CR CH24

Chapter 24: A Glimpse

The incessant chirping of insects grew irritating. Feng Huo stood rigidly straight, yet his head hung low.

In the barren wastelands of the D-rank planet, resolving any dispute—whether you were pleased or not—was simply a matter of having a fistfight. But using this approach against Jiang Tianji felt like throwing a punch into a ball of cotton, leaving him utterly speechless with frustration. His intuition told him this man wasn’t as harmless as he appeared on the surface; Feng Huo couldn’t read him, nor did he have any logical arguments left to make.

It was indeed his fault first in this matter, and Jiang Tianji was already offering a compromise. If he accepted this olive branch, the matter would be put behind them, and a mutual apology would maintain surface-level harmony. If he didn’t accept it, neither of them would find peace.

Feng Huo had returned to the dormitory early that day, clutching the photo of his eldest brother while sitting by the edge of the bed, lost in thought. When he saw Jiang Tianji arrive, he began packing up his things to leave first, but right at that moment, the other man tossed an umbrella over to him.

At that fraction of a second, the complexity within Feng Huo’s heart reached its absolute peak. Countless words rushed to the tip of his tongue, only to be swallowed back down.

If you claimed he didn’t care about you, his mind was sharper than anyone else’s, and he treated you better than anyone else—resembling a rock-solid relationship that gave off the impression that everything could be openly discussed. But if you claimed he cared about you, whatever attitude you threw at him simply didn’t matter to him; he was capable of remaining completely detached within a relationship.

It was too contradictory. Feng Huo didn’t understand what he was thinking. Heaven had granted him the sensitivity to see through a fraction of someone’s true nature, but it hadn’t granted him a brain capable of solving the problem.

Standing at the doorway back then, Feng Huo had felt an intense urge for a few seconds to rush up and engage in a brawl with him, but he held back.

He never could have anticipated that the one who would actually throw the first punch would be Jiang Tianji. When that earth-shattering revelation was hurled across the training grounds, he completely lost the ability to react. It felt like being slapped across the face right at the height of his excitement, violently jarring his sanity and mindset back into place.

Recalling Jiang Tianji’s gaze, Feng Huo felt quite uncomfortable.

He had initially intended to seek out the other man for a talk once everything wrapped up, but instead, this guy spent his time letting out bizarre, unprompted chuckles one moment, a soft “tsk” the next, and a cold snort after that—looking exceptionally eerie and sinister in this pitch-black, silent environment.

Feng Huo was completely drenched in sweat, a metallic taste of iron lingering in his breath. Under the dual torment of psychological and physiological strain at this moment, he finally broke down. Drawing in a deep breath, he jogged over to Jiang Tianji’s side, keeping his head lowered as he asked in a rigid, stiff tone:

“Hey, what did you mean by what you said back then?”

He stood perfectly straight, but his aura was inherently cut in half, his voice packed with a forced, tough bravado.

Jiang Tianji had just snapped out of his thoughts, startled by his sudden approach. Propping his hands on his knees, he drew in a ragged breath.

“……Literally what I said.”

Hovering above them, the two AI supervisor sprites didn’t intervene. They merely displayed a ten-minute countdown on their “faces,” indicating that a temporary rest period was permitted.

In this volatile era teeming with various types of mutated entities, the Federation’s regulations regarding combat units had eased considerably in the finer details. Outside of regular Z01 training, strict standardized management wasn’t heavily pursued.

The two stood in place for a short while, temporarily at a loss for words.

“You……”

“I’m sorry.”

Their voices rang out at the exact same time. Jiang Tianji fell silent, while Feng Huo avoided looking at him.

“I couldn’t clear my own head and took my anger out on you; that part is my fault. But to be honest, I really can’t see through you, you…… never mind…… I’m sorry for the words I said today. I didn’t mean it that way; I was just frantic at the moment and spoke without thinking.”

Feng Huo wasn’t skilled at backing down; his words of apology sounded almost like a declaration of war.

“We people from D-rank planets lack education and manners. Don’t take those words to heart.”

After speaking, he fell quiet for a moment. He figured that if Jiang Tianji offered no reaction, he would apologize one more time and leave; carrying an emotional debt made his heart itch uncomfortably.

Jiang Tianji lowered his head to let out a yawn, sitting down directly on the ground. “An apology with such a tough attitude?”

“Huh?”

Never expecting him to react this way, Feng Huo was caught off guard for a split second. But looking down and catching the trace of amusement deep within the other man’s eyes, he let out a silent sigh and sat down beside him.

“Since we’ve reached this point, let’s talk.”

Jiang Tianji knew the underlying meaning behind his words, yet he didn’t offer an explanation, merely pulling up his shirt to wipe away his sweat. “I can’t read you either. Refusing to take an olive branch—are you hostile toward wealth or hostile toward authority?”

He expected Feng Huo to leap up and shout, “Who’s hostile toward wealth and authority? You’re talking nonsense!” Instead, the other man remained abnormally quiet. Dropping his head in contemplation for a moment, he spoke quite earnestly:

“We don’t think wealthy people or officials are bad. People from D-rank planets rarely exclude outsiders, but most people from the outside don’t accept us. This time I owe you one. If there’s anything you need help with, just say the word—just leave me with half my life to return home to.”

Sensing that he had more to say, Jiang Tianji casually picked up the water he had brought along and handed it over.

Taking the water, Feng Huo stared blankly at the bottle for a short while before speaking in a low voice:

“The captain must have mentioned my background to you. When I first arrived at Z01, I didn’t expect to make any brothers or friends. I just thought about getting through these two years and heading back to my hometown; my younger brothers and sisters are still waiting for me.”

“I have an eldest brother who was an ordinary Alpha. He was assigned to a C-rank planet as a logistics staff. We didn’t possess personal communication devices, so we could only keep in touch by writing letters through the interstellar mail system built by the Federal Watchtower.”

“When the Watchtower first proposed that initiative, many people found it laughable. They said—who on earth would use such a slow, archaic method?”

“But it was precisely this thing that gave every single person from a D-rank planet a sense of hope. It was very slow, but at least we had something to wait for.”

“D-rank planets are lands forgotten by the world. There are no high-rises there, only collapsed ruins. We have never seen what it originally looked like, but the older generation always says we were once glorious.”

“Hearing their descriptions, the children all wanted to go outside to take a look, imagining that one day our home would return to its past state.”

“I was the same. Later, my brother wrote back saying that family members could visit. Scraping together enough currency from all corners for an interstellar train ticket, the family made me go to hold down the fort.”

“In the end, when I arrived at the destination, I realized—what fort was there to hold? No one regarded us as human beings at all. Fine, who cares? As if they’re so noble.”

“But…… the scenery from the interstellar train was truly beautiful. It was my first time seeing another planet. It was gorgeous.”

Jiang Tianji spoke thoughtfully: “Then your brother should be close to discharge, right?”

Feng Huo spoke calmly: “He’s dead.”

Never anticipating this response, Jiang Tianji paused for a moment. “What?”

“He was beaten to death raw,” Feng Huo pulled the corner of his mouth. “I had just entered Z01 not long before that; by the time I rushed over, it was already too late……”

There was a trust-fund baby with a rock-solid family background in Feng Huo’s brother’s squad. Children who came out of D-rank planets hadn’t received much education, let alone understood the ways of the world; their characters were incredibly blunt.

Friction occurred frequently within the squad, and before long, the two engaged in a massive brawl. Feng Huo’s brother hadn’t used lethal force, but the opponent was a reckless madman who struck his head over a dozen times with an iron rod, knocking him unconscious right on the spot.

Regular units below B-rank planets didn’t possess high-quality medical facilities.

By the time Feng Huo arrived, he didn’t have the luxury to look at the restrained culprit, only pleading with the doctors to do everything they could to save him. Meanwhile, the nearby culprit kept shouting insolently at him:

“You trash produced from D-rank planets—your lives are foul and worthless!”

No one was willing to court trouble for the sake of sympathy, so everyone remained silent. The space outside the operating theater door, which bore the words “Silence,” was packed with hurled insults.

The moment Feng Huo took a step forward, someone held him back, telling him to let it go.

“I wasn’t actually that devastated at first. What did those words even amount to? Mutations and disasters frequently break out on D-rank planets; we have today but no promise of tomorrow. If you can live, you live; if you can’t, you die.”

Feng Huo narrated with a peaceful expression; the person recalling the memory didn’t break down into it.

“But that day, the moment I pulled back the white cloth, I saw tear stains at the corners of his eyes. I knew he must have heard them. My brother always said the outside world was good, but when he was at home in the past, he had never lost an argument with the bad neighbors. He had heard far nastier words and could hurl them right back, yet he actually cried.”

“Later, I found my brother’s diary. When he first entered the squad, that idiot made his teammates wash his clothes for him, handing out money lavishly.”

“Others considered it an insult, but only my brother thought the guy was being good to him, treating him like a brother. When he saw that idiot make a mistake, he wrestled with it in his diary for a few days.”

“In the end, he wrote: ‘Zhang Heng is a good person, but what he did this time was wrong. He has good conditions and talent; if he exerts himself, he should be able to reach a better place. He takes care of me, and I have nothing to give in return, so I can only do minor chores for him. It’s truly wonderful to be able to come here and be brothers with everyone.’“

“That date was the day before he passed away,” Feng Huo looked at the moon at the edge of the sky. “My brother said I wasn’t particularly smart and couldn’t fake an appearance, but in truth, he wasn’t smart either—he couldn’t read a person’s true nature.”

“Our lives leave no room for error, yet none of us can alter our inherent dispositions. If the person I encountered wasn’t you, perhaps my younger brothers and sisters would have lost another brother.”

Jiang Tianji asked: “What happened afterward? What was the outcome of the handling?”

“That person was placed in confinement for a few days and then released, claimed to be a training accident. The instructor was dismissed from his post. Half a month later, his enlistment term concluded, and he returned to his academy. He’s likely living quite a good life now.”

The two fell into a temporary silence. Feng Huo thought he wouldn’t be able to utter these words, but now that they were out, he felt relaxed instead.

“Getting thrashed by you today actually made me let out a sigh of relief inside, brother.”

“How should I put the feeling? It feels like that single punch brought you to life…… I know you’re different from that person, but I just happened to sense a strangeness in you that made my heart feel uneasy. I lost pretty miserably today, but my heart feels vindicated. Don’t suppress yourself too much either; it looks exhausting.”

“So, your claim that I’m fake was also because of him?”

“No, you are fake, and furthermore……”

Feng Huo spoke the honest truth. Midway through, his voice softened as he stole a glance at Jiang Tianji’s expression, pausing briefly only to find that he still couldn’t speak against his conscience.

“Mhm…… because it really does feel like a massive front. It feels like you don’t regard me as a brother; it’s too superficial.”

“……”

Jiang Tianji was choked up, staring at him for a moment without making a sound.

Averting his gaze, Feng Huo spoke uncomfortably: “Then what about you? What did you mean by what you said this morning?”

Jiang Tianji turned his head: “Exactly the literal meaning. Not many people know about this matter—I am a child adopted by my mother.”

Feng Huo immediately guaranteed: “Rest assured, I won’t mention this matter to anyone else.”

“There’s nothing that can’t be said. In truth, I don’t even know who my biological parents are myself. I only know they died during the battle of the Tianheng Angle. The words I spoke today when my emotions flared were inappropriate.”

“That was their choice, and there’s nothing much left to say.”

Right at that moment, the AI sprite above their heads let out a series of beeps.

[ Rest time complete. Countdown: 3 seconds. ]

Having been electrocuted by the AI on his second day after arriving here, Jiang Tianji rose to his feet with lightning speed, waving his hand to smoothly brush past the topic.

“Alright, you can consider yourself to have been thrashed by me once, so we’re even. Live your days steadily from now on, understand?”

Rising a beat slower, Feng Huo pondered and realized something was off: “Wait, how are we even? I fully bared my soul, but you look like you didn’t say anything at all!”

Jiang Tianji began humming a song, tuning out his words entirely.

“Wait, Jiang Tianji?!”

“Jiang Tianji!”

Seeing Feng Huo sprint toward him, Jiang Tianji kicked into a higher gear, leaving Feng Huo completely unable to catch up from behind.

In the end, Jiang Tianji completed his task ahead of time. The man whose talent lay heavily in physical stamina easily jogged out of the training grounds, waving his hand at the person inside who was leaning against his knees, panting and nearing exhaustion.

“I’m heading over to the Research Institute. Take your time running.”

Feng Huo: “……”

Suppressed under a belly full of fury, he completed the remainder of his punishment and returned to the dormitory by himself, intending to take a shower.

The moment he pushed the door open, a wave of oppressive aura washed over him. The entire squad was crammed inside their dormitory, their expressions dark and sullen.

“Still have the face to return? How could we ever deserve to be your teammates?”

“Felt pretty honored to let everyone watch a grand comedy show today, didn’t you? Think about it yourself—were you in the right? When you were healing your external injuries today, why didn’t you fix your brain while you were at it?”

Huang Qi and Li Cheng possessed the fastest reflexes, throwing a barrage of censored vocabulary across the room. The other, more decent members didn’t look pleased either; even Liu Zhaoxi, who was usually highly detached, couldn’t resist throwing in a few remarks.

Feng Huo: “……”

Seeing his lowered head and cooperative attitude, the others felt a substantial amount of relief after their continuous outburst, moving aside to drink water while muttering curses.

Ji Yandong looked at him with a cold gaze: “Acting as if you’ve been throwing a tantrum these past few days—Tianji didn’t hold it against you, yet you kept pushing it. But your failure to fight back today shows you possess a shred of conscience. If you properly admit your mistake, we can still be brothers.”

“I……”

Ji Yandong immediately knitted his brows: “You what?”

Have you guys ever considered that I actually really wanted to fight back?

“Never mind, it’s nothing.”

Feng Huo opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t utter a single word.

That day, everyone assumed that during the morning brawl with Jiang Tianji, Feng Huo had found his conscience and refrained from fighting back.

But only Feng Huo understood clearly in his own heart.

He truly just hadn’t won.