Chapter 236
Chapter 236: You Told a Demon Spirit You Were Going to Eat Her, Are You Out of Your Mind?
In a three-minute live broadcast, Chong Ming spoke to the common citizens and promised that he would not give up on a single citizen of the Empire. He said he would not suppress any trending topics. The public had the right to know, to question, and to investigate.
Whoever it was, any form of suppressing or hiding a hot search was a crime.
He also urged not only the people on the Capital Planet, but everyone in the whole Zhenlin Empire, to be careful when they went out, to take proper protection, and to contact police personnel at once if they ran into any sudden situation.
All media outlets in the Empire looped his three-minute speech ten times, making sure that every citizen of the Empire, no matter what planet they were on, could hear it and see it.
Because of his speech, several new hot searches exploded on StarNet, and common citizens in other nations throughout the M31 Star System all started posting and talking about it.
“The hot search about Nisu Town on the Zhenlin Empire’s Capital Planet vanished earlier. I was just about to start cursing from frame zero, but I did not expect Commander in Chief Chong Ming to pull this move. He hard-controlled me so I could not even get the curses out.”
“His style of doing things, and that face of his, really make it hard for me not to love him, not to like him. I want to marry him. He does not even need to sleep with me; as long as I can see him every day, that is enough.”
“Be serious. Their country has a super virus outbreak, and you are here fantasizing. Are you out of your mind? Get lost, get lost!”
“Exactly. Commander in Chief Chong Ming must be so busy that his feet do not even touch the ground. Together with that hot search about Nisu Town from a few minutes ago, there is no way he was the one who suppressed it or pulled it. That is definitely some subordinate department’s fault.”
“Based on my many years of understanding, worship, and research on him, every official in Nisu Town is not only going to get stripped of their posts, they will also have to bear criminal responsibility. The ones who suppressed the hot search should not even think about getting away.”
“Got to say, Commander in Chief Chong Ming is really bold. With a super virus infecting thousands of people, he actually sent the Crown Prince over there. People who understand will know that sending the Crown Prince helps calm the public. People who do not know might think he is sending the Crown Prince to his death so he can take the Imperial Throne himself.”
“Upstairs, you are not being fair. The Zhenlin Empire’s Royal Household only has two dragons in total. They are as precious as can be. How could he possibly send him to die?”
“Right. He sent the Crown Prince to let the public know that no matter what kind of super virus it is, the Empire will not ignore it.”
“Are you all thinking too well of him? Do not forget, he now has a partner and a youngling.”
“Right now the Zhenlin Empire’s Royal Household does not have just one dragon, but three. If anything happens to the Crown Prince, the heir apparent by order of succession will be him, and then his child, and it will all be perfectly legitimate.”
“‘Perfectly legitimate’ my foot. Where do you get all these conspiracy theories from? What difference is there between the Zhenlin Empire’s Crown Prince and Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s own biological child?”
“Do not forget, Commander in Chief Chong Ming was raised by his older brother and sister-in-law, and his nephew was personally hatched by him and personally raised by him. If he wanted the Crown Prince dead, would he really go through so much trouble?”
“Exactly, exactly. Leaving aside the fact that the Crown Prince has not formally taken the throne yet and has not been officially revealed to the public, even if he had already ascended, Commander in Chief Chong Ming only has to give the word and everyone will answer his call. Why would he need to use such disgusting methods?”
“The kind of thing in your nations where members of the imperial clan kill their own brothers and sisters for the Imperial Throne would never happen in our Zhenlin Empire.”
“We believe in the Crown Prince, we believe in the Commander in Chief, and we believe in Jiang Tea Tea the healer. They will definitely solve this super virus outbreak.”
“If anyone dares to say one more bad word about our Commander in Chief, I will launch an indiscriminate attack on their ancestors for eighteen generations.”
“Exactly, exactly, exactly. You shameless things, do not think you can use public opinion online to drive a wedge between our Commander in Chief and our Crown Prince.”
StarNet was full of discussion. People of every race from every nation were there, with all kinds of opinions and endless guesses.
As the people online who had studied and discussed him expected, Chong Ming directly stripped all the officials in the small town who had maliciously suppressed the hot search and failed to report the super virus in time, and he began to hold them accountable.
Rescue Ships, isolation troops, and medical squads had either already set out or were still being urgently mobilized.
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu were in Chong Ming’s office.
At first, Chong Ming did not want Jiang Tea Tea to go to the virus infection center.
But Jiang Tea Tea told him: “Sui Xuan Chu and Huang Da Zhuang are all going. If I do not go, I cannot justify it.”
“I will go take a look. When facing infected people, if it is definitely the living dead zombie virus, and there is no cure, then kill them.”
The last two words, “kill them”, came out firm and powerful. The killing intent that slipped out without her noticing made Sui Xuan Chu shiver.
For a moment, it was as if he could see his roommate having killed countless living dead zombies before.
Chong Ming looked at her. He had wanted to ask her if she had remembered where she had run into these things before, but when the words reached his lips he changed the topic instead: “Separate and isolate the infected people from the uninfected. Once the researchers and Healing masters are in place and finish their tests, we will confirm whether it is the living dead zombie virus before deciding whether to kill them or not.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded and reminded him: “You still need to be mentally prepared. From the situation right now, it is almost certain.”
“Oh, right. When it comes to defense against the other countries, especially the Insectoid Race, you need to strengthen it and stay alert. You still have to do live-fire drills and things like that.”
“According to what Zhong Li He said, both Nanbei Star and Blazing Star already have this virus. Before it breaks out, hurry and take precautions. Hurry and find the virus, in case it explodes. Once it explodes, it will be impossible to guard against.”
Chong Ming replied: “I have already made arrangements for everything you mentioned. Your sharpness is very good. Next time you can be even sharper.”
Jiang Tea Tea made a sound of acknowledgment: “Okay, then I am going.”
Chong Ming called out to her: “Wait!”
Jiang Tea Tea asked: “What is it?”
Chong Ming walked up to her. His gaze swept over her from top to bottom and stayed on her lower belly for a few seconds. His eyes seemed to hold surging emotions.
Sui Xuan Chu: “…”
His uncle’s gaze toward his roommate was not pure.
It was full of a restrained desire to hug her, touch her, and kiss her.
Jiang Tea Tea wanted to step back and put some distance between them.
He simply stretched out his long arm and pulled her into his arms.
Jiang Tea Tea’s pupils contracted. Just as she was about to raise her hand to push him away, Chong Ming loosened his arms and took a step back. His eyes were deep as he said: “Go. Be a little careful.”
The countless words Jiang Tea Tea had wanted to use to snap at him all stopped short. She did not say a single word. She gave him a strange look, then left his office with Sui Xuan Chu and boarded the flying device.
Chong Ming stood there and watched them leave. Only after he could no longer see them did he return to his office chair and draft more emergency plans, making all sides prepare in advance.
After Sui Xuan Chu and the others boarded the flying device, they did not go inside.
At full speed, the flying device only needed five minutes to go from the Imperial Military Headquarters to Nisu Town.
So Sui Xuan Chu and the others just stood near the exit of the ship and waited.
Jiang Tea Tea still could not figure out what that sudden hug from Chong Ming had meant. [Was he afraid she would get infected and die together with the youngling?]
Sui Xuan Chu looked at the heated discussions and conspiracy theories online. Some people even suspected that he had not gone to the virus infection center at all and suspected that his uncle was deliberately using him to calm the people’s hearts.
He beckoned to Jiang Tea Tea: “Roommate, look online.”
Jiang Tea Tea leaned over, took one look, and said: “Easy. Just post something and slap them in the face.”
Sui Xuan Chu and Jiang Tea Tea went online at the same time. They both reposted Chong Ming’s live speech and added a message: “Currently rushing to Nisu Town!”
Their posts served as solid proof. In an instant, the conspiracy theorists and people from other nations who were trying to sow discord and kick them while they were down were attacked by StarNet users from the Zhenlin Empire.
“Those bugs from the Insectoid Race who are trying to sow discord, and those dog things from who knows what race who are kicking us while we are down, open your bug eyes and dog eyes and look. What do you mean our Crown Prince did not go to the super virus infection center?”
“He posted, he posted, he went. Jiang Tea Tea the healer also went. They went together.”
“The Crown Prince and the Empire’s only three Level S Variant Plant-type Ability Healing masters went into the infection center together. This shows that Commander in Chief Chong Ming takes this outbreak extremely seriously and is truly not giving up on anyone.”
“What nonsense about Commander in Chief Chong Ming burying bodies on the spot and shooting infected people? That does not exist at all. He is doing everything he can to save people.”
“You bugs should stop whining here. When you have time, pay more attention to your own Great Imperial Prince. Helping your Great Imperial Prince get married smoothly is more important than anything.”
After Atuya returned to the Insectoid Race, she took the blame for everything that had been bad for Great Imperial Prince Aceras. This caused the Insectoid Race’s Queen to be displeased.
The Insectoid Race’s Queen directly demoted her from High General to Lieutenant General and sent her and her army to guard a remote border star.
She asked the Queen and Aceras to let her break off the engagement, but the Queen pressed the matter down. She did not agree, but she also did not refuse.
Atuya went to the Border Frontier Star, farther and farther from the Insectoid Race’s center of power. Every day she worked hard to improve herself and to improve her army, staying busy.
Aceras was different. He did not want to break off the engagement with Atuya. He went to find his Empress Mother, but his Empress Mother told him: “If you do not break the engagement, then after you have messed up so many things, only someone like Atuya would still tolerate you. If it were any other High General, no one would tolerate you for even a moment.”
“If you do not want to break the engagement, you still have to do something. Otherwise, after you have done so many things wrong and I have not punished you, all my love for you will have been for nothing.”
Because the Insectoid Race’s Queen treated Aceras like this, Aceras always had a breath of anger stuck in his heart. He wanted to do something to save his own reputation, to save his fiancée, and to make his position in the Insectoid Race more secure.
The small town super virus infection on the Zhenlin Empire’s Capital Planet was the best chance for Aceras.
Chong Ming ordered the Zhenlin Empire’s Border Frontier Stars, Space Stations, long-range fleets, cruiser warships, and the army on every planet to enter a state of round-the-clock readiness.
Aceras had his spies and shadow network inside the Zhenlin Empire spread other highly infectious viruses to create chaos.
Then he had people enter the palace to persuade his Empress Mother that while the Zhenlin Empire was busy with the super virus outbreak, they could launch an attack…
When Jiang Tea Tea and the others reached Nisu Town, ten-meter-high iron walls were already being built around the town.
The rescue flying devices kept flying in and out, carrying out people who had not yet been infected so they could be checked and isolated one by one.
The town had a permanent population of seventy thousand. Adding in tourists and people visiting relatives and friends, there were more than seventy thousand people in total.
Subtracting the thousands who were already infected and the thousands who had had close contact with them, the number of people not infected was roughly between forty and sixty thousand.
But no one could be sure of the exact number of infected people, or the exact number of people who had been in close contact with them.
The town’s hospital had already fallen. The power monitoring system had been destroyed, and the signal had been cut for twenty minutes before it was restored.
Without signal and without power, there was no way to track the locations of people’s light-brain wrist terminals. There was no choice but to carry out large-scale manual rescue.
Jiang Tea Tea and the other seven, eight people in total, took three flying devices that could each carry thirty people and flew into the town with Cheng Yuan.
The information they had received was that only the town hospital had fallen. Only after they went in did they discover that the entire town had fallen.
The virus-infected living dead zombies were already darting through every street, every house, and every stairwell in the town.
They moved fast. When they saw any living thing, they bit it, whether it was a beastman, a pure human, or a pet.
Those they bit were either eaten by them, or became just like them, losing their reason and with rotting flesh. Bullets could pierce them and they still would not die. Even if they were cut in half with a blade, they could still walk and still look for living things to tear and bite.
Before all the uninfected people were rescued, even if the army entered, by order of the Commander in Chief they could not hunt or burn the infected. They could only capture them.
Jiang Tea Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, Cheng Xiao Ting and the others made eight people in total. Five of them got off the flying devices, while three stayed to pilot the flying devices and followed behind them.
With Jiang Tea Tea’s arrival, she was like a delicious piece of pastry that the infected loved. She attracted many infected people.
They wore ragged clothes. Some had a piece of flesh torn from their necks, some had a chunk torn from their bodies. Their bloody bodies carried a rotten, fishy stench.
“My Beast God. I used to watch the videos and pictures from two thousand years ago in the Western Kingdom online and did not think these things were that scary. It is only when you face them in broad daylight that you feel how scary they really are.”
Cheng Xiao Ting and the others stood back to back, gripping their weapons tight as the dense mass of infected people rushed toward them, cheering themselves on through their nervousness.
“Yeah. What is scary about them is not how fast their Speed-type Ability is, or how bad they smell, or how frightening they look. It is that ten days ago, a few days ago, even just a few hours ago, they were still living people.”
“Now they have become the living dead, completely mindless living dead zombies. Damn it, I am not done with the Huang Dragon Clan. No matter whether Chong Xing Qi knew about this super virus or not, the next time I see him, I will beat him up every single time.”
“I agree. This is way too much. When you see him, remember to take me along. I will beat him up with you.”
“Alright. There is an order from the Commander in Chief. Capture all infected people.”
“Come on, let us surround them and hunt them down together!”
As Jiang Tea Tea’s words fell, she swung the Flame Staff in her hand. As the living dead zombies lunged at her, she met them head-on with a single strike.
Even the strongest living dead zombies could not withstand her blow. They were knocked straight to the ground and could not get up for a long time.
Cheng Xiao Ting and Zhang Ting Zhou, wearing protective suits, took out special ropes and tied up the living dead who could not get up.
Sui Xuan Chu copied Jiang Tea Tea’s movements. Holding an iron rod in his hand, he swung it at the living dead who rushed at him, trying to bite him.
The soldiers were the same as them. In their hands were either iron rods or iron clubs. They beat one down, tied one up, bound one after another.
The living dead zombies with Speed-type Abilities were very fast, but Jiang Tea Tea was even faster. In the blink of an eye, the dozens in the first wave that had rushed over were all tied up.
Just as they were about to catch their breath, a girl’s cry for help suddenly came from the room next to them: “Help, help, do not come closer, help!”
Jiang Tea Tea quickly added a few more layers of spiritual power protection over her own belly, then rushed inside. She saw a living dead zombie about to bite a young girl.
She swung her Flame Staff and smashed it down. The blow split the zombie’s head open. Then she swung again and sent the living dead zombie flying.
Once there was no more danger, she reached out to pull the little girl up: “Come on, do not be afraid. I am from the military authorities. I will take you out.”
The little girl with blood on her face and red eyes, who had been leaning in fear against the wall, suddenly stretched out her small, blood-covered hand. She grabbed Jiang Tea Tea’s hand, yanked her closer, took a deep breath, and said in a chilling voice: “Elder sister, you smell so good, so delicious. I am going to eat you!”