Chapter 258
Chapter 258: He’s Not Small—He’s Big. Deciding to Hunt and Burn the Infected, and Being Cursed for It
Zhong Li He watched Jiang Tea Tea inside the isolation zone—no protective suit, no hesitation—standing in front of the infected as if death itself couldn’t touch her.
In her, he saw Chong Ming’s shadow.
He understood perfectly why Chong Ming wanted her as Commander-in-Chief.
A leader needed strength. Needed ruthlessness toward enemies. Needed even greater ruthlessness toward themselves.
Jiang Tea Tea was eight months pregnant and still stepping into chaos without fear. If Zhong Li He spent enough time around someone like that, he might fall too.
Admiration of strength wasn’t exclusive to women.
Men admired strength too.
Everyone wanted someone who could stand beside them at the peak.
Zhong Li He tilted his head toward Chong Ming. “You plan to give her your position in ten years. Fine. How many years do you plan to take before you give her a proper status?”
Chong Ming’s expression stayed cold. “Chief Executive Zhong. Lieutenant General Kong Que isn’t young anymore either. When are you going to find a female for your peacock?”
Kong Que stiffened. “…”
Why was he taking friendly fire?
Zhong Li He shot Kong Que a smug, fatherly look and boasted shamelessly. “My Kong Que is a lieutenant general now, but he can’t stop there. He has to become a general. A marshal. Replace my position!”
“That’ll take at least three to five years. I’ll spend those years picking him a beautiful, confident, strong female. Then—career success and marriage. Double happiness. I’ll invite you to the feast.”
Chong Ming’s brows lifted slightly. His gaze drifted over Kong Que meaningfully.
“Oh? Lieutenant General Kong Que, you’ll be married in three to five years? Remember to send me the invitation personally.”
Kong Que saluted, face deadly serious. “Commander-in-Chief, my strength is lacking. I cannot reach my Chief Executive’s position in three to five years.”
“My Chief Executive is very young. He governs Da Xi Nation with prosperity and population growth. He will hold his position until retirement.”
Zhong Li He choked on air.
Retirement?
He was one hundred and fifty. After Beast God Day, he’d be one hundred and fifty-one.
His dream was to become a free interstellar bounty hunter—or better yet, a righteous thief.
Doing Chief Executive work until retirement?
He would rather die.
Zhong Li He forced out a laugh. “The child is filial and humble. He’s giving me face outside. Nonsense. Don’t listen to him.”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes flickered with something subtle as he looked Kong Que up and down, then said, with a tone that could have meant anything at all, “Not small. Quite big.”
Zhong Li He didn’t catch the subtext. He puffed up with pride. “Of course. He’s been with me every day. Of course I raised him big.”
Kong Que’s ears turned red. His gaze wavered for a fraction of a second.
Chong Ming’s mouth curved, soundless, then he turned his focus back to the isolation zone.
Inside, Jiang Tea Tea, Cheng Yuan, and Cheng Lin Yue—along with fully armored guards—had fed the medicine to three infected.
They withdrew, leaving the three infected restrained in the room.
Cheng Yuan and Cheng Lin Yue tracked data carefully.
At first, the infected struggled violently.
Then the struggle slowed to small spasms.
Then they went still, like corpses.
All instrument lines flattened into a single steady streak. To someone who didn’t know better, it looked like the machines had died.
Time passed.
Suddenly, one infected shrieked.
Their eyes cleared—brief sanity.
“Kill me! Kill me! I don’t want to be a thing that’s not human, not beast, not ghost!”
“It hurts! It hurts! Please—kill me! I’m in so much pain!”
“Commander-in-Chief! Crown Prince! Kill me! Shoot me in the head!”
“Mom… Dad… I love you… it hurts… I don’t want to live…!”
Their desperate cries proved the medicine worked.
It restored their minds.
But the restoration came with unbearable horror—their bodies were rotten, organs ruined, pain blazing.
And their minds weren’t fully stable. Only fragments. Brief, fading clarity.
Jiang Tea Tea stepped out and spoke to Chong Ming through the glass.
“Their bodies are too far gone. Their organs are ruined. The medicine can only make them mentally clear for a short time. It can’t heal them.”
“Do you want to notify their families to come see them one last time and decide their deaths? Or do we end it now?”
Chong Ming’s silence lasted only a moment. “I’ll notify their families. They can decide.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Do it quickly. Their sanity won’t last. Two to three hours at most.”
Chong Ming gave a slight nod. “Enough.”
Families on Capital Planet—no matter where they were—could be brought in quickly within that time.
The families arrived, were briefed on symptoms, and when they saw their loved ones through glass, tears burst like broken dams.
Inside, the infected screamed for death. Their voices echoed beyond the isolation zone.
Outside, their families wept, helpless and shaking with rage at fate itself.
Chong Ming faced them, guilt heavy in his voice.
“Everyone… I’m sorry. The Empire’s medical system can only restore a small amount of sanity. It cannot return them to normal.”
“They’re suffering. You’re suffering. I’m sorry this happened under my governance.”
He drew a breath. “They’re inside now. Their sanity won’t last long. They could revert at any moment. Please—”
“I agree.”
An infected’s mother cut him off, crying. “Your Highness, I agree to hunt and destroy my son.”
Chong Ming’s eyes dimmed. “Thank you for understanding. The state will activate a special compensation program. You—”
“No. No.” The mother shook her head hard, tears streaming. “We aren’t rich, but we all work. We have homes. We have a small field. We don’t need compensation.”
“Instead, he caused the country too much trouble. He caused you too much trouble. You already have endless work, yet you personally came to care for him and meet us. We shouldn’t have—”
Chong Ming took her hand firmly. “Your child did not burden me. This is my failure. It has nothing to do with your child.”
“Your child is a victim.”
The mother tried to stop crying and couldn’t.
Being treated with respect, being treated like her grief mattered—it only made the tears worse.
The other two families stepped forward too, eyes swollen.
“We agree as well.”
“It’s too painful. He’s suffering. Hunt him. Burn him. Destroy him.”
They spoke through sobs but their words were steady.
“Our Empire has only been stable for decades. We can’t let one incurable infection drag us down. Death is release. Death is dignity.”
“We’ll sign. We’ll bear the consequences. We won’t let anyone smear the Empire or smear you and the Crown Prince.”
“We support every decision. Please—do it.”
Chong Ming looked at them. “Do you want to see them once?”
The families hesitated. “…Can we?”
Chong Ming nodded. “Of course.”
They put on full protective suits and entered.
Inside, the infected screamed the moment they saw them.
“Mom! Dad! It hurts! Make the Commander-in-Chief kill me! I don’t want to live like this!”
“Brother… something is eating my heart… twisting my guts… it hurts everywhere—!”
“My flesh is rotting. I can smell it. This isn’t me—this isn’t me—!”
“Please! Kill me—!”
The families couldn’t touch them. Couldn’t comfort them. They could only look, memorize, and then turn away, broken.
When they left the isolation zone, the decision was executed.
The infected were killed and burned.
Jiang Tea Tea’s flame staff ignited. Indoors, but her magic power controlled the fire perfectly—multicolored flames that burned only bodies, never the surroundings.
Zhong Li He stared until his eyes nearly popped.
He knew Jiang Tea Tea had somehow taken his phoenix fire and made it hers. It hadn’t harmed him, but he’d never imagined she could control it with such precision—range, accuracy, absolute dominance.
And that staff—wrapped in flame like a living thing, able to stretch, thicken, reshape at will.
He’d never seen a weapon like it.
In a cold-weapon era, she would have been unstoppable.
Three bodies. Three controlled fires. Fifteen minutes.
Three infected were reduced to black, dry remains. A specialized team cleaned and placed the ashes into boxes for their families.
Then Chong Ming issued a public statement—text, video, official report—directly from the infected quarantine zone.
“Hello. I am Chong Ming. In recent days, a large-scale supervirus outbreak occurred in Ni Su Town on the Capital Planet of the Empire. It resulted in 21,580 people becoming infected—including citizens of our Empire and traveling citizens from other nations—as well as 360 deaths and 3,500 aberrant beasts infected.”
“After research and treatment efforts by specialists from Da Xi Nation and our own researchers and healers, we have confirmed that this infection cannot be cured. Certain medicines can only allow infected individuals to regain brief rationality.”
“After my decision, we will cease all treatment of the infected. Within three days, we will conduct organized hunting, burning, and destruction of all infected.”
“If families wish to say a final goodbye, they may apply through the military department within the three-day window. The military department will provide medicine to restore brief sanity for farewell. Thank you.”
Da Xi Nation’s specialists and the Zhen Lin Empire’s own teams were helpless. No cure existed.
Jiang Tea Tea’s medicine was the best option available—brief clarity, at the cost of unbearable pain.
At that point, there was only one clean cut.
Two thousand years ago, Da Xi Nation hadn’t acted decisively, and eight million had died.
Now, the infected were contained.
Hunt them, burn them, disinfect—stop the spread forever.
On Starnet, outrage surged.
“What’s the point of two thousand years of development if we still can’t cure a virus from two thousand years ago?”
“This isn’t about cure. Killing is just easier. Chong Ming doesn’t want to spend resources. He’s choosing slaughter.”
“Zhen Lin Empire is one man’s word. He does whatever he wants. No one can oppose him.”
“He’s a cold-blooded beastfolk soaked in war blood. All that ‘doing everything we can’ was just to calm ignorant citizens.”
“And Jiang Tea Tea? The so-called only mutant healer in the M31 Star System? A useless fraud.”