Chapter 53
Chapter 53: Her Meat Is So Delicious, I Want to Eat Her
On hearing that, Jiang Tea Tea snapped her head up and looked toward the sky. The sky was covered in falling snow, white and foggy as far as she could see. She could not see any ships at all.
Where was she supposed to go to notify that Big Loach?
Jiang Tea Tea believed that relying on herself was better than begging others. Even though she really hated the bitter, salty sea water, with her current spiritual power, going down once would not be a problem.
She pulled back her gaze and looked at Zhang Ting Zhou: “You find a way to notify the training staff and let the training staff tell Commander in Chief Chong Ming. I’ll go down first.”
Huang Da Zhuang grabbed her in one motion: “Sister Tea, you’re a pure human with no supernatural abilities. The ocean is unfathomably deep. Going down, you’re not going to look for Sui Xuan Chu, you’re going to look for death.”
Cheng Xiao Ting hurried to add: “That’s right, Sister Tea. If anyone is going down, it should be a guy like me. What are you, a girl, going down there for?”
Yan Yu immediately spoke up: “I’ll go down with you, Cheng Xiao Ting…”
“Enough. One of you is canine family, and one of you is feline family.” Jiang Tea Tea brushed Huang Da Zhuang’s hand away. “You are born afraid of water. Even if you change into beastman form and overcome the water, you still can’t breathe at the bottom of the sea for long.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. Hurry and go find the drill instructor teams, or stand here and shout to the sky for Commander in Chief Chong Ming.”
When they were hunting the drill instructor teams in the Primeval Forest, that Big Loach had been using a real-time surveillance system to watch them. Now, at this critical moment, he had dropped the ball and was nowhere to be seen. He really was unreliable.
“But Sister Tea, it’s really dangerous…”
Huang Da Zhuang still felt that it was very dangerous for a pure human like her to go into the sea and wanted to stop her. Before he could finish talking, Jiang Tea Tea jumped into the sea inlet with a splash. The icy sea water splashed up and soaked all of them.
Cheng Xiao Ting and the others rushed to the sea entrance. The water at the mouth of the hole rolled and swayed. Jiang Tea Tea’s figure was already gone.
Huang Da Zhuang wiped the sea water off his face in one swipe, jumped to his feet, tilted his head back, and shouted at the snowy sky: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, something is wrong! There are Insectoid Race under the sea! Commander in Chief Chong Ming… help, help!”
When Yan Yu and the others saw him shouting, they all joined in, raising their voices and yelling along with him. Their cries rose and fell over each other.
After Cheng Lin Yue finished treating Zhang Ting Zhou’s wounds and stopping the bleeding, she joined their group too and began shouting.
Deputy Officer Ai had just returned to the command room when he saw Huang Da Zhuang and the others shouting on the real-time surveillance screen. He turned up the sound, listened, his face changed, and he opened the audio channel to ask.
“‘Kill the Other Twenty-Nine Military Academies’ squad members, are you sure there are Insectoid Race in the sea? Lying about this will get you sent to a military court.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others had not expected that their shouting would really be heard by the chief command ship. They all turned their eyes to Zhang Ting Zhou.
Zhang Ting Zhou, still covered in blood, lifted his head and answered urgently: “Yes, I’m sure. I’m from the Zhang Yu clan. An hour ago, my teammate, a Dragon Clan male, Sui Xuan Chu, and I went into the sea to catch seafood. In less than ten minutes, we ran into the Insectoid Race.”
“They rushed at us as soon as they saw us. There were too many of them. My teammate and I fought them for dozens of minutes, but we could not beat them.”
“My teammate protected me, told me to leave, and went to lure them away. They cut off my tentacles. I used a lot of effort just to make it back up.”
“After I came up, another teammate of mine, my pure human teammate Jiang Tea Tea, went down to look for that teammate. Please ask the Commander in Chief to hurry and send people down. If they are late, their lives will be in danger.”
Deputy Officer Ai replied: “Alright, I will notify the Commander in Chief right away.”
Zhang Ting Zhou said: “Hurry, hurry!”
The moment Deputy Officer Ai saw Zhang Ting Zhou covered in blood, he had already sprinted out of the command room, heading straight for the training ground.
On the training ground, the Commander in Chief was drilling the thirty Army Corps commanders. Not a single one of the thirty could beat him. Every one of them had been punched until their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen.
By the time Zhang Ting Zhou finished speaking, Deputy Officer Ai had reached the training ground and shouted loudly: “Commander in Chief, something is wrong! In the icy sea under the Extreme North, Insectoid Race have appeared. They are chasing and killing His High…” He bit off the word and changed quickly. “…schoolmate Sui Xuan Chu.”
Chong Ming kicked away Ye Ying, who had been attacking him, and in an instant appeared in front of Deputy Officer Ai: “When did this happen?”
Deputy Officer Ai answered, slightly out of breath: “An hour ago. Schoolmate Sui Xuan Chu and his squad members went down into the sea to catch seafood and ran into them.”
“He protected his squad members by luring the Insectoid Race away himself and letting his squad members come back to report. Ten minutes ago, schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea went down to look for him!”
After hearing this, Chong Ming immediately gave orders: “Scan the ocean under the Extreme North ice sheet. Blow a hole through the ice every one hundred kilometers.”
“Send the entire Water Wave Battalion and North Wind Battalion down. Capture the Insectoid Race alive and ensure the safety of schoolmates Sui Xuan Chu and Jiang Tea Tea.”
“Also, link and cover all scanned images from under the Extreme North ice sheet. Tell Minister Cai that within five minutes, I want to see the real-time surveillance images of schoolmates Sui Xuan Chu and Jiang Tea Tea.”
Deputy Officer Ai answered heavily: “Yes, Commander in Chief. The orders have been sent. The Water Wave Battalion and North Wind Battalion will move out within one minute.”
On the flagship, the Water Wave Battalion and North Wind Battalion received the orders. Within one minute, all 1,100 people moved out, leaving the flagship command center.
When they dropped from the command ship, the thick ice sheet was blasted open into a big hole, and they fell straight through the opening into the ocean.
As Chong Ming lifted his foot to leave the training ground, the thirty Army Corps commanders shouted from behind him: “Reporting, Commander in Chief. Sui Xuan Chu and Jiang Tea Tea are students our First Regiment is responsible for training. Our First Regiment requests to go into the ocean to rescue them and capture the Insectoid Race alive.”
“Reporting, Commander in Chief. As the commanders of the drill instructor teams, we have the right to protect every student’s safety. Please allow us to go into the sea and rescue schoolmates Sui Xuan Chu and Jiang Tea Tea.”
“We are willing to sign a military pledge. If we cannot wipe out the Insectoid Race and catch them all, we will not come back.”
Chong Ming turned around to look at them. His voice was low, hoarse, and sharp, stabbing right into the hearts of all thirty of them: “Thirty Army Corps commanders, twelve of you were taken out by first-year military academy students in eleven days. Are you sure it is you rescuing them, and not them turning around to rescue you?”
The thirty Army Corps commanders: “…”
Chong Ming swept his golden eyes over all thirty of them: “Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea was right. If you’re weak, you need more practice. Don’t try to find excuses and use other matters to cover up how weak you are.”
The thirty Army Corps commanders regretted it so much their guts turned green. They wished they could go back one minute and slap themselves in the face for talking too much.
Not until Chong Ming left the training ground and even his back could no longer be seen did the thirty Army Corps commanders start to glare at each other and scold each other, pecking at one another like little chicks: “Ye, why did you have to ask for permission? Now we all got scolded by the Commander in Chief.”
“You think only you got scolded and I didn’t? We have to bravely admit that we’re weak. In the second and third rounds of the Supremacy Tournament, we have to take down Jiang Tea Tea. That dead girl is the trickiest one.”
“Now that you said something on point. Jiang Tea Tea is the main fighting power and backbone of their team. That Dragon Clan male Sui Xuan Chu and the others are all there just to support her.”
“In the second and third rounds of the Supremacy Tournament, we have to take out this backbone first. Once she’s gone, the others will be like loose sand, easy to pinch and knead however we want.”
The thirty of them were in the middle of a heated discussion when suddenly Deputy Officer Ai gave a light cough.
The discussion stopped at once. All thirty of them snapped their eyes toward Deputy Officer Ai, as if struck by lightning. Hadn’t he left with the Commander in Chief? When had he come back? They had just been plotting against Jiang Tea Tea. He had definitely heard it all.
Deputy Officer Ai looked straight at the thirty of them: “Everyone, the Commander in Chief wants you to return to your own command ships and carefully check the students you are training and the members of your drill instructor teams.”
“At the same time, check on your own whether there are any Insectoid Race within your training areas. If there are, clear them out. If you can’t clear them out, you will each bear full responsibility.”
The thirty Army Corps commanders answered with a “Yes” and, with their bruised and swollen faces and sorry looks, left the command flagship.
Chong Ming returned from the training ground to the command room. The projected giant screen in front of him showed full-range images of the Extreme North ocean. The Water Wave Battalion and North Wind Battalion could be seen in the images, but there was no sign of Jiang Tea Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, or the Insectoid Race.
Staring at the giant screen, Chong Ming asked: “Minister Cai, you still haven’t locked onto schoolmates Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu?”
Cai Xi Chao kept her eyes on the screen. Her hands moved so fast on the virtual keyboard that they left afterimages. “Reporting to the Commander in Chief, the Insectoid Race came prepared. I still can’t crack the signal shielding devices they are using, so I can’t lock onto the positions of schoolmates Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu.”
Chong Ming raised his wrist with the light-brain wrist terminal, tapped it open, and started a search for the special signal from the implanted chip in Sui Xuan Chu’s body. The result showed zero. There was no signal.
Chong Ming frowned slightly. “You keep searching. I’m going down.”
Cai Xi Chao’s heart jumped. “Commander in Chief, you are going down yourself?”
Chong Ming nodded: “Yes. I will go down once myself. Before I come back, have Security Department Chief Yan Lan Shen come and see me.”
Cai Xi Chao said: “Yes, Commander in Chief.”
Chong Ming left the command room. The bottom bay of the command ship opened, and he jumped off the command ship and transformed directly into a golden dragon, diving into the sea.
Jiang Tea Tea hated sea water the most. It was salty and bitter, soaked through her whole body, corroded her, made her feel uncomfortable all over, and made her temper flare.
She held her breath and entered the sea. She saw several mutant gray sharks, each as big as a small hill, swimming in the water.
Her hands turned into several branches and whipped out in the deep sea, like the sharpest arrows stabbing into the mutant gray sharks.
In an instant, the mutant gray sharks became nutrients to nourish her body, making her more energetic. She released her spiritual power and successfully sensed Sui Xuan Chu.
But Sui Xuan Chu was far from her, so far away that if she tried to swim there by herself, this little demon tree would end up swimming herself to death.
In the ocean, Jiang Tea Tea found a mutant tiger whale. She wrapped a twig branch around the whale’s dorsal fin and used it to drive the whale toward the place where Sui Xuan Chu was.
About half an hour later, Jiang Tea Tea was carried into the depths of the sea. She saw Sui Xuan Chu in dragon form, bloody, with his scales torn and scattered, struggling inside a capture net woven by the Insectoid Race.
Jiang Tea Tea drove the mutant tiger whale straight toward him, but she did not expect that from all directions ten huge sea spiders would rush out and surround her.
The leading bug of the Insectoid Race let out a greedy, happy sound: “I didn’t expect that when we came to catch a dragon, we would also run into a pure human little girl.”
“I like pure human little girls. Their meat is tender, their taste is fresh, and their blood is thick. Come on, take her down. Don’t break her skin. I want to eat her whole!”