Chapter 24

Chapter 24: When He Fought, He Aimed for Wife’s Stomach—Then Felt Bad for No Reason

“Hey—hey! You two!” Huang Da Zhuang raised a shaky hand, still pale from nearly losing his leg. “I’m not dead yet. You’re talking right in front of me about using me as bait to beat up my male idol. Is that appropriate?”

Sui Xuan Chu turned to him with a look that felt like a spiritual interrogation. “We’re giving you a chance to get close enough to kick Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming, and then pick your way into the Imperial Top Thirty Elite Legions after graduation.”

He tilted his head. “You’re saying that’s not appropriate?”

Jiang Tea Tea piled on, merciless. “Men’s mouths are all lies. I knew you weren’t reliable. You talk about living for your male idol and dying for your male idol, but when it comes to action, you won’t even sacrifice for him.”

“Forget it.” She loosened her hold like she was about to drop him. “Sui Xuan Chu and I will go—”

“Beat him! Beat him! I’ll do it!” Huang Da Zhuang panicked instantly and grabbed at her. “For the Imperial Top Thirty Elite Legions, for defending the country, for serving my male idol—tell me who to beat and I’ll beat them!”

In his head, he was crying. Fine. Just one kick. He’d wrong his male idol just a little. It was for his future—so he could serve him better later. Surely his male idol would understand…

Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu rolled their eyes in perfect sync.

Then they moved.

Sui Xuan Chu raised his lightning ability, electricity snapping around him as he cleared a path—striking tea king hornets out of the air, frying mutant rats that swarmed at their feet.

Jiang Tea Tea hauled the injured Huang Da Zhuang with one arm and sprinted straight for Chong Ming’s protection ring.

As they approached, the escort guards opened a gap without hesitation.

Jiang Tea Tea ducked through, agile even while half-carrying a grown man. She dodged a mutant fox’s leap by inches and slid into the ring, dragging Huang Da Zhuang behind her.

Sui Xuan Chu followed a heartbeat later.

The moment all three were inside, they collapsed to the ground like they’d been killed—sprawling in a convenient triangle that boxed Chong Ming into the center.

From a distance, it almost looked like they’d done it to protect him.

Chong Ming looked down at them, expression unreadable. “You’re surrounding me on the ground like this,” he said, voice low and direct. “Are you planning to attack me?”

The instant his sentence ended, the three of them moved.

Huang Da Zhuang lunged for Chong Ming’s legs.

Jiang Tea Tea kicked hard for his waist.

Sui Xuan Chu called lightning straight at his face.

Chong Ming was faster.

He snapped a kick into Huang Da Zhuang’s chest and sent him flying. At the same time, he grabbed Sui Xuan Chu by the shoulder and yanked him off-line—so the lightning he’d summoned slammed straight into his own body.

And when Jiang Tea Tea closed in, Chong Ming shifted and drove a knee into her stomach.

Adjutant Ai and Major Ma widened the protection ring at once, firing outward and holding the line. While they shot down aberrant beasts and mutant insects, they also held a silent funeral in their hearts for the three idiots who had chosen to ambush Your Highness.

When Chong Ming drilled them, they’d run eight hundred ambush rounds and never once succeeded.

These kids? It was like throwing eggs at a mountain.

Huang Da Zhuang hit the ground with a bone-rattling thud near Adjutant Ai’s boots and coughed up a mouthful of blood. He twitched and whimpered, half-dead.

Sui Xuan Chu got struck by his own lightning—one, two, three bolts tearing down his body. His hair frizzed into charcoal fluff. His combat top shredded into tatters. He lay there smoking like burnt meat.

Jiang Tea Tea curled on the ground, face white, one hand clamped over her stomach. Her other hand clawed at the stone until her nails dug grooves into it. For a long moment, she couldn’t breathe.

Chong Ming’s gaze swept over the three of them—then paused on Jiang Tea Tea.

Something in his chest jumped, sharp and strange, at the sight of her curled around her stomach like that.

He lifted his head. “Adjutant Ai. Announce this to the entire Royal Military Academy: anyone who hunts five or more aberrant beasts and mutant insects today earns an additional 20 credits.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Adjutant Ai answered crisply. He pulled a small metal sphere from his storage button and tossed it into the air.

The sphere expanded into a broadcast device, its mechanical voice ringing out with stirring clarity.

“All cadets of the Royal Military Academy. By order of the Commander-in-Chief: any cadet who hunts five or more aberrant beasts and mutant insects today will receive an additional 20 credits!”

The announcement looped through the academy, loud enough to reach every corner.

Twenty credits.

Credits personally promised by the Commander-in-Chief himself.

That was the kind of thing you could carve into your record and carry for life.

Cadets who’d hesitated seconds ago went feral with energy. They charged, fought, swung clubs, fired abilities—throwing themselves into the hunt with shining eyes.

For a while, there were too many cadets and not enough targets. People nearly started fighting friends over the right to kill a single mutant rat.

Jiang Tea Tea’s fingers dug into the ground. On the next breath, her nails sank into the stone like it was soil—roots spreading from her fingertips, slipping into the earth to drink in the land’s essence.

Only then did the worst of the pain in her stomach begin to ease.

It didn’t make sense. Chong Ming’s knee strike had been heavy, but she was still a great demon with magic power. It shouldn’t have hurt this much.

Yet the cramping came in waves—deep and sharp, like he’d bruised something far more vital, like he’d struck her root system itself.

Cursed.

Chong Ming really did feel like her natural enemy.

Chong Ming crouched in front of her, coat spreading behind him. He extended his hand, palm up. “Cadet Jiang Tea Tea. Do you need help?”

Jiang Tea Tea stared at his hand—long fingers, clean knuckles—then forced a smile that showed too many teeth. “Thank you. I’m afraid you’ll sneak attack me again.”

Chong Ming narrowed his eyes. “When you sneak attacked me, you were bold enough. I didn’t see you afraid then.”

Jiang Tea Tea rolled her eyes. “I was returning the favor. Who told you to push me first?”

Chong Ming stepped back, unexpectedly patient. “All right. I apologize again for my earlier recklessness.”

“Apology not accepted,” Jiang Tea Tea said at once. “I’m petty. People treat me how they treat me. I return it—double.”

Chong Ming watched her like someone studying a stubborn, clawed kitten. Then, without warning, he spoke like an instructor.

“If you want to return tooth for tooth, you’ll need training. Tell me what ability you awakened. I can have the academy create a plan for you. Help you defeat me sooner.”

The pain in Jiang Tea Tea’s stomach had eased just enough for her to move.

Her smile vanished.

She yanked her hand out of the stone and reached for Chong Ming’s outstretched hand with terrifying speed.

He didn’t have time to pull away.

Her nails raked across the back of his hand—four bloody gashes opening instantly.