father didn’t want.

More precisely, he should run if he saw his father, and if he couldn’t, avoid falling into his hands.

He didn’t need to know his origins.

Anything tied to it was a survival threat.

He had a dad now.

Who needed a “father”?

Who cared who Luciano Esposito was?

That’s what Sidney thought.

Until now, he saw an adult who looked like him.

No need to confirm.

Through the window, the blond hair, those blue eyes, that eerily familiar face—the word “father” naturally surfaced in his mind.

Luciano Esposito was indeed vicious.

Sidney saw him suddenly grab Chu Zu’s throat with unrelenting force.

The once-unshakable man could only wait for death.

Never meet your “father,” Sidney warned himself.

Even if he strangles Chu Zu on that bed, you can’t let him see you.

Kids overthink.

In the Lower District, Sidney could think while scrambling.

In the Upper District, Chu Zu spoiled him into laziness.

With nothing to do, zoning out while thinking was excusable, right?

Sidney thought about a lot of random things.

Like what he’d do if Chu Zu died, what Lazar’s words meant, who Dai Xi’an was telling not to target him.

Suddenly, a foul stench hit, air thick with throat-burning pollution.

A world of shadows and death overwhelmed Sidney’s mind.

He was yanked back to Lower District 18, seeing himself after selling a scavenged prosthetic eye.

So thin, so small, with a foolishly satisfied look, the boy turned at a rustling sound.

Chu Zu.

It was the day Chu Zu came for him.

Sidney saw the boy foolishly rush forward, hugging the man’s leg, calling out with bad acting, “Dad—”

“You came for me?”

The man looked down, softly saying, “Yes, I came for you.”

Never meet Luciano Esposito.

Sidney kept warning himself.

“Father” knew Chu Zu, tortured him, Dai Xi’an feared him, and now he was killing Chu Zu.

They couldn’t stop Luciano Esposito.

What could you do?

Rush up and call him Dad like in District 18?

But his actions betrayed his thoughts.

With his agile body, the boy vaulted from the pole to the windowsill, crashing through the window with momentum!

—Stop.

Sidney rolled across the floor, grabbed a shard of glass, and, raising his bleeding hand, stabbed it into Luciano Esposito’s side!

—Stop it.

The boy’s strength was limited, exposing his presence and intent.

The next second, a sharp pain hit his chest, and he was kicked, flying into the wall and crashing to the floor.

—Run, please, Sidney.

“Sidney,” Luciano Esposito said, clutching his side wound, looking at him coldly.

“Our first meeting, huh? Didn’t expect you to look nothing like your dad.”

“Stay away from Dad…”

Sidney trembled as he stood, gripping another glass shard, holding it up, struggling to suppress the fear in his voice.

He repeated, “Stay away from my Dad!”

Don’t you want to live?

“I planned to adopt you, but you’re not as obedient as I thought,” Luciano Esposito said, a mocking glint in his eyes.

“That part’s like him… Whatever.”

Sidney was no match for Luciano Esposito.

He knew even screaming Dai Xi’an’s name wouldn’t bring her.

With such a commotion, she had no intention of intervening.

As Luciano Esposito pinned him underfoot, Sidney cursed his stupidity.

So stupid.

How long had he known Chu Zu?

How long had he been in the Upper District?

The man didn’t care about him.

Didn’t care if he blew up the kitchen, lost interest in learning after three minutes, messed around in the darkroom, soaked in ice water for hours.

He didn’t care, just occasionally asked if he was okay, took him to buy mango pie, told him not to provoke Dai Xi’an.

He only occasionally said: Sidney is my kid.

“Stay away… from my Dad…” Sidney kept saying.

So stupid.

“Luci…”

The room’s air froze for a moment.

Luciano Esposito turned instantly, but it was too late.

Chu Zu grabbed his arm from behind, yanking him back.

The weakened man erupted with fierce strength, his metal arm reaching from behind, locking around Luciano Esposito’s throat.

They crashed together onto the glass-strewn floor.

Sidney, you’re responsible for your choices.

The twelve-year-old told himself.

First, you have to make a choice.

Sidney didn’t care if he was being used.

Hair dye stung, contact lenses blurred his vision, Brei suddenly ignored him, Dai Xi’an’s attitude shifted, a “father” appeared out of nowhere… None of it mattered.

Pain was bearable, blurred vision cleared with focus.

Without Brei, he’d make new friends.

Dai Xi’an never treated him as human.

Luciano Esposito?

Who was he?

He wanted his dad.

Sidney only wanted his dad.

Chu Zu raised him, and he’d lay the world’s best things before him.

That was Sidney’s choice.

Almost reflexively, Sidney lunged from the floor at Luciano Esposito.

The glass shard, already embedded deep in his palm, aimed straight for Luciano Esposito’s throat!

Chu Zu’s pupils dilated sharply.

The sound of glass piercing flesh was clearer than expected.

Sidney paled, staring at the hand blocking Luciano Esposito’s neck.

The gaunt palm, pierced through by the glass, pushed outward, keeping the shard’s tip from touching Luciano Esposito.

Then, gently, so gently, he held Sidney’s hand.

Their “father-son” blood mingled, dripping onto the floor.

Luciano Esposito had been choked unconscious.

Chu Zu gently laid him on the ground.

Standing was arduous for Chu Zu, his earlier actions draining all his strength, but he still slowly pulled Sidney into his arms, their hands loosely clasped.

“Jeeves will soon… Don’t worry… Dai Xi’an will handle it…” Chu Zu leaned on him, whispering, “Find a quiet place… Talk to me… Sidney.”