CR CH86

Chapter 86: Hard-to-Coax Superior

That mountain was exceptionally heavy, and Jiang Tianji’s thoughts seemed to come to a complete standstill.

He wasn’t clear on what he was using to resist this force—perhaps his shoulders, perhaps his hands, or perhaps purely his force of will.

Unable to feel his physical body, the force seemed to know precisely where his limits lay, staying pinned at a threshold that was barely tolerable yet intensely agonizing.

Light filtered through the pitch-black curtain before his eyes, mottled like an old film projection.

There was no sound here. A gentle setting sun fell upon a Ferris wheel, and for a fleeting moment, Jiang Tianji’s thoughts drifted far away.

He remembered this amusement park.

Jiang Yan was usually very busy with work, so for a period of time, Jiang Tianji could only follow around familiar elders.

One night, while he was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt something brush past his forehead. Dazedly opening his eyes, Jiang Tianji saw Jiang Yan—still in her uniform, not yet having had time to change—sitting by the bed, gazing at him quietly.

“I’ll take you to the amusement park tomorrow.”

Jiang Tianji snapped awake instantly, hugging Jiang Yan’s arm with a wide grin.

“Awesome!” He paused, leaning against Jiang Yan with a bit of hesitation. “Mom, aren’t you tired?”

“Not tired.” Jiang Yan patted his head. “Wake up at eight tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, officer!” Jiang Tianji bounced up to salute on the bed, only to be pressed back down by Jiang Yan.

He was still young back then, unable to read the complexity in Jiang Yan’s eyes, nor understanding why she would suddenly want to take him to an amusement park late at night.

The day at the amusement park went surprisingly smoothly.

There were balloons given by an old grandmother, and he made friends with other kids. He kept holding onto Jiang Yan’s hand the entire time, as if terrified she might disappear.

Jiang Tianji remembered riding the Ferris wheel at the end. As they approached the highest point, he mumbled softly.

“It’s so high.”

“Little Tian, do you want to go down then?”

Jiang Yan looked at him gently, unlike her usual habit of casually asking and looking away.

“No,” Jiang Tianji shook his head without a second thought.

“Why not?”

“Because Mom is here with me.”

That day had been peaceful and wonderful, yet Jiang Tianji rarely thought back to it.

Sometimes he would resent Jiang Yan—why couldn’t she have been just a bit more ruthless? Why did she personally show him a glimpse of an alternate ending?

“We could have been happy.”

As this line crossed his mind, what surfaced first was hatred.

Jiang Tianji occasionally felt he was growing up, no longer shaken by certain things. Yet whenever he recalled those beautiful moments, he felt like a ghoul scorched by the sun, growing twisted and hideous.

Touching upon the knot in his heart made him deeply volatile. He would always speak at a breakneck speed, though most of the time he had no idea what he was actually saying, merely repeating the same few phrases over and over.

He didn’t dare pause—Jiang Yan didn’t have much patience. He didn’t dare look into her eyes—she was always so calm.

He spoke incoherently; given Jiang Yan’s personality, she would find it utterly incomprehensible.

She was trying to understand the meaning behind Jiang Tianji’s words, whereas what Jiang Tianji was “speaking” was pure emotion.

There was a period when he avoided Jiang Yan—avoiding the innocence he always maintained in front of her.

The scene slowly dissolved. As everything returned to silence and darkness filled his vision once more, Jiang Tianji felt a sense of relief instead.

Yet the darkness was no longer absolute. The force that had been binding him disappeared, and his consciousness grew slightly clearer.

Jiang Tianji surveyed his surroundings. This was a certain facet of his mental domain, a place he could not freely enter or leave on his own.

“Captain?”

Jiang Tianji called out into the darkness, but didn’t even hear his own voice. Hesitating briefly, he began walking forward slowly.

With every point of light he passed, he caught glimpses of fragmented images. Sounds began echoing near his ears—verbal abuse, or gentle instructions—none of which slowed his steps.

“Mom, do you really treat me as just a tool?”

When he saw this memory again, he didn’t linger long, quickly retracting his gaze to push forward.

Intertwined moments were buried within the silent darkness. Jiang Tianji felt a bit cold, as if he had returned to that rainy day when he fought Liang Chong, feeling that everything was distant from him.

“What are you guys doing?!”

The childish voice caught Jiang Tianji slightly off guard. Looking up, he saw himself.

Very small, reaching only up to his own thigh.

Jiang Tianji watched the child pass right through him. The calm in his eyes rippled with the gust of wind, and he instinctively turned around.

In the academy, the young boy ran in a certain direction with an uninhibited posture full of innocence and justice, raising his voice to confront a group of older kids who were bullying someone.

He chased those kids off with crisp efficiency, then ran up in front of Little White to boast smugly:

“See that? That’s how you fight.”

Jiang Tianji quietly watched the two children from a short distance away. As his gaze fell upon the black-haired boy, he seemed to somewhat understand that soft, almost possessive look Ling Kongmiao occasionally gave him.

Involuntarily taking a step back, he brushed against another point of light.

“Mom, can I save lots of people in the future too?”

The boy stared at the screen, his eyes sparkling as he watched the people his mother had rescued on TV.

Jiang Tianji’s eyes turned dazed. Staring at the boy’s face, he instinctively took another step back.

This step, however, landed on empty air. A intense sense of weightlessness made him close his eyes, but the expected pain never came. Instead, a slightly cool hand gently cupped his face.

Before Jiang Tianji’s eyes could focus, he first caught a flash of blue.

That hand applied slight pressure, bringing the face right in front of him into clear view. Ling Kongmiao leaned down, staring at him intently.

“Don’t look back.”

Gasping heavily, Jiang Tianji clutched Ling Kongmiao’s wrist like a lifeline, ultimately slumping against his shoulder.

Catching that familiar scent, he pushed his luck by pressing his nose against Ling Kongmiao’s neck and shoulder, burying himself deeply.

Ling Kongmiao didn’t push him away. Only after Jiang Tianji lifted his head did he use his fingertip to wipe away the fine sweat on his forehead.

As the emotions gradually receded, Jiang Tianji snuggled quietly in the crook of Ling Kongmiao’s neck. Before he could properly enjoy the moment, the other man suddenly stood up.

The light-shielding system disengaged. The stark white light made Jiang Tianji squint his eyes, the side window reflecting the iconic building of the Special Assistance Unit.

Ling Kongmiao pulled his coat off the hanger and put it on. The glance he cast over was cold and indifferent, as if asking, “What are you still standing there dazed for?”

“…” Jiang Tianji let out a long sigh through his nose.

He didn’t press forward, simply straightening his slightly disheveled clothes while following him out.

When the mechanical door opened, Ling Kongmiao’s footsteps paused. Sensing something was off, Jiang Tianji looked up and found a group of people standing opposite them.

“We were just wondering where you went, looked for you forever,” Zhao Hengyi blurted out filterlessly. “Though Little Tian, aren’t you a bit too fond of the Captain? Back at the dorms, the first thing you asked me was where the Captain’s room—ouch! Why’d you pinch me?”

Ye retracted his hand, his eyes subtly sweeping over Jiang Tianji’s rumpled clothing and the faint red mark on the side of the Captain’s neck.

“Stop blabbering.”

“Captain, the Research Institute just…”

You Li walked up to Ling Kongmiao’s side, and the two began conversing in low voices regarding work. Jiang Tianji walked alongside his teammates, with Zhao Hengyi bringing his usual share of latest gossip—such as how unlucky Fenghuo had been stung in the buttocks by a naturally shed spine.

“Honestly, in our line of work, those who go through endless small mishaps usually end up fine. No matter how unlucky someone seems, just being alive is fortunate enough. On the other hand…”

Zhao Hengyi hesitated briefly for once, ultimately waving his hand dismissedly.

“Forget the bad luck talk. Either way, we can hang out whenever we have downtime.”

Jiang Tianji mostly listened, chiming in occasionally. Checking his device, he noted there were still twenty minutes before his mental power training session with Ling Kongmiao. Bidding a quick farewell to his teammates, he turned left into the restroom after entering the training base.

Up ahead, Ling Kongmiao turned his head slightly, casting a glance in the direction Jiang Tianji had left before quickly looking away.

Splash.

After relieving himself, Jiang Tianji had just walked up to the sink when he caught sight of a figure he wasn’t particularly familiar with.

Jia Yun leaned against the doorway, his face lacking its usual frivolous air.

“Got a moment to talk?”

Seemingly somewhat surprised by his sudden display of decent manners, Jiang Tianji raised an eyebrow slightly. “Here?”

“Follow me.”

Jia Yun led him with practiced ease to a small lounge. Once the mechanical door slid shut, he cut straight to the point.

“If I weren’t running out of time, I wouldn’t take this risk either.”

Jiang Tianji: “What do you want to say?”

“I know there’s a lot you’re kept in the dark about. I can tell you what I know,” Jia Yun’s voice dropped lower. “In exchange, you need to promise me one thing.”

“Before that, let me ask a question first.”

“Ask away,” Jiang Tianji said straightforwardly.

“Have the people from the Hunter Association already contacted you?”

“Sort of.”

“Then are you considering siding with them?” Jia Yun immediately pressed.

“That’s a second question,” Jiang Tianji ignored it. “First tell me what you know.”

Jia Yun let out a cold snort. Leaning against the sofa, he pondered for a moment before speaking up.

“Your identity isn’t much of a secret now. A flawed mental domain paired with unnaturally formidable power makes your attributes clear as day.”

“Your delayed differentiation helped you dodge a lot of suspicion, but by the time you awakened, it was already too late to get rid of you. Meanwhile, that superior of yours happens to be even trickier to deal with—you’re safest staying by his side.”

“I can only say: if someone arranged ten assassins, eleven of them are aiming at his heart, and the twelfth will ask if you want to join in.”

Jiang Tianji sat down, resting his chin on his hand. “Then the thirteenth will tell you that if you keep spouting nonsense, he’s leaving.”

“The Federation is gradually crumbling. Various factions want to carve it up into their own territories. After the collapse of the Insectoid Race, the Federation, the Empire, and the Beastfolk signed a treaty promising non-aggression.”

Jia Yun returned to the topic.

“Later came internal divisions. The Federation was infiltrated the most heavily, gradually becoming an arena for various factions to test the waters. Certain wars started long ago. If it weren’t for mutated organisms raging everywhere—where a single misstep could ignite a fire that burns everyone—the current situation would be even messier.”

“The current leader of the Hunter Association is, without surprise, your enemy. The person who came looking for you should be an old subordinate of the previous leader. I heard that leader left behind a child.”

Jia Yun scanned Jiang Tianji up and down. “He might hold certain key secrets on him.”

“The previous leader was named Duan, and he had a good relationship with the current Star Alliance leader. They were involved in the E07 investigation together. They were still quite young back then and nearly died in the encirclement, with the Star Alliance leader barely escaping with his life.”

“What’s certain is that neither the current leader of the Hunter Association nor the people behind him want any more information about E07 to leak.”

Having finished, Jia Yun threw out a question: “What do you think, Crown Prince?”

The Crown Prince’s expression remained unchanged: “Is that all?”

Jia Yun choked on his words, laughing out of sheer frustration, but managed to suppress it to continue.

“That superior of yours—I have no idea what he’s actually thinking. No, it’s more accurate to say nobody knows what’s going on in his head.”

“No leverage can be caught on him, and he acts with absolute decisiveness. No one can figure out which camp he belongs to. After all, that boss of yours offends literally everyone—he doesn’t answer calls from his master, nor does he answer calls from Leader Boris.”

“Previously, some suspected he might be a spy. Yet in a single banquet, he managed to offend both the Imperial General and the Beastfolk nobles at the same time. Anyone wanting to move against him wouldn’t even know whose toes they’d be stepping on. Even so, he doesn’t have much time left either.”

“Remember when you first joined Z01, there was a teammate named Liu Zhaoxi?”

Jiang Tianji had an impression of him—a quiet guy with delicate features. “I remember.”

“He was the eyes for certain people, but before he could get close to you for long, he was reassigned by your superior.”

Jia Yun stroked his chin in thought. “His attitude is very ambiguous. He reassigned Liu Zhaoxi, but kept Liang Chong.”

“Furthermore, he initially kept blocking the Hunter Association from contacting you, but after you chose to keep it hidden, he stopped interfering.”

Hearing this, ripples finally stirred in Jiang Tianji’s eyes.

“Why do you know all this?”

“…My sister is in the Hunter Association,” Jia Yun’s expression turned grim. “Her current situation is very dangerous, and our family can’t help her.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Jia Yun was still lost in thought when he heard him ask so abruptly, answering instinctively.

“That old subordinate can help her—at least ensure her safety.”

“Deal.”

Jiang Tianji nodded decisively. Glancing at the time on his device, he turned around and opened the mechanical door.

Jia Yun froze for a moment. “Where are you going?”

“Aren’t we done talking?” Jiang Tianji turned his head, letting out a soft sigh. “I have to head back to find my hard-to-coax superior.”

“If I’m late, who knows how he’ll punish me.”