Chapter 53 Part 1

Chen Yajing was indeed a meticulous person. That evening, she specially sent a subordinate over to invite them to dine at the cafeteria.

The large research institute itself had abundant stored supplies. After the disaster struck, they also opened a greenhouse and a farm on the mountain behind, using recycled water and being self-sufficient. Although they lived frugally, they were by no means stretched for resources.

Everyone lined up in the cafeteria to get their food. The staple was potatoes and coarse grains, with side dishes like beans, carrots, and braised chicken. The plump lunch lady clearly had a soft spot for Yan Hao. Seeing the cut on the corner of his eye, she was immediately very shocked and, without another word, added half a ladle of chicken to his plate as a comfort.

Amid everyone's envious and resentful gazes, Yan Hao walked away swaggeringly.

Zhou Rong rubbed his hands and stepped forward, "Beauty..."

The lady skillfully shook her ladle, flicking off two pieces of meat, then dumped the side dish into Zhou Rong's lunch box. "Next."

Zhou Rong: "..."

Captain Zhou flicked his sleeves and left.

Next, Si Nan stepped forward, staring intently at the food in the large pot, his face expressionless and silent.

The lady was about to shake her ladle when she suddenly paused, asking curiously, "Young man, you look new?"

"..."

"Are you a newcomer?"

"..."

"How old are you? Do you have a partner?"

"..."

Guo Weixiang, waiting behind, broke into a sweat. Just as he was about to signal for Si Nan to exchange a few pleasantries with the lady to get on her good side, he saw Si Nan raise his eyelids, his amber-like pupils gazing quietly at the lady.

At that moment, through the wisps of white steam rising from the hot food in the large pot, Si Nan's dark bangs were scattered across his forehead. His skin was so pale it was bloodless, his chapped lips were pressed slightly together, hinting at a trace of stubbornness.

The exhaustion from the long journey had yet to fade from his eyes. The wrist holding the lunch box was thin and delicate, and several scars were faintly visible between his fingers.

A searing maternal love welled up from the bottom of the lady's heart.

"...You poor child, why are you so thin!" The lady slapped a full ladle of meat into Si Nan's bowl, saying compassionately, "Go on, eat more. If it's not enough, come back for more!"

Si Nan carried the overflowing lunch box with both hands and turned to leave, walking away as jaws dropped all around him.

"Si—Nan—!!"

In the crowd, Wu Xinyan tossed her hair and came running over, wailing like a banshee. Si Nan dodged nimbly, and Miss Wu shot past him like lightning, her outstretched arms immediately wrapping Yan Hao in a full embrace.

Yan Hao: "?!"

Wu Xinyan released him as if she'd been electrocuted, her face beet red, and apologized profusely to the speechless Yan Hao.

But Si Nan, as if he hadn't seen a thing, sat down at the dining table on his own and gave half of his chicken to Zhou Rong, who was staring blankly at his lunch box. "For you."

Yan Hao, first innocently hugged, was then blinded by the sight of Zhou Rong and Si Nan feeding each other. Feeling utterly screwed over, he could only squat in a corner of the table, channeling his grief into his appetite, and started to eat with his head down.

Wu Xinyan dragged a stool over and squeezed in opposite Si Nan, saying excitedly in a low voice, "You're finally back, I thought you..."

"Didn't die," Si Nan replied.

Wu Xinyan's eyes reddened again. "You're so capable, of course you wouldn't die. I heard that you're an..."

"Omega," Si Nan replied again.

Wu Xinyan: "It's fine, you're such a good fighter, even being an Omega won't be a problem. By the way, what's your next step? Are you planning to..."

"Not have children," Si Nan said coldly. "Nor have I decided whose surname they'll take or what elementary school they'll attend."

"?" Wu Xinyan was bewildered. "What do I care if you have children? I just want to ask if you're going to stay in this base. I want to go with you."

Miss Wu was a person of noble sentiment, one who had transcended vulgar interests.

She didn't care if Si Nan's future child was an Alpha or an Omega, male or female, nor did she care whose surname a male Alpha baby would take; Si Nan was very surprised by this and, to show his appreciation, specially gave her two pieces of his meat.

"It's so nice here. There's food and drink, no need to work. Why would you want to suffer with us out at sea?" Zhou Rong, a toothpick dangling from his mouth and his legs crossed, watched the ravenous Wu Xinyan with a smile. "Do you know where we're planning to go?"

"The South Sea," Wu Xinyan said indistinctly, her mouth full of food.

"What if we die at sea?"

Wu Xinyan: "..."

"It's nothing for the few of us, we're on the national payroll, at worst we'll die for our country. Si Xiaonan is military family, so it's not unfair for him to come along. But you..." Zhou Rong teased, "You tried to chase Yan Hao but didn't succeed. You're not on the payroll, nor are you considered military family, so young, if you really couldn't come back..."

Wu Xinyan flushed red to her ears. From the other end of the long table, Yan Hao cried out, on the verge of tears, "Captain!"

"Just kidding," Zhou Rong smiled. "The organization is just showing some concern for a young comrade's personal affairs. Don't be so serious."

Yan Hao resentfully shut his mouth.

The cafeteria was bustling with people and noisy chatter. It was so loud that almost no one could hear what they were saying. Wu Xinyan finished her meal with a grin, bantered a bit with Ding Shi and Guo Weixiang, and then snatched a piece of meat from Si Nan's bowl when he wasn't looking. Seeing that the people at the table behind them had finished and left, she inconspicuously leaned closer to Zhou Rong.

"Something's not right here," she said softly.

Zhou Rong propped his forehead on his hand. "Oh?"

"After we arrived at the base, Doctor Zheng volunteered to help care for the sick and injured at the temporary medical center. He found that a few patients with fevers had symptoms very similar to the early stages of the virus infection, but he couldn't find any wounds on their bodies. He became very suspicious and wanted to track these patients' follow-up conditions, but he never saw them again after that..."

Zhou Rong said lightly, "The base is so big, it's not strange to not run into them for a while."

"It's not just that!" Wu Xinyan eagerly lowered her voice. "Doctor Zheng told me that after he became suspicious, he often chatted with the people who came to see him for treatment to gather information. He heard from them that this base had split once before. The people who opposed Chen Yajing were all driven out, and before they left, they spread rumors within the base, saying that Chen Yajing..."

Wu Xinyan glanced around and whispered, almost pressing her lips to Zhou Rong's ear,

"...has an underground laboratory, developing a new type of zombie virus..."

A cafeteria cleaner walked by. Wu Xinyan immediately coughed and sat up straight.

After the cleaner left, Zhou Rong looked up. The special forces soldiers quickly and covertly exchanged glances.

"I doubt it." Zhou Rong seemed uninterested, saying lazily, "If that were really the case, with the rumors spreading like that, how could her position as leader still be stable?"

Wu Xinyan retorted very seriously, "It's true! Because all the cadres and managers in the base came out to speak for her, assuring the public that there were absolutely no secret experiments. They also locked up a few of the most aggressive rumor-mongers, and the matter gradually died down after that. You can ask Doctor Zheng for the specific details, I'm definitely not making this up..."

"Alright, don't waste your time pondering these baseless rumors."

Zhou Rong stood up with his empty lunch box and patted her shoulder with a smile:

"Going out to sea is too dangerous, we absolutely can't take you. After we contact headquarters, maybe we can pick you up first, for the sake of your devotion to our Team Flower—ah, listen to your big brother, stop messing around."

Wu Xinyan said anxiously, "Hey—"

But Zhou Rong had already given a teasing wink and left his seat with his team members, walking out of the cafeteria.

Wu Xinyan was both angry and anxious. Just as she was about to chase after them, she suddenly saw Si Nan intentionally or unintentionally fall a few steps behind and turn slightly towards her.

"You..."

"Shh," Si Nan raised a forefinger and gently placed it to his lips as she watched in surprise. "Don't mention this to anyone else."

Wu Xinyan froze for a moment, but Si Nan, with his hands tucked in his sleeves, said nothing more and quickened his pace to catch up with Zhou Rong and the others.

·

That night, the special forces soldiers split up into rooms to sleep in the small three-bedroom courtyard.

Zhou Rong carefully brushed his teeth and washed his face. Bare-chested, revealing a standard, tight, and formidable inverted triangle torso, he stood under the moonlight and took a bucket of cold water, splashing it over himself from head to toe with a loud 'whoosh', making him shiver.

He shook his hair and walked towards the room.

Passing through the living room, Ding Shi's voice came from the room in the east corner:

"Xiao Jinhua was so pretty. Back then, all the young men in our village liked her, but I think she especially liked me. When I saw her after joining the army that year, she even brought me water and food. Do you think Xiao Jinhua is still alive now? She's so smart, she must be. Does she still remember me..."

Guo Weixiang yawned and comforted him, "Definitely, definitely. When the time comes, us bros will help you pursue Jinhua. We'll contribute money if we have money, and effort if we have effort..."

"Shut up! Xiangzi!" Chuncao's voice, along with the sound of him banging on the wall, came from another room. He said coldly, "Impossible! Don't give him unrealistic fantasies!"

Ding Shi: "Wuwuwu..."

Guo Weixiang: "Chuncao, you're going too far! Can't you just humor him a little?!"

Chuncao: "What will you say when he fails to win her over? It's better to switch to a more achievable target early on!"

Ding Shi wailed even louder.

"Damn it, there's no way to sleep now..." Guo Weixiang rolled up his sleeves and came out to settle scores with Chuncao, who slammed his door open to meet the challenge. But before the two could even start fighting, Zhou Rong slapped them both hard a few times, grabbed one in each hand, and threw them back into their respective rooms, shutting the doors.

The innermost bedroom door was tightly shut. Zhou Rong coughed and walked forward, pleased with himself.

"Si Xiaonan, Ge..."

Zhou Rong pushed open the door, and his eyelids instantly twitched wildly.

Si Nan and Yan Hao were lying side-by-side on the double bed, each hugging a pillow, muttering about something.

"Later?" Yan Hao smiled. "Later, I joined Unit 118, met Yingjie, Chuncao, Da Ding, Xiangzi... and many other teammates who sacrificed themselves before you had a chance to meet them. After that, I stopped thinking about how my college application was redirected back then. Luckily I went to the National Defense University. My mom once wanted me to study biology..."

"Oh," Si Nan said, drowsy with sleep. "My parents studied biology too."

"Really? What a coincidence. My mom works in protein engineering, what about your parents?"

Si Nan closed his eyes for a moment, then subconsciously mumbled in a daze:

"Don't really... remember. Genetic engineering... virology, I guess."

Zhou Rong lunged forward, grabbed Yan Hao by the back of his collar, forcibly dragged him off the bed, hauled him down the corridor, and opened the door to Chuncao's room.

"Daughter," Zhou Rong said seriously, "beat this guy to death, and the Team Flower title is yours."

Team Flower Yan: "..."

With a loud 'bang', Zhou Rong threw the furious Yan Hao into the room, locked the door from the outside with a 'click', and sauntered away.

Si Nan was already half-asleep, lying face down on the pillow. The blanket only covered him halfway, and the deep curve of his lower back cast a shadow in the moonlight, its upward arch disappearing beneath the quilt.

Zhou Rong stood by the bed, bent down and kissed his back, then moved up to kiss his shoulder and the nape of his neck. He gently and lovingly pinched his ear, then suddenly realized something and asked suspiciously, "...Genetic virology?"

Si Nan's breathing was deep and steady.