Chapter 56

Chapter 56: An Ambiguous Breath Between Them—One Seeks Talent, One Lies

Clatter.

Chopsticks hit the floor. Trays dropped. Gasps rose all around them like a wave.

Jiang Tea Tea jolted as if waking from a dream. She sat up straighter and stared at Chong Ming.

“What did I just say?”

She wanted to die. She really did.

One day her mouth was going to get her killed. She’d meant to bury him under her roots as fertilizer—how did that turn into saying it out loud?

Chong Ming’s expression didn’t change. He glanced toward the staff and subordinates around them.

They instantly shut up, eyes glued to their plates, breathing like they’d forgotten how.

Chong Ming looked back at Jiang Tea Tea. “Nothing. You said the fried prawns were good.”

Jiang Tea Tea grabbed the lifeline like it was oxygen. She nodded rapidly. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes—prawns are great. Sea fish and sea shrimp are way more tender than the ones in the Primeval Forest.”

“If it weren’t for that damn insect clan, my roommate and my teammate would’ve caught so much fish and shrimp for me today. I’d have eaten until I was happy.”

She yawned, then remembered something. “Oh, right—how is my roommate? He lost a lot of scales. Is he okay?”

“Nothing serious,” Chong Ming said. “He’s in a medical pod. He’ll wake within twenty-four hours.”

“Good, good,” Jiang Tea Tea murmured, already sleepy again. “Then… should I go see him? Or do I go back to the rest point?”

“He’s undergoing treatment. You can’t see him right now,” Chong Ming said. “But I do have questions for you.”

Jiang Tea Tea had eaten her fill. That made her far more cooperative. “Ask.”

Chong Ming watched her closely. “When I found you with your roommate, you were alone. Did the insect clan escape, or were they killed?”

Jiang Tea Tea didn’t hesitate. She lied so smoothly her expression didn’t change by a single shade.

“I don’t know,” she said sincerely. “When I found my roommate, he was alone.”

“I hadn’t even pulled him out of the net yet when you arrived. I was confused too—maybe the insect clan hid somewhere, using him as bait to lure me in… and then you showed up and scared them away?”

Chong Ming’s gaze didn’t move. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” Jiang Tea Tea said, very earnest. “Anything else?”

Chong Ming’s next question came like a blade. “You called yourself gifted and strange. What kind of ability lets a pure human breathe freely underwater?”

Jiang Tea Tea sighed dramatically. Then she crooked one finger at him.

Nearby, people froze mid-motion. She was beckoning the Commander-in-Chief like she was calling a dog.

Chong Ming stood. He braced one hand on the table and leaned toward her. “Speak,” he said, voice low.

Jiang Tea Tea leaned in too, dropping her voice to a whisper. Their breaths brushed in the narrow space between them.

“To be honest,” she murmured, “I awakened an ability.”

“Invisibility. Plant-type ability. Double S-rank.”

“In the sea, I use it to breathe like a plant.”

Chong Ming studied her palm-sized face, her bright eyes, her steady composure. “Do you mind if I run a full-body check?”

Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth curved. “If you already know I mind, why ask?”

Chong Ming’s tone stayed almost… gentle, like he was coaxing a child. “Then can I know why?”

Jiang Tea Tea’s smile deepened. “You’re asking me for a reason? I thought the reason was obvious the moment you saw me standing here.”

Truth as lies. Lies as truth. Let the Big Loach decide which was which.

To his credit, at least he hadn’t tried to force her.

Chong Ming spoke again. “The Jiang family couple and the Jiang family’s second daughter—their crimes have been confirmed. The sentencing results are already finalized.”

He paused. “I’ve held the announcement back. After the competition ends, once your lightbrain can receive external signals again, the results will be made public.”

“You will receive at least one billion in compensation. Legally, you will have no ties to them. You don’t need to fear them harming you because you awakened an ability.”

“Awakening an ability is a good thing,” he continued. “Especially plant-type ability, double S-rank. Your future is limitless. You don’t need to hide.”

Plant-type abilities carried natural soothing power. The higher the rank, the stronger the calming effect—strong enough to soothe even the most volatile psychic abilities.

In the Zhen Lin Empire, double S-rank plant-type ability users were rare enough to count on fingers. Someone this young?

Almost unheard of.

Jiang Tea Tea fell quiet for a moment, then said carefully, “You’re not wrong. But I’m timid. Once bitten by a snake, you fear ropes for ten years.”

“Being a useless little cadet on paper—no ability, no threat—and then occasionally going crazy and shocking everyone… that’s a pretty good life.”

She looked at him, eyes steady. “I believe the Commander-in-Chief will respect my choice and won’t expose my awakening. Right?”

Chong Ming lifted one brow. “You negotiate well. You’d make a good diplomat.”

“Your fighting is vicious, your ideas are sharp, and you pull people together. You’d also do well in the Military Department.”

“And you’re plant-type. Becoming a healer or a soothing therapist would be another path—one with even greater value.”

Jiang Tea Tea leaned closer again, pressing the point. That faint heat between them—breath and proximity—turned the air ambiguous.

She smiled. “Are you planning my future, Your Highness?”

Chong Ming didn’t dodge it. “Yes. I don’t want talent buried. I want excellent children like you to stand higher.”

Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue and straightened, yawning wide. “The highest place in the empire is you.”

“If I follow the road you laid out, I’ll work myself to death and still never reach your height.”

“Forget it. I’m not going back down today. I’m going to the room you gave me to wash up and sleep. I’m exhausted.”

Chong Ming watched her walk away.

She truly wasn’t afraid of him. Not even a little. The pressure he released—enough to crush most people—seemed to slide off her like wind off glass.

His voice followed, low and steady. “That’s not necessarily true, Jiang Tea Tea, Classmate.”

She paused and turned her head.

Chong Ming held her gaze. “The position of Commander-in-Chief belongs to the capable. I’ve held it for over a hundred years.”

“It isn’t that I’m unwilling to give it up. It’s that I haven’t found a suitable successor.”

“If you want it, I don’t care whether you’re a beastfolk female or a pure human female.”

“Show me your ability.”

“I’ll pave the road for you. If you can walk every road I lay out within ten years… the position of Commander-in-Chief is yours.”