Chapter 209
Chapter 209: Poaching Someone? The Big Golden Dragon Is Great at It
Aceras’s pupils shrank sharply. His voice changed and broke as he shouted: “You want to cancel the engagement? Atuya, you want to cancel the engagement with me?”
Atuya lowered her head. Her eyes turned red as she said: “Yes, Your Highness. I want to cancel the engagement with you.”
“You don’t need to worry that Her Majesty the Queen will blame you. I will take all the blame on myself.”
“After we cancel the engagement, I will give you all my assets as compensation, with no conditions.”
“For this kidnapping of Jiang Tea Tea, I will personally send her back later and apologize to Commander in Chief Chong Ming. If he is angry, the fault will also be mine. I will bear it all. It has nothing to do with you.”
“For this Space Weapons Expo held by the Zhenlin Empire, our Insectoid Race came to exhibit. All the credit from the orders we get will belong to you. All the fault will belong to me.”
When she and His Highness first met, His Highness was still very young. Under the sunlight, he had smiled very happily. His green eyes bent into two narrow curves.
She had fallen in love with him at first sight, just like that. It was strange. With one look, just one look, she liked him, loved him, wanted to spend her whole life with him, and wanted to give him the best of everything.
Sadly, he did not like her, did not love her, and did not want to go home with her to marry her. She kept waiting and waiting, always feeling that she had not done enough.
One year, two years, ten years, twenty years, thirty years. She had killed too many bugs and too many enemies. Her hands were stained with too much blood. She was not one of the radical faction of the Insectoid Race that treated every race other than the Insectoid Race as an enemy.
In this lifetime, she could only stop at the position of High General. She would never reach the rank of one of the three Marshals of the Insectoid Race. She could not give Aceras the honor he wanted.
So… she would set him free, give herself freedom, and let them both be free.
“Atuya…”
Aceras suddenly realized that Atuya was not joking with him. She was informing him. Fear rose in him, and he reached out with a trembling hand, trying to grab her.
Atuya suddenly stood up and moved out of reach of his hand. She gave him a long, deep look, said nothing, and then turned to leave.
Aceras crawled up using both his hands and feet as he cried: “Atuya, I don’t agree to cancel the marriage. You are my fiancee. I don’t agree…”
“Atuya, come back. I order you to come back. Come back…”
With two broken ribs, Aceras could not catch up to Atuya at all. He could not even touch the hem of her uniform before he fell heavily to the ground again from the pain.
He thought Atuya would be like before, when she would feel sorry for him, use her speed-type ability to reach him as fast as possible, care for him, comfort him, and take him for healing.
But this time she did not. When she heard his pained cries and his voice calling her name, she did not turn her head. She did not slow down. Instead, she walked even faster.
“He regrets it. Even the voice he uses to call you back is choked, like he’s about to cry. You really won’t give him another chance?”
Jiang Tea Tea was leaning against the ship’s bulkhead near the hangar door, holding a Flame Staff. She had heard every word between Atuya and Aceras. When she saw Atuya walking toward her, she asked lightly.
Atuya wanted to give her a smile but could not. She said: “He won’t cry.”
Jiang Tea Tea raised her brows: “You still love him?”
Atuya answered calmly: “Yes, I still love him, but I won’t give him another chance. I want to love myself. I want to love the subordinates who go into battle and out of danger with me. I want to give them more chances to love their own families.”
Jiang Tea Tea straightened up and said: “You’re right. It’s good to love yourself more and to love the people who are good to you more.”
“Your lifespans are already not that long. There are many things you can be interested in and many things you can do. To be heartbroken and waste your time over someone who doesn’t love you and hurts you is a very bad deal.”
[Being a demon is still better. Love and hate are clear. You can pick things up and put them down. If you really can’t let go, you just kill him. You either eat his body yourself or refine it. Either way, he stays in your hands. Of course, love-brained fools exist too. In the history of the Demon Clan, there were a few who couldn’t bring themselves to kill the one they loved. They went crazy for love, became stupid for love, and kept banging their heads against the wall for love.]
Atuya thanked her from the bottom of her heart: “Thank you.”
Jiang Tea Tea hooked a finger at her and said: “Bend down.”
Atuya did not know why Jiang Tea Tea wanted her to bend down, but she knew very well she was no match for Jiang Tea Tea, and she did not feel any malice from her.
So she did as she was told and bent down in front of her.
Jiang Tea Tea put her hand on Atuya’s shoulder.
Atuya felt a warm current enter her body at her shoulder. The bullet lodged in her shoulder armor popped out and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Right after that, she felt the wound healing. It stopped bleeding. Even her restless supernatural abilities calmed down, and the raging spiritual sea became peaceful.
A few minutes later, Jiang Tea Tea drew her hand back and smiled at her like the rising sun: “I really like you, bug. I just helped smooth out your supernatural abilities and your spiritual sea a little. I didn’t raise your level.”
Atuya pressed down the shock in her heart and said: “Thank you, thank you…”
Jiang Tea Tea replied: “You’re welcome. Send me back.”
Atuya agreed at once and ordered her Deputy Officer to carry Aceras into the ship’s healing department, have a healing insect treat him, cut off all his communication signals, and assign four guards to watch him.
Aceras, bearing the pain of his broken ribs, crawled to the door. He had not heard their earlier conversation, only what came after. He saw Jiang Tea Tea help Atuya smooth out her supernatural abilities and spiritual sea.
The thing he had tried so hard to get, that Atuya had never even asked for, she now received so easily.
[Jiang Tea Tea, Jiang Tea Tea, she really is a pure human who makes bugs hate her. If not for her, Atuya would not want to cancel the engagement with me. This is all her fault. I offered her money and status, but she refused to work for me. Now she has bewitched Atuya too. It seems only if she dies will Atuya stop trying to cancel the engagement.]
The healing insect examined his body, then put him into a healing pod and told him that his injuries were serious and he needed three days of healing.
Aceras did not doubt it. Besides the broken ribs, he felt that his spiritual sea and his supernatural abilities had all been affected by Jiang Tea Tea.
Now that his supernatural abilities had not leveled up and his spiritual sea had not been smoothed out, he could not afford to let them fall any further. He valued himself very highly, so he listened to the healing insect’s advice.
From the moment Aceras lay down in the healing pod, Atuya’s Deputy Officer had their Information Engineer cut off all signals to his light-brain wrist terminal so he could not contact the outside or see anything outside.
All incoming calls to his light-brain wrist terminal were redirected to Atuya. In other words, if the Crown Princess Heir or Her Majesty the Queen tried to contact him, the one who picked up would be Atuya.
Aceras knew nothing about any of this. While he lay in the healing pod, soaking in healing fluid, he was busy thinking about how to kill Jiang Tea Tea.
Atuya personally piloted a flying device and took Jiang Tea Tea away.
The flying device had only been in flight for less than three minutes when Jiang Tea Tea turned to her and said: “Atuya, slow down. Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s warship is about to appear.”
Atuya’s heart gave a jolt. “All right.”
Instead of just slowing down, she stopped the flying device completely.
At the very moment she stopped, the warship in front of them, the one carrying Chong Ming, removed its invisibility and appeared in her line of sight.
She looked at the huge warship in front of her, and her hand tightened on the controls.
Her own ship and the Insectoid Race’s Space Weapons Expo area were all inside Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s firepower saturation range.
If anything happened to Jiang Tea Tea on her ship and Commander in Chief Chong Ming used full firepower saturation, they would not even have time to call for help or write a will.
“There’s another one over there.” Jiang Tea Tea pointed her thumb behind them. “That is Western Kingdom’s Chief Executive Commander Zhong Li He’s warship.”
Following Jiang Tea Tea’s gesture, Atuya turned to look through the rear window of the flying device. She saw Western Kingdom’s Chief Executive Commander Zhong Li He’s personal warship hanging high in the sky, facing Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s warship in a standoff.
Atuya turned her body back to Jiang Tea Tea and said: “All of a sudden, I feel very glad. I am glad for the choice I made.”
Jiang Tea Tea met her gaze. “I heard the Insectoid Race is very long-lived. You can live up to five hundred and eighty years.”
Atuya’s lips lifted in a small smile. “Thank you. I’ll work hard to stay alive. I won’t let myself die easily.”
If she had made the same choice as Aceras today, there might not even be a scrap of bone left of her right now.
Jiang Tea Tea nodded: “Let’s go. Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s warship hatch just opened.”
Atuya answered, restarted the flying device, and flew it into the warship that carried Chong Ming.
Deputy Officer Ai had already been waiting for a long time. Once Atuya’s flying device was stable, he strode forward and opened the co-pilot’s door.
Inside, while Atuya’s heart was still shaking, Jiang Tea Tea stepped out like it was the most normal thing in the world. She did not feel that Deputy Officer Ai opening the door for her was strange at all.
Jiang Tea Tea said to Deputy Officer Ai: “You take High General Atuya to see your Commander in Chief. I won’t go. I’m going down to keep patrolling.”
Deputy Officer Ai took out his own flying device remote and said: “All right. Take my flying device down. The airspace above the Space Weapons Expo is open to my flying device. You can fly straight down to land.”
Jiang Tea Tea smiled and said: “Okay, thank you.”
Deputy Officer Ai replied: “You’re welcome.”
Jiang Tea Tea waved to Atuya, got into the flying device, started it up, and left Chong Ming’s warship.
Only after Jiang Tea Tea flew out of the warship did Deputy Officer Ai spread out a hand toward Atuya and invite: “High General Atuya, this way please.”
Atuya nodded and followed behind Deputy Officer Ai to meet Chong Ming.
He wore a black combat uniform. His long golden hair hung down his back, and on his forehead were two bright golden dragon horns.
He was calm, powerful, dignified, and domineering. He matched everything common citizens dreamed of in a national leader.
Chong Ming gestured to Atuya and said: “Sit…”
Atuya did not sit down. She spoke right away and went straight to the point: “I’m sorry, Commander in Chief Chong Ming. My fiance, His Highness Aceras, has offended you in many ways. I apologize to you on his behalf…”
Chong Ming’s low voice cut her off as he asked: “Have you ever thought about changing to a different environment?”
Atuya frowned slightly. “I don’t understand what you mean. Please speak plainly.”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes looked at her, calm and full of open appreciation as he said: “What I mean is, High General Atuya, in fighting, in handling affairs, and in character, you are all very outstanding.”
“After the Space Weapons Expo ends, when you return to the Insectoid Race and cancel your engagement with His Highness Aceras, the Queen will definitely push you to the side. Are you interested in coming to my side instead? Your position and pay will stay the same. You would guard a border Star Territory space station for me.”