RIACMET chapter 14

 

If Jiang Nian hadn’t experienced the apocalypse firsthand, seen people with superpowers, and been aware of the signs preceding the end of the world, he definitely wouldn’t have believed that those who awakened to superpowers before the apocalypse were called superpower pioneers.

If strange phenomena occurred regularly, the government would have a special department responsible for them. However, it was a level inaccessible to ordinary people like him. He had only heard about it in his past life—nothing more.

Considering his behavior so far, as long as he covered things up well, he wouldn’t attract the attention of any special department anytime soon. After the apocalypse, everyone would be too busy taking care of themselves to notice him.

Jiang Nian saved the news page and planned to show it to Cheng Jing later.

Stockpiling supplies was a healing and satisfying process. Despite knowing how cruel the end of the world would be, he felt happy every time he accomplished something.

Disaster was unavoidable, protecting oneself was the most important thing.

Everything was almost ready. He wanted to buy medication, but the kind he needed was controlled by hospitals and unavailable at regular pharmacies or online.

He could only wait until the world ended and rush to the hospital before others realized what was happening. With Cheng Jing around, that shouldn’t be a problem.

…

When Cheng Jing returned, Jiang Nian was already napping on the sofa. Three or four in the afternoon was the hottest and quietest time of day—no one was outside, making it the perfect time to move things.

When Jiang Nian was called down to help, he found that Cheng Jing had rented a small truck.

Great job! One trip was worth a whole day, and he was his brother in arms!

The truck was filled with a variety of items. Notably, Cheng Jing had managed to get things unavailable in regular supermarkets:

Martial arts weapons that were unavailable on the market, as well as canned food, dense biscuits from unknown brands, and several powders, granules, and small pills.

There was no fancy packaging—some even had “exclusive” printed on them.

Jiang Nian behaved very well and didn’t ask any questions.

Once everything was stored, they threw away the packaging.

Cheng Jing called the rental company to return the truck. Then, he took a shared tram with Jiang Nian to a delivery station outside the community to pick up three more packages that Jiang Nian had ordered online.

A large box of encyclopedias and two big boxes of maps:

National, provincial, and city maps. In addition to regular maps, there were ultra-detailed maps of various cities, counties, and small towns—practically paper navigation systems.

Some cities had specific descriptions, exterior photos, and floor plans of relatively famous or unique buildings—even excluding military restricted areas. Totally outrageous!

The encyclopedias were fine. Cheng Jing stared at the two large boxes of maps and pondered, but didn’t ask any questions.

By the time they finished organizing the safe house, it was night, and the extra room was filled.

“We don’t have to buy more tomorrow, right?”

Looking at the home that only had space left in the hallway, Cheng Jing sighed.

If anyone else were doing this around him, he would’ve taken them to the hospital immediately. But with Jiang Nian, he could only go along with it.

“No, no, thank you, Brother Jing.”

Jiang Nian twirled around happily and finally kissed the man.

Stockpiling for one was bliss, but stockpiling for two was double the joy!

Cheng Jing seized the moment to ask:

“Do you want to stay here tonight?”

Jiang Nian thought about it for a moment and then shook his head.

“Let’s keep staying at the hotel. We might not be able to enjoy it much longer.”

He used to be too shy and afraid to act recklessly, but now it was different. He needed to act boldly!

“All right, let’s stay at the hotel.”

After discussing it, the two left the community that night. They had dinner outside, did some shopping, and returned to the hotel.

For a couple in the honeymoon phase, any passing dog would be force-fed dog food. They couldn’t help but grow tired of each other from all the sweetness.

Jiang Nian was curled up on the sofa, playing a game. Cheng Jing replied to some messages from Huang Qian, then went into the bathroom.

The moment Jiang Nian heard the sound of running water, he dropped his phone and ran.

“Want to shower together, Brother Jing?”

How rude of his boyfriend to shower without inviting him—were they strangers now?

“Whatever you like.”

Cheng Jing’s voice rang out—pleasant and wet—and his tone was incredibly sexy.

“Brother Jing, I’ll be embarrassed if you keep being so half-hearted…”

Jiang Nian said shyly, but he had already snuck in quickly.

Seeing the mischievous smile on his face, Cheng Jing grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.

“When I try to be serious, you say I’m bullying you. When I go all out, you call me a mad dog. Seems I can’t win either way.”

What a little rascal!

“Hehe…”

Jiang Nian just smiled at him, his hands growing bolder. Honestly, he liked Cheng Jing’s serious personality, especially when it cracked under his teasing.

It was so fun!

The bathroom was always a good place for “accidental release,” and it never failed.

The noise went on past ten o’clock.

After washing up and lounging on the sofa and chatting, Jiang Nian felt boneless. He pulled out his phone and showed Cheng Jing some interesting news about superpower awakeners. Then, he calmly turned the TV to the evening weather forecast and waited.

Under different circumstances, Cheng Jing would have bluntly said it was fake—something not even a grade schooler would believe. However, seeing how serious Jiang Nian was, Cheng Jing nodded hesitantly to show that he understood.

Jiang Nian didn’t force him to agree. After all, it was all quite mysterious—just having his acknowledgment was enough.

At 10:45 p.m., the evening forecast began right on time.

Just as in his past life, the cheerful weatherman spoke about the upcoming heavy rains. But that last bit of hope vanished, and Jiang Nian fell silent, overcome with lingering sadness.

Cheng Jing subconsciously reached out and squeezed his hand, his expression became grave. When he heard that it would rain nationwide after the afternoon of the 27th, his heart pounded:

It was exactly like Jiang Nian’s dream! So the nightmare was a sign or prophecy!

“…”

Jiang Nian curled up silently in his embrace and didn’t change the channel until the forecast ended.

However, all the late-night channels began reporting the weather.

“Do you know how many days of toxic rain there will be each year?”

Cheng Jing asked quietly. He had to double-check and start planning for the apocalypse.

Jiang Nian answered truthfully.

“From the 27th to the 31st. I don’t know exactly what happens during that period, but the zombies show up on the 1st, and things just get worse from there…”

In his past life, he had started running a fever the day after the toxic rain. By the time he woke up and awakened his special power, the world had already ended.

Later, however, he learned that people had started dying from the toxic rain on the 28th. As more people were caught in the rain, hospitals overflowed. The dead weren’t cremated right away, so after the rain stopped, they all crawled back out.

Seeing Cheng Jing’s serious expression, Jiang Nian hesitated for a moment before saying,

“Brother Jing, even though I believe my dream will come true and you believe me, others won’t. So, there are some things only we can take care of.”

Even if they knew, they couldn’t change anything. Who would believe them if they said anything?

All they could do was wait for it to happen.