Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Try to Steal the Cub’s Dad’s Girl and I’ll Show You a Beating

Chong Ming sat in the commander-in-chief’s seat, dressed in black combat gear and black combat boots. Broad-shouldered and motionless, he looked like a blade waiting to be drawn. In front of him, thirty massive screens streamed real-time footage, with countless smaller feeds tucked between them.

Every screen showed the same thing: cadets across thirty academies being dragged awake and hunted down. Paint rounds burst on foreheads. Bodies were driven, knocked down, dragged up, and driven again.

He didn’t answer the First Legion commander. He only glanced sideways and lifted one finger.

Legion Commander Ye Ying went rigid. A chill slid down his spine.

Adjutant Ai stepped forward at once and enlarged a small feed. Among the scattered monitors, one showed the most movement: eight figures slipping through the night.

Chong Ming’s gaze fixed on Jiang Tea Tea. She sprinted with a thin branch in one hand, and with the other she casually patted Huang Da Zhuang’s back like she was calming a pet. Her pace never even lagged behind his.

Chong Ming spoke, voice low and absolute. “Legion Commander Ye, during your First Legion’s assault on the Royal Military Academy, every straggler you miss costs your legion points.”

“If these eight stragglers avoid headshots, take no injuries, and reach the main field safely… your First Legion banner will change hands.”

He paused, letting the words settle.

“Your title will be handed over. Another legion will raise the First Legion flag.”

Voices crackled through the shared connection between the Top Thirty Elite Legions’ command ships.

“Reporting, Commander-in-Chief. Under our Third Legion’s strike, the National Academy of Stellar Defense Sciences has no stragglers.”

“Commander-in-Chief, Fifth Legion here. We attacked the National Aerospace Defense Military Academy. The only straggler just got headshot.”

“The First Legion banner hasn’t moved in a year. Legion Commander Ye has gotten arrogant. It’s time it moved, Commander-in-Chief.”

The Top Thirty Elite Legions were the empire’s direct imperial legions, commanded from the top down.

The Emperor and Empress were gone. The Crown Prince was still underage. Until succession, the legions were managed by Chong Ming.

Every legion commander on those channels had been trained and promoted by Chong Ming personally. They feared him, respected him, and some even loved him.

Legion Commander Ye Ying rolled up his sleeves and laughed, swaggering. “Hey, hey, hey. It’s just eight stragglers. I’ll have my people crush them. You all act like I’m really going to hand over First Legion’s title.”

“Just watch,” he boasted. “I’ll show you what First Legion strength looks like-”

“Legion Commander Ye,” Chong Ming interrupted mildly, “your people have already engaged the eight stragglers.”

He tilted his chin toward the screen.

“From what I see… your people are losing.”

Chong Ming cut off the video link with the other legion commanders.

Immediately, twenty-nine voices exploded in protest.

“Commander-in-Chief, don’t cut it!”

“Let us watch!”

“What kind of eight stragglers can beat First Legion instructors?”

Legion Commander Ye Ying snapped his attention to the monitor.

On-screen, Yan Yu-red fox clan, tail flaring like a banner-ignored the instructor firing paint rounds and blinked behind him. His massive fluffy tail whipped across the instructor’s paint-smeared face.

The instructor, confident, lowered his gun to fight barehanded-

-and a gust slammed in from the side, followed by a water column dropping from above.

Wind and water wrapped the instructor’s head. His vision smeared. His punch sliced through empty air where Yan Yu had been-

-and a thin branch snapped across his face like a whip.

A strong yellow canine beastfolk lunged in and went straight for the instructor’s throat.

The instructor clenched his fist and hammered down-

-but Jiang Tea Tea flicked her branch forward. It coiled around the instructor’s wrist like something alive, and she yanked.

His arm snapped straight, locked. His fist never reached Huang Da Zhuang.

Huang Da Zhuang’s fangs sank into the instructor’s neck. Claws raked his face. Blood beaded where the bite broke skin.

The instructor tried to activate his ability.

Nothing.

It was as if his power had vanished.

Shock flared in his eyes.

Sui Xuan Chu moved like lightning and flung Zhang Ting Zhou’s octopus beast form into the fray.

Zhang Ting Zhou hit the ground, snapped back into human form in an instant, and stripped the instructor’s lightbrain and storage button off his wrist with practiced speed.

“Huang Big Dog,” Jiang Tea Tea snapped. “Move.”

Huang Da Zhuang dodged instantly, clearly terrified of getting hit by her.

Jiang Tea Tea loosened the branch from the instructor’s wrist and snapped it around his throat. With a sharp lift, she hauled him off the ground and hurled him toward Sui Xuan Chu.

Sui Xuan Chu stepped in and drove a fist into the instructor’s stomach.

The instructor doubled over and spat blood.

Cheng Xiao Ting grabbed specialized restraints from Cheng Lin Yue, tossed one to Sui Xuan Chu, and lunged in. In seconds, wrists and ankles were bound.

Cheng Lin Yue tore out medical tape and sealed it over the instructor’s mouth, tying it behind his head so he couldn’t make a sound.

A fully grown 3S-rank instructor had been beaten down and captured by a squad of first-years.

“Distance to the field?” Jiang Tea Tea asked.

“Less than five kilometers,” Cheng Xiao Ting answered fast. “About 4.2!”

“Good. Same formation,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “Yan Yu leads. If you spot instructors, call it. We coordinate and drop them.”

No one objected.

Jiang Tea Tea pointed at the bound instructor. “Who’s carrying him?”

Sui Xuan Chu grabbed the instructor and slung him over his shoulder like a sack. “I’m strong. I’ll carry him.”

“Move,” Jiang Tea Tea said, and they ran.

As they ran, the instructor team’s voice erupted across the night from hidden speakers all around them.

“Congratulations to Royal Military Academy’s ‘Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ eight-person squad! You have captured one instructor. Team score plus ten!”

“Other classmates, darlings-learn from the ‘Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ team. No headshots, clothes only slightly dirty, take down an instructor-points added, praised!”

Cheng Xiao Ting swore under his breath. “How do they know instantly?”

Sui Xuan Chu tipped his chin toward the sky. “Because they’re monitoring us in real time.”

Jiang Tea Tea’s ears twitched. “Run. Eleven instructors are closing in from the southwest.”

No one questioned her. They transformed, shifted, sprinted-and vanished into the darkness.

Back in the command ship, Chong Ming watched them go. The corner of his mouth lifted, faintly amused.

“Adjutant Ai,” he said, “send the footage of the Royal Military Academy ‘Wipe Out the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ team capturing a First Legion instructor to the other twenty-nine legions for shared viewing.”

“And remind them: the championship has only just begun. Don’t learn from Legion Commander Ye-demanding people from me before you’ve done anything at all.”