CR CH71

Chapter 71: Old Friend

The micro-device connected, and the young man’s wild words came through with painful clarity in his ear.

Having just wrapped up the Federal Conference, the members of Special Assistance Team One walked into the breakroom for a post-meeting debrief. Sitting in the main seat, Ling Kongmiao’s movements stiffened for a brief two seconds before returning to normal just as quickly.

After everything ended…

Everyone packed up their belongings and filed out one after another. Zhao Hengyi bypassed his teammates and rocketed out of the conference room, muttering under his breath, “I’m not coming with you guys, I’m gonna go check on the little dragon.”

Ling Kongmiao glanced at the time and said nothing. He had just confirmed a certain reservation request on his device when a cheeky voice came from beside him.

“I heard you got bitten again.”

Irene didn’t pause her pace as she passed by him, bringing a gust of wind with her and making zero attempt to hide her gloating.

“Keep your wits about you—clever kids are the best at seizing every little opening.”

Tang Min slowed her steps: “Sister Irene, are you actually worried?”

“How should I put it?” Irene stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her, badmouthing him right to his face with a beaming smile. “Putting two troublemakers together just makes you want to fan the flames. It gives you a thrilling sense of mischief and participation.”

Tang Min looked thoughtful: “So in plain English…?”

“I want to stir the pot.”

The sound of their laughter and chatter gradually faded into the distance. Ling Kongmiao stayed where he was, checking a new notification that popped up on his device.

—Jiang: Sir, is the meeting over?

—Jiang: I’m not feeling very well. I don’t know if you’re free.

Ling Kongmiao opened the monitoring system and stared at the all-green safety metrics, recalling that not long ago, a certain someone also knew he had real-time monitoring.

He fell silent for a moment, clicked on Jiang Tianji’s remark field, and typed out a line of text.

——Don’t indulge him.

After hitting confirm, feeling faintly that this line sounded a bit too intimate, Ling Kongmiao deleted it.

After a brief pause, he re-entered three words.

——Give an inch.

After replying to the message, Ling Kongmiao pulled on his coat and walked outside.

On the other side, inside the Medical Department of the Z01 Research Institute.

Buzz, buzz. The device vibrated, and Jiang Tianji checked the message.

—Ling: Not free.

An expected reply. Jiang Tianji sighed softly, his tail swaying out of boredom.

“Ling Kongmiao…” he murmured softly under his breath.

These three words always gave off a cold, distant, and empty impression.

Jiang Tianji lay on his side and pondered for a moment. Suddenly, his lips curled upward. As if he had just thought of a monumental masterpiece, he immediately opened the remark interface and satisfyingly typed in three words.

——Ling Substantial.

At the C-grade star border graveyard near the Xiwen Fortress, most of those buried were garrison soldiers.

The days here were long and sunny—a patch of pure land.

Clang-cling. The old wind chime at the door clattered together; as it flipped, the word “Peace” etched on the wooden plaque could be vaguely seen gradually fading away.

Inside the semi-transparent guard room, an old man was slowly tending to plants and flowers. He had decorated the modest space into a cozy haven, and sunlight fell into a fish tank carved with beast-tribe patterns on one side, dazzlingly bright.

“You’re here.”

The old man stopped what he was doing, trotted a few quick steps to Ling Kongmiao’s side, and looked at him with a beaming smile.

He was a demi-beastman with a broken bull horn on his head and a low-slung tail that flicked occasionally.

Ling Kongmiao seemed long accustomed to his behavior. He stood there and let him look for a while before asking in a low voice:

“The wind chime at the door is about to fall apart. You brought a new one, why haven’t you put it up?”

The old man waved his hand: “How is it about to fall apart? Looks fine to me.”

“The days are long here and time moves slow, but thinking back on you kids, it feels like it was just yesterday.”

The old man chuckled merrily: “Back then, when you were making that wind chime, your brows were knitted tight and you were dissatisfied with it. Your big brothers and sisters were all trying to coax you, but the more they coaxed, the unhappier you got. You threw down the materials in your hand and declared you were going to sleep.”

“Little thing with a huge temper. We gathered around and laughed for quite a while. Little Lin sliced a plate of fruit and said he’d go check on you, but when he opened the door, there wasn’t a soul in sight. You got mad and hid away so nobody could find you.”

“At that time, you had only been here for a month. You were handsome and the youngest, so everyone was happy to spoil you.”

“Throwing a tantrum was one thing, but on the third day, a new wind chime appeared at everyone’s doorstep. Little Lin deliberately asked out loud whose good kid made these, and you got mad again, slamming the door with a massive bang.”

With no response from the person beside him for a long time, the old man seemed to suddenly realize something, and his voice slowly trailed off.

“Sigh, I’m old and muddled, once I start talking I just go on and on.” He walked with a slight limp, slowly making his way to the table and picking up a pre-wrapped bouquet of flowers. “You must be very busy now. No matter how busy you are normally, you have to eat. Back then, you just hated eating on time… It’s been a long time since we last met, don’t mind an old man’s rambling.”

Ling Kongmiao accepted the bouquet. The moment he lowered his head, a trace of helplessness flashed through his eyes. He walked to the table, swapped out the bouquet in his hand that was labeled with an unfamiliar name, and as he picked up the other bouquet, he spotted a slip of paper blown to the ground by the wind.

Little Ling is coming today. Don’t ramble on and on. He’s the Commander-in-Chief now, he’s very busy.

Give him this blue bouquet, and remind him to eat properly.

Ling Kongmiao bent down, picked up the note, and clutched it in his palm. Turning around, he found the old man still looking at him with a cheerful smile.

“Eat on time, don’t be a picky eater,” he turned back to tend to his plants, muttering under his breath. “Just like back then—if it’s something you don’t eat, you won’t take a single bite. No matter how busy you are, you have to eat.”

“I got it,” Ling Kongmiao walked up to his side. “I’m heading off.”

“Okay, okay.” The old man followed him out the door. “If you’re free, come back more…” He paused. “No, wait, you’re busy now.”

I’ve already come back four times this month, Old Zhou.

Ling Kongmiao quietly stared at his whitening eyes. For a demi-beastman, eyes turning completely white meant that life was drawing to a close.

He said nothing, only giving the old man a gentle hug.

“Next time I come back, I’ll help you replace the wind chime.”

“Go on, get out of here.” Old Zhou grew displeased and pushed him out the door. “Go back quickly after you’re done looking around. Everything’s fine with me here.”

“I feel like there was something I needed to tell you… what was it again…?”

Ling Kongmiao had only taken two steps forward when a murmur came from behind. Remembering something, the old man called out to him.

“Little Ling.” Old Zhou seemed a bit conflicted. Looking at his expression, he said in a low voice, “Little Lin came today too.”

Ling Kongmiao’s movements stiffened slightly: “…I understand.”

He shook his head at Old Zhou, who seemed to want to say more: “It’s fine.”

The tall figure quickly disappeared around the corner. Old Zhou gazed at the spot where he had left and let out a gentle sigh.

The graveyard grounds were quiet; looking across, there were only a scattered few people.

Not far away, in the area marked for the Xiwen Fortress, stood a figure. That person sat in a wheelchair, quietly gazing at this expanse of tombstones.

Ling Kongmiao walked over and placed the bouquet in his hands beside the large monument, where another bouquet was already resting.

A subtle movement came from beside him. He thought that this time, like before, the other party would leave first. Instead, he realized that the person adjusted their position to face him.

Ling Kongmiao did not look over. He bent down to brush away a withered leaf that had drifted from somewhere onto the tombstone in front of him.

“Are you doing alright?” The person’s voice was very raspy; his vocal cords seemed to have an issue.

“Mm.” Ling Kongmiao’s gaze fell on his face, then shifted to his emaciated lower limbs. “How is your recovery?”

“Not bad.”

After this calm dialogue, silence fell between the two once again.

“You’ve changed a lot.” Lin Ye’s fingers unconsciously rubbed the armrest. “I…”

“Did someone come with you?” Ling Kongmiao suddenly interrupted his words. “You still need quiet rest right now.”

“Yeah, my dad is waiting outside. Since I just underwent two years of treatment, he wasn’t at ease letting me come out alone.” Lin Ye paused in a daze after saying this, murmuring softly, “…We’ve known each other for five or six years now. Time really flies.”

Ling Kongmiao gave a brief response, pulled a clean handkerchief from his pocket, and bent down to wipe away the floating dust on the tombstone.

This place was cleaned regularly by AI, so it was fairly clean.

When he finished wiping, he straightened up and looked at the person in the wheelchair, finding that Lin Ye was staring blankly at him.

Ling Kongmiao folded the handkerchief and placed it beside the large monument; the AI would come to collect it later.

“I’ll push you out,” he said to Lin Ye.

“No need.” Lin Ye shook his head. “I want to stay a while longer. You go ahead back.”

Ling Kongmiao nodded, turned around, and walked toward the exit.

“I haven’t looked at you properly in a very long time.”

Lin Ye’s self-directed murmur came from behind him. His voice was extremely quiet, and it was impossible to tell who he was talking to.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

Ling Kongmiao didn’t turn back, his voice flat and devoid of any lingering childishness.

“Brother, come back to visit Old Zhou more often. He misses you a lot.”

Lin Ye froze for a long time upon hearing that address. By the time he hurriedly adjusted his wheelchair’s direction and turned around, Ling Kongmiao had already disappeared at the far end of the cemetery.

He suddenly remembered many years ago, when they celebrated Ling Kongmiao’s very first birthday.

The kid refused to say when his birthday was, so everyone flipped through the calendar to pick an auspicious day for him.

When making a wish, they thought he would say “boring” like he usually did, but to their surprise, Ling Kongmiao made his wish very earnestly.

When they egged him on and asked what he wished for, his ears turned red and he answered honestly:

“I hope the people I care about stay safe… I hope you all stay safe.”

Lin Ye remembered ruffling Ling Kongmiao’s hair while laughing loudly, saying cheekily: “Silly boy, wishes don’t come true if you say them out loud!”

After that day, Ling Kongmiao ignored him for a whole week.

A faint laugh echoed through the empty cemetery. After Lin Ye finished laughing, his eyes slowly welled up with red.

That wish truly hadn’t come true. Two years ago, an accident destroyed the entirety of Xiwen Fortress.

Only two people survived by a stroke of luck. Ling Kongmiao’s accidental awakening of S-grade beast-form energy allowed the already weakened Subject E07 to escape to a certain dangerous star, but that came too late.

When Lin Ye closed his eyes, scenes of their meeting in the hospital flashed through his mind.

“Why don’t you remember?! Why?!”

“It was just a little bit more… Why couldn’t you awaken a little earlier? Why don’t you remember a single thing about E07? Answer me…!”

He had crawled toward Ling Kongmiao’s side like a madman, interrogating the other hysterically.

Lin Ye would never forget Ling Kongmiao’s eyes at that moment. Clearly, when Ling Kongmiao first saw him, his eyes had lit up slightly, and his mouth had parted as if wanting to call out “Brother.”

He must have been happy, as if he had found someone to lean on.

His own expression back then must have been hideous—hardly any different from a malevolent demon—shouting those two sentences over and over again.

That was the first time he had seen clear hurt and shock in Ling Kongmiao’s eyes. That child didn’t say a single word until the very end, only clutching the bedsheet tightly.

“…”

Lin Ye wiped his face in a state of disarray. He reached out with difficulty and picked up the handkerchief Ling Kongmiao had left beside the stone monument. The moment he pulled it up, something dropped out from within.

It was a clean, newly packaged handkerchief.