Chapter 187: Extra — The Jiang Brothers’ Story

Nanming Constellation N2781.

On the streets of the old urban district, pedestrians were coming and going in steady numbers.

Ever since the Shengya army swept through the border’s star pirate groups, the streets had grown much quieter. The muggings and gang brawls that used to be commonplace on every corner were virtually nowhere to be seen, allowing ordinary people to walk the streets without living in constant fear.

In the distance, a tall building flashed with glaring neon lights, standing out like a sore thumb among the surrounding iron-gray architecture—that was the headquarters of the Snow Leopards.

At six o’clock in the evening, the sky was gradually darkening.

A transport ship landed on the tarmac behind the Snow Leopard building. The Snow Leopard subordinates waited with eager anticipation until the hatch opened and Jiang Chi descended the ladder.

A crowd of young men rushed forward in excitement.

“Boss! You’re finally back!”

“You’ve been gone for months, you scared us to death!”

“Those government officials didn’t do anything to you, did they?!”

“Where’s Hao-hao? Didn’t he come back with you?”

Jiang Chi looked at these former brothers of his, feeling a wave of emotion.

Not long ago, he was still the boss of the Snow Leopards, but now he was standing on the opposite side.

“What could possibly happen to me?”

Jiang Chi pretended to speak casually, “Those officials are all good people. Staying with them is much safer for me than staying here with you guys.”

“Huh?”

The group of subordinates looked at each other in bewilderment.

A green-haired subordinate opened his mouth in confusion: “Didn’t you use to say that all officials were bastards and not a single one of them was any good?”

Jiang Chi: “…”

The green-haired subordinate glanced cautiously toward the hatch, lowering his voice: “Boss, if you’re being threatened, blink twice!”

The other subordinates nodded vigorously.

Under the gazes of everyone looking at him like he was a monster, Jiang Chi forced himself to ask, “Did I ever say that?”

Everyone: “Yes! You used to say it all the time!”

Jiang Chi: “…”

Jiang Chi put his arm around the green-haired subordinate’s shoulder and made a shushing gesture to the others: “Hao-hao is a military student now, watch your mouths.”

Realization dawned upon everyone.

So he was afraid that Jiang Hao would be implicated by them. No wonder—they knew their boss couldn’t possibly trust those rotten officials so easily.

“Still, now that the Meng family is gone, things will get better from now on, right?” someone remarked casually.

“I think as long as they don’t let specific families hold monopolies, it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, who would’ve thought the Gao family had problems too. Out of the five most powerful families, four were rotten—only the Yi family is left. Those rotten officials really aren’t any good.”

“Does that mean the Yi family is going to hold sole dominance now?”

“I was watching the news yesterday and heard the military is going to reform. In the future, even if they don’t abolish the position of Divisional Admiral, they won’t be able to cover the sky with one hand like before.”

“Hard to say. Pulling up the radish brings out the mud; with so many people being processed, a huge number of important positions are vacant. The Yi family will definitely take advantage of the opening to seize territory and expand!”

“The Yi family has already voluntarily handed over power.”

Listening to their chattering discussion, Jiang Chi added, “The Royal Family issued an order: going forward, a large number of people without prominent backgrounds but with excellent capabilities will be appointed. The selection method is still being discussed, so look forward to it.”

Someone complained: “Even if they didn’t have a background originally, once they actually get selected, there’s no guarantee they won’t become dogs for the Yi family.”

Jiang Chi let out a laugh: “The situation has long since changed. As long as Li Xiao is around, such a thing will never happen. Besides, the Yi family isn’t stupid—as if being in the spotlight wasn’t enough, would they actively seek their own deaths? Stop worrying blindly. Just stay here peacefully from now on; as long as you follow my set of rules and don’t actively go picking fights with others, no one will be able to bully you.”

All the major border forces supported by the Meng family, like the Dragon Syndicate, had already been blown to bits by Shengya and disbanded on the spot. What remained were all small factions that couldn’t stir up any major trouble.

The Snow Leopards were considered one of the largest remaining organizations in terms of scale. As long as they didn’t cause trouble, no one would dare actively come looking for a fight.

Hearing the underlying meaning in his words—did this mean Jiang Chi wouldn’t be staying with the Snow Leopards in the future? A few sharp individuals picked up on his implication, but just as they were about to ask, they saw a tall youth emerge from the hatch, instantly throwing what they wanted to say to the back of their minds.

“Hao-hao! It’s been almost a year, I missed you so much!”

“Military students really are different! That aura is completely locked down!”

“Brother thought I’d never see you again, waaaaah!”

“How long are you staying this time? Is the school on break?”

Jiang Hao walked to Jiang Chi’s side and greeted them one by one: “Not on break. I just came back to pack up some things before returning.”

Seeing their crestfallen expressions, Jiang Hao added, “I’ll come back often to visit in the future. Don’t make it so gloomy.”

The group of subordinates let out a deep sigh of relief.

None of them possessed citizenship, so they had no way to freely travel back and forth to the “other world.” Unless Jiang Hao came back, it was very difficult for them to take the initiative to see him.

“Let’s go, let’s go, time to head home for dinner!” The green-haired subordinate wrapped his arm around Jiang Hao’s shoulder, calling out to the crew below to prepare dinner—they were going to lay out a few tables tonight and drink to their hearts’ content.

“Wait.”

Jiang Hao turned his head to look at the hatch.

“Who else is—”

Halfway through his sentence, the green-haired subordinate saw a Beta wearing a gray casual suit step out of the hatch, and he froze entirely. “Is that… Ya-ge?!”

A commotion broke out among the crowd.

Wu Ya had been away from the Snow Leopards for nearly ten years; many of the newer members didn’t recognize him and couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

This refined and handsome Beta with an extraordinary aura clearly wasn’t an ordinary person at first glance—he looked like a young master from a wealthy family. How could some of the veteran members in the gang know him?

“Who is he?” someone whispered.

The veteran member nearby looked somewhat nervous, explaining in a hushed voice: “That’s Wu Ya! The son of the founder of the Snow Leopards! Our boss’s wife!”

Jiang Chi, who overheard this: “…”

That last sentence was entirely unnecessary.

Hiss—!

A good number of people gasped audibly.

Who would have thought the Boss actually had a wife?!

Seeing Wu Ya descend the ladder, the veteran members went over together to greet him.

Wu Ya looked at the array of familiar yet unfamiliar faces, offering a faint nod.

When he left, he had thought he would never return. He hadn’t expected that after so many years, this place remained largely unchanged—still run-down, chaotic, and lacking any dignity. Yet he had to admit, it stirred a sense of nostalgia within him.

No matter how run-down it was, this was still the place where he was born; it was his hometown.

“Ya-ge, you haven’t been back in so many years, we thought we’d never… How have you been? Is Boss Wu doing well?” Facing Wu Ya, the green-haired subordinate was somewhat nervous, nowhere near as relaxed as he was in front of Jiang Chi.

“He’s addicted to growing vegetables in the countryside, doing very well.”

At this point, Wu Ya cast a side-glance at Jiang Chi, “I just help him sell vegetables, barely managing to make a living.”

Jiang Chi: “…”

A fine ‘barely managing to make a living,’ CEO Wu.

Images flashed through the minds of the subordinates: the Wu father and son wearing shabby clothes with sallow faces, tilling the fields in the countryside. They couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.

The father and son pair who used to command the wind and clouds in N2781 could actually only farm vegetables in the countryside after leaving the border.

To obtain citizenship, one truly had to pay a painful price.

The green-haired subordinate chimed in with sympathy: “With Boss looking out for you from now on, life will get better.”

Wu Ya: “By the time he arrives, my corpse will have already weathered into dust.”

Jiang Chi: “…”

Everyone: “…”

At the evening banquet table, several new members couldn’t stop sneaking glances at the main table, extremely curious about Wu Ya.

The veteran member sitting at the edge, drinking alcohol and eating meat, explained to them with an tone of pride he couldn’t conceal: “Don’t look at how refined and easygoing Ya-ge seems right now. Back in the day, he was the face of our Snow Leopards! If anyone dared to bully us, he would lead people to pay them back double, to the point that later on, plenty of people on the streets would tremble at the mere mention of his name. The Snow Leopards were able to survive largely thanks to him.”

A subordinate asked out of curiosity: “Then how did he get together with our boss?”

The veteran member suddenly remembered something and chuckled slyly: “That… well, it was probably a case of the Boss saving the beauty and capturing his heart, right?”

This statement piqued everyone’s curiosity; even people from neighboring tables leaned over, waiting to hear the rest.

Veteran member: “The bigger Ya-ge’s reputation grew on the streets, the more hatred it drew. Back then, the Dragon Syndicate launched a sneak attack and kidnapped Ya-ge. It was Boss who led the crew to rescue him.”

The new member’s eyes sparkled: “Hurry up and elaborate!”

At the main table, the green-haired subordinate heard the noise over there and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: “It was really dangerous back then, we almost didn’t make it back.”

Jiang Hao was still young at the time. Hearing this, he asked, “Was it that perilous?”

“Perilous.”

Wu Ya raised his wine glass, “Looking back now, I still can’t help but shed tears. Isn’t that right, Jiang Chi?”

Jiang Chi: “…”

Jiang Hao grew even more curious. What kind of experience could it have been to leave Ya-ge unable to let it go after so many years?

Jiang Chi scratched his face in embarrassment, avoiding Jiang Hao’s inquisitive gaze.

Wu Ya took a sip of liquor, memory flashes unbidden before his eyes.

Sixteen years ago, he accompanied his father to collect protection fees.

The border lacked government intervention and order. To survive here, some businesses would proactively contact the largest gang in the area to secure protection by paying a fee.

Once the gang took the money, they had a responsibility to maintain order in their territory.

Unlike some barbaric organizations that extorted money under various pretexts, the Snow Leopards had a philosophy: Wu Ya always believed that to survive in the long run, one had to have their own set of principles.

That day at the construction site, sitting in his car, he saw a newcomer from the gang using violence to collect money. Just as he was about to order someone to handle it, a tall Alpha stepped in and dispatched the group of newcomers in just a few moves. From his martial techniques, he didn’t look like a street brawler—his upright and noble demeanor was completely different from those thugs.

It was as if he had discovered a treasure; he instantly developed an interest in Jiang Chi.

He had his father and the others go back first while he secretly observed Jiang Chi from afar. He watched the man collect his day’s wages in advance, buy bread and milk, and return to a filthy, cluttered tin shack. There, he took a tiny baby from an old man and clumsily fed it.

The baby seemed ravenously hungry, holding the bread in Jiang Chi’s arms and devouring it greedily. Though its clothes were dirty, the fabric was of high quality—like a young master fallen on hard times. Moreover, the baby had fair skin and chubby cheeks, clearly not someone a rough man like Jiang Chi could have raised on his own.

Since childhood, Wu Ya had despised the disorder of the border, feeling utterly sick of the endless, barbaric gang fights for territory, always longing to see the world on the “other side.”

At the border, even if you defeated every gang, all you won were broken, resource-depleted planets. But the “other side” was different—that world was vast, offering far greater room to flourish.

Upon discovering that Jiang Chi might be from the “other side,” he became even more interested in him. The very next day, his father personally went to recruit the man into the gang.

After meeting face-to-face, he was even more certain that Jiang Chi wasn’t someone from “here.” Although the man claimed he was being hunted by debt collectors, when pressed for details, he stammered and couldn’t give a coherent answer.

When he learned that the baby wasn’t Jiang Chi’s son, he felt an inexplicable wave of relief.

Looking back now, perhaps he had fallen for Jiang Chi the very first time he saw him.

Yet his feelings for Jiang Chi didn’t bring him much joy—instead, they brought mostly pain.

He had never liked anyone before; in his eyes, the people around him were all trash, including his father.

Until that time he was kidnapped by the Dragon Syndicate, he had no idea what this special feeling toward Jiang Chi actually was.

While Wu Ya was lost in memory, Jiang Chi couldn’t help but recall that event from fourteen years ago.

Fourteen years ago, he had just finished collecting protection fees and returned to headquarters when he encountered a subordinate with a broken arm bone. Crying, the subordinate reported that Wu Ya had been captured by the Dragon Syndicate, telling them to inform the boss and bring money for ransom.

Wu Ya was being held in an abandoned factory very close to the Dragon Syndicate’s headquarters. Given Jiang Chi’s understanding of the Dragon Syndicate, even if they obediently brought the money for ransom, the enemy would likely still execute the hostage.

So he made two preparations at the time: Boss Wu led a crew to the Dragon Syndicate headquarters to negotiate, while he led a team to secretly head to the factory to rescue Wu Ya.

On the way there, Jiang Chi had envisioned countless scenarios in his head, rehearsing back and forth to ensure he could handle any emergency and bring Wu Ya back safely.

Yet never in his wildest dreams did he expect that when he fought his way down to the second basement level of the factory, he would find a floor covered in corpses. The kidnapped Wu Ya had fought his way out of the siege on his own, appearing before him covered in wounds, tilting his chin at him as if nothing had happened: “Let’s go. Headed back.”

Only to almost drop to his knees right in front of him after taking just two steps.

The commotion had been too large. As they returned to the first floor, they were ambushed and hunted by a massive wave of Dragon Syndicate subordinates who had rushed over.

Wu Ya’s condition was terrible at the time. Perhaps as the adrenaline wore off and from excessive blood loss, he was drifting in and out of consciousness. Jiang Chi tried every means to keep Wu Ya from falling asleep while fending off the enemies.

Seeing that they couldn’t win, the Dragon Syndicate threatened to trap them inside and blow up the building.

Anxious beyond belief, Jiang Chi hid in a corner to contact Boss Wu. Seeing Wu Ya leaning in his arms, barely able to keep his eyelids open, he patted his shoulder and shouted, “Don’t sleep! Reinforcements are coming soon!”

Wu Ya’s breath was weak. Every breath pulled at his wounds, making him tremble uncontrollably from the pain: “I might not be able to hold on.”

Jiang Chi: “What kind of depressing talk is that?! We’ve made it this far—you’re not allowed to die!”

He said that, but Jiang Chi was terrified as well.

Wu Ya was severely injured and completely unable to protect himself, and there were layers upon layers of enemies outside. This time, they might really end up dying here.

Just as he thought this, Jiang Chi felt a sudden warmth on his face. Looking at Wu Ya in shock, he realized he had just been kissed. Completely stunned and unable to figure out the situation, he asked blankly, “What are you doing?”

Wu Ya draped his arms around his neck, his voice muffled: “If I’m going to die anyway, I haven’t kissed anyone yet. What’s wrong with letting me kiss you once?”

Jiang Chi thought about it, and it actually made sense: “I haven’t kissed anyone either.”

Wu Ya actually tugged the corner of his mouth into a smile.

For some reason, looking at this miserable yet handsome face before him, Jiang Chi’s heart fluttered.

Just as Jiang Chi was about to ask what he was laughing at, the other man leaned in and kissed him again.

Jiang Chi felt that he might die today too; rather than dying cowardly, he might as well indulge once before death.

With that thought, he kissed back fiercely.

Yet when he actually felt the other’s body temperature, when his mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood, Jiang Chi suddenly snapped awake.

He couldn’t die yet. He couldn’t bear to let the person in his arms die like this, he didn’t want to see a group of brothers die at the hands of the enemy, and he couldn’t abandon his young brother.

Halfway through the kiss, Wu Ya passed out. Jiang Chi carried him while dodging the enemy, quickly observing the enemy’s deployment from various window frames in all directions. Coordinating with the Snow Leopard reinforcements who arrived in time, he broke through the defensive gap with his subordinates.

Just as the car sped out, Jiang Chi heard an explosion detonate behind them. A blinding white light flashed, and a powerful shockwave shook the vehicle violently.

Jiang Chi held Wu Ya tightly, afraid he would be thrown out, with only one thought left in his head: First kiss given away, and didn’t die—a total profit.

Life in the gang was like that, filled with endless conflict. Jiang Chi didn’t take it to heart, continuing to take on missions daily as usual, solely focused on earning more pay to give his younger brother a better life. But Wu Ya began acting strange.

After returning that time, Wu Ya required a week of medical treatment before he could get out of bed. Jiang Chi visited him twice, always feeling that the other’s attitude toward him was somewhat different from before, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

One night, after returning from a mission, Wu Ya had just coaxed Hao-hao to sleep. Jiang Chi offered his thanks and was about to go eat dinner when Wu Ya called out to him.

The two went into Jiang Chi’s room, and Wu Ya tried to kiss him without a word of explanation. Terrified, Jiang Chi held him back: “What are you doing? Don’t mess around.”

Wu Ya pulled his hand away, asking as a matter of course: “How am I messing around? Aren’t we in this kind of relationship?”

Jiang Chi was dumbfounded: “What kind of relationship?”

Wu Ya frowned: “Don’t play dumb with me. We’ve already kissed, what kind of relationship do you think it is?”

Jiang Chi had a forehead full of question marks: “Didn’t we only kiss because we were about to die that time?”

After saying that, Jiang Chi saw Wu Ya’s face darken, though he didn’t understand why the other was angry.

Wu Ya: “Did you think I would just kiss whoever happened to be beside me back then?”

Jiang Chi was puzzled: “Otherwise?”

After asking, he got beaten up.

Wu Ya gave him a thorough beating, then grabbed him by the collar and tossed him onto the bed: “There are still some things I haven’t experienced. Since you’re here and we’ve already kissed, you won’t refuse, right?”

Jiang Chi: “…”

And just like that, they muddled their way into becoming good brothers who kissed, occasionally even sharing a bed.

Jiang Chi was surprised at how easily he accepted it, but there were always so many things drawing his attention every day that he had no time to think deeply about it, nor could he figure it out. Furthermore, Wu Ya always took great care of Hao-hao, arranging the best kindergarten and even planning out his future schooling, which put Jiang Chi at complete ease. Trapped in such a comfortable environment, he didn’t want to break the status quo.

“I remember back then, Boss was even retaliated against by the Dragon Syndicate and beaten pretty badly,” the green-haired subordinate shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Those dogs from the Dragon Syndicate specifically targeted his face—they must have been jealous of Boss’s handsome looks.”

Jiang Chi snapped out of his memory: “…”

That was from being beaten by Wu Ya.

Wu Ya set down his wine glass, speaking as if nothing were amiss: “Sometimes when you get beaten, you need to look for the reason within yourself. Right, Jiang Chi?”

Jiang Chi: “…”