Chapter 54
Chapter 54: The Cub’s Mom Walked In and Confessed—Now the Cub’s Dad Is Suspicious
Jiang Tea Tea yanked her branches tight and sprang forward, landing on the mutant killer whale’s back. Under her feet, it went obedient and still, like a kitten.
She faced the ten sea spiders and smiled.
Her voice held more greedy joy than the insect leader’s. “What a coincidence. I hate bugs the most.”
“But for bugs that deliver themselves to my doorstep… I’ll reluctantly accept.”
She tilted her head. “Come on. Tell me—how do you want me to eat you? Pan-fry, deep-fry, boil, stew… or do I just eat you raw?”
The insect leader froze.
This little girl was speaking deep underwater, and she was threatening to eat him.
The leader’s delight only grew. “Little girl, you’re not ordinary. Today I’m lucky. I caught the dragon I wanted… and I get to eat an excellent little girl too.”
“Don’t worry,” the leader purred. “I won’t let you suffer long. I’ll bite through your throat first, then drink your blood and eat your flesh.”
Jiang Tea Tea stayed calm in the water, as if she belonged there. “If you want to eat me, stop hiding like a coward in your submersible. Come out and let me see whether you look appetizing.”
The leader stayed inside, dragging the net holding Sui Xuan Chu. “Whether I’m appetizing doesn’t matter. As long as you suit my taste.”
“Take her—”
“Wait,” Jiang Tea Tea said sharply, lifting one hand.
The leader’s voice turned smug. “You want to beg for mercy?”
Humans being self-absorbed was one thing. Even bugs were.
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t answer. She flicked a thread of magic power toward Sui Xuan Chu. The dragon in the net went limp, his struggling ending in an instant as he slipped into unconsciousness.
The insect leader’s voice snapped. “You little brat! What did you do to my dragon?”
“My dragon?” Jiang Tea Tea corrected, voice turning cold. “He’s my teammate.”
And she didn’t stop moving.
Eleven tea branches lashed out at once.
Ten speared through the huge sea spiders, pinning them in place. The eleventh punched straight through the insect leader’s submersible.
Water flooded in.
The insect leader tried to escape, engines whining—
But something immense tugged the submersible backward as if it were caught in invisible chains.
Jiang Tea Tea’s voice slid into the submersible like a curse. “Little bug. I told you—I hate bugs.”
“But when bugs come to my door, I never refuse.”
“Monster,” the leader hissed, panic rising as oxygen thinned. “You’re not a girl. You’re a monster.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s smile stayed bright. “Monster? No, no. I’m a demon.”
“A tree demon that can eat anything.”
Inside the flooding submersible, her branch struck again—piercing the leader straight through the forehead and pinning him to the seat.
Blood clouded the water. His mouth hung open, but no sound came.
The ten sea spiders met the same fate. Each was pierced and held. Their abilities were suppressed, their strength drained away, and they couldn’t even scream as their lives leaked out.
Once the last spider went still, Jiang Tea Tea moved—fast.
She severed the net dragging Sui Xuan Chu, then flung the sea spider corpses and the leader’s ruined submersible into the deep, vanishing into black water.
Then she kicked off the killer whale and grabbed the net holding Sui Xuan Chu. She started upward—two powerful strokes—
And then she saw it.
A massive golden dragon swimming straight toward her.
Photos didn’t do him justice. Pictures only captured the dominance of his dragon body.
Seeing him in person was something else entirely.
He was enormous, powerful, and… absurdly well-fed. Thick body. Heavy claws. A golden mane drifting like silk through the water.
Two beautiful golden horns crowned his head. Lantern-bright golden eyes. Scales so brilliantly gilded they nearly blinded a demon.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him and felt an emotion she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Greed.
She couldn’t help imagining what would happen if she buried that Big Loach beneath her roots.
How lush and thick would she grow?
As a great demon, she had never craved a fertilizer like this. Even the dragon she was dragging—Sui Xuan Chu—didn’t smell appealing to her.
But this one?
This one smelled like heaven.
Chong Ming reached her. He shifted into human form in a blur, pressing down whatever shock and questions flickered in his eyes.
He took the net from Jiang Tea Tea’s hands, tore it open, and pulled out the blood-soaked Sui Xuan Chu.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him with the hunger of a starving demon. She tested her magic power.
Only two-tenths of what she once had.
Not enough. Not even close.
Against insect clan, seafood, or land aberrant beasts, she could hunt easily. Even if it got hard, she could grit her teeth and push through.
But this Big Loach in front of her? She could grind her teeth to dust and still not win.
One day, she swore, she would train. Restore her power. Kill him. Bury him under her roots. Eat him properly.
She’d start with his hands.
“Go,” Chong Ming said.
He held Sui Xuan Chu in one hand, caught Jiang Tea Tea with the other, and hauled them upward without shifting back into dragon form.
They burst through the sea surface into the blizzard.
Snow fell thick as cotton. Wind sliced.
Jiang Tea Tea’s wet hair froze into icicles almost instantly.
Chong Ming pulled a cold-barrier shield from his storage button and covered her. The biting cold vanished at once.
Through the shield, Jiang Tea Tea looked at Chong Ming and muttered a few words into his lightbrain.
A moment later, the barrier vanished. Chong Ming took her onto a lift platform and brought them up onto the command flagship.
Jiang Tea Tea had been here once before—back when she was still a tree, when the Big Loach had carried her up.
Now she was human.
And he was still carrying her up.
As they walked, she noticed something.
Sui Xuan Chu’s dragon body looked… wrong.
She hurried to Chong Ming’s side. “Chong Ming, Commander-in-Chief—my roommate is okay, right? Why does he look like he’s… fading?”
Sui Xuan Chu was a red-black dragon clan. His scales should have been black with red.
But the remaining scales… looked gold.
Chong Ming glanced at her, expression perfectly calm. “Heavy injury. His scales may have triggered a self-protection mechanism and changed color. Normal.”
Normal?
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes stuck to Sui Xuan Chu’s scales, trying to make sense of it.
Chong Ming reached into his storage button, pulled out a long cloth, and wrapped Sui Xuan Chu up tight—leaving only his tail visible.
Jiang Tea Tea pouted, then forced herself to look away.
As they walked through the command flagship, staff and guards stared so hard their eyes nearly fell out. They couldn’t decide whether the human girl was fearless or whether their Commander-in-Chief had somehow become approachable enough that someone could stand beside him like this.
Then Jiang Tea Tea realized where they were heading, and her memory snapped into place.
He was taking her toward the Medical Department.
She stopped abruptly. “Chong Ming, Commander-in-Chief, I’m not going to the Medical Department. Find me a room. I’ll wash up and that’s enough.”
Chong Ming halted and turned to face her, voice low and cold. “Jiang Tea Tea, Classmate. This is your first time on my command ship.”
His gaze sharpened. “How do you know the direction I’m taking you is the Medical Department?”