Chapter 84

Chapter 84

"..."

"Big Bro, do you still fully trust Liang Yunhao?"

After Liang Yunhao left, the office fell into brief silence before Sister Qian was the first to break it.

Although they had a pleasant conversation with their 'former boss' and obtained a lot of useful information, times had changed, and they had to be realistic.

Once Sister Qian spoke up, the others also turned their eyes to Cheng Jing.

"Trust is mutual. He trusts me, so I trust him. Neither of us is playing the fool here."

Cheng Jing replied. As far as Liang Yunhao was concerned, he still trusted him for now.

Zhao Lei scratched the back of his head:

"As long as you know what you're doing, Cheng. We're with you and Brother Nian, no matter what. If you're good with Brother Hao, we're good with him. If you're not, then we'll cut him off."

Cheng Jing smiled:

"Don’t worry, I know."

With Jiang Nian as their 'early-warning system,' he would always remain rational and cool-headed in assessing any situation, ensuring they stayed in a safe and advantageous position.

...

Meanwhile, in a private room at a restaurant in the shopping district:

When Xia Weiwei angrily ranted about Jiang Nian’s attitude, Liang Yunhao also admitted defeat, saying he had failed to persuade Cheng Jing.

They had agreed to separately persuade Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian first. If both agreed, they could then use their connections in the S Base to make it official with the higher-ups of the South City Base.

But neither budged.

"I hate useless people who put on a tough act the most!"

Xia Weiwei couldn’t hold back her frustration and cursed. At least Liang Yunhao had managed to sit down and talk with Cheng Jing, while Jiang Nian hadn’t even given her a chance to speak. Just because she had dragged him in public, he had immediately resorted to violence—clearly, he was unhinged.

Upon learning that they had even fought, Liang Yunhao blurted out, puzzled:

"Did you offend Jiang Nian before?"

Logically speaking, just being annoyed wouldn’t escalate to physical confrontation.

"No, I’ve only seen his photo. We’ve never even met properly—how could I have offended him? And yet, during the fight, I still held back considering he’s a powerless nobody!"

Xia Weiwei shot back, which only made her angrier the more she thought about it. She regretted not using her superpower at the time.

Even if it wasn’t about her younger brother’s girlfriend, Jiang Nian’s behavior was just totally out of line—whether toward a stranger or a girl.

Even if he had beef with Chen Yue privately, he shouldn’t have punched down at an innocent person like her.

Liang Yunhao shrugged:

"Well, it seems Jiang Nian and Chen Yue aren’t on good terms."

He had only seen Jiang Nian’s photo from Cheng Jing. He looked quite the quiet type, but when he heard that Jiang Nian had chased after Cheng Jing just to ditch him later, he knew there was more to it.

"..."

Xia Weiwei huffed in frustration, neither confirming nor denying.

She had asked Chen Yue before, and his response was that they didn’t interact much with Jiang Nian—they were on neutral terms, not bad enough to be hostile.

But today, Jiang Nian’s attitude toward her made it seem like they had some deep grudge.

She’d call Chen Yue again tonight to ask what was going on. If it weren’t for trying to win over Cheng Jing, she wouldn’t have lowered herself to ingratiate herself with a powerless nobody like Jiang Nian.

So what if he was skilled in combat? Against someone with superpowers like her, he was nothing—she could wring his neck with one hand!

Liang Yunhao studied her for a moment before asking,

"What about your sister? Is she willing to go back with you?"

With temperatures rising continuously, experts from all bases predicted an extreme heatwave, making water-ability users especially valuable.

"Hmph!"

Xia Weiwei’s anger flared up again at the mention of it.

"She said she’s doing just fine in the Southern City Base—just as ungrateful!"

1,500 points a month couldn't even get her a place in the inner district. She didn't know what gave Jiang Wenwen the right to act so high and mighty!

She must’ve picked the wrong day to go out—nothing but running into crazy people. She had never been this humiliated before.

Ignoring her fury, Liang Yunhao said with a shrug,

"In that case, I don’t think there’s any point in you staying here wasting time. To each their own—respect their choices. And, let's be honest, if she hadn't developed a water-based Superpower, your father probably wouldn’t have sent you to fetch her."

In this post-apocalyptic world, everything came with a price tag—even relationships, even the so-called sacred bonds of family and love were no exception.

"..."

Xia Weiwei didn’t deny it, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Funny how it sounds like you failed to persuade Cheng Jing and are now lecturing me instead. Recruiting Superpowered is in our shared interest… You’re not thinking of staying in the Southern City Base, are you?"

Liang Yunhao spread his hands.

"Wrong. I’d love to leave tomorrow. I’m just telling you to look at this rationally. Whether it’s your sister or Cheng Jing’s team, they’re practically official personnel of the Southern City Base. Even with S Base's backing, we can’t take them if they refuse."

"..."

Xia Weiwei lowered her head, her face darkening as she stayed silent. In the end, she said nothing more. She understood the logic—that’s why she was so angry!

Seeing this, Liang Yunhao observed her for a moment before shifting the topic.

"Or… do you have another mission here? Did Professor Xia give you other instructions?"

He'd caught wind of some unsettling rumors lately—rumors that were quickly squashed, leaving only whispers beneath the surface.

Xia Weiwei’s father was a military brat, originally a medical professor. After the apocalypse, he awakened a precision-cutting ability:

His hands could transform into surgical blades—an extremely rare job-specific ability. These days he was the deputy director of the S Base’s Experimental Research Institute.

Operations that used to need precision tools could now be performed by Professor Xia alone, all thanks to his ability.

No matter how tricky the angle, he can achieve precise cutting and extraction, saving resources and achieving twice the result with half the effort.

For this reason, Professor Xia personally formed a post-apocalyptic biological laboratory team, specializing in research on zombies, crystal cores, superpowers, and superpowered people, becoming obsessed with experiments.

Many defer to Professor Xia, since developing such abilities is extremely advantageous for experimental research.

But Liang Yunhao finds it somewhat disturbing when you think about it—from certain perspectives, an experiment fanatic is no different from a deranged killer.

"No."

Professor Xia Weiwei quickly denied, then, seeing his probing expression, calmly added:

"I’ve asked Chen Yue and the others to come here. We need to wait. Besides, Jiang Nian attacked me at the slightest disagreement. We still need to settle this. Even if I don’t make a big deal out of it for my boyfriend’s sake, he at least owes me an apology."

"Oh."

Liang Yunhao gave a knowing smile. Fine, none of his business, and he didn’t want to get involved.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Professor Xia Weiwei hesitantly asked:

"You really want to go back?"

"Yeah, I’ve said all I needed to say. Cheng Jing has zero interest. Unlike you, I don’t have other matters to attend to, so I’d rather not waste time here."

Liang Yunhao replied half-heartedly, his attitude making it clear he had no desire to stay.

In terms of superpowers alone, Cheng Jing was far stronger than him. Since his brother didn’t need his concern, he might as well return to his own territory early and lay low.

"Your call."

Professor Xia Weiwei didn’t press further. The original plan was for Liang Yunhao to persuade Cheng Jing—a perfect time-saver. Now that persuasion had failed, and it wouldn’t be wise to antagonize Cheng Jing, staying would just get in the way. Leaving first was for the best.

Liang Yunhao pretended not to notice the quick scheming look in her eyes and nodded with a smile:

"I’ll take the plane and crew back first. Once you’ve finished up here, contact the base to send for pickup."

"Mm."

Professor Xia Weiwei murmured distractedly.

"..."

Lunch passed quietly as both remained preoccupied.

But after this exchange, Professor Xia Weiwei also canceled her planned afternoon meeting with Cheng Jing.