RIACMET chapter 196

 

Everyone perked up, their eyes bright with excitement to hear the gossip.

Lu Ningzhou chimed in:

“Yeah, Brother Cheng, someone like Brother Nian must’ve been hard to win over back then, huh?”

Liao Yu was even more straightforward:

“Godfather really loved you, Brother Jing. No one could top him!”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Cheng Jing remembered how someone had “lowered himself” to chase after him. The corners of his mouth lifted as he cleared his throat and said,

“You have to hear the full story. Even though I was the one who got dumped, he was the one who chased after me at first.”

“Huh?”

“No way…”

Anyone could tell he was showing off. After the initial surprise wore off, his teammates all had the same reaction:

“You two are something else!”

“What? He chased after you?!”

It was also the first time Huang Qian learned the real reason those two got together, and it was hard to believe, to be honest.

Because she had once resented her eldest brother so deeply, she had never dared to ask. She’d always assumed the guy who was tortured to death was a bootlicker who got nothing in return. She never thought it would turn out like this!

Jiang Nian didn’t seem like the type to chase after someone.

Cheng Jing snorted.

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.”

This was something he could brag about for the rest of his life.

Back then, thugs would often try to intimidate people in the dark alleys near the school. He had run into one of them a few times during school league games.

But just as he’d taken the guy down, he turned around and saw someone pretending to be annoyed and asking for help buying medicine.

After applying the medicine, the guy claimed his arms and legs were sore all over. He insisted on being carried back to the dorm and teased Cheng Jing the whole way.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed that someone could be so rebellious and prickly beneath such a mild-looking exterior.

Moreover, if he hadn’t joined the military and undergone professional training, he wouldn’t have stood a chance against Jiang Nian.

The rest of the team was still stunned by how touching their eldest brother’s love story was.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai collapsed on the ground again.

Seeing that someone still wanted to continue, Cheng Jing stood up and went to get water and a clean towel.

Ignoring his opponent’s attempts to stop him, Yang Kai waved his hand repeatedly, stood up, and left the field to rest.

Jiang Nian tugged at his collar to fan himself. He was so hot that he wanted to strip, but Brother Jing wouldn’t let him.

Cheng Jing handed him the water and towel.

“Drink up and wipe your sweat.”

“Thanks, Brother Jing.”

He took the towel, wiped off his sweat, and then drank the water. After taking a deep breath, he turned around and said,

“Brother Jing, you want to join?”

Cheng Jing declined like a seasoned businessman.

“Nope. You’ve been practicing more than anyone else on the team. Go take a break. I’ll train with Zhao Lei.”

Jiang Nian lowered his voice and softened his tone.

“Brother Jing…”

Cheng Jing gave a light cough.

“No acting spoiled during training hours.”

Jiang Nian clicked his tongue.

“Who said I was acting spoiled? We’re all on our own here in this training camp. There are no supervisors. What’s the point of pretending? I’ll kiss you right here, and everyone will cheer for me.”

“Not planning to show up tomorrow?”

Cheng Jing clenched his teeth. This little bastard!

“Oh, fine…”

His provocation had failed, and Jiang Nian had no choice but to walk off.

He headed toward the large ice bucket that the young master had prepared, only to find that, aside from Yang Kai, everyone was looking at him with “respectful” eyes.

Okay, they were definitely impressed by how he took down Brother Kai.

After a long pause, Zhou Rongbin couldn’t help but ask,

“Brother Nian, were you the one who chased after Brother Cheng first?”

Huang Qian seized the opportunity to share the latest gossip.

“Uh, cough, cough…”

Yang Kai, who was drinking water, choked. He hadn’t expected Jiang Nian to be someone’s “white moonlight.” No wonder Brother Cheng couldn’t let go.

“…”

Jiang Nian grinned shamelessly.

“That’s right. I was drawn to Brother Jing’s good looks back then, and I just had to win him over.”

Then, pretending to be lost in his teammates’ stunned stares, he added,

“Brother Jing was so hard to chase back then—only I could do it. No one else could’ve managed it.”

“Pfft—”

“Hahaha—”

Everyone burst out laughing. Huang Qian teased him deliberately:

“Since he was so hard to win over, you dumped him after getting him—was it for revenge?”

Jiang Nian waved dramatically.

“Don’t say that, sis. I had my reasons. I kicked him out.”

The topic ended there. Huang Qian didn’t press the issue, and everyone quieted down.

After hearing Chen Yue’s recordings, they all remembered how their big bro had changed his social media profile to “widower” after being dumped. They thought it was just a joke back then, but it turns out it was prophetic.

Having suffered so much in their past lives, the two of them were happy to devour as much dog food as life threw at them this time around.

Only Yang Kai, who was still “in the dark,” sighed.

“You two are the kind of legendary couple who’d still remember each other even after drinking Meng Po’s soup[mfn]Meng Po (孟婆) is a mythical old woman who lives in the underworld (Diyu, 地狱). Her job is to serve a bowl of forgetfulness soup (孟婆汤) to the souls of the dead before they reincarnate. The soup erases all memories of a person’s past life—joy, sorrow, love, and hatred—so they can begin their next life without burdens.[/mfn].”

Thinking back now, he realized he’d actually tried to cozy up to Brother Cheng—how reckless of him!

“Hahaha…”

Jiang Nian laughed, then looked sharply toward a figure on the field. He hadn’t drunk Meng Po’s soup, but he had died before.

…

After training with his teammates, Jiang Nian officially wore the uniform of Rescue Team 017.

The team joined a regular military rescue unit and carried out one last large-scale zombie purge in the surrounding area before the extreme heat arrived.

The mission was simple; he didn’t even need to use his superpower—he just had to hold his gun steady.

The cleanup mission was finished by the end of June. Daily temperatures had risen to 45 degrees Celsius and were increasing by a few degrees each day.

All types of outdoor work were officially halted, including that of ordinary volunteer workers building the base’s outer wall.

Daily broadcasts warned survivors across the country about the various physical complications that could result from the extreme heat.

Fewer and fewer ordinary people were going outside. Soon, only superpowered individuals and soldiers with professional equipment remained active outdoors.

During the heat wave, the base became eerily quiet, and the authorities began offering high rewards to recruit superpowered individuals to assist with relief efforts.

The military has always held great appeal. As long as all survivors at the base followed orders and cooperated, most would survive.

Just as during the extreme cold, people could only face the blazing heat with fear and helplessness.

To ensure the reservoir water was drinkable, Minister Wang asked Jiang Nian to secretly purify several large pools.

Any problem with the drinking water would have disastrous consequences.

Later, various heat-protection facilities at the base began operating one by one.

With an abundance of sunlight, solar generators and similar devices operated at maximum capacity. Combined with power from the base’s power plant, there was barely enough electricity to sustain the base 24 hours a day.

The main reason it worked was that the research institute now had its own independent power supply, which allowed surplus electricity to be rerouted elsewhere.

After much effort, the experts finally developed an ultra-small energy generation device powered by dielectric crystal cores. These cores were currently being used exclusively inside the research institute.

The research institute was a major electricity consumer. With an independent power line, it became much easier to redistribute saved electricity elsewhere.

After South City Base announced that it would buy crystal cores at high prices, individuals and officials from other bases came to trade them in.

For those farther away, Nancheng Base sent aircraft loaded with supplies in exchange for the cores.

As a result, the number of harvested crystal cores grew rapidly.

After processing the crystal cores through a medium, the energy became pure and long-lasting. Plans for a large-scale energy plant were already underway.