Chapter 225
Chapter 225: You Dare Bully Someone from the Demon Clan? You Think the Demon Clan Has No One Left?
“It hurts—save me!”
“Don’t rip my scales—don’t cut my horns—no!”
“That needle is so thick—don’t… don’t stick it in!”
“Who told you to cut my flesh? Who told you to draw my blood? I’ll kill you—I’ll kill you! Help—help!”
All thirty-eight marked dragons—including Clan Chief Chong Ling Lan—writhed across the ground, screaming themselves hoarse.
This wasn’t random pain.
Jin Lin had used blood as a trigger and cast a shared-sensation technique. The seal hunted down everyone who had swallowed his blood, flesh, and scales, then burrowed deeper—into blood, marrow, and soul—dragging them through every torment he’d endured for three hundred years.
For a thirteen-hundred-year-old demon—one who’d spent most of his life cultivating in isolation and then three centuries in chains—Jin Lin was frighteningly capable.
Invisible nearby, Jiang Tea Tea watched with grim, approving calm.
Even so… his method was incomplete.
Yellow Dragon Clan members weren’t only on the capital planet. They were scattered across other planets in the Zhen Lin Empire. If he wanted true vengeance, he should have used the tracking variant of the shared-sensation technique: blood as the tether. No matter where they ran, anyone who had eaten him would be dragged back.
Jin Lin slammed the limp cub to the ground and ground a foot onto its neck.
“Look,” he snarled at the Yellow Dragon Clan and the police line. “Open your eyes. Every dragon rolling in pain? They all ate my blood, my flesh, my scales.”
“The screams you’re hearing? That was my daily life for three hundred years.”
“You tell me to speak nicely.” His voice rose, raw with hatred. “Why should I? Why should my body feed you?”
The cub’s parents dropped to their knees. Seeing their child crushed and limp, they bowed until their foreheads hit the ground.
“We’re sorry—we’re sorry!” they sobbed. “We didn’t know! We don’t know when our child ate your flesh and scales!”
“Spare him! If you want to kill someone, kill me!”
“My child is only eight. He doesn’t understand—please—”
“Spare you?” Jin Lin laughed like he’d heard a joke too obscene to believe. “Did you spare me?”
“I trusted your clan members.” His eyes burned. “Your clan members chained me, pinned me down, and carved me up—for your strength, for your immortality. They cut my flesh and drew my blood and tore off my scales to feed you.”
“You say your child is innocent.” His voice turned icy. “You say your family is innocent. Am I not innocent?”
“Who was it?” the cub’s mother suddenly screamed, whirling on the gathered Yellow Dragon Clan members like a cornered beast. “Who caught him? Who locked him up? Who carved him?”
“And who fed my cub his flesh and scales? Who did it? Get out here—get out here!”
No one stepped forward.
Not a single dragon.
Her scream cracked into sobs. She stared at her limp child, eyes red and wild, shaking like she might tear apart with grief.
The marked dragons kept writhing, their wails filling the ruined settlement.
Police Bureau personnel tried to speak carefully, as if soothing a live bomb. “Your Excellency, please release the hostages. Come with us to the Police Bureau. We will investigate—if what you say is true, we will give you justice—”
“I don’t trust any of you,” Jin Lin cut in.
His gaze swept the crowd. “And the real culprit—the one who caught me, who locked me up, who carved me—still hasn’t shown his face.”
“Who is it?”
A new voice sliced through the chaos.
Chong Ming descended from his warship and landed directly in front of Jin Lin.
The instant he appeared, hope lit the faces of the Yellow Dragon Clan members and the police personnel.
Chong Ming’s gaze was sharp. “Name the person who captured you and used you as a test subject.”
Jin Lin studied him for a beat, taking in the uniform, the authority, the pressure rolling off him like storm clouds. “Who are you?”
“I am Chong Ming,” he replied evenly. “Commander-in-Chief of the Zhen Lin Empire. The Yellow Dragon Clan is under my authority.”
“Tell me who did this to you,” Chong Ming said. “I will have them seized and delivered to you. Kill them. Cut them. Torture them—do whatever you want.”
His eyes hardened. “But you will not harm the innocent.”
Jin Lin stared at him, and something ugly flickered behind his eyes. He knew he couldn’t win if it came to a fight.
But after three hundred years of chains and knives, there was no room left for retreat.
“I already said it.” Jin Lin’s voice slammed into the air like a verdict. “Anyone who ate my blood, flesh, and scales is not innocent. They all die.”
“And the one who imprisoned me?” His teeth showed. “I will tear him apart and swallow him. Only then will this hatred ease.”
Chong Ming’s gaze sharpened. “So there’s no negotiation.”
“None,” Jin Lin said.
Chong Ming’s ability flared.
“Then you need to calm down first,” he said. “After that, we can talk.”
A muffled thunderbolt dropped from the sky, aimed straight at Jin Lin.
Jin Lin’s pupils contracted. He didn’t have time to dodge—
The lightning never reached him.
Jiang Tea Tea blinked into place in front of Jin Lin and cast a protective art. The bolt arced aside and exploded harmlessly in the rubble.
The sudden blast lit the ruined settlement.
In the shock, more than one person recognized her.
Jiang Tea Tea—the 3S-grade mutant plant-type healer.
She was with the attacker?
Blocking Chong Ming’s lightning cost her dearly. Her power plunged, and blood slid from the corner of her mouth.
Chong Ming’s ability cut off at once. His golden eyes locked on the blood. “Jiang Tea Tea,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Tea Tea planted the Flame Staff into the ground.
Fire surged outward, precise and controlled. The marked dragons froze mid-writhe; their screams died in their throats.
She wiped the blood from her mouth and spoke clearly. “I’m not doing anything. He’s been imprisoned for three hundred years. He’s weakened. You hit him with lightning again and he won’t hold.”
Chong Ming’s voice stayed tight. “I wasn’t trying to kill him. He needs to calm down. I need the name of the person who did this.”
“He doesn’t need to calm down,” Jiang Tea Tea snapped. “Debts must be paid. Murder must be repaid.”
Her gaze swept the Yellow Dragon Clan. “And don’t stand there saying you didn’t know. Unknown-source food. Unknown-source pills. Yet you still swallowed them.”
She raised her voice until it carried across the settlement, reaching even the farthest dragons. “Were you reckless with your own lives, or did someone promise you that eating his flesh and scales would awaken abilities and let you live a thousand years?”
No one spoke.
No one argued.
Even the cub’s sobbing mother fell silent, frozen.
Jiang Tea Tea strode straight toward Chong Ling Lan. “Who in your clan runs the research? Who’s been feeding you drugs and pills? You’re the clan chief—don’t tell me you don’t know.”
Chong Ling Lan’s mouth moved.
No sound came out.
Smack.
Jiang Tea Tea slapped him hard enough for the crack to echo.
Chong Ling Lan crashed to the ground.
Jiang Tea Tea kicked him across the rubble and straight to Jin Lin’s feet.
Jin Lin planted his boot on Chong Ling Lan’s face. Under the pressure, Chong Ling Lan’s beast form burst out.
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes raked over the crowd, cold and merciless. She pointed at Jin Lin. “He came here as a stranger. He was friendly. He didn’t harm you.”
“You heard he could live a thousand years, and you drugged him. You imprisoned him. You kept him for three hundred years.”
“You cut him. You drew blood. You tore off scales. You ate him—for three hundred years.” Her voice sharpened. “He’s identified thirty-eight. That doesn’t mean it’s only thirty-eight.”
“Don’t think those who aren’t on the capital planet will escape.” She lifted her chin. “They won’t. Anyone who ate him won’t get away.”
Chong Ming’s gaze swept the police line. He lifted a hand.
Police Bureau personnel lowered their weapons and stepped aside without a word.
Chong Ming looked back at Jiang Tea Tea. “Tell your friend to release the clan chief. I have questions for him.”
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at Jin Lin.
Jin Lin snorted and kicked Chong Ling Lan off his boot, sending him tumbling toward Chong Ming.
Chong Ling Lan shifted back into human form mid-roll, hit the ground, and spat blood.
Chong Ming looked down at him. “Does the Yellow Dragon Clan have a lab that produces drugs and pills meant to extend life and awaken abilities?”
Chong Ling Lan tried to scrape together dignity. “Commander-in-Chief, our lab is officially approved. The drugs and pills we produce—”
“So you do have one,” Chong Ming cut in. Then his gaze swept the gathered clan members. “Which means you knew. All of you.”
His voice dropped. “For three hundred years, you knew what you fed yourselves and your children.”
Not a single Yellow Dragon Clan member spoke.
Chong Ming’s expression went cold.
“Minister Cai,” he ordered. “Notify all Yellow Dragon Clan members outside this settlement. Call them. No matter what it takes, every single one must be here within twenty-four hours.”
“Major General Xia,” he continued. “Take full control of the Yellow Dragon Clan settlement. No Yellow Dragon Clan member leaves. Anyone who forces their way out—shoot on sight.”
“Adjutant Ai.” Chong Ming’s voice didn’t waver. “Go to the Yellow Dragon Clan lab. Arrest every clan member and every staff member inside. Bring them here. Let this avenger deal with them.”