Chapter 59
Chapter 59: The Cub’s Dad’s Romantic History—So Many Women Love Him. Are You Scared Yet?
Chong Ming looked at Agris’s grin and said blandly, “Your Highness, when you smile, your tentacles show.”
“Ugly.”
Agris laughed even harder, apparently immune to shame. “This is the mark of the insect clan. I’m proud of it—just like you’re proud of those golden horns on your head.”
Chong Ming lifted one brow. “Oh. You really are a worm in my stomach.”
“Nothing important?” He smiled thinly. “Then I’m hanging up. Bye.”
The screen went black.
Agris stared at the dark display for a long moment.
“…Wow,” Jiang Tea Tea muttered, leaning toward Sui Xuan Chu. “I didn’t expect a big shot to argue like a schoolgirl. You peck me, I peck you.”
Sui Xuan Chu leaned in too, whispering back. “Same. The whole galaxy is one giant makeshift circus troupe. Not many real professionals.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes widened. “So you’re saying Chong Ming—the shiny golden dragon—is also a useless clown?”
Sui Xuan Chu nearly choked on his own saliva. His double standards activated instantly. “He is not.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded thoughtfully. “Then the Crown Prince must be.”
Sui Xuan Chu: “…”
They were gossiping just fine. How did it turn into her insulting people?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Chong Ming rapped his knuckles on the table three times.
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu were so close their heads were nearly touching. At the sound, they straightened in perfect sync and looked up at him.
Chong Ming’s gaze swept over them. “Both of you are S-rank or above. Your hearing and vision are excellent.”
“When you whisper and gossip, the volume is so loud it’s like you’re talking face-to-face.”
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu exchanged one look and immediately began flattering like their lives depended on it.
“Commander-in-Chief,” Jiang Tea Tea said smoothly, “you’re the empire’s top authority. Your chest is as broad as the sea and your tolerance is as deep as a black hole. We weren’t gossiping about you. You wouldn’t be petty enough to hold it against us, right?”
“Exactly,” Sui Xuan Chu added quickly. “And you said it yourself—S-rank hearing is basically face-to-face. We weren’t gossiping, we were just… discussing. Lightly. You understand, right? You were young once too.”
Chong Ming’s golden eyes chilled. He looked straight at Sui Xuan Chu. “What did you say? I didn’t hear clearly. Say it again.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s spine practically folded in half. “I said nothing. You misheard.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him in disgust.
Coward.
Chong Ming let him off. He shifted his focus back to both of them.
“You heard my conversation with Agris,” he said. “What’s your opinion?”
Jiang Tea Tea leaned back in her chair, peeled another nutrient fruit, and started chewing with an expression that said this had nothing to do with her.
Sui Xuan Chu wanted to copy her—he really did—but Chong Ming’s gaze pinned him like a needle. So he answered.
“I think if he wants to compare cadets,” Sui Xuan Chu said, slapping a hand on the table, “let him come. We’ll take him head-on.”
“Killing insect clan is everyone’s responsibility. I believe out of thirty academies and more than 1.8 million cadets, not one—”
“Wait,” Jiang Tea Tea said, raising her hand. “I retreat.”
Sui Xuan Chu stared at her like she’d betrayed the flag. “Roommate! As a citizen of the Zhen Lin Empire, you should know the empire once suffered insect clan invasion. They hunted and ate our citizens—”
“Wait again,” Jiang Tea Tea cut him off. She looked him in the eye with genuine disbelief. “Roommate… you’re usually smart. Why are you suddenly stupid at a critical moment?”
“You know the insect clan invaded the empire and slaughtered citizens by the billions,” she said. “So why are you playing cadet-versus-cadet with them?”
“Agris is training on the edge of the Eighth Star System, right?”
“And the Eighth Star System is the Zhen Lin Empire’s territory, right?”
“They delivered themselves to your doorstep like targets, and you’re talking about politeness?” Jiang Tea Tea spread her hands. “Bring out the warships. Bring out Space Bureau troops. Bomb them. Quickly. Cleanly. No nonsense.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes went round. He slapped his thigh hard. “Right! Why are we wasting words? Just blow them up!”
He turned to Chong Ming. “Commander-in-Chief—what do you think?”
Chong Ming’s gaze stayed on Jiang Tea Tea. “If there are no warships and no Space Bureau troops, then what?”
Jiang Tea Tea stared back as if the question offended her. “I don’t recall killing all thirty Legion Commanders.”
“I also don’t recall blowing up their ships.”
“I eat meat and seafood,” she said pointedly. “I haven’t eaten your cannons.”
Sui Xuan Chu looked at her like she was holy scripture. “Roommate… you’re incredible.”
Chong Ming’s mouth curved faintly. “You’re right. We’ll do it your way.”
Then he added, “I’ll take you to see.”
Jiang Tea Tea narrowed her eyes. “I’m eating. I’m not going.”
“You can eat,” Chong Ming said. “It won’t delay you. Sui Xuan Chu, Classmate—go get her meat and seafood.”
Sui Xuan Chu stood instantly. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief!”
Freshly cooked food arrived soon after: roasted pig trotters, grilled meat, braised pork, smoked meat, stewed fish chunks, and giant lobsters—six meat dishes, two basins each.
Chong Ming sat across from Jiang Tea Tea, opened his lightbrain, and began issuing orders like he was reading a grocery list.
Jiang Tea Tea ignored everything except the meat.
Before she even finished half, the cafeteria emptied out. People vanished fast enough to suggest strong survival instincts.
Soon, besides the cleaning robots, only three people remained in the entire huge cafeteria: Jiang Tea Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, and Chong Ming.
Sui Xuan Chu stared out the glass window and elbowed Jiang Tea Tea. “Roommate… we left the Tropical Primeval Planet. We’re in outer space.”
Jiang Tea Tea had just torn a chunk of lobster meat free. She paused mid-bite and looked out.
Stars spilled past the window. Asteroids drifted. Strange celestial bodies slid by like ghosts.
She swallowed and turned to Chong Ming. “Commander-in-Chief… my roommate and I are just cadets who don’t know anything. You’re fighting Agris. Bringing us along doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Chong Ming lifted his eyes to her, calm as ever. “Who says it’s inappropriate? Have Agris come tell me.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth tightened.
He was arguing again.
And who in the empire could actually tell him no?
The Crown Prince?
If the Crown Prince showed up, he’d probably still have to call Chong Ming “Uncle.”
Jiang Tea Tea sighed and went back to her meat. “Fine. I’ll eat.”
Chong Ming glanced at the time. “You have fifteen minutes to finish. Then I’m taking you to the command room.”
Jiang Tea Tea froze. “Fifteen minutes? I can’t finish all this. Can I bring it with me?”
“Yes,” Chong Ming said. Then, smoothly: “If you accept my proposal and take my position within ten years, you can eat anywhere you want.”
Jiang Tea Tea flashed him a bright, toothy grin.
Sure.
She was hungry, but she wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t going to jump into a giant pit just for food.
She ate as fast as she could. When time ran out, half the food remained, so she swept everything into her storage button, wiped her mouth, rinsed with water, and followed Chong Ming with Sui Xuan Chu beside her.
Chong Ming walked ahead in black combat uniform and boots, broad-shouldered and long-legged. His golden hair flowed to his waist, moving like it had a life of its own.
It was annoyingly beautiful.
It also looked annoyingly hard to digest.
Hair was always hard to break down, no matter what species. Jiang Tea Tea decided that when she killed him and buried him beneath her roots someday, she would shave him bald first.
Better digestion.
Sui Xuan Chu tugged Jiang Tea Tea’s sleeve, whispering urgently. “Roommate… stop staring at him like that. It’s scary.”
Jiang Tea Tea scoffed. “Don’t be so timid. I’m just looking. He won’t lose a chunk of meat just because I look at him.”
Sui Xuan Chu let out a dry laugh. “I’m not afraid he’ll lose meat.”
“I’m afraid you’ll fall in love with him.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Me? In love with him?”
Who fell in love with food?
Was he joking?
Sui Xuan Chu nodded seriously. “You’re staring so hard your eyeballs are basically glued to him. Even if you aren’t in love now, you will be.”
“I’m telling you—don’t.”
He lowered his voice like he was about to reveal state secrets. “According to gossip, a noble white lion family female once confessed to him at a banquet in the Imperial Palace. She was the kind of beauty—beast form or human form—that makes men fall at first sight.”
“And do you know what he said?” Sui Xuan Chu shivered. “He said her white fur was so ugly it hurt his eyes.”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned. “As Commander-in-Chief, he’d say something that blunt at an event that important?”
Sui Xuan Chu coughed. “Gossip. Rumor. Probably exaggerated.”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded slowly. “Then what?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes darted. His voice dropped even further.
“Then… the insect queen also has a crush on him.”
Jiang Tea Tea stopped so suddenly Sui Xuan Chu almost walked into her.
Her voice shot up. “You’re saying the insect queen has a crush on him?”
Then her eyes narrowed, mind racing.
“So the insect race eldest prince came to fight him…”
She pointed into the distance like she’d cracked a conspiracy. “Is he angry because his mom has a crush on him—or is he trying to catch Chong Ming and drag him home as a cheap dad?”