Chapter 223

Chapter 223: Whichever Dragon Clan Offends a Demon Will Get Wiped Out

Jiang Tea Tea lifted a hand to block the spit Jin Lin sprayed as he raged, her expression twisting with disgust. “Jin Lin. Yell if you want. Just don’t spit on me. You smell like corpses.”

Jin Lin looked ready to explode out of his skin.

He’d thought he’d stumbled into a secret pocket world where demons and humans lived side by side.

Instead, demons didn’t exist here at all.

This was an interstellar age of technology and beastfolk—people who grew up and took on the label “beastfolk” instead of “demon.”

They didn’t worship the Heavenly Dao. They didn’t worship old gods.

They worshiped Beast God.

Only Beast God.

And these so-called abilities—if you analyzed them through Demon Clan arts, you could find parallels. The difference was that Demon Clan arts came from cultivation and talent, while abilities here came from awakening. What you awakened was what you got. External interference rarely changed anything.

Jin Lin had even thought the “Dragon God” he met was some kind of supreme being—

Turns out it was likely just a race. Possibly billions of them.

“Fellow townsman.” Jin Lin’s voice snapped back to Jiang Tea Tea, brittle with fury. “I’ll remember the debt. We’ll meet again.”

He kicked off the platform to leap away.

Jiang Tea Tea grabbed for him on instinct—and caught the leg of the pants he’d conjured with magic power.

With a hard yank, she pulled them clean off.

The conjured fabric vanished in her grip. Jin Lin’s legs blurred back into a snake tail mid-air as he fled.

“Are you stupid?!” Jiang Tea Tea shouted after him. “If you want revenge, use your brain! Out there you don’t know anyone, you have nowhere to go—do you want to get captured and turned into a research subject again?”

“There are only two demons in this entire world! You were locked up and tortured for three hundred years—haven’t you learned anything?!”

Jin Lin didn’t slow down. He didn’t even turn his head.

He vanished into the underground river like a shadow, gone in an instant.

Jiang Tea Tea stood on the platform and clicked her tongue, about to leave—

When she heard a sharp crack.

She froze and looked down.

The platform beneath her feet—right where the Flame Staff had been planted—had split. The crack spidered outward, widening.

Something was under it.

Jiang Tea Tea rose into the water, then sent her Flame Staff down into the split.

Fire wrapped the shaft as it expanded.

The crack widened with a grinding roar until—

Bang.

The altar-like platform broke in two. Massive slabs sank into the river.

Beneath them lay a deep pool that poured out freezing water like a hidden spring.

Jiang Tea Tea recalled the Flame Staff, then dropped into the pool. With her staff’s light and magic power, the depths looked endless.

She dove.

With water-avoidance art and magic power reinforcing her, her clothes stayed dry and she felt no chill.

The passage narrowed and widened in turns. In the wide stretches, a small submarine could have passed. In the narrow ones, only a single diver could squeeze through.

Even moving fast, it took her two full hours to find an exit.

She surfaced into open night.

A bright moon hung overhead, and the sky was strewn with stars. She had no idea where the water had spat her out.

She lifted the hand wearing her lightbrain to check her location—

And Chong Ming’s video call came through.

She answered. The screen projected in front of her, Chong Ming’s face sharp in the moonlight. “Where are you?”

Jiang Tea Tea raised the Flame Staff and lit her surroundings, then pointed back to the dark pool behind her. “I came out of that water less than a minute ago. I was about to check when you called.”

Chong Ming glanced at the pool. “He Tan Mountain. About sixty kilometers from the Military Department.”

Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “I swam underground for two hours and somehow ended up practically next to you. Didn’t see that coming.”

Chong Ming’s mouth curved briefly. “Neither did I. I’ve marked your position and dispatched people to survey all of He Tan Mountain.”

“Right.” Jiang Tea Tea’s tone sobered. “We lost signal after we went down about seven levels into the mission site. Sui Xuan Chu and the others were still down there. Can you reach them?”

“I already did,” Chong Ming said. “They brought the living dead back, returned to the ship, and are on their way to the Military Department lab now.”

Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Then the mission’s done. I’m going back to school to sleep.”

“No.” Chong Ming’s expression tightened. “Your flyer arrives in ten minutes. Come to the Military Department. Tonight you’re staying at the Imperial Palace.”

Jiang Tea Tea made a face. “Do I have to?”

Chong Ming’s voice turned mild in the way that meant it wasn’t really a question. “Do you want me to pick you up personally?”

“Don’t.” Jiang Tea Tea waved the idea away. “I’ll do you a favor and test your Military Department security system. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

“If you can reach me without triggering the Military Department security system,” Chong Ming said, “this year’s security bonus is yours.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes lit up. “How much?”

“Over a hundred million.”

“Deal.” Jiang Tea Tea grinned. “You’ve got three minutes to warn your Security Department to get ready.”

Chong Ming nodded once. “All right. I’ll wait.”

The call cut.

Three minutes later, the Security Department received notice from their Commander-in-Chief: someone would infiltrate the Military Department.

The entire department went rigid.

Someone dared infiltrate the Zhen Lin Empire’s Military Department? And the Commander-in-Chief knew ahead of time?

Fine. Let them come. They’d catch the intruder and teach them what “suicide” really meant.

Jiang Tea Tea used Shrink the Earth to an Inch and appeared inside the Security Department in the blink of an eye.

Invisible, she watched them scramble—reinforcing internal systems, expanding security coverage out fifty kilometers, moving like a kicked anthill.

Three minutes passed.

Jiang Tea Tea cleared her throat—soft, deliberate—letting the sound echo across the room.

No one paid attention at first. Someone coughing in a busy department was nothing.

So she did it again.

A third time.

Finally, someone looked up, frowning. “Who’s coughing?”

Hands shot up across the room. No one admitted it. Everyone was still glued to their screens and zones.

Jiang Tea Tea flicked a finger.

A cup on a nearby desk flew off and shattered on the floor with a loud clang.

Panic erupted.

“Close the doors! Close the doors—now! Intruder in Security Department!”

“Scan! Run a scan!”

“Find them—catch them—”

The moment the main doors slammed shut, Jiang Tea Tea tapped them lightly with the Flame Staff and left two blossoms of flame burning on the surface.

Inside, faces went pale.

Their pride—their unbreakable system—had done nothing.

Their leader barked an order to open the doors.

The doors swung open.

Those two flames flared like living hands and slapped across the faces of the people nearest, scorching and humiliating.

And then they saw more flames, burning farther down the corridor, leading away.

The alarm went up across the entire Military Department.

Instantly, every department snapped into full alert.

They tracked the flames, following them like breadcrumbs, until they realized the intruder’s path led straight to the Commander-in-Chief’s office.

They converged on it—

And found the doors wide open.

Jiang Tea Tea leaned casually against the frame, chewing fruit, smiling like she was greeting friends. “Well, you’re not slow,” she said. “Are you here to collect your Commander-in-Chief’s corpse?”

For a second, the words stunned them.

Then Minister Cai Xi Chao stepped forward, voice tight. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea… who are you here with? Is the Commander-in-Chief inside?”

Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes flicked. “He is. But you’re late. I already killed him.”

Guns came up in a heartbeat.

Cai Xi Chao’s voice dropped lower. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, don’t joke about that. The Commander-in-Chief is the foundation of the empire. You can’t speak lightly of him.”

Jiang Tea Tea shrugged, unimpressed, and strolled into the office.

The leaders followed, tense and ready—

Only to find Chong Ming seated at his desk, watching them with a cold, sharp gaze.

Jiang Tea Tea finished her fruit in a few bites and tossed the pit onto Chong Ming’s desk. Then she opened her lightbrain and projected her payment code.

“Your Highness Chong Ming,” she said brightly, “I told you your Military Department wasn’t airtight. You didn’t believe me.”

She tipped her head toward the stunned leaders behind her. “See? If I hadn’t exposed myself on purpose—left flames to lure them—then even if I blew up your Military Department, they still wouldn’t find me.”

“Pay my appearance fee. If it’s under five hundred million, I’m going to be mad.”

The room felt like it was about to snap.

Chong Ming picked up the fruit pit and dropped it into the trash. His voice stayed calm. “You tested the Military Department security system. Your fee will be paid by the departments.”

“Within five days, the Military Department will issue responsibility breakdowns. Bonuses will be deducted, fines assessed, and the money transferred to you.”

Jiang Tea Tea closed her payment code and smiled. “Perfect. You keep scolding your subordinates. I’ll take a late-night snack.”

Chong Ming reached into a storage button and handed her a food box.

Jiang Tea Tea took it, glanced at the leaders who looked like they wanted to bury themselves in the floor, and went to the sofa. She set the box on the table, opened it, and began eating like nothing in the world was wrong.

Chong Ming waited until she’d taken a few bites, then turned back to the leaders, voice turning icy. “Fifteen minutes ago I warned you someone would infiltrate—”

Clang.

Jiang Tea Tea slammed her bowl and chopsticks down hard enough to cut him off.

She sprang up and pressed herself to the window, staring out into the distance.

Chong Ming moved instantly. “What is it?”

Jiang Tea Tea pointed toward the far horizon. “Five hundred kilometers out—what color dragon settlement is that?”

Chong Ming snapped, “Minister Cai, check what dragon clan settlements are within five hundred kilometers of the Military Department.”

“Yes!”

Cai Xi Chao moved fast, fingers flying over a virtual keyboard. Moments later, she reported, “Commander-in-Chief, within five hundred kilometers there is an azure dragon clan settlement and a yellow dragon clan settlement.”

“The Yellow Dragon Clan,” Jiang Tea Tea repeated, voice gone cold. “Chong Ming, they offended someone.”

Her finger remained pointed, unwavering. “They’re being attacked tonight. Even if they aren’t wiped out, within ten days, every Yellow Dragon Clan member on the capital planet will die.”