Chapter 58
Chapter 58: The Insectoid Imperial Prince’s Challenge – Do You Dare Accept?
Deputy Officer Ai answered: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
Chong Ming did not stay to watch Deputy Officer Ai deal with the shredded Insectoid Race corpses. He turned and went to the room where Sui Xuan Chu was lying in a healing pod.
The room’s temperature was constant, controlled by an intelligent monitoring system. The temperature, the humidity, even the noise blocking were all adjusted perfectly, just the way Jiang Tea Tea liked them.
She liked it so much she slept until the sky might as well have gone dark. She only woke up when she felt something crawling on her face like bugs. Without opening her eyes, she swung her hand straight at her own face.
Her hand never hit. Her wrist was grabbed. Sui Xuan Chu laughed: “Roommate, why are you so violent you even hit yourself?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s wrist was caught, but she still did not open her eyes. She lifted a leg and kicked Sui Xuan Chu right off the bed, then sat up: “Next time you wriggle around on my face like a bug, I’ll beat you into a bug.”
Sui Xuan Chu let out an “ow” as he fell to the floor. He lay across the edge of the bed and looked up at Jiang Tea Tea: “Roommate, before you beat me into a bug, I still have to say, thank you for saving my life!”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted the blanket and got out of bed. As she walked toward the bathroom she said: “You’re welcome. It was just a small thing. I’m glad you’re okay.”
Sui Xuan Chu called after her back: “The Commander in Chief’s healing department, whether it’s the diagnostic scanners, the healing pods, or the healers, they’re the best in the whole Empire. I got the most proper treatment. My body feels amazing now.”
Jiang Tea Tea answered with a casual “oh,” then shut the bathroom door with a bang. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, ran the water, and yawned.
A few minutes later, she came out and saw Sui Xuan Chu reaching for her fruit. She immediately snapped and threatened him: “Sui Xuan Chu, if you dare eat my fruit, I’ll chop your hand off.”
Sui Xuan Chu jerked his hand back and turned to look at her: “I didn’t eat your fruit. I just don’t understand. Why do you like eating nutrient fruits when they’re only about seventy percent ripe? Isn’t it sour?”
Jiang Tea Tea walked over, picked up a bunch of nutrient fruits, plucked one off, took two loud crunchy bites, swallowed, and said: “Sixty percent sour, forty percent sweet. The taste is just right. It’s not sour.”
Sui Xuan Chu watched her eat and sucked in a breath. His teeth ached just from looking, and he kept swallowing his saliva: “Roommate, is there something wrong with your taste buds? It’s really not sour?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked her black eyes: “Really not sour. I’ll force myself to share one with you. Try it.”
She kept gnawing on the fruit in one hand while passing the whole bunch of nutrient fruits to Sui Xuan Chu with the other.
Sui Xuan Chu watched her chomping away like it was nothing, like it really was not sour at all, even looked kind of sweet.
Holding onto his doubts, he reached out and picked a nutrient fruit. He raised it to his mouth and bit into it. He only chewed once, and in that instant the sour taste exploded everywhere. His face twisted, scrunched up into a ball. His whole body shivered, shaking from the sourness.
Jiang Tea Tea: “[????]”
[Seriously?]
[He is about to turn back into his beast form at this rate.]
Sui Xuan Chu spat the nutrient fruit out. He smacked his lips for a long time before he managed to swallow that sour taste down along with his saliva: “Sister Tea, this isn’t seventy percent ripe. It’s sixty percent ripe. There’s even a bit of astringency in the sourness. Which evil idiot gave you these fruits? Are they trying to hurt you?”
Jiang Tea Tea loudly smacked her lips on purpose as she chewed twice more: “There’s not a hint of astringency. It really is sixty percent sour, forty percent sweet. It’s tasty.”
Sui Xuan Chu gave her a thumbs up: “Okay, okay, okay. You pure Humans really have a unique taste. I truly admire you.”
Jiang Tea Tea finished the fruit in her hand and said modestly: “It’s not that special. You’re exaggerating. Right, when are we going down?”
Sui Xuan Chu answered: “After we finish lunch.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her wrist with the light-brain wrist terminal and glanced at it. Good grief, it was already eleven o’clock on the second day. She had slept for almost twenty hours in one go.
Sui Xuan Chu said: “Come on, let’s go eat.”
Jiang Tea Tea followed Sui Xuan Chu out the door toward the ship’s school cafeteria.
The two of them wore combat suits of the same color and style. One had her hair in a high ponytail. The other, after being struck by lightning, only had a little tuft of hair left tied up. They did not fit into the ship’s atmosphere at all and drew a lot of attention.
But one of them seemed used to it, and the other did not care. They walked all the way to the school cafeteria doors, and there they just happened to bump into Chong Ming coming from the other direction with his deputy officer.
Sui Xuan Chu snapped to attention and gave him a salute: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, good afternoon.”
Chong Ming nodded: “Good afternoon, Schoolmate Sui Xuan Chu.”
Jiang Tea Tea did not move, so Sui Xuan Chu bumped her with his elbow: “Say hi, roommate.”
Jiang Tea Tea raised a hand and waved at Chong Ming: “Good afternoon, Commander in Chief Chong Ming.”
Chong Ming looked over at her: “Good afternoon, Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea. Are the nutrient fruits tasty?”
Jiang Tea Tea had been eating the whole way there. There were still four fruits left on the bunch in her hand: “Pretty good. Can I pack some up to take with me later?”
The corner of Chong Ming’s mouth lifted: “Of course. With me, excellent children have special privileges. You can pack as much as you want.”
[Excellent child?]
[He is putting on airs in front of a tree? Even the leftover digits of her age are older than he is.]
Jiang Tea Tea followed his words and pushed even further: “Really? Then I won’t be polite. Besides nutrient fruits, I want to pack some meat and seafood too.”
“Roommate, your space knob storage device has a big space. Later you can pack the meat for me. Come on, let’s go talk to the cooks and ask them to make extra.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded quickly: “Sounds good to me. Let’s go pack a lot. There are still six mouths down there waiting to be fed!”
The two of them left Chong Ming behind and rushed straight into the school cafeteria like they owned the place. They ordered six meat dishes and six vegetable dishes, ten tubs of each, and one thousand jin of nutrient fruits.
As the name suggested, nutrient fruits were rich in nutrition. Most people juiced them and added honey to balance the sour and bitter taste. Very few people bit into them raw.
Jiang Tea Tea asked for one thousand jin; the kitchen gave her one thousand five hundred jin instead. Box after box, bunch after bunch of golden fruit looked especially pleasing to the eye.
She stuffed her “spoils of war” space knob storage device on her wrist until it was full. While they waited for the dishes, she gnawed nutrient fruits like a mouse, crunch, crunch, crunch.
Sui Xuan Chu sat beside her, watching her eat until his teeth hurt. He nudged her with his elbow: “Roommate, eat fewer nutrient fruits. The Commander in Chief is watching.”
His roommate was eating such sour fruit, and the person across from them was watching her do it, face completely calm, not even acting like his teeth hurt.
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyelids and happened to meet Chong Ming’s gaze from across the table. She pulled off a fruit and held it out to him over her shoulder: “Do you want one?”
Chong Ming actually took it. He bit into it, chewed, and swallowed without changing his expression. Then he said: “Thank you. About my proposal from yesterday, how are you thinking about it?”
Sui Xuan Chu: “[???]”
[What? That sour fruit and he can still eat it?]
[As expected of a dragon one hundred and thirty-three years older than him.]
Jiang Tea Tea’s jaw paused as she chewed the nutrient fruit: “I already refused yesterday. I haven’t thought about it. Go find someone else.”
Chong Ming raised an eyebrow slightly: “Right now I only think you have potential. Other than you, I haven’t found anyone suitable.”
Jiang Tea Tea pointed with her hand: “Who says there’s no one suitable? My roommate Sui Xuan Chu, from the Dragon Clan, combat department, dual Level S lightning element affinity.”
“My teammate, Cheng Xiao Ting, from the Wolf Tribe, recon specialization, Double S rank, with wind sprint supernatural abilities.”
“My teammate, Yan Yu, from the Fox Tribe, a half beastman, dual Level S blink step supernatural abilities. And a few others. Even if Huang Da Zhuang doesn’t have supernatural abilities, his innate talent is amazing. His enhanced sense of smell and his hearing are both first class.”
“There are seven people in my team. Every one of them is better than me, more capable than me. They are all talents. You should train them.”
Chong Ming glanced at Sui Xuan Chu. His voice was low and deep as he replied: “I’m not interested in them. I’m only interested in you.”
Jiang Tea Tea pulled her mouth into a grin that did not reach her eyes: “Thank you for your high opinion. I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in you…”
“Wait a moment, I’m taking a call.” Chong Ming raised a hand to stop her, lifted his wrist with the light-brain wrist terminal, and tapped to answer the communication.
The Insectoid Race’s Great Imperial Prince, Aceras, appeared on the screen. Smiling, he greeted him: “Old friend, long time no see. I heard you’re at your Eighth Great Star System’s primitive tropical planet training military academy students?”
Chong Ming’s expression did not change. He smiled back: “Looks like the garbage Your Highness Aceras dropped on my side was hidden quite deep, and you were very proud of it.”
Aceras laughed: “Old friend, you’re joking. My ugly trash isn’t even good enough for your eyes. Didn’t you clear them out yesterday, have them crushed, and send them back to me? How could I still have any trash left on your side?”
Chong Ming let out an “oh”: “If you don’t have trash on my side, does that mean you want to come over and be trash yourself, just to get my attention?”
Aceras’s smile stiffened for a second, then became even brighter: “I don’t want to come over and be trash. I just haven’t seen you in a long time and I missed you. I happened to bring my Insectoid Race military academy students to train in the border area of your Eighth Star System.”
“I didn’t expect you to be here too. Isn’t that a coincidence? I want to see you and have a friendly match. Let’s see whether the military academy students trained by you, Chong Ming, are stronger, or the ones trained by me, Aceras, are stronger!”