Chapter 115
Chapter 115: It’s Over, It’s Over—He Knew Everything. Jiang Tea Tea Was Terrified and Ready to Run
Jiang Tea Tea went stiff.
“You found the woman who spent the night with you at First Winehouse?” she blurted, the words spilling out before her brain could catch up.
Panic hit hard and fast. She knew too much—what happened at First Winehouse, what happened at First Hotel, and why Capital Planet had lit up with cub distress signals in seven different places.
On the screen, Chong Ming didn’t even blink. He watched her fear take shape, calm as ever, then continued the bluff like it was truth.
“Yes,” he said evenly. “I found her.”
“Are you coming to the Military Department yourself, or do you want me to come pick you up personally?”
Jiang Tea Tea met his golden gaze, and guilt crawled up her spine like cold insects.
The nutrient fruit slipped from her fingers and dropped to the floor. The basket balanced on her belly shifted, then tipped over too, fruit tumbling out in a soft scatter.
Her heart hammered.
Inside her, the cubs sensed her terror and stirred, churning and kicking until her breath turned shallow.
Jiang Tea Tea stopped lounging and sat up straight, forcing herself to sound steady. “No need. I’ll come myself.”
Steady. Steady, steady, steady.
She was a demon. If it came down to it, she could shrink into her smallest true form, find a dense forest, root herself deep into the earth, and survive—cubs included.
Chong Ming’s lips curved faintly. “Good.”
“I’ll open your access to the Military Department. Fly directly in and dock with my office window.”
Then he paused, like he was giving her one last chance to be smart, and added, “Guang Mao Mountain Resort Hotel is about three hundred kilometers from the Military Department. At full speed, your flyer won’t take an hour.”
“I’m giving you an hour and a half.”
So confident. So sure of himself.
He knew she’d spent the night with him.
Where had she slipped? How had he found out?
Jiang Tea Tea sent her warmest regards to Chong Ming’s ancestors for eighteen generations, then tried to buy time.
“I still have to eat,” she said, forcing a casual tone. “I’ll be there in three hours.”
Chong Ming didn’t give her even a second to breathe. “Come to the Military Department. I’ll cook for you personally.”
Jiang Tea Tea inhaled sharply.
A brittle laugh scraped out of her throat. “Y-You’re busy. You’re working nonstop. How could I make you cook for me?”
“There’s plenty of food at the Treehouse Hotel,” she rushed on. “I’ll eat here and then come. No trouble. No trouble at all.”
Did he only know about that night?
Or did he know about the cubs, too?
Why would he cook for her? Was it a meal… or was it a last meal?
Heaven. Earth. Heavenly Dao. Grandmother. Somebody save her.
Was this karma for her stunt—spreading cub distress scent and thinking she could outplay a dragon?
Chong Ming’s voice stayed calm, like everything was already decided. “No matter how much food the Treehouse Hotel has, it can’t compare to Military Department supply.”
“One hour, Jiang Tea Tea, classmate.”
“If you’re not in my office within one hour, I’ll take my warship and come personally to invite you.”
To Jiang Tea Tea, that translated cleanly into: If I don’t see you in an hour, I’ll bring a warship, flatten your hiding place, grab you, drag you into a lab, strap you down, dissect you, and let you die.
She forced out two hollow laughs, agreed, and ended the call.
The second the screen went dark, she sprang off the sofa. One hand pressed her belly, the other raked through her hair as she paced the treehouse like a trapped animal.
Cheng Lin Yue watched the whole call. Her eyes tracked Jiang Tea Tea’s frantic circles. A bold, terrifying guess formed in her mind.
She didn’t dare say it.
After a few minutes, Jiang Tea Tea stopped abruptly, lifted her chin, and stared at a point in the air like she could see him through the walls.
“Chong Ming,” she said coldly. “You’re monitoring me. Real-time surveillance. Watching my every move.”
In his office, Chong Ming’s fingers moved across his lightbrain.
A message popped up on hers almost instantly.
“You tell me.”
Jiang Tea Tea saw it and exploded. “Get lost!”
Chong Ming shut down the satellite feed.
Then he pressed his intercom. “Adjutant Ai. Notify the Capital Planet’s three major space stations. Increase inspection on all passengers departing on off-world routes.”
“Deploy additional invisibility detection instruments. Prevent anyone from using invisibility to board a ship and leave the Capital Planet.”
Adjutant Ai answered immediately. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief.”
Jiang Tea Tea stopped pacing.
Sitting still would get her killed.
Walking into Old Loach’s hands would get her killed too.
She glanced at Cheng Lin Yue and headed for the bathroom.
Cheng Lin Yue rushed after her, still thinking about adding more jammers—even inside the bathroom.
Jiang Tea Tea raised a hand across her belly to stop her. “No need. Chong Ming’s real-time satellite surveillance doesn’t cover bathrooms.”
Cheng Lin Yue froze, swallowed hard, and whispered, “Sister Tea… why is Chong Ming monitoring you like that?”
“Because he’s protecting my safety,” Jiang Tea Tea said smoothly.
She almost sounded convincing. “He’s afraid someone from another country will kidnap a 3S-rank mutant plant awakener and cause the empire a massive loss.”
Cheng Lin Yue’s voice trembled. “H-How long has he been doing it?”
“Over three months,” Jiang Tea Tea said.
Cheng Lin Yue’s breath caught. Panic rose like a tide. “Th-Then… does that mean he already knows about your belly—”
Jiang Tea Tea cut her off. “He didn’t before. Now… I can’t be sure.”
Cheng Lin Yue swayed like she might faint. “Sister Tea… y-you… he… what do we do?”
She’d spent months assuming the cubs belonged to Sui Xuan Chu. Sister Tea had denied it, so Cheng Lin Yue had spent those months cursing whichever trash dragon did this and then abandoned her.
And now…
Now it looked like the trash dragon she’d been cursing was her male idol—the one she’d once dreamed of marrying.
Which meant the cubs inside Sister Tea were Golden Dragon imperial clan. Royal. A bomb that could blow up the galaxy.
Cheng Lin Yue felt like she knew too much.
Luckily, this was a lawful society. Luckily, Sister Tea was gentle.
Otherwise, Cheng Lin Yue would already be dead.
Jiang Tea Tea set a firm hand on her shoulder, expression so serious it forced Cheng Lin Yue to stop spiraling.
“Don’t panic,” she said. “I’m going to run.”
Cheng Lin Yue’s fear turned into pure horror. “Run? Sister Tea, satellites are watching you in real time. Where can you run?”
“And your cubs are almost seven months now. Dragon Clan pregnancies usually last ten to fifteen months. That means your cubs could be born in as little as three months… or as long as eight.”
“And you’re not like other Dragon Clan females. Others lay eggs and incubate them outside the body.”
“Your cubs… they don’t have shells because they lack the dad’s psychic soothing. You’re going to give birth to living dragon hatchlings.”
“I’m not a scholar,” she rushed on, voice shaking, “but I asked my uncle. From ancient times to now, nobody has ever heard of a Dragon Clan cub being born as a living hatchling. If anything goes wrong, your cubs could die.”
“So maybe… maybe we should apologize to Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming. They’re his cubs—and there’s more than one. He can’t be irresponsible. He won’t hit you—”
Jiang Tea Tea’s smile turned thin, half joking and half deadly serious. “He won’t hit me,” she said. “He’ll hit my belly.”
Cheng Lin Yue’s face went white. “He hit your belly? When? When did he hit your belly?”
“Is that why your cubs don’t have shells? Did he hit you back when you first got pregnant?”
Her imagination ran wild, building a tragedy all by itself. “I knew it. Even if your ability is a mutant, you’re still a pure female. Dragon Clan marry pure human females all the time. I’ve never heard of a cub not forming a shell if the pregnancy is normal.”
“So it really is because he hit you. No wonder you hid it. No wonder you didn’t make him take responsibility. Beast God above—Chong Ming is unbelievable. You can never judge someone by their face. How could he do that?”
Jiang Tea Tea opened her mouth, then shut it again.
She didn’t need to say anything. Cheng Lin Yue had already lied for her.
Perfect.
Jiang Tea Tea squeezed Cheng Lin Yue’s shoulder and spoke with heavy gravity. “I’ve thought about apologizing to him. I’ve thought about admitting the truth.”
“But I’m afraid that if I confess, he’ll think I hid it on purpose.”
“You know I have more than one ability type. You know there’s more than one cub.”
“And the Golden Dragon imperial clan has always had few heirs. If I confess now, he’ll want me to keep giving birth to strengthen the royal line. What if he makes me keep having cubs over and over?”
“And even if he doesn’t… what if he sends me to a lab because my ability is a mutant?”
“You remember the 30-school military academy championship. He even brought the Ability Research Institute director. Why did he bring him? Who was he looking for? What would he do if he found them—”
“Stop,” Cheng Lin Yue cut in, trembling. “Run. Run. That’s terrifying. It’s too terrifying.”
“My uncle… my uncle used to be in the Ability Research Institute. He was there for ten years.”
“Ten years,” she repeated hoarsely. “He was studied for ten years.”
“He couldn’t contact us. The institute contacted us—always good news, never bad. If my dad hadn’t missed him so much that he went to see him himself, we never would’ve known what kind of hell he was living through.”
“Even though it’s been twenty or thirty years, my uncle still hasn’t escaped the shadow. He rarely leaves home. He sleeps with lights on. If he sees strangers, he flinches and hides.”
“He’s still single. It’s conditioned into him. At night, he can’t sleep if there’s anyone else in the room.”
“He spends all day in that tiny space of his, acting like he’s obsessed with research. But really, he’s terrified. He keeps himself busy so he won’t think.”
Cheng Lin Yue grabbed Jiang Tea Tea’s hands. “Go. Go to my uncle. Go to Chang Sheng Star. His medical skills are terrifying. When you give birth, he can take care of you.”
“And he can make Dragon Clan forbidden drugs. Color-changing potions. Dragon blood transformation pills.”
Jiang Tea Tea hesitated. “I won’t go to your uncle. If I do, I’ll implicate you and implicate him.”
“From now on, anything I do has nothing to do with you. If Chong Ming comes after you, blame everything on me—”
“I have an amnesia potion,” Cheng Lin Yue blurted.
She pulled a small vial from her storage button. “My uncle made it. Drink it and you can selectively forget certain things. It lasts for three months.”
“If you run, I’ll drink it. I’ll forget that you’re pregnant. I’ll forget that you were going to my uncle. Even if Chong Ming has someone hypnotize me, I won’t be able to remember.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. My uncle is a black medic. He’s better than you think. In some areas he’s even better than Jin Lao.”
“But—”
“No ‘but,'” Cheng Lin Yue said, voice cracking with fierce resolve. “You can’t get taken to the Ability Research Institute.”
“That’s not a place for humans—or anyone—to live.”
“My dad regrets every day that he didn’t go see my uncle sooner and bring him home.”
“I refuse to repeat my dad’s regrets. I refuse to watch you—my good friend, my good teammate, my good classmate—be dragged into the Ability Research Institute and turned into Uncle 2.0.”
She rattled off the timetable like she’d memorized it in blood. “At 4:50 p.m., Zhong Xin Space Station has a ship departing for Chang Sheng Star. Use your invisibility. Use blink shift. Go now!”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded once, hard. “Fine. I’ll go.”
She left the bathroom.
Cheng Lin Yue followed her to the door, watched her climb into her flyer, and stood there until the flyer vanished into the sky.
She didn’t dare message her uncle. She was terrified Chong Ming would trace her communications and find her uncle… and then find Jiang Tea Tea.
Zhong Xin Space Station and the Military Department shared the same direction for the first hundred kilometers. After that, the routes diverged.
Jiang Tea Tea set her flyer to auto-pilot and opened her lightbrain account.
Inside it sat the Jiang family’s compensation: one billion.
In the past, she’d donated money and earned merit. Now, while fleeing for her life, she needed merit to support her magic power and help her escape.
So she donated the full one billion without blinking—sending it to the same orphanage Jia Qian Jin had donated to before.
The moment the orphanage received the donation, Jiang Tea Tea felt merit pour in from all directions, flooding into her body. It nourished her. It reinforced her magic power.
The cubs loved it too. She could feel their delight, their excited wriggling.
She knew there were satellites watching her around the clock. She knew her flyer was under Chong Ming’s real-time monitoring.
When the flyer reached the point where the route to the Military Department and the route to Zhong Xin Space Station split, she prepared to use shrink the earth to an inch and blink shift away.
But before she could—
Eight fighter jets materialized around her flyer.
They appeared from invisibility, surrounding her from all directions: front, back, left, right, above, below.
Then a voice came through their speakers.
“Hello, Jiang Tea Tea, classmate. We are the warplane guard squad under Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s bodyguard unit. By the commander-in-chief’s order, we are here to escort you.”
“Please remain seated. Switch your flyer to auto-pilot. For the next two hundred kilometers, we will escort you fully and ensure you are not harmed in any way.”
“Of course, if you do not require our escort, we can contact Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming and have him personally come to receive you and escort you to the Military Department!”