Chapter 63
Chapter 63: I’m Screwed—There’s a Gun to My Forehead, I’m About to Get My Head Blown Off
Chong Ming’s voice dropped. “Adjutant AI. What did you just say?”
Adjutant AI froze for half a breath, then hurried to repeat himself. “Reporting to Commander-in-Chief. This subordinate said: the young highness and Classmate Jiang Tea Tea are close in age, close in interests, and get along well. Commander-in-Chief could guide them into being together.”
“When the young highness ascends the throne at thirty, Classmate Jiang Tea Tea will have been trained as your successor. More than a decade together, more than a decade of feelings—his enthronement ceremony, her empress investiture, your inauguration… they could be held together.”
“Classmate Jiang Tea Tea would be both Empress and commander-in-chief. She would surely support the young highness with even greater devotion and loyalty to the empire!”
Chong Ming listened, brow tightening. “There’s no spark between them. You can’t force it.”
Adjutant AI hesitated. “Commander-in-Chief… feelings can be cultivated. Men and women who fall in love over time are everywhere.”
Chong Ming’s mind flickered to earlier, when Jiang Tea Tea had leaned in close—eyes blazing, breath hot. In that brief moment, beyond the faint scent, she’d carried a wisp of Dragon Clan aura that didn’t belong to her.
Had she been close to the young highness already? Had she picked up his scent?
“Commander-in-Chief—” Adjutant AI tried again.
Chong Ming raised a hand, cutting him off. “This can wait. Agris has opened the gap. They’re receiving our people.”
Both sides’ main battleships were fully armed. Each was within the other’s surveillance range. If either side fired first, the other could defend and counterattack instantly—mutual destruction, no winners.
On the small shuttle flying toward Agris’s main battleship, Sui Xuan Chu fidgeted like he couldn’t find a place to put his hands. “Sister Tea… are you really not scared?”
Jiang Tea Tea slouched back and answered lazily, “Scared of what? Didn’t you say Old Loach Chong Ming wouldn’t let anything happen to us? If you believe him, I’ll believe him.”
She’d felt her magic power rise right after drinking dragon blood. She’d thought she’d recover another ten to thirty percent at least. But in the blink of an eye, that swelling energy vanished—gone like it had been stolen.
People said demons and ghosts were practically family. Fine. Let her see which ghost dared mess with her. After this competition ended, she’d find somewhere hidden, return to her true body, send her soul out, and investigate properly.
Sui Xuan Chu latched onto the nickname. “Old Loach? Roommate, you’re calling Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming Old Loach?”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at him like he was slow. “Doesn’t he look like a slippery golden Old Loach? Eight hundred schemes, evil bubbling out of him.”
Sui Xuan Chu thought about it, then immediately joined her. “You’re right. Eight hundred schemes. Just as bad as my uncle.”
Jiang Tea Tea perked up. “Your uncle is bad too?”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded hard. “Bad. He’s awful. He fights like a madman. He had high expectations for me and wanted me to be like him. When I was still an egg, he stuffed me in his pocket and took me everywhere.”
“He hatched me. When I still couldn’t turn human, he still dragged me along to fight. And once he starts fighting, he forgets time exists. No eating, no drinking—while I get hungry eight times a day.”
“He never remembered to feed me the special milk little dragon hatchlings are supposed to drink. When he finally did remember, he gave me the nutrient supplements adults use. I almost died. I almost got fed straight to my parents in the afterlife. Tell me—is that uncle bad or not?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded approvingly. “Not a good person. He’s on par with that golden Old Loach.”
Then she frowned. “Wait. You’re from the red-black Dragon Clan. Old Loach is Gold Dragon Clan. Your uncle isn’t one of his subordinates, is he? When you say ‘fighting,’ you mean war, right?”
Sui Xuan Chu coughed twice, neither denying nor admitting. “Keep it down. You and I know, that’s enough.”
Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue. “So if Old Loach wants, he can drag your uncle out?”
“Pretty much,” Sui Xuan Chu admitted.
Jiang Tea Tea sighed like she’d just heard a tragedy. “Then you’d better be careful. If he drags your uncle out, your uncle will beat you eighteen times a day.”
Sui Xuan Chu winced. “Probably not. I’m almost an adult.”
Jiang Tea Tea slapped her thigh. “You never really know people!”
Sui Xuan Chu thought about it and reluctantly agreed. “Yeah… fair.”
Up front, Da Ma Zi and the pilot exchanged silent looks. Youth was truly something—arrogant, fearless, bright, and talking trash without even bothering to lower their voices.
If the Commander-in-Chief wanted, every word, every expression, would be delivered to him perfectly.
Agris’s main battleship opened docking. A tube extended, about ten meters long, connecting to their shuttle—a special glass walkway, bright as daytime.
Da Ma Zi handed Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu two transparent oxygen patches each. “One behind the ear as backup. One under the nose.”
After they applied them, he gave each of them a transparent earplug. “Put these in.”
They complied. The shuttle door opened.
Jiang Tea Tea and Sui Xuan Chu stepped out together and onto the Insect Clan’s docking gangway.
The glass beneath their feet revealed a dizzying abyss. Asteroids and distant planets glimmered in the void, close enough to make the stomach twist.
Agris hadn’t expected Chong Ming to send a small human girl with no visible ability fluctuations at all—someone he could strangle with one hand—and a young red-black Dragon Clan male.
They wore standard combat suits, empty-handed, bare-fisted. They were bright and vivid—handsome and pretty like sunrise and flowers, fearless in a way that bordered on stupidity.
Agris assessed them. They assessed him back. The only difference was that he kept his judgment silent.
After a brief look, Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head and asked Sui Xuan Chu, just loud enough, “Roommate. What kind of bug is he? Why does he have two antenna poles sticking out of his forehead?”
Sui Xuan Chu turned his head and answered with exhausted patience. “Roommate, I’ve realized it’s not that you lack common sense about the empire. You lack common sense about the entire star system.”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “You only realized that now?”
Sui Xuan Chu sighed. “Fine. Yes. And I’m now completely sure you’re not a spy. Spies don’t lack star-system common sense.”
Jiang Tea Tea waved him off. “Stop talking. Answer me. What are those antenna poles?”
Sui Xuan Chu cleared his throat. “They’re not antenna poles. They’re antennae. The Insect Race Eldest Prince’s insect form is a flying centipede. His bloodline is mixed—one-sixteenth Flying Bull. That’s why he has those antennae—”
Agris cut him off, voice sharp. “Little boy. Little girl. Your commander-in-chief sent you here to deliver a gift, not to stand here chatting.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyes lazily. In human form, he was handsome. Unfortunately, he was still a giant bug. And as a tree, she hated bugs more than anything.
Bugs in the soil chewed her roots. Bugs in the air landed on her branches and gnawed her leaves.
So yes. If it was a bug, she hated it. And she didn’t hide it.
She replied lightly, “Why are you in such a hurry? Good things take time. Wait.”
Agris’s eyes narrowed. “Bold little girl. Chong Ming trained you personally, didn’t he? You’re like him—arrogant.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s face stiffened.
What kind of gaze was that? He called her like Chong Ming… then what did that make him?
Jiang Tea Tea clicked her tongue. “Sounds like you’ve taken plenty of losses at his hands. You see someone arrogant and immediately think of him.”
Agris looked genuinely surprised. “Even the way you speak is the same. Little girl… don’t tell me he’s training you as his successor?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted a brow. “Are you scared?”
Agris smiled, confident. “Chong Ming is my old friend. If he found someone to train, I’m happy for him. Why would I be afraid?”
Jiang Tea Tea nodded. “Right. You’re the Insect Clan’s Eldest Prince, the future heir, so you wouldn’t be afraid—”
Sui Xuan Chu tugged her sleeve and whispered, “The Insect Clan has female rulers. No males become king.”
Jiang Tea Tea blinked. “Then he has no right to inherit the throne. Why does he jump around like this every day?”
Sui Xuan Chu gave her a thumbs-up. “Excellent question. Sharp angle. Ask him.”
Fine. She would ask.
Jiang Tea Tea drew breath—
And Chong Ming’s voice came through the invisibility earpiece.
Her question pivoted instantly. She stepped forward like an arrow. “Your Highness Agris. The gift our Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming prepared for you is ready. Shall I open it and let you see?”
Sui Xuan Chu’s posture snapped into alert. He scanned the surrounding guards, calculating odds.
Agris noticed his tension and didn’t care. On his own main battleship, he didn’t take either of them seriously.
“Show me,” Agris said. “Open it.”
Jiang Tea Tea took one more step, close enough to feel the space between them shrink, and cast her lightbrain projection.
The screen displayed a sky full of stars.
Then came the explosions.
One blast after another—louder, closer—yet the image remained, stubbornly, the silent starfield.
Agris frowned. “My old friend’s gift is letting me listen to explosions?”
Jiang Tea Tea edged forward half a step, voice light. “Your Highness. Bugs should learn patience. The pretty part comes later.”
Agris’s hand flicked. A gun appeared, the muzzle snapping up to her forehead. “Little girl. You’ve been inching closer step by step. Trying to capture me alive—isn’t that a bit too eager?”