RIACMET chapter 87

 

“… ”

This time, Cheng Jing thought for a long while before shaking his head.

“I don’t know about this. People with brain-related superpowers are truly worth fighting over. But, since the higher-ups suppressed that news, Xiao Lei wouldn’t have just told me outright.”

His younger brother hadn’t said a word about it. After all, he was still an active soldier, and there were things he simply couldn’t share.

Their parents had always been role models in their military family, keeping their mouths tightly shut.

Liang Yunhao understood and asked again.

“When was the last time you two were in touch? Did he say anything to you before he disappeared?”

“He sent me a message a few hours ago saying he was safe, that everything was fine, and that something had come up. He said he wouldn’t be able to get to Nancheng Base for the time being. It would take a while.”

Once Cheng Jing finished speaking, he held his hand out in front of Liang Yunhao’s startled face.

“What you call ‘losing contact’ doesn’t apply to me.”

His brother wasn’t an ordinary person; he was with an entire legion. Cheng Jing wasn’t worried in the slightest.

Still, when they talked again, he could ask him directly about those brain superpowers.

“…”

Liang Yunhao stared blankly for quite some time, then smacked his forehead and laughed. He pulled out another cigarette and put it in his mouth.

“Good—now I’m relieved.”

These days, communication equipment was limited, and satellite phones weren’t all-powerful. As long as the other side cut or rerouted the signal with the proper authority, there was no way to know.

Click!

Cheng Jing snapped his fingers, lighting Liang Yunhao’s cigarette.

“Just relax and keep running S Base. I’m here.”

“Alright.”

Liang Yunhao narrowed his eyes. His worries had been unnecessary.

Thinking about it, Cheng Jing’s work had always been performed with extreme steadiness. If the situation had really gotten out of control, he would have already been called to Taipei and S Base to assist with the investigation.

…

Jiang Nian woke up because he couldn’t feel anyone holding him when he turned over. The alcohol had worn off, and his mouth was dry. He glanced at the clock; it was nearly one in the morning.

“Brother Jing?”

He turned on the bedside lamp, picked up his cup of water, and walked out of the bedroom. He found the lights on, but the place was silent. Cheng Jing wasn’t home.

Just as he was about to make a call, he heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, followed by his brother’s familiar ringtone. Then, the call was disconnected.

When Cheng Jing walked in, he looked up and saw Jiang Nian standing in the living room, drinking water and waving his phone at him. The cold look on his face instantly softened.

“Niannian… Why are you awake?”

Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, he felt a little awkward getting caught by his boyfriend coming home in the middle of the night.

“I woke up when I couldn’t reach you.”

Jiang Nian spoke casually. He set the cup down and looked him up and down with a gossipy expression.

“Good thing you came back when you did—otherwise, I’d never have known you snuck out in the middle of the night. Brother Jing, you don’t do this often, do you?”

His boyfriend actually went out while he was sleeping. If he were a meek, sensitive, and fragile person, he might have imagined twenty episodes of rough love with three wives and four concubines.

At the moment, though, he was only curious about what his boyfriend was doing so late and why he hadn’t brought him along.

Oh, right—he’d been drunk, so he’d missed his chance to ask!

Of course, he’d always trusted Brother Jing. His love-struck brain could automatically block any baseless emotional friction.

Cheng Jing raised his hand in a solemn oath.

“It really doesn’t happen often. This is the first time it’s happened, and I wasn’t planning on hiding it. I was going to tell you when you woke up this morning.”

That was the truth. After saying this, he walked into the living room and sat down.

Jiang Nian followed.

“All right, then, what were you doing out tonight?”

He drew closer as he asked.

“Smells like smoke?”

Even though the smell was faint, he was sensitive to cigarette smoke. He had enjoyed it when he was experimenting with smoking, but now he found it pungent.

Cheng Jing lowered his head and sniffed himself—sure enough, he smelled like smoke. He shifted away and explained,

“I didn’t smoke. Liang Yunhao did. I guess we were too close while we were talking. I’ll go rinse off in a bit…”

Seeing that Jiang Nian didn’t seem upset, he added,

“Liang Yunhao asked me out to talk about Xiaolei and the others…”

Cheng Jing told him everything he’d discussed with Liang Yunhao, especially about the Experimental Research Management Special Phenomena Base and the superpower of brain developers.

He regularly reported his family situation to Jiang Nian, who understood and never pressed him for more.

Once they talked it over, there wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Brain developers…”

Jiang Nian sat cross-legged on the sofa, touching his chin and speculating.

“In your previous life, S Base probably recruited a brain developer, which is why their research was ahead of everyone else’s.”

Just imagine—if a scientist’s brain evolved and developed, how much it would boost any research.

“I think so too.”

Cheng Jing nodded in agreement. After all, the odds of finding someone with brain superpowers were one in ten thousand. Perhaps only one person in the entire country had that ability. Of course, every base would fight to secure them.

“…”

Jiang Nian’s thoughts drifted far away. He pieced together the clues he had and murmured to himself,

“So, Brother Jing, you were probably in S Base in your previous life…”

If Brother Jing had awakened a superpower early and no one had warned him when his power emerged—or if something unusual had happened—he, being a security officer, would have cooperated with the authorities. He wouldn’t have known that the apocalypse was about to arrive. He would have reported it and gone straight to Taipei.

Once the end came, Brother Jing would have naturally joined S Base with Yang Kai and Liang Yunhao’s connections.

With Brother Jing in S Base, his younger brother and family would have gone there to reunite with him. The brain domain mutant would have stayed there, too.

Combine Xia Weiwei’s father’s professional expertise with the brain developer’s power, and you can see how S Base became so formidable in the previous life, even though Brother Jing hadn’t heard about it while he was trapped in the basement.

However, if Brother Jing had been searching for him, he definitely would have used S Base’s network. Xia Weiwei would have known he was looking for him and could have hidden him more easily.

“…”

Thinking about this, Jiang Nian shivered for no reason.

“…”

Cheng Jing was thinking the same thing, carefully analyzing the situation.

“If you hadn’t been there, given my position and identity, I would’ve contacted Liang Yunhao and the authorities the moment my powers awakened. Then, I would’ve gone to Taipei. Since I wouldn’t have known about the toxic rain, I wouldn’t have been able to warn Zhao Lei and the others to stay inside first.”

That tragedy would have been unavoidable. If his family had been safe, they definitely would have joined him in S Base.

This kind of speculation made sense.

Furthermore, someone with a brain superpower could be considered the most valuable asset for any scientific research. If humanity wanted to end the apocalypse faster, every faction would naturally do everything to cooperate with their base.

In his previous life, he hadn’t had many close friends, and he’d been easily tricked by illusions created by people with hidden motives under those dark lights. That’s why he hadn’t been able to find Jiang Nian!

“Ah…”

Jiang Nian sighed.

“This is what rebirth means.”

Being reborn sets off a chain reaction of both good and bad variables, but at least he’d been able to prepare in advance, which was good for everyone.

After thinking it over, he asked again.

“When will Xiaolei and the others arrive at Nancheng Base? Is there anything we need to do?”

“…”

After giving it some serious thought, Cheng Jing still shook his head.

“No. I trust him.”

Jiang Nian nodded in understanding.

“All right, then there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Niannian, we’re all going to be fine in this life.”

Cheng Jing said this as he held her hand, as if it were a promise and a declaration.

Jiang Nian linked their fingers together.

“Of course. As long as we’re careful, there won’t be any problems.”

Truthfully, as long as they didn’t do anything too extreme, those bloody incidents that film and TV plots like to foreshadow wouldn’t happen.

They weren’t protagonists. They didn’t want to be in the spotlight. They just wanted to survive this disaster safely. There were plenty of people in the world just like them.

It was late. Worried about the smell of smoke on his body, Cheng Jing took another shower and returned to the bedroom. Jiang Nian looked at him slyly and asked,

“Brother Jing, are you coming over?”