A Novelist’s Guide for Side Characters to Survive

Chapter 21: “You Are Not His Choice, You Are His Instinct.”

The System never expected that Sidney, this kid, would understand the concept of “the most dangerous place is the safest place.”

Chu Zu had no strength left, entirely relying on the kid to support him as they walked out.

Dai Xi’an had already gone to deal with Jeeves and wasn’t home.

Sidney first went to Dai Xi’an’s room to search around, then supported Chu Zu to knock on the neighbor’s door.

The one who opened the door was Brei.

“Shut your mouth. If you don’t want her head blown off, let us in.”

Sidney pressed the laser gun he found against Brei’s forehead, coldly staring at the frozen parents behind the little girl, “Don’t make any other moves either. I’m always faster than the Inspection Control Department. Want to bet?”

Normally, Chu Zu would’ve said something to the System, like “This kid’s really something,” or “Is this damn kid crazy, pulling this on me?”

But Chu Zu was unusually quiet now, not saying a word even to the System.

The System had no time to care about Chu Zu’s state of mind.

Gray pop-up windows were frantically appearing one after another, red lights flashing like a nightclub gone wild.

Chu Zu was completely numb, showing no reaction, leaving the System tortured by the relentless barrage of warnings.

While handling these alerts, the System still remembered to give Chu Zu two shots of painkiller and roared at the restless superior.

“Luciano hasn’t died! Sidney just loves his dad too much! The author said some plot changes are allowed! The host sacrificed himself to maintain the normal development of the plot! I won’t let you talk about him!!!”

Superior: “…”

After yelling the superior away, the System still had to frantically deal with these alerts… but there was no way to handle them!

Sidney’s shocking leap had completely shattered Dai Xi’an and Lazar’s original plan.

It also smashed the System’s beautiful vision to pieces.

Never mind whether this pair of biologically related father and son should meet.

If it weren’t for Chu Zu’s astonishing reaction, blocking the way, Sidney really might’ve killed his own dad!

But you couldn’t blame Sidney for anything.

What could you hold against a kid obsessed with survival who rushed out for Chu Zu?

What could you say to a kid who kept shouting “Stay away from my dad”?

If the System were in Chu Zu’s position, it wouldn’t be able to say a single harsh word, only wanting to hug and lift the kid high.

Sidney used Brei as leverage, making her mother tie up her father and then having Brei tie up her mother.

After confirming the two adults were no threat, Sidney looked at the girl crying big tears and lifted his chin: “Take me to your bedroom.”

The little girl’s bedroom was clean, blue-themed, with artificial lambswool carpet on the floor and dolls everywhere within sight.

Many were even gifts Sidney had given her before.

Sidney didn’t let her leave.

He gently helped Chu Zu sit steady on the carpet, leaning against the bed, then turned to tie up Brei.

The moment his fingers touched the girl, Brei finally couldn’t hold back and burst into loud sobs.

Sidney grabbed a nearby plush glove and stuffed it into her mouth.

“Sorry,” the boy said coldly, “I’m very sorry.”

The System felt a strange sense of déjà vu, wondering… who did this kid resemble?

Now the System no longer wanted to hug and lift him high.

It finally blocked out the countless windows and indicator lights, letting out a heavy sigh of relief: “Host, what do we do now?”

“I’ll talk to him first,” Chu Zu finally spoke, his voice low, “I should’ve found time earlier, but right after the three-month silence ban ended, Luciano came for me. I should’ve talked to him sooner.”

The System was asking about the plot, but the host’s mind was entirely on Sidney.

But if the host wanted to talk, then talk!

“You forcibly fought Luciano and blocked Sidney once. Though the painkillers mean you can’t feel it, your physical condition is already quite bad.”

The System was just reminding him.

“I’ll contact Dai Xi’an in a reasonable way and get you to a hibernation pod to recover. Watch the time!”

Chu Zu hummed in acknowledgment.

*

“Dad.”

Sidney, having dealt with Brei, sat obediently in front of Chu Zu, leaning forward, “Are we going back to District 18?”

Chu Zu wanted to speak but suddenly coughed violently.

Sidney quickly got up, letting Chu Zu lean on him, patting his back to ease his breathing.

Seeing the man spit out large pools of blood, Sidney’s already pale face lost even more color.

“…You don’t have to do anything for me.”

Chu Zu leaned lightly on the kid’s narrow shoulder, starting to speak softly.

“Brei didn’t ignore you… It’s just that her parents were worried about… trouble, like this kind of… trouble.”

“The Lower District and Upper District… there’s no difference.”

Sidney froze, realizing Chu Zu was answering, one by one, the questions he’d once asked him!

“Having such an excellent son like you… is great.”

Chu Zu’s breaths brushed against the kid’s skin, growing shallower, “…I don’t need your best things.”

Sidney waited a long time, but no more words came.

He wanted to see the man’s expression, but as he lowered his head, he felt a cold touch on his forehead.

Chu Zu’s icy lips lingered briefly at the center of his forehead.

In a daze, the man leaned back onto Sidney’s stiff shoulder.

“I looked up what a dad should do… I wrote it down, and I… bought Brei’s birthday gift too.”

“But I’m not your dad. You know who your real father is… so I couldn’t let you kill him… He…”

“He promised me… he’d give me the best things…” Chu Zu said hoarsely, “But I don’t want… don’t want to use you. Sidney… I want you to choose for yourself.”

“Choose… what?” Sidney’s voice was hoarse too.

“Everything…”

“I don’t understand…”

Chu Zu rested for a bit, looking slightly better, speaking more coherently, almost like a final burst of energy.

“Choose whose hand to hold, choose who to hug, choose to be an Upper District person or a Lower District person, choose to talk about the sun or the moon, choose who to kill, who to love, choose how long to live, choose how to die…”

Chu Zu listed them one by one.

“You’re only twelve… twelve is the perfect age. You can look to the future… full of unknowns yet boundless potential. You don’t know, and you don’t need to know, what fate is…”

“You can choose too,” Sidney said stubbornly.

“Luciano wants to kill you, so we’ll hide in the Lower District. I’ve seen Dai Xi’an’s setup there, I remember it, I can protect you.”

Chu Zu shook his head: “You don’t understand me, Sidney.”

The door was suddenly pushed open.

Sidney immediately hugged Chu Zu tightly, baring his teeth like a young beast, glaring fiercely at the doorway.

Dai Xi’an stormed in, full of rage, and slapped Sidney across the face.

With a crisp “slap,” Sidney’s face was knocked to the side, a clear red mark instantly appearing.

Dai Xi’an had never been this angry.

The woman was usually composed, and when annoyed by trivial matters, her attitude was more about making a point.

But now she looked… like an enraged lion, her expression ferocious, as if she wanted to tear Sidney apart.

Dai Xi’an didn’t waste words with Sidney.

She crouched down, using all her strength to help Chu Zu up.

“Are you insane? Luciano wants to kill his son, so why did you interfere? His son wants to kill him, what’s that got to do with you? Have you forgotten what you’re risking your life for? He can unlock the gene bank, but compared to you, what’s the gene bank worth?”

“You two only played father and son for a few months. You have no real connection! Look clearly, he’s Sidney Esposito, with the same face as Luciano, both only thinking of ways to torment you, to make you suffer.”

“When they think you’re useful, they’d rip out their hearts for you. But when they think you’re useless?”

“They’ll never think they did anything wrong, nor know what they shouldn’t do. The only difference between him and Luciano is that he’s even more brainless—”

“He’s not Luciano, and he’s not you!”

By the end, her voice was almost shrill to the point of breaking.

Dai Xi’an: “He’s not a twelve-year-old you… do you understand?”

Sidney’s cheek burned with pain.

He wasn’t sure if the slap drew blood, but he cared more about what Dai Xi’an said.

Sidney understood many things, like a miracle.

Not long ago, he was a fool who couldn’t even figure out Brei’s thoughts, but now he suddenly got it without being taught.

“I know,” Chu Zu said.

“I want the best things… Luciano gave me Sidney, so this time I need to keep my promise. Otherwise, what right do I have to be his dad?”

His voice was only steady, still weak, his tone calm, yet it broke Dai Xi’an’s heart.

“He doesn’t need to become Luciano, nor does he need to become twelve-year-old me.”

Dai Xi’an couldn’t say a single word.

What was Sidney as “the best thing”?

She knew she had no right to ask.

Dai Xi’an saw the man’s terror again, not because of pure desire this time, but because he approached being a… father with that same pure attitude.

If Chu Zu was the world’s most terrifying schemer, then he was surely the world’s greatest father.

The former made him utterly unlike a human; the latter made him more human than anyone.

But to Chu Zu, there was no difference between the two.

“Luciano has gone back. The body we prepared was taken by Jeeves’ people. I’ll get you to the hibernation pod,” Dai Xi’an could only say.

“Leave the rest to me. I’ll handle Sidney’s matters.”

Chu Zu hummed: “Tell Sidney everything…”

“Everything I know, or everything Lazar knows?”

“You.”

“…Alright.”

After the adults left, Sidney sat on the carpet for a while.

He took the plush glove out of Brei’s mouth.

“Dai Xi’an got involved. You need to convince your parents not to tell the Inspection Control Department about tonight… or they’ll die, and so will you.”

Sidney untied her ropes and removed the hairband covering her eyes.

“Sorry, Brei.”

Brei hadn’t recovered from the shock, tears streaming down her face.

She couldn’t understand what Sidney and his dad had said, but…

“Sidney…”

Brei, sobbing, called his name.

“Why… why are you crying…”

“Sorry.”

Sidney wiped his tears, smearing blood across his face.

“Sorry, sorry, I messed everything up, sorry sorry sorry sorry…”

He repeated it over and over, each time sadder, until he broke into loud wails.

Crying, the boy got up from the floor, stumbling toward home.

When he reached the basement, Chu Zu was already in the hibernation pod.

Sidney kept wiping his tears, trying to see Chu Zu more clearly.

Dai Xi’an had returned to her usual self, talking to him endlessly about those things.

The basement was stuffy, the cold, damp air heavy.

Sidney gripped Dai Xi’an’s sleeve.

“He wants me to choose. Is it because he has no choice? Why doesn’t he have a choice?”

Dai Xi’an said: “Because that’s who he is. He acts on instinct, doesn’t need to be understood, and doesn’t get understood. He has no sense of morality. He’s fated to do what his instincts drive him to, with no other choice.”

Dai Xi’an added: “Don’t you understand? You’re not his choice. You’re his instinct.”

Sidney turned off the faucet of his eyes.

He stood before the hibernation pod, the colored film in his eyes long rubbed away by tears.

The boy’s deep blue eyes looked dim in the backlight, but he saw the man’s form clearly.

The boy leaned against the pod’s translucent glass, holding it as tightly as he had held the man in the bathtub.

“Dai Xi’an, from now on, teach me what to do.”

The night was deep, the dark room’s door tightly shut.

Even the free wind wouldn’t know what was happening here.

Everything unfolded secretly, silently.

*

The System silently grieved for three hours.

Chu Zu couldn’t persuade it otherwise.

For the first time, it realized this chatty little yellow chicken was also quite emotional.

“Sorry…” the melancholic little yellow chicken kept apologizing in his mind.

“I shouldn’t have judged side characters like that before. I didn’t consider them, or your feelings…”

If he could, Chu Zu would’ve held the System to comfort it, but he couldn’t grow hands in his own mind, so he had to wait for the System to finish crying.

“Feeling better?” Chu Zu said gently.

“If you’re calm enough, remember to talk to the author about Sidney’s matter.”

The System nodded firmly: “Understood. A good kid like Sidney will likely stand with Dad. I’ll go ask the author how to handle it if he joins the main storyline.”

“If the author finds it too troublesome and wants to delete him, I’ll immediately apply for fifty alternate accounts to flood his comment section.”

Chu Zu: “…”

Chu Zu: “He won’t delete him.”

System: “?”

Chu Zu seized the chance to start his writing mini-lesson, pulling the System into a review:

“Remember what I said about the elements of a protagonist?”

The System, nearly drowning in sorrow, was suddenly called on like a student, frantically searching through old notes.

Help, how long ago was this lesson?!

After digging through a pile of random recorded nonsense, the System finally found the key points.

“Be kind!”

Chu Zu: “Too vague. Write it specifically: ‘Positive shaping in context that meets reader expectations.’

Look at Tang Qi.

He’s killed and set fires, but can you step outside the plot and call him a villain?”

The System quickly added notes, then continued answering:

“Be resilient, with a luxurious talent that comes without a price!”

Chu Zu: “That one’s fine as is.”

“His background doesn’t need to be great, but he must have an irreplicable path to rise!”

Chu Zu guided further: “Who comes to mind?”

“Tang Qi…” the System answered without thinking, then, after processing, realized, “Wait… Sidney?”

Sidney hadn’t done anything terribly wrong.

In the Lower District, what he did to survive couldn’t be judged by morals.

After coming to the Upper District, he stabbed Luciano to save his dad and threatened Brei’s family for the same reason, but in the end, he didn’t actually harm Brei.

This was positive shaping.

He could face survival pressure and still attack his own father, even when his life was at stake, fiercely telling Luciano to stay away from Chu Zu.

When he saw a winning chance, he seized it without hesitation.

If Chu Zu hadn’t intervened, Luciano would’ve died tonight.

This was resilience.

Sidney carried Esposito blood, the only one besides Luciano who could unlock the gene bank.

Before Luciano wiped out the other two families, he’d already transferred the authority to the Esposito Family, meaning Sidney was the key to the three families’ gene bank.

This was a luxurious talent with no price.

Sidney was the kid Chu Zu personally brought back from Lower District 18.

He was close to Dai Xi’an and, because of Chu Zu, would gain the support of Lazar’s people.

His background didn’t need to be great, but he had an irreplicable path to rise.

The System finally realized Sidney perfectly matched these elements!

“But he… he…” The System thought hard, trying to express the vague unease it felt.

Its language relied on collecting novel text and reader comments, plus learning from Chu Zu, so it struggled to articulate.

“He’ll definitely stand with you. You’re the undeniable big boss of the story, a true villain. If he becomes a protagonist…”

“What’s a villain?”

Chu Zu asked.

The question was too abstract.

The System chose to recite its searched definition.

“A villain is a character type in literature, film, games, or drama, typically opposing the protagonist, with settings and actions that drive the plot, creating challenges and conflicts for the protagonist…?”

“Then what’s a protagonist?”

System: “…”

System: “Teacher, just give me the answer, I’m begging you.”

Chu Zu said: “I helped him, yet he wants my life. Why? From Sidney’s perspective, who’s the villain, me or Luciano? No matter whose blood is on my hands, that’s between me and others. But because of Tang Qi, readers will only think neither me nor little Luciano are any good… though that’s true.”

System: “…Your reputation is much better than little Luciano’s now…”

Chu Zu continued, “And in a cyberpunk worldview, expecting pure goodness is pointless. Being a decent person is enough. If I hadn’t done so many inhumane things, making it easy for readers to report the story for problematic values, I think I could be a protagonist too.”

The System instantly panicked: “Careful! Careful! Our job is side character correction! Not ‘protagonist, go to hell, let me take over’!”

Chu Zu frowned: “…Why are you swearing?”

“…”

The System silently deleted the phrase it learned from the reader section from its vocabulary.

“I’ll go ask the author. A kid with such potential… even if he joins the main storyline, he probably won’t be forcibly deleted.”

He won’t be deleted.

Chu Zu was certain.

Why?

Because Sidney desperately wanted to live, and Chu Zu had paved every possible path for him to survive, both in and out of the novel.

Like a father would.