Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Xiao Ya was at an age where she was beginning to understand things. Having experienced and participated in something so terrible, it was normal for her emotions to boil over and break down.

Next comes the healing of emotional scars and confronting her mistakes. This would be a long process—one she’d have to endure on her own. No one else could help.

When she saw Jiang Nian, Xiao Ya, tears streaming down her face, ran into his arms:

"Brother..."

"Waaah..."

"I'm sorry... I was wrong..."

"I helped Mommy kill people... *sobs*..."

"I killed someone... I was wrong..."

"...".

That candy’s “baby duck bond,” combined with Jiang Nian’s warm, approachable vibe, made her feel an inexplicable trust and dependence on him.

Of course, Huang Qian and the others were all kind to her, but among the older brothers and sisters, Jiang Nian—who gave her candy—was special.

"Xiao Ya..."

Seeing how much she relied on him, Jiang Nian thought back to how he almost killed her. His feelings grew complicated.

"Listen," he said. "What’s done can’t be undone. The same goes for your mistakes. But as long as you’re alive, you’ve got to keep moving forward. Your parents would want you to live strong… We’ll protect you, but you’ve got to work with us."

He wasn’t good at comforting people. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything sentimental. He could only lay it out straight and encourage the poor kid in front of him.

"Mm… waaah…"

The girl nodded between heaving sobs, nearly hyperventilating from crying.

Jiang Nian just sighed and gently patted her back, letting her get it all out.

Only after she cried herself exhausted and drank a cup of warm water spiked with something to calm her did Xiao Ya finally quiet down and fall asleep.

Jiang Nian wrapped her in a thick comforter and carried her back to her room so she could rest properly.

Huang Qian followed him in and pulled the door mostly shut behind her.

"...Qian-jie."

Jiang Nian hesitated, but Huang Qian cut straight to it:

"In times like these, meeting violence with violence can feel damn good. I know what you wanted to do that day. If Cheng Jing or anyone else had done it, I would’ve looked the other way. But not you, Jiang Nian. If you’d killed Xiao Ya yourself, you’d regret it for the rest of your life. Trading years of torment for a moment of justice isn’t worth it."

She understood how he felt—she wanted to kill those bastards daily too.

"..."

Her words hit home. Jiang Nian didn’t argue. He gave her a deep bow.

"Thank you, Qian-jie."

It was true—he’d never taken a life, not in this life or any other. If he really had killed Xiao Ya, the weight of it would’ve eaten at him forever.

Huang Qian waved her hand:

"Fine, go on out. If you truly wanted to kill someone, you wouldn’t have hesitated when you had the chance. Deep down, you didn’t see her as someone who deserved to die. So why bother creating conflict for yourself?"

"......"

Over the past few days, Cheng Jing had sounded out the others privately about taking Xiao Ya in. Unsurprisingly, no one pushed back.

Just like Jiang Nian said, they all knew Xiao Ya was guilty—she’d done wrong—but she was just a kid who wasn’t calling the shots and followed her family’s orders.

Besides, Zhou Li had put them in charge of the 1805 incident. Since they couldn’t stomach killing her outright, the only choice was to bring her along—keeping her close meant both watching her and looking after her.

The team signed off on it unanimously, and the matter of taking Xiao Ya in was settled.

It wasn’t until nightfall, after dinner, that Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing finally left.

After that, Huang Qian was stuck staying behind to take care of Xiao Ya. But as a top-notch assistant, handling a child was no big deal.

Occasionally, the team would scout ahead and then bring Xiao Ya out with them—just to get her some air.

After all, she was a Super too, so the cold didn’t bother her. A bit of exercise within reason never hurt.

Xiao Ya’s emotions slowly steadied. She no longer needed sedatives. Quiet, but obedient and well-behaved.

Only around outsiders did she clam up completely—too scared to speak or look anyone in the eye, terrified they’d find out what she’d done, wracked with guilt around everyone.

She went cold turkey on her powers, no matter how much the others tried to talk her into using them again.

Except for when necessary, Xiao Ya always wore gloves, wouldn’t peel them off even if it made eating hard.

Her power required direct contact to work, so as long as she kept gloves on, she couldn’t use it.

Huang Qian knew she was battling her demons inside, so she let her take her time.

......

By January, more and more Supers were going independent—smaller groups formed teams, bigger ones became full-on Power crews.

These Power crews started getting on the government’s payroll: trading supplies, taking commissioned jobs for payday.

That was the trend—and it was here to stay.

But trends still had exceptions. Cheng Jing’s team was one.

Cheng Jing was a precog. Since the apocalypse hit, he’d been involved in nearly half of Qingyun City’s disaster response ops, his suggestions always adopted.

Plus, their team already had ties with the government before the end came. So once all these Power groups started forming, Qingyun City rolled out the red carpet:

They were invited to join the Qingyun City Apocalypse Super Relief Guild, assigned the callsign 017.

As the only non-official Super team in the Guild, they got the same rights and duties as everyone else.

One catch though—they could walk away anytime.

That was Cheng Jing’s condition during negotiations with Zhou Li, just in case. His leverage? No longer hiding that every team member had awakened their powers.

The Qingyun City Rescue Guild has a total of 41 superpowered squads across its four districts, with 40 of them consisting of 10 official members each.

Only Cheng Jing’s team has eight members.

Jiang Nian doesn’t count, as joining the guild requires registering one's superpower attributes. Since he wants to keep his hidden, he can only continue staying registered as Cheng Jing’s dependent—Xiao Ya is in the same situation.

Zhou Li said they could invite teammates as needed, but they’d need to pass official screening.

The command centers of each district have posted the Rescue Guild’s roster on the outer walls of their offices for everyone to see.

When other superpowered individuals in the West District saw that Cheng Jing’s unofficial team had received a special exemption from the authorities, their reactions were all over the place—some gloated, some envied, others seethed with jealousy.

Most didn’t want to be controlled by the authorities but still hoped to milk the system using their abilities during the apocalypse.

So naturally, they had mixed feelings about Cheng Jing’s situation.

After joining the official team, the squad gathered for a long-overdue dinner at Cheng Jing’s hideout that evening.

Huang Qian brought Xiao Ya, who had gradually grown accustomed to living with them.

While the adults chatted, the little girl bundled up in a blanket and played with a game console.

Faced with the abundance of supplies in the hideout, Xiao Ya didn’t ask questions or dare to take anything to eat without permission. She had made an unforgivable mistake, and it was already generous of them to take her in.

So she made sure to always behave obediently—that way, she wouldn’t be disliked or resented.

Huang Qian felt that although Xiao Ya didn’t understand many things and rarely spoke, she was sharp and willing to learn, so she was growing quickly.

“We’re probably going to become thorns in some people’s sides now, huh?” Huang Qian chuckled, popping a piece of chocolate into Xiao Ya’s mouth before sitting by the heater, tearing open a pack of spicy jerky and munching on it.

Though her words sounded concerned, her eyes gleamed with fired-up intensity.

Zhao Lei brushed it off:

“Thorns in their sides, splinters in their flesh—envy, jealousy, hatred, whatever. If anyone dares to pick a fight, we’ll waste them! We weren’t afraid before the apocalypse, and we’re even less afraid now.”

With that, he ripped open a pack of cold spicy duck necks and started chowing down.

The others chimed in while stuffing their faces nonstop.

Cheng Jing stayed silent, joining Liao Yu—the one least bothered by cold—in handling the cooking. Though the young master wasn’t skilled in the kitchen, he was good at prep work.

Jiang Nian grabbed a spicy strip from Huang Qian, chewing as he added:

“There aren’t many people around yet, but once we enter the base, we’ll run into all kinds of freaks and bullshit. Just get used to it. We’re all fighting to survive now—no point playing nice. Fight if it comes to it.”

He was never one to shy away from trouble. In his past life, blinded by so-called familial bonds, he’d met a shitty end.

So in this life, his life motto was simple: *Life and death mean nothing—fight if you’re not convinced.*

“Brother Nian’s right…”

“Brother Nian speaks wisely…”

“Sensei is wise…”

“…”

Amid the sucking up—all tinged with the scent of spicy jerky—Jiang Nian nearly choked. Speechless, he pulled his puffy blanket tighter around himself.

These little shits!