Guarding What's His

"..."

Jiang Nian stopped directing from the edge of the bed and rubbed his aching left shoulder. He pulled his collar aside to have a look. Good grief, all five finger marks were clearly visible through such thick clothing, and they were turning purple. If his clothes had been any thinner, he would definitely have been injured!

If he really did suggest breaking up, wouldn't Cheng Jing make himself a widower with one hand right then and there?

Cheng Jing noticed what he was doing and apologized again, guilt-ridden:

"I'll rub some medicinal liquor on it for you in a bit... I'm sorry. I lost control of my emotions. It definitely won't happen again."

His anger had flared up in an instant. Judging by how hard he had grabbed Jiang Nian without thinking, there were bound to be marks on his shoulder.

Did that count as domestic violence?

Probably not. He hadn't done it on purpose.

"Tsk..."

Jiang Nian had always thought that, aside from being a feast for the eyes, having a boyfriend more handsome than himself had another advantage: whenever they argued and he got angry, one look at the other man's face could dispel most of his anger.

And if the other man put on a pitiful, guilty expression, he would feel there was no need to be angry anymore.

What was there to be angry about? Brother Jing hadn't meant to do it. He was just afraid of being dumped again. I should forgive him.

As evening approached, Cheng Jing went to the command room again and shared his thoughts, taking Jiang Nian's discoveries into account.

Zhou Li agreed. He discussed the matter with the others in the office and made further deployment plans, then asked Cheng Jing to stay for dinner.

There were just two simple dishes, and Zhou Li opened a bottle of baijiu. Though they were a generation apart in age, both men were straightforward by nature, so they got along quite well.

Drinking brought men closer together. After a few drinks, everyone chatted much more freely.

After dark, Cheng Jing took out his phone and messaged Jiang Nian to tell him to eat on his own.

He waited a while, but Jiang Nian didn't reply. He didn't know whether he was busy or deliberately ignoring him.

Zhou Li had watched him and seized the opportunity to speak, his gaze fixed on the ring on his ring finger:

"You and Jiang Nian are partners."

It was a statement, delivered with certainty. In front of everyone else, Cheng Jing carried himself as a captain. Only when he had Jiang Nian with him did he unconsciously soften his sharp edge. Though their interactions were ordinary, the air between them was intimate.

"Mm."

Cheng Jing didn't deny it. His thumb rubbed the base of his ring finger.

"We're engaged."

They had been here so long, and this was the first time anyone had said it to their faces.

Zhou Li raised an eyebrow.

"So possessive. Is that why you won't let him join the rescue team?"

A man's protectiveness and possessiveness really were written into his genes. But Jiang Nian didn't strike him as a pushover. He looked well-behaved on the surface, but he was hiding claws underneath. Zhou Li was a good judge of character.

"He's different from us."

Cheng Jing neither confirmed nor denied it. Jiang Nian wanted to keep a low profile, and Cheng Jing himself didn't want him getting involved too early.

Jiang Nian had suffered too much in his previous life. Now that circumstances allowed it, it was only natural for him to lie flat.

Zhou Li nodded thoughtfully.

"He is different... Don't worry, I was just asking offhand. I didn't mean anything else by it."

Even if Jiang Nian wasn't a rescue team member or an ability user, he was certainly no ordinary person if someone like Cheng Jing valued him so highly. Zhou Li had good reason to suspect that Cheng Jing had discussed the suggestions and ideas he had given him with Jiang Nian.

Of course, he wouldn't go offending him without reason. Making Cheng Jing unhappy would do no one any good.

"Mm."

Cheng Jing felt there was more to his words, but he didn't care. As long as they didn't admit to anything, it was no use for anyone to be curious about Jiang Nian.

It was nearly eleven when Cheng Jing finally left. Back on the tenth floor, he knocked on the front door for a long time, but Jiang Nian didn't come out to greet him as usual. With no other choice, he used his key to open the door himself.

Only a small night-light was on in the apartment. The heater was running in the bedroom, and the electric blanket on the bed was also in use after a circuit conversion.

Jiang Nian was curled up under the thick quilt, only his fluffy head showing.

"Nian Nian?"

Cheng Jing called out tentatively. The person under the quilt didn't respond and seemed to really be asleep.

Cheng Jing showered and brushed his teeth, then used his ability to remove the chill from the surface of his skin before climbing under the quilt. But the person under it was actually playing on a Tetris handheld with a glowing screen, having a wonderful time without sparing him a single glance.

He knew it. Someone was still quietly upset about what had happened during the day, even though they had clearly agreed to make up after their argument.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

A little displeased, Cheng Jing confiscated the game and set it on the bedside table, then rolled over and pinned Jiang Nian beneath him.

"I didn't hear you."

Jiang Nian made the excuse without a moment's thought. His expression plainly said, "I did it on purpose."

"You little liar!"

Cheng Jing lowered his head and bit his neck, then used his large hand to pull his clothes aside and check his shoulder. The medicinal liquor had worked well; the finger marks had almost completely faded.

"Get off. It hurts."

Jiang Nian mumbled as he pushed his hand away and pulled his pajamas back into place.

But Cheng Jing pinned his hand down and lowered his head to kiss him.

"I'll be careful not to touch your shoulder..."

"Not today."

Jiang Nian turned his head to the side.

"But I want to."

This time it was Cheng Jing's turn to be unreasonable. As soon as the words left his mouth, his wine-scented breath swept over Jiang Nian forcefully.

His movements were lingering yet insistent, and Jiang Nian's lingering sulk soon melted away.

As things grew more heated, Jiang Nian had to admit that Cheng Jing had mastered the most effective way for a couple to communicate and soothe each other.

After a peaceful night, the command center gathered all the manpower it could mobilize early the next morning and began a thorough search of Jiahe Court.

Jiahe Court had fifteen buildings in total. Each building had twenty-three floors, with two elevators and four apartments on each floor.

The official rescue team therefore joined forces with other ability-user teams to assemble twenty temporary search teams.

Aside from Cheng Jing's nine-person team, each team had ten members.

Each team was responsible for one building and acted as a group, while the remaining five teams looked for other clues around the residential complex.

The search began at seven in the morning.

Because the command room for the west district shelter was located in their complex, people from other complexes came there, and Cheng Jing and the others often went to the command center as well. As a result, many people in Jiahe Court looked familiar to them.

They had a particularly strong impression of those whose relatives had gone out and never returned.

For example, there was the elderly couple in apartment 501 of Building 13, the building they were searching. After losing their children, they had aged considerably in just a few days.

Their eyes were cloudy, and they were still asking the search team about their son and daughter. They were dressed in thick layers, but coughed violently whenever they spoke, their bodies swaying unsteadily.

In Jiang Nian's view, neither of them had long to live.

They also knew the residents of apartment 1805: the woman who had begged people at the command center to find her husband a few days earlier, and her daughter.

The family had originally been three strong, but the man, who had a metal-manipulation ability, had gone out and never returned. Mother and daughter lived on the meager supplies allocated to them, and they too looked haggard.

Although there were four apartments on each floor, most real estate developers avoided the number "4," so what would have been apartment 1804 had become 1805.

Cheng Jing and his team had just finished searching the four apartments on the seventeenth floor and were preparing to go up when they saw the woman from 1805 coming down the stairs, holding her daughter's hand. The girl was bundled up with only her eyes showing, and it looked like they were heading downstairs.