Chapter 227

Chapter 227: You Dare Play Tricks in Front of the Demon Clan? You Think the Two of Us Demons Are Dead?

Adjutant Ai froze at the order, then glanced at Chong Ming.

Chong Ming’s expression could have frosted glass, but he didn’t reject it.

Adjutant Ai steeled himself, pulled a chair from his storage button, and set it behind Chong Ming.

Chong Ming’s eyes shifted. He glanced at the chair, took a half-step back, and sat.

His gaze returned to Jiang Tea Tea. “Jiang Tea Tea. Every case requires witnesses and evidence.”

“It’s reasonable for the Yellow Dragon Clan to question what’s happening.” His tone stayed calm, but it carried weight. “If your friend wants repayment—wants lives—he needs the strongest proof possible.”

“And if you cannot provide proof,” Chong Ming added, “then you and your friend will face the punishment you’ve earned.”

Jiang Tea Tea lifted a brow. “We have no issue on our side. I’m more curious whether the Yellow Dragon Clan has an issue.”

Chong Ming looked at Chong Ling Lan. “Clan Chief Chong Ling Lan. Any objections?”

Chong Ling Lan was still rolling in pain, unable to answer.

Jin Lin stepped forward and kicked him hard, sealing the shared-sensation technique briefly.

Chong Ling Lan lay panting, drenched in sweat, face twisted. Chong Ming repeated the question.

Chong Ling Lan forced himself upright. “No objections. We have no objections.”

Chong Ming’s gaze pinned him. “Be sure. Once the evidence is confirmed, every involved Yellow Dragon Clan member will be handed over to Your Excellency Jin Lin. Understood?”

Chong Ling Lan looked like a man being roasted alive. “Understood, Commander-in-Chief.”

He didn’t have a choice.

A beastfolk who could storm a settlement alone, destroy everything, and still hold the line against police and clan forces—Yellow Dragon Clan couldn’t truly suppress him.

Worse, there was Jiang Tea Tea.

And Chong Ming valued her.

The only path left was to face it head-on and cut it out at the root, before the entire clan of over a hundred thousand dragons was dragged into a bloodbath.

Jiang Tea Tea stepped back to Jin Lin and asked Chong Ling Lan, “Clan Chief Chong. How many dragons do you have?”

Chong Ling Lan’s lips trembled. “We have nine—”

“One hundred and seven thousand, eight hundred and fifty-six recorded dragons,” Cai Xi Chao cut in crisply, exposing the lie before Chong Ling Lan could finish.

“Among them, eight hundred and thirty-five female dragons are carrying eggs—two to eight months along.”

“And ninety-eight eggs are currently incubating. They haven’t hatched yet.”

Jiang Tea Tea gave Cai Xi Chao a brief nod of thanks, then swung the Flame Staff across Chong Ling Lan’s already swollen face.

“Tell me we’re going to resolve this calmly,” she said, voice like ice, “and then lie the moment I ask a question?”

“You were about to say nine—what? Ninety thousand? So you can hide ten thousand dragons?”

Chong Ling Lan recoiled, clutching his face as scorched skin stung. “I meant those inside the empire. I didn’t count—”

“You know what you meant,” Jiang Tea Tea cut in.

She turned to Cai Xi Chao. “Minister Cai, run a full investigation on everything related to Researcher Chong Luo Han.”

Her voice sharpened with each line. “I suspect he colluded with Li Ao, the former director of the Ability Research Institute, and conducted illegal research.”

“I also suspect treason—collecting facility coordinates around the Military Department and selling them to foreign powers.”

She lifted her chin. “My evidence: capital planet coordinates -830_65. There was a large research facility there. It was destroyed three months ago.”

“That facility is directly connected to Li Ao.”

“Below its seventh and eighth levels is a bottomless pool connected to an underground river. That river has two branches—one leading to the Yellow Dragon Clan, one leading to He Tan Mountain, about sixty kilometers from the Military Department.”

Jin Lin, watching her lay out the case like a blade, added coldly, “After I was freed, I swam through that underground river. The Yellow Dragon Clan’s biggest waterfall—on their mountain—is one of the river’s sources.”

Cai Xi Chao turned instinctively to Chong Ming. She could investigate, but only with his authorization.

Chong Ming nodded once.

Cai Xi Chao stepped back, projected multiple lightbrain screens, and began typing at speed.

Da Ma Zi received orders and led a team to investigate the biggest waterfall on Yellow Dragon Clan mountain.

Jiang Tea Tea planted the Flame Staff again. The shared-sensation technique sealed, and the writhing dragons went still, panting and shaken.

She looked at Jin Lin. “Now. Make Chong Luo Han tell his grandson and his clan what he did to you.”

Jin Lin kicked Chong Luo Han forward, sending him sprawling beside Chong Xing Qi. “Chong Luo Han,” he said with vicious cheer. “Go on. Tell your grandson. Are you really some devoted researcher who never harmed anyone?”

In front of Chong Xing Qi, Chong Luo Han had always been a gentle, refined, admirable grandfather.

Letting that image crack was worse than death.

So he tried to control the story.

He forced the words out. “Jin Lin… right or wrong, I won’t argue. You say I imprisoned you, drew your blood, cut your flesh, tore your scales—fine. Call it my doing.”

He lifted his head, eyes darting. “One dragon takes responsibility for what one dragon does. I’ll give you my life. Spare my grandson. Spare my clan members.”

As he spoke, his hand slid from his storage button with a syringe already in his grip, stabbing toward his own neck.

Jiang Tea Tea flashed forward and kicked his hand.

The syringe flew.

Then she stepped down and planted her boot on his head, driving him face-first into the ground and grinding him there.

“Trash,” she said, voice vicious.

“Your Excellency Jin Lin is injured. If you tried to kill yourself right now, he might not stop you fast enough.”

She pressed harder. “So you spit out a few vague, self-pitying lines and then try to die—dumping the filth on him, pretending you were noble?”

Her eyes were cold. “Or did you mistake our restraint for weakness? Did you think because we’ve tried to do this the proper way, you can climb onto our heads and shit wherever you like?”