Chapter 78
Chapter 78: Serves You Right for Being Single at 150—No Mate, No Cub, You Trash Dragon
The moment Jiang Tea Tea finished speaking, the squad scattered.
Each chose a flowering tree and leapt up, weapons ready, bodies tense.
Jiang Tea Tea climbed like a cat, snapped off a sturdy branch as a weapon, and peered down through the leaves.
Li Ao arrived with two subordinates, backpacks heavy with detection equipment.
He ran through the mountains like a man possessed, chasing the unknown energy.
He couldn’t tell if he’d found it or not. The entire range pulsed with faint, elusive waves—here and there, like a heartbeat hidden in fog.
Then his breath caught.
Leaves that had been yellow and dead began to turn green again—fast, too fast. Faster than any nutrient spray.
Li Ao practically glowed.
He reached the area beneath Jiang Tea Tea’s squad and stopped, lifting his detector.
“Energy,” he whispered. “Unknown energy.”
“It’s everywhere. Everywhere.”
He laughed, breathless, eyes bright and hungry.
“I can’t even imagine how powerful the owner of this energy is.”
“This is incredible.”
He straightened. “I’m going to find them. I’m going to bring them to my Ability Institute and study it. Study the energy. Benefit the Empire.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart sank.
So they were here for her.
She’d absorbed fertilizer, then released magic power to revive dying leaves. To them, it was unknown energy—something they couldn’t name.
Damn it.
Chong Ming—Old Loach—had said he wasn’t interested in her secrets.
And then he sent Ability Institute people.
Liar.
Trash.
No wonder he was 150 and still single. No mate. No cub. No successor.
If Old Loach didn’t keep his word, then she wouldn’t be polite.
Jiang Tea Tea flicked a hand signal at Sui Xuan Chu.
Lightning.
Sui Xuan Chu had just advanced to 3S-rank lightning-element ability. He hadn’t tested it yet.
Fine. Practice on them.
Boom—boom—boom!
Three thunder strikes tore down from above and slammed into Li Ao and his two subordinates.
They staggered, eyes rolling, bodies trembling with shock.
Jiang Tea Tea signaled Zhang Ting Zhou.
Zhang Ting Zhou transformed into his octopus form and lashed down with his tentacles.
Li Ao and the others were already dizzy from lightning. The tentacles struck, and they collapsed flat.
Huang Da Zhuang and Cheng Xiao Ting leapt down without hesitation.
They dragged the red flexible blade across each throat.
A vivid red line appeared instantly, drying like paint.
Jiang Tea Tea motioned for Cheng Lin Yue to come down and grab the equipment.
Then a holographic image flared in front of them.
Jiang Tea Tea jerked backward, grabbed Cheng Lin Yue, and dragged her several steps away.
Sui Xuan Chu and the others rushed over at once.
Chong Ming’s image hovered, golden eyes calm and heavy.
“These three are from the Ability Institute,” he said. “They do not belong to the instructor group. They are not cadets.”
“You cannot take their equipment. Marking them does not count for points.”
Jiang Tea Tea forced down her rage, lifted her chin, and met his gaze head-on.
“Why can’t we take their equipment? Why doesn’t it count?”
“Commander-in-Chief,” she said, voice sharp, “you need to understand something. The training ground is the battlefield.”
“Anyone who enters this battlefield is either a teammate… or an enemy.”
“My seven teammates are here. That means these three are enemies.”
“We marked their necks and took their gear. That’s correct.”
“And you’re telling me it doesn’t count?” Her voice rose. “So you’re Overall Commander and you can just drop random people into the field and make us waste our time?”
“If you can’t play, then don’t play. It’s not that hard.”
The others had been staring at Chong Ming like he was a god.
Now they stared at Jiang Tea Tea like she was the one holding divine power.
Sui Xuan Chu stepped forward, backing her without hesitation.
“Exactly,” he said loudly. “Commander-in-Chief, the Round Two rules never mentioned outsiders. You never said outsiders can’t be marked, can’t be looted.”
“We marked them. We looted them. That’s fair.”
“If you refuse to count it, that’s going back on your own rules.” He lifted his chin. “Then my roommate and I quit. We withdraw.”
Huang Da Zhuang didn’t hesitate.
“If Sister Tea withdraws,” he said loudly, “I withdraw too!”
The others exchanged glances, then raised their hands awkwardly.
“We’re one squad,” Cheng Xiao Ting muttered. “If we withdraw, we withdraw together.”
Chong Ming’s gaze swept them—sharp, calm, terrifying.
Then it settled on Jiang Tea Tea.
After a beat, he spoke.
“I misjudged.”
“You’re right. On a battlefield, anyone who isn’t an enemy is a teammate.”
He didn’t posture. He didn’t argue.
He conceded.
“Fine. Their points will be counted as instructor points. One hundred fifty.”
“You may take their equipment.”
Jiang Tea Tea didn’t say thank you.
She swung the branch in her hand and whipped it down on the equipment.
One strike. Two. Three.
She smashed it to pieces.
Then she bent, ripped off the storage buttons from their wrists, crushed the spatial cores until the space twisted and collapsed, and tossed the broken buttons away like trash.
Chong Ming watched through the hologram, expression unchanged.
When she finished, Jiang Tea Tea lifted her eyes to him, sarcasm bright and sharp.
“Commander-in-Chief,” she said, “you’re the Prince Regent. You’re meticulous. You’re careful.”
“You shouldn’t make the mistake of dropping three irrelevant people into a training ground.”
“So,” she demanded, “what were these three Ability Institute people searching for?”
“Tell us. We’ll find it for you.”
Chong Ming’s voice stayed even.
“Within five hundred li, all flowers and trees have withered—just as you’ve seen. Leaves yellow. Branches crack.”
“Such an event does not follow natural law.”
“If it happens under my eyes, I will investigate.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s chest tightened.
So it really was her fault.
That slap came fast and loud.
But admitting fault?
Never.
Not in a million years.
She straightened her spine and held her neck stubbornly.
“Still your fault,” she said. “You could’ve just told them to get marked and come down. Or you could’ve sent each of us a message.”
Chong Ming’s mouth curved slightly.
“Jiang Tea Tea. Classmate. You’re right. This was my oversight.”
“I apologize.”
He actually apologized.
No wonder he was Commander-in-Chief.
Jiang Tea Tea blinked, then said briskly, “Apology accepted.”
“If there’s nothing else, we’re going to farm points. Bye.”
She turned and walked away.
After a few steps, she realized her squad hadn’t followed. She glanced back.
“What are you standing there for?” she snapped. “Move. Go farm points. Don’t want points? Don’t want to enter a legion? Don’t want to meet your idol anymore?”
Sui Xuan Chu snapped out of it first and dashed up beside her.
He lifted a thumb toward her behind his back, eyes glittering.
Roommate, you’re insane.
You actually forced his uncle to apologize.
Jiang Tea Tea flicked her brows as if to say, Basic skills.
But inside, she warned herself: be careful next time. Stay low. Don’t leak magic power. Don’t become a living target and get dragged into a research institute to be dissected.
Behind them, Huang Da Zhuang and the others finally dared to breathe again.
“Sister Tea,” Huang Da Zhuang whispered, like he’d survived a near-death experience, “you were so badass. You actually argued with my male idol Commander-in-Chief.”
“My heart almost jumped out.”
“Yes!” someone agreed frantically. “He’s one of the most powerful, most influential males in the entire M31 Star System. And you just… argued.”
“I swear,” another said, voice trembling, “when I face him, even if he isn’t looking at me, I still want to kneel and confess I didn’t do anything wrong.”
A chorus of weak noises followed.
“Sister Tea, do you have some secret technique to not fear him? Teach me!”
Sui Xuan Chu cut in indignantly. “When I argued with him, why didn’t you see it?”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others didn’t hesitate.
“Because you weren’t first,” they said in unison. “You were second. That’s posturing.”
“We don’t admire posturing.”
Sui Xuan Chu’s face twisted. “Fine, fine, fine. Next time you get in trouble, I’m not saving you.”
Huang Da Zhuang waved him off. “Don’t save us. We have Sister Tea. Sister Tea will save—”
“Enough,” Jiang Tea Tea cut in. “Stop yelling. Move. We farm points until night and then find somewhere to sleep.”
“Received,” the squad answered immediately.
Less than half an hour later, they found a four-person squad from the Wartime Command Institute.
This time, Jiang Tea Tea and Cheng Lin Yue didn’t even need to lift a hand.
Sui Xuan Chu struck from far away with lightning.
The enemies went dizzy.
Yan Yu, a 2S-rank blink ability user and half-beastfolk, flashed in. Jiang Zong Shen, a beastfolk with gale-sprint and blink, rushed alongside him.
They marked the enemies’ necks and immediately retreated, vanishing into the trees to pursue the next targets.
They still had their Round One loot.
Their signal jammers hid their dots on the lightbrain map, making it hard for other-school cadets to track them down.
With that advantage, they ambushed and farmed points all afternoon and into the evening.
Thirty cadets marked in one day.
Night fell. The moon rose, bright and clear. Under the flowering trees, moonlight dappled the ground in soft patterns.
They rested briefly, then prepared to move again.
That was when Jiang Tea Tea’s stomach let out a loud, unmistakable growl.
It was so loud everyone froze and stared.
“Sister Tea,” someone offered carefully, “you’re hungry. I have nutrient solution. Want something to tide you over?”
Jiang Tea Tea waved it away. “I’m not hungry. That’s just digestion noise.”
Then she lifted her chin and said something that made everyone’s eyes widen.
“Let’s go. Fifty kilometers away, there are over a dozen dragon clan.”
“We’re going to wipe them.”
Sui Xuan Chu and the others immediately opened their lightbrains to check.
Sure enough, more than a dozen dragon clan dots lit up fifty kilometers away.
They frowned.
“But I checked earlier,” someone said. “There weren’t dragons there.”
“Yeah,” another said. “Same. The nearest prey was way closer than that. No dragon dots at fifty.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s gaze stayed calm. “They have signal jammers too. They were hiding their dots.”
Cheng Lin Yue swallowed, then spoke up, voice small but steady.
“And now they’re showing them on purpose—to bait us.”
She hesitated, then forced the rest out. “It’s a trap. They want to hunt us.”