Chapter 38
Chapter 38: An Outstanding Legion Commander-The Moment He Opens His Eyes, He’s Stealing the Cub’s Dad’s Girl
“And even if we’re lucky enough not to fall into a three-headed giant python’s mouth,” someone shouted, voice cracking, “the pythons under the waterfall will sense our body heat! They’ll gather from all directions, chase us, and swallow us!”
“We’re cadets! We’re citizens of Zhen Lin Empire, not some insect clan everyone wants to kill! You instructors can’t treat us like insect clan and torment us like this!”
Ye Ying strode into the cabin with an instructor’s whip in hand, green combat gear on his body, brown combat boots thudding against the floor.
He stopped in front of the loudest protester, pointed the whip at his chest, and spoke with the same sharp, cruel cheer he’d used all night.
“Little darling, if you’re scared and don’t want to jump, then don’t incite others not to jump.”
“I’m not forcing you to jump. Each of you has points. Be generous. Spend ten points, and we’ll have an instructor fly a luxury flyer and deliver you to the safest place below.”
He tilted his head, smiling.
“See? More than one choice. More than one road. How you walk it is up to you.”
The student stared, furious, then looked to the others who had agreed with him.
No one met his eyes. Some even stepped back.
A bird-type beastfolk raised a hand. “Report, instructor! Question!”
Ye Ying pointed the whip at him. “Ask.”
“If we jump from this height,” the bird-type beastfolk said, “are there rules? Like we can’t transform into beast form, or something?”
Ye Ying’s mouth pulled into a grin. “My ship is parked right here. Human form, beast form-it doesn’t matter. Jump.”
“What methods you use, what tricks you use-that’s your freedom. I won’t interfere.”
“Of course,” he added, eyes gleaming, “personally, I hope none of you get hurt. I hope all of you forfeit and hand your points to me. If you quit right now, I’ll welcome you with open arms.”
The bird-type beastfolk ignored that last part entirely. He turned to his teammates. “Let’s go. I’ll transform and carry you down one by one.”
His teammates looked ready to cry with relief. “Yes! Great. Once we’re down, we can fly farther away from the python cluster.”
Ye Ying stepped aside. “Excellent people enjoy first. Good luck. Go to the hatch-hand over your storage buttons and receive your supply packs.”
The nine-person bird squad moved out without hesitation, driven by pure desire for points.
Other squads with bird-type beastfolk followed quickly. With wings, a thousand meters was nothing. Two thousand was nothing.
Jiang Tea Tea’s squad exchanged glances and stood up.
The furry males shifted back into human form as they walked.
Ye Ying watched them closely. These eight “stragglers” had embarrassed him at the start and made him lose face in front of the other legions. He watched them with extra attention-and a certain grim expectation.
Three hatches opened. Wind and tropical heat rushed in.
Squads lined up at the hatch, removing the storage buttons from their wrists and receiving supply packs.
Jiang Tea Tea’s squad reached the supplies next.
Each person could only take one pack, and every pack contained something different: a month of nutrient solution, portable healing devices, a massive bag of snacks, tents, insecticide… all kinds of nonsense.
There was nothing the cadets could imagine that the instructor team couldn’t cram into a pack.
Sui Xuan Chu spoke fast, practical. “Pick useful tools. Don’t take nutrient solution. In a rainforest, food is the last thing you’ll lack.”
Cheng Lin Yue grabbed a medical pack immediately. “This has a portable healing device and detox agents. I’ll take it.”
Cheng Xiao Ting opened a pack and nodded. “Melee weapons. A dagger, a wrench, a telescopic iron rod. If we have to beat small creatures, a weapon helps.”
Huang Da Zhuang shuddered. “I hate bugs. I’ll take insecticide. We can spray around where we sleep.”
Yan Yu, Ju Que, and Zhang Ting Zhou also chose packs suited to the team without overlapping too much.
Sui Xuan Chu glanced at Jiang Tea Tea. “Roommate. You haven’t picked.”
Jiang Tea Tea grabbed a pack with a tent and rope.
She pulled out the rope and tossed the pack itself to Huang Da Zhuang.
Sui Xuan Chu frowned. “Why are you holding the rope instead of keeping it in the pack?”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t answer. She tugged it, testing. It was thin-less than half her pinky’s thickness-but strong. She pulled hard, and it didn’t snap.
Then she stepped to the edge of the hatch and looked down.
The waterfall roared beneath them. Mist rose in sheets. The three-headed giant pythons below were thick as barrels, three mouths gaping, tongues flicking.
Jiang Tea Tea turned back, rope in hand, and looked at Ye Ying.
“Instructor. I have a question.”
Ye Ying raised a brow. “Ask.”
“Can championship points be transferred between students?”
Ye Ying’s eyes sharpened. “You mean you help other cadets land safely and they pay you points in exchange?”
Before he could decide how to answer, a voice came through his earpiece-Chong Ming’s calm tone.
“Tell her yes.”
Ye Ying said aloud, “If both sides agree, yes.”
Jiang Tea Tea smiled brightly. “Thank you, Instructor.”
Then she turned to her teammates. “Want to earn points?”
Points were survival. The higher your points, the lower your elimination risk. The closer you got to the championship.
Only a fool refused points.
The other seven looked at her like wolves spotting meat.
“Earn,” Sui Xuan Chu said. “If you can get us points, command us however you want.”
Someone else blurted, “From now on you’re temporary captain. You can order all seven of us.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted the rope. “This rope is about two thousand five hundred meters. The ship is a thousand meters above the waterfall, but there’s jungle nearby.”
“We throw the rope into the jungle and make a safe descent line. Other cadets use it to go down. We charge points.”
Huang Da Zhuang looked bewildered. “Sister Tea… we don’t have wings. How do we get the rope into the jungle accurately?”
Everyone’s eyes slid to Sui Xuan Chu.
Dragon clan. Sky dominance. The strongest on the team.
Jiang Tea Tea cut them off before they could ask him. “I’ll do it.”
The others stared at her like she’d announced she was diving into a coffin. “There are level six and above three-headed giant pythons down there. You’re sure?”
“We’ll find out,” Jiang Tea Tea said.
She handed the other end of the rope to Sui Xuan Chu. “Tie yourself. Hold it steady.”
Sui Xuan Chu wrapped the rope around his waist and braced at the hatch with her, like an anchor.
Jiang Tea Tea rolled her shoulders once.
“Let me go down first and choose a landing spot,” she said. “We charge five points per person.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded. “Okay. Be careful-”
Jiang Tea Tea was already moving. She backed up, sprinted, and launched herself off the ship.
Wind tore at her. The world dropped away.
She used her magic power-but disguised it with the rope. She caught the line midair, twisted, planted a foot against it, and kicked off like it was a springboard.
Her body arced toward the distant jungle canopy.
One end of the rope stayed anchored up on the ship; the other whipped through open air, an impossible line against blue sky and white mist.
Jiang Tea Tea hit a thick branch, wrapped the rope around a sturdy trunk, hauled it tight, and tied it off.
She patted the bark. “Thanks for the help.”
Whether the tree understood or the wind simply chose that moment, the leaves rustled as if answering.
—
Across Primitive Tropical Planet, the other twenty-nine ships were also dropping cadets into different dangerous zones.
In the command rooms, the twenty-nine legion commanders could watch their own cadets’ feeds-and each other’s, too.
Almost without exception, they opened the feed of Jiang Tea Tea’s jump.
A pure human female with no ability.
Light as a feather. Pale. Delicate. The kind who looked like one punch could send her into a wall so deep you’d never pry her out again.
And yet she’d stood at the hatch with a rope in hand, fearless, and jumped.
Their eyes were refreshed. Their minds were overturned.
Now they understood why Ye Ying had tried to “reserve” her in the first fifteen minutes of the championship.
And now they wanted her too.
So twenty-nine legion commanders called their commander-in-chief at once.
On Chong Ming’s invisible super warship hovering over Primitive Tropical Planet, he accepted the calls casually. Twenty-nine projections appeared on a single screen.
“All of you called at once,” Chong Ming said evenly. “Is there a problem?”
The legion commanders hadn’t expected to collide with twenty-eight other greedy bastards. But that didn’t stop them.
They talked over one another at lightning speed, each trying to be first.
“Reporting, Commander-in-Chief! Royal Military Academy, Pacification Department, pure human female-Jiang Tea Tea. First Legion requests unconditional priority recruitment. Please approve!”
“Reporting, Commander-in-Chief! Second Legion also requests unconditional priority recruitment of Classmate Jiang Tea Tea. After recruitment, we will tailor the most detailed extreme conditioning plan and train her into the empire’s strongest abilityless pure human female!”