Chapter 161
Chapter 161: Grab What You Care About Most, and You’ll Drop to Your Knees and Beg
Lang Xin Ping ground his teeth. “You think I don’t dare to hit back and challenge you?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes were full of contempt. “You dare?”
“I dare—” Lang Xin Ping started.
“Enough!” Lang Xin Rui cut in quickly, sliding between them with the air of a peacemaker and the heart of a troublemaker. “We’re family. Why make things so ugly?”
She smiled as if she were being reasonable. “Tea Tea, Xin Ping, both of you calm down. Xin Chong’s backlash is over—this is a good thing. We should be happy.”
“Who’s ‘we’ with you?” Jiang Tea Tea stepped forward.
She closed in on Lang Xin Rui, forcing her to retreat. “I didn’t hit you, so you don’t know pain. Who are you trying to cozy up to?”
Deep inside Jiang Tea Tea’s body, the leftover consciousness of the fake heiress practically screamed. It wanted to slap each of them until their faces swelled, until every shred of dignity was stripped away.
The fake heiress regretted it—regretted ever yearning for family at all. If she’d known this was what “family” meant, she would never have wanted it. Never.
Lang Xin Rui’s fear shot straight from her gut to her feet. Jiang Tea Tea hadn’t even touched her, yet she backed away without thinking. Lang Xin Ping, dragged along by that fear, backed away too.
Pathetic—like roosters that had already lost, bald and ridiculous, tails up and exposed.
They retreated. Jiang Tea Tea advanced.
They took several steps back in a row, then seemed to realize how humiliating it looked. Lang Xin Ping forced his chin up and tried to speak again. “Jiang Tea Tea, even if Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming values you, you can’t—”
He didn’t get to finish.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Jiang Tea Tea flicked her wrist. A thin branch snapped into her hand like a whip. She lashed down across their faces and mouths, drawing bloody welts in an instant.
They grabbed at their faces, at their mouths, blood streaming through their fingers. It hurt so badly they couldn’t even get words out—only muffled, choked sounds.
Jiang Tea Tea rolled the branch in her hand as if testing its weight. Hitting with her palm hurt too much. She was a tree—using a stick was simply more convenient.
She stared at the three of them with arrogant disdain. “Fine. I’m being unreasonable. So what?”
The triplets wanted to strike back… but they didn’t dare.
Their parents had told them to stay on Jiang Tea Tea’s good side. Their relationship with her was already a disaster. If they crossed into open violence, there would be no salvaging anything—no crawling back into their parents’ favor, no matter how much they begged.
Lang Xin Rui endured the pain and forced a smile, voice gentler than it had any right to be. “Jiang Tea Tea… you’re young. You don’t understand. You’re unreasonable. You resent us—we don’t blame you.”
“But you must remember,” she said, emphasizing every word as if she could will it into truth, “we’re family.”
That line was so shameless that even Jiang Tea Tea felt her temper spike. They were the ones with no shame, and yet they still wanted to guilt-trip her, call her family, and demand affection.
“Who’s young and doesn’t understand?” Jiang Tea Tea said.
She didn’t indulge them.
The branch lashed down again. Every strike came with a question, each one sharper than the last.
“Who’s unreasonable?”
“Who resents you?”
“Who are you not blaming?”
“Who is family with you?”
Five questions.
Three people.
Ten strikes each.
She aimed for their faces on purpose—bare skin, places they couldn’t hide.
They didn’t dare confront her head-on, so they hopped and dodged, cursing under their breath… but they couldn’t dodge fast enough. They couldn’t evade her reach.
Their faces and necks split open, blood pouring down. Worse, an icy terror began crawling into their bones.
Their abilities felt wrong.
Any injury could be repaired in a medical pod—ten minutes if it was light, a day at most if it was severe.
But if their abilities were gone… their lives would be over.
The triplets stared at Jiang Tea Tea, panic seeping into their voices.
“You hit us and we didn’t fight back—we gave way to you—and you still went after our abilities?”
“Did you do something to our abilities? Can your mutant plant ability absorb other people’s abilities?”
“My ability… I feel my rank dropping. No. No, no, no—I’m SS-rank. I can’t drop. I can’t!”
“Jiang Tea Tea, what did you do? Stop it! Stop—”
Jiang Tea Tea looked as calm as if she were discussing the weather. “All I did was hit you. I don’t have the ability to make your ranks drop.”
“And you haven’t even had a check yet, but you’re already claiming your ranks are dropping and accusing me of tampering.” Her eyes went cold. “So that’s your real goal today, huh?”
“You wanted to slap the label of ‘ability-devourer’ on me.”
She spat the final judgment like it tasted bad. “Shameless.”
Sui Xuan Chu finally found his moment. He pointed at the triplets with open disgust. “You three really are White Wolf Clan—white-eyed wolves.”
“When guilt-tripping didn’t work, you went straight to framing her.”
“I’m telling you right now—we have so many eyes watching. My roommate Jiang Tea Tea hit you in self-defense. You didn’t fight back because you were trying to sweet-talk her into helping you. And now you want to turn around and accuse her? Not happening.”
The crowd piled on without mercy.
“That’s right! You rushed up with fake-sweet talk and moral blackmail. You made her angry. That’s why she hit you.”
“And the second she hits you, you start claiming your ability ranks dropped because of it.”
“I’ve lived this long and I’ve never heard of anyone losing ability rank because someone hit them with a stick.”
“This is a scam. You’re going way too far.”
“Jiang Tea Tea, don’t worry. If they try to mess with you, we’re all witnesses. We’ll testify for you.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked around at everyone and smiled. “Thank you.”
It was just a smile—nothing more.
And yet people swore it felt like breathing in something clean and fresh. A chill of clarity slid through them, leaving them even more disgusted with the triplets.
Lang Xin Rui and the others tried to activate their abilities again. The strange sensation of “leaking” seemed to fade… but another problem appeared.
They could summon their abilities. They could feel them move. But they couldn’t release them properly—like having strength in your muscles and still being unable to throw a punch.
They tried again and again, cycling through activation and release. Sometimes the ability responded. Sometimes it didn’t. They could draw it up… but it wouldn’t come out.
They didn’t dare keep tangling with Jiang Tea Tea. Lang Xin Rui forced harsh words through clenched teeth. “Jiang Tea Tea, we’re going to the Medical Department right now. If our abilities really get drained because of you, we’re not letting this go. You just wait.”
They threw down their threats, clutching their faces, and staggered out of the cafeteria like their lives depended on it—like Jiang Tea Tea might chase them any second.
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at Sui Xuan Chu. “Roommate. You done eating?”
“Yeah.” Sui Xuan Chu stood and turned to the onlookers. “Seniors, my roommate and I are going to follow them and take a look. We barely touched our breakfast. If you don’t mind, help us finish it. If you do mind, and you see our teammate Huang Da Zhuang and the others, tell them to come eat it. Thanks.”
People glanced at the table. The breakfast looked like it had just been served.
“Go,” someone called. “We’ve got it. No waste.”
Sui Xuan Chu dipped his head. “Thank you, thank you.”
Jiang Tea Tea echoed a quick thanks too. Then, carrying the branch like a weapon, she left the cafeteria with Sui Xuan Chu and headed toward the Medical Department.
The triplets sprinted there at full speed. Staff took one look at their bleeding welts and hurried to apply medical spray, then guided them into medical pods.
Twenty minutes later, the external injuries were completely healed. The triplets paid the fee and demanded an ability-rank check.
After ten minutes of repeated testing and arguing, the Medical Department staff finally ran out of patience.
“Three classmates,” the staff member said flatly, “your ability ranks—S and SS—have been checked four times. They haven’t changed. Your abilities are still there.”
“If you want a fifth check, we have no obligation to stand here and entertain this nonsense. If you don’t believe us, go to the National Healing Institute outside the school. Now leave.”
Lang Xin Rui blurted, “Just one last check. Please. We—”
“Out.” The staff member didn’t even let her finish.
The triplets had no choice. They paid the extra charges and left the Medical Department.
Outside, beneath a lush, broad tree, Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu waited.
When the triplets stepped out, Jiang Tea Tea whistled—sharp, loud, piercing.
The sound drilled straight into their ears. They jerked their heads toward her.
Jiang Tea Tea smiled and waved casually, lazy and amused, like she was calling three disobedient puppies.
Lang Xin Rui and Lang Xin Ping exchanged a glance with Lang Xin Chong. They couldn’t understand it. During the scans, their abilities had felt full and strong. The moment they stepped away, it felt like their abilities started slipping again.
They could activate them… but they couldn’t use them.
That was why they’d kept demanding more checks.
And now Jiang Tea Tea was waiting outside the treatment wing, as if she’d known exactly where they’d come out.
They walked up with fear disguised as anger. “It was you,” they demanded. “You tampered with our abilities, didn’t you?”
Sui Xuan Chu angled his body toward Jiang Tea Tea and quietly pulled out a signal jammer and a recording jammer. He’d already scoped the area: it was within camera range, but the surveillance angle would only catch their bodies—not what he held behind his back.
Jiang Tea Tea admitted it with startling ease. “Yes. I tampered with your abilities. You deserved it. Don’t blame me.”
Lang Xin Rui’s face twisted. “You… how dare you?”
Lang Xin Ping snarled, voice low and ugly. “Give them back.”
Lang Xin Chong’s fist clenched so hard his knuckles went pale. “Jiang Tea Tea, don’t push it. Don’t think we won’t beat you just because you’re strong.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked delighted—like she’d been handed the perfect line to step on. “I told you a long time ago: don’t come looking for trouble with me. You didn’t believe me, so you came anyway.”
“Now your abilities are affected, and you turn around and threaten me?” She pressed a hand to her chest, voice dripping. “I’m so scared. Truly. Terrified.”
Lang Xin Chong was the most impulsive. The thought of losing his ability snapped his restraint in half. He swung his fist at Jiang Tea Tea. “You dare touch my ability—I’ll beat you to death—”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t even flinch. Her voice came out cool and flat. “Touch even one hair on my head, and I’ll make your abilities disappear. Immediately.”
Lang Xin Chong’s fist stopped—less than five centimeters from her face.
His jaw clenched. “You really awakened a devouring ability?”
Jiang Tea Tea shrugged, like she couldn’t care less. “If you say so, then I guess so.”
Lang Xin Chong didn’t pull his fist back. His voice shook with fury and fear tangled together. “What do you want? What do we have to do for you to stop touching our abilities?”
Touching their abilities meant pinching their throats. It was their lifeline.
Jiang Tea Tea answered like she was offering a bargain at a market stall. “Simple. Kneel down and beg me. Apologize loudly.”