RIACMET chapter 104

 

Cheng Jing arrived at Minister Wang’s office. After confirming with the guard, he stepped inside. The air conditioner was on, and he felt a chill wash over his face the moment he opened the door.

Minister Wang was sitting at the solid wooden coffee table opposite his desk, brewing tea. He looked up, smiled, and waved Cheng Jing over.

“Cheng Jing, you came at just the right time. I just made some tea. Have a seat.”

“Minister, I heard you were looking for me.”

Cheng Jing greeted him modestly, then walked forward without hesitation and sat down in the chair across from him.

He’d heard from Yang Kai that morning that Minister Wang had been on duty almost every night lately because of issues concerning the base. On top of that, he still had to handle all kinds of affairs during the day. It sounded exhausting, and he wondered if something unexpected was about to happen.

“All right, try this tea I just opened. Zhou Li brought it to me.”

Minister Wang poured a cup of fragrant, steaming tea and set it in front of him.

“Thank you.”

Cheng Jing nodded, picked up the cup right away, and took a sip.

“Forgive me, but I’m not much of a tea connoisseur. I only know that it tastes good.”

Minister Wang waved his hand with a smile.

“That’s enough. The best food and drink are the ones you enjoy. Otherwise, no matter how fine they sound, it’s all wasted.”

“…”

After the two of them chatted and had a few cups of tea, Minister Wang took the initiative to change the subject.

“Did the mission go smoothly?”

Cheng Jing nodded humbly.

“It went very well. Our team was considered an apprentice unit. We learned a lot by working with the other teams at the base.”

Since the end of the world, all sorts of superpowers have emerged, and people have gradually started to ignore the decline of conventional military force.

Especially in the early days of the chaos, many district officials had come to rely heavily on superpowered people. This was simply because they needed manpower. Some overzealous types had the illusion that superpowers were destined to rule this era.

However, after joining the South City Base Ordinary People’s Rescue Team on a mission, the oppressive reality of live ammunition returned.

A country’s arsenal of wartime weapons would always form its foundation.

He didn’t know what others thought. In his opinion, while superpowers were rare and special, they were still just tools that helped humanity survive. Getting too ambitious would only bring disgrace upon oneself.

“Hahaha…you’re far too modest. Your strength and that of your team are plain for all to see.”

Minister Wang laughed heartily, poured him another cup of tea, and said,

“But it’s good for young people to stay humble. Capable, humble, and steadfast people are the pillars of any society.”

Cheng Jing lowered his head and nodded. Since the other man had put it that way, it would be pretentious to remain humble. He simply drank his tea quietly.

Seeing this, Minister Wang felt satisfied and spoke plainly.

“All right, I won’t beat around the bush. I called you here today to talk about something.

Something—meaning more than one matter. Cheng Jing knew what was coming and braced himself for a long afternoon of “battling through the friction.” He nodded earnestly.

“Please go ahead.”

“Well…”

Minister Wang looked at him for a moment, paused to gather his thoughts, and then said,

“This concerns your family. You may have heard some rumors. The situation outside is changing by the day, and I don’t have much solid information. I thought we should have a formal conversation.”

He’d originally intended to wait until he had some confirmed intelligence before approaching Cheng Jing, but circumstances no longer permitted it.

“…”

Cheng Jing reflected silently for a moment, then nodded.

“I’ve heard some things, but I’m here, and my family will make it here, too.”

Minister Wang rested his hands on his knees and patted them—a habitual gesture—before asking,

“Do you know where they are now?”

Cheng Jing shook his head.

“I only know that they’ll reach Nancheng Base safely. As for exactly where they are now, I’m not sure. As you know, my brother’s movements with the legion are classified by the organization.”

These days, even within the same system, a lot of information was compartmentalized.

“I understand.”

Minister Wang nodded with a smile, then asked,

“Then, do you know what the leaders of all the major bases outside are most concerned about right now? Is it true that the research team he’s protecting includes people whose brains have evolved? The accuracy of this information is extremely important.”

Since the last time he’d gone to see Cheng Jing in the dorm, countless factions had been secretly vying for those people with evolved brain powers in just that short period.

Especially S Base, the strongest of them all.

With Xia Weiwei’s father’s support and his awakened superpowers, S Base demanded concessions from the other bases. They insisted that anyone with brain-related evolution abilities be turned over to S Base unconditionally.

They reached all the way into South City Base and made all kinds of preparations, determined to claim victory.

While not as vast as S Base, the military leadership of South City Base was not a place that outsiders could simply overrun.

Once the key intelligence was verified, the base would have to respond or launch an appropriate counterattack.

“…”

Cheng Jing remained silent for a long time before finally speaking.

“Yes, a professor has awakened a brain evolution ability, and an intern has awakened a healing ability.”

He had confirmed this with his brother. Even one of these abilities would trigger a frenzy among countless factions—let alone both appearing at once.

Minister Wang looked pleased to hear this. Cheng Jing simply told him what he knew.

“That research team is made up of experts and scientists from a secret national organization called the ‘Experimental Research Base for Managing Special Phenomena.’ They were delayed because they’d been working with specialists to investigate all kinds of apocalyptic scenarios.”

“The Experimental Research Base for Managing Special Phenomena…”

Minister Wang muttered to himself. After a moment of silence, he seemed to realize something.

“So that’s how it is. I see…”

He knew about the organization, but only vaguely.

Before the apocalypse, he’d heard that there had been an accident at the ‘Experimental Research Base for Managing Special Phenomena’—the cause was unknown—and that many people had died.

At that time, he had even received the relevant documents for aid dispatch, but the apocalypse struck before he could process them.

When the world fell into chaos, all communication ceased, and rescue missions were handed over to the nearest military command.

From the looks of things, Cheng Lei had led the surviving research team out of the experimental base.

To ensure the information was complete, Minister Wang shared this news with Cheng Jing as well.

“…”

“It must have been a very serious accident.”

Cheng Jing frowned. After hearing Minister Wang’s account, countless thoughts crossed his mind.

Regarding the cause of the accident, the first thing he thought of was a loss of control over a superpower, which was likely tied to advanced superpowered individuals like himself.

Minister Wang sighed regretfully.

“Before the apocalypse, the Special Phenomena Management researchers took action, but because of the internal accident, disaster struck one after another before they could finish. That’s why they never appeared in public.”

Then, looking at Cheng Jing, he spoke in a solemn tone:

“Cheng Jing, we’re soldiers. In times like these, our duty is to take responsibility for the people and find a way to end this disaster. Those experts with brain-evolution abilities are absolutely critical.”

The power of someone whose brain has evolved is beyond what ordinary people can imagine. With enough intelligence gathered, many problems could be solved or even predicted.

Even if only to foresee the trajectory of this apocalyptic crisis, this resource could not be used as a bargaining chip in a power struggle.

Though he couldn’t claim that South City Base would do everything perfectly, he certainly didn’t trust S Base.

The main reason was that S Base relied far too heavily on research groups like Xia Weiwei’s father’s.

To him, that was a bad omen.