Detachment of Peak?!

"What if my family members are superfunction possessors? Do they have to join a superfunction squad and fight?"

Asked Kong Yanjun after pondering. His 18-year-old son, Kong Jiawen, was a superfunction possessor. The boy got a girlfriend, Shui Yu, who was his classmate. She, too, was 18 years old but she was an ordinary girl. If he could, Kong Yanjun hoped his son could go out and see the world because no one knew what would happen the next day in the doomsday, if the old man was gone, the boy would have to survive the doomsday on his own. The problem was, Kong Yanjun's wife already had become disabled before the doomsday and Yu was still a little girl, she wasn't able to look after Mrs. Kong on her own. And Kong Yanjun would often have to work in the lab for days in a row, once his son joined a squad and went on quests, no one could look after the family.

"Dad…"

Kong Jiawen standing next to his dad knew what this was about and secretly pulled the hem of his dad's clothes. The 18-year-old hot-blooded young man had longed for killing zombies as a member of a superfunction squad. Kong Jiawen didn't have an opportunity to make acquaintance with superfunction squads back in Section A and he would hate to miss out on the opportunities now that he was in Chaoyang because he, too, wanted to do whatever he could to protect the family and to undertake responsibility as a grown-up man.

"Mr. Kong, please let Jiawen join a squad, I can look after Mrs. Kong on my own."

Kong Jiawen's girlfriend, Shui Yu, helped persuade Kong Yanjun by making the promise. She and her boyfriend were freshmen in college when the doomsday befell, hadn't Kong Jiawen stayed by her side and risked his life searching for her family with her, she would have been dead like her parents. True love would be tested and proved in hard times. Although she wasn't sure whether Kong Jiawen truly loved her or he was just trying to be responsible, she told herself that she would cherish the relationship. Also, Mr. and Mrs. Kong had been nice to her. Mr. Kong was hired by the base to work in the laboratory since the doomsday came, he had been feeding the family on his own. When they were under the military, they got to eat meat once every 3 days and Mr. Kong always let his wife, his son and Shui Yu eat as much meat as possible before he ate any.

Mrs. Kong was disabled and couldn't even go to the bathroom on her own, but she was genuinely nice to Shui Yu. She often blamed herself for being a liability to the family and said that when she was gone, she hoped that Shui Yu could look after Mr. Kong and Jiawen. Before the doomsday, Shui Yu was kind of spoiled by her parents but now, after everything that she had gone through, she could see things more clearly. She knew how indebted she was to Kong Family, so she would do anything to help her boyfriend pursue his dream. She would look after Mrs. Kong like she was her own mother and repay Kong Family in her way.

"What are you talking about? Hush!"

Kong Yanjun scolded her with a stern look on the face. He was well aware of his son's dream but the family situation didn't allow the boy to pursue his dream. And Yu was a good girl who was only 18 years old, how could Kong Yanjun have the heart to let his wife's illness wear the girl out?

"Dad!"

Kong Jiawen was unresigned. Shui Yu looked at the man with her expectant eyes. Kong Yanjun heaved a heavy sigh. "What about your mom?"

His wife was forced to sit in the wheelchair for the rest of her life and Kong Yanjun wouldn't have worked in the lab if it hadn't been for her. He actually had decided to stop doing research years ago but he was just an ordinary guy, what else he could do to provide the family other than scientific research? He got to be hired by the base and given the director job thanks to the fact that he used to a top scientist. Life was ironic. Years ago, his wife was injured in a premeditated car crash because his research got in someone's way to the top. For her, he gave up the scientific achievements within his reach and abandoned the research team. Now, for her and his son, he had to reboot his career as a researcher.

What Kong Yanjun said discouraged and frustrated Kong Jiawen. Shui Yu looked worriedly at her boyfriend as they held hands. Her eyes showed how bad she felt for him and that she wished she was a superfunction possessor. Even if she was just a low-level a superfunction possessor, the momentary outbreak of superfunction energy would physically boost her so that she could better look after Mrs. Kong. She felt sorry for being useless.

Perhaps others didn't hear them argue in a low voice. Well, they could if they wanted to, but everybody else was sunk in their own thoughts, everyone was too engrossed to notice Kong Family. However, Xing Feng and Yun Che had taken notice of them. Yun Che roughly learned about Kong Family through Xing Feng's low-voice explanation. Yun Che overall wasn't a compassionate man but he held Kong Yanjun in respect. Maybe Kong Yanjun wasn't as great as those scientists who would be willing to sacrifice everything for science, but he valued love and family, and stayed faithful to his disabled wife.

Many had left their wives in the doomsday and some even traded their kids for food in extreme circumstances. Kong Yanjun stayed with his disabled wife. He brought her into the base, re-joined a research team for her and even forbidden their son from pursuing his dream. The sacrifice that Kong Yanjun made for his family was what Yun Che respected. Although Yun Che and Kong Yanjun were fighting for different stuff, their purpose was the same, Yun Che, too, did everything for his family: his sister, brother and the little nephew.

"Hey, you've been watching for too long."

Xing Feng punitively pinched Yun Che's hand after he noticed Yun Che had been staring at them. Xing Feng knew Yun Che had no feelings for Kong, but he was still unhappy.

"Hehe. Childish jealousy is bad for your health. I'm actually thinking about something important. I'm not looking at them."

After glancing askance at Xing Feng, Yun Che's eyes shifted at Kong Jiawen. Xing Feng raised his eyebrows and teased, "You take fancy to him?"

Only when Yun Che took fancy to someone would he put his attention on the person. But there were different meanings, sometimes, it meant Yun Che wanted to recruit the person, sometimes, well, it had something to do with romance.

"Yes, and no."

Yun Che gave a confusing answer and leaned forward. "Kong Jiawen, what's the attribute of your superfunction?"

The speaker boxes spread Yun Che's voice across the place, so Kong Jiawen became the focus of the crowd. People couldn't figure out what Yun Che was doing, although from the beginning to this point, Yun Che hadn't really done anything, he just said a few words and mocked Wang Family. The crowd feared him more than they feared Xing Feng because his devilish image had left a deep impression.

"Captain Yun, my son…"

The young man was about to step forward, Kong Yanjun hurriedly held his son back, but before he finished, Yun Che cut him off with a smile, "Director Kong, don't worry, I just want to confirm something. Trust me, you won't regret it."

Kong Yanjun was 40-odd years old, and as someone who considered himself good at reading people, Kong Yanjun decided Yun Che wasn't a liar. After deliberation, Kong Yanjun withdrew his arm. Although Kong Jiamen was confused, he just looked at Yun Che and answered, "Earth. But I'm only level 2."

Kong Jiawen was kind of embarrassed after he said it. The young man paid a lot of attention to superfunction possessor community and he knew that the members of most superfunction squads were level-3, some even reached level-4. As a level-2 earth superfunction possessor, he was insignificant.

"Good, one of the major five attributes. Are you interested in joining the Detachment of Peak?"

Instead of looking down upon Kong Jiawen, Yun Che said something that astounded everybody, including Xing Feng and Zhou Zeyu. Kong Jiawen was dumbfounded. He stuttered, "Can-can I join-join Peak?"

"Gosh, is this a dream?"

Kong Jiawen was absolutely thrilled. "This is Peak, the second place on the ranking chart! And rumor has it, Captain Yun Che of Peak is the best superfunction possessor in the base who even exceeds Captain Xing. People dream of joining Peak! Is this a dream or is Captain Yun making fun of me?"

"B-B-But… Damn, this is so exciting!" Even if Yun Che was making fun of Kong Jiawen, the young man still couldn't calm down.

"Che?"

Zhou Zeyu and the others turned to Yun Che in shock and confusion. Peak had the fewest members because they had a selective recruitment policy. "What's wrong with Che today? Why did he offer membership to someone he meets for the first time?"

Yun Che gave them a look to calm them down and nodded with a smile. "You can but you'll be in the detachment and you're the first member of the detachment. Soon, more people will join you."

Yun Che wouldn't expand the core unit anymore and he never thought of forming detachments or anything, it was totally on a whim. But if the person was dependable, why couldn't there be more detachments? Take Chaoyang for example, Xing Feng didn't trust everyone in the 20 squads but Chaoyang grew well. Peak was controversial because it only had a small amount of members. What's more, Yun Che would be needing more people to achieve something greater, so he'd better start training and shaping new recruits. More pros than cons, why wouldn't Yun Che do it?

As usual, the number of people was never his focus. Everyone in the detachment would have to be approved by Yun Che. Other than Kong Jiawen, Yun Che had a few candidates in his mind, his pre-doomsday dorm-mates. Yun Che had been watching them recently and knew that they still hadn't had a squad. If there was going to be a detachment, those guys could be invited.

Xing Feng seemed to understand Yun Che's words, so he, too, put on a smile of approval. The power of a group would always beat an individual. He was happy that Yun Che finally came around.

Zhou Zeyu and the others seemed to discern Yun Che's intention and stopped acting so surprised. They knew a detachment was different from the core unit, they unconditionally trusted Yun Che's decision.

"I…"

Even though it was merely a detachment, it was a detachment of Peak, Kong Jiawen was still excited. But right before he agreed, the image of his mother sitting in the wheelchair came to his mind and dampened him immediately. He lowered his head and muttered, "I would love to, but I can't because my mom needs me."

It was hard but his mother was more important than his dream.

"Jiawen…"

Shui Yu held his hand and blamed herself harder. Kong Yanjun felt sorry for his son as well because he knew how painful being forbidden from pursuing one's dream by reality could be better than anyone did.

"Hehe. Are you sure you don't want to hear the benefits after joining Peak before making the decision?"

"Huh?"

Kong Jiawen looked up at Yun Che in bewilderment, so did Kong Yanjun, Shui Yu and everybody else. Yun Che's smile remained. "After joining Peak, you and your family can move in with us. My sister and the other two ladies will help look after your mom. And you won't worry about food and daily necessities anymore. You eat what I eat or you cook and eat whatever want, just go get the ingredients from my sister. But of course, I won't give you additional supplies."

To regular squads, Kong Jiawen's family was no doubt a liability. Also, he was only level-2, no squad would want him. Yun Che, however, saw them differently: each and every one of them stayed true to their family and people like them had scruples, therefore, they were more loyal. Kong Jiawen deserved Yun Che's offer.