Chapter 82
Chapter 82: The Little Cub Was Finally Discovered—Congratulations
Jiang Tea Tea’s jaw ached under the crushing grip. Killing intent rose in her eyes, cold and sharp.
“Little bug,” she said, voice flat, “anyone who dares pinch my chin dies badly. They become fertilizer.”
The tall insect clan member tightened his hold, tone almost playful. “Little female—has anyone ever told you? When you threaten someone, when your eyes fill with killing intent… you’re beautiful.”
Jiang Tea Tea pulled her hand back from the ground and caught his wrist, fingers closing like iron. “I’ve always been beautiful. I don’t need anyone to tell me.”
He barely looked at her hand. He treated it like a dying animal’s last twitch. “Confident. I like confident females. Now answer my question—how did you know—”
His voice cut off mid-syllable.
His compound eyes widened. Slowly, disbelievingly, his gaze dropped to where her fingers gripped his wrist.
Jiang Tea Tea’s lips curved. “A dead bug doesn’t need answers.”
From her palm, something slid out—thin, living branches, her true form breaking through skin.
They drilled into his wrist.
They drank his blood.
They ate his flesh.
In that instant, all his power and his towering physique meant nothing. He went limp, like a boneless insect. He couldn’t attack. He couldn’t pull away.
He could only be devoured—turned into fertilizer—piece by piece.
The other insect clan members and Jiang Yi Cheng realized something was wrong and rushed in.
They never made it.
Vines erupted from the soil, countless and fast, wrapping their legs and ankles like snares.
Jiang Yi Cheng’s face drained. “Plant-type ability… Jiang Tea Tea, you can control plants? You’re a top-tier plant-type user?”
The other insect clan members looked shocked—then thrilled. “A top-tier plant-type user is a born healer! A soothing therapist! It doesn’t matter if it’s insect clan or beastfolk—any ability riot can be calmed and sorted out!”
“This is perfect. Take her alive. Bring her back to insect clan. Offer her to Her Majesty the queen.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her chin, eyes bright and merciless. “Take me? Only if you have a life worth risking.”
As the last word fell, the vines binding their legs plunged inward.
Like living mouths, they drank blood and chewed flesh.
Fear exploded across their faces.
“What—what’s happening? Why does it feel like something’s sucking my blood?”
“What is this? What is chewing me? Ah—my ability won’t work! I can’t move!”
“Jiang Tea Tea—what are you? Why do these vines drink blood and eat meat?”
Jiang Tea Tea snapped her fingers tighter and wrenched.
With a sickening crack, the insect who’d grabbed her jaw lost his arm—ripped free, torn off, tossed at Jiang Yi Cheng’s feet.
Jiang Yi Cheng jolted as if struck by lightning. His legs gave out and he collapsed onto the ground.
The vines instantly wrapped him, climbing up his body, cocooning him tight.
Jiang Tea Tea had turned everything within five hundred li into fertilizer to break through the dispersant. Her magic power surged back—about a quarter restored.
The agony in her belly eased, no longer a knife twisting.
She stood slowly.
The tall masked insect clan member slammed down to the earth. His disguise fell away, revealing his true form: a massive black armored beetle.
He lay still.
Dead beyond doubt.
Jiang Yi Cheng struggled, but the vines didn’t budge. He watched Jiang Tea Tea step toward him, and panic shattered his pride.
“Tea Tea. Sister—this isn’t my fault! I was forced! It was these insect clan hiding in Royal Military Academy. They wanted the crown prince. They forced me to help them find him!”
“I didn’t want to come. They threatened to kill me—what else could I do? I had to follow them!”
“They kept searching and searching, and they suspected Sui Xuan Chu is the crown prince. But he was too far and too protected, so they grabbed you instead. They wanted to lure him out. Sister, it wasn’t me. It wasn’t me at all!”
A vine appeared in Jiang Tea Tea’s hand like a whip.
She lashed his face.
The impact split skin. Blood sprayed. Jiang Yi Cheng screamed.
Around him, the other insect clan members’ blood was drained dry, their flesh eaten away, leaving nothing but empty shells in insect form.
Jiang Tea Tea lashed him again, carving the wounds into a cross. “Stop explaining. Stop screaming, Jiang Yi Cheng. I won’t let you die.”
Jiang Yi Cheng’s eyes lit with desperate hope, mouth opening—
Jiang Tea Tea continued calmly, “I’m going to hand you to Chong Ming the commander-in-chief. Colluding with insect clan is a capital crime.”
She tilted her head. “Now tell me—do you think they’ll shoot you in the head, or torture you slowly until you beg?”
The fake heiress’s lingering consciousness didn’t allow her to kill him. The deal she’d made meant some lines couldn’t be crossed. Empire law would have him.
If it weren’t for that, Jiang Yi Cheng would already be as bloodless and dead-eyed as the insects.
Jiang Yi Cheng, face slick with blood, pleaded like a dog. “Sister, I was wrong! I was wrong! I shouldn’t have listened to insect clan, I shouldn’t have let them threaten me—please forgive me! Don’t hand me to Chong Ming!”
“Let me go, Sister, I’m begging you—Sister, please—”
A few sharp barks rang out.
Jiang Tea Tea kicked Jiang Yi Cheng square in the belly.
He flew and hit the ground hard, instantly unconscious.
With a flick of her hand, the vines withdrew from their bodies. She sat down heavily, one hand over her stomach, the other waving toward the sound of those familiar barks.
“Huang Big Dog! I’m here. Huang Big Dog…”
The barking grew frantic.
Cheng Xiao Ting, breathless, translated as they ran. “Faster! Sister Tea is right ahead—right ahead!”
They burst into the clearing moments later.
Huang Da Zhuang shifted back into human form mid-stride and rushed to Jiang Tea Tea. “Sister Tea—are you okay? Are you hurt?”
Jiang Tea Tea waved him off, still sitting, one hand on her belly. “I got kicked twice. It’s fine. The real problem is Jiang Yi Cheng colluded with insect clan.”
Huang Da Zhuang blinked, reflexively asking, “Jiang Yi Cheng colluded with insect clan? Why would he do that?”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her gaze toward Sui Xuan Chu. “The insect clan hiding in Royal Military Academy suspected our teammate Sui Xuan Chu is the crown prince.”
“They wanted to capture him. But today he was with fifteen dragon clan, so they couldn’t. They grabbed me instead—to lure him over.”
“Jiang Yi Cheng thought Sui Xuan Chu was the crown prince. He planned to let insect clan take him, then use him to threaten Chong Ming to release his parents and sister.”
“Fucking turtle bastard,” Cheng Xiao Ting spat. He stomped the unconscious Jiang Yi Cheng without hesitation. “Traitor. Thank god Sui Xuan Chu isn’t the crown prince. Thank god they grabbed the wrong person—otherwise…”
Sui Xuan Chu nodded once, face cold. “Yes. Jiang Yi Cheng is shameless. Tie them up. Notify instructor group, the legion commanders, and Chong Ming the commander-in-chief.”
Huang Da Zhuang and the others answered quickly and began rummaging through their storage buttons for rope, binding the insect clan remnants and Jiang Yi Cheng.
Cheng Lin Yue, the small female from the healing department, came to help Jiang Tea Tea up.
Her fingers brushed Jiang Tea Tea’s wrist—
And she froze.
Jiang Tea Tea frowned. “Cheng Lin Yue? What’s wrong?”
Cheng Lin Yue snapped back to herself and grabbed Jiang Tea Tea’s wrist hard. “Sister Tea… my uncle is a field doctor. He studies dark medical art—ancient methods. I learned a little.”
“Can I check your pulse?”
No. No. This had to be a mistake.
Sister Tea’s pulse was smooth and rolling, like beads gliding under her fingers—strong, lively, circling.
A slippery pulse.
A pregnancy pulse.
Cheng Lin Yue swallowed hard, convinced she’d read wrong. She switched wrists and checked again.
Then checked again.
Her heart started pounding like a thief’s drum.
Not only was it real—by the feel of it, it wasn’t just one.
Her arms tightened around Jiang Tea Tea’s as if she could hide her there. She whipped her head around and shouted at the others, “You guys stay here and finish tying up the insect clan and Jiang Yi Cheng! I’m taking Sister Tea somewhere hidden to treat her!”