RIACMET chapter 146

 

“This isn’t your fault. Thank you, Brother Jing. Since we’re not going to the lab, I’m okay now.”

Jiang Nian relaxed visibly. He wanted to say something more dramatic, but he was afraid of sounding pretentious.

Still, if he wanted to overcome his psychological block completely, he knew he had to face it head-on eventually. He hoped he could do it.

Cheng Jing smiled.

“This is when you’re supposed to kiss me. That’s way more useful than saying thank you.”

Jiang Nian leaned over and kissed him obediently.
“You really are the best, Brother Jing. You deserve to be my husband.”

It was only natural for him to be sweet to the considerate Brother Jing. As long as it wasn’t in public, he didn’t mind saying something spicy in private.

“Let’s go see what kind of reward the base is going to give us this time.”

Cheng Jing was in a good mood. He walked to the coffee table in the living room and picked up the proposal he’d printed on A4 paper.

Jiang Nian took it from him and flipped it open.
“Eh? You already finished the proposal? Did you stay up late working on it last night?”

They had agreed to revise it together, but Jiang Nian had gone to bed early and hadn’t had the chance to work on it.

Cheng Jing took the opportunity to tease him.

“Yeah. Since someone didn’t stay up late working with me, I had to do it alone.”

He’d gotten most of the plan written while they were out on the mission, so last night, he just tidied it up a little. It wasn’t hard.

“…”

Jiang Nian bowed his head and started reading the proposal, pretending he hadn’t heard. After a few moments, he closed the proposal and handed it back. Everything in the proposal matched what they’d discussed.

This included the idea of raising zombies to recycle crystal core energy. It was up to the base to decide whether to pursue that idea.

Even the average person could understand it, let alone professional researchers.

Cheng Jing tucked the proposal into a folder and asked casually,

“What do you think? Anything to add?”

“Nope, it’s already written really well.”

Jiang Nian gave him a thumbs-up, then said smugly,

“Let’s work overtime together tonight, Brother Jing. Don’t forget your promise to let me be on top.”

All men have a desire to conquer, just like before. The colder Brother Jing acted, the harder Jiang Nian chased him.

“Okay.”

Cheng Jing tried to appear reserved, but he couldn’t suppress the excitement in his heart.

…

He brought Jiang Nian to a small conference room in Minister Wang’s office. The relevant personnel were already waiting. As soon as the two of them walked in, everyone stood up.

Jiang Nian couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. They were all his superiors. It was his fault they were all there, wasting time waiting for him.

They exchanged greetings and introductions.

Aside from Minister Wang and Zhou Li, there were four other people in the room.

Three of them wore white lab coats: an older professor named Mo and two assistants, one male and one female.

Professor Mo was 52 years old this year. His hair was gray, and he was slightly balding. He was of medium height, thin, and slightly hunched over. He wore glasses.

His two assistants looked about thirty years old. Both had composed expressions and professional demeanors. The man, whose last name was Zhao, had short hair and wore glasses. The woman, surnamed Li, had a ponytail.

You could tell what kind of work they did just by looking at them. They fit the image of seasoned researchers perfectly.

None of the three had superpowers.

The last person was a young man in a suit standing next to Professor Mo. His name was Chu Yi. He had sharp features, thick eyebrows, and piercing eyes. Tall, broad-shouldered, and narrow-waisted, he appeared to be around 185 cm tall and the same age as Zhao Lei.

As soon as he entered the room, Jiang Nian sensed that he had superpowers, but they weren’t psychic or attack-based. Instead, his abilities seemed to be defensive and could be triggered at any time and in any place.

This was the first time Jiang Nian had encountered someone like this. He was curious and couldn’t help but sneak a few extra glances.

After Minister Wang introduced them further, Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian learned that:

Professor Mo and his team worked at the research institute in the South City Base, specializing in crystal core studies. Their team focused on both regular and superpowered zombie cores.

They were naturally the core team, though there were also supporting researchers not present today.

As for Chu Yi, he officially held the title of medical consultant and usually wandered around in a suit. In reality, however, he was the only person in the South City Base’s official forces with dual-attribute superpowers.

His two abilities were highly unusual: spatial manipulation and attack cancellation.

His cancellation power covered both physical attacks and mental interference, and his spatial ability allowed him to transport living beings and matter.

After learning about Chu Yi’s background, Jiang Nian could only think of one word: monstrous.

If this were a movie, TV drama, or web novel, Chu Yi would be the perfect protagonist—a god-tier bodyguard.

Minister Wang didn’t hide anything. He frankly admitted that he entrusted most of the base’s most important resources to Chu Yi.

Only then did Cheng Jing truly understand the meaning of “there’s always someone better than you.” The depths of official resources far exceeded their imagination.

He had always thought his team was pretty strong. However, with more experience, that vague sense of superiority gradually faded.

At the end of the day, humility is always best.

Chu Yi stood there with a cold expression. He was undeniably handsome, but Jiang Nian thought he would look even better in a military uniform.

After the introductions, the formalities were over.

Jiang Nian took out the medium crystal core they had prepared and placed it in a jewelry box.

Then, he recounted what they had seen and heard at Xihe City Hospital, concluding with his “reasoned speculation”:

“It’s not restricted by elemental affinity. It absorbs all types of energy indiscriminately, converts it, and releases it. That kind of neutral medium is a clue to how we might utilize crystal core energy.”

“Exactly! That’s absolutely right! Spot on!”

Professor Mo’s voice trembled with excitement. The major bases had already exchanged research findings, and everyone knew that extracting core energy for research required a special medium.

But no one knew where to find one.

Now that South City Base had acquired a core, however, the crystal core bottleneck might finally be solved!

Jiang Nian nudged the core toward Cheng Jing, who activated his lightning-based power and directed it at the crystal.

Regular cores showed no reaction to supernatural power, but this medium core absorbed it.

Cheng Jing discovered this phenomenon later, after experimenting on a whim. However, without an energy converter, the medium core could only absorb; it couldn’t release yet.

Still, that was proof enough for Professor Mo and his team to begin their research.

Cheng Jing pulled back his power and pushed the core toward Professor Mo and the others.

“This… This is incredible!”

Professor Mo’s voice choked with emotion. His thin fingers trembled slightly as he carefully picked up the core and began discussing it with his two assistants.

After a while, he placed it back in the box and handed it to Chu Yi.

“Xiao Chu, keep this safe for now.”

“Yes, Professor.”

Chu Yi nodded and accepted the item. With a flick of his palm, he stored it in his spatial pocket.

Watching Chu Yi store the medium core away, Jiang Nian finally felt at ease.

From the moment of his rebirth until now, every major event from his past life had unfolded precisely as planned.

The overall situation was now largely settled. South City Base was set to become the most resource-rich and powerful of all the surviving bases.