Chapter 121
Chapter 121: Don’t Play Tricks On The Little Brat’s Dad; Others Hit Two Targets, He Hits Eight
“Who needs to match stories?” Before Sui Xuan Chu could open his mouth to answer, Jiang Tea Tea jumped up guiltily and demanded: “That Chong guy, what do you mean? Make it clear!”
Sui Xuan Chu could only think: “????”
[What does he mean? First Hotel?]
[Did his uncle and his roommate meet at First Hotel?]
[Did they sleep together?]
[Is the baby in his roommate’s belly really his uncle’s?]
[No way, no way, no way!]
[His uncle is awesome at fighting and awesome at running a country, but can he also turn a dragon egg baby that should be laid into a live birth that does not need to be hatched outside the body?]
Sui Xuan Chu tried hard to let his eyes drift up to the ceiling instead of staring at Jiang Tea Tea’s belly. His roommate had his little brother or sister in her tummy. Their Golden Dragon royal household would no longer have only two dragons. There was going to be a third Golden Dragon!!
Chong Ming pretended to be surprised and said: “So you two do not need time to match your stories. Good. Go wait for me in my office.”
Jiang Tea Tea started: “I’m not going…”
“Let’s go, let’s go.” Sui Xuan Chu cut her off.
As soon as Jiang Tea Tea started to speak, Sui Xuan Chu grabbed her arm with one hand and put the other around her shoulder. It looked like he was dragging and pulling her, but his movements were gentle as he whispered: “Roommate, stop talking back. You cannot beat him. What if he kicks your belly again later?”
“Who is talking back? I cannot beat him, but if he dares kick my belly again, I will die together with him.” Jiang Tea Tea gritted her teeth.
“You will die together with him? Are you kidding across interstellar space? With that small body of yours, only as tall as three piles of cow dung, he could crush you to death as easily as crushing an ant.” Sui Xuan Chu said.
“Who is only as tall as three piles of cow dung, Sui Xuan Chu? I cannot beat him and cannot kill him, but I can beat you and kill you.” Jiang Tea Tea snapped.
“Killing is against the law. If you kill me, you will have to pay with your life!” Sui Xuan Chu said seriously.
“Ah, let go of me!” Jiang Tea Tea shouted.
“I will let go of you when we get to his office…” Sui Xuan Chu said.
“Don’t force me to hit you.” Jiang Tea Tea warned.
“Hitting people for no reason is also against the law.” Sui Xuan Chu reminded her.
“You remember this. When we go back to the academy, I will kill you.” Jiang Tea Tea said viciously.
“I’m not going back to the academy. I will just stay in his office.” Sui Xuan Chu said cheerfully.
The two of them chattered back and forth like two little brats pecking at each other like chicks all the way as they walked off into the distance and into Chong Ming’s office.
Chong Ming slowly withdrew the gaze that had followed the two of them and lowered it to Li Ao’s face. His military boot still ground into the back of Li Ao’s hand as he opened his mouth and swept away all traces of amusement: “Director Li, the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute has existed for a very long time, and you have served as its director for a long time too. I have trusted you, always thinking that you acted according to the rules, followed the Empire’s Law Code, and studied the patterns of supernatural ability awakenings for the Empire.”
“But your actions have been jumping up and down on my trust.”
The skin on the back of Li Ao’s hand had been ground open by Chong Ming’s boot, blood dripping. He endured the pain, his eyes now clear, no longer crazed and manic over rare variant supernatural abilities.
“Commander in Chief, I have always acted according to the rules. I have never broken regulations or violated the Empire’s Law Code. Everything I do is to make the Empire stronger, to let all of the Empire’s common citizens awaken supernatural abilities and make those abilities stronger. Please, Commander in Chief, see clearly and investigate thoroughly!” Li Ao said.
Chong Ming stood looking down at him, his golden eyes slanting his way, the domineering aura of one in a high position fully on display.
Li Ao was sprawled on the ground with his head raised, yet he did not dare look directly into his eyes. It was not that the pain from his trampled hand or the pain from his face, forehead, and nose that Jiang Tea Tea had beaten kept him from looking up. It was that under the aura of this man in power, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His whole body was sweating yet freezing cold.
Chong Ming spoke in a cold voice and said: “You want me to see clearly and investigate thoroughly. The variant of your hypnosis supernatural ability, close to the legendary Illusion Technique, is one of the most outstanding among the ten supernatural abilities on your body, right?”
Li Ao’s pupils shook, his breathing turning rapid as he stammered: “Commander in Chief, I… I do not understand what you are saying. I do not have ten supernatural abilities. I only have the hypnosis ability and do not know the legendary Illusion Technique…”
Chong Ming’s voice suddenly turned light as he cut him off: “You have swept the ground of the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute very clean, and you have also wiped your own backside very clean.”
“If not for five months ago, when I sent you to the Supremacy Tournament of the thirty Military Academies, and your desire for schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea made you so excited that you were willing to disobey my orders, I would not have known that your hand had reached so far.”
“For the nation, for ordinary common citizens who have not awakened supernatural abilities, for me… hm, or for yourself?”
“You have indeed researched many things about rare abilities and variant abilities. You have written many academic papers and also helped many whose supernatural abilities had stalled to raise their ability levels.”
“But Director Li, are all the people who entered your Supernatural Abilities Research Institute truly volunteering to enter your institute and lying on the dissection table willingly?”
Li Ao’s breathing turned rapid, his heartbeat speeding up, but he still refused to admit anything as he said: “Of course, Commander in Chief. Everything I do meets the rules of the Law Code and follows the regulations of the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute.”
“I have not broken the law or forced anyone. Whether they are rare ability users or ordinary ability users, they all came to the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute of their own free will and willingly signed the waiver to contribute to the cause of supernatural abilities.”
“If you do not believe me, you can send people to investigate. I can provide the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute’s records of the identities, communication information, and home addresses of all ability users who entered in the last hundred years, and I can even provide video footage of when we studied them.”
“As long as you find that I have broken the law, you will not need to arrest me. I will willingly enter the Empire’s prison to be exiled or executed as you wish.”
Chong Ming pressed down with his foot a little harder, and there was a crackling sound as he broke the bones on the back of Li Ao’s hand. He said: “Director Li, do you think that as Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and Prince Regent of the Empire, I lead by example and follow the Empire’s Law Code, and that without hard evidence I will definitely not arrest anyone rashly?”
“You are very confident. You use your hypnosis ability, the legendary Illusion Technique, to confuse and alter the memories of every ability user who enters the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, turning them from unwilling into willing, so they lie on the dissection table and let you cut them up like fish and meat.”
“Even if they leave the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, the memories you have altered will not threaten you and will never let them become witnesses in court to sue you and point you out.”
“No, I did not…” Li Ao tried to argue.
Chong Ming’s voice drowned out Li Ao’s as he gave the order: “Major Ma, take him.”
Da Ma Zi responded at once: “Yes, Commander in Chief.”
Li Ao was so scared he blurted out: “Commander in Chief, I have not broken the law. You have no evidence that I broke the law. Having people take me like this is an abuse of power.”
After he finished speaking, his whole body shook and he regretted it.
[H-how could he question Commander in Chief Chong Ming?]
Da Ma Zi yanked Li Ao over, twisted both his hands behind his back, and snapped on the electric shackles.
Chong Ming looked at him and spoke casually: “Director Li, I said already. You have swept the ground of the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute very clean, and you have wiped your own backside very clean. I also admit that your hypnosis variant, the Illusion Technique, is very powerful and turns every victim into a hero who willingly and for free contributes to the cause of supernatural abilities.”
“Without evidence, imprisoning you, exiling you, or shooting you would only take a few words and a wave of my hand, but that would not convince the people, would not be leading by example, and would bring gossip. It would let other nations use the media to make a fuss and would go against my principles for governing the nation.”
When Li Ao heard this, the heart he had been holding up loosened a little. He comforted himself that since he had no evidence, it was impossible for him to really arrest him.
After speaking, Chong Ming paused and then said: “But you have indeed broken the law, Director Li. Today I am arresting you with full justification.”
Li Ao’s eyes widened as he asked: “What law have I broken?”
Chong Ming’s thin lips lifted slightly and he said: “You have committed the crimes of insulting the Crown Prince and attempting to murder the Crown Prince. Those are major crimes and capital crimes.”
Li Ao’s face was bloody and filled with disbelief as he shouted: “I insulted the Crown Prince? I tried to murder the Crown Prince? Who is the Crown Prince? Where is the Crown Prince?”
Chong Ming reminded him: “Where is the Crown Prince? Did you not just see him a few minutes ago? Did you not just insult him as only a small Military Academies student who does not know how high the sky is?”
[That Military Academies student.]
[That Military Academies student who shouted at him and protected Jiang Tea Tea was the Crown Prince in disguise!]
Li Ao’s body began to tremble violently as he said: “I did not insult him. I did not try to murder him. It was his schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea who beat me until I was covered in injuries. I want to sue Jiang Tea Tea for intentional harm, for trying to murder me.”
Chong Ming’s tone was meaningful as he said: “Oh, schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea beat you and tried to murder you? No, she was not beating you and was not trying to murder you. She was only doing the duty that every common citizen of the Empire should do. When she saw someone trying to murder the Crown Prince, she unconditionally protected the Crown Prince.”
“And you, Director Li Ao of the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, in order to bait schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea, who has a variant plant-type ability, came to block her at the Imperial Military Headquarters in your free time, trying to force her to go with you to the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute. The Crown Prince was unwilling, so you insulted the Crown Prince and tried to murder the Crown Prince.”
“The cause and effect of arresting you like this is not far-fetched, is it?”
Li Ao’s legs went weak, but Da Ma Zi was holding him so they did not buckle all the way to the floor. His mind, however, was perfectly clear. He knew he could not get lucky and could not escape. “So, Commander in Chief Chong Ming, you started to suspect me more than five months ago, but because I had swept the ground clean and wiped my backside clean, you did not find any evidence.”
“Even if you found some ability users who had stayed in the institute, the healers under you could not undo the hypnosis variant, the Illusion Technique, that I put on them.”
“But you still wanted to arrest me and lock me up. Because I am the director of the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute and have some influence in the academic world of supernatural abilities, you could not just arrest me and lock me up at will.”
“So today you let me come here and let me see the rare variant plant-type ability user Jiang Tea Tea.”
“You calculated correctly that my desire for her would make me lose my reason as soon as I saw her and that I would want to drag her into the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, want to possess her variant plant-type ability, want to have her sort out all of my messy different abilities.”
“You set up a trap for me, one that lets you arrest me with a clear conscience and in a just and open way, then have Jiang Tea Tea break my hypnosis variant, the Illusion Technique, and make me admit all the crimes I have committed for more than a hundred years!”
Chong Ming did not deny a single word he said. He asked him: “Director Li, Cheng Yuan was your teacher’s most proud and favorite last student. He was your youngest junior schoolmate.”
“His innate talent was better than yours, and his ability level was higher than yours. You used to be your teacher’s pride, but after your teacher had him, he became your teacher’s pride.”
“You, who have to compete for first place in everything, fell from being your teacher’s number one favored student to number two. For other people, such a change would either pass with a laugh or be something to feel proud of, but for you it was a gap you could not cross.”
“You were jealous. You envied him. You used his trust in you to trick him into the Supernatural Abilities Research Institute and let him lie on the dissection table. Your variant hypnosis Illusion Technique ability is his. You ripped it off him in blood and made it your own, didn’t you?”