Chapter 196

Chapter 196: You’re So Fast. No, I’m Not Fast at All. I’m Starting to Think You’re Flirting

Zhong Li He’s wary eyes flickered with excitement. He smiled. “I didn’t hear wrong, did I? Jiang Tea Tea, you want to team up with me to beat your Commander-in-Chief?”

Everyone around them had been flattened by the shockwaves of their mental power. Yet she was fine. Not only could she endure it—she could shield others too.

That wasn’t just talent. That was treasure.

No wonder Chong Ming kept her hidden. If she were his, he’d hide her too.

Jiang Tea Tea rolled her shoulders like she was warming up. “You heard right. You and I beat Chong Ming for a bit.”

“If you’re not interested, pretend I didn’t say anything. If you are, say it straight. Don’t drag it out—be a man about it.”

Zhong Li He studied her face, looking for the punchline. Her small, clean features were serious. Her dark eyes weren’t greedy for victory so much as hungry for the fight itself.

Interesting. Fun.

He raised one finger. “One last question.”

Jiang Tea Tea opened her palm. “Ask.”

“You really won’t hit me?”

Jiang Tea Tea smiled. “Hard to say. Beating you, beating Chong Ming—it’s every man and woman’s dream.”

“But I can guarantee one thing: I’m not on his side. And I’m not on your side either. This is temporary cooperation.”

A dragon and a phoenix. Even if her magic power still wasn’t back at full strength, she wanted to trade blows. Back home in the demon realm, just seeing two like this would’ve been something to brag about for life—let alone fighting them.

Zhong Li He’s grin widened. “So you belong to neither side. You belong to yourself.”

“Whoever wins, you hit them. Whoever loses, you help them. If you can take both of us down, you take both of us down.”

Chong Ming, who hadn’t spoken once, said coolly, “You finally understood what she meant. Congratulations, Chief Executive Zhong.”

“Stop being smug.” Zhong Li He rolled his eyes, then looked back to Jiang Tea Tea. “Fine. I’m in. We beat Chong Ming first, and after he’s down, you and I fight.”

Jiang Tea Tea pulled a stick about as thick as a thumb from her storage button. “Can we use weapons?”

Chong Ming stared at the one-meter stick in her hand. “Your weapon’s already out. Isn’t asking pointless?”

Jiang Tea Tea grinned. “Not pointless. If you say no, I won’t use it. Your territory, your rules.”

He was the one with rules, yet she still didn’t put the stick away.

Chong Ming’s eyes narrowed, amusement slipping in. “You don’t need to listen to me. Listen to yourself.”

Zhong Li He pulled out an iron rod too, tossing it in his hand. “You said it, Commander-in-Chief. I won’t hold back.”

“If you won’t,” Chong Ming said, “then I won’t either.” He drew an iron rod about the same length as Zhong Li He’s. “Chief Executive Zhong, don’t be polite. Treat this like your own home.”

Zhong Li He snapped his rod into position. “Then come on.”

When he said it, even he didn’t strike first.

Jiang Tea Tea and Chong Ming didn’t move either. The three of them formed a triangle, staring each other down.

They shifted in small steps, keeping about five paces between each—close enough to attack, far enough to defend.

Sui Xuan Chu and Cheng Lin Yue watched with their hearts in their throats. Chong Ming was being reckless, indulging his roommate and Sister Tea without a shred of concern for the cubs in her belly.

Huang Da Zhuang and the other five were practically glowing. They even pulled out tiny cheer flags from their storage buttons. If Sister Tea won, they were ready to wave, cheer, and whistle.

Kong Que felt like his one hundred thousand star credits were worth every coin. Even if the calming effect lasted only a short while, it worked better than the healers in Da Xi Nation.

And most importantly, he got to see this.

An eighteen-year-old pure human female without real skill couldn’t have this kind of fearless confidence. Yet here she was, challenging the strongest beastfolk in the galaxy—number one and number two.

Others felt like they’d struck gold too. Not only were they watching Da Xi Nation’s chief executive fight the Commander-in-Chief, they were watching the 3S mutant healer Jiang Tea Tea join in.

The standoff held for two full minutes.

Then Jiang Tea Tea burst forward—and attacked Zhong Li He first.

Chong Ming’s golden eyes narrowed. He’d expected her to go for him. He hadn’t expected her to open by striking Zhong Li He.

Zhong Li He cursed and dodged, then counterattacked—not Jiang Tea Tea, but Chong Ming.

His iron rod swept toward Chong Ming’s face.

Chong Ming leaned back, the rod slicing past the bridge of his nose without touching him.

In the same heartbeat, Jiang Tea Tea’s stick snapped out—extending like a whip cracking the air—and slammed down toward Chong Ming.

Chong Ming sprang up as if he’d had eyes behind his head. The stick smashed into the floor with a boom, denting the hardened surface.

The impact jolted everyone watching. They huddled tighter, pulled out pressure blockers, and set them around themselves, terrified the three would unleash abilities at once and wipe them out.

“Wow. 59311, not bad,” Zhong Li He whistled mid-attack, actually praising her.

“You’re not bad either,” Jiang Tea Tea shot back, swinging again. “Just a bit worse than Chong Ming.”

Her one-meter stick didn’t just grow—it split into two, lashing toward Zhong Li He and Chong Ming at the same time.

In a fight like this, no one truly sided with anyone. There was only the hunger to win, and the hunger to land the next hit.

Zhong Li He hadn’t expected an ordinary stick to fork and whip at him like that. He’d been focused on attacking Chong Ming.

He dodged the sudden strike—and got countered by Chong Ming, who kicked him hard.

Chong Ming, focused on landing that kick, didn’t dodge Jiang Tea Tea’s lash. The stick cracked across him, tearing his combat uniform.

Jiang Tea Tea froze for half a beat.

Then she blink-shifted—using Shrink the Earth to an Inch as smoothly as breathing—and appeared right in front of Chong Ming. “You didn’t dodge on purpose. You’re letting me hit you?”

Chong Ming’s face stayed perfectly straight. “You’re too fast.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s stick snapped back, shrinking into a short baton. She swung it for his face. “I’m not faster than you!”

Chong Ming caught the baton and yanked her closer. His golden eyes darkened as he insisted, stubborn as stone, “I’m not fast.”