Chapter 69
Chapter 69: The Little Brat’s Dad Gets Suspicious and Comes Knocking to Ask
In his sleep, Chong Ming’s light-brain wrist terminal gave a special-alert buzz. He opened his eyes at once. They were clear, as if he had not been sleeping at all. He lifted his hand with the light-brain wrist terminal and opened the message.
The first thing he saw was a photo of bright green leaves. His pupils shrank a little. He sat up and zoomed in on the picture.
After a moment, he skimmed over the content of the message and replied to Sui Xuan Chu: “Bring the Green Tea Girl leaves and come out.”
Sui Xuan Chu got the reply, quickly packed up, put the Green Tea Girl leaves back into the tin, left the lodging, found a place where he was sure no one was around, and sent a signal to the warship his uncle was on.
In less than five minutes, Sui Xuan Chu arrived at the warship’s healing department, gave the tin of Green Tea Girl leaves to Chong Ming, and went into a medical scanner for a full checkup.
The tin holding the Green Tea Girl leaves was very small, only about the size of a palm. The leaves inside were fresh and bright green, with a clear scent. It was exactly the same fragrance as the branch he had picked up at the First Hotel.
Chong Ming took out a leaf and slowly chewed it. The pure natural plant-type spiritual power in the leaf woke him up, sharpened his mind, and calmed the restlessness of his supernatural abilities.
After he finished chewing that fresh leaf, he took out the branch he had picked up at the First Hotel. The branch and the leaves on it had already turned yellow, but the two leaves on it had not fallen off. He plucked one, put it in his mouth, and with the first bite he was sure the two leaves were exactly the same type.
“Li Ao.” Chong Ming called after he swallowed.
Li Ao, the institute director of the Zhenlin Empire’s Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, came out wearing a white coat: “Yes, Commander in Chief!”
Chong Ming took a leaf from the tea tin and plucked the other yellow leaf from the branch, and handed them both to him: “Test these two leaves.”
Li Ao put on gloves and took a sterile tray out of his space knob storage device. He took the two leaves and sniffed lightly, blurting out: “Such a strong natural plant-type spiritual power.”
As the institute director of the Zhenlin Empire’s Supernatural Abilities Research Institute, Li Ao’s nose and senses were far better than normal. He could smell and sense fluctuations in supernatural abilities that ordinary people could not.
Chong Ming reminded him: “Focus on whether these two leaves came from the same tree.”
“Yes, Commander in Chief.” Li Ao agreed and left with the tray holding the two leaves.
Moments later, Minister Lu of the healing department came jogging over, smiling as he held Sui Xuan Chu’s examination report: “Commander in Chief, congratulations. The little Your Highness’s supernatural abilities level has broken through. His lightning element affinity is now S-level 3.”
Chong Ming took the report and skimmed it quickly: “Besides the breakthrough in his supernatural abilities, does he have any discomfort?”
Minister Lu replied respectfully: “Reporting to Commander in Chief, his body shows no discomfort. He is just very energized. He will not feel tired for at least fifteen to twenty-five hours.”
Chong Ming’s gaze sharpened: “Did you check what is keeping him so energized and able to stay awake that long?”
Minister Lu answered: “We did. There are several unknown plant trace elements in his body. He just took them in not long ago, but they are not harmful. With time, they will be digested.”
“I suspect these unknown trace elements stimulated his central nervous monitoring system, increasing his alertness, strengthening his mental state, and letting him stay energized for a long time without feeling tired.”
Chong Ming nodded: “Go work with Minister Li and study those trace elements carefully. Find out exactly what they are.”
Minister Lu answered respectfully: “Yes, Commander in Chief.”
Chong Ming took the examination report and went into the scan room.
Sui Xuan Chu was inside, his eyes shining, full of energy. When he saw Chong Ming come in, his face lit up. He called out like a child: “Imperial Uncle, my lightning element affinity supernatural abilities broke through to S-level 3!”
Chong Ming walked up to him: “Congratulations. How do you feel?”
Sui Xuan Chu moved his body a bit: “I feel great. With the things you taught me about government affairs, I can finish everything in three hours.”
The Green Tea Girl his roommate gave him was really good stuff.
Sleepy? Impossible.
If the conditions allowed, he even felt excited enough to challenge his uncle to a fight.
Chong Ming handed the tin of Green Tea Girl leaves back to him: “When Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea gave you this, did she say anything?”
Sui Xuan Chu took the tin: “No. She woke up in the middle of the night and saw me up, and I complained to her about how tired I was. She gave this to me.”
“She said I could brew it in water or chew it straight, that it would wake me up and stop me from feeling sleepy. I took one sip and woke up right away. So I asked where she got it. She said she picked it in the Primeval Forest.”
“Imperial Uncle, this stuff is safe, right? Other than having natural plant-type spiritual power, it doesn’t contain any contraband items, does it?”
It was just a tin of tea leaves. If it counted as contraband items, how could he still stick his neck out to rescue his roommate?
The corner of Chong Ming’s lips lifted slightly: “Don’t worry. There are no contraband items. Go to my room and handle the government affairs, then you can head back down.”
Sui Xuan Chu made an acknowledging sound but did not leave. He held out the tin in his hand: “Imperial Uncle, I drank one cup of Green Tea Girl tea and chewed more than ten leaves. My supernatural abilities level broke through. There are still some left. Do you want them?”
His uncle might be fierce, violent, always kicking and beating and scolding him, but he still wanted to share good things with him.
Chong Ming pushed the tin back: “No need. What your teammate gave you is yours. Keep it. Go handle the government affairs.”
“Alright, I’ll go work then.” Sui Xuan Chu saw that his uncle really didn’t want it, so he put the tin back into his space knob storage device. He took two steps, then hurried back: “Imperial Uncle, I have one small request.”
Chong Ming lowered his eyes to look at him: “What request?”
Sui Xuan Chu lifted his chin to look up: “Uncle, can you ask the head chef in the ship’s school cafeteria to cook dozens more basins of meat for me?”
Chong Ming frowned: “You’re going to eat them?”
Sui Xuan Chu quickly waved his hands: “They’re not for me. They’re for my roommate. I think my roommate couldn’t sleep because she was hungry. She can’t even taste any astringency in the Nutrient Fruit that’s only sixty percent ripe.”
“And when you think about it, she’s actually pretty pitiful. Before she reached adulthood, the Jiang Family cut off her living expenses and made her support herself. She doesn’t like Nutrient Injections or Nutrient Solution, so she probably eats one meal and skips another. It’s no surprise her body might have some problems. She eats a lot but doesn’t gain weight and gets hungry fast.”
Chong Ming looked at him and encouraged him: “Finish the government affairs I gave you in two hours and you’ll get dozens of basins of delicious stewed meat.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s voice shot up: “It’s a deal! You tell the head chef to start cooking. I’ll definitely finish everything within two hours!”
Chong Ming spread his big hand and made a “please” gesture.
Sui Xuan Chu ran off like there was a dog chasing him from behind, so fast you’d think if he was a step slower, he wouldn’t be able to finish in time and his good roommate Jiang Tea Tea would not get any meat to eat.
Jiang Tea Tea flew the snowfield flying device to the Deep Sea entrance, took out a small stool, and sat on the edge of the entrance. It looked like she was taking a branch from her space knob storage device, but in truth she had transformed her own Green Tea Girl branch.
The branch was about as thick as a thumb. She tied a string to the fork at the very end of the branch, and tied a cooked shrimp to the end of the string.
She tossed the string, the shrimp, and the tip of the branch into the Deep Sea entrance. In reality, her true body’s branch slipped into the sea, where it split into countless branches that grew endlessly, looking for food.
From giant mutated sharks and mutant tiger whales to tiny plankton and krill, they were all her food. Her true body’s branches hunted them, absorbed them, and turned them into fertilizer for her.
Some of her smaller branches even pierced into the seabed to see if the Deep Sea soil held any fertilizer she could absorb.
After eating for more than half an hour, the hunger in her belly was greatly eased. When she had come, the sky had been clear. Now snow was falling again.
Thankfully, she was wearing a combat suit and combat boots. They were heat and cold resistant and adjusted automatically according to her body temperature. Plus, the snowfield flying device was still running, and the warm air from it blew against her back through the open door.
Even if goose-feather snow was falling, she didn’t feel cold at all and could happily keep searching for food in the Deep Sea with her true body’s branches.
Just as the branches she had sent down found a nest of Deep Sea blue-clear fish and she was about to use them to wipe out tens of thousands of those fish in one go, she heard that old mud loach Chong Ming’s voice in her ears: “Did you catch any fish?”
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart gave a jolt. She did not have time to clear out the nest. She used the branch in her hand to flick toward Chong Ming, while quickly pulling back all of her split branches: “Catch what, my ass. You scared them all away.”
Chong Ming caught the branch she whipped over and glanced at the shrimp dangling from the tip: “Your bait isn’t fresh. How is that my fault?”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at him from the corner of her eye. He stood straight in a black military uniform, very eye-catching in the falling goose-feather snow: “Fine, it’s not your fault. I’ll just keep fishing. I think my bait is fresh enough.”
Chong Ming did not let go. He could feel that the branch in his hand was the same type as the one he had picked up at the First Hotel.
That branch had been short and thin with leaves. This one was as thick as a middle finger and had an unbelievable flexibility, though it had no green leaves.
When Jiang Tea Tea saw he still would not let go, she yanked hard.
The branch sliced across Chong Ming’s palm and pulled free. The end with the shrimp swung back into the water in Jiang Tea Tea’s hand.
Chong Ming glanced at the cut on his palm, then curled his fingers and walked over to sit beside Jiang Tea Tea. He acted both familiar and distant as he took out a small stool and a small box.
The small box was a folding box. Once opened, the space inside was much larger than it looked. It was filled with different fishing tools and bait.
Jiang Tea Tea watched him calmly and slowly attach each section of a fishing rod together, tie on the line and hook, bait it, then cast into the Deep Sea entrance where she had just eaten. He was so practiced that she suddenly felt like she was the intruder here.
Chong Ming set the rod on a stand and looked sideways at Jiang Tea Tea: “Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea, why are you staring at me? If you want to change rods, that’s fine. You can pick any one from my box.”
Jiang Tea Tea was puzzled and asked directly: “You’re the Commander in Chief of the Three Armies, the top leader of the Zhenlin Empire. You should be buried in work, too busy to even touch the ground. You shouldn’t be here stealing my fish.”
Gold flashed sharply in Chong Ming’s eyes: “Your roommate is handling government affairs for me today. I came to thank you for giving him the Green Tea Girl leaves that let his supernatural abilities level break through to S-level 3.”
“And I also want to ask you something. Twenty-five days ago, your former fiancé Chu Ming tricked you to the capital planet’s First Hotel. After you conned them, how did you leave, and why did the surveillance system never catch you?”