Chapter 239
Chapter 239: The Man-Eating Little White Flower Hypnotized You All
Jiang Tea Tea raised her hand and said: “I wasn’t scratched by her. She just scraped off a layer of skin. I didn’t even bleed. You’re too nervous.”
Her hand really hadn’t bled. You could only see a nail mark where a thin layer of skin was scraped off. Besides that, there was nothing.
Chong Ming looked at her hand, then slowly reached out and held it. His fingertip rubbed over the nail mark where her skin had been scraped.
Jiang Tea Tea froze. [What is this emergency rations guy doing, rubbing my hand?]
[Is he checking if my hand is tender and my meat is fresh so he can treat me like emergency rations and cook me one day?]
She called softly: “Chong Ming…”
She tried to pull her hand back.
But Chong Ming held her hand tight. His voice was low and hoarse: “Jiang Tea Tea, I know you are strong and heal quickly. I am very worried about you. I’m not worried about the younglings in your belly. I’m worried about you.”
His gaze was so hot it felt hotter than the fire on her Flame Staff, like it would set her on fire.
Jiang Tea Tea met his eyes. Her heart skipped twice. She was the first to look away and pried his fingers off hers: “I know. But I’m fine. And you shouldn’t believe Reboot too much. She’s very sly.”
Reboot was a bit of a green tea girl, a bit of a white lotus, and very crafty. She looked like a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl, but she did not act that way.
When Chong Ming saw he couldn’t talk her into an exam and couldn’t force her, he could only take a step back and sigh: “Fine. If you won’t get checked, you’ll stay by my side for now. If anything happens, I can help you at once.”
Jiang Tea Tea suddenly understood: “So you’re afraid that if I get infected, I’ll cause huge damage and no one else will be able to stop me. That’s why you keep pushing me to get checked?”
Chong Ming pressed down another breath: “Are you a block of wood?”
Jiang Tea Tea: “!!!!”
What was that supposed to mean?
He knew she was wood?
Not the fake young miss Jiang Tea Tea, but actual wood?
When did she get exposed?
Should she find a chance to run?
Jiang Tea Tea watched him walk and hurried after him, clinging to a bit of desperate hope as she tried to correct him: “Hey, hey, hey, Chong Ming, I’m not wood. I’m smarter than wood. You must be mistaken.”
Chong Ming didn’t look at her, only asked in a flat voice: “Are you?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded fast: “Yes. I’m not wood, definitely not wood. Don’t misunderstand.”
His voice had gone cold, and his whole aura had gone cold too.
[What now?]
[Does he really know I’m a tree and is thinking about chopping me up?]
Jiang Tea Tea followed at his side, sneaking looks at him with a heart that bounced up and down with anxiety as they left the rescue quarantine ship and arrived at the Imperial Military Headquarters laboratory to see Reboot.
Reboot sat inside a huge shock-proof, crack-proof, solid one-way glass room. A glowing ring made from the Flame Staff encircled her neck. She wore a pretty princess dress and sat on a chair in the glass room, swinging her legs. Her round eyes turned this way and that. She looked pure and harmless, like a little white flower with no attack power at all.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at her through the glass for a long time, then turned to Chong Ming: “I want to meet the researchers who came into contact with her.”
Chong Ming lifted his hand. The person beside him went to call in all the staff who had contacted Reboot from yesterday until now, including Cheng Yuan and Cheng Lin Yue.
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at the laboratory where Reboot was and asked the eleven researchers in front of her: “Since Reboot arrived yesterday until now, you’ve all drawn blood, run tests, and interacted with her. Tell me your thoughts on her, your impressions, and what kind of healing measures you plan to use on her.”
Of the eleven researchers, only Cheng Lin Yue and Cheng Yuan stayed quiet. The other nine all spoke up.
One said: “In all our blood tests and exams, besides the virus in her body being tens of thousands of times stronger than a normal living dead zombie, she has no other problems. She is like a normal girl. Her blood is red, her flesh is as normal as ours.”
Another added: “She’s very weak and soft-spoken. She’s afraid of pain. Her veins are tiny. She has no killing intent or threat at all.”
A third said: “Yes. She’s very obedient and very cooperative. If not for the virus in her body being off the charts, just by eye, you couldn’t even tell she’s an infected host.”
Someone else frowned and said: “The ring around her neck has already damaged her skin and made her bleed. When I tried to get medicine for her, she comforted me instead, saying it didn’t hurt and there was no need for ointment.”
Another cursed: “Those damn illegal researchers. They took a perfectly good little girl and turned her into this. It’s too much.”
Jiang Tea Tea listened, her brows drawing tighter together. Her gaze moved to Cheng Lin Yue and Cheng Yuan, and she called them by name: “Cheng Yuan, Cheng Lin Yue, what do you two think?”
Cheng Lin Yue and Cheng Yuan shared a look.
Cheng Lin Yue was the first to speak: “She’s very strong. Extremely strong.”
Cheng Yuan added: “There are at least three kinds of super virus in her body. The three viruses have already formed a stable triangle in her. They are tens of thousands of times stronger than the viruses in a normal living dead zombie.”
He continued: “These viruses can infect others through saliva, blood, and sex. So even though she looks harmless, she’s actually the biggest, most dangerous infected host of all.”
He looked at the others and said: “About what our seniors said, that she’s very cooperative, I don’t agree. I think she is numbing us on purpose, trying to make us relax our guard and treat her as a victim instead of as a dangerous infected host.”
The nine other researchers heard this and at once felt that the new uncle and nephew were just trying to show off in front of the Commander in Chief and overturn their judgments and their sympathy for the girl inside.
They all opened their mouths, arguing back.
One said: “Cheng Yuan the healer, you’re only a healer, not a professional researcher. When faced with a victim and test subject, you can’t assume the worst about her.”
Another protested: “Yes, Healer Cheng Yuan, Reboot is a victim, not a dangerous subject. With so many viruses in her body and still keeping her mind clear and acting normal, she’s suffered more pain than you and I can imagine.”
A third said seriously: “We are formal researchers, not illegal ones. We cannot treat a victim as a dangerous body.”
Another insisted: “We should do everything we can to clear the viruses from her body and turn her back into a normal person, not see her as a threat and hurt her a second time.”
One more researcher looked at Jiang Tea Tea and said: “Also, Healer Jiang Tea Tea, that thing around her neck is something you put on her, right? It’s not good for her.”
Another spoke to Chong Ming: “Commander in Chief, I request that Healer Jiang Tea Tea remove the Flame Bracelet from the neck of the victim Reboot.”
Someone else echoed: “Commander in Chief, I also request that Healer Jiang Tea Tea remove the Flame Bracelet from her neck. She is a victim, not a criminal. We cannot treat her like a criminal. It’s disrespectful to her dignity.”
While they were talking, the nine researchers surrounded Jiang Tea Tea, Cheng Lin Yue, and Cheng Yuan with their words. The three of them did not say a thing in reply. They only stood there quietly, watching and listening.
Chong Ming treated their united request as if he hadn’t heard. Instead, he turned to Jiang Tea Tea and asked: “What do you think?”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t even look at the nine as she answered: “I can’t say yet. I haven’t finished my questions. Once I’m done, I’ll give my answer.”
Chong Ming’s cold gaze swept across the nine researchers: “Fine. Go on.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at Cheng Yuan: “Cheng Yuan, before you and Cheng Lin Yue went into that laboratory, did you eat anything or inject anything?”
Cheng Yuan’s eyes flashed. He hadn’t expected her to ask that: “You…”
Jiang Tea Tea cut him off: “Just say it. What did you eat? What did you inject?”
Cheng Yuan reached into his space knob storage device and took out a hypodermic syringe: “Before we went into the laboratory, we injected this clarity shot I developed.”
He explained: “Once injected, it can resist hypnosis from up to five Level S hypnosis ability users.”
Jiang Tea Tea took the syringe from his hand and passed it to Chong Ming: “Your Highness, it looks like this infected host Reboot is not only full of super virus tens of thousands of times stronger than normal. She has also awakened a hypnosis ability and has hypnotized your nine subordinate researchers, turning them to her side.”