Chapter 226

Chapter 226: I Gave You Face. Who Do You Think You’re Questioning? You Want to Die? Then I’ll Grant It.

Cai Xi Chao, Xia Wei Yi, and Adjutant Ai moved at once—calling people in, deploying forces, and carrying out arrests.

All around them, Yellow Dragon Clan members stood frozen, barely daring to breathe. Even Chong Ling Lan, injured and close to blacking out, clenched his teeth and forced himself to stay conscious.

The police personnel, weapons lowered now, stood disciplined and silent, eyes fixed forward.

Chong Ming turned back to Jiang Tea Tea, his voice still cold but a shade softer. “Jiang Tea Tea. Tell your friend not to be tense. His ‘debt collection’ will be resolved within twenty-four hours.”

Jiang Tea Tea accepted the concession with a glance and looked at Jin Lin.

Jin Lin threw off every hostage—those under his foot, those in his hands—kicking them away without care. Then he pointed at the crowd, killing intent still burning behind his eyes.

“Don’t think being released means you’re free,” he warned. “Anyone who ate my blood, flesh, and scales will not escape.”

“If you have last words, go tell your family now.” His smile showed teeth. “So you don’t die regretting you ran out of time.”

Cubs began to cry, wailing as they clung to their parents.

As Jin Lin kicked people aside, Jiang Tea Tea spotted someone familiar among the sprawled bodies—Chong Xing Qi, the first-year combat department chief at the Royal Military Academy.

He was battered and filthy, and he stared at Jiang Tea Tea with raw accusation, as if she’d personally driven a knife into his heart.

Accusing her of siding with the attacker.

Of opposing Chong Ming.

Of standing with a killer who’d ruined their home.

Jiang Tea Tea met his gaze and let contempt flash openly.

She rested the Flame Staff behind her and folded her arms, calm as if she were only watching a play.

Jin Lin stepped to her side and mirrored her stance, arms crossed, gaze locked coldly on Chong Ming.

Something about it unsettled him: Jiang Tea Tea’s dragon scent was strangely similar to Chong Ming’s.

Adjutant Ai returned with a convoy.

Lab staff—thirty-seven of them, including Yellow Dragon Clan members—were dragged in and forced to their knees.

Jin Lin’s eyes snapped onto one man in a white coat.

He looked refined. Middle-aged. The kind of man you might trust without thinking twice.

But the moment he saw Jin Lin, his composure shattered.

His body jolted as if struck. Fear flooded his yellow eyes, and whatever confidence he’d carried collapsed in an instant.

Jin Lin blurred forward like a shadow and appeared right in front of him. “Chong Luo Han,” he said softly. “Long time no see. How have you been?”

Chong Luo Han stumbled back, lips trembling. “Y-you—”

Jin Lin’s smile widened. “Surprised? How did I escape? How am I here? I was supposed to stay locked under the water forever, wasn’t I?”

Chong Luo Han’s legs gave out. He hit the ground hard, panic pouring off him like sweat.

Jin Lin lifted his bare foot and brought it down on Chong Luo Han’s wrist.

Crack.

Bone snapped.

Chong Luo Han’s scream tore through the settlement, making even nearby Yellow Dragon Clan members flinch.

Jin Lin didn’t stop.

His foot slid up—crushing forearm, then upper arm—breaking bone after bone while Chong Luo Han screamed himself ragged.

When Jin Lin raised his foot over Chong Luo Han’s chest, ready to finish it—

An ice pillar shot through the air.

“Don’t hurt my grandfather!” a voice roared. “Let my grandfather go!”

Jin Lin spun, flinging up a surge of water to meet it.

But three hundred years of torment had hollowed him out. His power was weakened, and the water only dulled the strike.

The sharpened ice still punched through, stabbing toward Jin Lin’s heart.

Two finger-widths from his chest, it stopped.

Jiang Tea Tea’s hand was braced against the ice pillar, holding it back.

She turned her head, eyes flashing. “Chong Xing Qi. You have a lot of nerve.”

“Chong Ming already said the abuser will be handed over for punishment—yet you still interfere?”

Chong Xing Qi’s eyes were wild. Ice gathered around his hands again. “My grandfather committed no crime. He’s just lab staff devoted to research.”

“That snake-not-snake, dragon-not-dragon thing destroyed our settlement, hurt my clan members and my dad, and now he wants to torture and kill my grandfather!” His voice broke with fury. “I won’t allow it!”

Jiang Tea Tea twisted the ice pillar aside with one hand and laughed sharply. “Newborn calves really don’t fear tigers.”

She glanced down at Chong Luo Han, broken and trembling. “You say he’s innocent, but look at him. Doesn’t he look like a man who’s seen his victim crawl out of the grave?”

Chong Xing Qi ignored her.

He turned to Chong Ming, voice urgent. “Commander-in-Chief! I don’t believe my grandfather imprisoned anyone, let alone turned their flesh and scales into something we ate. This is just an excuse for slaughter!”

“Please uphold justice for the Yellow Dragon Clan. Don’t let this baseless slander destroy our reputation built over ten thousand years!”

Then his gaze snapped to Jiang Tea Tea. “And Jiang Tea Tea—she is a cadet of the Royal Military Academy, an active-duty soldier. She should protect ordinary citizens, not help a madman harm innocents!”

“Commander-in-Chief, investigate her! Punish her!”

He was trying to force Chong Ming’s hand.

Jiang Tea Tea saw it at a glance.

She stepped between Chong Ming and Chong Xing Qi and asked one simple question.

“Were you in pain?”

Chong Xing Qi blinked. “What?”

Jiang Tea Tea advanced until he could see every cold edge in her eyes. “Half an hour ago, that red mark appeared on your forehead. When it did, did you feel the pain of flesh being cut, blood being drawn, scales being ripped off?”

Chong Xing Qi shuddered. For a heartbeat, his face twisted with remembered agony.

Jiang Tea Tea caught it.

She snapped her fingers.

A ripple of power rolled outward.

The shared-sensation technique—which she had sealed to silence the suffering—unlocked.

All thirty-eight marked dragons collapsed again, screaming, writhing, rolling across the broken ground as if knives, needles, and lightning were tearing into them all at once.

Chong Xing Qi, who had been shouting so confidently, folded like a crushed insect and hit the ground, shaking with pain.

Jiang Tea Tea turned and smiled at Chong Ming, bright as if she hadn’t just thrown an entire clan into hell.

“Adjutant Ai,” she called. “Bring your Commander-in-Chief a chair. Serve tea.”

She tilted her head at Jin Lin. “We’ll give evidence. Let everyone who ate his flesh and scales die convinced.”