Do Aliens Also Have Arranged Marriages? - Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – Attending a Funeral

Shen Yan is really weird.

In Jian Ning’s opinion, the two of them just had an ordinary lunch, but it suddenly turned into what Shen Yan called a “date”.

Jian Ning was enjoying his snack, but when he heard this, the expression on his face froze.

He lowered his head and stared at the man’s hand, which was always used to holding a gun and killing alien species. It was slender and powerful. At this moment, the cold fair back of his hand was exposed with blue veins, and his bony fingers were slightly bent. He was condescending to help him hold the string of brightly colored sugar-coated fruits.

Hmm…

Jian Ning realized belatedly that the two of them were indeed being too intimate.

When did Shen Yan help him hold this thing?

After a brief silence, Jian Ning said seriously, “Don’t move!”

He had too many things in his hands and had no space to use his hands. He could only lean forward and try to quickly destroy the things in Shen Yan’s hands.

Under the slightly surprised gaze of Shen Yan, Jian Ning began to perform a crazy and dazzling show, swallowing the ping-pong ball-sized sugar-coated fruits one by one.

Shen Yan’s expression immediately regained its composure. He lowered his wrist and adjusted the tip of the bamboo stick to an angle that would not easily hurt Jian Ning.

Soon, after the last sugar-coated fruit was bitten off, Jian Ning raised his eyebrows, looking relieved: “Okay, throw it away.”

Shen Yan stared quietly at the corner of his lips stained with sugar, his eyes moving slightly, as if he was going to help him wipe it off in the next second.

Jian Ning was very alert to Shen Yan at this time. When he saw Shen Yan just raising his hand, the tip of his tongue flexibly hooked along the corner of his lips. A touch of wet and soft red appeared in Shen Yan’s sight, and, in an instant, Jian Ning licked the sugar stains on the corner of his lips clean.

He didn’t notice at all that those amber pupils were gradually darkening.

Jian Ning thought that what happened at noon was just an unexpected episode.

But later on, Shen Yan became even stranger.

…Shen Yan actually proposed to take him to the military to participate in physical training!

Jian Ning gave a fake smile and firmly refused.

Shen Yan is even more terrifying than he imagined.

Getting up at 5:30 every morning to go running? Is he still human?

After Jian Ning’s repeated refusals, Shen Yan seemed to finally give up and started going out early and coming back late as usual. He must have led the team out of the base again.

While Shen Yan was away, Jian Ning also found an opportunity to walk around the base.

The central base is divided into 12 districts, three districts in the east, west, south and north. Its huge scale is comparable to that of a city. He wandered from the East District 1 to the North District 12. The entire base is protected by tall and solid metal walls and light blue light curtains, and there is no flaw at all.

During this period, Jian Ning always felt that someone was following him.

His keen alien senses allowed him to detect something unusual, but every time he turned around, he only saw passers-by moving here and there, as if everything was just his illusion.

Jian Ning was worried.

However, he did not gain anything in the past two days. He found a wide winding river inside the base. He stood in the distance and looked at it. The river seemed to run through the base and lead directly to the outside. This gave Jian Ning a glimmer of hope.

He did not act rashly. After returning, he casually asked the security guard downstairs about the river.

The security guard said: “River? Yes, there is a river connected to the outside world. Almost all the water used in the base comes from that river!”

Jian Ning’s expression slightly changed, and he asked doubtfully: “Won’t those aliens outside enter the base from the river?”

The old man waved his hand and said proudly: “The military also built an isolation net in the water. It is very strong and there has never been any problem over the years!”

“So that’s how it is.” Jian Ning sighed silently.

Well, he knew there was no way such an obvious loophole could exist in the base.

Jian Ning was about to leave when he looked up and found that the security guard was looking at him with a smile. His attitude was completely different from when they first met.

Ever since he ran into him and Shen Yan going out together at noon that day, the old man had become gentle towards him.

Jian Ning hesitated for a moment and asked curiously, “Are you familiar with Shen Yan?”

“Xiao Shen was in the same team with my son when he first joined the army.” The smile on the old man’s face faded a little, “But my kid didn’t pass the training. The leaders above said that during the training, he turned into an alien like those outside.”

Jian Ning paused for a moment, “…I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s been a long time.” The old man didn’t seem to care much about it. “Xiao Shen is a good kid. After training, he often came to see me. Look, he even found me a job here.”

…It turned out that the security guard’s connection to get his job was Shen Yan.

The old man smiled and wrinkled his eyes. “You and Xiao Shen have been getting along well lately, right? I’ve never seen him so close to anyone.”

Close?

Shen Yan had always been a cold person, except for the fact that he would cook for him every day, except for the fact that he let him lean on him and smell his pheromones on the way back to the base, except for the fact that he temporarily marked him that night, and except for that noon…

“…Yeah, it’s okay.”

Jian Ning retracted his wandering thoughts.

Well, he admitted that Shen Yan’s attitude towards him was a bit strange recently.

•|•

Chris and John’s funeral was held on the fifth day after returning to the base.

The weather was clear and cloudless that day, and there was no sad atmosphere because of the two passing away souls.

Jian Ning received Talia’s message and arrived early.

“…Death is the prelude to life. May they walk out of the darkness and meet us again…”

The priest on the stage was wearing a long white robe. After the eulogy, the guests presented flowers one by one and then left in a hurry.

In fact, apart from the search team, there were not many guests at this simple memorial service.

John’s only hobbies are smoking and drinking. When he is not on a mission, he stays at home and rarely interacts with others in the base.

Chris was even more of a stingy Alpha. Talia said that he used to talk about saving money for marriage every day, and even paid for the team dinners to two decimal places. Apart from a few old friends in the search team, his overly calculative personality made him have few friends in the base.

Soon, only a few members of the search team were left on the scene. There were a few unfamiliar faces, who should be the team members who did not participate in the last mission.

John and Chris have no family members. As the captain of the search team, Talia took the initiative to arrange their funeral arrangements. It took a lot of energy just to apply for this memorial service, and her busy figure did not stop moving here and there all morning.

Jian Ning noticed that a very beautiful woman stopped in front of him and did not leave for a long time.

The woman had a slender frame, a small face, and slightly red eyes. She looked weak and pitiful.

“That’s Chris’ girlfriend.” A voice suddenly came from behind Jian Ning.

“I didn’t have time to thank you that day, so you don’t know my name yet, right?” The girl who approached smiled at Jian Ning and introduced herself, “My name is Yang Lele.”

Jian Ning thought the girl looked familiar, and after a few seconds he remembered that she was one of the team members who went to the ocean center that day – the girl who was dragged to the shore by him with a fishing net over her head.

“You’re welcome.” Jian Ning looked away guiltily and his gaze fell forward again.

The beautiful woman sobbed softly in front of the black and white photo.

Neither John nor Chris left any bodies after their deaths. The only things related to them at the scene were the two portraits.

Yang Lele looked at the crying woman and sighed, “She is an Omega. She was with an ordinary Alpha like Chris who had no money and no power. That guy was just lucky.”

At this point, Yang Lele paused, remembering that the person she called “lucky” had lost his life a few days ago because of the unpredictable probability of infection.

Her voice dropped. “Well, we weren’t that lucky. But the base gave them some compensation, which is enough for them to choose a better tombstone.”

This memorial service did not cause much fluctuation in Jian Ning’s mood. After all, he was not very familiar with these two people.

But when he heard the sad sobbing of the woman in front of him, he seemed to be infected by the sad crying and his mood became a little depressed.

After speaking to Yang Lele, Jian Ning went to the bathroom.

He stood in front of the sink, looking quietly at the person in the mirror.

If he had been able to go in earlier, would John have not been eaten by the alien, and would Chris, who was soaked in mucus, have not been infected?

The thought flashed briefly through his mind.

Jian Ning washed his face with cold water.

What does it have to do with him?

He is just an alien, an alien who thinks he is still human.

Looking up again, Jian Ning looked at the mirror expressionlessly——

In the mirror, the black mist lurking in his chest was looming. The previous few strange scarlet strands had turned into a thicker deep red, and it was conveying a clear and strong feeling of hunger.

He could sense what the black mist was thinking—it wanted to eat.

After a while, Jian Ning walked out of the bathroom.

But after taking a few steps, his body suddenly froze.

In the corridor ahead, the woman who had just been crying for Chris was now kissing another man in the aisle.

The woman’s wrist was held by the man, her eyebrows were slightly frowned, and she looked a little resistant, but she did not push the man away.

In the darkness, Jian Ning stopped, looking dazed.

“…”

So, what was he sighing about just now?