Chapter 73

Chapter 73

As long as his heart remained with humanity, they would protect him, ensuring he wouldn't suffer harm because of them.

This was a promise from her, the Director of the Alien Bureau, and a guarantee from both the Lan City Base and the Alien Bureau.

It was Li Yuanlu’s promise.

A promise as heavy as a thousand jin.

Seeing the slightly bewildered expressions on Zhong Qian and Zhang Hongyuan’s faces, Lin Jiaxu understood the gravity of this commitment.

The restless agitation that had been simmering within Lin Jiaxu slowly subsided, and his spirits suddenly lifted.

Indeed, Zhong Qian and Li Yuanlu weren't the ones who disliked him and wanted him dead. Why should he be angry at them? If he was to be angry, it should be at those who truly wished him harm.

The child, in his tender, childish voice, awkwardly said, "You must remember what you said."

"I will certainly remember."

Noticing his softening stance, Li Yuanlu smiled. She had other matters to attend to, so she stood up and departed after speaking.

Confinement was tedious.

And this confinement lasted for nearly half a year.

Every day, besides studying, the two trained. If Lin Jiaxu didn't find something to occupy himself, he felt like he would rot from boredom.

Although Li Yuanlu’s assurance and Zhong Qian’s explanation had significantly assuaged Lin Jiaxu’s anger, it didn't mean he could fully accept the situation.

The child and Zhong Qian put their heads together and hatched a plan: they would stir up trouble around the base daily.

If he couldn't find the leaders to retaliate against, couldn't he at least vex the base?

Every time the child returned from an outing, his mischievous energy only intensified.

Because they were simmering with resentment, during training, they fought with more ferocity than usual. Lin Jiaxu and Zhong Qian teamed up, relying solely on physical prowess to challenge everyone, eschewing blades or arrows.

Initially, both were accustomed to fighting independently. Without using their powers or weapons, challenging everyone proved quite difficult. They lost more than they won, becoming the subject of many jokes.

Yet, they stubbornly refused to use their powers, insisting on pure physical competition. They were determined to best everyone in this arena.

After some discussion, they decided to join forces.

Zhong Qian muttered, "Listen to me, we'll do it like this… Let's strategize first. And you can see the flow of power within the human body, right? We'll…"

"Mm-hmm."

The child nodded earnestly, his face serious.

No one took them seriously. If physical strength were so easily surpassed, they wouldn't have gained so much muscle compared to Lin Jiaxu.

But Lin Jiaxu and Zhong Qian were convinced they could win. Their resolve not to concede was stronger than anyone else's. While contemplating how to enhance their physical strength through powers and contamination, they intensified their training to improve their coordination.

After half a year, they truly achieved remarkable results.

Now, the two could channel contamination or superpower through their bodies, expanding their meridians and integrating the power to enhance their physical constitution.

The two children seamlessly exchanged positions on the training ground. Zhong Qian delivered punches while Lin Jiaxu attacked the lower body, taking down everyone who surrounded them.

"Damn, two against ten! Did they secretly take some performance enhancers?!"

Just a short while ago, they couldn't even handle single opponents with such ease. How did they improve so rapidly in such a brief period?

Everyone lay on the ground, panting. One of them grimaced, "Switch partners! Switch partners!"

"What did you two do to suddenly become so strong?" everyone couldn't help but ask.

Lin Jiaxu refused to answer.

"It's a secret."

Everyone looked at Zhong Qian.

Zhong Qian smiled, "Jia Jia is right. It's a secret."

It wasn't that Zhong Qian didn't want to tell, but they hadn't fully understood it themselves. It wouldn't be appropriate to reveal their training method prematurely. Besides, Lin Jiaxu was still angry; they had to wait until he had vented his frustration before discussing it.

"A secret, huh? Fine, don't tell us then."

"We don't believe we can't win today."

Everyone snorted, unconvinced.

"Again, again!"

"Sure!" Lin Jiaxu and Zhong Qian readily accepted the challenge—they hadn't had enough yet.

"Nice! That was a great punch, Jia Jia!"

Some researchers, not wanting to miss the excitement, took advantage of their break to come watch and cheer Lin Jiaxu on.

A few minutes later, the group was once again defeated by the two children.

A bunch of tough guys felt their pride had taken a serious hit.

"Hmph."

Lin Jiaxu lifted his chin, feeling exceptionally pleased. His intense training sessions with Zhong Qian during their confinement were no joke.

He had vowed to defeat all of them, and he would absolutely show no mercy!

"Good! You two are impressive!"

Even the instructor didn't spare their feelings, loudly praising the two children before turning to scold the others.

"Get up! Is this all you've got? If you can't even beat two children, how are you going to protect the base? How are you going to carry out missions?"

"All of you, get up and continue training!"

"Huh?"

"You've got to be kidding…"

Instantly, the combatants could only grimace and endure extra training while onlookers laughed and teased them.

Instructor, they accepted the extra training, and they accepted their defeat.

But you had to be reasonable—the way these two children fought clearly had something unusual about it. How many people could actually beat them?

But the instructor didn't care—training was training, and he showed no mercy whatsoever.

Later, when these soldiers went on missions, they realized their skills had indeed improved significantly.

Besides that, Lin Jiaxu also changed his daily routine, adopting a lifestyle of staying up late and waking up early.

In the early morning, the base's broadcast bell rang.

Lin Jiaxu swiftly got out of bed, blindly fumbled for the silver suona on his bedside table, and expertly walked to the balcony to open the door.

The child took a deep breath, and then a series of "screeching—"

A piercing sound erupted from his mouth, amplified by the speaker he had scavenged from the broadcast station on the balcony, blaring through the entire dormitory building.

At first, when they heard this harsh noise, they thought it was another alarm. But upon closer listening, the sound wasn't quite right.

"Ugh, what is this sound so early in the morning?"

"Did the broadcast station's speaker break?"

"Is this an alarm?"

"No, it sounds like someone practicing an instrument? Bagpipes? Suona?"

It took a few days for everyone to pinpoint the source of the sound and realize it was Lin Jiaxu. Their feelings were mixed.

Living on the base, working overtime day and night on experiments and research was bad enough, but being forced to listen to a child playing the suona early in the morning—was that too much to ask?

If he played well, it might have been tolerable, but he had never learned the suona. His playing was utterly off-key and unbearable—simply noise disturbing everyone.

They tried to reason with the child while also complaining to the higher-ups.

The higher-ups were indeed angry. They called the child in and scolded him, strictly forbidding him from playing again.

Unexpectedly, the child dug in his heels and said coldly, "Either let me play, or let me go home!"

Everyone was at a loss for words.

Letting him go home was out of the question. Just as they were about to argue with him, the child whipped out his suona.

Lin Jiaxu’s temperament was such that if you spoke to him nicely, he might not listen, but his attitude would be somewhat better. However, if you came down hard on him, he could be even more stubborn.

So, after the higher-ups finished chewing him out today, the child would play the suona again tomorrow, even louder and longer.

Especially if they tried to scold him face-to-face.

Revenge was never too late. Since these higher-ups disliked him, Lin Jiaxu remembered them.

He stuffed cotton in his ears and then immediately performed an off-key rendition of "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" for the higher-ups.

"Screeching—"

He played for a full half-hour.

Half an hour later, the child left refreshed and energized, while the higher-ups in the office looked rough, their faces dark as thunder.

Back in the dormitory, Lin Jiaxu bounded over and gave Zhong Qian a triumphant "Yeah!"

Zhong Qian, who had given the child the idea, smiled without saying a word, letting the kid have his moment.

The higher-ups’ efforts didn't get anywhere, and the child continued as usual.

Over time, when everyone heard this "morning alarm" meant to wake them up, they would skillfully pull the covers over their faces, realize they couldn’t sleep, toss and turn painfully in bed, and then get up to get ready.

Their movements were pretty robotic.

"Ah... that time already."

"Time to get up again."

"This crappy shift, I don’t want to work another minute."

"How much longer are those two going to be in lockdown? If this continues, I might really go gray early."

Bitching and moaning, everyone still got up and went to work.

But then again, ever since the "Lin Jiaxu brand alarm clock" started up,

to ensure sufficient sleep and wake up on time, everyone stopped staying up late. Staying up late would inevitably lead to not getting enough sleep, and with research and work being so important, they couldn’t afford any mistakes. To avoid affecting their work, they had no choice but to sleep early and rise early.

As a result, their sleep schedules became much more regular.

The group truly couldn't catch a break.

Moreover, Lin Jiaxu’s pranks went through the roof.

Before, he would only retaliate if someone really pushed his buttons. Now, wherever he passed, he would leave behind some kind of prank, big or small.

For example, sprinkling chili powder and mustard in drinking water, stuffing fake insects or fake mice into someone’s pockets, or sticking small notes on the backs of acquaintances—mostly harmless but seriously annoying pranks.

Recalling that Lin Jiaxu was currently in lockdown, everyone suddenly put two and two together.

The child was dissatisfied and deliberately causing trouble.

At that point, they couldn't really blame him.

Lin Jiaxu’s status was already sensitive, and confining him without a valid reason only made his temper worse.

The confinement was inexplicable. The child couldn’t go home and was stewing over it, so he had no choice but to raise hell all over the base.

Everyone could only groan in sympathy, feeling put upon.

As for the leaders of Lan City Base at the time, some of them, like Li Yuanlu, were on the kid's side and got a kick out of the whole thing.

They looked the other way at the child’s minor mischief, acting like they didn't notice.

The dissatisfied leaders, unable to stop Lin Jiaxu, could only go to Li Yuanlu.

Li Yuanlu listened without refuting and even pretended to be angry, joining in, "These two kids, really! Even if they’re climbing the walls on the base, they shouldn’t make it everyone else's problem!"

The leader: "..."

I think you're trying to tell me something, but letting them out is out of the question.

After scolding, Li Yuanlu changed her tone and sighed, "But you know how kids Zhong Qian and Lin Jiaxu’s age are—the more their families say, the more they resist. I’m too busy to go to the base now, and they won’t listen over the phone. There’s really nothing I can do."

"Why don’t you try talking to them? They respect you and will surely listen."

The leader just stared at her. If he could persuade them, would he have come to her?

He angrily hung up the phone. Having reached his position, how could he not understand Li Yuanlu’s evasions?

Unable to intervene?

More like unwilling to intervene.

Amidst the leaders' endless wrangling, Lin Jiaxu continued as he pleased, and everyone realized the leaders were neither willing nor able to control him.

Since they couldn’t stop him, they simply gave up.

After all, Lin Jiaxu’s antics were measured—never during rest or work hours—so they let him be.

How could a group of people in their thirties, forties, or fifties hold a grudge against a child under ten? They figured he’d calm down once he got it out of his system.

Today, Zhong Qian was in good spirits. When the child woke up, he got up too.

He even cheerfully moved a chair to the balcony, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a camera in the other, taking pictures of the child shaking his head, eyes closed, blowing into an instrument with gusto.

He seemed completely unaffected by the noise.

When others from nearby dormitories passed by, they thought, "You sly devil, wearing noise-canceling headphones while watching the child bother us, huh?"

*

When Guang Yongwang returned, he heard all about Lin Jiaxu’s glorious deeds from everyone and mused, "Feels like someone’s teaching him this."

Lin Jiaxu’s past had kept him somewhat innocent in certain ways, and Guang Yongwang’s intuition told him these weren’t tricks Jia Jia could have come up with.

Zhang Hongyuan said helplessly, "Have you forgotten? Xiao Qian is with him every day."

Zhong Qian never left the base. After classes, whether during training or free time, he was always with Lin Jiaxu.

Zhang Hongyuan had seen it more than once: when Lin Jiaxu played pranks or got scolded, Zhong Qian would use handing in materials as an excuse to join the scolding, or he’d stand watch while the child caused trouble.

With him always involved, how could Zhang Hongyuan not guess who was behind Lin Jiaxu’s actions?

If the child was causing trouble, Zhong Qian was surely egging him on behind the scenes—maybe even wanting to join in himself.

"Serves them right! They needed to stir things up to feel better!" Guang Yongwang wasn’t surprised at all; in fact, it all made sense to him now.

Zhang Hongyuan felt weary. "Aren’t they too old for childish pranks?"

Only Guang Yongwang laughed. He waved his hand and said, "No matter how mature, they’re still underage kids—one at an age where even cats and dogs avoid him, the other in the rebellious teenage years. What does maturity have to do with it? If they were anywhere else, they’d have turned the place upside down."

Zhang Hongyuan was speechless. He really couldn’t argue—it was annoyingly logical.

As he ate, Guang Yongwang recalled that day when Zhong Qian was nearly going crazy but still insisted on looking up at the two Aliens fighting in the sky.

That’s when he realized Zhong Qian wasn’t truly a well-behaved child.

He and Lin Jiaxu were very similar—both had a madness in their bones that others couldn’t understand, an aura that set them apart, making it hard for anyone else to blend in.

So it was only natural they got along.

And though Zhong Qian seemed to have a method to everything, truth be told, he and Lin Jiaxu were two of a kind—both exceptionally talented and, at their core, equally arrogant.

If Zhong Qian hadn’t joined the base at a young age and gone through what he did, he’d absolutely be an unruly troublemaker.

Guang Yongwang added, "Besides, the atmosphere here is so strict. They can’t play this or that, can’t go anywhere, and aren’t allowed to participate in work. Isn’t it natural they’d get bored?"

"Stirring up a little trouble is normal. We can’t expect them to walk around with long faces all day because of the Alien contamination like we do. How old are they? They should be playing. We can’t restrict their activities just because they’re confined."

"You have a point," Zhang Hongyuan sighed, realizing they had been somewhat hard on the two children.

Remembering the information Lin Jiaxu had provided earlier, Zhang Hongyuan also felt the current situation was somewhat normal. If the child really behaved perfectly in the base, the leaders probably wouldn’t trust him completely anyway.

He shook his head. Fine, things were just right as they were.

"But this can’t go on forever. It’s been almost months, and he still hasn’t calmed down."

Yan Jiayi, who had been silent until now, with dark circles under her eyes, looked on the verge of tears.

"At least find someone to teach him—to play 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' or something. Just make it less awful to listen to."

She complained bitterly, "You have no idea how I feel every morning listening to him play the suona, erhu, or violin! Jia Jia switches instruments every day without repeating. If he were practicing seriously, fine, but he’s deliberately disturbing everyone, and it’s excruciating!"

"What did I ever do to him?"

Her words rang with frustration, making her sound more wronged than Dou E.

Zhang Hongyuan and Guang Yongwang: "..."

She had a point.

For the sake of the two children, they couldn’t let them truly anger everyone. Zhang Hongyuan wiped his face. "...I’ll talk to Xiao Qian."

Zhong Qian was the only one who could get through to Lin Jiaxu.

So Zhang Hongyuan soon paid him a visit. "Can you find a music teacher for Jia Jia? The leaders don’t live on base. Your antics are torturing everyone else."

Zhong Qian pondered for a moment. It had been long enough. Since the captain had come to him, it was time to stop.

Zhong Qian agreed readily, "I understand."

As the primary victim of the child’s daily musical efforts, he could handle a day or two, but after this long, even he had reached his limit.

Zhang Hongyuan was taken aback. That easy? Were the two children just humoring him?

But it really was that straightforward.

Zhong Qian promptly found someone on base familiar with music to teach the child.

With guidance, Lin Jiaxu opened the door to music—his skills in rhythm, instruments, and appreciation all improved.

Without needing constant lecturing from others, he soon grew dissatisfied with his previous unrefined, free-form noise.

Now immersed in his new interest, he practiced obsessively, forgetting to eat and sleep. Within a couple of days, everyone noticed the sound had changed.

"Doesn’t it sound... better?"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

The noise gradually transformed into clear, pleasant music.

Though the instrument changed daily and it wasn’t yet enjoyable listening, compared to the previous screeching that sounded like scraping wood or metal, it was a world of difference—heavenly, even.

Everyone wept with joy.

"Thank goodness, no more torture."

"So this is what peace and quiet feel like. I’ll never complain about the base’s broadcast music again."

Upon learning it was Yan Jiayi's idea and Zhang Hongyuan's suggestion, everyone thanked them by giving them the usual base snacks as a token of appreciation.

"Thank you, thank you!"

"We'll never forget you saved us!"

Zhang Hongyuan looked at the pile of thank-you gifts in silence for a long moment, then, without a word, gave the snacks to Lin Jiaxu and Zhong Qian.

What was he going to do with snacks? They were just going to end up with the two kids anyway.

Holding the snacks, Zhong Qian let out a big laugh: "Here, they're all yours. So, that was fun, right?"

"Fun."

The child nodded emphatically, swinging his feet back and forth.

After some time passed like this, Lin Jiaxu's anger gradually subsided, and his interest in musical instruments also slowly faded.

He no longer insisted on learning and playing every instrument like before, just going to two or three piano lessons each week—nothing more.

Lin Jiaxu's form was perfect. As he played the piano calmly, Zhong Qian couldn't tell from his expression whether he liked it or hated it, but he could sense that Lin Jiaxu didn't seem as happy with the piano as he had been with the suona or erhu. It was as if he was just keeping at it for some other reason.

"Do you like the piano?" Zhong Qian asked.

"Mom likes it," he said.

Zhong Qian glanced at the flowers on the balcony—another thing Lin Jiaxu's mother had loved, not necessarily his own preference. Having known the child for so long, he was well aware of how important Xu Yinuan was to him.

But...

Zhong Qian didn't want all his joy to come solely from his mother. "You can pick something you're into. You don't have to stick to your mom's hobbies."

"What Mom liked is what I like."

Zhong Qian: "If you don't like it, you don't have to push yourself. Or you could learn something else on the side."

Lin Jiaxu shook his head. "I don't dislike the piano."

He glanced at the other instruments set aside nearby but wasn't really drawn to them. He did like those instruments, just not enough to commit to them long-term.

Having grown up hearing the sound of the piano for years, it felt natural to him. Since that was the case, he might as well stick with what his mom liked.

Zhong Qian watched him closely—there was no sign of reluctance in Lin Jiaxu's eyes.

Seeing this, Zhong Qian didn't press him to choose something else. After all, it was just a hobby, so he dropped the subject and let it be.

"Up to you. But if there's anything you'd like to learn, just tell me, and I'll find you a teacher."

"Then I want to learn how to make bombs."

Ever since seeing that grenade launcher in the new city, Lin Jiaxu had been fixated on it.

Secretly, he thought to himself, once he learned how, the first thing he'd blow up would be the base.

Zhong Qian's expression instantly darkened. With a blank face, he said, "Oh, well, keep dreaming."

As if he didn't know what this little rascal was thinking? The day he learned how, he'd probably slip a bomb into every leader's pocket.

Hmph.

"Liar."

Lin Jiaxu accused.