Chapter 153
Chapter 153: Bombing Each Other—Let’s See Who Gets Blown Up First
Jiang Tea Tea followed the direction of his finger and spotted Chong Ming’s flyer pacing theirs, flying parallel in the same lane. She snapped at Sui Xuan Chu, “Why are you shaking?”
Why was he shaking? What else would he be shaking for?
She was the one being spoiled and indulged, and she still had the nerve to ask. It felt like she’d stabbed him straight in the lungs.
Sui Xuan Chu forced a crooked smile. “My uncle’s angry.”
Jiang Tea Tea set the flyer to autopilot, freed her hands, opened her lightbrain, and messaged Chong Ming: “You don’t need to drive us. We can get to school ourselves. We have a mission in a few days, so we won’t go back these two days. Don’t pick us up at night either.”
Chong Ming received it and set his own flyer to autopilot as well. He replied: “Open the flyer window. You didn’t eat breakfast.”
Jiang Tea Tea read the message and turned to look at him. He’d chased them down just to tell her she’d skipped breakfast—what was with this sudden husband energy?
Beside her, Sui Xuan Chu was practically petrified. As the crown prince, the future emperor, he couldn’t beat these two, couldn’t curse them, couldn’t scold them. All he could do was shrink and endure.
Jiang Tea Tea opened the flyer window.
Chong Ming handed over a packed breakfast.
She took it. “Thanks. You don’t need to drive us. We’re not going back tonight. Don’t pick us up.”
Chong Ming’s gaze deepened. “All right. If anything happens, call me. If I don’t answer, call Secretary Wen and Adjutant Ai.”
“Got it,” Jiang Tea Tea said.
The window slid shut without a hint of mercy.
Chong Ming slowed his flyer and followed behind theirs.
Inside, Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu ate. One of them ate happily—everything in the bag was exactly what she liked. The other ate with a black face—not a single thing was what he liked.
Chong Ming escorted them all the way to the Royal Military Academy. Only after he watched them enter the gate did he lift his flyer into the sky and dock with a cloaked warship.
Inside the stealth ship, Chong Ming stepped out, took a file from Adjutant Ai as he walked, and flipped through it. “Asais, the crown princess, met with Agris, the eldest prince, then got ‘ambushed,’ badly injured, and now insists on staying here for two days?”
Adjutant Ai walked at his side and answered respectfully, “Yes. But according to our investigation, there was no ambush. It was staged. They don’t want to leave, and they still haven’t given up on the crown prince and the rumored mate’s cub.”
“They deliberately claimed the two of them were attacked here and suffered mental power damage, then demanded that Jiang Tea Tea—their classmate—help untangle their damaged mental power.”
“If Minister Cai hadn’t intercepted their message in time, they would have posted about being ‘ambushed’ on Starnet and made the entire M31 Star System condemn our Zhen Lin Empire.”
Chong Ming closed the file. “Tell Minister Cai not to block their signal. Let them post. Don’t control the comments either. Let public opinion ferment.”
“Have Secretary Wen go again and tell them this: leave the Zhen Lin Empire’s capital planet within one hour, and leave the Zhen Lin Empire star system within three days. If they don’t, we’ll begin live-fire drills. Bullets don’t have eyes.”
“Notify every space station, remote force, patrol ship, and unit in the fringe stars. Enter wartime status. Tell them to post videos and announcements on their official accounts, informing the public they’re on wartime footing. A little friction, an accidental button press—it’s all normal.”
Adjutant Ai replied, “Yes, Commander-in-Chief.”
Chong Ming added, “Tell the Police Bureau and the Special Operations Bureau to strengthen patrols around the Royal Military Academy. After any call comes in, they must be able to appear anywhere on campus within three minutes.”
“Yes, Commander-in-Chief.”
Cai Xi Chao received the order and immediately lifted the signal blockade on Agris and Asais.
The moment the blockade dropped, Asais posted on Starnet: during their visit to the Zhen Lin Empire to welcome Agris, the eldest prince, back to the insect clan, they had been ambushed by unknown individuals from the Zhen Lin Empire.
Crown Princess Asais had suffered mental power damage. Eldest Prince Agris was severely wounded and near death. They demanded an explanation from the Zhen Lin Empire and Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming—and demanded someone to untangle their mental power.
The accusation had barely gone out before Asais and Agris learned what malice meant, what instinctive disgust felt like.
M31 Star System netizens fired back without mercy.
“What is this insect clan crown princess and eldest prince ‘tea talk’ supposed to mean? You want me to condemn my husband, Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming?”
“Exactly. That’s what they’re after. They want to stir up public opinion and smear the Zhen Lin Empire, trying to make me turn on our husband Chong Ming. What kind of bug brain thought this would work?”
“Asais is a crown princess? This is embarrassing. The insect clan keeps getting worse and worse. Can you insult our intelligence in a smarter way?”
“Right? Doesn’t she remember she went to pick up Agris, the eldest prince? Why was he a ‘guest’ in the Zhen Lin Empire in the first place? Because he tried to invade their star system and got caught red-handed. He’s a prisoner.”
“They started it, and now they’re flipping around to accuse others. I’ve looked and looked—this so-called ‘ambush’ is staged. They did it on purpose. According to their schedule, they should’ve left yesterday, or the day before.”
“But they still haven’t left today, and then this happens. They obviously want that 3S-grade mutant plant healer from the Zhen Lin Empire to untangle their mental power—and to steal that 3S-grade healer.”
“Upstairs, your analysis makes sense. Total sense. Repost, repost. Like, like.”
“Don’t like me. With Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s hardline methods and decisive personality, if Asais dares confront him like this, she’s the one who’ll suffer. She might even lose her crown princess position.”
“Upstairs, upstairs, analyze more!”
“Ahem. Reliable rumors say Asais’s only advantage is that she’s a long-female insect. Her ability level and beast form aren’t impressive. Her younger sisters are better than her in every way—stronger, more perfect beast forms, and plenty of them.”
“In the insect clan imperial family, which female doesn’t want to be queen? Which female doesn’t want to kill her female sisters?”
“So Asais went to pick up Agris, and the condition was giving the Zhen Lin Empire an entire star system. This time she gambled on staging everything because she wanted to capture Mu Mei Xi, healer Jiang Tea Tea, take her home, and present her to her empress mother to secure her status!”
“If I can see through that little scheme, do you think Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming and his think tank can’t?”
“They can, they can. Look—several space stations in the Zhen Lin Empire are already in wartime status. A bunch of star system defense forces and patrol ships are on alert too.”
“The official accounts of those forces and warships posted messages—wow. You can tell every one of them is itching to fight, ready to make history.”
“To die for the empire and wipe out the insect clan is our highest honor!”
“Those vicious, cunning insects shouldn’t exist.”
“Beast God shouldn’t have been soft-hearted back then. When guiding all beasts to become human, Beast God shouldn’t have guided them too. They should’ve stayed forever as low bugs without intelligence.”
“Beast God loves all beasts. Insects are beasts too. Beast God loves us, and we love Beast God. Long ago, our insect clan ancestors were Beast God’s most capable assistants.”
“You races look down on our insect clan, but don’t you think about it? For tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of years, our ancestors were just like yours—Beast God’s favored ones, protected by Beast God, loved the same.”
“Loved the same, but you were too greedy. You don’t create; you only destroy. You don’t reform; you only invade.”
“We built beautiful homes, beautiful planets. All you do is steal them. You snatch and seize because your original forms were disgusting and huge, so before high tech, you did whatever you wanted.”
“Now thank high tech. Thank the fairness of Beast God. Debts get repaid eventually, don’t they?”
Asais and Agris watched the tide roll in. Not a single comment favored them. Their little schemes were laid bare, dissected to the bone, hit straight between the eyes.
They were so furious they nearly reverted to insect form, their eyes filling with a towering hatred for Chong Ming.
But they didn’t even get ten minutes to stew before Secretary Wen arrived and informed them without expression, “Crown Princess Asais, Eldest Prince Agris, I’m sorry. The hotel you’re staying in has been listed as a dangerous building and will be demolished by explosion within one hour.”
Asais and Agris’ faces changed. “What do you mean, Secretary Wen? What does that old dragon Chong Ming mean—he wants to blow us up?”
“Did he forget who we are? If he blows us up, he’s openly challenging the insect clan!”
Secretary Wen took a step back. “Crown Princess Asais, Eldest Prince Agris, our Commander-in-Chief knows your identities better than anyone.”
“You have at most fifty minutes. If you don’t leave within fifty minutes, you will explode with this building. Your bones will be shattered. Even the best mortician won’t be able to piece you back together.”
Asais snapped, “How dare—”
Secretary Wen acted as if he hadn’t heard a word. “Farewell.”
He turned and left.
His people went straight into Asais’s room and began planting timed explosives. The message was unmistakable: leave, or die here.
Asais and Agris didn’t dare gamble. They left. Not a single high-ranking official from the Zhen Lin Empire came to see them off.
Instead, ten small warships—already in wartime status—escorted them out. The ships accompanied them all the way off the Zhen Lin Empire’s capital planet and into open space.
Only after the main screen showed no warships still trailing them did Asais speak through clenched teeth. “Imperial Elder Brother, Chong Ming stomped on our faces like this. Are we just going to let it go?”
Ever since Agris had been captured and brought over, he’d been tortured for months. Every time, after the torture, they tossed him into a medical pod.
It wasn’t just physical pain. It was psychological torture, too. Thankfully, he was the insect race’s eldest prince, and his mind was strong.
But he would not let this grudge go.
Agris stared at Asais. “Asais, open a wormhole space jump within ten minutes.”
Asais frowned, stunned. “Imperial Elder Brother… you’re really letting it go?”
Agris licked his dry lips and smiled darkly. “How could I let it go? I planted plenty of bugs on the Zhen Lin Empire’s capital planet.”
“The bugs I planted have weapons. I’m going to have them bomb the Zhen Lin Empire Royal Military Academy and blow up the Zhen Lin Empire crown prince and the 3S-grade mutant plant healer, Jiang Tea Tea!”