Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Serves You Right To Be One Hundred And Fifty And Still Single, With No Partner, No Little Brat, You Scummy Dragon
Sui Xuan Chu and the others heard the words and quickly spread out. Each of them picked a flowering tree, jumped up into the branches, and stood there on high alert.
Cheng Xiao Ting and Huang Da Zhuang scrambled up from the ground, jumped onto the nearest flowering trees, one gripping a staff and the other holding a rope.
Jiang Tea Tea darted up a tree like a cat. She snapped off a branch, held it in her hand, and looked down from above.
Li Ao led his two subordinates, carrying equipment on their backs that detected ability energy. They ran back and forth across the vast mountain range, searching for the unknown energy.
It felt like they had found it, yet also like they had not. The whole mountain was full of that faint, on-and-off unknown energy pulsing everywhere.
The dead yellow leaves in his line of sight suddenly turned green. They changed faster than if someone had sprayed a greening agent.
Li Ao got excited by the sight. He ran to where Jiang Tea Tea and the others were, stopped with his energy detection device, and said: “Energy, unknown energy, it’s all over. It’s everywhere.”
“It’s impossible to imagine how strong the person who has this energy is. This is great. I’m going to find them, drag them to my Ability Research Institute, study them, study their energy, and benefit the Empire.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart gave a hard thump when she heard that. The three people from the Ability Research Institute below were here for her. She was the one who had absorbed all the fertilizer in the mountains and then fed spiritual power back into the land so the dead leaves could come back to life.
Her spiritual power was different from the abilities of the interstellar era. In their words, her spiritual power was a very special unknown energy.
[Damn, this old loach Chong Ming doesn’t keep his word. He said he wasn’t interested in her secret, and now he’s gone and called people from the Ability Research Institute.]
[Dog thing, bastard, serves you right for being a hundred and fifty and still not finding a successor, not finding a partner, and having no little brat.]
Since that old loach didn’t keep his promise, she was not going to be polite. Jiang Tea Tea made a hand gesture at Sui Xuan Chu, telling him to strike with lightning.
Sui Xuan Chu was now a Level S-3 lightning element ability user. Ever since his ability had upgraded, he had not used it yet. This was the perfect time to practice on the people below.
Boom, boom, boom!
Three thunderclaps in a row. Lightning struck Li Ao and his two subordinates right on target. The three of them were hit off guard, their heads spinning, their bodies swaying.
Jiang Tea Tea then gestured at Zhang Ting Zhou. Zhang Ting Zhou immediately transformed into an octopus and whipped his tentacles at the three of them.
Li Ao and the other two were already half-dizzy from the lightning, on the verge of passing out. When the octopus’s tentacles lashed them, they dropped to the ground and fell completely unconscious.
Huang Da Zhuang and Cheng Xiao Ting jumped down. Whether these three belonged to the drill instructor group or not, they did not care. They raised their red soft blades and drew them across the three men’s necks.
Red marks appeared on the necks of Li Ao and his two subordinates. The marks looked like fresh blood, dried the moment they touched skin, bright and eye-catching.
Jiang Tea Tea called Cheng Lin Yue to jump down too. She had just bent down, ready to take their equipment, when Chong Ming’s projected image suddenly appeared in front of them.
Jiang Tea Tea was startled. She grabbed Cheng Lin Yue by reflex and dragged her back several steps before the two of them finally stood firm.
Sui Xuan Chu had not expected his uncle to suddenly appear. He and the others rushed over to stand by Jiang Tea Tea and the girls.
Chong Ming looked at the eight of them through the screen. His voice was low as he said: “These three are from the Ability Research Institute. They are not part of the drill instructor group, and they are not military academy students. You cannot take their equipment. Killing them does not count toward your score.”
Jiang Tea Tea forced down a breath, lifted her chin, and questioned him: “Why can’t we take their equipment? Why doesn’t it count for points?”
“Commander in Chief Chong Ming, you should be clear about this. The training ground is the battlefield. Anyone who enters this training ground is either a teammate or an enemy.”
“All seven of my teammates are here. That makes them the enemy. We cut the enemy’s throats and take their equipment, and you’re telling me it doesn’t count?”
“So it all comes down to you being Commander in Chief. Whatever you say, goes. You can send down however many irrelevant people you want, and we just have to waste our time and effort on them for nothing. If you can’t play, then let’s stop playing. It’s not that big a deal.”
This faithless old loach, this dog thing, did he really think that just because she usually stayed calm, she was some ant he could step on?
She had to blow up their equipment today and make these three count for points. Otherwise, she was going to argue him to death.
Huang Da Zhuang and the others had originally been looking at their heartthrob idol with eyes full of admiration. Now they looked at Jiang Tea Tea with the same full, shining admiration. Who else dared to talk back to Commander in Chief Chong Ming like this? No one. Only their Sister Tea.
Sui Xuan Chu saw his roommate stand up to his uncle and got so excited he was trembling a little. He plucked up his courage and followed up: “That’s right, Commander in Chief Chong Ming. In the rules for the second round of the Supremacy Tournament, you never said anything about off-roster personnel whose throats we aren’t allowed to cut and whose heads we aren’t allowed to blow off.”
“We cut their throats, blew their heads, and took their equipment. That is only natural. If you refuse to give us points, that’s called going back on your word. In that case, my roommate and I will quit. We won’t play anymore.”
[Wow, so glaring at his uncle, flaring his nostrils at him and threatening him feels this good.]
Huang Da Zhuang was a hardcore fanboy of Commander in Chief Chong Ming, but when he had to choose between Chong Ming and Jiang Tea Tea, he instantly switched sides and became Jiang Tea Tea’s flunky: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, if my Sister Tea quits, I’ll quit too.”
Cheng Xiao Ting and the other five looked at each other, then weakly raised their hands: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, we are one squad. If we quit, we quit together.”
Chong Ming’s sharp yet calm gaze swept over them, and at last stopped on Jiang Tea Tea’s face. He said: “I was thinking about it wrong. You’re right. On the battlefield, people are either enemies or teammates.”
“No matter who it is, my few words should not disrupt your hunt. Fine. You hunted these three, so I’ll give you points according to the drill instructor group’s score. One hundred and fifty. You can take their equipment as you please.”
Jiang Tea Tea raised the branch in her hand and whipped it across the three men’s gear. One, two, three hits, and their equipment all burst apart.
Then she bent down and removed the space knob storage devices from their wrists. She squeezed, twisting the space until it deformed, then casually threw all of them away.
Chong Ming’s image stood right in front of her, watching her every move from start to finish. His expression stayed the same, without any extra emotion.
After Jiang Tea Tea finished, she lifted her eyes lazily to him and said: “Commander in Chief Chong Ming, you are the Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and the Prince Regent of the Empire. You are careful and strict in everything you do. You shouldn’t have made a mistake like sending three unrelated people into the training ground.”
“So, these three people from the Ability Research Institute, you sent them down here with equipment to look for something. Tell us what you were looking for, and we can help you find it.”
Chong Ming heard the sarcasm in her tone. His voice was low and calm as he replied: “Within five hundred li, all the flowers and trees are like what you saw. Flowers falling, leaves yellowing, trunks splitting.”
“With something this far from natural law happening right under my nose, of course I had to send someone to check it out.”
So in the end, she had drawn this trouble out herself.
[This slap to the face was loud. Very loud.]
But admitting she was wrong was not possible.
Even if she were beaten to death, she would not admit she was wrong.
Jiang Tea Tea straightened her back and stretched her neck: “Even with all that, it’s still your fault. You could have just had them cut their own throats and drop out. Or you could have sent each of us a message.”
The corner of Chong Ming’s mouth lifted slightly: “Schoolmate Jiang Tea Tea, you are right. This really was my oversight. I owe you all an apology.”
He was just going to admit he was wrong and apologize like that?
No wonder he could become Commander in Chief of the Three Armies and the Prince Regent. He knew when he was wrong and fixed it right away. If he wasn’t the Commander in Chief, who else could be?
Jiang Tea Tea gave a small “oh”: “Apology accepted. If there’s nothing else, we’re going to go farm more points. Goodbye.”
She finished speaking and left. After a few steps, she noticed Sui Xuan Chu and the others hadn’t followed. She turned back to call them: “Why are you all frozen there? Hurry up and go farm points. If you don’t want points, you won’t get into an army corps, and then you won’t see your idol, your heartthrob idol, ever again.”
Sui Xuan Chu was the first to come back to his senses. He darted to Jiang Tea Tea’s side and quietly gave her a big thumbs up: “You’re amazing, roommate. You actually forced my uncle to apologize to you.”
Jiang Tea Tea raised an eyebrow at him: “Good, good. Basic stuff, basic stuff.”
Next time she still had to be careful and low-key. She could not let her spiritual power leak out too much, or she would become a living target, dragged to the Research Institute, cut open, and studied.
Huang Da Zhuang and the others followed close behind. After they had run a good distance, they felt sure their heartthrob idol could no longer hear them. Only then did they sigh in awe: “Sister Tea, you were so badass, so explosive. You went head to head with my heartthrob idol. My poor little heart almost jumped out of my throat just now.”
“Yeah, yeah, Sister Tea, you were talking back to one of the strongest, most powerful, most amazing men in the whole M31 Star System. You’re too awesome.”
“When I face him, even when he isn’t looking at me, I suddenly feel like kneeling down and shouting that I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Wah wah wah, Sister Tea, do you have some trick that keeps you from being scared of him? Teach me. I also want to be bold and upright enough to talk back to him like that.”
“I talked back to him too, why didn’t any of you see?” Sui Xuan Chu said unhappily. “Why don’t you worship me?”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others answered without mercy: “You weren’t the first to rush out. You were the second. That makes you sound like you’re just backing her up after the fact.”
“We will not worship someone who might just be jumping on the bandwagon. Don’t try to paint gold on your own face.”
Sui Xuan Chu huffed: “Fine, fine, fine, I see how you all are now. When we go farm points later, I definitely won’t save you.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others fired back without fear: “Don’t save us then, we still have Sister Tea. Sister Tea will save us…”
Jiang Tea Tea cut them off: “Enough. Stop yelling and move. We need to farm enough points before night and then find a place to sleep.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others answered in unison: “Got it.”
They ran again for less than half an hour before they found a four-person squad from the Wartime Command Institute.
To deal with this four-person squad, Jiang Tea Tea and Cheng Lin Yue did not need to lift a finger. They only stood on the side and watched.
From far away, Sui Xuan Chu called down lightning on them. The other four got dizzy from the strikes. Yan Yu, a Level S-2 Blink Step ability user and half beastman, and Cheng Xiao Ting, a Level S-2 speed-type beastman ability user, used Blink Step and speed to rush in and slice their throats.
Once they were done, they turned and ran, following the shared coordinates from the light-brain wrist terminal’s signal map to chase other targets.
The spoils of war from the first round of the Supremacy Tournament could be brought into the second round. They had a signal shielding device that could hide their own signals, making it very hard for other military academy students to see them on the light-brain wrist terminal’s map.
With the shielding device as a cheat, they moved forward by ambush, all the way farming points. They kept it up for half a morning and an entire afternoon, and took out thirty military academy students.
Night fell. The moon hung high, its halo bright and clear. It was not as bright as daytime, but sitting under the flowering trees, the dappled moonlight was still beautiful.
They rested under the flowering trees for a while. When they were about to get up and set off again, Jiang Tea Tea’s stomach let out a loud, hungry growl.
The sound was so loud that everyone stopped walking and looked at her under the moonlight: “Sister Tea, you’re hungry? I’ve got nutrient injections and nutrient solution here. Do you want to fill your stomach a bit?”
It had only been a week since Jiang Tea Tea drank dragon blood, and she had eaten mountain “fertilizer” for five days. She was not hungry at all, not even a little, but she did not know why her stomach was making noise.
She waved her hand and refused the nutrient injection and nutrient solution: “I’m not hungry. That sound is my digestion working. Let’s hurry up and go. Fifty kilometers away from us, there are more than ten Dragon Clan members. We’re going to wipe them out.”
Sui Xuan Chu and the others quickly opened their light-brain wrist terminals to check. Sure enough, about fifty kilometers away, there were more than ten Dragon Clan members.
They were confused: “They weren’t there when we checked just now. Why are they there now, and why are there that many dragons?”
“Yeah, I just checked the light-brain wrist terminal too. The closest military academy students we could hunt were only a little over ten kilometers away. Fifty kilometers out, there were no dragons.”
“I know. They have the same kind of signal shielding device we do. They hid their signals for a while, then turned them back on to lure us to walk right into their trap so they can hunt us!”