RIACMET chapter 183

 

“Don’t overthink it. Just do what I do.”

Cheng Jing looked at the person struggling beside him, his eyes a little wet.

He was fortunate to have grown up in a good family with optimistic, open-minded parents who gave him and his brother the freedom and respect to choose their own paths in academics, careers, and love.

Once they became adults, their lives were entirely their own.

His parents only ever offered objective advice; they never forced anything on them. The one thing they emphasized was that once you made a choice, you should have no regrets.

As for Jiang Nian, he had always been open with Cheng Jing’s parents, even asking them for advice on how to get along in a relationship, whether before or after their reconciliation.

In terms of personality, they were total opposites. Cheng Jing was a bit stiff and stubborn. Jiang Nian seemed obedient on the outside, but deep down, he was mischievous and rebellious.

To outsiders, a couple like them wouldn’t last past the honeymoon phase. However, only the two of them truly understood how serious they were about each other.

Cheng Jing wanted everyone to know that he loved Jiang Nian and was willing to give him everything.

After the apocalypse, he deeply missed his family. He rarely talked about them because he knew they were safe and didn’t want Jiang Nian to overthink things.

Now that his lover and family were finally reunited and safe, he could relax, both mind and body.

Because of the special circumstances, Minister Wang had granted him a few days off.

“Brother Jing, what do your parents and brother like? There are a lot of nice things here. I want to prepare some gifts for them.”

Even though things were still unstable, basic etiquette was important.

“…”

Cheng Jing thought for a moment and replied.

“Dad likes tea and collectibles. My brother is an active-duty soldier, so he doesn’t need much. I’ll ask him if he wants anything. Mom…well, she has the same hobbies as most middle-aged women. She likes gold.”

Yep, very typical. Jiang Nian nodded as he listened.

“We’ve got tea and tons of gold.”

Cheng Jing chuckled. “Not that much.”

Jiang Nian agreed.

“All right. If you don’t have any collectibles, just give Dad a few tins of good tea. For Mom, give her some gold jewelry—maybe a few kilos—and some nutrition packs in gift boxes…”

“Mom’s beautiful, so we should also get her some nice skincare products. Qian and Xiaohui don’t need much; they already have everything.”

Their group had already stocked up on tons of luxury goods. When they opened the express delivery company in Xihe City, they sold all kinds of high-end skincare products and electronics, such as smartphones.

Now that their base was stabilizing, prices for those kinds of goods had gone up again. Once the electricity supply recovered, internet access wouldn’t be far behind.

“…”

Cheng Jing listened with a smile. Everything Jiang Nian said was reasonable, except wasn’t gold sold by the gram? Who gives kilograms of gold jewelry as gifts?

Still, he knew his mom wouldn’t mind. She kept most of the gifts she received as souvenirs anyway. Of course, she’d be delighted every single time if they gave her more.

After they had something to eat and drink, the gift situation was settled.

Setting aside the nerves about meeting the parents later, there were also some bigger issues to address.

First piece of good news: Tang Ji’s infection had been fully treated and the families of Chen Yue and Xia Weiwei were all dead.

Before leaving the church, Cheng Jing cremated the bodies and collected some mutant core crystals.

They didn’t want anything else from that group, so they handed over all the equipment, including two aircraft, one of which was badly damaged but still had usable core components.

Overall, the church trip had been worthwhile.

At Jiang Nian’s prompting, Cheng Jing explained how he rescued his family and the evolved mutants from being intercepted.

Since their existence had been exposed, people from S Base had stopped his brother and a professor in a small village, cutting off satellite signals and sending a large force of mutants and armed personnel.

The so-called “research team” from S Base, led by Xia Weiwei’s father, tried to force them to change their plans using a combination of soft talk, threats, and manipulation.

However, the professors were firm; they had already decided to go to South City Base and refused to budge.

Those professors weren’t just scientists; they were also military personnel. So, despite their limited supplies and personnel, S Base had no real leverage.

As the standoff dragged on, Cheng Jing and Yang Kai’s rescue team from Nancheng arrived just in time.

If a fight had broken out, S Base would have been crushed—none of the bases were strong enough to go to war yet.

Meanwhile, Xia Weiwei had been scheming behind the scenes, trying to use Jiang Nian to control Cheng Jing and the others. But the plan backfired.

After Chen Shanmin lured her back to the church, she was injured. Under pressure from Tang Ji, she made one last call to her father, saying:

Her plan had failed because her doctor and assistant had been infected and turned. She had been bitten, too. To avoid worrying him, she said she was going to take her own life.

The moment she finished speaking, Tang Ji shot her and ended the call.

At first, Xia Weiwei didn’t believe he would actually kill her. She thought the suicide angle was just a ploy to buy time. So she kept acting smug and arrogant.

However, when she was dragged into the basement and saw that the doctor and his assistant had turned into zombies, she realized that Tang Ji wasn’t bluffing.

The bullet had been laced with the zombie virus. By then, it was too late to beg for mercy.

Later, Jiang Nian found out everything that happened in that basement.

“Tang Ji was worried that S Base would come after us for revenge, so he had Xia Weiwei make a call to cover it up. The call was recorded, and Liao Yu transferred the audio to a recorder for me,” Cheng Jing explained.

As he spoke, he handed Jiang Nian the recorder. Even though they weren’t worried about Xia Weiwei’s father causing trouble, it was best to be cautious.

“That was smart.”

Jiang Nian played the file. The recording couldn’t prove that she was telling the truth willingly, nor could it prove that she was lying.

It was enough. Even if Professor Xia had doubts, without evidence, he’d have to keep them to himself.

It’s better if someone acts recklessly and reveals their true nature too early. Let others see them for who they really are.

As for the official report, Commanding Officer Chu Yi stated:

It was chaos, and I was busy with other things.” By the time he returned, Ms. Xia had already been bitten by her personal physician and his assistant. Chen Shanmin and the others were bitten and infected by Chen Yue because they wanted to save their son.

Therefore, even if S Base wanted to make a fuss, it had nothing to do with Nancheng.

And just like that, Jiang Nian “lost” a family member, and Professor Xia lost his daughter.

No one would dig too deeply into it. Everyone quietly agreed that it had been an unfortunate but unavoidable “accident.”

Now, Jiang Wenwen was in the hospital. Her time in prison had left her physically weak, and she slipped into a coma after being rescued. No one knew when she would wake up.

Tang Ji was in a coma, too, after being hit by Jiang Nian’s uncontrollable superpowers. His vitals were normal according to test results, and he had been moved into a special ward at the research center.

Of course, all of this was kept secret and handled by Professor Mo and newly joined brain-evolved specialists and elite researchers. There was nothing to worry about.

The “Experimental Special Phenomena Management Research Base” was a serious, top-level organization with real experts in the field.

Although they hadn’t been able to enter the base since the extreme cold began, they had collected vast amounts of data on the apocalyptic outbreak. They were the true hope of finding an end to all this.

What no one knew was what kind of incident had happened inside the base before the apocalypse began.