Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The Cub’s Dad Swore to Train the Cub’s Mom as His Successor

Jiang Tea Tea raised both hands quickly, full of righteous indignation. “Your Highness Agris, don’t misunderstand. I’m only stepping closer so you can see Commander-in-Chief Chong Ming’s gift more clearly.”

“You pointing a gun at me like this is beneath your dignity. I’m terrified. I’m panicking.”

The muzzle didn’t move a millimeter. Agris’s gaze sharpened. “You say you’re terrified. I don’t see it.”

Jiang Tea Tea grinned, flashing eight white teeth. “If you don’t see it, that’s because you’re blind. What does that have to do with me?”

Agris’s eyes narrowed. “Little girl, you’re truly arrogant—”

The projection changed abruptly.

Agris’s peripheral vision caught movement. His pupils constricted, compound eyes blooming into place. His face twisted with rage. “Chong Ming, you bastard! You dared to sneak-attack my Insect Thirty-Eighth System Defensive Line?!”

Chong Ming’s voice came through Jiang Tea Tea’s projection, infuriatingly calm. “Your Highness Agris. I didn’t only hit your Insect Clan’s Thirty-Eighth System Defensive Line. I also hit your Insect Clan’s Great Light-Pillar Star Defensive Line and the Cotton System Defensive Line.”

“It worked nicely. Your bugs were half a beat too slow. By the time they fired back, the central hub of your main space station was already gone.”

“The artillery you’re hearing is your remote ships, your space station hub, and the Great Light-Pillar Star Defensive Line exploding.”

“And those pieces flying through space? That’s your bugs’ bodies.”

A pause, then the gentle knife twist: “Isn’t it prettier than a sky full of stars?”

Agris stepped forward, pressing the gun harder until Jiang Tea Tea’s head tilted. “Nice feint. Then I won’t hold back with the little boy and little girl you sent over.”

Chong Ming appeared on the projection, standing tall, gaze steady. “You want to hold back? Go on. Pull the trigger. Try it.”

Agris shoved the gun against Jiang Tea Tea’s forehead. “You think I don’t dare?”

Chong Ming laughed softly. “Do you really think they came empty-handed? With a gun to their head, you think they’d still smile like a flower for no reason?”

Agris’s attention stayed on Chong Ming’s image. He didn’t notice Jiang Tea Tea’s mouth was still curved, calm as ever. He didn’t notice the young male nearby had his own weapon leveled.

Guards were already converging on Sui Xuan Chu. He looked tense, but he didn’t lose his composure.

Jiang Tea Tea sighed. “I hate it most when bugs covet my head. Agris—move your gun.”

Agris sneered, starting to speak—

His abdomen exploded with pain.

Jiang Tea Tea’s right hand held a twig-like branch, thinner than a pinky. It had pierced straight through Agris’s stomach.

Agris’s face twisted. He fired.

Bang.

Pain flared in Jiang Tea Tea’s left hand. The bullet punched through it—blood splattering, the gunshot echoing in the cavernous room.

On the projection, Chong Ming’s golden eyes flashed. The feed cut out abruptly.

“Roommate!” Sui Xuan Chu shouted, straining against the guards. “Are you okay?!”

Jiang Tea Tea held the gun with her bleeding left hand, blood dripping down her fingers. Her right hand kept the branch buried in Agris’s abdomen.

She glanced back over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m fine. Roommate—come here.”

Sui Xuan Chu tried to move.

The guards closed in, guns lifting, barring him from crossing the distance.

Jiang Tea Tea’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. She tugged the branch just enough to make Agris’s face whiten. “Your Highness. Tell your people to step back.”

Agris tried to fire again. He couldn’t. Jiang Tea Tea’s bleeding hand clamped on the muzzle—steady, immovable. With the branch lodged through his abdomen, pain tore through him every time she shifted. His abilities stuttered and died in his throat.

No power. No strength. Just agony.

Jiang Tea Tea’s fingers tightened. “Not willing?”

Agris refused to speak.

Jiang Tea Tea twisted the gun downward. It slipped from his grip.

With a quick, brutal motion, she swung the gun into her own hand, aimed at Agris’s thigh, and fired.

Bang.

Agris’s leg buckled. He dropped to one knee, teeth grinding.

Jiang Tea Tea yanked the branch out of his abdomen and pressed the gun to his head. Her gaze swept the guards. “If you don’t want your highness to die, back off. Throw your weapons on the floor.”

The guards exchanged looks—then retreated, hurriedly tossing their guns aside.

Sui Xuan Chu rushed to Jiang Tea Tea’s side, eyes wide with panic. “Roommate—your hand—”

“It’s fine,” Jiang Tea Tea said. “Bind his hands.”

Sui Xuan Chu didn’t question her. He pulled zip ties from his storage button, dragged Agris’s arms behind his back, and secured them tight.

Jiang Tea Tea kept the gun to Agris’s head and slapped his cheek—light, humiliating. “Little bug. I told you—I hate it most when bugs set their sights on my head. Remember now?”

Agris’s compound eyes burned red as he stared at her like prey. “Little girl. So arrogant. So good at pretending. I mistook you for a useless waste with no abilities and fell into your trap.”

Jiang Tea Tea smiled brightly. “Roommate, I just realized something. People who rarely fail never admit they’re bad.”

Sui Xuan Chu nodded hard. “Exactly. They won’t admit they’re bad, they won’t train more, and they blame everything on ‘sneak attacks.’”

Agris hissed, “Wasn’t it a sneak attack?”

Jiang Tea Tea answered lightly, “In war, that isn’t called a sneak attack. At most it’s called war is deception.”

Agris’s voice turned venomous. “Fine. I’ll remember you, little boy. Little girl.”

Bang.

Jiang Tea Tea fired into Agris’s other good leg.

His one-knee kneel became two knees on the floor.

Jiang Tea Tea tilted her head and smiled as if it were friendly. “Your Highness Agris. Will you remember better now?”

Agris’s face went pale. His human form wavered like it might collapse. “You’re right, little girl. I will remember you for the rest of my life—until the day I swallow you whole.”

Her recklessness, her arrogance—she was even worse than Chong Ming. No wonder Chong Ming had sent her. He’d been using Agris as a whetstone, letting her sharpen her courage and her hand.

Back on Chong Ming’s ship, Adjutant AI stared at the hijacked live feed Cai Xi Chao had pulled from Agris’s main battleship. “Commander-in-Chief… Classmate Jiang Tea Tea is incredible.”

Chong Ming’s golden eyes locked onto Jiang Tea Tea’s bleeding hand on screen. “She is.”

His voice remained flat, but something sharp and satisfied moved beneath it. “More decisive. More ruthless. More arrogant. More vicious than I expected.”

“She’s a rare seedling. The best successor candidate for commander-in-chief I’ve seen in decades.”

Adjutant AI swallowed. “Commander-in-Chief. She has Agris. Should we go pick her up?”