Chapter 60
Chapter 60: Never Seen Anyone Set the Cub’s Mom Up This Badly; the Cub’s Dad Was Truly Ruthless
Sui Xuan Chu flinched at how loud Jiang Tea Tea was. He grabbed her arm and stole a glance at the figure a few steps ahead. “Roommate, are you seriously impressed by his priorities right now? Keep your voice down. I’m not ready to die.”
Jiang Tea Tea let out a dramatic sigh. “Aiya. Why whisper? He’s only a few steps away. Even if we whisper, he’ll still hear us. What are you afraid of? He’s a national leader—broad-minded. He won’t bother arguing with us.”
She leaned in, eyes bright with gossip. “Come on. Let’s talk properly. How did the Insect Queen end up secretly loving him? And if she loved him, why did she still kill over a hundred million people in the empire?”
In the fake heiress’s memories, the Insect Clan’s slaughter of over a hundred million citizens had happened more than a hundred years ago.
Dig up the reason for something that old? The fake heiress didn’t know. And she, a real tea demon, knew even less.
Sui Xuan Chu lowered his voice. “The rumors say it went like this…”
A calm voice cut in, cool as ice. “Louder. I want to hear it too. Besides the White Lion woman confessing to me and the Insect Queen secretly pining for me, what other women like me?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s heart nearly stopped. He looked up.
Chong Ming had been walking steadily the whole time—until he wasn’t. He stood not far ahead, expression unreadable, eyes cold as he watched them.
Sui Xuan Chu snapped upright like he’d been shocked. “Reporting, Commander-in-Chief! I wasn’t talking about you. Please don’t misunderstand!”
A glint of frost flashed in Chong Ming’s eyes. “Is that so?”
Sui Xuan Chu clenched his teeth. When he got cornered, he had the stubbornness of a dead duck. “Yes, Commander-in-Chief. I wasn’t talking about you. I meant my uncle.”
“My uncle is like you—single, handsome, imposing. The women who like him line up from the empire all the way to the Insect Clan.”
Chong Ming gave him a long, thoughtful look. “Oh. Next time, introduce your uncle to me. I’ll have him discipline you at home.”
Sui Xuan Chu answered at full volume like his life depended on it. “He’s busy. Extremely busy.”
“That’s fine,” Chong Ming said evenly. “If your uncle is busy, I have time. After we deal with the Insect Race Eldest Prince, I can train you myself.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s eyes went wide. “N-no, no—”
Chong Ming’s tone lifted slightly. “No? No what?”
Sui Xuan Chu swallowed hard and forced the words out. “N-not bad. I look forward to it. I’m… looking forward to you training me.”
Chong Ming nodded once. “Good. Classmate Jiang Tea Tea, come here. Walk with me.”
“Okay,” Jiang Tea Tea said, and strode up beside him. She matched his pace without shrinking, like she refused to be outdone.
Sui Xuan Chu trailed behind them like a miserable stray, praying silently: Roommate, do not let yourself be fooled. Do not fall for the man whose eyes only hold war, laws, and politics.
Fall for him and you’d be jumping into a bottomless pit. There would never be an ending, because his life didn’t even have room for the word “mate.”
Jiang Tea Tea followed Chong Ming into the enormous command room for the second time. There were even more staff than before—three to four hundred, easily.
Every person was glued to their post, faces stern, hands busy. The air was tight with urgency, like the whole room was a weapon waiting to fire.
Chong Ming sat at the head of the command table. Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu were placed on either side of him, left and right.
With that many people, it didn’t feel like a cadet exercise. It felt like a campaign to erase a nation and occupy a star system.
Jiang Tea Tea’s eyes flicked to the holographic screen only once before they got stuck on the bucket beside Chong Ming’s hand.
If she wasn’t mistaken, that was the same bucket—the one he’d used to shove her in, haul her out, and ruin her meal. It held nothing but mud, yet it sat right there by his hand, as if it hadn’t moved a centimeter since.
What was wrong with him?
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Chong Ming rapped his knuckles on the table. “Classmate Jiang Tea Tea. Look at the holographic projection. Analyze where we should strike. How do we break their defenses with the least loss and reach their main battleship?”
Jiang Tea Tea finally tore her gaze away from the bucket and stared at the huge holographic display. “I don’t know. I never studied command. I never studied strategy. I just know one thing—catch them off guard and charge.”
Honestly, why did anyone need plans and tactics? Wasn’t he just making things difficult for a tree?
Chong Ming’s gaze shifted to Sui Xuan Chu. “You analyze.”
Sui Xuan Chu froze.
His major was the Combat Department. His minor was the Command Department.
He’d been a first-year for barely half a year. What tactics was he supposed to know? Did Chong Ming think everyone was like him—cracking his shell on the battlefield, bleeding the moment he hatched, killing insects the moment he hatched?
Ten years on the front lines. At fifteen, turning the tide in famous M31 Star System battles. At eighteen, leading a battalion straight into an Insect Clan division.
Sui Xuan Chu sat up rigidly, eyes on the screen. “My analysis is… we strike while they’re unprepared. Concentrate firepower on their main battleship. Hit them hard and fast so they can’t react.”
Chong Ming didn’t raise his voice, but the pressure in it sharpened. “We have excellent information specialists. The Insect Clan has excellent information specialists. We monitor their movements in real time, and by the same logic, they monitor ours.”
“Right now both sides have full information coverage. Both sides are in wartime posture. If we do what you said—focus fire on their main battleship—do you think the enemy will sit there waiting for you to press your button? Do you think they won’t defend, won’t counter, and their ship will simply hover there like a target dummy?”
He tapped the table again. “My position is simple: the least artillery, the least casualties, and we take their main battleship.”
“Your plan requires Team One, Team Two, Team Three, Team Four. My main battleship has to cover them. Back and forth, the losses won’t just be ships and ammunition. We’ll lose good soldiers.”
“If that’s the case, I might as well open with full-coverage firepower and have my men charge in with their lives.”
Cold sweat beaded on Sui Xuan Chu’s forehead. He truly had no gift for strategy. His command ability was painfully weak.
Jiang Tea Tea yawned. Lately she felt wrong all over—either hungry too fast or sleepy too early. As soon as she ate, she wanted to sleep.
Later she needed to find somewhere private and check herself. Losing eighty percent of her magic power had to have side effects.
To keep herself awake, she pulled out a nutrient fruit and took a crunchy bite. She hadn’t even chewed when a sharp gaze pinned her in place.
She remembered belatedly where she was: the command room of that golden Old Loach. A place so serious it could choke a person.
Under that gaze, she chewed, swallowed, and turned to the owner of the stare. “Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming. You said you want to take their main battleship with the least firepower and the least casualties, right? I thought of a better idea while I was eating.”
The sharpness in Chong Ming’s golden eyes didn’t soften. It honed. His gaze flicked to the fruit in her hand. “Talk.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s stomach sank.
Chong Ming’s voice turned faintly dangerous. “If I’m not satisfied, I’ll remove your storage button. And I’ll remove Classmate Sui Xuan Chu’s storage button too.”
So he knew.
He knew both their storage buttons were full of food, and he was threatening her with it.
Jiang Tea Tea forced an eight-tooth smile so fake it could crack glass. Fine. If you couldn’t beat him, you joined him.
She finished the fruit in a few bites, tossed the pit onto the table, and stood up, pointing at the holographic display. “What I’m seeing—this is the enemy’s full deployment?”
Chong Ming answered, “About thirty percent. Their key firepower is concentrated in the main battleship.”
Jiang Tea Tea turned her head. “Our firepower?”
“Comparable,” Chong Ming said.
She nodded. “Then what’s the firepower like in the closest star system we use to defend against the Insect Clan?”
A hint of a smile tugged at Chong Ming’s mouth. “Heavy firepower. If the Insect Clan attacks our star systems, we respond with unconditional full coverage. Ten portals connect to the armory. Supplies can be transported twenty-four hours a day with no restrictions.”
Jiang Tea Tea asked, “And their defenses?”
“Roughly the same,” Chong Ming said.
Jiang Tea Tea looked back at the display. “Then here’s the thing. The Insect Clan came all the way to our Eighth Star System. That’s a provocation. They’re on guard in case we open fire—so we don’t.”
“We do a feint. We tell the other star-domain agencies and stations that defend against the Insect Clan to launch attacks elsewhere.”
“And you—our overall commander—before our stations attack, you go openly to meet the Insect Race Eldest Prince. Have tea. Eat. Chat. Let him watch footage of our agencies and stations hammering the Insect Clan. Let him lose his composure first. Let him get angry enough to strike at you.”
“If it becomes a one-on-one fight, I don’t believe their Eldest Prince can beat you. Then you capture the leader first.”
“Take the Insect Race Eldest Prince alive, and you’ve taken their commander. Without a commander, we’re already winning. If you still think it’s risky, then after that, follow Sui Xuan Chu’s idea—launch a surprise strike and destroy their main force.”
Chong Ming’s eyes narrowed, cold thought sliding into place. “If we use your feint, our target isn’t the Insect Race Eldest Prince. It’s the Insect Clan’s star systems.”
Jiang Tea Tea smiled as sweetly as a child. “If you want to think of it that way, I won’t stop you. Once the guns fire, if we don’t bring something back, it’s a waste.”
“Besides, their Eldest Prince came right to your doorstep. His subordinates even slipped into your home and nearly took Sui Xuan Chu away.”
“If you don’t show him some real color, he’ll think you can’t swing a blade, can’t lift a gun, and can’t kill him.”
Chong Ming nodded. “You’re right, Classmate Jiang Tea Tea. Then you go first. Have tea and chat with the Insect Race Eldest Prince. Show him the footage of our other units attacking the Insect Clan.”
“And when he loses control, you take him down. Catch him off guard.”