RIACMET chapter 130

 

“A temporary transfer… Wait—Young Master, does that mean you’ll be leaving our team for a while?”

After reading the message, Lu Ningzhou passed the phone to the next person.

“Yeah.”
Young Master Liao shrugged, looking a bit helpless and disappointed. He tore open a bag of beef jerky that Jiang Nian had saved for him.

Even though they wouldn’t be going out again after returning this time and he could earn contribution points by helping with water storage, it still felt uncomfortable not being able to move with his “family.”

Even if there wasn’t any danger, being separated gave him a vague sense of unease.

Following up on Lu Ningzhou’s words, Jian Cheng asked,

“You’ve been on the team for a long time now. They wouldn’t just assign you to the Resource Department as a full-time staffer, right?”

Noticing everyone’s startled expressions, he quickly explained,

“I heard that the base’s Resource Department has recently been recruiting people with energy-type powers, such as water, fire, and electricity. If they perform well and pass the evaluations, they’ll be officially inducted.”

“…”

Zhao Lei frowned at that.

“This should be a voluntary application, right? You can’t force someone if they don’t want to go.”

He wouldn’t agree to anyone trying to take their young master away.

“Huh?”
Liao Yu’s hand shook as he tore off a piece of jerky.

“Don’t scare me like that! I’m with the team in life and in death!”

Zhao Lei realized he’d said too much but couldn’t stop himself from adding,

“Don’t jinx it.”

“… ”

The young master pretended not to hear and turned toward Cheng Jing with a look of pitiful desperation.

“Brother Cheng, save me!”

“…”

Cheng Jing stared at him in silence for a moment, then calmly handed the phone back.

“Why are you panicking? Don’t forget that we’re frontline personnel who have passed special training and evaluations. We’re officially affiliated with the rescue division. As long as I don’t approve it, no one can touch our team. That was agreed upon from the beginning.”

“I knew you wouldn’t abandon me, Brother Cheng!”

The eldest young master dramatically patted his chest. To comfort himself, he turned his anxiety into appetite and started chewing the beef jerky. Five-spice flavor—his favorite. His godfather knew him best.

“Boom—boom—!”

Suddenly, the sound of thunder echoed from the sky, growing louder as it approached.

“Look! A plane!”

Jian Cheng pointed upward, the half-eaten duck neck snack still in his hand.

Everyone: “… ”

Cheng Jing walked out of the tent, binoculars in hand. After a brief scan, he said,

“It’s a tactical military transport aircraft. The base’s scouting team has arrived. Let’s get ready to move out, too.”

As the three planes flew toward the city center, the group began packing up and preparing to head to the logistics park.

At that moment, Cheng Jing’s phone rang—it was an unknown number.

He glanced at Jiang Nian, who was tidying up with the others, then quietly stepped aside to answer.

“Hello?”

“It’s me, Yang Kai.”

It was an unfamiliar number, but a familiar voice. Cheng Jing wasn’t surprised.

“Yeah, I figured.”

He looked around briefly, then walked away to speak in private.

Jiang Nian, who was folding up the table, noticed this, too. He glanced over a few times, curiously, but didn’t dwell on it.

However, Huang Qian, who had seen everything, sauntered up mysteriously to tease him.

“Xiao Nianzi, something’s definitely off about your brother’s phone call.”

She’d seen how Brother Jing repeatedly glanced at his hamster while taking the call. If she didn’t know how loyal and trustworthy he was, she’d almost suspect him of cheating.

Jiang Nian blinked.

“What makes you say that?”

Brother Jing received calls almost daily, usually from the base, Zhou Li, or others.

Huang Qian lifted her chin confidently.

“Trust a woman’s intuition, especially a clever and beautiful one like me.”

“But TV says that the prettier and smarter a woman is, the more likely she is to lie.”

Jiang Nian replied while stowing the folding table and tent back into his spatial ring. He clapped the dust off his hands and pulled out two lollipops—one sea salt and one green plum.

Huang Qian took the plum-flavored one and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Listen to your sister and cut back on those overly dramatic soap operas.”

With that, she walked off coolly.

Jiang Nian took a few bites of his lollipop, glancing occasionally toward Cheng Jing while packing up. There wasn’t the slightest bit of bitterness in his heart, though.

Even if something was going on, it wouldn’t affect their relationship. He trusted Brother Jing to handle it.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai, the caller with the unfamiliar number, finally got to the point after updating Cheng Jing on the base’s situation over the past couple of days:

“Brother Cheng, I’ve got a lead on what you asked me to look into.”

Cheng Jing: “All right. Talk to me.”

Yang Kai cleared his throat.

“Xia Weiwei arranged for Liang Xiaoyan and her team to pick up Chen Yue’s family from Base Z the day after you left.”

“From what I’ve heard, Chen Yue’s family is waiting at a meeting point arranged by Xia Weiwei for a team from Base S, and once they arrive, they’ll enter South City Base together.”

Cheng Jing frowned.

“What’s the reason?”

Yang Kai answered,

“Xia Weiwei wants to hire Chen Yue’s family as part of her private doctor’s team and use an official referral from Base S to bring them into the inner district.”

“That way, they’ll have easier access to you and Jiang Nian. If the family tries to enter separately, they won’t make it to the central zone. South City Base isn’t openly controlled by Base S like Base Z was.”

There was no denying it—Xia Weiwei was cunning beyond her years. She was a master schemer.

Cheng Jing’s expression quickly turned cold.

“Can I report her and request that South City Base reject her application?”

“Unlikely. If she’s doing this for her boyfriend’s family, she’ll have plenty of ‘proof’ showing they’re legitimate members of a private medical team.”

Yang Kai sighed, then changed the subject.

“That said, if they ‘run into trouble’ outside the base and never make it to South City, that wouldn’t really be your fault.”

“Mm.”

Cheng Jing nodded.

“Tell me the meeting location. I’ll make sure they have that ‘accident.’”

Stopping Base S from gaining more control wasn’t the only reason; it would also give him some personal satisfaction.

By taking care of Chen Yue’s family and that so-called private medical team, he would have completed half of his revenge.

“…”

Yang Kai was silent for a moment before asking,

“Are you really planning to kill them?”

Cheng Jing sneered and shot back:

“What else? Do you think I’m joking?”

“Hiss…”

Yang Kai sucked in a breath at the grim tone, finally realizing that Cheng Jing was dead serious.

He asked cautiously,

“I mean, they’re the only blood relatives Jiang Nian has left in this world. If you kill them, Jiang Nian—he—”

Cheng Jing cut him off coldly.

“Jiang Nian doesn’t need relatives like those. All he needs is me.”

Anyone else hearing this would think he sounded like a creepy, possessive control freak.

But that didn’t matter. As long as the two of them understood each other, that was enough.

“… ”

Yang Kai fell silent again. After a long pause, he finally asked,

“Brother Cheng, are you… okay? Don’t you think your need for control is getting a little… excessive?”

Previously, he thought Cheng Jing was just a hopeless romantic with a tragic past and a devoted heart—someone to be envied.

Now, however, he was starting to feel like Cheng Jing’s paranoia was a bit intense.

Could Cheng Jing still resent Jiang Nian for breaking up with him and be planning twisted revenge?

That would be so messed up.