Chapter 503: Starseed's Warning!
Translator: Liu_Kaixuan Editor: Valvrave
After Jiang Liushi and Ran Xiyu's departure, Zhang Haojing heaved a sigh of relief. The woman also recovered, and her shocked expression was replaced with that of horror. "What happened? I was in a strange state!" shouted that woman.
She had been conscious the whole time, but her body wasn't under her control. It was a disturbing feeling. She never expected that such a beauty would be so terrifying. Every time she thought about her grey eyes, she could feel a chill running down her spine.
Jiang Xiaochu glanced at her before walking around her and going to their room with her parents.
"Hey, you-" The woman was about to shout, but Zhang Haijing stopped her.
"Zhang Haojing, didn't you see her eyes? If we leave it at that, she will stop being afraid of us in the future! Who were they? Why were they so arrogant?" The woman shouted.
Before doomsday, that woman was an ordinary model without much fame. Thus, she had married Zhang Haojing. Although her current lifestyle couldn't be compared with that before the virus outbreak, she was still satisfied. However, Ran Xiyu's attitude left a bad taste in her mouth. For the very first time, a beautiful woman like her felt despised. Even Jiang Xiaochu had dared to show her a look of disdain. It was evident that they were not willing to share their things.
"What about the future? Will they be bullying us instead?" complained the woman.
"Oh, sh*t up!" Zhang Haojing shouted. He was also annoyed about the turn of events.
He had never seen Ran Xiyu in the Jiangning Security Zone before nor had heard anything about the man accompanying her. If they were powerful members, he should already have heard about them. However, Zhang Haojing was quite cautious. After all, that address was unique as only important individuals could live there.
"I will first inquire about who they are," said Zhang Haojing said with an ugly and sad expression. In the past, he had been courting Ran Xiyu, so he was surprised and delighted after seeing her. But never had he expected that he would end up in such a miserable state.
…
Ran Xiyu and Jiang Liushi had been standing in front of the unit for some time. "Brother Jiang, let's go." Ran Xiyu wanted to make sure that Zhang Haojing and his partner would not snatch what she had gifted to Jiang Xiaochu.
"Who is that Zhang Haojing?" Jiang Liushi asked suddenly. He had noticed that Ran Xiyu disliked him.
"He was a playboy from our circle," explained Ran Xiyu.
He had been one of her pursuers, but Ran Xiyu had never shown him any attention. Zhang Haojing had been known for his extreme notoriety. He had been a good-for-nothing scion that blatantly sought publicity through the Jiang Group.
"Uncle Jiang's family had been allocated with other elites to be transferred in advance. They are so kind that they had arranged to also bring Zhang Haojing. After all, Zhang Haojing is the son of Jiang Xiaochu's uncle," said Ran Xiyu.
In the early days of doomsday, they had been taking care of Zhang Haojing. But after Zhang Haojing had obtained his special ability, he became as cruel as a wolf. In fact, Zhang Haojing's special ability was a little weak so he couldn't protect Jiang Xiaochu's family at all. Instead, he suppressed them. Ran Xiyu had come to this realization after observing and using her psychic ability.
"Let's inform Professor Su about their situation later," advised Jiang Liushi.
Jiang Xiaochu's father was a master in his field, the network. Although the network was still unusable, recovering it may also enter the military's agenda. If the military could assign them another house, it would be like giving a new lease at life to Jiang Xiaochu's family.
"Yes." Ran Xiyu nodded. Other than her sister, Jiang Xiaochu could be regarded as Ran Xiyu's best friend and the closest thing she had to a family. Naturally, Ran Xiyu felt quite happy by the fact that she could help her.
...
At night, Jiang Liushi and the others were having a good time's sleep.
It was quiet and not too crowded. In the beginning, he could hear the light and steady breathing of Ran Xiyu and the others. Unconsciously, Jiang Liushi had slept later than the others.
However, in the morning, he was shocked by his dream. He could even feel that his heart was jumping wildly.
'Starseed!' Jiang Liushi summoned it. And then, all kinds of information appeared on its panel. Actually, everything seemed normal, but Jiang Liushi could distinctively remember that he had heard Starssed's warning in his dream.
'WARNING! Detected dangerous signals. Threat level: Top.'
Jiang Liushi was stunned because Starseed had never before transmitted him such a warning. It had to be a life-threatening issue to alarm Starseed to such an extent. What was happening?
'Starseed, what kind of danger did you detect?' asked Jiang Liushi.
'Unknown.' Starseed transmitted back.
'At least can you speculate what kind of threat it is? Is it a mutant zombie? A mutant beast? A mother beast? Or a mutant plant?' asked Jiang Liushi. What if it was a large-scale insect nest?
'No. The source of danger threatens Starseed's existence.'
Jiang Liushi was astonished after receiving that piece of information. Why? It was impossible! What was Starseed? It was an entity which was bound with his mind. If Starseed was in danger, it meant that he would also be in danger!
'What is the source of danger!? Where is it?' Jiang Liushi asked quickly.
'Insufficient data. It is temporarily impossible to pinpoint and assess the source. Need to gather more and accurate data.' Starseed's cold voice sounded in his mind.
'Bang!'
Jiang Liushi slammed his hand to the bed. After such a good night's sleep who would have imagined that he would be awakened by such alarming news?
At first, Jiang Liushi was alarmed and worried, but he gradually calmed down. Since Starseed was unable to detect the exact source of danger, they were probably far away from each other, and thus, they'd be temporarily safe.
'Although we don't know what it is, all of us have evolved quite a lot. My teammates are more powerful than in the past,' Jiang Liushi said to himself.
Jiang Liushi's gaze gradually became firm. His promotion, as well as the MCV's upgrade, could all ensure their safety.
'Instead of worrying, I have to focus on upgrading the minibus as fast as possible,' thought Jiang Liushi. If the minibus could be upgraded to level-2, he wouldn't need to worry anymore.
Jiang Liushi jumped out of bed quickly and started to dress. At the same time, Ying's voice sounded from outside. "Brother Jiang, are you up?"
As soon as Ying's voice faded, she opened the door and entered. Ying's appearance and body were near perfection since Jiang Liushi had personally customized her. Unfortunately, she was expressionless and had no emotions. Even when she saw Jiang Liushi, who had yet to put on his pants, she remained calm.
"Brother Jiang, Starseed detected a threat. You know about it, right?" asked Ying. As the MCV's assistant, she already knew what had happened.
Jiang Liushi nodded. He put on his trousers and glanced at Ying shyly. "Can you…get out first?"
"Okay," replied Ying politely and got out. But she continued staring at Jiang Liushi expressionlessly.
As Jiang Liushi was being stared that way, he felt a little dejected, so he added, "That's all for now. I'll deal with Starseed's matter later. Please, close the door."
"Oh, before you go. Do you know whether Starseed has encountered such a situation before?" asked Jiang Liushi. Actually, he knew too little about Starseed.
"I don't know." Ying shook her head.
"Well, is there something else?" asked Jiang Liushi as it seemed Ying was not leaving because she had to tell him something.
"Someone is looking for you outside," answered Ying.
Jiang Liushi frowned. Ying didn't know anyone else other than their teammates, and she didn't care about others, so it was kind of awkward when interacting with her.
"Who?"
"Some guys in military uniforms," replied Ying.
After getting dressed, Jiang Liushi opened the door, but he was stunned. "Zhang Haojing?" He saw several people dressed in military uniforms standing in front of his door, and one of them was Zhang Haojing. At the same time, the leader was looking at Jiang Liushi angrily.
"Are you here to look for trouble?" Jiang Liushi stared at Zhang Haojing and asked. He hadn't expected that Zhang Haojing would come to find them so quickly. Jiang Zhuying and the others had all been woken up by that group of people, so they all walked out of the door too.
The officer next to Zhang Haojing said suddenly, "There no doubt that you're mad. By talking to us in such a manner inside the Safety Zone means that you're the one seeking for trouble!"
The soldiers outnumbered Jiang Liushi, but he was still the one who had started questioning them. They felt quite uncomfortable with that development.
"Brother Guan, it's a misunderstanding," explained Zhang Haojing urgently. And then, he looked at Jiang Liushi and said, "Captain Jiang, right? You misunderstood the purpose of my visit. I'm under Captain Guan's commands here. Although he is about 20, he is a Colonel-"
"We were informed by the higher-ups that you wanted to search for the helicopters. We also wanted to collect some data from the helicopters, so we were ordered to go with you," Captain Guan interrupted him and said coldly.
After receiving the order, Zhang Haojing had taken the initiative to give Captain Guan details about Jiang Liushi. In Captain Guan's mind, Jiang Liushi was a powerful young man with a bad temper. But, he still found it understandable, as he was pretty much the same. In conclusion, Captain Guan had started forming a negative impression of Jiang Liushi. To make things worse, Jiang Liushi's attitude toward Zhang Haojing aligned with what the latter's description.
Upon thinking about this, Captain Guan's mood turned sour.
"Together? Fine. We can set out together, but I have no interest of cooperating with you," said Jiang Liushi.
Although Jiang Liushi thought that Captain Guan was a very arrogant individual, he still agreed because of his promise to General Zhang.
Captain Guan frowned when he heard that. How could Jiang Liushi refuse to cooperate with him?
"Good! Don't come to find us if you mess up!" Captain Guan said coldly. "We will set out in one hour."
Captain Guan did not need to cooperate with any other team as his squad's strength was sufficient. If the upper echelon hadn't issued the order for Captain Guan's team, the Panther Squad, to lead the way for Jiang Liushi's team, how could it possible for them to accept leading an ordinary team? Fortunately, Jiang Liushi had refused any help from them. Captain Guan was satisfied with that outcome.
"Captain Guan, this mission should be a piece of cake for the Panther Squad, right?" Zhang Haojing smiled and walked toward Captain Guan. The Panther Squad was an elite team with a bright future, so Zhang Haojing tried his very best to suck up to Captain Guan.
"Naturally, the data-recovery mission is a simple one. But we also have to conduct a recon mission in that area. The higher-ups want to recover that area," said Captain Guan.
As a matter of fact, two other teams had already been sent to scan the area. After completing the recovery mission, Captain Guan would lead his team to meet up with the other two teams. That's why he didn't care about Jiang Liushi.
"The sooner we find the helicopters, the better our chances to recover the area ahead of schedule will be. That way we will provide outstanding service," said Zhang Haojing with a smile.
Zhang Haojing would also participate in this mission. If their actions were meritorious, he would also benefit, and his social standing would be elevated. Zhang Haojing had no interest in fighting in the frontlines. He just wanted to become friends with influential figures and use their relationship to boost his career. His wish was to work in the Headquarters in the future, and thus, he had taken the initiative to join this mission. Not to mention that the mission was a simple one. At the same time, Jiang Liushi was one of the reasons that had driven him to that decision…
'Ran Xiyu is a powerful psychic paranormal…If I can persuade her that I'm better than him, it will be wonderful!' thought Zhang Haojing. And then, he turned to look at his residential building far away.
After Jiang Liushi and Ran Xiyu's departure the previous day, it had not taken him long to realize how powerful Ran Xiyu really was. Not only was she a psychic paranormal, the rarest kind of paranormal, but her special ability was also horrifyingly strong.