Chapter 230
Chapter 230: The Cub’s Mother Wept with Envy—He Ate Four Dragons!
Jiang Tea Tea cried the kind of tears that tasted like envy, jealousy, and spite. That bastard had actually eaten four dragons.
No wonder her spells felt weak. She only had forty percent of her magic power left. To save him, she’d burned another ten percent. That left her with thirty percent… and five little brats tucked in her belly as emergency rations.
She refused to lose face. She wasn’t saying a word.
A great demon had standards. She was going to keep her swagger to the bitter end.
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at Jin Lin, gave him a look that said you know exactly what I mean, and drove her words straight into his chest. “Little snake demon, with brains like that, how did you end up trapped and tortured for three hundred years?”
Jin Lin looked like his heart had been poked full of holes. “Senior Fellow Townsman, Great Demon Senior, I’m only 1,301 years old. I’ve been able to cultivate a human form for less than five hundred years.”
He paused, then couldn’t stop himself. “But the tonic dragon you keep as reserve rations… impressive. Every Yellow Dragon Clan member I’ve seen today combined doesn’t compare to him alone.”
Great Demon Senior really was Great Demon Senior. Even her “reserve rations” were top tier—nothing like him, who’d arrived here only to be treated as someone else’s reserve rations.
Jiang Tea Tea practically glowed. If she’d had a tail, it would’ve been wagging. “If you’re weak, train harder. Otherwise you’ll end up on someone’s table again.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Jin Lin clasped his fists. “You’re right. From now on I’ll practice more and stay sharper.”
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at the bed. “Sit. I’ll treat your old injuries. Wouldn’t want you losing in a fight and embarrassing our demon clan.”
Jin Lin cupped his fists again. “Thank you, Fellow Townsman.”
He sat down with a broad, commanding posture, all swagger and menace.
Jiang Tea Tea gathered her magic power, drew in spiritual energy, and condensed it into a glowing sphere. She pressed it into his body, and the light spread to wrap him like a shell.
Bathed in magic power and spiritual energy, the places where Jin Lin’s old wounds had refused to grow scales finally began to heal and fill in.
After about ten minutes, the sphere dissolved into nothing. His injuries were mostly mended.
Jiang Tea Tea left him a sound-transmission talisman and told him to rest, then went next door. She’d assumed Chong Ming would still be handling Yellow Dragon Clan business, but he was in her room, as if he’d been waiting for her.
She shut the door, yawned, and walked right past him like he was furniture. She kicked off her shoes, went into the bathroom, took a quick shower, changed into pajamas, crawled under the blanket, and went to sleep in one smooth, ruthless sequence.
Chong Ming watched the flawless routine. It was a silent eviction notice.
He walked to the bedside, sat down, and released a soothing psychic force. “Jiang Tea Tea. You blocked my lightning to save Jin Lin today. You spat blood. How are you now?”
“I’m already asleep,” she answered.
He didn’t move. “You don’t trust the healer on my ship? Should I call Cheng Lin Yue and Cheng Yuan to come check you?”
Check what?
She’d taken his lightning and coughed up a little blood. She’d only lost ten percent of her magic power. The cubs in her belly were perfectly fine.
She could rest, then go down to Yellow Dragon Clan territory later, find a good spot, put down roots, soak up some fertilizer and natural essence. No big deal.
“I’m already asleep,” she repeated.
Chong Ming stared at the blanket mound. “If you don’t want Cheng Lin Yue and Cheng Yuan, do you want to drink some dragon blood…”
The blanket flew back. Jiang Tea Tea sat up, chin lifted, eyes sharp. “Enough. Stop testing me. My cubs are fine.”
He thought he was subtle—first trying to get her examined, then hinting about dragon blood. It was all for the brats in her belly.
She’d told him eight hundred times: the hatchlings had nothing to do with him. And he still wouldn’t quit circling the point, probing and pretending he wasn’t.
Chong Ming met her gaze, voice turning cold and tight. “I’m worried about you. The rest is incidental.”
Jiang Tea Tea waved him off. “Don’t explain. I get it. But let me make something clear: the dragon hatchlings are mine. If you dare try to take them, I’ll fight you to the death—and I can find other people to fight you, too.”
His eyes darkened. He sighed. “I’m not taking them. Sleep. I’ll release some soothing psychic force, then I’ll leave.”
Jiang Tea Tea grunted and lay back down.
She didn’t bury her head to sleep. She buried her head and formed hand seals in the dark, cultivating silently.
Chong Ming released more and more mental power, wrapping her up, nourishing both her and the cubs in her belly.
About half an hour later, he rose and left the room. He went to the ship’s office section and dealt with everything tangled up in the Yellow Dragon Clan, Li Ao, and the White Wolf Clan—calling people to account, especially those who’d “handled” the Li Ao case.
They hadn’t fully investigated everyone connected to Li Ao—every person, every department, every illegal foreign organization.
The Yellow Dragon Clan scandal wasn’t just the clan itself. It involved researchers, the researchers’ families, and the families within those families. All of it needed to be combed through again from the start.
The top leaders of the Security Department, the special forces, the Ministry of Justice, the Police Department, the Intelligence Department, and a long list of other agencies were dragged out and publicly named and reprimanded.
At one or two in the morning, nobody slept. People were processing paperwork, hunting suspects, making arrests, and assigning tasks.
Even the sleeping citizens of Capital Planet were jolted awake by night alarms, explosions, and the distant thunder of abilities.
They stumbled outside to see what was happening—only to see nothing. They refreshed Starnet—only to find nothing there, either.
Yellow Dragon Clan members on Capital Planet were summoned overnight back to Yellow Dragon Clan headquarters. Those who weren’t on Capital Planet—those on other Yellow Dragon Clan territories—arrived at dawn.
As soon as they got off their ships, Security Department personnel escorted them straight back to the Yellow Dragon Clan settlement.
In less than twenty-four hours, every Yellow Dragon Clan member in the M31 star system was back on Capital Planet, gathered in the settlement.
At two in the afternoon, under a bright, cloudless sky, a warship hovered over the settlement—No. 2, the vessel of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces, Prince Regent Chong Ming.
The ship was so massive it blotted out the sun. It felt like it was pressing down on the entire settlement.
Over a hundred thousand Yellow Dragon Clan members—old and young, even eggs carried in arms—didn’t dare breathe too loudly. They all knew it: the entire settlement, and everything within a hundred kilometers of it, sat comfortably inside that ship’s firing range.
Jiang Tea Tea came down from the warship with Jin Lin.
She wore ordinary training gear, hair twisted into a simple bun, two tea-branch sprigs tucked in like hairpins.
Jin Lin wore plain trousers and a shirt. His hair fell all the way to his ankles. His face was clean—no dust, no bruises—ruggedly handsome with a dangerous edge. And with his injuries mostly healed and his magic power recovering, his entire presence had changed.
Chong Luo Han and his wife, Huang Yu Lin, along with their family, saw Jin Lin restored to his true self and nearly collapsed from terror.
Jiang Tea Tea led Jin Lin to Chong Ming and spoke first. “Commander-in-Chief. You said you’d give Jin Lin an explanation within twenty-four hours.”
She tilted her head. “Now you’ve brought him here. Are you ready to give him that explanation?”
Chong Ming’s gaze was sharp as a blade. “After investigation, I have confirmed that Chong Luo Han and Huang Yu Lin, along with their son Chong Ling Lan and their daughter-in-law Huang Xi Ruo, are the principal culprits behind the imprisonment and torture of Your Excellency Jin Lin.”
“I have also verified and proven their other crimes and treason. These four are now entirely at Your Excellency Jin Lin’s disposal.”
“If Your Excellency Jin Lin spares their lives, they will still be executed by firing squad. If Your Excellency Jin Lin takes their lives—kills them, eats them—Your Excellency Jin Lin will face no consequences and no involvement whatsoever.”
The meaning was unmistakable: no matter what Jin Lin chose, that family of four was doomed.
Jiang Tea Tea glanced at Jin Lin. “What do you say?”
Jin Lin looked at Chong Ming instead and repeated the terms back to him. “The main culprits are mine to deal with—skin them, chop them, kill them, whatever mood strikes me.”
He smiled faintly. “So tell me. The people who ate my blood, flesh, and scales… you’re not planning to have me simply let that go, are you?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s “reserve-rations tonic dragon” really was absurdly strong. Even with Jin Lin recovering, he still wasn’t a match.
In other words, Jiang Tea Tea had taste. She’d raised the strongest, most nourishing dragon in the world. If she ever managed to take him down and eat him… she might even ascend on the spot.
Chong Ming held Jin Lin’s gaze. “One thing at a time. You eat one bite at a time.”
Jin Lin’s brow lifted. He stepped back and nodded. “You’re right. One thing at a time. One bite at a time.”
His smile sharpened. “So I’m going to eat them.”
Chong Ming spread his hand. “As you please.”
Jiang Tea Tea drifted to Chong Ming’s side, eyes locked on Jin Lin with naked envy.
Four dragons in one meal. True dragon meat was the ultimate tonic.
She’d come all this way and hadn’t eaten a single dragon.
Instead she had five tucked in her belly.
Meanwhile Jin Lin—sure, he’d been tortured—but he’d eaten four dragons.
When you did the math, he’d made a killing.
Huang Yu Lin forgot all about treason charges and firing squads the moment she realized she was about to end up in Jin Lin’s stomach. She dropped to her knees and begged. “Jin Lin… we were wrong. We were wrong. Please don’t kill us. Please don’t eat us. Don’t eat us.”
“We’ll compensate you. Whatever you want, just say it…”
Chong Luo Han reached for her, voice strained. “Yu Lin, don’t. We owe him…”
She flung his hand away. “We owe him, yes—but our son only knew. He never laid a hand on him. He doesn’t deserve to die!”
She looked up at Jin Lin, shaking so hard her teeth clicked. “Eat me. Eat us—the two of us. Eat my son’s wife, too. Just don’t eat my son. Please, don’t eat my son!”
Their daughter-in-law, Huang Xi Ruo, snapped.
She slapped Huang Yu Lin across the face. “You old dragon hag! I knew it. The moment I married into your family, you pushed me into your business and kept your son away from it. So that was the plan all along.”
Her voice broke into a shriek. “When it all blew up, you were going to cut your son loose and throw me out as the scapegoat!”
“I gave your family Xing Qi—such an excellent dragon—and this is what you do? You’re pushing me out to die!”
Huang Yu Lin’s cheek swelled. The elegant, confident “strong woman” persona evaporated. She grabbed at Huang Xi Ruo desperately. “Xi Ruo, stop. Ling Lan only knew about the business. He didn’t participate.”
“We were the ones who extracted Jin Lin’s flesh, blood, and scales and turned them into potions and pills to sell. Ling Lan had nothing to do with it. Please—please—”
“Why should—”
A new voice cut through, raw and shaking. “I’m begging you, Your Excellency Jin Lin… please spare my grandfather, my grandmother, my dad, my mom!”
Chong Xing Qi knelt in front of the screaming women and faced Jin Lin directly.
“Eat me. I’m a 2S-rank half-awakened Yellow Dragon Clan beastfolk. I’ll be nineteen soon. I’m young. I’m strong. Eat me—spare them!”
Jiang Tea Tea folded her arms and elbowed Chong Ming lightly, voice dripping with mockery. “Your Highness. Look at this family. They’ve not only forgotten everything they did, they’re acting like your words were just noise.”
She tilted her chin. “If I’m not mistaken, you said a few minutes ago that they’ve already been convicted of treason. Even if Jin Lin doesn’t eat them, they’re still dead, right?”
Chong Luo Han’s direct-line family of five went white as paper. They swayed, like her reminder was a death knell.
Chong Ming lowered his eyes, his voice striking like a bell in their chests. “They truly don’t know their place. They think a performance of ‘filial sacrifice’ will buy them a good name.”
“And they forget: debts must be repaid. Murder must be paid for with life. Torturing someone for three hundred years. Treason for two hundred. Any one of those is a capital crime.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth curled. “So, Your Excellency Jin Lin—are you eating them or not? If you’re not, let Your Highness shoot them.”
Jin Lin didn’t waste a breath.
For revenge. For the tonic.
He transformed into his true form—a massive jiao, thick as a water barrel and a hundred meters long.
Where his body had once been ulcerated and bare, new flesh had grown in. Tiny fresh scales gleamed.
Black and gold twisted together along his body, bright and wickedly beautiful—just like his eyes.
He opened his jaws and surged toward the man who had imprisoned him, abused him, and sold him like merchandise: Chong Luo Han.
Chong Luo Han closed his eyes.
His wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and his grandson screamed.
In a storm of fear, Jin Lin swallowed Chong Luo Han, Chong Ling Lan, Huang Yu Lin, and Huang Xi Ruo—one after another.
Chong Xing Qi, who’d wanted to take their place a moment earlier, watched his family disappear into Jin Lin’s throat and fainted on the spot.
After eating four Yellow Dragon Clan members, Jin Lin transformed back into a man. He belched, his belly visibly swollen.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at his stomach with pure, bitter envy.
She hadn’t eaten a single dragon.
She was carrying five.
And he—tortured or not—had swallowed four dragons whole.
The deal was so unfair it made her teeth itch.
Chong Ming’s peripheral vision never left Jiang Tea Tea. He saw the way she stared at Jin Lin’s belly, the greedy light in her eyes flashing again and again.
Jin Lin wiped his mouth as if there were grime there and asked Chong Ming, “Those who ate my flesh and scales—what should be done?”
Chong Ming’s gaze tightened. “Among them are children, newly grown adults, middle-aged, and elderly. Most were deceived. They didn’t know the potions and pills were made from your flesh and scales.”
“‘Ignorance is not a crime’… but they did eat you. They are guilty. They don’t deserve death. What do you think?”
Jin Lin pointed at Jiang Tea Tea and said to Chong Ming, “You’re her man. Since you brought it up, I’ll give you face.”
“Anyone who ate my flesh and scales can keep their life. But they must repay what they took—with their own flesh, blood, and scales.”
“Minors: one jin of scales, one jin of blood, one jin of flesh each. Adults: five jin of scales, five jin of blood, five jin of flesh each.”