CR CH44

Chapter 44: Angry

In the narrow stairwell, two figures were rushing downward.

Their initial drop point had been extremely tricky. It was bad enough being caught in a pincer attack by variants in the hospital corridor, but once Jiang Tianji found a breakthrough point and dragged Ling Kongmiao in a wild dash toward the lobby, he discovered through the signs that they were actually on the tenth floor.

With variants approaching from the other side, Jiang Tianji had no choice but to change direction and head for the corner stairwell. The person behind him neither spoke nor struggled, completely content to let himself be dragged along.

When he spotted the sign for the third floor, he caught a glimpse of a variant poking its head out at the entrance. He promptly raised his weapon and shattered the window with the gun butt.

Smash! Glass showered the ground. Attracted by the noise, nearby variants caused the ground beneath their feet to shudder faintly.

Jiang Tianji turned his head slightly and barked a warning.

“I’m jumping.”

Without waiting for a response, Jiang Tianji dragged him down as they leapt. As a regular human who hadn’t awakened any abilities, Jiang rolled across the ground somewhat awkwardly, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure land gracefully.

“…”

Offering no redundant words, Jiang Tianji looked down at his scanning device.

A red dot lit up to the south; the device had detected the nearest variant energy core.

Just as Jiang Tianji prepared to rush in that direction, a deep blue rift suddenly materialized before his eyes, locking onto him like an eye snapping open.

He froze, having no time to react.

His consciousness felt as though a pause button had been pressed, and his vision plunged into darkness. When he opened his eyes again, the surroundings were filled with lingering blue energy. Stepping onto solid ground unexpectedly, he stumbled slightly.

“Whew… whew…”

A bead of cold sweat slid down his temple. Jiang Tianji turned and climbed onto a high platform, breathing heavily as he leaned his back against a statue.

The moment the surrounding scenery entered his field of vision, he instinctively pressed himself tighter against the statue behind him.

This place appeared to be a square of some sort, and the hospital from earlier could be faintly seen in the distance. Right now, a massive number of variants surrounded the high platform entirely. As if struck by a thought, he looked down at his device.

Sure enough, the red dot that had been on the periphery just moments ago now overlapped perfectly with his current location.

This was the exact spot of the variant core. These variants had all been drawn here by the energy; they were slowly closing in on the high platform, ready to launch an attack at any second.

Jiang Tianji didn’t dare to act rashly. In his frantic scanning, his eyes caught a striking flash of white.

He tilted his head slightly and spotted Ling Kongmiao sitting by the fountain not far away, leisurely swirling the ripples of water with his finger.

Strangely, the variants seemed entirely blind to him, heading straight for Jiang instead.

Then back at the hospital…

Jiang Tianji pulled his gaze back, taking a deep breath to forcefully suppress the rising fire in his chest.

First, he marked the location of the variant core on the device’s public channel, calmly analyzing the situation before him.

It would be incredibly difficult to find a breakthrough point through so many variants. His Huner-91 gun only had 51% energy left. Just now, the locations of four other variant cores had been shared across the network; everyone would judge the nearest one based on their own positions to provide reinforcement…

Roar!

The first variant lunged at the high platform without warning, cutting off Jiang Tianji’s train of thought. He twisted his body sharply and kicked it right back down.

Unable to stall for time any longer, Jiang Tianji could only brace himself and fire a sweeping volley in one direction. The small-scale concentration of energy made the variants retreat hesitantly, buying him a slim window of opportunity.

He hesitated no longer, sprinting at full speed toward the office building opposite the square.

Jiang Tianji moved incredibly fast, slipping past like a dark shadow.

The variants pursued him relentlessly. The burning effect of the lingering energy had completely enraged them, and their snarls echoed right past his ears.

“Tsk.” A sharp pain flared in Jiang Tianji’s lower back, but he didn’t look back.

There were simply too many. A regular human without awakened abilities stood absolutely no chance when facing a swarm of variants.

Even though he knew running was futile, there was no better alternative at the moment. The cold wind whipped up by sharp claws grazed his neck—a sensation that vividly reminded him of the two-headed mutant serpent.

He used to think that stopping would make everything simpler.

He had assumed that certain things were dropped by his own choice, and that he could just bend down and pick them up whenever he wanted. But when anything falls abruptly, something is bound to shatter. Picking it back up would never make it the same as before; if one wants to move forward, they must discard the broken pieces.

Yet, while he had been agonizing over what to keep and what to let go, he had never imagined that one day he might have to move forward completely empty-handed.

Could he bear to let go? He occasionally asked himself, but he had never received an answer.

It wasn’t until someone snatched the things from his hands and smashed them onto the ground that he reflexively moved to protect them. It wasn’t until someone called them worthless that he couldn’t help but want to fight back.

And after fighting back came silence, as he realized that the person who had previously looked at those things and said “you are worthless” was none other than himself.

He hated many people and many things, but in the end, the one he hated most deeply—the one he owed the biggest apology to—was actually himself.

A shadow loomed overhead as a large-scale variant flew into a lunge toward him.

A sense of powerlessness carved a deep mark into his heart. He ducked to the side, raising his hand to fire a finishing shot, while the swarm of variants behind him snarled and pounced.

Right at that moment, a powerful blast of wind rushed dead-on.

Roar—

Two scimitars plunged deep into the ground right behind Jiang Tianji. Crimson energy rippled outward, rapidly draining the energy of the surrounding variants, causing them to wail in agony.

Several figures arrived just in time. Jia Yun had only recently awakened his ability, and his state was currently unstable.

However, he took a quick glance at his current kill count statistics, chose to hoist Jiang Tianji and toss him safely to the roadside, and then charged forward alongside the others.

Dark corrosive energy condensed into solid stone as Liang Chong spearheaded the assault, with the others refusing to be outdone.

Their speed was incredibly fast. Energy of various elemental attributes turned the domain world into a vivid, surreal spectacle.

Perhaps the other variant cores were also being destroyed one after another, because the domain’s energy grew highly volatile. The entire world began to collapse and flicker, continuously overlapping with reality, which drastically weakened the power of the variants.

Peering up, Jiang Tianji saw everyone rushing toward the variant core that had finally materialized in physical form. From their movements alone, one could feel their blatant competitiveness and fighting spirit, pushing their absolute limits at the final stretch to secure a higher score.

Massive clusters of energy blended together, making it impossible to tell who held the upper hand.

As the final variant core was destroyed, the domain dissolved completely.

The green light that had been faintly hovering before his eyes vanished, and waves of static noise rippled past his ears.

The sound of crickets provided a touch of comfort. Abruptly pulled from the illusory world, everyone struggled to snap out of it, standing rooted to the spot in a brief daze.

The nighttime city was brightly lit, as if everything that had just happened was merely a nightmare.

The gray fog dissipated. The urban security departments, which had been waiting outside the energy barrier for a long time, swiftly began assigning cleanup duties. Medical personnel followed closely behind, and vehicles blared their sirens along the road, announcing the end of the mission and the resolution of the crisis.

Exhausted, Jiang Tianji leaned against the roadside to stabilize his breathing, his hanging hair obscuring the expression on his face.

Beep beep.

A notification suddenly popped up on his device. Jiang Tianji took a glance.

Mission Rating: Fail.

He kept his head lowered, pausing for a moment before tapping to confirm.

Footsteps approached from a distance, and a pair of black combat boots came to a halt right in front of him.

An owl was perched on the newcomer’s shoulder. It seemed to highly enjoy his scent, gently nudging its head against Ling Kongmiao’s face.

“Not a bad performance.”

Ling Kongmiao tapped the owl’s head and let out a soft chuckle as he sat down beside Jiang Tianji.

Having captured Jiang’s entire sequence of reactions just now, Ling Kongmiao casually draped an arm over his shoulder, his voice dripping with an incredibly grating tone.

“Congratulations on failing. Keep up the good work, and you’ll be able to leave the Special Division very soon.”

Perhaps because of the sudden proximity, Jiang Tianji’s body stiffened noticeably. From Ling Kongmiao’s angle, he could clearly see the youth’s tightly pursed, thin lips. Before Ling could speak again, the other man suddenly surged to his feet.

Jiang Tianji shook off his hand, turned, and walked away without the slightest hesitation or courtesy.

This time, he seemed genuinely furious. He didn’t even bother to utter a polite “Chief” to keep up appearances; his entire back profile radiated sheer anger.

An amused glint flashed in Ling Kongmiao’s eyes. A furry head suddenly poked out from the greenery, nuzzling his hand—it was a small ginger cat.

He deftly scratched the kitten’s chin just as his communication device began to ring.

Ling Kongmiao glanced at it. Seeing that it was a video call, he let out a sigh before picking up.

A clear hologram projection appeared before him. A group of people sat rigidly on the other side, seemingly having just concluded a meeting. On the large screen behind them, the frame was frozen precisely on the footage of Jiang Tianji’s combat sequence from earlier.

“Chief Ling, I believe we need to talk.”

The leader’s face looked rather grim, his tone carrying distinct dissatisfaction.

“Our directive was to ensure his safety as much as possible, not to increase his danger index.”

Ling Kongmiao countered, “As a Commander of Z01, I received orders from superiors to accompany and protect the target individual throughout the duration. May I ask what the issue is?”

“Officer Jiang Tianji’s situation is specific. He currently has not awakened any abilities. For him, today’s mission was highly perilous.”

The official from the Star Overseer Office spoke sternly, “Chief Ling, since you have currently volunteered to take up the post of Chief Commander of Z01, please cooperate with our work as much as possible and refrain from speaking with an attitude.”

Ling Kongmiao twirled the kitten’s tail around his finger, pulling the corner of his mouth into a cold smirk.

“Director Wang, most of the talents your department takes over and nurtures end up choosing to head to the Star Alliance.”

He hovered his hand right over the disconnect button, delivering a flat line that pierced straight through the other side’s lungs.

“The prospects I personally handpicked haven’t lost a single member. They are all right here in Special Assistance Team One.”

“You… Ling Kong—”

Ling Kongmiao decisively cut the call.