Chapter 16: The Chill
Kenan rolled his eyes, too tired to keep arguing with him.
“Why are you rolling your eyes?!” Parker snapped, looking ready to throw another punch. “From beginning to end, did I say a single bad thing about Major General Fei? You—you’re slandering me!”
“Shut up.” Fei’s eyes turned cold, his killing intent flaring. He looked at Kenan. “Continue.”
“Before we parted ways with you, the two of us were chatting quite harmoniously, so we agreed to grab a meal at the cafeteria together. Who knew this guy would lose his filter as soon as he got a full stomach?” Kenan looked furious at this point. “He started talking about you… and that Xiongchong of yours, and why you didn’t go to the battlefield.”
Xiongchong were naturally not good things in their eyes, and as they talked, the conversation got more and more out of hand.
Hearing this, Fei looked toward Parker. He could imagine how foul the things he said must have been for Kenan to get into a fight with him.
Parker felt his superior’s gaze, but he didn’t feel he was in the wrong. Instead, he spoke up indignantly for Fei:
“It’s all because of that parasitic pest! Did I say something wrong? If it weren’t for that Xiongchong, the Major General would have been promoted to Lieutenant General this time. Not only that, the Major General’s wish could have also…”
His voice roared, startling both Fei and Kenan. His eyes were shot with blood.
Both of them knew he was being indignant on Fei’s behalf.
“But things are already like this. Besides… besides, Major General Fei’s Xiongchong hasn’t treated him poorly.” Kenan also hated Xiongchong, but every race had good and bad individuals.
At least for now, Major General Fei’s Xiongzhu didn’t seem bad.
“That’s now! But what about later?!” It was the first time Parker had exploded like this in front of Fei and Kenan.
He had held it in for an entire month.
Just when he thought he would never have the chance to see Fei again in this life, Fei had arrived at the military district with the signed permission from his Xiongzhu.
Fei’s gaze softened. How could he not know the temperament of the soldiers under his command?
It was just that back then, he had harbored the exact same thoughts.
He had even hated more than Parker did.
He had once planned to kill Jiang Xu on their wedding night and then flee to the Chaotic Stars. If he couldn’t escape and died, he would have accepted it as his fate.
Who knew the other party wouldn’t return for an entire half-month?
During that half-month, the killing intent that filled his soul had gradually been buried. Destroying oneself for the sake of a Xiongchong was a very foolish thing to do.
It simply wasn’t worth it!
Jiang Xu had just parted ways with Zoe and opened the door to go inside when a sudden chill rushed from the back of his neck and spread through his entire body.
His hand on the doorknob stiffened. He turned around to look behind him, but there was nothing.
“?” Was it his imagination? He felt a flash of killing intent just now.
He shook his head; there wasn’t even a bird nearby.
Jiang Xu checked the time—nearly 3:00 PM.
He suddenly realized that letting Zoe leave just like that at this hour might have been a bit inconsiderate.
Well, the other guy hadn’t said anything.
He walked to the kitchen, hesitating whether to cook for himself or…
He glanced at the cupboard where Fei frequently took his nutrient solutions from.
Faced with two poor options, he chose the one that seemed less nauseating—the nutrient solution.
He often saw Fei consuming them but had never tasted one himself.
Jiang Xu took a tube of nutrient solution, unscrewed the cap, and took a skeptical sip.
Ugh…
What is this?
Can this actually be eaten?
It was an indescribable flavor, and there was even a slight graininess to the texture.
Jiang Xu hadn’t wanted to go out, but now he felt that going out wasn’t such a bad idea. He screwed the cap back on, left it on the counter, changed his shoes, and headed out again.
This time, it was very quiet.
Yes, extremely quiet.
Except—
Jiang Xu turned his head to look at a head popping up from behind the neighboring wall. It was that Cichong neighbor.
The Cichong hadn’t expected Jiang Xu to turn around so suddenly. Caught red-handed, he said awkwardly, “Lord Jiang Xu, are you heading out?”
He had clearly just seen the man return; why was he going out again?
“Mm.” After responding, Jiang Xu turned toward a restaurant not far away and walked over.
The restaurant was currently packed with Zerg. As soon as Jiang Xu stepped inside, a server hurried toward him.
He greeted him warmly, “Hello, are you here to dine?”
Jiang Xu nodded.
“Then please follow me.” He led Jiang Xu directly to a more crowded area indoors, where there was indeed one vacant table.
“Is sitting here alright with you?” Jiang Xu didn’t mind; it was just a quick meal.
He sat down directly in front of the server.
“Please take a look and see what you’d like to eat.” He handed the menu to Jiang Xu. While watching the other browse the dishes, he suddenly realized something was off.
Wait? Am I seeing things? The server stole another glance at the back of Jiang Xu’s neck, confirming there was no insect pattern.
This—this is a Xiongchong!
He looked at Jiang Xu in surprise. Throughout the process, the man hadn’t shown any anger at his mistake.
“H-hello.”
Jiang Xu looked up at him in confusion, signaling for him to continue.
“The dining area for Xiongchong is on the second floor.” The server looked at Jiang Xu cautiously, his face suddenly full of apology. “I am so sorry. I thought you… you were… so I arranged a seat on the first floor. If you like, I can lead you to the second floor now?”
Seeing the other’s fearful and cautious gaze, Jiang Xu looked back down at the menu. “It’s fine. Here is fine.”
“How can that be?!” There were so many Cichong here; if anything happened to a Xiongchong, he couldn’t bear the responsibility.
“?” Jiang Xu looked at him.
The server explained carefully, “The ground floor is full of Cichong. What if they accidentally offend you?”
Jiang Xu didn’t have much feeling regarding these gender roles, but under the server’s insistence, he had no choice but to stand up. “Let’s go, then.”
It was just a meal; there was no need to cause trouble for others.
This was Jiang Xu’s personal code of conduct.
Seeing Jiang Xu stand up, the server let out a visible sigh of relief.
However, their conversation had been clearly overheard by the surrounding Cichong.
“Tsk, so that was actually a Xiongchong.” A Zerg at a table not far from Jiang Xu’s previous seat whispered to his friend. “I really couldn’t tell at all.”
“Me too. He must be at least 1.85 meters tall. You don’t see that height often among Xiongchong.”
“Exactly. When he walked in, I was thinking—since when did such a handsome Cichong move into the neighborhood? I thought he was coming for my title of ‘Street Heartthrob.’ Turns out he’s not even a rival. Tsk. Why would a Xiongchong show up here?”
Clearly, it wasn’t common for Xiongchong to appear in such places.
Though Xiongchong did dine here occasionally, they were usually… less than aesthetically pleasing.
“That Xiongchong’s rank shouldn’t be low,” the friend across from him suddenly spoke up.
The Cichong lowered his voice even further. “You don’t think he’s a Xiongchong from some noble family, do you?”
Their eyes met in shock.
They immediately stopped talking about Jiang Xu.
The surrounding Cichong seemed to have realized the same thing. They were all curious, but none of them discussed Jiang Xu further.
Jiang Xu followed the server upstairs and found that several tables were already occupied.
Unlike the noise downstairs, the environment here was much quieter. It seemed the restaurant had implemented some soundproofing measures.
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