Chapter 37
Chapter 37: They Even Risk Their Lives Jumping Into A Three Headed Giant Python’s Mouth
“Hey, no, Sui, just because you are our temporary squad leader right now, don’t think you can badmouth my heartthrob idol in front of me.”
Cheng Xiao Ting and the other boys were not happy at all. Their idol, their heartthrob, stood proudly above the whole M31 Star System. How could anyone talk about him like that and slander him?
“My heartthrob idol cannot find a woman?”
“Do you not know that, no matter what race they are, every woman in the M31 Star System wants to marry him? He just puts the Empire and us common citizens first and does not think about his own personal problems.”
“You are wrong, you are wrong. It is not just that every woman in the M31 Star System wants to marry him. Even I, a half beastman male fox, want to marry him.”
“Right, even I, from the Zhang Yu clan with eight arms and legs, want to marry him. Don’t you think his bright golden dragon horns are super sexy?”
Huang Da Zhuang changed from beast form back into human form, his face red from the heat. He raised his hand weakly: “It is not just his golden dragon horns that are sexy. His golden hair is pretty too. I also want to marry him.”
Sui Xuan Chu looked at them with clear dislike: “My dear teammates, I think you are really starving.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded in agreement: “They are very hungry. They have already reached the point where they do not care what they eat.”
Cheng Lin Yue whispered: “Yes. I once heard a theory from a shady doctor. Most men who like men stronger than them and whose status does not match are just asking to be beaten.”
She said softly: “Sister Tea, for the sake of their sexual orientation staying normal, later when you have time, beat them up once. After that they will stop talking nonsense about wanting to marry my idol.”
Jiang Tea Tea: “???”
[So this little rabbit has also been thinking about that big golden dragon? Out of the eight of them, only she and Sui Xuan Chu think that big golden dragon is no good. The others are all that dragon’s fanboys and fangirls?]
Cheng Xiao Ting, Yan Yu, and the others changed their faces faster than flipping a page when they heard they might get beaten. They shouted: “Hey, hey, Little Mouse, we are not asking to be beaten. We are just expressing our love and worship for our idol.”
“Honestly, I really envy Sister Tea for getting kicked by our heartthrob idol.”
“Yeah, I envy that too. Getting kicked by our heartthrob idol means you can admire his divine face from up close.”
“With a face like his, if he ever has a little brat in the future, I can’t even imagine how good looking that kid will be.”
Once Jiang Tea Tea had caught her breath and her stomach no longer hurt, she said: “If you all want to see your heartthrob idol’s divine face up close so badly, then work hard. Fight your way to the Supremacy Tournament championship, and your heartthrob idol will give you the award.”
Other than Sui Xuan Chu, all seven of the others clenched their fists, full of fighting spirit. They started talking excitedly: “You don’t have to say it. That is exactly what we were thinking. To see our heartthrob idol, our squad has to win the championship.”
“Right, our squad score has already gone up by ten points. Are we still far from one hundred points, one thousand points? Not far at all. The championship is right in front of us. Our squad will be the champion.”
Chong Ming turned off the voice shared frequency link on the screen, then turned his head to look at Deputy Officer Ai: “Deputy Officer Ai, if I kicked you once on the training ground, how long would it hurt?”
Deputy Officer Ai’s hand holding the light brain wrist terminal tightened. He had never imagined his Highness would ask a question like this.
He thought for a moment, then answered respectfully: “Replying to Your Highness, if you kicked me once and I did not go into a healing pod, it would hurt for at least half a month to a month.”
“If I went into the healing pod, lying there for less than half an hour would make the pain go away. If it was more than one kick, I would have to lie there for one or two hours.”
“I have seen other soldiers you trained. The longest record for staying in the healing pod is two days and three nights.”
A single kick from Chong Ming could rupture someone’s internal organs, and that was considered light. If technology were not so advanced and healing not so good, who would dare to fight him?
Chong Ming nodded very seriously: “You are still too weak. Your training intensity needs to increase. You must do more extreme physical training so your bodies will be stronger and can take a beating better.”
[Deputy Officer Ai: ???]
Jiang Tea Tea and the others chatted idly on the Grand Parade Ground for almost ten minutes before students began stumbling in. They ran over with their heads and bodies covered in colored artillery shells. The original color of their school uniforms could barely be seen.
None of the eight of them had any colored shells on their heads or clothes. The others looked at them with both envy and jealousy.
As more students arrived, each one more miserable than the last, the eight of them looked even more bright and clean by comparison.
Of course, the ones getting the most attention were not them, but the drill instructor with his hands and feet tied and his mouth gagged, standing on the drill instructors’ platform.
To let his soldiers feel what shame really meant, Ye Commander did not let anyone untie the drill instructor. He just let him stand there and be stared at.
As an S3 level veteran, he was always at the A+ level in any simulated war or real combat training. Being beaten so that he could not fight back by eight little rookies who had slipped through the net, then carried to the Grand Parade Ground, if that was not shame and humiliation, what was it?
The Grand Parade Ground could hold nearly one hundred thousand people. But within the required thirty minutes, only thirty five people managed to reach the field and gather.
The rest were driven by the drill instructor group, running while being hit. They were forced to reach the Grand Parade Ground within forty minutes, then within fifty minutes.
The latecomers had barely found their footing on the Grand Parade Ground when the loud, annoying voice of the drill instructor group rang out across the brightly lit field.
“My dear classmates, my little darlings, my sweethearts, as military academy students, your speed can’t even reach thirty kilometers per hour?”
“With speeds like that, and you still call yourselves beastmen and half beastmen? I could walk outside, grab some low level aberrant beast at random, and it would run faster than you higher primates.”
“First years and second years I can let slide, since they have only done field training once or twice. But how do the third year and fourth year senior male and female schoolmates even have the nerve?”
“You have done more than ten field trainings, and some of you have even gone to other corps for special training. After a single sudden attack, you show me results like this. You really are the Empire’s spoiled little darlings.”
Everyone except Jiang Tea Tea’s group and the other twenty some people who made it within thirty minutes was scolded so badly they wished they could dig a crack in the ground and crawl in.
“Ah.” The loud, punchable voice of the drill instructor sighed, as if he was comforting himself and also the students: “It’s fine. Not meeting the standard in one sudden attack only costs you fifty credits. It’s a small thing. After I deduct another fifty later, you will be eliminated from this Supremacy Tournament.”
“As your chief drill instructor for this training, Ye Ying, I am here for the sole purpose of eliminating you.”
“Wow.” Huang Da Zhuang grabbed Jiang Tea Tea’s sleeve: “Sister Tea, Sister Tea, I never thought our chief drill instructor would be the First Army Corps commander, Ye Ying.”
“Yeah, no wonder the others got blasted so badly. We are lucky to have Sister Tea. Because she runs fast, otherwise we would have been blasted and scolded like them.”
The fake young miss’s own consciousness was not even familiar with Chong Ming. She had never seen or heard of the First Army Corps commander at all.
Jiang Tea Tea asked: “Is he that amazing?”
Huang Da Zhuang gave a heavy “mm”: “He is a male eagle type bird kind beastman with two big wings. He is good at sneak attacks in air combat.”
“He does not need to fully change into beast form. He can extend two big wings from his back while in human form and fight fighter craft head on in the sky.”
Jiang Tea Tea said: “Fight them head on, huh. He is pretty strong.”
Sui Xuan Chu said coolly: “He is even more fierce when he trains new recruits. His methods are more cruel. You all better be careful.”
Jiang Tea Tea turned her head and asked: “Compared with your idol Chong Ming, who is tougher when training new recruits?”
Sui Xuan Chu let out a long sigh: “Roommate, that question is really dumb. Let me put it this way. The commanders, second in commands, third in commands, all the way to the fifth, sixth, and seventh in command of the thirty top army corps and every planetary military district in the Empire have all been trained by Chong Ming, the Commander in Chief. Not one of them can beat him.”
“He is the Commander in Chief of the Three Armies, commonly known as the top leader of the Empire’s Imperial Military Headquarters. For nearly a hundred years, every military appointment has passed under his eyes and been signed by him.”
Huang Da Zhuang added on the side: “Even the royal household and the appointment of local officials on all the major planets are reviewed and signed by him.”
Jiang Tea Tea gave a little “oh” and said casually: “He is really capable. His good nephew, the Empire’s crown prince, will never be able to climb over this huge mountain in his whole life, right?”
The corner of Sui Xuan Chu’s mouth twitched. He ground his teeth: “What you said really does make some sense. I have learned something.”
[Why does my heart feel like it is being pricked with needles? That hurts a little. Ouch, ouch, it does not hurt, it does not hurt. I am not going to argue with a girl who does not even have basic common sense.]
Ye Ying’s voice continued: “My dear classmates, my little darlings, the Supremacy Tournament uses an elimination system. Each student starts with a base of one hundred credits. Once the one hundred credits are all deducted, you are eliminated. There is no way to come back.”
“Everyone here who did not reach the Grand Parade Ground on time loses fifty points. You only have fifty points left now.”
“But you do not need to worry. As long as your points are not all gone, there is still hope. For example, if within the time limit you can, like the ‘Beat the Other Twenty Nine Military Academies’ squad members, knock down and capture a drill instructor, your squad will gain ten points and your personal points will also gain ten.”
“The more drill instructors you knock down, the more points you gain, the smaller your chance of being eliminated, and the closer you get to the Supremacy Tournament championship. I hope all you big and little darlings from the thirty military academies will cherish this Supremacy Tournament. Now board the ship.”
As Ye Ying finished speaking, a huge warship appeared in the sky above them. At the same time, three lower hatches opened and three boarding ramps were lowered.
Jiang Tea Tea’s team was the best and had the highest points. They went up the boarding ramp first and entered the ship’s cabin.
After they went in, the drill instructor group started firing colored artillery shells again at the others, driving them to run.
With more than seventy thousand people and only three boarding ramps, it took thirty five minutes for everyone to board the ship. Once the lower hatches shut, the ship rose straight up, entered the atmosphere, and flew away from the capital planet.
Behind this ship followed the invisible super warship carrying Chong Ming. From there, the real time surveillance system watched the other twenty nine ships carrying the military academy students.
Jiang Tea Tea and the more than seventy thousand students were all in one cabin. There were no seats, only the cold metal floor.
Sui Xuan Chu said to the other seven: “Teammates, we do not know where the ship will stop. Let’s hurry and rest to save our strength.”
Without another word, Jiang Tea Tea slapped Huang Da Zhuang on the back: “Big Dog Huang, turn into a dog. I am going to lean on you.”
Huang Da Zhuang instantly turned into a big yellow dog. His big dog eyes looked at Jiang Tea Tea, almost sticking his tongue out.
Jiang Tea Tea leaned against the dog’s belly. He lifted his dog tail and laid it across her stomach. She folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes to rest.
Yan Yu and Cheng Xiao Ting, one from the canine family and one from the feline family, also quickly changed into beast form and let Sui Xuan Chu and the others lean on them.
No other squad members were as harmonious and full of team spirit in taking care of each other as they were.
But many people copied them. They learned to change into beast form and let their own teammates lean on them to rest while they waited for the next round of training.
Time passed bit by bit as the ship flew through space. After about five hours, the walls around the students’ cabin opened up. Through the glass they saw bright sunlight, a blue sky, and soft white clouds.
Ye Ying’s voice sounded again: “My dear classmates, my little darlings, welcome to your first stop after leaving the capital planet, Primitive Tropical Planet.”
“Primitive Tropical Planet has a year round temperature between 20 and 35 degrees. It is under low pressure along the equator. The climate is warm and humid with plenty of rainfall. It has rich biodiversity. The known species number as many as eight hundred and ninety thousand, and there are countless others not yet discovered or named.”
“Toxic ones, harmless ones, mutated aberrant beasts dozens or hundreds of times bigger than you, mutant venomous insects with heads bigger than your own, are everywhere.”
“You will receive thirty days of survival training here. We training staff will drive large aberrant beasts and mutant venomous insects to attack you, and we will also use colored artillery shells to blow your heads.”
“We will also take away your space knob storage devices. Of course, we will give you a survival supply pack. Inside the supply pack there is a surrender capsule. When you cannot take it anymore, smash the surrender capsule on the ground, and we drill instructors will come pick you up in a fancy flying device, and you will lose ten points.”
“If you hunt mutated aberrant beasts or mutated insects at level 6 and above, each one is worth one point. For level 10 and above, each one is worth ten points.”
“Alright, classmates, my little darlings, please look under your feet. What is under you is your landing point.”
The panels under the students’ butts withdrew and opened. Under the hard, transparent glass they saw several great rivers pouring together into a huge waterfall.
At the bottom of the waterfall they could vaguely see countless three headed mutant giant pythons coiling and swimming up and down.
Some students’ legs already started to shake, and they cried out in protest: “The ship is more than one thousand meters above the water. Letting us jump down from here is killing us.”
“Yeah, we are only first year military academy students. We have only had field training once before, and this is only the second time. Now you are making us jump into a three headed giant python’s mouth. I do not agree. I do not want to!”