Chapter 74
Chapter 74: The Little Brat’s unlucky life; his birth mother does not know he exists, his birth father wants to drug him
“Are the people in the drill instructor group sick in the head or do they have holes in their brains? They only gave each squad three spots on purpose so we would kill each other!”
“We formed squads back at the academy. We stuck together for a whole month in the First Round, united the whole time. Now they want us to take each other out. They really treat us like the Insectoid Race. It is too much, really too much!”
The 30 military academies, with more than 1.8 million students, all heard the drill instructor group announce the rules for the first match of the second round of the Supremacy Tournament. Everyone was annoyed and started yelling and cursing at the top of their lungs. At the same time, their hands moved faster than their hearts. They grabbed weapons at random and started swinging at their teammates.
Someone snorted and shouted: “The training ground is the battlefield. On the battlefield there are no teammates, only enemies. Sorry, my darling teammates, but I am going to advance.”
Another student yelled back: “You want to advance, I also want to advance. You hit me first, so I will not be polite. Come on, let’s see who dies first and who advances!”
“For the sake of advancing, for the Empire, and for the chance to see my idol, my heartthrob idol, Chong Ming, the Commander in Chief, I am sorry, schoolmates. I am going to beat you all and advance by myself!”
The eight of them in Jiang Tea Tea’s squad heard the drill instructor group’s broadcast and rushed out of their dorm room. Outside, the people from all the other squads were already fighting.
All kinds of supernatural abilities, sticks, and clubs came out at once. No one gave way to anyone. They fought while they cursed, looking completely like they wanted to beat each other to death.
Huang Da Zhuang watched with his heart pounding and swallowed hard. He gave up at once. He said: “Sister Tea, I don’t have any supernatural abilities. I can’t beat you. I surrender. I won’t fight you for a spot to advance. Just don’t hit me.”
Cheng Lin Yue, a small girl from the healing department, also spoke weakly: “Right, Sister Tea, I am the same as Huang Da Zhuang. I can’t beat you. I also surrender. You can have the spot to advance. You must not hit me.”
Orange Sparrow, Cheng Xiao Ting, and Zhang Ting Zhou joined Huang Da Zhuang’s side and unified their front. They said: “Sister Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, the four of us will not fight you two. Let’s not use our fists on each other.”
“Right, right, right, we know our limits. If we can’t win, we won’t fight. If we can’t grab a spot, we won’t grab. You two go advance on your own. We will eliminate ourselves.”
Jiang Tea Tea reached out and slapped the backs of their heads in turn as she said: “You lot, your self-elimination spirit is pretty good. Should I give you some kind of award and cheer for you?”
Sui Xuan Chu followed right behind Jiang Tea Tea and knocked each of them once on the forehead: “Sister Tea, the two of us should just beat them up so they don’t stand here making my head hurt.”
They were not hurt at all, but Huang Da Zhuang and the others still acted like it mattered and held their heads, all of them staring at the two of them in unison. Huang Da Zhuang asked: “So, Sister Tea, Sui Xuan Chu, do you two have some way for us not to be eliminated and all of us to advance?”
He patted his chest and promised: “Let me tell you, as long as you don’t let us be eliminated, I will be your most loyal flunky. Whoever comes to hit you two, I will pounce on them and bite them.”
“Yeah, yeah, Sister Tea, Brother Chu, just tell us how we can advance without getting eliminated. We will do it right away.”
Jiang Tea Tea slanted her eyes toward Sui Xuan Chu and said: “You say your method first.”
Sui Xuan Chu lowered his voice and said: “My method is that we all give up together and lie flat for a month, waiting for the Third Round of the Supremacy Tournament.”
Jiang Tea Tea gave him a thumbs up: “Excellent. Our squad is number one in squad points, and our personal points are ranked from one to eight. If we just forfeit, we will still be near the top. Good idea.”
It was really a heart-stirring good idea. If she was not thinking about Chong Ming’s dragon blood, she would have agreed on the spot, given up, and gone to rot happily.
The six of them, led by Huang Da Zhuang, also felt that this method sounded pretty good. It was just a bit like giving up, which did not match their big goal of working hard so they could see their heartthrob idol.
Sui Xuan Chu asked Jiang Tea Tea in return: “What about your method?”
He was only throwing out an idea. He did not really plan to lie flat. He did not dare. He was afraid of his uncle. His uncle would beat him half to death.
Jiang Tea Tea crooked her finger at them.
The other seven leaned close to her and perked up their ears.
Jiang Tea Tea spoke first: “According to what the drill instructor group said, no matter how many people there are in each squad, there are only three spots to enter the Second Round. But the drill instructor group never said we are not allowed to steal other people’s spots.”
Sui Xuan Chu and the others opened their eyes wide and their mouths dropped open. They asked: “Sister Tea, you mean we should take out the other squads?”
“Take out the other squads? Of course. Our squad has eight people. We already have three spots. That leaves five extra. If we wipe out two more squads, we will get six more spots. We will even have one left over.”
“We have already managed to defeat an army corps commander and beat the drill instructor group. Beating two squads of regular students from the military academies will be easy.”
Sui Xuan Chu said at once: “Sister Tea, I have decided. We will follow your method. Love you, heart sign.”
Jiang Tea Tea slapped away Cheng Xiao Ting’s hand as he made a heart toward her and said: “Stop making hearts. Right now we split into two squads of four. After they finish killing each other and grab their own spots, we will go wipe them out. That will save time and energy.”
The other seven gave her a thumbs up. She was still the sharpest and the best at taking advantage.
Their eight personal points were split into two groups. They ran over to the areas where others were fighting. Each group locked onto one squad and, feeling the chaos was not big enough and the fight not intense enough, they fanned the flames and shouted to cheer them on.
“Hey, hey, aren’t you a fire element ability? Set him on fire and burn him until he begs for mercy. Then you win.”
“Water beats fire. If he sets you on fire, put him out with water. The spots are limited. If you beat your teammate to death, the spot is yours. That is way easier than killing a drill instructor.”
“Come on, come on, victory is in front of you. Beat your teammate and advance yourself. Win the Supremacy Tournament and you can see our beloved heartthrob idol, our idol, Chong Ming, the Commander in Chief.”
“Ahhh, just thinking about our heartthrob idol giving you the prize, our heartthrob idol shaking your hand, you must beat the others to death!”
The students from the military academies who were busy fighting each other were out of breath. They finally won against their own teammates and then pointed straight at Sui Xuan Chu and the others and snapped: “Why are you not fighting? What are you yelling here for? You are so noisy.”
Sui Xuan Chu, Orange Sparrow, and the other two in their group seized the chance while the others were resting. They dashed out and launched a fierce attack.
The angry students from the military academies did not even have time to react before they were all knocked down, tied up, and thrown to the side, stacked like a pile of human blocks.
On Jiang Tea Tea’s side, they also waited until others finished fighting. While their targets were careless and cheering in joy, they threw bags over their heads and caught them too.
Their actions attracted the attention of other squads. Those squads suddenly understood that there was another way. Why attack your own squad? The real way was to attack other squads and steal their spots.
In a short time, the squads that had been attacking their own members turned and started working together to attack people from other squads.
At the Extreme North gathering point for squads that had chosen to forfeit, there were twenty to thirty thousand people. At first they were all fighting their own squad members with great passion. Now they were all fighting people from other squads instead.
The sounds of fighting, the shouts and curses, and the crackling sounds of supernatural abilities exploded over the whole Extreme North. The noise even shocked the thirty army corps commanders, who started talking about it in their shared communication channel.
One of them said: “We only told them, ‘Go beat the eight members of the other twenty-nine military academies’ squads.’ When those eight from that squad show up, they are like catfish dropped into a school of fish. They stirred the whole group into boiling, nervous, lively chaos, right?”
Another commander chuckled: “You are not wrong. Those eight really are like the catfish effect, especially schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea. She is a tiny pure human girl, under a hundred jin, but every time she finds a loophole, it is right on target. Every bad idea she comes up with works perfectly. No wonder I had my eye on her.”
“Someone like her on the battlefield will definitely hit the enemy where they least expect it and catch them off guard.”
Another commander scoffed: “What do you mean you have your eye on her, Old Ye? Don’t forget, you and your subordinates were beaten by her. You are her defeated subordinates. What right do you have to bring her into your army corps to train her?”
“Exactly. I heard that out of us thirty army corps commanders, twelve got caught and beaten by their squad. So those twelve commanders should stop thinking about her. You could not beat her, and now you want to train her? I feel embarrassed for you.”
Old Ye snorted: “You know nothing. I let her beat me so I could test her strength and get close to her early. When she comes to my army corps later, we will get along even better. I will definitely use all my power to train her into a real talent.”
Another commander groaned: “Oh please, have some shame and stay alert. The Second Round test for them has only just begun. The test for us has not even been set yet.”
Chong Ming listened to the discussion of the thirty army corps commanders while his eyes stayed on Jiang Tea Tea’s squad and the catfish effect they had stirred up. It was pretty good. It was just a pity that this gathering point for those who chose to forfeit only had a few tens of thousands of people.
[If there were hundreds of thousands, or even more than a million people here, and this catfish effect spread, with all of them fighting both in teams and for themselves, that would be far more interesting.]
Jiang Tea Tea’s group did not get greedy. After they took down two squads, they came back together, standing back to back, guarding against attacks from other squads.
Quite a few squads tried to break them apart and beat them. But they had great teamwork. Even if one person started to lose, the others would rush to save them and attack the squad that had hit them without any hesitation.
Because of that, the squads that attacked them ended up with most of the injuries, while Jiang Tea Tea’s squad only had some small wounds that did not really matter.
After about two hours, all 1.8 million students from the 30 military academies were done fighting, and the spots had all been decided.
The drill instructor group’s broadcast sounded again. This time the voice was sharp, full of blame and disappointment: “Darling schoolmates, you fought very hard just now. For the sake of getting a spot to advance, you could even give up your own comrades-in-arms. How is this any different from giving up your comrades-in-arms just to stay alive on the battlefield?”
“One by one, all of you have completely forgotten the oath you made when you entered the military academies, the oath you made when you first stepped into school, haven’t you?”
“From the very start, we told you that the training ground is the battlefield, and your teammates are your back. The drill instructor group gave you the rules and also gave you loopholes. Why did you not use your brains to drill into the loopholes and protect your teammates?”
“Now I announce: any squad that gave up their own teammates will have 10 squad points deducted and each person will also lose 10 personal points.”
“Any squad that chose to give up together but refused to abandon their teammates will gain 10 squad points, and each person will gain 10 personal points.”
“Any squad that used the loopholes to steal other people’s spots while protecting their own teammates will gain 10 squad points, and each person will gain 10 personal points.”
The people who had worked so hard to beat their own teammates to get a spot were scolded so harshly they wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor from shame.
The squads that had chosen to give up together so they would not betray their teammates cheered and sang. They hugged each other and were only one step away from bursting into tears.
The squads that had beaten others while protecting their own teammates, like Jiang Tea Tea’s squad, praised themselves for using the loopholes, but at the same time they regretted it deeply. [If we had known earlier, we should have listened to Sui Xuan Chu, given up together, and just lain flat and passed.]
After the drill instructor group finished scolding them, Jiang Tea Tea and the others boarded the spaceship, just like when they had come to the tropical primeval forest. Each academy’s students from the military academies boarded one ship.
Students from the thirty military academies boarded thirty ships. This time there were no walls blocking the cabins. They could look through the thick glass and see the ships carrying students from the other academies.
The thirty ships of the same series took off from different parts of the primitive tropical planet and rose into the sky, grand and mighty. Watching this, every student from the military academies felt a surge of pride. These ships were all developed and tested by their Empire. They could safely travel through the universe and enter the interstellar space battlefield.
Chong Ming sat on the Chief Commander’s ship at the back. The ship used Invisibility to follow behind the thirty other ships, and no one on any of those ships could see it.
In the command room, besides handling government work, Chong Ming was also reading Li Ao’s report on the mutated tea trees. He could not find any tea trees that had not mutated, only mutated ones.
Li Ao was very interested in the unknown energy they had captured from the tea trees. Now that they did not have that energy anymore, he followed Chong Ming, his Your Highness, hoping to get close to Jiang Tea Tea, who carried that unknown energy.
But since Your Highness Chong Ming had not spoken, he did not dare go to Jiang Tea Tea or touch her in any way. He could only quietly wait for a chance.
Chong Ming lifted his eyelids and looked at Li Ao and at Minister Lu from the healing department. He asked: “Have you finished the research on suppressing appetite?”
Minister Lu took out a tube of potion and handed it to Chong Ming with both hands: “Commander in Chief, we finished it, but there is a small side effect.”
Chong Ming reached out to take it and asked: “What side effect?”
Minister Lu answered respectfully: “One course lasts seven days. During the first three days, it will adjust the stomach and intestines and may cause small areas of stomach cramps and pain.”
“After three days, the appetite will slowly go down, and by the end of seven days, the person’s food intake will be about the same as a normal person.”
Chong Ming looked down at the tube of potion in his hand and asked: “You cannot remove this side effect?”
Minister Lu replied: “The person who needs healing only eats but never puts on weight. Since I have not met her and cannot give her a full check-up, I cannot be sure what is causing it.”
“I could only listen to your description, Commander in Chief, and guess that it may be a problem with her digestive system. So I created a medicine that mainly heals the stomach and intestines. Because of that, it is hard to avoid stomach cramps and pain as a side effect.”
Chong Ming nodded: “All right. Give me enough potion for one full course. I will give it to her later and let her try it.”
After Minister Lu handed the rest of the medicine to his Commander in Chief, he left the command room with Li Ao.
As they walked, Li Ao asked Minister Lu: “Minister Lu, who is this person the Commander in Chief cares about so much that he personally asked you to make medicine for her?”
Minister Lu glanced at him and said: “Director Li, I remember your main work is studying supernatural abilities. Why, are you now interested in healing and making medicine?”
Li Ao smiled: “I am just curious. The Commander in Chief asked me to come because of a bit of unknown energy. Now that energy is…”
Minister Lu cut him off: “Director Li, listen to my advice. Put away your curiosity. The Commander in Chief tells you to do something, then just do it. Do not ask about anything you should not ask about.”
“I am very busy and have no duty to clear up your questions. If you have too many questions you cannot solve, go ask the Commander in Chief yourself. Goodbye.”
Li Ao was speechless.
All of them worked under the Commander in Chief. They just belonged to different departments. He had only chatted a little and asked a few questions. Did the man really need to act like that, with a face that was not a face and a nose that was not a nose?
Jiang Tea Tea and her seven teammates leaned against each other and rested with their eyes closed. After a little more than four hours, right before the spaceship landed, Ye Ying called Jiang Tea Tea into his command room.
His command room was not much different from Chong Ming’s in terms of equipment, but there was a big difference in the number of staff members and in the size of the space.
Ye Ying looked at Jiang Tea Tea with smiling eyes. She had come over when he called, calm and steady, not nervous at all, and was even looking around his command room. He asked: “Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea, are you not curious about why I called you over?”
Jiang Tea Tea pulled back her gaze and followed his words, asking: “Oh, why did you call me over?”
Ye Ying turned and handed her the box of potion that had been sent to him by the Commander in Chief. He said: “These are from the Commander in Chief. They are for you.”
Jiang Tea Tea frowned: “Chong Ming gave them to me?”
No wonder the Commander in Chief liked her and cared about her.
Other people all respectfully called him Commander in Chief or Your Highness.
She, on the other hand, skipped all the titles and called him by his name.
Ye Ying nodded: “Yes. The Commander in Chief said that eating and eating but never putting on weight is an illness. He had this appetite-suppressing potion made especially for you.”
“One course lasts seven days. After seven days, you will no longer binge eat. You will not have that feeling anymore of eating dozens of jin of meat and still thinking you are starving.”
“But the Commander in Chief also said the first three days may cause your stomach to cramp and hurt in small areas. With your physical ability and your fighting strength, you can handle it.”