Chapter 200
Chapter 200: The Result of Comforting Him Is Getting Showed Up and Force-Fed Dog Food
Zhong Li He: “!!!!”
[Good grief, no way?]
The Jiang Tea Tea inside that Flame Sphere is really his Partner?
Whose pregnant Partner is that fierce, charging in with a stick, full of killing intent, and starting a fight with them on sight?
[Okay, okay, okay. No wonder he said he would swing a hammer at anyone trying to dig at his wall. He was upset, but also absolutely sure no one could steal her away.]
She is his Partner, carrying his Youngling. Even if you swing the hammer until it snaps, you still cannot dig her away.
But this old dragon really has no shame. Instead of finding someone close to his age, he picked someone more than a hundred years younger. He is an old dragon chewing on tender grass, completely throwing away his dragon face.
Zhong Li He calmed himself, lifted his hand, and patted Chong Ming on the shoulder: “You are thinking too negatively. No matter who it is, people react by seeking benefit and avoiding harm.”
“Jiang Tea Tea is inside the Flame Sphere. She is not screaming, not calling for help. That means she can handle it on her own. You really do not need to worry so much.”
After he finished comforting him, he froze. These words sounded familiar. It seemed like Chong Ming had once said them himself, full of confidence.
[Dating, having a Partner, is really scary. One second you are comforting yourself and trusting your Partner, the next second you are anxious and restless.]
[From now on, I will never date, never find a Partner. I will dedicate this whole life to the Western Kingdom, make the Western Kingdom grow strong and prosperous, and turn it into the strongest empire in the M31 Star System.]
Chong Ming stopped talking. His eyes were fixed on the deep pit. The green Flame Sphere inside the pit was getting bigger and rounder.
The heat from the fire spread out and singed his hair, yet his whole body seemed not to feel the burning.
Zhong Li He could not ease his worry, but he really could not stand watching him like this. He took out a flame-resistant shield, dragged Chong Ming backward, and once again wedged himself in front of him.
When Chong Ming tried to destroy the Flame Sphere again, Zhong Li He grabbed his hand, his sapphire blue eyes looking at him: “Chong Ming, being pessimistic and afraid is not your style.”
“You keep imagining Jiang Tea Tea being burned by the flames, forgetting you, dying with your Youngling. But that is only what you are making up in your own head.”
“When the time is up, and she comes back safe and sound with your Youngling, are you going to let her see you here abusing yourself, half dead and miserable?”
The hand Chong Ming was using to try to destroy the shield stopped. He tilted his head and looked at him: “Zhong Li He.”
Zhong Li He, being called out: “What?”
Chong Ming: “Move your hand.”
[That is it?]
[Is he sick or what?]
Zhong Li He took his hand off the back of Chong Ming’s hand.
Chong Ming pulled his own hand back and said: “Thanks.”
Zhong Li He let out a small sound and waved his hand: “You are welcome. We have risked our lives together. Who told me to end up with a Friend like you.”
The corner of Chong Ming’s mouth hooked up: “Yeah, ending up with a Friend like you, I did not want that either. But there is nothing I can do. I cannot throw you away, and I cannot kill you.”
He had gone back to his poisonous tongue, starting to jab at him, mock him, and speak in that weird, sour tone.
That meant the comfort worked. He was okay now.
[Thank heaven, thank earth, thank the Beast God!]
Zhong Li He looked at him and said: “Next, you are going to…”
Chong Ming looked back at him and picked up the words he almost said: “Wait.”
Zhong Li He’s voice became lighter: “That is more like it. You should know, according to the ancient records of my family, when our Senior Ancestor was burned, it took ten full days to go from red flames to green flames.”
“Jiang Tea Tea has been in the fire for less than half an hour, and it has already turned to green flames. At her speed, in at most three to five days, she can go from green flames to blue, then white, and finally black.”
Chong Ming nodded: “I hope so.”
Zhong Li He answered, firm and sure: “She definitely can.”
Chong Ming glanced at him, stopped talking, and started walking backward. He pressed the invisible earpiece in his ear and began to give orders.
All of the Monke Great Grasslands no-man’s land was marked as a forbidden zone. In the sky, satellites and the surveillance system watched around the clock. Drones patrolled overhead. Soldiers and guards would not let any large creature get close.
Zhong Li He watched him giving orders, then slowly backed up to stand beside Kong Que. He raised his thumb at him: “You were right. Jiang Tea Tea really is his Partner. I actually misjudged her.”
Kong Que took his thumb and pushed his hand down: “You did not misjudge her. It is just that in front of Chong Ming, the Commander in Chief, your IQ tends to go offline and you do not like to think.”
Zhong Li He opened his mouth to deny it: “How could I be brainless in front of him? Kong Que, I have noticed you do not even need curse words to scold me now.”
Kong Que’s posture was respectful, but his words were not: “I do not dare scold you. Everything I say comes from the bottom of my heart. The Executive Commander is just like that.”
Zhong Li He let the hand that Kong Que had pushed down curl into a fist. He raised it and waved it in front of Kong Que’s eyes: “Say one more word, and I will use this fist on your face. Do you believe me?”
Kong Que did not look scared at all: “I believe, I believe. Whatever the Executive Commander says, I believe. Oh right, when you and Commander in Chief Chong Ming were fighting earlier, I paid one hundred thousand star credits to Miss Jiang Tea Tea. She helped calm my restless supernatural abilities a little and combed through my Spiritual Sea.”
When Zhong Li He heard that, his fist stopped waving. He quickly asked: “After she calmed your supernatural abilities and combed your Spiritual Sea, how did you feel?”
Kong Que answered: “The time was short, but it felt better than the healers who do Healing for me in the Western Kingdom.”
Zhong Li He’s face filled with joy: “Really? That is great. When Jiang Tea Tea comes out of the Flame Sphere, I will cling to her even if I have to beg shamelessly, and think of a way to get her to carefully comb your Spiritual Sea.”
“Your supernatural abilities level should not be stuck at Level Eight or Nine. I think reaching Level Fifteen will not be a problem.”
Kong Que was speechless: “Executive Commander, think about yourself.”
Zhong Li He waved his hand: “I am a one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old bird. Why should I think about myself? In another thirty to fifty years I will retire. Whether my supernatural abilities level rises or not does not matter.”
“After I retire, I will buy a spaceship and roam the interstellar space as a free bounty hunter. With my current supernatural abilities level, I can handle that just fine.”
“You are not like me. You are still young. Now you are a lieutenant general. Later you will be a high general, then a marshal, and after that you can take my position.”
“Young man, I have high hopes for you.”
Kong Que reminded him quietly: “Executive Commander, I am not that much younger than you. You do not need to make the age gap between us sound so big.”
Zhong Li He laughed: “Same, same, all the same.”
Kong Que: “…”
[How is that the same?]
He really was not that much younger. But when it came out of Zhong Li He’s mouth, it sounded like they were hundreds of years apart in age.
After more than ten minutes of careful deployment, and another five minutes of thinking through it, making sure there were no loopholes, Chong Ming returned to the huge deep pit.
Compared to twenty minutes ago, the pit was deeper, larger, and wider. The green Flame Sphere inside was rounder and burning even more fiercely. All the grass around it had been baked dry.
Luckily, it only dried and turned into dead grass instead of catching fire. Otherwise, the vast Monke Grasslands would have turned into a sea of flames.
Ten kilometers away from the fire pit, he arranged the fire element and water element supernatural ability users from his fleet in a ring. They were there so that if a big fire started, they could both fight fire with fire and put it out, making sure the Monke Grasslands would not be consumed.
Inside the huge Fireball, Jiang Tea Tea’s legs had already turned into tree roots and dug deep into the soil. The heat of the flames made her black hair fly and stand up, every strand lifted.
In front of her was her Life-Bound Branch. One hand formed seals, while the other guided the fire onto the Life-Bound Branch to refine it.
The branch was a little thicker than a thumb and more than a meter long. First, it was wrapped in red flames. After the red flames came the green flames.
The green flames kept burning and tempering her Life-Bound Branch. She could feel the scorching heat and the power of burning. The cubs in her belly could feel it too.
The roots constantly sent water and nutrients into her body, letting her keep refining the Phoenix clan’s Divine Fire inside this green Flame Sphere.
As long as she refined this Divine Fire into her True Body Tree, it would become a Magical Artifact, a Magical Artifact that carried Divine Fire.
The cubs in her belly were also very promising. Even though they could feel the heat of the fire, they did not kick around too wildly and were not afraid of the flames.
Zhong Li He moved back to stand beside Chong Ming and looked with him at the burning pit in front of them: “The pit is getting bigger and deeper, and the Fireball is getting rounder. Chong Ming, based on our friendship, tell me honestly, just how strong is your Partner Jiang Tea Tea?”
Chong Ming let out a long sigh: “You are asking a very good question. If I tell you I do not know how strong she is, would you believe me?”
The corner of Zhong Li He’s mouth twitched: “I do not believe you.”
Chong Ming: “But that is the truth.”
He really did not know how strong she was.
Zhong Li He hesitated: “The one inside the fire pit is your Partner, the Partner who is pregnant with your Youngling. And you do not know her well?”
“Chong Ming, that is not your usual way of doing things. That is not your personality. If you wanted, in one day, no, in just two hours, her entire life story would be lying on your desk.”
“And now you are telling me you do not know her, that you do not know her even though you two already have a Youngling? Do not tell me you two had one night of spring fun and she ended up pregnant?”
He had to admit, Zhong Li He had hit the truth.
Chong Ming did not deny it, but he did not admit it either. His thin lips stayed tightly closed.
Seeing this, what was there left for Zhong Li He not to understand?
It really was just like he said.
He raised his thumb at him: “Impressive. I am convinced. I thought ‘one night spring fun, then she runs off with the ball’ only existed in fiction and was only something young people did. I did not expect you, old man, to pull it off too.”
“Fine, fine, fine. You say you do not know her, that you do not know how strong she is. I believe you, I believe you, I really do.”
Chong Ming hummed: “We spent one night together, and then we had a Youngling.”
Wait. Why did he have to stress that they got a Youngling from just one night?
Was he showing off?
Was he proud?
Was he feeling smug?
Was he doing it on purpose to rub it in his face?
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