RIACMET chapter 245

 

Before takeoff, Cheng Jing handed each person a bottle of nutritional supplement, since eating or drinking wasn’t allowed on the aircraft.

Jiang Nian remained silent the entire time, only observing. Thirty minutes after takeoff, the nine passengers who had consumed the solution were unconscious and slumped in their seats.

Cheng Jing turned back and said,
“I’ll take care of them. Niannian, check the intel and data on their phones.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Nian nodded obediently. He didn’t look up; his eyes were focused on the map in his hand, and he felt no particular emotion.

More than an hour later,

The aircraft landed within the walls of an abandoned, well-hidden, zombie-free factory.

Cheng Jing was familiar with the area. In his past life, when they came to support Z Base, they’d stopped here to regroup.

He moved the nine unconscious people into a deserted factory building with practiced ease. He didn’t ask Jiang Nian for help, nor did Jiang Nian offer any. Instead, he began going through the folder labeled with his name. Gritting his teeth as he read it, he let out a dry laugh at the so-called “righteous malice.”

Then, in other confidential materials, he saw various signed documents proposing to turn him into a research subject. The way he was described clearly didn’t treat him as a normal human being.

There was even a “bounty order” on him.

Aside from S Base and its affiliates, many other organizations and teams were “interested” in him.

Anyone who managed to capture him and hand him over to one of these organizations or teams would receive a generous reward and be granted access to the central area of a base, where they could live a life of luxury.

Judging by the documents, this kind of thing had spread rapidly through underground channels after his condition was made public, and the bounty kept rising.

The only reason no one had succeeded was because his team was too strong and he was closely tied to the South City Base. He never acted alone, far from the base or his teammates.

“Absolutely disgusting!”

Jiang Nian couldn’t help but curse out loud. It was like having a bucket of icy water dumped over his head. He looked up and sighed deeply, feeling fortunate that he hadn’t acted impulsively, ignored advice, or been overly self-confident.

If he had, it would have brought endless trouble and dragged down everyone around him.

“Ah!”

A frightened voice suddenly came from behind a bullet-riddled wall. Jiang Nian glanced up but didn’t bother investigating. He kept digging through the document boxes with his head down.

He set aside anything useful as leverage and left the rest—anything harmful or related to him—for Brother Jing to burn.

Since becoming a “designated experimental subject,” he couldn’t stop the fascination certain people had with him. All he could do was face it head-on.

His abilities were limited, but he had a lover, teammates, and trustworthy friends.

As long as he didn’t do anything foolish, those “interested parties” wouldn’t be able to touch him with the assets he currently held.

Accompanied by intermittent cries in the distance, Jiang Nian finished sorting through over a dozen boxes of important intel from Z Base.

By the time Cheng Jing walked out of the factory, Jiang Nian was finished too.

In the afternoon light, under the setting sun, the man walking toward him radiated a faint sense of hostility, but his gaze remained gentle.

Cheng Jing didn’t bother double-checking the documents Jiang Nian had sorted. He simply snapped his fingers, and mutated lightning and fire burst forth, igniting the data boxes that had been kicked onto the ground.

Jiang Nian normally disliked it when people snapped their fingers just to show off. It felt way too pretentious. But when his brother Jing did it—it was cool. No objections allowed.

As he watched the folder labeled “Jiang Nian” go up in flames, Cheng Jing said calmly,

“I’ve looked into the bases and organizations that tried to harm you secretly. I’ll report them to Minister Wang when we return and ask him to monitor them using official authority. If we run into them again, we’ll be ready. Don’t overthink it.”

Jiang Nian smirked nonchalantly.

“Brother Jing, you and everyone else are here. I’m not afraid. After all, those bastards only dare to sneak around in the shadows. If we didn’t know anything, we could kill them the moment we saw them.”

He didn’t need to be afraid. After all, he was now a captain of a national superpower legion. He had the ability.

Still, he felt angry. No one wants their fate dictated by someone else.

“…”

The “escort” mission was over. Cheng Jing called Liang Yunhao and asked him to help cover things up so that they wouldn’t have to worry about an investigation.

Liang Yunhao knew that some people at S Base had been plotting against Jiang Nian, so he understood Cheng Jing’s actions and offered his support.

After hanging up, Cheng Jing called Zhao Lei to update the team on their current status.

Once everything was settled, he turned to the man beside him, who was still sulking, and said,

“We’ll head back to Z Base tomorrow afternoon as planned. I’ll take you out for some fun.”

On their way there, they spotted several groups of zombies roaming the surrounding areas. Judging by their direction, they were heading north, right toward Z Base, likely to become part of the incoming zombie wave. Best to wipe a few of them out.

Still in a bit of a daze, Jiang Nian turned to look at him and said,

“What kind of fun? Something wild? Like…in the wild?”

Cheng Jing curved his lips into a smile and stared at him.

“That wouldn’t be impossible if you’re up for it.”

His mouth never fails to flirt!

“Hahaha…”

Jiang Nian burst out laughing, brushing away his mixed feelings. Then he stood up and walked toward the plane.

“Then hurry up. If we’re quick, we can catch it before dark.”

Yeah. At that moment, a little wildness was exactly what he needed to blow off steam.

Cheng Jing followed right after.

“Can’t you talk properly?”

“What’s the point? There’s no one else around.”

Jiang Nian turned around and paused, putting candy in his mouth. As Cheng Jing approached, Jiang Nian bent down slightly and fed him some.

“Is it sweet?”

“Sweet.”

Cheng Jing tried to hold him there and let him chew for a bit, but the little rascal pulled away again.

As soon as Jiang Nian boarded the aircraft, he pulled out a rocket launcher and prepared for battle.

Given their current mental and physical condition, an all-nighter wouldn’t cause much harm.