Chapter 207

Chapter 207: You’re Insane—You Took a Bullet for Her

Jiang Tea Tea looked down at the cuffs by her feet, genuinely surprised. “Your Highness Agris, you’re really shameless.”

“One second you’re smiling, the next you flip your face. No dignity at all.” She lifted her eyes, mocking. “It’s embarrassing.”

Agris sneered. “Be careful. Throw that staff over here.”

That staff in her hands was wrapped in five-colored flame, its energy fluctuations fierce. It looked valuable—something worth stealing, taking apart, and studying.

Jiang Tea Tea kicked the cuffs away without a second thought and took another step forward, staff still in hand. “Your Highness Agris, I told you you were afraid of me. You didn’t believe me.”

“Leaving your status aside—any male who acts like you is a disgrace.” Her smile sharpened. “You don’t just embarrass your own clan. You make me feel secondhand shame.”

Agris’s expression sank. His green eyes turned vicious, like a snake coiling to strike. “Jiang Tea Tea. Did I give you too much leeway? Did you start thinking I’m easy to talk to?”

Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head, openly provocative. “I didn’t ask you to give me leeway. You insisted on it.”

“Isn’t that just asking to get beaten?”

“And you, little bug—you haven’t even been hit yet. I just said a few words and you’re already furious.” She clicked her tongue. “What does General Atuya even see in you? Is it just that you’re loud?”

Agris’s jaw tightened.

As Jiang Tea Tea kept closing the distance, he feared she might strike suddenly. He yanked out a gun, aimed it at her, and the killing intent in his eyes turned sharp and unmistakable.

“Stop. Don’t come closer.”

“Or I’ll put you down.”

It would’ve been best if he could tame her and make her serve him.

But if he couldn’t… then killing her would at least prevent Chong Ming from becoming unstoppable.

Jiang Tea Tea wasn’t afraid.

She’d recovered to forty percent magic power. She’d drunk dragon blood not long ago. On the way here, she’d layered magic power over her belly again and again for protection.

With her speed, dodging a bullet would be easy.

She stared at the gun barrel aimed at her. “You went through all that trouble—fake pregnant woman, fake cubs—just to drag me onto General Atuya’s warship, and now you want to shoot me?”

“I don’t believe it.”

Agris blinked, startled. “You knew it was fake and still came?”

“You’re not afraid of dying?”

Jiang Tea Tea patted her chest theatrically. “Of course I’m afraid.”

“But since you invited me, I had to give you face and come.”

She sighed, sounding almost disappointed. “Pointing that black muzzle at me is rude, though. I’m very disappointed.”

She stepped closer, cutting him off before he could speak again. “Did you kidnap me without your fiancée knowing?”

“That’s none of your business—”

“She didn’t know,” Jiang Tea Tea said smoothly, as if confirming a report. “Makes sense.”

“She begged me—begged me—to stabilize your abilities and soothe your mental sea. I almost felt touched by how much she loves you.”

“And then you pull this.”

Agris’s expression shifted. “Atuya… came to you?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Tea Tea shrugged. “She came to me for you.”

In truth, she didn’t care about Agris’s love life. She just wanted to disgust him—make him see how ridiculous he was, how much he’d squandered.

And, more importantly, she wanted Atuya to hear it.

Because Atuya was listening right now. Jiang Tea Tea had already opened a call.

If Atuya was going to ask her for help, she needed to understand that Jiang Tea Tea truly had considered it—and that Agris was the one forcing the situation.

Also, Chong Ming—old loach that he was—had always said: if you’re going to act, do it with justification. Line up public opinion on your side. Then when you fight, you fight with righteousness, and the masses stand with you.

Agris didn’t appreciate any of it. “Atuya’s an idiot. If I drag you here, everything’s solved. There’s no need to beg you.”

Jiang Tea Tea shook her head. “You still don’t get it.”

“It’s not that you dragged me here.” Her voice sharpened. “It’s that I followed the bait you tossed out.”

“If I didn’t want to come, ten of you couldn’t kidnap me. Understand?”

Agris shoved the gun straight at her forehead. “I don’t understand.”

“I only know your life is in my hands.”

“You’ll do what I say.”

“I’m ordering you—stabilize my abilities, soothe my mental sea, raise my ability level above level ten, or I’ll shoot—”

“Shoot her?” A calm, cold voice cut through the warehouse. “Are you trying to start a war?”

Agris’s words died in his throat.

Atuya arrived.

She wore her uniform and moved with the speed of a battlefield veteran. She stepped in front of Jiang Tea Tea, shielding her completely.

Then she grabbed the gun barrel and pressed the muzzle to her own forehead.

She stared at Agris. “I’m not trying to do anything. I’m trying to stop you from making another mistake.”

“Insect Clan and Zhen Lin Empire have fought for thousands—tens of thousands—of years. Billions have died. Peace has only existed in recent decades.”

“Do you want to shatter that peace? Do you want to drag both sides back into war?”

With the gun no longer pointed at her, Jiang Tea Tea became a bystander, staff in hand, watching the scene like it was a play.

She adjusted her camera feed for a full 360-degree view so Xia Wei Yi and the others could see everything clearly.

Agris’s hand trembled. “Atuya, I’m not trying to start a war. I’m doing this for you and me. We can’t stabilize our abilities. We can’t soothe our mental sea.”

“Your ability level has stalled. Mine isn’t outstanding. Empress Mother is already dissatisfied with Crown Princess Asais.”

“If Asais has an accident, we’ll be exiled.”

“I’m the Eldest Prince of the Insect Clan. I’ve eaten the best, worn the best, lived the best since I was born. I won’t accept hardship.”

“I won’t let you suffer,” Atuya promised, eyes steady and sincere. “Even if we’re exiled… I won’t let you suffer.”

“I, Atuya—one of the Insect Clan’s ten generals—have survived on barren worlds. In freezing snowfields, I build shelters from snow. In scorching summers, I dig to escape the heat.”

“I recognize edible fungi, plants, fruits. I have wilderness survival experience. I won’t—”

“What does any of that have to do with me?” Agris snapped, cutting her off. His eyes held no warmth at all. “Who wants to live a bitter life with you?”

“I want luxury. I want worship. I want to be chased and praised by countless bugs.”

He shoved the gun forward again. “Move. Now.”

“Jiang Tea Tea will either raise my ability level today, or she dies here. Nobody stops me.”

Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue silently.

Agris truly didn’t deserve Atuya.

In the Insect Clan’s female-superior system, a male like him already lived better than he deserved.

Atuya didn’t move. “If you want to kill her, you kill me first.”

“If I die and never have to see war start again, then I’ve done my duty to the Insect Clan.”

Agris roared, voice cracking. “Atuya, you’re my fiancée! You should be on my side! What you’re doing is betrayal!”

“Betrayal—”

Then he lunged for a different weapon: hatred.

“Atuya, did you forget your parents? Didn’t Zhen Lin Empire’s army kill them?”

“Zhen Lin Empire is our enemy. An enemy we can never share the sky with!”

“They invaded us. They stole our best star systems, our best planets. They drove us to the edge of the M31 Star System!”

Atuya remained calm, her grip on the gun barrel unwavering. “Because my parents died on the battlefield, I grew up an orphan—raised in a military orphanage, educated uniformly.”

“And because of that, I know war can sometimes be avoided.”

“History records whose history?” Her smile was thin. “It records other people’s invasions and never speaks of our own wrongs.”

“Who feeds us hatred? Who teaches our children from birth to treat every race in the M31 Star System as an enemy?”

Agris flinched. “Atuya… are you questioning the queens of our line?”

Atuya let out a quiet breath. “No. I’m not questioning the queens.”

“I’m reflecting on the Insect Clan’s greed.”

“I climbed up from a common soldier. The higher I rose, the more filth I saw—the more greed I saw.”

“Zhen Lin Empire. Da Xi Nation. Xi Ling Republic. The top nations in the M31 Star System—they build systems that demand equality.”

“They focus on developing their own people. They don’t provoke wars.”

“But who provokes conflict?” She looked him in the eye. “The Insect Clan.”

“We divide ourselves into castes. The upper bugs hold ninety-eight percent of the resources. They’re greedy. They want ninety-eight percent of the resources of the entire M31 Star System.”

“They want to take what belongs to others, but they won’t fight themselves. They sit above and order us to spill blood for them.”

“And if we die?” Her voice stayed steady, but the weight behind it was brutal. “They pour hatred into our families and our children. They turn our children into tools—blindly hating every race in the galaxy.”

Agris stared at her like she’d grown a second head. “You’re crazy.”

“I’m not,” Atuya said.

Agris’s expression twisted.

He yanked the gun away from her grip, aimed past her, and fired.

Bang.

“Jiang Tea Tea!” he screamed. “Did you use hypnosis ability on my Atuya?”

“Did you make her betray me—make her go insane like this?”

“Make her dissatisfied with our system? With the queen? With me?”