Chapter 249
Chapter 249: Caught You, You Still Dare to Bargain
Jiang Tea Tea raised an eyebrow at Cheng Lin Yue, then turned around to look at Chong Xing Qi inside the interrogation room. Her answer was the kind that could make someone die from anger, and she said: “I am exactly that legendary selfish, double-standard dog who only wants to show off.”
Chong Xing Qi choked on his anger: “You…”
Jiang Tea Tea cut him off, looking smug like a petty villain who had gotten her way: “What about me? You probably don’t know this, but the idea of cutting flesh and drawing blood from super virus infected host Chong Qi to study antibodies was my suggestion to Commander in Chief Chong Ming.”
“At first, Commander in Chief Chong Ming even said I was cruel and inhuman, that my methods were just as disgusting and shameless as your parents’ and grandparents’.”
“But because I wanted to show off and earn more military merit, I talked to him with both feeling and reason, and used my identity as a healer to guarantee that the key to the antibody cure lay in Chong Qi.”
“There are more than ten thousand infected hosts, and who knows how many more there will be. Under Commander in Chief Chong Ming’s constant effort, he finally believed me and decided to start with Chong Qi.”
“After you left the Imperial Military Headquarters last time, with one command from him, all the famous top tier researchers, potion makers, and healers from across the nation gathered at the Imperial Military Headquarters laboratory.”
“They cut flesh and drew blood from the comatose infected host Chong Qi, treating her just like your parents and grandparents treated Jin Lin back then.”
Chong Xing Qi ground his teeth and cursed: “Jiang Tea Tea, you selfish, cruel, heartless double-standard dog.”
“Chong Qi is so young, and you cut flesh and drew blood from all over her body. I will kill you. I will tear you to pieces.”
Jiang Tea Tea suddenly smiled, bright as spring flowers, and followed his words to ask: “Yeah, Chong Xing Qi, how old is this favorite Chong Qi of yours?”
Chong Xing Qi’s face turned ashen in an instant, white as paper. His shackled hands and feet trembled so hard they clinked and rattled.
Jiang Tea Tea turned and raised her hand to high-five Cheng Lin Yue: “Nice cooperation, Cheng Lin Yue.”
Cheng Lin Yue chuckled: “Sister Tea taught me well.”
She and her uncle had already studied Chong Qi before. They had drawn one small tube of her blood and studied it very carefully, but had not found any antibodies.
Sister Tea had just called her over to act in a little play to trick Chong Xing Qi. She had not expected that they would trick him so easily. She hoped that next, he would turn back from the wrong path, atone for his sins, and cure more than ten thousand infected hosts.
Jiang Tea Tea gave Cheng Lin Yue a playful wink, then went back into the interrogation room. She sat down across from Chong Xing Qi, turned on her light-brain wrist terminal, and aimed the holo projection screen at him.
Commander in Chief Chong Ming appeared on the holo projection screen in full military uniform. He looked at Chong Xing Qi, his deep voice completely flat as he said: “Chong Xing Qi, you are just as outstanding as your grandparents and parents.”
Chong Xing Qi shivered all over. He did not dare look straight at Commander in Chief Chong Ming on the light-brain screen at all.
Through the screen, Chong Ming continued to look at him and said: “You and your parents and grandparents chose the same path of splitting the Nation and betraying the Nation. You don’t need to repent, and you don’t need to regret it.”
“Of course, because of your whole family, the Yellow Dragon Clan, including newborn dragon cubs who don’t understand anything yet and dragon eggs that have not hatched, will all be driven off the Capital Planet and sent to the Border Stars with the worst environment.”
“You and your grandparents and parents will become an unforgettable shame of the Yellow Dragon Clan. From now on, every clan member of the Yellow Dragon Clan will spit at the mention of you and hate you to the bone.”
Chong Xing Qi finally lifted his head and leaned forward as he said: “Commander in Chief, bringing in the living dead zombie super virus was a decision our family made alone. The clan members had no idea.”
“The laws of the Zhenlin Empire do not punish whole clans. You cannot drag down the entire Yellow Dragon Clan because of us. That is not fair to the Yellow Dragon Clan.”
Chong Ming asked back: “Fair? You are talking to me about fair. When your family trampled on human lives, broke the law, split the Nation, betrayed the Nation, caused panic among the people, and infected more than ten thousand people, did you want fairness?”
“Now I am carrying out the Empire’s Law Code. It touches your clan members and your own interests, and you come here asking for fairness. Don’t you think that is funny?”
Chong Xing Qi trembled like a sieve. His face was so white it had no trace of blood. In front of absolute power, he and his clan members were nothing.
Chong Ming turned the light-brain wrist terminal toward Jiang Tea Tea and said: “Jiang Tea Tea, you did very well this time. Cooperate with the interrogators and question him.”
Jiang Tea Tea sat up straight and saluted him from her chair: “Yes, Your Highness.”
Chong Ming said: “Goodbye.”
“Wait, Your Highness!” Jiang Tea Tea called out.
Chong Ming’s hand, which was about to cut the connection, paused: “Speak.”
Jiang Tea Tea kept her eyes on Chong Xing Qi as she asked Chong Ming: “You said you will exile and drive out the Yellow Dragon lineage. About when will that start?”
Chong Ming answered: “At the fastest, three days. At the slowest, one week.”
“Alright, I understand. Goodbye,” Jiang Tea Tea said.
The holo projection screen on the light-brain wrist terminal turned black. Six interrogation officers entered the room. One was in charge of psychology, one of micro-expressions, one of guarding against hypnosis, one of recording, one of leading the questions, and one of security.
Two sat to Jiang Tea Tea’s left and right, two sat behind her, and two sat on either side of Chong Xing Qi.
Jiang Tea Tea sat facing Chong Xing Qi and looked straight at him. The people around and behind her were all made to look like newbie recruits by comparison.
Chong Xing Qi stared back at her. The two of them just looked at each other without speaking.
After a very long time, Jiang Tea Tea still did not look up or speak. Instead she lowered her eyes, turned on her light-brain wrist terminal, and leisurely started scrolling through the news.
The other interrogation officers beside her stared at Chong Xing Qi without blinking. Their posture and expressions stayed exactly the same. They showed no rush and no sign of tiredness.
In this silent standoff, Chong Xing Qi was the first to lose: “Jiang Tea Tea, you are so annoying it makes people jealous of you.”
Jiang Tea Tea kept scrolling the news without lifting her head: “And then?”
Chong Xing Qi was choked by that one line, as if he was having a heart attack: “You…”
Jiang Tea Tea still did not lift her eyelids as she picked up his words: “I am very good. Extremely good. Don’t ‘you, you’ at me. Be a bit more like a man and confess on your own. My time is very precious.”
If it were not because she was here to listen in case he had some secret method to cure the virus, she would have left long ago. How could she possibly sit here as the main interrogator?
She could not compare to some of the interrogation big shots at the Imperial Military Headquarters, but those interrogation big shots could not compare to her when it came to healing.
Chong Xing Qi suddenly asked: “What if I don’t take the initiative to confess?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyelids: “Chong Qi. You created her. Who did you plan for her to replace? Were you really just doing research?”
“No, you weren’t. Your family set up such a big chessboard. Did you really think Commander in Chief Chong Ming is a fool? Why else would he exile your Yellow Dragon Clan?”
Chong Xing Qi’s pupils shrank sharply. His handcuffs clattered as he pulled against them: “What do you know? What do you understand? Our Yellow Dragon Clan is very outstanding. We have more dragons than their Gold Dragon Clan, and we are better than their Gold Dragon Clan.”
Jiang Tea Tea raised her brows: “Right. In your eyes, the Yellow Dragon Clan can replace the Gold Dragon Clan. Chong Qi is the weapon you made to use against Commander in Chief Chong Ming.”
“Too bad she is still far from enough. Too bad Commander in Chief Chong Ming is too strong. Too bad she cannot even beat me. So how could she beat Commander in Chief Chong Ming and enchant him?”
Chong Xing Qi slowly twisted his face into a grim smile: “Chong Qi is only eleven years old, and she has already awakened three types of supernatural abilities: mutated hypnosis, wind element power, and a speed-type ability. Her power is already very perfect.”
“If it hadn’t been for my parents’ and grandparents’ matters, which kept me too busy to watch over the underground laboratory next to Nisu Town, she wouldn’t have escaped. The super virus from the laboratory wouldn’t have leaked. The people in Nisu Town wouldn’t have gotten infected and drawn attention. Given time as she grew up, she would have awakened even more supernatural abilities.”
“As long as she awakened enough supernatural abilities and her ability ranks rose fast enough, she would have become my vanguard, my shield, and my weapon. She would have hunted the Crown Prince and replaced Commander in Chief Chong Ming.”
“Our Yellow Dragon Clan has over a hundred thousand people. Every dragon is smart and domineering. Why shouldn’t we covet the Empire’s power held by the Gold Dragon Clan?”
“For decades, for more than a hundred years, when Commander in Chief Chong Ming fought against the insectoid race, it wasn’t just him, one dragon, fighting. Our Yellow Dragon Clan also lost several thousand clan members.”
“Why should all the credit be his alone? Why, whenever people talk about it, do they all worship him and think he is the biggest hero who drove away the insectoid race, while they forget that our Yellow Dragon Clan also has great merit?”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned and turned her head to ask the interrogation officer beside her: “Does your Commander in Chief really take other people’s credit on the battlefield and claim it all for himself, no matter who did the work?”
The interrogation officer spat in Chong Xing Qi’s direction and snapped: “What a load of crap about your eighteen generations of ancestors. A hundred years ago, your Yellow Dragon Clan didn’t even have a fief on the Capital Planet. Your clan was just a little earthworm race on the Border Stars.”
“Your clan members went to the battlefield to change that. Several thousand clan members died, and the Nation did not treat you badly. The compensation and special policies you got were more, not less.”
“And anyway, the whole country fought the insectoid race. Over a hundred million people died. It wasn’t just your Yellow Dragon Clan. The White Dragon Clan, Black Dragon Clan, Red Dragon Clan, Leopard Clan, Tiger Clan, Rat Clan, and every race in the Empire all went to the battlefield and all had people die there.”
“Even the Commander in Chief’s parents, the former emperor and empress, and the Commander in Chief’s older brother and his wife, the former emperor and empress, all died on the battlefield.”
“You sit here full of complaints, blaming the Commander in Chief because several thousand of your clan members died. Why don’t you think about this instead: your clan members used their lives to win a fief on the Capital Planet and the status of a Dragon Clan, and your whole family dragged them down and ruined it.”
“Thanks to you, a dragon with a wolf’s heart and wild ambition, every single dragon in your clan has to go back to the Border Stars and be looked down on again like earthworms.”
Chong Xing Qi clenched his hands into fists so tight that his nails dug into his flesh. Blood streamed from his palms as he stared at Jiang Tea Tea: “Our whole family failed. We don’t regret it, but we dragged our clan members down.”
“Jiang Tea Tea, Commander in Chief Chong Ming likes you and trusts you. Go talk to him. I can tell you where every underground laboratory is. I can also tell you where all the unused super virus is stored.”
“I can give you the list of people from other clans who share the same wish as our family to pull down the Gold Dragon Clan.”
“I will tell you everything I know. I have only one condition: spare my clan members. Do not change the fief or the favorable policies for my Yellow Dragon Clan.”