Chu Haoling’s Concern

With a SSS quest done in 24 hours, Chaoyang, Peak and Loser Squad had become a legend. When they turned in the quest at the Superfunction Association, everybody dropped their jaw. And they were regretful, even blamed themselves for not being brave enough at the time especially when they knew that not only all the squads remained intact in this highly rewarding quest, but Lei Dashan also was lucky enough to make it to level 3. It was like the easiest leveling-up for Loser Squad.

Too bad, if they had missed out on the opportunity, then they missed it. There was nothing they could do but envy them. After this very quest, Peak Squad, who had less than 10 members, became the third-best superfunction squad in Southwest Base, next to Chaoyang Squad. Loser Squad got into Top 8, officially became one of the mainstay squads.

The base administration attached high importance to Peak Squad that cropped up out of nowhere. They'd sent people multiple times to stake them out but the results were never satisfying. The Lu Haixuan incident and the Superfunction Association incident were both related to Peak Squad, so the military basically had indirectly offended Peak Squad twice and offended quite hard. More importantly, Peak Squad lived inside Chaoyang Community, which meant they were close to Xing Feng. Apart from Mo Army, the rest of the authorities were fuming. Why did they get all the best guys?

All in all, the completion of the quest had made Peak Squad famous, so famous that the rumor of everyone in the squad having legendary skills spread like wildfire. The name of Chaoyang Squad, of course, became louder. But soon, everybody was surprised to find that Chaoyang was no longer unapproachable and Peak mysterious. Every day, they went to Superfunction Association to study quests and take difficult quests and ask if there was a squad-pool. Every squad applied actively after they'd learned the last lesson. Chaoyang and Peak would pick one squad for quests above Level S. It was just the two captains hadn't shown their faces for quite a while.

Jiang Yuan and the other three guys who went back with Yun Che were given a house to stay at Section D, a section packed with superfunction possessors. Yun Che also gave them some supplies. When they learned that Yun Che didn't want them in the squad, they were discouraged for a moment but soon, they braced themselves up by grouping up a four-member squad on their own after saying no to the military and many other superfunction squads. They didn't officially register as a squad, they took quests as individuals. While doing quests, they searched for their family and practiced their skills hoping that someday, they'd be good enough to meet Yun Che's standard and get into Peak Squad.

The most shining stars were, of course, Xing Feng and Yun Che. The night Xing Feng got back to the base, Mo Wenyang asked for his help. He hadn't come home for days. Yun Che wanted to move into the new house as soon as possible. Having got nothing better to do, all he did every day was supervise the modification of Heiyu's room. When the modification was done, he hastily had Lu Haixuan and Jiang Shang add a grille between the third and the fourth floor, plus a security door at the entrance. It took the guys quite a few days to finish the hard work.

"All done. Let's just wait for Yehan to move in. We'll cook dinner here as well, and ask Gu and his guys to join us. I heard a housewarming party brings fortune to the residents."

After almost thirty days of hard work, finally, their home was refurbished. Yun Che wrapped one arm on his sister's shoulder when they stood in the aisle, watching their new home.

"OK. I'll get Chenchen's stuff and mine here soon. Just some girl's and kid's stuff, it won't take long. Che, this is our new home now. You, I, Chenchen, Cheng, and everybody must stay alive."

Yun Yao's eyes became wet as she got kind of emotional and her words lacked organization. Even though she stopped going out on quests anymore, she knew very clearly that having a home in post-doomsday was hard. She recently invested all her energy into this new house and she would keep doing that. This was her way to safeguard the family.

"Yes. We will."

Looking her in her thrilled eyes, Yun Che put on a confident smile. He was sure that not only they'd keep alive, but they'd also live a better life than anyone else.

Xing Feng's big house was next door.

It happened that today, Chu Haoling didn't follow the squad to quests. He lay on the table, sighing. Gu Mingxuan who was checking the bills couldn't stand him anymore, he darted a glance at him as Chu Haoling sighed again after tons of sighs. "Can you quiet down? If you're bored, just go help build the walls."

God knows what had got into him. He'd been acting like this since after lunch.

"Hey, Mingxuan, aren't you worried?"

Finally, someone responded to his sighs. Chu Haoling suddenly pulled the chair up to Gu Mingxuan and sat down while Gu didn't have time or energy for him. He just threw an insouciant reply at him, "About what?"

"Can you stop for a minute?"

Chu Haoling unexpectedly closed Gu Mingxuan's notebook and explained with a serious look on his face, "You see, Che's house should be sorted now. I went to have a look after lunch and Yao told me they'd probably move in today or tomorrow. After they all move into that house, who will be cooking for us? If we're that cheeky to go eat with them every day, will Che cripple us altogether?"

So that was what had been concerning him for so long. But what else could worry a foodie apart from food?

"Well, I don't know about you but I and our chief should be fine."

It wasn't that Gu Mingxuan meant to discourage him, he was telling the truth. Their chief was Che's love, he'd always be welcome on their dining table. He could even move in with them if he wanted to. And Gu Mingxuan had built a friendly relationship with Yun Yao and Chenchen a long time ago, so Yun Che wouldn't disagree if Yun Yao invited him over. However, it wouldn't work for Haoling because Yun Che seemed to find him kind of annoying.

Gu Mingxuan pushed the spectacles up his nose. He wasn't being mean or gloating. No!

"Huh? Why? I understand our chief gets the privilege but why you? No, you must come up with a solution for me. I want to eat Yao's cooking at Che's, too. I…"

Ruffling his hair as if he was in misery, Chu Haoling was persistently bothering Gu Mingxuan like a kid who couldn't get his candy.

"Stop!"

Gu Mingxuan rumbled when he couldn't stand the same stuff that Chu had been nagging over and over again. He rubbed his eyes after taking off his spectacles. "Just be cheeky. Go straight there and eat!"

He was kind of upset about him but it was part of their own fault for spoiling him. The other guys were about the same age whereas Chu Haoling was the youngest, two years younger than the youngest among others. When he joined the squad, he was only 14 years old, as wild as a monkey with endless energy. They spoiled him and spoiled him and this was the result. People must live with the mistake they made themselves.

"As if I'm cheeky."

"And you're not?"

Gu Mingxuan flopped on the table. His face winced. He cursed inside, "Can anyone take this brat away? He's a real pain in the ass."

"What are you guys doing? What's with your long face?"

Yang Huaien came from outside, poured himself a cup of water and asked. He led the squad downtown in Wanan, he finished the quest and came back around 1 o'clock.

"What are we doing? Haoling is planning on how he's gonna be a freeloader at Che's."

Said Gu Mingxuan weakly as he held himself up. He wouldn't let Chu Haoling in, either, if he was Yun Che because Chu would keep eating until you went broke.

"What's to worry about? Chief said Haoling could marry one of them."

Holding the cup while lolling on the table, Yang Huaien wore a teasing face. "Haoling, look, you can forget about Yao, Che, Xingchen, Jiang Shang, and Yehan. You can, however, choose between Zeyu and Haixuan. How about you close your eyes and just randomly pick one?"

Ignoring his brother's concern, Yang Huaien went further and further on the topic. He'd even narrowed down the choices for Chu Haoling.

"I second that."

Gu Mingxuan was totally down for this idea as he couldn't wait to get rid of Chu. He wished Chu Haoling would keep amazing them by getting himself a boyfriend. By then, he'd suggest their chief prepare more dowry for him or he'd just donate more money out of his own pocket. All he wanted was getting rid of this monkey.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Take a good look! I'm a dude!"

Too bad, there wasn't a new low for Chu Haoling this time. Kind of disappointed, Yang Huaien and Gu Mingxuan looked at each other. But…

"You know what? What about Yafei? I can be her boyfriend."

Thud! Thud!

What Chu Haoling said scared the both of them. They bumped the table as they got flustered. Watching him fully prepared with a smug look on the face, they both agreed that this guy's ego was unbelievable. What the hell was he thinking? Be Yafei's boyfriend? First of all, Mr. Zhan needed to say yes, and secondly…

"In your dreams! Yafei is my mine. Keep your hand off my future wife."

Yang Huaien put on a serious face after a short blank, shattering Chu Haoling's fantasy.

"Huh? When was that decided? How come I wasn't informed?"

Not just Chu Haoling, even Gu Mingxuan looked at Yang Huaien in confusion. Yang Huaien did have always treated her differently. They thought he just saw her as his younger sister because Zhan Yafei was the only girl who followed them to quests. But since when had she become his girlfriend?

"I haven't got her yet, so of course I can't tell you about it. Just remember, I call dibs on Yafei. You can pick either Haixuan or Zeyu. Forget about my future wife."

Technically, he hadn't started chasing her yet but Yang Huaien wouldn't tell the truth in a conversation like this. The most important thing was to perish Chu's thought.

"Whatever! I'll just go talk to Yao. Oh, when will chief be back? It's been days! Doesn't he miss Che?"

Waving his hand fretfully, Chu Haoling moved on to another topic.

"Mr. Mo said it was nearly done when we spoke on the phone. Chief should be back soon."

As they moved on to this topic, Gu Mingxuan put a serious look on the face. Xing Feng got a call from Mo Wenyang the night he came back. It seemed he had to deal with the lab problem. It'd been days since he left. Everybody was worried.

"Those scientists are crazy. Can't they just focus on their research? If you ask me, they won't stop causing problems until some of them get shot."

Most of military guys were hot-headed. They just couldn't bear with shady stuff.

"They are national treasures. The military wouldn't do it. Anyway, chief will deal with it, we just do what we need to do. The second wall is almost done out there. I think the authorities are probably going to do something. Don't go too far when doing quests lately."

Gu Mingxuan opened his notebook with a sigh. It was just the same everywhere. Actually, the capital was quieter because they needed to put on a show for the public. It was freer here in Southwest Base. It was far away from the capital and less plotting against each other.

"Got it."

Yang Huaien and Chu Haoling both nodded. They generally liked to pull pranks on each other but when it came to serious business, they were professional and sensible.

The refurbishment was done, all they needed to do next was move in. Since Yun Che had nothing better to do, he thought he might as well check Cheng in Space and bring the good news to him, also, look for Heiyu. Although he knew he was still alive and well, he couldn't stop worrying until he saw him, so he'd look for him in Space every time. It was a shame that he never found him. The fog was still there to prevent him from getting in, and it felt like Heiyu was right behind the fog.

"Sis, invite Gu and the guys over for dinner. I'll get some rest upstairs. Don't let anyone disturb me."

Yun Che was a doer. After speaking to Yun Yao, he intended to turn around and leave. Yun Yao, however, held him immediately, staring at him for a while before she asked, "Um… When will Cheng be out?"

Ever since she learned that Cheng could get out, she'd been craving for the moment and was extra high-spirited in the past few days.

"Well, maybe tomorrow. I'll ask everybody to have a day off tomorrow and we'll get Cheng out together."

Holding her shaking hands, Yun Che smiled. He was sure that Yehan and Haixuan would be excited, too, especially Yehan. He must have kept this thing in mind even though he never brought it up or asked a question. His eyes were always full of hope every time he gave Yun Che crystal nuclei. And lately, he had become more and more hopeful, even a bit anxious.

"OK."

Watching Yun Che nodding vigorously, Yun Yao's face lit up. Soon, she got to see her little brother. She wondered how he was doing. Was he still goofy as always? Anyway, as long as they were there for him, even if Cheng couldn't get normal for the rest of his life, she'd take care of him.

"I'll go upstairs and get some rest then. I'll put the ingredients in the fridge. I'll get back down before dinner."

Yun Che let go of her hands and waved as he walked upstairs into his room. There were only Yun Che and Yun Yao at home for the time being. Desperate to get stronger after he got better from the sickness, Ye Xingchen followed the squad to quests every day. Zhan Tianlong got everybody's permission to work as a doctor in a clinic inside Chaoyang Community when Yun Che started supervising the refurbishment. Wang Suhua would eatablish relationships with the women inside the community every afternoon when she was free and would pick Chenchen up from kindergarten. Everybody was doing their job, making their greatest efforts for the family.