The First Order

Translator: Legge

When Jiang Xu heard what Ren Xiaosu said, his interest was piqued. “Where are these nanomachines found? You know, the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium have already been destroyed.”

“The Qing Consortium.” Ren Xiaosu answered matter-of-factly, “Luo Lan said that Qing Consortium has already developed nanomachines and put them into use.”

“I know that,” Jiang Xu said. The Qing Consortium did not treat this matter as a secret either. Hope Media had even reported it in their newspaper before.

Luo Lan said everyone knew the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium had nanomachines in their possession. With the Qing Consortium replacing those two consortiums now, of course it would be no secret the nanomachines were also in their hands now.

In any case, it was just used for strengthening the physical fitness of normal soldiers. Moreover, Qing Zhen was not allowing the nanomachines to be implemented on a wide scale yet. On one hand, it was due to a lack of production quantities. On the other hand, he was worried the soldiers would start relying on them.

A lot of their training would become much easier to complete.

Qing Zhen believed the most important thing for the troops was not their strength but having a strong will that could not be crushed. So what was regarded as a treasure to the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium was only seen as an ordinary tool in Qing Zhen’s hands.

Perhaps Ren Xiaosu would only get to see nanosoldiers in large numbers again when another war descended upon the Qing Consortium. But the next time, he would not have to hunt down those nanosoldiers.

Jiang Xu continued asking, “So, is the Qing Consortium the only one who has nanorobotics technology at the moment?”

Ren Xiaosu wondered, “It’s good as long as it can be used. Do you need me to get some nanomachines from the Qing Consortium?”

“There’s no need.” Jiang Xu smiled and shook his head.

“Why not?” Ren Xiaosu was even more confused by this. “Don’t you want to be able to walk normally?”

“It’s not that.” Jiang Xu explained with a smile, “Who would want to walk with a limp? A lot of people admire me because of what happened to my leg. However, I’d rather walk like a normal person than have everyone’s admiration.”

“Then do you have something against the Qing Consortium?” Ren Xiaosu asked again.

“No.” Jiang Xu shook his head. “Rather, of all the organizations, I admire the Qing Consortium the most. Of course, organizations throughout the world are all the same, and there’s essentially no difference between them.”

“Then why’re you unwilling to approach the Qing Consortium and get some nanomachines from them?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“Because I want to record the truth, so I can’t accept gifts of any kind from any organizations. Besides, the Yang Consortium and the Li Consortium have also proven that the nanomachines are capable of controlling human thought. For example, when Stronghold 88 was destroyed, those nanosoldiers had already fallen under their control.” Jiang Xu said, “Even if the Qing Consortium doesn’t control me with the nanomachines or run any malicious programs in the background, how am I going to convince everyone that I’m really recording the truth?”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. To ensure he could record the truth, Jiang Xu was willing to persevere even when his leg was broken.

To ensure that the truth was reliable, he would rather give up the chance to fix his broken leg.

This was probably the reason why everyone admired him.

Some people were really willing to give their lives to uphold their principles, and such people were way too few and far between. They were so rare they seemed to exude a certain brilliance.

Therefore, if the Qing Consortium were the only organization in the world that could produce the nanomachines, Jiang Xu would be unwilling to accept it even if Ren Xiaosu offered to give his own nanomachines to him.

This was because Jiang Xu wanted to avoid suspicion. How would others possibly know where his nanomachines came from?

Jiang Xu patted Ren Xiaosu on the shoulder. “You are also part of the truth I want to report. At the very least, I can start putting on record what the seventh commander of Fortress 178 is like once you take over in the future. Perhaps you still haven’t realized you’ll also become part of this history, so you’ll never be forgotten with time.”

“Is the truth really that important?” Ren Xiaosu asked in a low voice, “What if no one cares what the truth is?”

Jiang Xu laughed and continued walking towards the cafeteria. “That’s their problem then.”

Although Ren Xiaosu was starting to admire Jiang Xu a little, he did not hold back at lunch. He ate so much that Jiang Xu was left dumbfounded by his appetite. Patting his stomach in satisfaction, he asked if they were going to have lunch together again tomorrow.

Jiang Xu expressed he would not be coming to school again until the next lecture.

The head chef in the staff cafeteria was dumbfounded. He thought Professor Jiang must be a really kind person to bring a poor student here to eat.

…

In the evening, Ren Xiaosu left the library quietly and exited the school through the security post. Then he walked all the way across a dozen streets and made his way towards a secret residence.

This was the place where he and Qin Sheng had agreed to meet for a dinner party with the Riders.

Back when they entered the stronghold, Qin Sheng told Ren Xiaosu he had arranged for a meal together with Xu Ke, the head of the Qinghe Group. The meetup could be considered an opportunity to make friends.

Ren Xiaosu had intended to stand Qin Sheng up today, but he did not expect Qin Sheng to call him seven times today to remind him about it.

There was no choice. He could not possibly disgrace Qin Sheng and turn down his invitation. After all, it was not like he was some big shot.

The residence did not look grand, and there were not a lot of people inside either.

After Ren Xiaosu knocked on the door a few times, Qin Sheng opened the door and let him in. There were only four people inside. They were Qin Sheng, Old Li, an unknown person who was preparing a meal in the kitchen, and a final person who was stunned when he saw Ren Xiaosu. “It’s you?”

Ren Xiaosu was amused. “Oh, it’s you.”

Zhang Qingxi was the Rider Ren Xiaosu had seen near East Lake at Stronghold 73. At that time, Ren Xiaosu was jogging around East Lake when the Rider advised him to leave.

Ren Xiaosu could still clearly remember how Zhang Qingxi tried to persuade the plaza dancing aunties in the plaza to leave but ended up getting threatened with extortion claims instead.

Only at this moment did Zhang Qingxi realize Ren Xiaosu was also at Stronghold 73 at that time.

However, Zhang Qingxi was a little puzzled. “Since you were also at Stronghold 73 at that time, were you that person in the white mask?”

With only a few clues, Zhang Qingxi immediately linked it to Ren Xiaosu. During the Battle of East Lake, “Old Xu,” who was wearing the white mask, had slaughtered a lot of people. On the other hand, Ren Xiaosu seemed to have disappeared with no one paying much attention to him.

All of these were suspicious points.

Old Li and Qin Sheng looked at each other. When they were defending Stronghold 74, the person in the white mask had also appeared there, as a matter of fact, and Ren Xiaosu happened to be there as well.

Some things just could not stand up to scrutiny…

Ren Xiaosu said, “It wasn’t me. It really wasn’t me.”

“Don’t worry, we Riders have our principles and will not reveal your identity. Besides, you came over to help us out this time. We don’t betray our friends,” Zhang Qingxi said.

Ren Xiaosu said innocently, “It really wasn’t me.”

“Then where did you go that day?” Zhang Qingxi stared at Ren Xiaosu.

“Oh.” Ren Xiaosu lied without blinking, “You persuaded me to leave. After thinking about it carefully when I got back, I felt that you were right, so I left.”

Zhang Qingxi was speechless. Who are you trying to bluff?!

At this moment, Xu Ke walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron. He said with a smile, “Stop arguing about this. Wash your hands and get ready to eat. Hi, I’m Xu Ke.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. The leader of the Qinghe Group had personally prepared the meal?