Chapter 124

Chapter 124: Old Loach Found Out He Had a Cub—Calm, Rational, Domineering, Forceful, and Even Teasing

Chong Ming’s golden eyes tightened, hard and sharp, fixed on her belly.

His voice dipped, heavy with something she couldn’t name. “Less than seven months…”

Jiang Tea Tea’s voice died in her throat. Her eyes widened. Her heart began to race, pounding hard enough to hurt.

The room went eerily still. The office felt enormous, empty, as if the only sound left in the world was the friction of their breathing.

After a long moment, Jiang Tea Tea forced out a stiff explanation, desperate and thin. “I meant… I meant my mutant ability awakened less than seven months ago.”

“Not… not that the cub is less than seven months.”

The moment she finished, she wanted to slap herself.

She was going to die.

She was going to die because of her own damn mouth.

She retorted at everything. She answered everything. One day, that mouth was going to kill her.

If he didn’t believe her ridiculous excuse and dragged her to an examination…

Could she escape?

She only had thirty percent of her power back. She could, right? She had to.

Chong Ming forced his gaze away from her abdomen. It took visible effort. Then he stood and walked toward her.

Every step in combat boots sounded like a detonator in Jiang Tea Tea’s ears.

She backed up. And kept backing up. Until there was nowhere left to go.

She threw out a threat, voice sharp. “Chong, stop. One more step and I won’t be polite.”

He didn’t pause.

He kept walking until he stood right in front of her.

The height difference swallowed her. His body leaned in, shadowing her.

Panic punched through her chest. She dropped onto the sofa, breath coming faster. “Did you use mental pressure on me?”

Did he just use mental pressure on the cubs—soothing them, probing them, confirming whether they were his?

Bastard.

He hadn’t known for sure. He’d been baiting her. He’d calculated that she couldn’t keep her mouth shut, that she’d snap back at anything, and he’d herded her straight into blurting the truth.

Chong Ming looked down at her, expression unreadable. “I didn’t use mental pressure on you.”

And yet the cubs inside her felt… happy. Comfortable. Restless.

That restless, lively comfort felt exactly like the last time they’d absorbed his soothing power.

Jiang Tea Tea’s stomach twisted.

She understood.

The closer he got, the more those ungrateful cubs sensed him—and got excited.

The father was a bastard. The cubs were little bastards too. She was going to explode.

Chong Ming’s voice returned, deliberate. “Less than seven months.”

He bent down, one hand bracing on the sofa. His golden eyes held hers, and the closeness made his words feel like a verdict.

“At the 30-School Military Academy Championship, you were taken by the insect clan. Jiang Yi Cheng hit you. That was the cub’s distress signal.”

“A few days ago at Royal Military Academy, you soothed Huang Da Zhuang and the others—calmed their backlash, combed through their mental power until you nearly overused your ability. That was the cub’s distress signal.”

“Today, those distress signals across seven locations on Capital Planet were also from it.” His gaze sharpened. “Jiang Tea Tea, in less than two hours you crossed three thousand kilometers and made it cry for help again.”

“What are you even talking about?” Jiang Tea Tea snapped.

Power surged around her hand. She struck fast, sharp enough to leave an afterimage.

“Get lost!”

Chong Ming caught her wrist with ease. He pinned her hand to the sofa’s backrest, then shifted in one smooth movement—one knee on the sofa, a long leg braced, trapping her legs and caging her under his body.

Her thirty percent power had nowhere to go. She couldn’t get leverage. She couldn’t break free.

Her heartbeat thudded against her ribs, frantic.

She jerked her chin up in pure stubbornness. “Whether I’m ‘impressive’ has nothing to do with you. I don’t need your praise.”

“Yes, I have cubs. So what? Am I not allowed to have cubs?”

“What law did I break that has Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming interrogating me personally?”

Chong Ming’s grip tightened. His voice lowered. “The cub is mine—”

“Not!” Jiang Tea Tea snapped without thinking.

Chong Ming’s eyes darkened. “Sui Xuan Chu’s?”

The cubs were in her belly. The advantage was hers.

So she lied, shamelessly. “Yes. His.”

Chong Ming didn’t blink. “Your friendship isn’t that sturdy. You didn’t coordinate your story well. He won’t dare carry that blame for you.”

Jiang Tea Tea wanted to smash his face in. Kick the calm right off him.

She glared. “Whether he carries it or not is his problem.”

“What, are you going to prove it’s not his by throwing me into the Ability Research Institute? Letting Li Ao dissect me and cut the cubs out to test whose they are?”

Even if she was afraid of Chong Ming—

Afraid because she couldn’t beat him—

She still had pride. She still had dignity. If it came down to it, she’d rather die than let him dance on her face.

Chong Ming looked like he wanted to laugh, but the sound never came. “When did I ever say I would send you to the Ability Research Institute and tie you to a dissection table?”

Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes flared. “You’re denying it?”

“Then let me ask.” Her words came sharp and vicious. “Which bastard saw me eating a lot and decided I was sick, constantly trying to drag a healer to me?”

“And which dog sees me and immediately starts probing—asking how many ability types I’ve awakened, again and again?”

Chong Ming’s expression tightened for a rare instant—something like fatigue flickering through. Then he said evenly, “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, by medical standards, excessive overthinking really is a disease.”

“You’re the one with a disease,” Jiang Tea Tea spat. “You, and your whole family.”

Chong Ming lifted his gaze. “Your ‘whole family’ includes the one in your belly?”

Jiang Tea Tea exploded. “The one in my belly is mine. It has nothing to do with you. Stop flattering yourself and let me go!”

Compared to her fury, Chong Ming was a calm lake. His voice turned slower, lower—almost soothing.

“Fine. Calm down and listen.”

“First: I suspected you were the female who stayed with me at First Hotel. But I didn’t smell my dragon scent on you, so I ruled you out.”

“Second: I thought you might be sick because you ate so much. Those cases exist. People who don’t get treated in time can literally overeat until their stomach ruptures.”

“Third: at the 30-School Military Academy Championship, your performance was far beyond my expectations for a Commander-in-Chief candidate.”

“I asked you more than once how many abilities you’d awakened. You refused to tell me and bared your teeth at me. So I continued to probe.”

“But I wasn’t probing because I wanted to send you to the Ability Research Institute, dissect you, and steal your abilities.”

“I was probing because I needed to know what you can do—so I could build a training plan tailored to you.”

“So I could push you toward the Commander-in-Chief position.”