Chapter 58
Chapter 58: The Insect Race Eldest Prince Issues a Challenge—Do You Dare to Answer?
“Yes, Commander-in-Chief,” Adjutant AI answered.
Chong Ming didn’t stay to watch the processing. He went to the room where Sui Xuan Chu lay in a medical pod.
Meanwhile, Jiang Tea Tea slept like the dead.
The temperature was perfect. The humidity was perfect. Even the soundproofing was perfect. The ship’s automated system controlled everything exactly the way she liked it.
She slept until she felt something crawl across her face.
Without opening her eyes, she swung a hand and slapped at it.
Her hand didn’t hit her face.
Someone caught her wrist.
A familiar voice laughed. “Roommate, why are you so violent? You almost hit yourself.”
Jiang Tea Tea still didn’t open her eyes. She kicked.
Sui Xuan Chu flew off the bed with a yelp.
Jiang Tea Tea sat up and finally opened her eyes. “Next time you crawl over my face like a bug, I’ll beat you into a bug.”
Sui Xuan Chu groaned, clinging to the edge of the bed. “Ouch… but before you beat me into a bug, I still have to thank you.”
“Thanks for saving my life.”
Jiang Tea Tea swung her legs off the bed and headed for the washroom. “No need. It was nothing. You’re fine—that’s what matters.”
Behind her, Sui Xuan Chu called out, cheerful as ever. “The Commander-in-Chief’s Medical Department has the best equipment in the entire empire. The scanners, the medical pod, the healers—everything. I got the best treatment. I’m basically perfect now.”
Jiang Tea Tea grunted, slammed the washroom door, and brushed her teeth in silence.
A few minutes later she came out and saw Sui Xuan Chu hovering near her fruit.
Her voice went sharp enough to cut metal. “Sui Xuan Chu. If you eat my fruit, I’ll chop off your hand.”
Sui Xuan Chu yanked his hand back like he’d touched a live wire. “I wasn’t eating it. I just don’t understand—why do you like half-ripe nutrient fruit? Isn’t it sour?”
Jiang Tea Tea walked over, grabbed a bunch, plucked one off, and bit in.
Crunch. Crunch.
She swallowed and frowned at him. “It’s six parts sour and four parts sweet. It’s perfect. Not sour.”
Sui Xuan Chu watched her chew and made a sound like his teeth hurt in sympathy. “Roommate… is your sense of taste broken? That’s not sour?”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked innocently. “Not sour. I’ll reluctantly give you one. Try it.”
She held out the fruit while chewing another.
Sui Xuan Chu hesitated. She looked like she was eating something sweet.
Suspicious, he took one and bit down—
—and his face contorted so violently he nearly shifted forms on the spot.
Sour flooded his mouth like an ambush. He shuddered, shaking, eyes watering.
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him. “…Seriously?”
Sui Xuan Chu spat the fruit out and sucked in air like he’d survived poisoning. “Sister Tea—this isn’t seven-ripe. It’s six-ripe. It’s sour, and there’s even a bitter, astringent edge. Who gave you this? Are they trying to kill you?”
Jiang Tea Tea deliberately chewed two more bites, smacking her lips. “There’s no astringent edge. It’s just sour and sweet. It’s delicious.”
Sui Xuan Chu gave her a weak thumbs-up. “Fine. Fine. You humans have… unique tastes. I respect it.”
Jiang Tea Tea finished her fruit and wiped her hands. “Anyway—when do we go back down?”
“After lunch,” Sui Xuan Chu said.
Jiang Tea Tea checked her lightbrain and blinked hard.
It was already the next day—11:00 a.m. She had slept almost twenty hours.
Sui Xuan Chu grinned. “Come on. Let’s eat.”
They stepped into the corridor and headed for the cafeteria.
Both wore the same style of combat uniform. Jiang Tea Tea had a high ponytail. Sui Xuan Chu’s hair, after being struck by lightning, was reduced to a sad little tuft that he’d tied up anyway.
They looked wildly out of place on a military command ship—and they didn’t care.
At the cafeteria entrance, they ran into Chong Ming approaching from the other direction, with Adjutant AI beside him.
Sui Xuan Chu straightened instantly and snapped a salute. “Commander-in-Chief, good afternoon.”
Chong Ming nodded. “Good afternoon, Sui Xuan Chu, Classmate.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t salute. Sui Xuan Chu elbowed her. “Say hello, roommate.”
Jiang Tea Tea waved casually. “Good afternoon, Chong Ming, Commander-in-Chief.”
Chong Ming’s gaze settled on her. “Good afternoon, Jiang Tea Tea, Classmate. Was the nutrient fruit good?”
Jiang Tea Tea had been munching it the whole way. Four fruits still hung from the bunch in her hand. “It was good. Can I pack some to take with me later?”
“Of course,” Chong Ming said. “Here, excellent children have privileges. Pack as much as you want.”
Excellent child?
She was a demon older than his entire lifespan. He was really trying to act old in front of her?
Fine. She’d take advantage.
“Then I won’t be polite. Besides nutrient fruit, I want to pack meat and seafood too.”
She turned to Sui Xuan Chu. “Roommate, your storage button has a big space. You’ll carry the meat for me.”
“Let’s go talk to the cook. Tell them to make more.”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded eagerly. “That works! Pack more—there are six mouths down there waiting to be fed!”
They abandoned Chong Ming without hesitation and charged into the cafeteria.
They packed the full six meat dishes and six vegetable dishes—ten basins each.
Then Jiang Tea Tea demanded a thousand pounds of nutrient fruit.
Nutrient fruit, as the name suggested, was highly nutritious. Most people used it for juice, mixing honey to offset the sour and bitter. Very few people ate it raw.
Jiang Tea Tea wanted a thousand pounds.
The kitchen gave her fifteen hundred.
Box after box, bunch after bunch—golden and bright, almost comically abundant.
Jiang Tea Tea stuffed her storage button until it bulged, then sat there gnawing nutrient fruit like a happy little rodent while she waited for the rest to be packed.
Sui Xuan Chu sat beside her, watching with sympathetic tooth pain. He elbowed her. “Roommate… eat less. Commander-in-Chief is watching.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyes.
Sure enough, Chong Ming was looking at her from across the room, expression unreadable.
Jiang Tea Tea plucked a fruit and held it out. “Want one?”
Chong Ming took it. He bit down, chewed, swallowed—face unchanged.
“Thanks,” he said, then added, “about my suggestion yesterday—have you considered it?”
Sui Xuan Chu stared in horror.
That fruit was lethal.
He ate it like it was candy.
Jiang Tea Tea paused mid-chew. “I rejected it yesterday. I’m not considering it. Find someone else.”
Chong Ming raised a brow. “At the moment, you’re the only one I consider suitable.”
Jiang Tea Tea pointed at Sui Xuan Chu. “Who says there’s no one else? My roommate—Sui Xuan Chu. Dragon clan. Combat Department. Double S-rank lightning.”
She pointed again, counting off names like she was listing groceries. “My teammate Cheng Xiao Ting—wolf clan, Reconnaissance Department, double S-rank gale sprint.”
“My teammate Yan Yu—fox clan, half-beastfolk, double S-rank blink.”
“And the rest. Even Huang Da Zhuang has no ability, but his smell and hearing are top-tier.”
“There are seven people in my squad. Every single one is more talented than me. Train them.”
Chong Ming glanced at Sui Xuan Chu, his voice dropping. “I didn’t pick them.”
“I picked you.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s smile turned sharp and fake. “Thanks for your favor. Sorry, I didn’t pick you—”
“Hold that thought,” Chong Ming said, lifting a hand. “I’m taking a call.”
He tapped his lightbrain and accepted the incoming connection.
The insect race eldest prince, Agris, appeared on-screen, smiling broadly.
“Old friend,” Agris said warmly. “Long time no see. I heard you’re training cadets in your Eighth Major Star System, on that primitive tropical planet.”
Chong Ming’s expression didn’t change. He returned a polite smile that carried no warmth. “So your trash is buried deep and feeling proud of itself.”
Agris laughed. “You’re joking. My ugly trash could never catch your eye. Didn’t you clean it up yesterday and grind it into paste for me? Where would I still have trash on your territory?”
Chong Ming’s tone stayed mild. “If you don’t have trash here, then you want to come here and become trash. You want my attention?”
Agris’s smile stiffened for half a breath, then brightened again. “I don’t want to become trash. I missed you. I brought my insect clan cadets to train near the edge of the Eighth Star System.”
“I didn’t expect you to be here too. Since we’ve run into each other, why not have a friendly match?”
“Let’s see whose cadets are better—yours, Chong Ming, or mine, Agris.”