Chapter 216
Chapter 216: You Tell a Demon, “I’ll Give You a Thousand, Ten Thousand Years”—Who Exactly Are You Cursing?
Jiang Tea Tea received the notice: the mission was delayed two hours. A new task had been inserted—go to the Ministry of Justice and “beat Lang Yin Feng half to death.”
She frowned at the messenger. “Does ‘beat him half to death’ mean I beat him to death?”
The leader assigned to their mission hesitated, then answered carefully, “It probably means beat him until he’s barely alive. As long as there’s still a breath left, he can be saved.”
In the interstellar age, the healing field was advanced enough that even catastrophic damage could be repaired—artificial organs, replacements, reconstruction—as long as a person didn’t die outright.
Lang Yin Feng’s crimes were too broad, too deep, too vicious.
A quick death would be mercy he didn’t deserve.
Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head. “Do I have to beat him alone? Can’t I bring my teammates and beat him together?”
Sui Xuan Chu and the others nodded so hard their necks nearly snapped.
“Yes, yes. Leader,” Huang Da Zhuang said eagerly. “We were the ones who arrested Lang Yin Feng. Beating him should count as a shared reward, right?”
“If Sister Tea beats him alone and hurts her hands, what then?” Cheng Xiao Ting added indignantly. “We’re her muscle. Let us beat him too.”
“We males are thick-skinned,” another chimed in. “We won’t complain about pain. Let us go. We guarantee we’ll complete the task and leave him one breath.”
The leader swept his eyes over them and didn’t answer directly. He looked back at Jiang Tea Tea. “No one said you can’t bring anyone. Go first. If you need support, I’ll send them.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Got it.”
Her teammates looked devastated.
They truly wanted to hit Lang Yin Feng.
Their shuttle landed inside the Ministry of Justice compound.
They disembarked with the mission leader. Jiang Tea Tea was escorted into an interrogation room, while the rest waited outside.
In just one month, Lang Yin Feng no longer looked like a proud clan chief.
He looked old.
Wrinkles carved deep lines into his face. His body was gaunt, nearly reduced to bone beneath thin skin. Both wrists and ankles were shackled to the chair.
When he saw Jiang Tea Tea enter, his murky eyes locked onto her, heavy with gloom. His voice was hoarse, as if he’d swallowed burning coals.
“You came,” he rasped. “My daughter.”
Jiang Tea Tea sat across from him. A table separated them, and there was no other barrier.
She met his eyes and corrected him coldly. “I’m not your daughter. And the dozen-plus children you made aren’t your children either.”
Lang Yin Feng laughed.
In the dim light, the sound crawled out of him like rot—like a demon dragging itself from a pit after finding someone else to die in its place.
“Who says you aren’t my children?” he hissed. “You weren’t born from my body, but you were born by my hands. You exist because of me. How could you not be my children?”
“I’m the closest thing you have to a father,” he said, voice twisting. “How can you let your father be interrogated and tortured in this lightless room?”
Jiang Tea Tea leaned back, crossed her arms, and crossed her legs. “So you bargained with the Ministry of Justice and dragged me here because you want me to rescue you?”
Lang Yin Feng’s eyes widened with certainty. “You’re my only pure human daughter. You’re my most capable daughter. Rescuing me is what you should do.”
Jiang Tea Tea pretended to think, then nodded as if she’d been enlightened. “That makes sense.”
Then she spread her hands. “But my hands are empty. With what, exactly, am I supposed to rescue you?”
Lang Yin Feng leaned forward as far as the shackles allowed, voice dropping into a coaxing whisper. “Tea Tea, you aren’t empty-handed.”
“You’re a 3S-rank mutant plant-type ability user,” he said, eyes shining with greed. “There’s only one of you in the entire galaxy. You’re irreplaceable.”
“Go find Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming. Ask him to release me,” Lang Yin Feng insisted. “He will agree.”
“And if he won’t,” he added urgently, “threaten him with death. Those high-level beastfolk—if they want to avoid ability backlash and mind sea storms, they’ll do anything. He’ll agree. He’ll pardon me.”
Jiang Tea Tea almost laughed.
A dreamer without even a pillow.
Why would she threaten Chong Ming with her life for him?
Who did Lang Yin Feng think he was?
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her brows and asked lazily, “Even if he releases you, your Hope Institute lab has already been destroyed. Your partner Li Ao has been executed.”
She tilted her head. “So tell me—once you walk out of this room, how do you plan to live?”
“Should I support you? Should your other dozen-plus ‘children’ support you? Do you think that’s possible?”
Those other “children” wanted to drink his blood and eat his flesh. Seeing him made them sick. They’d rather vomit than spend a single credit on him.
Lang Yin Feng latched onto her question like it was hope. “I don’t need you to support me. I don’t need anyone. As long as I have freedom, I can support myself.”
Jiang Tea Tea shrugged. “With what?”
“You can’t go back to the White Wolf Clan. Your accounts—and your friends’ accounts—have been frozen.”
“Even if there’s a single credit you can’t explain,” she said, eyes sharp, “that money will be confiscated by the state and the accounts won’t be unfrozen.”
She leaned in slightly. “Oh. So you have other assets. Hidden ones the investigators haven’t found.”
Lang Yin Feng neither denied nor admitted it. He only said, “Just get me out. You don’t need to worry about the rest.”
Outside the interrogation room, Ministry of Justice personnel immediately began rechecking every possible account and hidden asset linked to Lang Yin Feng.
Jiang Tea Tea sighed. “Lang Yin Feng… do you even understand what crimes you committed?”
“Fine. Let’s pretend I can get Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming to spare you.” She smiled faintly. “What do I gain?”
“Chong Ming values me. If I ask for anything, I get it. Why would I risk favors and trouble for you—”
“Come here,” Lang Yin Feng interrupted suddenly.
He craned his neck and tried to reach across the table, trying to whisper into Jiang Tea Tea’s ear. He couldn’t get close enough, so he lowered his voice into something low and sticky.
“Come closer. I’ll tell you what you’ll gain.”
Jiang Tea Tea narrowed her eyes. She dropped her crossed leg and began to rise.
In her earpiece, Chong Ming’s voice came through, low and steady. “Be careful. Don’t get hurt.”
Jiang Tea Tea walked around the table and stopped beside Lang Yin Feng. One hand braced on the tabletop, the other on the back of his chair. She bent down, close enough for him to whisper.
“Say it,” she said coolly. “If I rescue you, what do I gain? You only get one chance. If you miss it, it’s gone.”
Lang Yin Feng glanced upward. “There are cameras.”
Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue. “If you speak into my ear, they won’t see. I’m blocking you. Talk. If you don’t, I’m leaving.”
Lang Yin Feng bowed his head further, hiding beneath her shadow. His voice turned feverish with longing.
“Immortality,” he whispered. “If you rescue me, I’ll give you the genetic code for immortality.”
“I’ll let you live a thousand years. Ten thousand.”