The Almighty Ring

“Great.! Now I’m supposed to welcome them with open arms?” Jiang Fei grunted. Suddenly, 0541 chimed in.

“Captain sir, there’s actually something useful about them.”

“Oh? Do tell,” said Jiang Fei. There was a spark of hope. A silver lining. Even though Han Tianyu had promised to help him, it was impossible to think that he would be by his side 24/7. Hence, Jiang Fei was still worried. If 0541 could come up with something useful, Jiang Fei would be more relaxed.

“Sorry, I’m afraid the answer you are expecting is not what I am proposing. Even before the crash of the ship, I do not possess any means of emotional support.”

Jiang Fei facepalmed and shook his head.

“Well then, what is it that you are proposing?” asked Jiang Fei.

“The twin, Yang Po and Yang Qing are Level 3 fighters. With them by your side, you could learn the four martial skills by having them guide you,” suggested 0541. Obviously, 0541 did not care about Jiang Fei’s emotional wellbeing. From its perspective, 0541 only wanted Jiang Fei to become stronger in order to speed up the recovery of the ship.

“Huh… You’re right about that! I’d never thought about it that way!” cried Jiang Fei. Even though the girls were hard to deal with but with them around, he could ask for their help whenever he faced a hiccup in training. The four martial skills were not too difficult and since they Level 3 fighters, they might be able to help Jiang Fei.

“Right, all that’s left for me to do is to attend class tomorrow. I should take the lead and greet them instead. I cannot let them disturb my parents and my own private life!” said Jiang Fei to himself.

When the time was nigh, Jiang Fei packed his stuff and headed home. Just when his hand was about to grab the handle of the door, he felt something was terribly wrong.

“Oh no…”

Jiang Fei frowned. Despite being almost inaudible, Jiang Fei’s keen senses allowed him to hear faint chattering from inside the door. There was someone talking to his mother.

Bracing himself, Jiang Fei pulled the door open and lo and behold, there were the twins talking to his mother.

The girls, Yang Po and Yang Qing were there, sitting on the sofa casually talking to his mother. The usual cold Yang Po was rather good looking today. Even though she was quiet and stoic when Jiang Fei first met her, she was different today. She was sitting down elegantly without any signs of her being cold and stoic. She was just… a shy, bashful girl. Yang Qing was… being herself. Usually, she was jumpy and energetic. As she was talking with Jiang Fei’s mother, the effect doubled. Even his mother was engaged in the conversation.

“Oh! It’s Jiang Fei. These two are your new classmates! Guess what? They are living right opposite our place! What a coincidence!” said Jiang Fei’s mother as her eyes lit up.

“O-oh yea. W-What a co-co-coincidence,” said Jiang Fei as he could feel his face cramping. The two were arranged to live there by Han Tianyu, of course it would be such a “coincidence”.

“Haha! Hello big brother Jiang Fei. Your mother and I were just talking about you when you were younger!” said Yang Qing as she showed a photo album with a tag written “Jiang Fei’s Baby Pictures”.

Jiang Fei would very like to cringe but he withheld that emotion as hard as he could. When Yang Qing called him big brother, it was so fakely cute that Jiang Fei could cringe his face off.

“Mom! How could you expose my dark history to a stranger?” exclaimed Jiang Fei. His own mother, showing his embarrassing pictures to a complete stranger. Might as well upload the entire album onto Baidu and let the whole of China know his past.

It was the same when Sun Mengmeng came over. His mother would gladly talk about anything. This simple act of friendly conversation had led him to avoid Sun Mengmeng at all cost. In class, whenever Sun Mengmeng even tried to approach him, he would slide across the classroom like a snake and disappear into the crowd. It was so embarrassing for him that he could never talk to Sun Mengmeng anymore.

Now that his mother had done the same thing with the twins, Jiang Fei had finally accepted his fate and gave in trying to resist.

“Ah. You guys have your chat. This old lady will now make dinner. Please stay with us for dinner!” said Jiang Fei’s mother as she walked away into the kitchen.

When Jiang Fei’s mother was out of sight, Jiang Fei immediately gestured the twins to leave his house. Even though he had agreed with Han Tianyu to try and get the girls, he could not allow his family to be involved in this hostile society.

Yang Qing clearly saw and understood Jiang Fei’s gesture. She stood up and smiled but rushed straight into the kitchen.

“Yay! Thanks auntie! I want to help out too!” cried Yang Qing as she disappeared into the kitchen. (1)

Jiang Fei turned to Yang Po, who was smiling calmly and sweetly, and said, “Come with me.”

Once Jiang Fei led Yang Po into his room, he sat down on his bed, crossed his legs and asked, “What is your goal here? What are the two of you doing in my house?”

Jiang Fei was desperate. There were many things that he could solve on his own and sometimes with the help of Han Tianyu. However, when it came to the safety of his parents, Jiang Fei would not compromise anything to ensure his parent’s wellbeing.

“Hmm,” Yang Po hummed.

She sat down on Jiang Fei’s desk and smiled. It was an innocent smile. The same kind of smile that Yang Qing had always had on her face. The difference was huge. Unlike Yang Qing who was always smiling, seeing Yang Po who never smiled was a refreshing feeling. She… looked beautiful when she smiled. Jiang Fei could not help but stare at her and his heart skipped a beat.

“Cough!”

Jiang Fei realized that he was losing his ground when he stared at her and decided to just… brush it off.

“Jiang Fei, rest assured that we had no intention to cause any harm to your parents. They were merely there when we came to the house to talk to you. In front of your parents, we would be normal girls. We are nothing but classmates. That is all your mother would know,” said Yang Po calmly.

Contrary to her explanation, their plan was to get through his parents in order to secure Jiang Fei. However, when Yang Po saw just how desperate Jiang Fei was when his parents were only slightly involved, Yang Po changed her mind.

The original plan was to slowly make contact and establish a close relationship with Jiang Fei’s parents. Once they were close enough, the twins would introduce them to the world of Metahumans. Through the protection and assistance of the Aquamoon Heavenly Palace, they wanted to provide Jiang Fei’s parents with benefits that even they could not reject. Alas, once it all worked out smoothly, Jiang Fei would be directly involved with them.

“Listen to me very closely. My parents are not going to know about anything related to the alliance, martial arts, fights, mutant, and all the crap that are in this f*cked up society. Whatever you want to do, do not involve my parents. Do you understand?” said Jiang Fei slowly and clearly.

“I understand. Like I said, we are nothing but classmates and a good neighbor. That is all we will ever be,” said Yang Po as she smiled once more.

“Big brother Jiang Fei! Sister! Where are you guys?!” cried Yang Qing from the living room.

“I don’t need to say this twice now. Control your sister, or else,” said Jiang Fei threateningly.

“Or what?” Yang Po interrupted immediately.

At this moment, the door opened and Yang Qing came in.

“Brother Jiang Fei, you shouldn’t be threatening a girl! That’s not very gentleman-like, is it?”

Translator Note:

In most Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Philippine, Indonesia, Japan, China, and many others, people do not directly address an acquaintance’s mother via their names. Instead, they would address someone’s mother as “auntie” and father as “uncle”.