Chapter 183

Chapter 183

"Don’t overthink it. Just follow my lead."

Cheng Jing looked at the conflicted man, his gaze so tender it could melt someone.

He felt fortunate to have grown up in a wonderful family—his parents were optimistic and open-minded, giving both brothers the greatest respect and freedom in their studies, careers, and relationships.

Once they reached adulthood, their lives were entirely their own to live.

Their parents only provided objective advice, never forcing their opinions, with the sole expectation that whatever choices they made, they wouldn’t regret them.

As for Jiang Nian, whether at the beginning or after their reconciliation, Cheng Jing never hesitated to talk about him in front of his family. He even sought his parents’ advice on navigating a relationship.

Temperament-wise, he and Jiang Nian were practically opposites—he was somewhat rigid and stubborn, while Jiang Nian seemed compliant but had a strong rebellious streak.

To outsiders, their pairing seemed unlikely to last past the honeymoon phase, but only they themselves understood the depth of their commitment.

He wanted everyone to know—he loved Jiang Nian and was willing to give his all.

After the apocalypse, he worried constantly about his family. The reason he rarely brought them up was, firstly, because he knew they were safe, and secondly, to spare Jiang Nian unnecessary worries.

Now that his loved ones were reunited safely, he'd never felt more relaxed, body and soul.

Given his unique situation, Department Head Wang had granted him a few days of leave this time.

"Brother Jing, what do our parents and younger brother like? We've got plenty in storage—I should prepare some gifts for them."

Even if the situation called for simplicity, courtesy was still necessary.

"..."

After a moment of thought, Cheng Jing replied:

"Dad likes tea and collectibles. As for my brother, he’s an active-duty soldier, so there’s no need—he’ll tell me if he needs anything. Mom… well, your standard middle-aged woman's tastes—she loves gold."

All pretty standard preferences. Jiang Nian nodded as he listened:

"We have tea, and plenty of gold too."

Cheng Jing chuckled. "No need for too much."

Jiang Nian agreed:

"Right. If we don’t have collectibles, we can give Dad a few tins of good tea. For Mom, a couple pounds' worth of nice gold pieces, plus some health gift baskets for both of them..."

"Hmm, Mom's got great skin, so we should also give her some skincare products. It's not like Sister Qian and Xiao Hui could use that much anyway..."

They were well-stocked on daily essentials. Back when they were operating the delivery business in Xihe City, they’d also acquired high-end skincare products and electronics like phones.

As life at the base gradually stabilized and improved, these items kept gaining value. Once power supply was fully restored, the base’s internal network would soon follow.

"..."

Cheng Jing listened, smiling faintly. Everything Jiang Nian mentioned sounded reasonable—except, if he remembered right, gold was sold by the gram, wasn't it?

Who gives pounds of gold as a housewarming gift?

He didn’t think it was necessary. Even if given to his mother now, she’d probably just stash it away. But since it was Nian Nian's call, he wasn't about to rain on his parade.

"......"

After a satisfying meal, the gift exchange was finalized.

Putting aside their nerves about meeting the parents in the afternoon, they needed to properly sort out the details of this major incident.

First and foremost, it was worth celebrating that Tang Ji was completely cured of the infection, while Chen Yue’s family and Xia Weiwei were dead.

Before leaving, Cheng Jing had them all cremated, yielding several Superpower Cores in the process.

They left everything else behind, instructing Chu Yi to hand everything over to the base—including the two planes, one heavily damaged, but its critical parts were salvageable and could be repaired for reuse.

Overall, the church mission had paid off.

Prompted by Jiang Nian, Cheng Jing first explained the situation regarding picking up his family and the brain-enhanced Superpowered:

Because their whereabouts had been exposed, the people from Base S had intercepted his younger brother and the professors in a small village, blocking satellite signals and deploying a large number of Superpowered and armed personnel.

Led by Xia Weiwei’s father, the research team from Base S had initiated "negotiations," alternating threats and bribes to coerce and entice them.

Unfortunately, the professors, who had been determined from the start to join the Southern City Base, refused to compromise.

Moreover, they were traveling with the military. Although supplies and personnel had been depleted along the way, they were still under military protection, rendering Base S’s bluster ineffective.

As tensions peaked, Cheng Jing and Yang Kai arrived with the Southern City Base’s rescue team.

Even if a fight had broken out at that point, Base S would have stood no chance, especially since the major bases weren’t yet at the stage of openly going to war.

Xia Weiwei and her father had hoped to manipulate Jiang Nian to control Cheng Jing and his teammates, thereby achieving their goals, but they never expected their plan to blow up in their faces.

After being tricked back to the church by Chen Shanmin, Xia Weiwei was injured and, under Tang Ji’s threat, called Professor Xia one last time:

She explained that the plan had failed because the doctor and assistant had been infected and turned, and they had even scratched her. To spare her father the grief, she would end her own life.

As soon as Xia Weiwei finished speaking, Tang Ji fired a gunshot next to her and hung up the call.

At first, Miss Xia had believed Tang Ji wouldn’t kill her, so she humored the call to buy time, still acting arrogantly.

It wasn’t until she entered the basement and saw the doctor and assistant, now turned, that she realized the bullet Tang Ji had shot her with carried the zombie virus. By then, pleading for mercy was pointless.

What happened afterward in the basement was already known to Jiang Nian.

"......"

"Tang Ji was worried that Base S would retaliate and implicate us, so he had Xia Weiwei make that call as cover. The call was recorded, and Liao Yu transferred the recording to a recorder for me."

With that, Cheng Jing took out a recorder. While they weren’t afraid of Xia Weiwei’s father causing trouble, it was best to avoid unnecessary complications.

"Quite thorough planning."

Jiang Nian listened to the recording once. The recording alone couldn’t verify if Xia Weiwei spoke freely, nor could it refute the possibility of her lying.

In fact, this vagueness worked in their favor. Even if Professor Xia suspected there was more to his daughter’s death, he had no direct evidence—only left to stew.

If he couldn’t contain his anger and acted recklessly, he’d be signing his own death warrant. The sooner such a mad scientist revealed his true nature, the better it would be for the entire Base S, as the authorities would take notice.

Additionally, in the official report of the incident, Chu Yi, as the responsible authority, stated:

In the chaos, he was tied up with other tasks. By the time he was free, Miss Xia had already been bitten by her own personal physician and assistant, while Chen Shanmin and others had been infected after being bitten by Chen Yue in their desperate attempt to save their son.

The S Base can't pin the blame on the Southern City Base.

That’s how it went down—Jiang Nian ‘lost’ his family, and Professor Xia lost her daughter.

No one will look too hard into it, as everyone has tacitly accepted this as an ‘unfortunate incident caused by a special accident.’

Now, Jiang Wenwen is in the hospital. Being locked up for so long left her weak, and she fell into a coma after being rescued—it’s unclear whether she has woken up yet.

Meanwhile, Tang Ji has remained unconscious after being struck by Jiang Nian’s out-of-control superpower. Tests show nothing wrong with him physically, and he has been placed in a special observation ward at the base’s research institute.

Of course, it’s all hush-hush, overseen by Professor Mo, the newly recruited brain-domain-evolved superpower individual, and several other specialized experts—completely removing any need for their involvement.

The ‘Special Phenomena Management and Research Experimental Base’ is a legitimate and highly classified national organization, the true authority in this field.

After the extreme cold, they never entered the base, instead collecting various pieces of information about the apocalyptic disasters outside. They must have plenty of leads related to the cataclysm and represent the real hope for ending the apocalypse.

The big question is what went wrong inside the ‘Special Phenomena Management and Research Experimental Base’ before the apocalypse?