Chapter 83

Chapter 83

With fair skin, striking features, and a tall, well-proportioned figure, Xia Weiwei wore a high-quality beige tweed skirt suit paired with white sneakers. Her caramel-brown waves were tied into a high ponytail.

You had to admit—Xia Weiwei was beautiful. The saying "one's appearance reflects their heart" didn't apply to her, because who would have thought someone so lovely could be so wicked?

The Chen family was despicable, but it was Xia Weiwei who proposed and initiated the off-the-books experiments.

Upon closer inspection, Xia Weiwei didn’t resemble Jiang Wenwen much, yet something in her expression could evoke a fleeting association at first glance.

Keeping his expression blank, Jiang Nian gave her an impassive glance before turning to leave.

Xia Weiwei thought she had mistaken him at first, hesitating a moment before following. She hurried ahead to a quieter corner and cut him off with a smile:

"You’re Jiang Nian, right? I’m Xia Weiwei, your brother Chen Yue’s girlfriend."

Jiang Nian lifted the brim of his hat slightly and met her gaze coldly:

"I’m an only child—no brothers."

"..."

Xia Weiwei’s smile froze. Irritated, she nibbled her lip, a flash of impatience in her eyes before boldly stepping forward to grab his arm:

"Jiang Nian, let’s talk properly."

Jiang Nian gritted his teeth:

"Let go!"

He tried to shake her off forcefully—but failed. He couldn’t even budge her.

Right. He’d forgotten. Xia Weiwei was a strength-type Superpowered individual, a "kawaii brute" with enhanced physical abilities. Of course, he could break free if he resorted to force, but they were in public. A few tugs had already drawn curious and prying eyes.

At least Xia Weiwei had some decorum. Glancing around awkwardly, she said to him:

"Come with me."

Then, using her Superpower subtly, she muscled him into an alley behind the prefab dorms near the open-air market. No one was around at the moment.

"I said let the fuck go!"

Seizing the moment, Jiang Nian wrenched free and immediately snapped a kick at her face—

He didn’t hit women, but he made no exceptions when it came to enemies.

A grudge spanning two lifetimes deserved at least an introduction, didn’t it? Even if he couldn’t win, Xia Weiwei wouldn’t dare go all-out against him now. Blowing off steam was better than nothing.

"..."

Xia Weiwei flinched briefly when he broke free but quickly raised her arms to block. Even with her Superpower augmenting her arms, the blow still drove her back two paces from sheer momentum:

"Are you insane?!"

What was wrong with this man? Throwing hands at the drop of a hat against a woman!

Yet before she could finish speaking, the rush of his fists and kicks closed in again, forcing her to drop the delicate act and fight back in earnest.

Jiang Nian wasn't a superpowered individual, but he was skilled in fighting techniques and was anything but a gentleman:

His long leg flew out in a kick aimed at her abdomen and waist, while his right hand gripped a folding knife, thrusting straight for her face with cold-blooded killing intent—nearly slicing her cheek open.

No one saw how he had drawn the blade so quickly.

"Jiang Nian, you've got it all wrong! I dragged you here because I wanted to talk to you—"

Blows kept coming as Xia Weiwei dodged and blocked, carefully controlling the use of her superpower.

For one, using her superpower would make her body swell grotesquely, and secondly, she didn’t want to hurt Jiang Nian.

But without tapping into her superpower at all, she couldn't beat him. Chen Yue had mentioned that his older brother often got into fights at school.

"Bang!"

"Cough…"

Jiang Nian played dumb, showing no mercy as he kicked her again, sending her stumbling back before finally stopping to catch his breath.

"I don’t know you. There’s nothing for us to talk about."

Close combat with a strength-based superpowered individual was truly a losing battle. Whatever—he’d let off steam, and his mood had temporarily settled.

"I really am Chen Yue’s girlfriend."

Xia Weiwei suppressed her irritation and explained again. If not for the bigger picture, she would’ve already pinned him to the ground and beaten him to death—ungrateful little shit!

"Hmph."

Jiang Nian caught the flash of killing intent in her eyes and sneered, picking up his straw hat and putting it back on. He met the forced calm on her face head-on.

"None of my damn business, asshole!"

With that, he turned and strode away, leaving her stunned and speechless.

Their scuffle had caused quite a scene—security teams were approaching, and people from the nearby prefab housing had begun peeking out their doors to watch.

"Jiang Nian!"

Xia Weiwei gritted her teeth, biting back curses, her chest burning with frustration.

Seeing Jiang Nian speaking to the security team, she could only stomp her foot furiously before marching off in the opposite direction.

Jiang Nian glanced back just in time to catch her furious stomping, a sneer curling his lips.

Returning to the shop to retrieve his bike, he messaged Cheng Jing with a quick rundown before heading back to his dorm in good spirits.

He had some understanding of Young Miss Xia’s temper. After being provoked like this today, being humiliated for no reason, she was undoubtedly seething with rage and would surely hold a grudge.

Whether he agreed to go to the S Base or not, she would find a way to get back at him—people used to being high and mighty were always like that.

As long as she threw the first punch, whatever happened next wouldn’t be his fault.

......

Meanwhile, when Cheng Jing received Jiang Nian’s message, he was in the command center’s office with his teammates, chatting and laughing with Liang Yunhao.

Liang Yunhao was the same age as Cheng Jing, sharing similar values and ways of handling things—tall and lean with handsome features.

However, compared to Cheng Jing's rebellious bad-boy vibe, Liang Yunhao exudes a lawful-good energy, with a friendly and open manner of speaking, making him far less aloof and unapproachable than Cheng Jing.

For Huang Qian and the others, although both Cheng Jing and Liang Yunhao are their bosses, having spent so much time with Cheng, the concept of an employer-employee relationship has blurred. They feel more reserved around Liang Yunhao.

That said, they no longer see Liang Yunhao as their boss—after the apocalypse, the company ceased to exist.

If they had to name an employer, they’d only acknowledge Jiang Nian as their "meal-ticket daddy."

To this day, they’re still mooching off Brother Nian.

Cheng Jing and his teammates laid their cards on the table with Liang Yunhao: they wouldn’t be following him and Xia Weiwei to Base S.

Naturally, Liang Yunhao didn’t push it or bother playing recruiter.

His original concern was simply wanting to help his brother Cheng Jing if he was struggling. Now that they were doing well, there was no need to force a move to Base S.

The main reason he came with Xia Weiwei this time was to go through the motions for Base S politics, as well as to scope out the scene at South City Base.

He had no interest in office politics—if things ever went south in Base S, he could always come here and seek refuge with Cheng Jing.

And Cheng Jing felt the same way.

So, Liang Yunhao wouldn’t force Cheng Jing to go to Base S, and Cheng Jing wouldn’t ask him to stay—it was about leaving each other a backup plan.

After keeping up appearances, they remained ride-or-die allies.

Throughout the morning, Liang Yunhao openly briefed Cheng Jing and his team on Base S’s situation, even providing Cheng with relevant materials and internal blueprints of the base, for safekeeping.

It was both a gesture of sincerity and a show of trust in his brother.

It wasn’t until lunchtime, when he received Xia Weiwei’s message asking to meet at a restaurant, that Liang Yunhao left Cheng Jing’s squad office.