Chapter 131
Chapter 131: Using Forbidden Drugs to Catch Dragons—Catching the Crown Prince, Old Loach’s Mate, and Cub
Asais’s breathing hitched. She lifted her chin, and her fake golden eyes returned to green. “Commander-in-Chief, you really are as hateful as ever!”
Chong Ming didn’t miss a beat. “Likewise.”
Asais crushed down the violent urge in her chest, refusing to let her hands turn into claws and slash at him. “Name your terms. I’ll do my best to agree.”
Chong Ming blinked slowly, gold lashes lowering. “I thought Your Highness already knew my terms. So you don’t? Looks like you haven’t been paying attention. In that case, there’s no point in my saying more. I won’t be hosting you. Go back to the hotel and rest—”
“I’ll consider it.” Asais cut him off. “I’ll apply to my Empress Mother. I’ll do everything possible to cede you an entire star system.”
He held the leverage. She was completely at a disadvantage. And time was running out.
Chong Ming’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Then I’ll await Your Highness’s good news. Secretary Wen, escort Your Highness back. Treat her well. Don’t be negligent.”
Secretary Wen stepped forward at once. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief.”
Chong Ming strode away without looking back.
Asais nearly smashed the table in rage. Bastard. Scum. The day she sat on the throne as Insect Empress would be the day she invaded the Zhen Lin Empire.
When that day came, she would peel Chong Ming—slice by slice—until there was nothing left of him but regret.
At the shooting range, the teacher shut down the livestream, clapped, and addressed the eight of them. “Classmates, today’s assignment: write an analysis of Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s attitude toward traitors and how he ensures our people never forget old blood feuds. Minimum eight thousand words.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared blankly. “What?”
Their class had been about firearms—disassembly and familiarization. They’d only watched the execution stream for thirty or forty minutes.
How did that become an eight-thousand-word essay about Old Loach Chong Ming’s behavior?
Yeah. No. Whoever wanted to write it could write it. She wasn’t.
The teacher paused, then added, “All right. Ten minutes for the restroom and water. Then we continue with the afternoon course.”
The eight of them climbed up from the ground. Some ran for the restroom. Some went to drink. When they regrouped, there was still time before class resumed, and they immediately began to wail.
“Eight thousand words. Is the teacher insane?”
“Eight thousand words off the cuff? I can’t write that.”
“Like I can,” someone scoffed. “We’re learning guns. If you didn’t know better, you’d think we’re in politics class.”
“What do we do?”
“Sui Xuan Chu,” someone asked, “what do we do?”
Sui Xuan Chu looked like his soul had left his body. “What do we do? If it comes down to it, we get outside help.”
The other seven swarmed him. “Outside help? We can get outside help? Who?”
He spat out two words. “My uncle.”
Jiang Tea Tea narrowed her eyes and delivered the question like a guillotine. “You sure your uncle can write eight thousand words?”
If Chong Ming could write her eight thousand words, then maybe he could. Eight thousand more, eight thousand less—it didn’t matter.
If Sui Xuan Chu could ask, she could ask too.
Huang Da Zhuang and Cheng Xiao Ting leaned in, curious. “Sui Xuan Chu, can your uncle really write eight thousand words?”
“If he can, can he write for us too?”
“Yeah, yeah. If that’s true, have your uncle write ours too!”
“Sui Xuan Chu, your uncle is our uncle. You’re his big nephew, we’re his big nephews too. Let him help us!”
Sui Xuan Chu spat a single word. “Get lost.”
He wasn’t saying it for them.
He was saying it for his roommate.
Let his roommate go ask his uncle.
He was doing his best to create a chance for his uncle and his roommate to talk a little, to close the distance.
What business did these idiots have sticking their noses in?
If they ever found out his uncle was their idol—no, their male idol—they’d die on the spot.
Huang Da Zhuang, Cheng Xiao Ting, and the other guys immediately dogpiled him, laughing as they wrestled him down.
“Not getting lost!”
“Not getting lost!”
“Even if you beat us to death, we’re not getting lost!”
“Teamwork, man! If you’ve got someone to write yours, drag us along!”
Pinned to the ground, Sui Xuan Chu couldn’t break free or even get a word out.
Jiang Tea Tea seized the opening. She opened her Lightbrain, pulled up Chong Ming’s contact, typed fast, and sent a message.
At the Military Department, Chong Ming had only just finished lunch and sat down to handle official work when his Lightbrain gave a special vibration alert.
He opened it, narrowed his golden eyes, and stared at the screen in silence for a long moment. Then the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile.
He projected a virtual keyboard and began typing, fingers moving with effortless speed.
“Go check,” he ordered as he typed.
Asais returned to her hotel and vented her fury at her escort officer. “Go check why Chong Ming knows my situation inside the Insect Clan.”
“Go check how many moles he planted. How else could he know my sisters are eyeing my Crown Princess position?”
“Go check who his mate is. And who his cub is.”
“We can skip capturing that 3S mutant plant-type Jiang Tea Tea, but we must capture his mate, his cub, and the Crown Prince.”
“I won’t allow that bastard Chong Ming to shit on my head. And I won’t allow the dignity of the Insect Clan Crown Princess to be worthless in front of him.”
“I don’t care how you do it. Five days. In five days, find me his mate and his cub. If you can’t…” Her smile turned sharp. “…you all die.”
The escort officers answered as if facing a blade at their throats. “Yes, Your Highness.”
Within the hour, the Insect Clan infiltrators hidden on the Zhen Lin Empire’s capital planet received the new command: at any cost, locate Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s mate, his cub, and the Crown Prince.
Chong Ming finished the last sentence, skimmed the entire eight-thousand-word document in a blink, and sent it to Jiang Tea Tea. Immediately after, he received a real-time surveillance image from Cai Xi Chao.
He studied it for a moment, made several internal calls, issued quiet orders, and returned to his work as if nothing had happened.
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t see the document until after the afternoon firearms drills. When she finally opened it, she shouted, “Sui Xuan Chu! Come look!”
Sui Xuan Chu shot over, leaned in, and froze as if struck by lightning. “You-you-you… he-he-he… you guys… no way.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at his face like someone had just murdered his uncle and felt her mood brighten. She nodded, cheerful as sunlight. “Yep. I did it your way. It worked perfectly.”
Perfect, my ass.
He’d said it casually. He thought if Jiang Tea Tea asked his uncle, it would happen later tonight, maybe with a little conversation—enough to draw them closer.
He did not expect her to ask immediately.
He did not expect his uncle to actually write it.
What happened to the iron-faced, fair, impartial Commander-in-Chief?
This was disgusting double standards.
Sui Xuan Chu still didn’t believe it. He swiped through Jiang Tea Tea’s Lightbrain twice. The timestamps made it worse: from her message to his uncle to his uncle replying with a full essay, it took about an hour.
An hour.
His supposedly overworked, iron-faced uncle had stolen one hour and produced an eight-thousand-word analysis titled, essentially: Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s stance toward traitors and how he ensures the people never forget old blood feuds.
Jiang Tea Tea slapped a hand on top of his head. “All right. You’ve seen it. Come on—dinner’s on me.”
Sui Xuan Chu felt storm clouds gather over his head. His uncle had a mate and a cub now. He didn’t need a nephew anymore.
Huang Da Zhuang cheered. “Sister Tea, you’re treating? Let’s go!”
Cheng Lin Yue followed with a grin. “I wonder if the cook from this morning is making dinner. I’m actually looking forward to it.”
Cheng Xiao Ting roared, “Charge! To the cafeteria!”
They ran out of the training ground together, bright sun overhead, wind in their faces—like the most dazzling scenery in the Royal Military Academy. Teachers and classmates turned to watch with envy. They looked unstoppable.
Dinner was different too—richer, fresher, more delicate. Even the vegetables looked crisp and alive, and every dish smelled incredible.
The seven of them swept through like a storm, grabbing one of every new dish. They’d barely set it down when Sui Xuan Chu arrived.
Without a word, he seized chopsticks, lifted his bowl, and started eating like he was trying to bury his anger in food.
Don’t ask.
He asked his uncle for an eight-thousand-word essay. His uncle refused.
Then his uncle assigned him two thousand more words.
The double standard cracked a dragon’s heart clean in half. So Sui Xuan Chu turned grief into appetite: eat, eat, eat—might as well stuff himself to death.
After dinner, each of the eight carried a bright red fruit, walking and chewing on the way to night class. By the time they arrived, the fruits were gone.
One by one, they slung their law texts over their backs. After three months of grinding memorization, even if they stumbled here and there, they could recite the whole thing.
Night class ran from 6:30 to 9:30. It wasn’t just them—other departments, other classes, other students filled the rooms.
At 9:30, classes ended. The sky was pitch-black—no moon, no stars, only the campus streetlights. The wind howled.
They tightened their uniforms and headed back toward the dorms. When they reached the fork where they’d split up, Huang Da Zhuang suddenly shouted, “Wait—Sister Tea! Something’s wrong!”
Jiang Tea Tea halted mid-yawn. The sleepiness in her eyes vanished, replaced by sharp clarity. “What is it?”
Huang Da Zhuang’s expression turned serious. “There’s a strange smell in the air. Faint, but specific—like it’s targeting certain beastfolk. I can’t remember where I’ve smelled it.”
“And far away—really far—there’s the sound of beasts running. Not one. A lot of them.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Xiao Ting—wolf clan beastfolk—dropped to the ground and pressed his wolf ears to the earth.
Before he could even finish listening, Huang Da Zhuang’s eyes widened. “I remember! It’s dragon-luring agent. The forbidden drug dragon-luring agent!”
Jiang Tea Tea had never heard of it and was about to ask what it was when Cheng Lin Yue yanked a spray canister from her storage button and aimed it straight at Sui Xuan Chu’s nose and mouth.
Sui Xuan Chu tilted his head and dodged the blast of stench. In the same motion, he kicked at Cheng Lin Yue with savage fury.
“Trying to die?!”