CR CH66

Chapter 66: Plan

When he woke up again, he was the only one left in the office.

Rustle.

The fabric rustled softly as Jiang Tianji pushed himself up, reaching out to catch the jacket slipping off him.

He had slept quite a while this time; judging by the sky outside, it was already afternoon.

The silver badge on the Commander-in-Chief’s uniform gleamed in the light. He lowered his head to take a subtle whiff, but suddenly realizing that there might be security cameras in the Commander’s office—and that the jacket’s owner might currently be watching—Jiang Tianji altered his movement mid-way and hung it on the nearby coat rack.

Neither the lunchbox nor the blood-stained clothes were anywhere in sight; they had already been disposed of.

He opened his device, and sure enough, there was an unread message.

– Ling: In a meeting. Go back on your own when you wake up.

Jiang Tianji paused for a moment, replied with a “Received,” then stood up and walked outside.

The scale-shaped mark lingered in his mind, its intense resonance throbbing in sync with his heart—it felt like regaining a vital part of himself. He knew with absolute clarity that it belonged to him.

Ever since his ability awakened, suppressing it seemed to have become agonizingly difficult. He couldn’t figure out for the moment where that mark came from or why it had appeared on Ling Kongmiao, but he knew he wasn’t far from the answers.

When he pushed the door open to enter the dorm, the others had just finished their mission and were resting.

“You should’ve seen my teammate! Even more unreliable than Li Cheng! I…”

Everyone was lounging together, chatting and laughing. Ji Yandong rarely joined in the idle banter, sitting off to the side reading a book.

“Huang Qi, are you looking for trouble… Oh, you’re back?”

Li Cheng was rolling up his sleeves, ready to argue with Huang Qi, when he saw Jiang Tianji push the door open and temporarily paused his actions.

Ji Yandong put down his book without a word, though Qi Xiuyi beside him chuckled warmly: “Well, look who’s back, our scholar.”

“Finally back! A day without seeing you and it feels like you’ve lost weight.” Huang Qi grabbed him with rare affection, scrutinizing him from left to right with the sentimental expression of a proud father. “My boy has really made us proud! You know how much prestige I have just walking around outside now? If you ask me, that guy named Liang just got lucky with an extra tail—a draw was basically letting him off easy!”

“Couldn’t tell you were that fierce normally.”

Li Cheng reached over to feel Jiang Tianji’s muscles. Always well-informed through the grapevine, he couldn’t help feeling a bit anxious and offered some earnest advice.

“An Alpha has to protect himself out there, you know? It’s a big world with all kinds of people. If some weird Alpha says weird things to you, you just… well, it doesn’t really seem like you’re the type to need worrying over.”

A tall figure shuffled over slowly. Feng Huo’s eyes were completely clear now as he grabbed Jiang Tianji’s hand and shook it.

“Brother Jiang, thanks for sparing my life. I was young and ignorant back then, please don’t hold it against me.”

Jiang Tianji: “…”

The reaction was a bit different from what he had imagined. Chatting enthusiastically, they dragged Jiang Tianji over to the table, where a lavish, oversized fruit basket sat.

Jiang Tianji was genuinely surprised: “You guys bought this?”

“We definitely couldn’t bring ourselves to spend that much on you,” Li Cheng delivered with his usual consistency, completely ignoring the others’ attempts to cover his mouth. “Jia Yun sent it over to congratulate you. Though I get the feeling he’s just happy seeing both you and that Liang guy beat half to death. There was a huge crowd below the arena back then, and he was the only one grinning from ear to ear.”

Treating it as a joke, Jiang Tianji unpacked the fruit basket and started sharing it with everyone: “As long as there’s food, it works. Come on, let’s split it up.”

“Here, give me some grapes!”

“Save some for me too!”

Amidst the noisy clamor, Jiang Tianji plucked a small cluster of grapes and walked over to Ji Yandong, who was reading.

“Have some.” Jiang Tianji tapped the book in his hand, saying lazily, “You haven’t turned the page in minutes. Is it that hard to digest?”

Ji Yandong closed the book, casually tossed it onto the table, and glanced at the group ravenously scrambling for food like hungry wolves.

“Captain Ling and the commander of the Special Support Unit left Z01 a few hours ago. Seems like someone slept quite soundly?”

Jiang Tianji let out a soft cough and sat down beside him.

“Director Liang made a call directly to Commander You that same day, furious beyond belief,” Ji Yandong said. “Aunt Jiang didn’t even need to step in; Captain Ling just dropped a line saying if anyone had an issue, they could come find him.”

“Oh, and he said one more thing.” Ji Yandong looked at him with a probing gaze. “—Whose kid isn’t someone’s child?“

Jiang Tianji stared straight ahead, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.

“Is that so? He actually says things like that?”

Ji Yandong: “I was pretty surprised too. Logically speaking, when you were biting and clawing at him, he should have sent you flying. But in reality, Captain Ling had virtually no reaction—seeing that there was no other way, he just went along with you.”

Jiang Tianji froze: “Bite… I bit him again?”

“Glad you used the word ‘again’.” Ji Yandong tossed the remaining grapes in his hand to him. “Right on his shoulder, drew blood on the spot. Nice teeth.”

Jiang Tianji went quiet for a moment, his gaze drifting absently toward the floor.

“Tianji.” Ji Yandong’s lowered voice came from beside him, sounding a bit hesitant as well. “All this time… have you been able to sense certain things?”

“He didn’t tell you?” Jiang Tianji looked toward Feng Huo, who was fighting over grapes with Huang Qi.

Ji Yandong shook his head: “No. Huang Qi asked him plenty of times, but he kept avoiding the question.”

Jiang Tianji didn’t answer, simply raising his hand to pop a grape into his mouth.

The surface of the cabinet beside him was sleek and polished, faintly reflecting human outlines. Yet in a certain “domain” untouchable by others, the scene was starkly different from reality.

He tilted his head slightly, dark shadows swirling at the depths of his dark green eyes.

Monstrous shadows flickered behind and all around him, like demonic hands lurking in ambush to drag him into an abyss.

Not far away, his friends were laughing and fooling around, occasionally turning back to toss him a few pieces of fruit that were still warm to the touch.

– Federation Center, After the Meeting

Most people were conversing with those beside them as they strode out of the conference room.

“Ling.”

A hand tapped on the tabletop behind him. Ling Kongmiao paused in his tracks and turned around.

“Leader.”

Boris smiled at him: “How have you been lately?”

“Business as usual.”

“You’re still the same as before, so different from everyone else here.” Only the two of them remained in the vast conference room. The gold-rimmed glasses gave Boris a gentle, refined demeanor. “General Lu supported the proposal this time; I didn’t expect the Special Support Unit to abstain.”

“Ling, will you not even listen to your mentor’s words?”

Ling Kongmiao’s expression remained unfazed: “Leader, we have our respective positions.”

“Once this matter concludes, return to the Special Support Unit.” Boris stood up, lightly patting his shoulder. “You’ve worked hard.”

“I heard the children of Liang and Jiang are at Z01 as well, and both are performing quite well,” Boris inquired. “Which one do you favor more?”

Ling Kongmiao: “Each has their own flaws. Secretary Jia’s child is decent too—just slightly worse than them.”

Boris chuckled softly: “Ling, I thought you’d become a bit more mild-mannered after coming back from the Hiven Fortress, but perhaps keeping your sharp edge is a good thing for you.”

“Unfortunately, we currently have no further leads regarding E07.” His smile faded. “Though both the Federation and the Star Alliance are following up, we can only confirm that it is hiding within the Perilous Star Zone. We cannot pinpoint its exact location.”

“Very few survived that disaster—only you and one other child. I heard your beast-form awakening energy briefly clashed with it back then.”

Boris looked at the fleeting gloom across the young man’s face and let out a sigh.

“Your ability is of the Mental-type. Do you truly have no findings at all?”

Ling Kongmiao shook his head in silence, his voice raspy: “My apologies.”

Boris observed him. The other surviving child had lost both legs; Boris had once seen that child crawl into Ling Kongmiao’s hospital room, asking him like crazy why he didn’t remember a single thing.

Ling Kongmiao had worn this exact expression back then, lowering his head and clutching the bedsheets tightly.

Without saying anything more, Boris gave his arm a reassuring pat.

“Go on.”

Bidding farewell to Boris, Ling Kongmiao walked out of the conference room.

The instant he left Boris’s line of sight, the melancholy lingering around Ling Kongmiao vanished completely. His icy gaze fell upon the arm Boris had just patted; a flicker of blue flame swept past, burning away every trace of foreign aura.

His device vibrated. Ling Kongmiao glanced at it.

The end of a meeting usually signified a victory or defeat in a tactical clash, and there were always people who couldn’t sit still. Skimming past the rapidly increasing message count, he first replied to his mentor’s naggy messages.

Buzz— Buzz—

The continuous vibration caused a faint numbness in his palm as the brief moment of peace drew to a close. Ling Kongmiao scrolled through the content while walking, picking out key points to reply to, quickly sinking back into his familiar rhythm.

After an unknown period, amid a sea of tentative, fake messages, a peculiar smiley face emoji suddenly popped up.

– Jiang: *Received ^_^ *