Chapter 155
Chapter 155: The Cub’s Father Asked the Cub’s Mother on a Date—Everything Was a Misunderstanding
Asais refused to believe it. She lunged for Agris, grabbed the hand holding the lightbrain, and cranked the volume to speaker.
The video was barely a minute long—cleanly cut and stitched into a neat little insult. Thirty-six bugs were shown being captured, killed, and dragged away like trash.
Agris watched her face as it played. “Happy now?”
Asais snapped her head around, eyes blazing. “How could I be happy? That’s humiliation. Chong Ming and I are sworn enemies. Just wait. I’ll find more bugs and make him pay in blood.”
Agris caught her wrist before she could spiral. “Asais. You forgot again—we’re still on his turf.”
“He sent one destroyer to ‘escort’ us as a warning. You don’t actually think that’s the only ship out here, do you?” Agris’s voice stayed calm, but his grip tightened. “You really believe there aren’t more hidden around us?”
Their technology was too weak. They couldn’t tell whether other invisible warships were lurking nearby.
Asais shuddered, green eyes flickering. She had to admit it. “Their invisibility tech is above ours.”
“If that escorting destroyer hadn’t chosen to reveal itself,” Agris said, “we’d never even know it was behind us.”
Her jaw clenched, irritation mixing with disbelief. “But Imperial Elder Brother… how long has the Zhen Lin Empire even been at peace? How did their technology advance this fast?”
The insect clan’s beast forms and technology were supposed to be superior. They were supposed to be the masters of the M31 Star System.
Even if Chong Ming now had a mate and a cub, the golden dragon line only had three dragons. How could that compare to the insect royal family?
Agris exhaled heavily. “Right now, we can’t tell how their tech grew so quickly.”
“The only thing we can do is make it back to the insect clan alive.” His gaze sharpened. “And I hope your sisters behave while you’re gone—and keep their hands off your crown princess position.”
Asais’s voice turned vicious. “If any of them dare, I’ll kill them the moment I get back. The insect clan’s crown princess can only be me. The future queen can only be me.”
Agris studied her for a beat, then turned away. “I’m video-calling Atuya. Call me if anything happens.”
Asais opened her mouth to keep arguing, but he was already gone, clearly unwilling to listen to another word.
Seething and restless, she summoned her escort officer, her think tank, and her consorts for an emergency meeting.
—
In a Royal Military Academy classroom, with ten minutes left in the last period before lunch, the teacher’s tone shifted.
“Classmates, I have good news. This morning, between 8:30 and 10:30, the capital planet’s Police Bureau, Special Operations Bureau, Secrecy Bureau, and Security Department captured thirty-six insect clan bugs planted across the capital.”
“National Central News, the Military Department, the Special Operations Bureau, the Police Bureau, the Secrecy Bureau, and the Security Department issued a joint announcement.”
“According to the announcement, those thirty-six bugs were preparing to infiltrate ten universities on the capital planet and bomb them. Their capture may be related to the invasion a few days ago at the Royal Military Academy.”
Jiang Tea Tea exchanged a look with Sui Xuan Chu, then raised her hand. “Teacher, does that mean if they hadn’t been caught in time… we could’ve been blown up?”
“And thirty-six bugs targeting ten schools—Royal Military Academy would’ve been first, right?”
The teacher nodded. “That’s correct. According to the announcement, twenty of the thirty-six were specifically targeting the Royal Military Academy.”
“The official speculation is that their end goal was indiscriminate bombing here—an attempt to kill the Crown Prince, who is currently disguised as a student on campus.”
Jiang Tea Tea immediately scooted her chair farther from Sui Xuan Chu. Her scalp prickled. She’d almost become a burial offering for nothing.
Sui Xuan Chu stared at her. “…What the hell?”
Was she seriously worried he’d drag her down with him?
How disloyal.
Cheng Lin Yue saw Jiang Tea Tea move and, without hesitation, copied her—sliding away from Sui Xuan Chu as well.
Sui Xuan Chu looked like he was about to smoke from the ears.
Huang Da Zhuang and Cheng Xiao Ting didn’t know who the Crown Prince was. They leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity.
“Teacher, if the Crown Prince is disguised at the Royal Military Academy, doesn’t he have guards?”
“Yeah, Teacher. Don’t rich families usually arrange companions around the same age and level to study with them? People who protect them and take care of them?”
“With a Crown Prince, didn’t Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming assign body doubles or something?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eye twitched.
These people watched too many dramas.
The teacher answered evenly, “Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming is absolutely fair and follows the law. The Crown Prince studying here is just an ordinary dragon. No special privileges.”
“If you insist on calling something a privilege, then the Commander-in-Chief gave the privileges to the eight of you.” The teacher’s gaze swept their row. “Your courses and majors were weighed, planned, and arranged by him personally.”
“So you’re even luckier than the Crown Prince. You have the Commander-in-Chief’s privilege. You are the first team whose study plan he designed.”
“I hope you study hard, and don’t disappoint his expectations or his trust. Work hard to become people the country can rely on.”
A few casual sentences, and the teacher might as well have injected them with adrenaline.
By lunch, Huang Da Zhuang and the others had gone completely feral.
Jiang Tea Tea stared in disbelief as they ate with one hand and tore through textbooks with the other, pausing between bites to watch course breakdown videos. One after another. Not a second wasted.
Some of them didn’t even finish their food. They stood up halfway through the meal, grabbed the lessons they still didn’t understand, and rushed off to corner a teacher. Their motivation had hit a brand-new peak.
After lunch, there was no such thing as a nap. No half hour of resting. It was review, analysis, note-taking, practice sets—nonstop.
Jiang Tea Tea endured the madness for an entire noon before she finally snapped. “Hey. Hey, hey, hey—Huang Da Zhuang, Cheng Xiao Ting, Cheng Lin Yue. Pause. I need to ask you something.”
They froze immediately and turned to her like soldiers awaiting orders. “What? Ask fast. We still have to study.”
Jiang Tea Tea felt like she was committing a crime against productivity. “It’s just… the moment the teacher mentioned Chong Ming, you all turned into energized lunatics. Is it really that serious?”
Huang Da Zhuang’s eyes went wide. “Sister Tea, even though I love you and I’m your loyal lackey—and you’re still number one in my heart—Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming is still my male idol.”
“My male idol took time out of his insane schedule to design a study plan for me. If I don’t get fired up, who will?”
Cheng Xiao Ting and the others nodded so hard their heads almost snapped off.
“That’s right, Sister Tea. You’re smarter than us, tougher than us. You learn faster. You don’t understand what it’s like for cadets to worship Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming.”
“He’s the idol of three generations in my family. All four of my grandparents are his diehard fans.”
“When I told them my study plan was designed by him, my family said I might as well not have been born—my life already belongs to Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming and the country.”
“If I don’t study well and don’t meet his standards, I won’t even need him to dislike me. The teacher will hate me. My family will beat me to death.”
“Sister Tea, you’re our female idol. Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming is our male idol. We can live for you, die for you, slam into a wall for you!”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at their shining eyes and unwavering conviction, and something clicked.
No wonder her heart raced and her appetite spiked whenever she faced Chong Ming in that half-dragon, half-human form.
So he really was that kind of presence—a top-tier charmer. Anyone who met him, anyone who hadn’t, anyone who even saw him—human or beast—got pulled in.
Her grandmother had once told her about top-tier charms in the devil clan. In modern terms, it was basically a universal-crush setting.
Chong Ming was a top-tier charmer—universal crush.
That explained why she, a demon who wanted to use him as fertilizer, could still get fooled into a racing heart and that ridiculous, hungry thirst whenever she looked at him.
“Roommate, what’s wrong?”
Sui Xuan Chu watched her expression cycle between pale and dark, her eyes unfocused. He waved a hand in front of her face.
Jiang Tea Tea blinked back to reality. “Nothing. I just think… you’re right. Chong Ming is mesmerizing.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes flared like a startled bull. Without making a sound, he opened his lightbrain and started recording. “Roommate, what did you say? You’re fascinated by Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming too?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded hard. “Of course. His charm is terrifying. It’s way too easy to get fascinated by him. I’m no exception.”
Before, she’d thought there was something wrong with her, that a great demon shouldn’t be craving his half-dragon, half-human form so desperately. Now she realized she wasn’t alone. Relief washed through her.
Sui Xuan Chu recorded the question and her answer, then sent it straight to his uncle. Then he turned back to Jiang Tea Tea and said with a bright, innocent smile, “I’m fascinated by him too. He’s my idol for life.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t even have the energy to scold him. He didn’t look fascinated. He looked like he was plotting.
“Fine,” she said flatly. “You’re right. Study, study.”
Sui Xuan Chu chuckled, then—behind Jiang Tea Tea’s back—messaged his uncle: “Uncle, tonight I’ll stay in the dorm alone. Come pick up my roommate.”
Chong Ming replied almost instantly: “Tonight I’ll pick up both of you as usual. You can train one hour less.”
Sui Xuan Chu: “Uncle, my roommate is fascinated by you. I already told you. Can’t you let me stay in the dorm alone for one day?”
Chong Ming: “No.”
Sui Xuan Chu nearly exploded. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have sent the recording at all.
So annoying.
After finishing his meeting, Chong Ming returned to his office and listened to that recording three times.
Then, in the middle of his packed schedule, he stole a few precious minutes to browse a forum about pursuing pure human females.
—
Jiang Tea Tea and the other seven had classes all afternoon. At the end of the last period, the teacher announced that starting tonight—and for the next three days—there would be no evening classes. Summer break had officially begun.
Huang Da Zhuang and the others were shocked, thrilled, and euphoric. They made plans to finish their homework, and if they had time, go for a walk.
Jiang Tea Tea had a different plan.
She wanted to go to the back mountain behind the school. Her cubs were seven months along, and she hadn’t rooted herself in the earth for a long time.
She needed to sink into the ground, absorb nutrients, and feed both herself and the cubs growing in her belly.
She was still figuring out an excuse to slip away when her lightbrain rang.
Caller ID: Old Loach.
Jiang Tea Tea declined instantly and texted, “What?”
Chong Ming replied right away: “I’m at the school gate. Come out.”
Jiang Tea Tea: “????”
What did him being at the gate have to do with her? They’d already agreed they weren’t going back to the Imperial Palace tonight. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Chong Ming: “Come out. Something’s up.”
Jiang Tea Tea: “What?”
Chong Ming: “A date!”