Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A Loser Can’t Win, So All She Knows Is How to Tattle

Jiang Yi Zhu’s cheek split under Jiang Tea Tea’s heel. She couldn’t fight back at all, so she could only snarl, “Jiang Tea Tea, if you dare treat me like this, I won’t let you go! I’ll tell Dad, Mom, and Brother. I’ll have them punish you!”

She’d been the one who caught Jiang Tea Tea sneaking home from school.

She’d been the one who planted a firelight blade in Jiang Tea Tea’s flyer, then sabotaged the flyer’s energy stone.

Once the flyer was in the air, the damaged energy stone would burn out. The flyer would plunge. The crash would throw sparks, and those sparks would form the firelight blade. One cut could’ve crippled her. Deep enough, it could’ve killed her.

Jiang Yi Zhu had been waiting at home for news that Jiang Tea Tea was dead—or at least maimed.

Instead, her parents had come to her brimming with excitement, talking about a massive deal.

If they landed it, their family would become a procurement officer in the military department. Their assets would double. They’d be tied directly to the military department, and they’d climb into the empire’s upper class, becoming one of the capital planet’s top families.

To ensure everything went smoothly, they’d investigated the person in charge of the deal. He liked to toy with humans who hadn’t awakened abilities: weak, fragile, easy to break.

Jiang Tea Tea fit every single trait.

So her parents told Jiang Yi Zhu to go find her.

Jiang Yi Zhu wanted revenge. She wanted the fake to suffer for occupying her place all those years. Her plan was simple: if Jiang Tea Tea wasn’t dead, she’d drag her into a medical center, patch her up, then send her to that person in charge as a “gift.”

She hadn’t expected Jiang Tea Tea to be perfectly fine—like she’d awakened an ability overnight. Slapping her. Stepping on her. Snapping her wrist like a twig.

Jiang Tea Tea wiped both soles of her shoes clean on Jiang Yi Zhu’s face. Deep inside, the fake heiress’s lingering consciousness finally felt satisfied.

Jiang Tea Tea lifted her foot and looked down at Jiang Yi Zhu’s miserable state. Her voice dripped with contempt. “Sister, what are you? A baby still on the bottle?”

“Get beaten outside, and all you know is to run home crying to Dad and Mom?”

Humans and demons weren’t that different. Both loved bullying with borrowed power, and when they lost a fight, they ran back to find an official to lean on.

Jiang Yi Zhu’s face throbbed where she’d been slapped and ground into the dirt. She didn’t even dare touch it. She spat, “Bitch. Are you scared I’ll tattle?”

“If you’re scared, kneel down and beg me.”

Jiang Tea Tea made an exaggerated sound of surprise. Then she grabbed Jiang Yi Zhu by the hair, yanked her up, and forced her down. Jiang Yi Zhu hit her knees in the dirt.

Jiang Tea Tea crouched in front of her like a benevolent saint. “If you wanted to kneel and beg me, you should’ve said so earlier. Sister, it’s not like I wouldn’t forgive you.”

Jiang Yi Zhu’s eyes flashed. She launched her water ability in a frenzy. “Bitch! I’ll kill you! Go die!”

A roar of water surged.

It never reached Jiang Tea Tea.

The water column snapped back as if it had eyes, reversing course and blasting upward—drenching Jiang Yi Zhu from head to toe.

Jiang Tea Tea threw her head back and laughed. “Ha! Sister, are you tired of being human? Planning to become a chicken instead?”

“A drowned chicken!”

“Ah!” Jiang Yi Zhu screamed, soaked through. She lunged forward like a madwoman. “Jiang Tea Tea! I’ll kill you! I’ll fight you to the death!”

Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue. Her palm, wrapped in demon power, snapped across Jiang Yi Zhu’s face.

Bang.

Jiang Yi Zhu hit the ground hard. She spat blood—and two teeth.

Jiang Tea Tea flicked her hand like she’d touched something filthy. “Sister, you’re an elegant real heiress from Trash Planet. Don’t keep ‘bitch’ in your mouth. It’s vulgar.”

Jiang Yi Zhu choked on rage. Jiang Tea Tea didn’t wait for her to recover. She turned, opened the red flyer’s door, and climbed into the cockpit.

Jiang Yi Zhu scrambled up and rushed after her.

The flyer lifted off and blasted exhaust right into her face.

Jiang Yi Zhu doubled over, clutching her broken wrist and shrieking at the sky, “Jiang Tea Tea! You bitch! I’ll slaughter you! I’ll tear you apart and grind you to ash!”

Jiang Tea Tea didn’t hear a word of it. She only thought the flyer’s speed was still nowhere near a great demon’s earth-shrinking three thousand li.

But it would do.

She flew toward the Jiang family estate.

The Jiang family made their money in secondhand energy stones. On the capital planet of the Zhen Lin Empire, they weren’t even top-tier second-rate. At best, they were third-rate.

The family had one son and three daughters, including both Jiang Tea Tea and Jiang Yi Zhu. The youngest daughter wasn’t old enough for academy entrance yet. The eldest son—and both Jiang Tea Tea and Jiang Yi Zhu—were students at the Royal Military Academy: two first-years and one third-year, in different departments.

Their whole family had water abilities. The eldest son was S-rank. The youngest daughter was A-rank. Jiang Yi Zhu was B-rank. Their parents were B-rank.

And Jiang Tea Tea, the fake heiress, had no ability at all.

Less than an hour later, the flyer dropped at the Jiang family gate.

Jiang Zong Shen and Mu Mei Xi stormed out, faces dark with anger. They yanked open the cockpit door and started scolding her before she even climbed out.

“Jiang Tea Tea! Your sister went to find you. How could you hurt your sister, abandon her in the wilderness, and come back alone?”

“Even if you’re not my biological daughter, I raised you for eighteen years!” Jiang Zong Shen snapped. “Even after my biological daughter came home, I never mistreated you!”

Mu Mei Xi’s eyes were cold. “How could you be so vicious to your sister—beating her and even breaking her wrist?”

Jiang Tea Tea pressed down the fake heiress’s aching hunger for their affection and her seething hatred. She looked up at them with tear-bright eyes, her small face full of helpless grievance.

Jiang Zong Shen and Mu Mei Xi faltered. For a split second, doubt crossed their faces, like they were wondering if they’d been too harsh.

Jiang Tea Tea caught that flicker and leaned into it. She lifted her palm—the one she’d cut during the sacrifice contract—blood still beading at the wound. Her voice trembled. “Dad… Mom… I never awakened an ability. I’m just a normal, fragile human. How could I possibly beat Sister? She’s B-rank. Water ability.”

Jiang Zong Shen and Mu Mei Xi stared at the deep gash and stiffened. “If you didn’t hurt your sister,” Jiang Zong Shen said, “then how were you driving your sister’s flyer?”

Right.

No ability. No mental power. She couldn’t beat Yi Zhu.

Unless—

Unless Yi Zhu had framed her again.

Jiang Tea Tea wiped at her tears and spoke as if she’d been wronged to the bone. “Dad, Mom, Sister found me at my part-time job and told me to drive her flyer back.”

“She went to find Brother Chu Ming—my fiancé. When we split up, she wasn’t injured at all. How could it be me?”

Something shifted in their eyes. A cold, familiar suspicion took root.

Their biological daughter had lied before.

Framed before.

“Dad, Mom… you have to believe me,” Jiang Tea Tea whispered.

She climbed out of the flyer and reached for them as if seeking comfort, pitiful as a wounded kitten. “Sister is B-rank water ability. I’m an abilityless human. She could beat ten of me, a hundred of me. I can’t even get close enough to touch her. How could I break her wrist?”

“Please—call her back. Ask her properly. She went to find Brother Chu Ming. How did she end up hurt, then dump the blame on me—the one person in this house with no ability?”