Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Pinned Down Until She Couldn’t Breathe, Crawling in the Dark
The Police Bureau operator practically leapt out of their chair. The excitement in their voice was impossible to hide. “Hello! I’m Police Bureau staff operator 95872. Let me confirm the reported address: First Hotel, 196th floor, Room 1960. Is that correct?”
Group sexual misconduct. What an ancient phrase.
How many years had it been since anyone reported something like that?
Thrilling.
Jiang Tea Tea replied, “That’s right. When are you coming?”
“Thank you for your report,” the operator said quickly. “We’ve already notified the nearest responding officers. They’ll arrive in ten minutes at the latest—possibly as fast as two minutes.”
“Okay. Thanks. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye!”
It wasn’t just the patrol officers near the First Hotel who were notified.
Patrol officers across the entire district—investigators too—received the alert.
They were even more excited than the operator. The empire’s laws were strict. On the capital planet, crime was almost nonexistent—under two percent.
The capital planet had 1.5 million police personnel and garrison troops combined. Everyone wanted merit. Everyone wanted achievements.
A group sexual misconduct report was a gift-wrapped promotion.
They rushed for the scene at top speed, terrified someone else would arrive first and steal the credit.
Jiang Tea Tea knew they’d be quick.
She didn’t realize they’d be that quick.
By the time she finished wiping away every trace she’d left behind, the officers were already at the door.
When they broke in, Jiang Tea Tea turned into tree form and slipped out, shooting upward to an upper-floor room where a window had been left open.
Inside, it was pitch-black. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Jiang Tea Tea was grateful she was a demon. She could see through darkness like daylight.
She shifted back into human form and lifted her foot to leave—
Then a voice rolled out from the inner room.
Heavy. Suppressed. Like thunder trapped under a mountain.
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart thudded. What terrifying pressure. What dense demon aura.
On the capital planet of the M31 star system, was she really not the only demon? Was there another great demon here?
Then the thought flashed, sharp and bright: she’d crossed worlds.
If she could cross, other great demons could cross too.
She was already at a fellow townsman’s doorstep. There was no reason not to meet.
She changed direction and walked toward the voice. When she reached the door, she raised her hand to knock.
The door flew open.
A wave of crushing pressure slammed into her. Her vision flashed black. Before she could react, one hand twisted her arm, another clamped around her throat, and her head was shoved against the wall.
“Who are you?” a hoarse, low male voice demanded. Cold. Domineering. Absolute. “Who sent you?”
His breath sprayed hot against her ear, making her skin prickle.
Jiang Tea Tea tried to fight back and immediately realized she couldn’t.
She was completely suppressed.
Not a wisp of magic power would move.
“I’m… I’m your fellow townsman,” she forced out, half-laughing through the chokehold.
Wasn’t the human race always saying that when fellow townsmen met, their eyes would turn watery with emotion?
So where were the watery eyes?
Where were the tears?
Humans were liars.
The man pressed closer, his body weight pinning her. His nose dipped to the side of her neck. He inhaled deeply.
“You’re fragrant,” he said, voice turning rough. “So damn fragrant.”
Jiang Tea Tea’s cheek was smashed against the cold wall. She couldn’t see him at all. She managed a strained smile. “Really?”
“My grandmother says I smell good too.” Her voice came out thin. “Um… could you let go first? We can talk.”
Her grandmother liked plucking her leaves and brewing them, claiming they cleared the mind and chased away fatigue—good for traveling heaven and earth, good for finding a lover and battling three hundred rounds.
The man didn’t let go.
If anything, the sound of her voice made him heat up, as if something inside him boiled over. Heat bled through fabric and burned against her skin, pressing her magic power down until her night vision vanished like it had been ripped away.
“You really are fragrant,” he repeated, breathing growing rough and fast.
His lips brushed her neck—searing—like an animal tasting prey, sniffing greedily.
Jiang Tea Tea shuddered.
No magic power. No techniques. She could only struggle with brute force.
The moment she resisted, the man’s body went even hotter. His breath turned scalding, like molten rock.
Her legs went weak.
Strength drained out of her so fast she barely stayed upright.
The man seemed to feel it. The hand twisting her arm loosened. A powerful arm wrapped around her waist.
The world tilted.
She was lifted—swept up like nothing—and dropped onto a soft bed.
His weight followed, pressing down.
And the room’s crushing aura swallowed everything.
…
Before dawn, Jiang Tea Tea woke with every inch of her body aching, as if her branches had been bent and nearly snapped.
That suffocating pressure still filled the room, crushing her magic power flat. Without it, she couldn’t even see in the dark.
For the sake of her own life, she didn’t waste time figuring out who he was. She didn’t even dare look.
Like a worm, she wriggled off the bed, dragging her sore body to the floor.
She crawled.
Dark. Twisted. Humiliating.
She made it to the door, eased it open without a sound, slipped out, and shut it behind her.
The moment the door clicked closed, the pressure eased just enough for her to breathe.
She sucked in air in two harsh gulps.
She considered leaving through the hallway—then remembered the cameras.
And the possibility of running into someone.
If anyone found out a dignified great tree demon had been slept with for free, she’d be finished.
Humans lived on their face.
Trees lived on their bark.
She couldn’t let something that shameless stick to her.
So she left the way she came.
The farther she got from that room, the more her magic power returned.
By the time she reached the open window, she’d recovered a little over ten percent.
She braced her hands on the sill. Wind rushed past her face.
Her magic power crept back up to twenty percent.
She turned into tree form, flipped out the window, and drifted down from the 199th floor like a falling leaf.
Beneath the First Hotel’s suspended base was a lush sea of greenery—plants, flowers, tall shrubs. They became perfect cover as she dropped into them.
She didn’t return to human form.
She sank roots into the ground and drew on the earth itself—soil, nutrients, the steady strength of the land—to soothe and heal her battered branches.
Above, voices drifted near.
“Old Jin is here. Your Highness had an ability surge—how’s his mental power?”
“Should be fine. Our detectors never triggered an alarm.”
“Hurry—knock. Let Old Jin go in and soothe Your Highness.”
“Adjutant Ai, you’re the closest to Your Highness. You knock. I don’t dare.”
“Da Ma Zi, aren’t you Your Highness’s attendant officer? You’re closer than me. Why don’t you knock?”
“Knock, knock, knock! Fine, I’ll knock. Look at you—Your Highness’s adjutant, and you’re still such a coward. I swear you’ll scare yourself to death—”
Before Da Ma Zi could finish, the door swung open.
Zhen Lin’s Supreme Commander of the Imperial Armed Forces and Prince Regent, Chong Ming, stood in the doorway.
Black shirt. Black military trousers. Combat boots.
Blond hair. Golden eyes.
A terrifying pressure rolled off him, sharp enough to suffocate.
Adjutant Ai, Da Ma Zi, and the guards snapped straight and saluted in unison. “Commander-in-Chief!”
Chong Ming’s gaze swept them like a blade. It paused on Old Jin—the empire’s national-treasure-level beastfolk and half-beastfolk soothing therapist.
He gave a brief nod.
Then he turned and walked back into the room.
Old Jin followed.
Adjutant Ai and Da Ma Zi hurried in after them.
Inside, the oppressive pressure was still there—but they also caught a faint fragrance lingering in the air.
That subtle scent seemed to temper Chong Ming’s overwhelming aura, making it less suffocating, less violent.
Old Jin set up instruments, checked Chong Ming carefully, then examined him by hand.
A moment later, Old Jin’s face lit up with joy. “Congratulations, Your Highness. Congratulations.”
“You safely passed the mating heat period. Your ability did not surge out of control—and your mental power is even showing an upward trend.”