Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Having resolved a major concern that had weighed on his mind since the apocalypse, Jiang Nian felt as relieved as a deadweight lifting off.

Though a flipped salted fish is still a salted fish. But even so, he was still the same old him.

But before exposing the fact that Purify was effective against the zombie virus, he could cut loose for a while.

"..."

After reviewing past events, the two leaned against each other and chatted for a long time. Cheng Jing couldn’t help but sigh:

"Department Head Wang’s attitude toward us was a strategic weighing of interests, and it was also thanks to Zhou Li, Yang Kai, and Li Cheng’s efforts."

Jiang Nian agreed:

"Yeah, I know. We should thank them properly and set aside some of the best items for them in the future."

He was someone who repaid kindness tenfold. If others respected him an inch, he’d respect them a foot.

After a moment’s thought, he turned to look at his serious boyfriend, a mischievous idea popped into his head:

"I bet Zhou Li and Yang Kai praised you a lot, especially Yang Kai. I heard from Sister Qian that he liked you. Turns out I wasn’t wrong to treat him as a pretend rival in love—it was real, hahaha..."

The black knight Yang Kai had given him was already in the ring space. Not many people could befriend a love rival, right?

He had asked Yang Kai about it too. One afternoon when Brother Jing was out on assignment, Yang Kai came to buy something from him, and they ended up chatting about it.

Yang Kai had admitted frankly, saying:

‘I heard Brother Jing also had an unattainable white moonlight (a Chinese term for an unattainable ideal love), that the breakup left him bereaved. So I thought maybe we could be there for each other. But then he came back from the hotel saying his lost spouse had come back to life—that he didn’t like men, that you're the only one for him.’

‘Pretending to be a couple was a strategy agreed upon by the authorities and the company headquarters. But even so, the most Brother Jing could tolerate was an arm around the shoulder or occasionally lighting a cigarette for me during a close-up exchange of codes. It was all me hamming up the needy partner act for the act.’

‘...’

Jiang Nian hadn’t minded the fake relationship at first—it was just work. But after hearing Yang Kai’s words, he couldn't help feeling elated.

In their relationship, he was the one who appeared more active on the surface. But when it came to matters of principle, Brother Jing never compromised, never letting him feel insecure about such things.

So now, he considered Yang Kai a brother.

Most importantly, Yang Kai had his own white moonlight—only that person’s officer's badge had been permanently retired, unable to come back to life like Jiang Nian had.

"..."

Cheng Jing imagined Huang Qian gleefully dishing the dirt to Jiang Nian about him and Yang Kai and wished he could strangle her from afar.

That woman must have held a grudge after he teased her about her ex-boyfriend.

Taking a few deep breaths, Cheng Jing still delivered a three-part denial:

"None of that’s true! Don’t listen to her nonsense! Yang Kai and I are just work partners!"

His innocence was as clear as day!

Jiang Nian just egged him on more, needling him on purpose:

"Getting defensive? Guilty? No way, Brother Jing~"

Getting jealous over nothing doesn't exist, but teasing the boyfriend is totally on the table. And Brother Jing getting all serious and worked up is pretty hot too.

"......"

Frustrated, Cheng Jing lowered his head and bit Jiang Nian's neck:

"Stop talking nonsense."

When was he worked up? What was he worked up about?

"Ow... I just worked up a sweat, don't bite... don't leave marks on my neck, I have to go out tomorrow, mmm..."

Jiang Nian hissed and pushed him away. Still claiming he's not worked up? He's biting now.

Cheng Jing took the chance to lean in closer, persistently nibbling at his neck:

"So what? Everyone knows we're a couple anyway."

Told not to leave marks? He'd leave them out of spite!

"......"

Jiang Nian stopped resisting and only patted his head once he was satisfied:

"Alright, back to business... So, did you accept Department Head Wang's offer? What suggestions did you give him?"

Cheng Jing looked at the red marks on his neck, now satisfied and calmer:

"I asked him to give me some time. They want my suggestions, but I want yours first—after all, you're the brains behind this operation."

If it weren't for protecting people, he wouldn’t be taking credit for this.

"Hehe!"

Jiang Nian accepted the praise and thought seriously for a moment before saying:

"Then let’s give some suggestions. After all, this is our post-apocalypse base. If there’s a chance to get a leg up, we should take it—it's good for everyone."

Cheng Jing agreed:

"Exactly, that’s what I was thinking too."

"......"

Jiang Nian thought back to the information he’d gathered from Chen Yue and others in his past life before continuing:

"In the future, bases will be competing for resources based on who's strongest. Weaker bases will have less clout. Although South City Base’s strength is undeniable, still..."

"In my past life, after S Base made a breakthrough in the antidote serum, they became the leading base, attracting many talented individuals with superpowers. Other bases had to trade large amounts of resources for their research intel, and many infected people were sent to S Base as well."

He didn’t know the details, only the general picture.

He hadn’t thought much about it before, but looking back now, S Base’s actions seemed suspicious.

First, Xia Weiwei’s father’s twisted professional superpower gave him the creeps.

Second, the antidote serum research had only achieved a "breakthrough," but the extent of it was never made public.

Under those circumstances, rounding up infected people there—wasn't that just treating them like lab rats?

From this lifetime's perspective, even though the S Base is at the same stage as other bases, it's still extremely domineering, meddling everywhere and even using underhanded methods to interfere with South City Base.

It's easy to imagine how much simpler it is for them to control smaller bases.

In his past life, he had followed Chen Yue's family into the central district of Z Base, always assuming it was because Xia Weiwei had feelings for Chen Yue—just some pampered girl's crush. But now, thinking back, it wasn't that simple.

"..."

Seeing him lost in thought, Cheng Jing took over:

"In the past life, it was because the S Base obtained a brain-evolved Superpowered individual that they achieved breakthroughs in critical experiments faster than other bases. This lifetime is different."

Jiang Nian nodded:

"What does Brother Jing think we should do? The brain-evolved Superpowered individual hasn’t arrived at the base yet."

The butterfly effect had caused some deviations to grow larger, and the further things progressed, the less useful his past-life memories were as reference.

To avoid unintended consequences, they needed to gradually break free from the influence of those memories from now on.

"..."

Cheng Jing thought carefully before asking:

"Weren't you the one who said that in the past life, the method of converting Superpower Cores into usable energy was first developed by the S Base?"

Jiang Nian nodded: "Mm."

"Then we should warn the base researchers in advance. That way, we can gain the upper hand—we wouldn't even need a brain-evolved Superpowered individual to suggest this."

As he spoke, Cheng Jing continued pondering seriously:

Once they could harness the energy from Superpower Cores, everything would get way easier. Research in this area would be like cracking a code.

If the energy conversion experiments with ordinary Superpower Cores succeeded, researchers would naturally progress to studying Superpower Cores from Superpower Zombies, working out how to harness the Superpowers within.

Eventually, they would likely discover the possibility of transplanting Superpower Cores ahead of time.

If Superpower Cores could be transplanted, ordinary people could pass physical screening to receive artificial Superpowers, boosting humanity's fighting force.

With all this happening earlier, the development of an antidote serum would also be accelerated, most likely leading to an earlier end to the apocalypse.