Chapter 11 1/2

Jiang Li calmly analyzed the situation. Although it’s easier to detect pregnancies caused by top-tier Alphas compared to ordinary people, he spent the first twenty-something years as a Beta. Shouldn’t the beta testing time be considered?

The probability of conceiving in one attempt was already low, but they had more than one attempt and used many unfavorable positions.

A faint honey scent wafted in the air as Jiang Li looked in the direction of the wind.

Cen Lang put on gloves and opened a beehive. Removing the decaying bark and the old dark nests around it, he revealed new nests with edges of milky white and golden honey inside.

The golden parts were filled with sweet honey.

He broke off the outermost piece of the honeycomb, and the bees dared not protest.

“Just taste it; it won’t affect your winter,” Cen Lang said.

Cen Lang also removed the ant nest beneath the beehive. Ant invasions could lead to the demise of the bee colony. “Earnings from labor,” he remarked.

After replacing the stones and fallen leaves around the beehive, Cen Lang took his reward and left.

As they descended the mountain, Cen Lang felt like Jiang Li’s glance held some anger, as if something frustrating had happened. However, when he looked again, Jiang Li’s expression remained calm and cool, with a touch of politeness.

“Here, drink the nutritional supplement.”

Military nutritional supplements were notorious for being tasteless and unpleasant, deliberately maintained by food science experts so soldiers wouldn’t forget whether they had taken them to prevent waste.

Cen Lang was already used to it, but students from military academies needed time to adapt.

Jiang Li looked at the honeycomb dripping with honey in Cen Lang’s palm, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes. If it were his first encounter with military nutritional supplements, he could overcome the ordinary unpleasantness. Still, after drinking over twenty tubes in the underground city, he had developed a somewhat nauseating aftertaste. “Just one piece.”

Cen Lang replied, “I’ve tasted it already.”

“Ah…” Jiang Li looked at the irregular gap in the honeycomb. Did “tasting” mean taking a bite?

Jiang Li curled his fingers behind his back, indicating he didn’t want it.

Thinking that Jiang Li might find the honeycomb sticky, Cen Lang suggested, “There are syringes and collection tubes in the medical kit.”

Jiang Li’s reaction was slow.

“This is an order,” Cen Lang added.

Jiang Li quickly opened the medical kit, took out the syringe, removed the needle cap, held it in his right hand, and took out a collection tube with his left, using his thumb to open the lid.

The needle entered the small hexagonal cells, slowly extracting honey, then injecting it into the collection tube.

One cell at a time, the work was not easy. Jiang Li worked smoothly, as if drawing blood from a hundred Alphas.

The solar-powered streetlights cast a faint glow, and the shadows of the two men merged on the ground.

Cen Lang’s hand was steady and patient. Lowering his gaze, he happened to see the swirl of Jiang Li’s hair. Unconsciously, he tilted his head slightly, as if trying to catch a scent from Jiang Li, perhaps the aroma of pheromones.

But how could a beta have pheromones?

After extracting the honey, Jiang Li held the collection tube to eye level with two fingers. He was accustomed to looking at various instruments with scales this way.

Three milliliters could be added to the nutritional supplement six times, improving the taste a bit.

Jiang Li didn’t mind that the honey had been bitten. He didn’t request the squares near the gap.

Cen Lang asked, “Is that enough?”

Jiang Li sincerely replied, “Yes, thank you.”

It was the first time he had smelled such sweet honey, enough to forget the bitterness of the nutritional supplement and the frustration of fetching water with a bamboo basket.

Cen Lang chewed on the remaining honeycomb-like gum. “Don’t use ‘you;’ I’m not much older than you.”

Jiang Li said, “Okay.”

Between the ages of thirty and sixty, it was difficult to judge someone’s appearance directly. Cen Lang could be thirty or sixty, while Jiang Li was twenty-five.

What did “not much older” mean? Could he lead a team and operate an aircraft? With a long average military service period, it was harder to endure the qualifications. He should be around forty.

…

Cen Lang’s deputy guarded the entrance of the middle school, and only he knew Cen Lang’s true identity. In the past, the highest-ranking leader was at most a colonel. It was uncomfortable not to be called when the leader went out.

At eleven o’clock in the evening, all the small teams had returned, except for Cen Lang and Jiang Li.

The deputy eagerly waited, finally seeing Cen Lang and Jiang Li returning, with Jiang Li in the lead.

Cen Lang stopped at the entrance and relinquished his bodyguard duty.

Jiang Li said, “It’s been a hard night. See you tomorrow.”

Cen Lang replied, “Go inside.”

The deputy said, “Dr. Xiao Jiang seems to have some opinions about Alphas.”

He was glanced at, but it was different from the morning glance.

Had he been bullied by the strongest Alpha in the interstellar when he went out? Mr. Cen sometimes bullied people without realizing it.

Cen Lang asked, “Really?”

The various regulations of the military academy hoped for fairness and equality among comrades, reducing differentiation. But with the gap between rich and poor, agreeing to let everyone buy their own food would inevitably result in some people drinking nutritional supplements for seven days.

Economic poverty does not equal spiritual poverty. Nutritional supplements were guaranteed, and Cen Lang didn’t plan to do anything unnecessary, like inviting people to eat or providing assistance.

However, nutritional supplements were really hard for new soldiers to drink at every meal. The nursing assistant who drank twenty tubes of nutritional supplements in the underground city last time probably had some military background and casually drank the supplements like water.

Jiang Li probably didn’t realize he liked honey so much.

Taking Jiang Li to eat some honey wasn’t an unnecessary task.

Cen Lang knocked off another piece of honeycomb. Could the bees survive the winter?

The next day, Jiang Li retrieved the information analysis instrument he had sent out the day before and connected the data to the archives.

As he recorded, JiangLi noticed a problem: “The pheromone decay of residents near the mountain is more severe than in other areas.”

There were many people over a hundred years old there, which seemed reasonable on the surface. However, after reading the latest pheromone decay table for the entire federation, a difference of 0.4 was worth paying attention to.

After handling the analyzer, Jiang Li put on his backpack, preparing to see if there were any influencing factors nearby.

After passing through two blocks, a rumbling sound came from ahead, as if excavators were working.

Not just one, but ten excavators surrounded the mountain, extending their long mechanical arms, fully automated in digging.

No, in an old city like N9 district, where did they get the most advanced excavators, and why ten of them?

Jiang Li saw Cen Lang standing outside the caution line, operating a tablet.

It seemed like they had found the influencing factor; there must be something underground.