Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Dog of a Man, You’re Vicious—You Snapped Every Branch of a Tree Demon
Adjutant Ai and Da Ma Zi traded a look after Elder Jin spoke. The excitement on their faces was impossible to hide—so obvious it bordered on disbelief.
His Highness was the strongest mental power wielder in the dragon clan, the most powerful of all beastfolk. With no mate, every year during mating season his entire state turned restless and bloodthirsty. When his mental power surged, sheer self-control wasn’t enough—he needed an outlet, and violence was the simplest one.
This time, spending a night at the First Hotel was supposed to handle it. Could the First Hotel really be some legendary lucky feng shui spot?
Adjutant Ai’s gaze snagged on Chong Ming’s neck, and his thoughts derailed. Why was His Highness injured? Several fresh gashes scored his skin, red and raw, as if they’d been made moments ago.
Chong Ming’s eyes swept over Adjutant Ai and Da Ma Zi like frost. The two of them dropped their gazes at once, standing straight and still, faces blank with the practiced obedience of men who’d learned exactly when to stop breathing.
“Elder Jin,” Chong Ming said, voice low. “What plant is this?”
He took out a tender green twig, a little longer than his middle finger. Two young leaves clung to it, curled inward as if they’d been scorched.
Elder Jin reached out with both hands, as if receiving something sacred. He examined it carefully, then brought it to his nose.
A faint, clean fragrance slid into his lungs. In an instant, his head cleared. His eyes brightened, and his mental power—usually sluggish and cluttered at his age—felt as if someone had combed it smooth, straightened strand by strand.
Elder Jin’s pupils dilated. “Your Highness! This contains mental power. It’s a rare wood-type mental power!”
Chong Ming’s voice dropped into ice, cutting him off mid-burst. “Elder Jin, I asked whether you recognize what plant it is. I didn’t ask whether this twig contains wood-type mental power.”
Elder Jin swallowed hard, his excitement crushed by sheer pressure. “My apologies, Your Highness. I’m lacking in knowledge. I haven’t studied plants much, and I can’t determine what kind of plant carries this wood-type mental power.”
He hesitated, then added quickly, “However, I do know some botanists. If Your Highness needs it, you could give me this twig and I can ask them to identify it.”
Chong Ming didn’t answer. He only held out his hand.
Elder Jin’s heart sank. Heat rushed to his face as he hurriedly offered the twig back with both hands. His Highness was the Commander-in-Chief and the Prince Regent—if he wanted the best botanists in the empire, one order would put them at attention in front of him. Elder Jin’s “help” was laughably unnecessary.
Chong Ming took the twig back and looked at Elder Jin. “When you examined my body just now, did you find anything abnormal?”
“I found something,” Elder Jin admitted. “But I can’t be certain. I need instruments for a detailed scan before I can reach a conclusion.”
Chong Ming’s gaze sharpened. “Say it.”
Elder Jin wavered, caught between what he’d felt and what he believed should be possible. “Your Highness… after examining you, I found your mental power seems to have been combed by someone.”
He rushed on, as if speed could outrun his own doubt. “But if I think about it, even the best soothing therapist in the empire—someone with 2S-rank mental power—still wouldn’t be able to comb yours.”
Chong Ming’s mouth curved faintly. “Is that so?”
Elder Jin’s eyes lit up, hope surging. “Your Highness, you mean—”
“I don’t mean anything.” Chong Ming rose, the movement crisp and final. His voice, rough with fatigue, dropped into command. “Adjutant Ai. Investigate everyone who checked into the First Hotel starting last night.”
Adjutant Ai snapped to attention.
“Any female human with space or invisibility abilities,” Chong Ming continued, “and any female half beastfolk or beastfolk—pay special attention. When you find them, bring their files to me.”
Elder Jin’s mind went blank.
His Highness’s mental power really had been combed. And the owner of that tender green twig… a top-tier wood-type ability user?
This was the kind of news that could blow up across the empire.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Adjutant Ai said, voice sharp.
Chong Ming strode out in combat boots, broad-shouldered and long-legged, his aura cold and overwhelming. The scratches on his neck weren’t hidden at all—displayed openly, as if he didn’t care who saw them.
The guards outside snapped into formation and saluted in unison. They followed as he headed up to the top floor, boarded a military flyer, left the First Hotel, and went straight to the Military Department.
—
Hidden beneath trees and flowering shrubs, Jiang Tea Tea’s true body lay concealed.
Roots plunged into the soil, drinking in nutrients for hours. Slowly, she rebuilt herself—branches withdrawing, bark smoothing, the outline of a human taking shape again.
The soreness faded. The lingering scent left by the great demon who’d taken her—whoever the hell he was—vanished as if scrubbed away.
She stretched lazily, cast an invisibility spell, and slipped out from the greenery. Climbing into a flyer, she started it and headed back to school.
Jiang Tea Tea—known here as the “fake heiress”—was a first-year student in the Pacification Department of the Royal Military Academy.
The Pacification Department’s first-year cohort had six classes. Outside of Class 6, students in the other five classes all had ability grades at C-rank or above.
Only Class 6 was different: students below C-rank, and even some who hadn’t awakened any abilities at all—humans, half beastfolk, and beastfolk alike.
Her seat sat in the farthest back corner.
The moment Jiang Tea Tea stepped into the classroom, the previously noisy room went dead silent. Every gaze fixed on her—some openly hostile, others sharp with malicious intent.
There were only twenty-one students total, and the classroom was huge, desks scattered with more empty space than people. And yet, under Jiang Yi Zhu and Chu Ming’s instigation, they’d still managed to bully the fake heiress into the most isolated corner possible.
Jiang Tea Tea couldn’t help thinking, Holy shit. That’s almost impressive.
She walked to her seat under the weight of those stares, steady and unhurried.
Someone who’d been itching for a show stuck out a foot, eager to watch her crash face-first onto the floor.
Jiang Tea Tea stopped cold.
She looked down at the extended foot, then up at its owner—Lu Ling Er, a beastfolk girl with a C-rank ability.
“Lu Ling Er,” Jiang Tea Tea said calmly, “your beast form is a sika deer. Four hooves. When you run, you prance and bounce—cute. Looks good, too.”
Lu Ling Er’s expression twitched.
Jiang Tea Tea’s voice stayed mild. “I’ve never wronged you. You’ve never been wronged by me. But you hear a few nasty whispers and decide I must be trash, so you go out of your way to make things hard for me.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “The old me swallowed it and moved on. The current me can’t stand even a breath of injustice.”
She tipped her chin toward the foot. “Pull your hoof back right now. If you don’t… I’ll step on it and break it. And if you can’t hop afterward, don’t blame me.”
The fake heiress had no abilities—she was never meant to win against ability users.
But Jiang Tea Tea was a tea tree demon.
Even with only two-tenths of her magic power restored, everyone in this classroom combined still wouldn’t be enough to take her down.
This warning—this “kindness”—was already repayment for the fake heiress’s sacrifice.
Lu Ling Er shot to her feet, face flushing with rage. She reached out to shove Jiang Tea Tea. “Jiang Tea Tea, you useless trash with no abilities—who the hell do you think you are to provoke me—”
Jiang Tea Tea moved first.
Before Lu Ling Er’s hand could touch her, Jiang Tea Tea caught her wrist, twisted, and slammed it down onto the desk.
Bang.
The desk exploded into splinters.
Then—crack.
Lu Ling Er’s wrist snapped.
Jiang Tea Tea released her with an expression of exaggerated shock and took two quick steps back. “Lu Ling Er… your hand is amazing. You broke such a hard desk.”
In the M31 Star System, whether human or beastfolk, bones were absurdly fragile. A little force in the wrong direction and something broke.
She’d have to be careful next time. Snapping wrists and ankles this casually was a bit too violent. It didn’t exactly scream gentle.
Lu Ling Er’s face went paper-white. She stared at the shattered desk as if the world had flipped upside down. Royal Military Academy desks were built tough—rumor said even an S-rank ability user couldn’t break one.
And she’d shattered it with a flick.
Lu Ling Er’s eyes snapped up. “Jiang Tea Tea. You’re finished.”
Her little clique surged forward, surrounding Jiang Tea Tea, expressions vicious.
“You dare break Ling’er’s wrist? Then we’ll break both of yours!”
“Yeah! Jiang Tea Tea, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the way you knelt in the bathroom and begged us!”
“Come on—drag her to the bathroom. Today we’ll show her who the boss of Class 6 really is!”
Bathroom bullying. Timeless. Pathetic. Couldn’t they at least be original?
When the girls reached out to shove her, Jiang Tea Tea’s lips curved. She gave them a smile so pure it looked harmless.
“No need to push,” she said. “I’ll walk.”
The girls hesitated, thrown off.
Jiang Tea Tea turned and headed for the door on her own. When she reached it and realized no one had followed, she looked back, eyebrows lifted in impatience.
“Aren’t you going to teach me a lesson? Hurry up,” she said brightly. “Don’t waste my time. I’ve got studying to do—self-improvement and all that!”